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The marvels of the internet – following Katrina Thanks to Sean Sirrine of Objective Justice for pointing out the live audio feed from police radio in Hurricane blasted Baton Rouge.
Astonishing.
Want to see some robust news blogged from the front lines of the crisis in New Orleans? Try here.
Perhaps someone has some ideas on links to reputable sites where people can help with donations? Here is one place to start if you want to lend a hand.
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Ive just been reading the Interdictors blog (link above), I really should be working, but heh its friday. Two points. Firstly F*cking hell, the news from Interdictor is unbelievable. The news reports havnt done it justice in the same way. It sounds like the city has desended into chaos with the rule of the gun the only way to survive – the state appears (at the mo at least) to be unable to protect its citizens.
Secondly this is the second time this summer blogs have proved (to me at least) to be the best source of info from the ground. Now and on 7/7 a news junky like myself can get REAL upto the second info from the ground, without the spin of the ‘old media’.
I’m listening to the feed right now, and all I get is a series of morse code beeps. Been decrypting it and it appears to be a continuous repeat of the string “AAAAABBBBBCCCCCDDDDDEEEEEFFFFF”. Anybody with radio experience who can say what this means?
I started listening to one of those feeds last night when a Nation Guard convoy was preparing to go to the superdome. Its much busier this morning but listening to it I must say it doesn’t sound as bad as CNN/BBC are reporting. There are looters but they are being arrested (their criminal records are read out over the air and its the usual bunch of drunks , muggers and drug addicts). Also there are the odd report of gunshots but no constant gunfire that the BBC was reporting. Of course I could be wrong but thats the impression I get from the scanner audio.
Incidentally there have been reports of a major fire at a warehouse near the superdrome and fears there were chemicals in there but now the firemen are reporting it was just storing paper and it presents no hazard to to health. You watch in a few hours that scare story will be all over CNN !
American radio systems have to identify themselves with their licence code number in morse code at set time periods. However trunked radio systems such as are being listened to here use morse code to signal error conditions.
Try this page of links if you having problems with the others.
This blog is far more useful than the junk we’re getting from the MSM, however in my opinion I still feel the blogger has succumbed to the sense of crisis in the area (understandable) and that this is colouring his narrative.
It is almost impossible for an individual person on the ground with limited resources and no sleep, such as this brave blogger, to give an accurate view of events. It was for this reason that I was hoping the current crisis in New Orleans might have been used as an opportunity by big media to be responsible but how wrong that has proved.
I have never seen such hysterical nonsense. Let me make a few predictions about the real figures that will emerge post Katrina:
1 Big Media : New Orleans will be abandoned. Me: New Orleans will be up and running again in 12-18 months. In 6 months, the vast majority of the population will be back.
2 Big Media : death are in the thousands. Me: Deaths will number about 300. 90% of these will be caused by the storm itself.
3 Big Media: there are rapes going on, gangs of armed thugs run the city and babies are dying of starvation. Me: There will have been no evidence of rapes, gangs of armed thugs and no babies will die of starvation.
4 Big Media: there are sharks, alligators or giant snakes preying on hapless citizens. Me: none of this is happening at all.
5 Big Media: 80% of the city is underwater. Me: about 30% is ‘underwater’, but there is flooding in the city.
6 Big Media : this is about global warming. Me and vast majority of scientific community : there is no connection at all.
7 Big Media: There is vast ‘looting’ going on. Me: a minority is going into supermarkets and clothes stores and taking things. This is to be expected.
8 Big Media: there are building buckling and in danger of collapse. Me: rubbish. They have already survived Katrina itself.
9 Big Media: there is starvation, violence and rape at the superbowl. Me: rubbish. There is no starvation, no violence and no rape. However there is tremendous anxiety and frustration – understandably.
10 Big Media: millions will be homeless.Me : rubbish. In fact the insurance industry are not panicking at all.
11 Big Media: there are snipers shooting at people. Me: this will prove to be false.
12 Big Media: ‘anarchy’ reigns. Me: There will be a 2-3 day period where the authorities have to take stock and then calmly put the necessary materiel into place to start recovery. During this time, a minority will take advantage. This is normal and happened at Mt St Helens, as well as in San Fran during the earthquake and also during the LA riots. Last heard the cities are powering along nicely.
13 Big Media : it’s Bush’s fault – which is, of course, their ultimate objective. Me: if its appropriate to lay blame, it must be shed equally by successive state and federal administrations.
I could go on and don’t want to make light of a disaster. However the people of NO, as well as concerned US citizens, not to mention millions of us outside the US, need better than this garbage. The media outlets have from the first sign of Katrina hoped for the worst as this helps ratings. They have deliberately manufactured an apocalypse from a natural disaster, where no such apocalypse exists.
Turn off the TV news and stop buying newspapers NOW. And give that blogger more resources!!
TLB has a page of charities where one can donate to the cause as does Instapundit.
Dodgeblogium is urging people to donate to The American Red Cross.
>9 Big Media: there is starvation, violence and rape at the >superbowl. Me: rubbish. There is no starvation, no >violence and no rape. However there is tremendous >anxiety and frustration – understandably.
Exactly Ted – At the same time I was seeing the BBC report that all aid to the superbowl had stopped due to a sniper and other violence. I was listening via one of these feeds to a National Guard convoy forming up to go there and talking about refueling a convoy coming back from that location. Now if I know that here in England using an everyday PC , free program (Winamp) and a cheap broadband link why doesn’t the media.
And these ‘massive’ explosions we keep hearing about have turned out to be regulation fires. No chemicals involved. No hazmats at all, actually. No one dead or injured. But what the heck – CNN et al portray the fire as a massive blast, push up ratings and scare the living daylights out of people. Assholes.
The MSM is lying to us. Bill Clinton of all people just ripped into a CNN anchor:
MALVEAUX: Let me ask you this: There are some people at the New Orleans Convention Center who say that they have been living like animals — no food, no water, no power. And they are the ones who are saying: Where are the buses? Where are the planes? Why did it take three days to see a real federal response here? Mr. Bush, you, whether it’s fair or not, had gone through some administration criticism about your handling of Hurricane Andrew.
G.H.W. BUSH: I sure did.
MALVEAUX: Do you believe that this is legitimate?
G.H.W. BUSH: Yes, I do. What happened? We all sighed with — not legitimate. I believe that they ought not to be as upset, but I can understand why they are. We thought, a lot of people thought, that when the hurricane went to the right a little bit, New Orleans was going to be spared. And it was only the next day that, you know, there were these horrible problems with the levee. But, look, if I were sitting there with no shower, no ability to use bathroom facilities, worried about my family, not knowing where they were, I’d blame anybody and so you have to expect that.
MALVEAUX: But do you think this administration responded quickly enough?
G.H.W. BUSH: Of course I do.
CLINTON: Let me answer this. The people in the Superdome are in a special position. And let me say, I’ve been going to New Orleans for over 50 years. There’s no place on earth I love more. They went into the Superdome, not because of the flooding, but because we thought the hurricane was going to hit New Orleans smack dab and they’d be safe in there if they didn’t leave town.
What happened was, when the levee broke and the town flooded, what did it do? It knocked out the electricity and it knocked out the sewage. They’re living in hellacious conditions. They would be better off under a tree than being stuck there. You can’t even breathe in that place now.
So I understand why they’re so anxiety-ridden. But they have to understand, by the time it became obvious that they were in the fix they were in, there were a lot of other problems, too. There were people — they were worried about people drowning that had to be taken off roofs.
MALVEAUX: So you two believe that the federal response was fast enough?
CLINTON: All I’m saying is what I know the facts are today. There are hundreds of buses now engaged in the act of taking people from New Orleans to the Astrodome in Houston. And you and I are not in a position to make any judgment because we weren’t there.
All I’m saying is the way they got stuck there, I see why they feel the way they do. But the people that put them there did it because they thought they were saving their lives. And then when the problems showed up, they had a lot of other people to save. Now they’ve got hundreds of buses. We just need to get them out. I think they’ll all be out by tomorrow. Didn’t they say they would all be out by tomorrow morning?
G.H.W. BUSH: Yes.
MALVEAUX: OK. Well, thank you very much. I’m sorry. We’ve run out of time. Thank you.
G.H.W. BUSH: Let me — I just to want finish. I believe the administration is doing the right thing, and I believe they have acted in a timely fashion. And I understand people being critical. That happens all the time. And I understand some people wanted to make, you know, a little difficulty by criticizing the president and the team. But I don’t want to sit here and not defend the administration which, in my view, has taken all the right steps. And they’re facing problems that nobody could foresee: breaking of the levees and the whole dome thing over in New Orleans coming apart. People couldn’t foresee that.
CLINTON: Yes, I think that’s important to point out. Because when you say that they should have done this, that or the other thing first, you can look at that problem in isolation, and you can say that.
But look at all the other things they had to deal with. I’m telling you, nobody thought this was going to happen like this. But what happened here is they escaped — New Orleans escaped Katrina. But it brought all the water up the Mississippi River and all in the Pontchartrain, and then when it started running and that levee broke, they had problems they never could have foreseen.
And so I just think that we need to recognize right now there’s a confident effort under way. People are doing the best they can. And I just don’t think it’s the time to worry about that. We need to keep people alive and get them back to life — normal life.
Clinton has behaved in a great manner during this time of crisis. I admire him for directing criticism away from President Bush even when it is coming from, in some case, senior Democrats.
As far as rape goes, numerous rapes have been confirmed in the bathrooms of the New Orleans Convention Center and Superdome.
Brit and Australian tourists have been targeted for rape and looting.
New Orleans was already a very violent and vile city prior to the crisis, what makes one think that it would become a utopia of compassion during a crisis. US military is driving through New Orleans as if it was going through Mogadishu. Yet civilians are own their own.
The crisis proves that as always, you are on your own.
This webpage gives an updated list of working feeds. It also gives a list of callsigns in use so you can understand what is going on a little better.
There is a lot more happening now with calls for help by firefighters pinned down by gunfire and endless alerts about small arms fire downtown.