Ad-hoc Group of Tech Savy Citizens Seem to Have More on the Ball Than the Professional Emergency Responders
Amazing but true. An ad hoc group has assembled using Blogs, streaming media, Voice Over IP (VoIP) and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to communicate, track and assist with the support and evacuation of those impacted by the hurricane on the gulf coast.
A Wiki has been formed by the group to coordinate activities and resources of this assembly of concerned citizens. Communications flow freely over IRC on #interdictor as well as other related channels (see the Wiki for more details).
A distributed group of volunteers is monitoring public safety frequencies via the Internet and transcribing in real time, the communications of the police, fire and rescue operations for easier dissemination of news, bypassing the traditional talking heads and sound byte journalism (don’t even get me started on the news networks’ coverage of this unprecedented disaster and failure by the local, state and federal government to act . . . in a word, it’s DISGUSTING).
All the while, the group manning Camp Crystal, by all accounts on their blog, seem to be holding up pretty well . . . if they could just get some more diesel fuel.
It’s truly amazing the things that can be accomplished by concerned citizens that decide to act when the government leaves a vacuum due to inaction. If this event doesn’t illustrate the impotence and myopia that has been the hallmark of the current administration, I don’t know what will. I found it particularly disturbing to watch President Bush stare into thin air and kick at the ground while he was briefed by the governors of the effected states regarding the situation in the south this morning (an event carried live on all news channels). The event turned into a mutual jack-off party as each of these well dressed, well fed, and freshly showered men congratulate each other over the great job they were doing in responding to this disaster. All the while, people were dying in the cesspool that is New Orleans (and else where around the gulf coast).
The people being evacuated from New Orleans should insist that the buses take them to Washington DC, not Houston, or San Antonio, or other points west. I suggest that we turn the open space from the national mall to the the Washington Monument and on to the ellipse in front of the White House into one large refugee camp (let’s call it camp liberty). Maybe it will serve as a reminder to the chicken hawks that cutting funding to public service agencies and critical levee maintenance around the New Orleans area was not a way to pay for the war.
So what was Condi Rice (the National Security Adviser) doing yesterday while people died of exposure and dehydration on their roofs in New Orleans? She was seen spending several thousand dollars shopping for shoes in a trendy New York boutique. Did she rush back to the White House after picking up the perfect pumps? Nope, she attended a Broadway show . . . here shocked attendees witnessed her laughing it up while the body count near the gulf skyrocketed. Makes you wonder where the rest of the cabinet was during this national emergency. More bass fishing, no doubt.
So, how does the Bush group plan to spin this . . . will this be the excuse Bush uses to pull troops out of Iraq while saving face? Only time will tell.
