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9/08/2005
"NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida. So what we did was we activated defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall its search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we wait have to wait for the President to give us permission."
--Lt. Commander Sean Kelley, US Northern Command, speaking to the BBC
BJ 9/08/2005 07:04:00 PM
9/07/2005
starblue
This mosaic was created using a free program trial version of Easy Mosaic 2005, which I found linked in the group description for digital fragments tonight. This is a cobalt blue star wall lamp that is at my local IKEA store. I used images from several folders of "My Pictures" and also some images from the image library of the program. Took an hour to create, and almost blew out my system. Word to the wise, when you upload the image to use, think twice about the file size of the original image! Ha ha, I forgot that this one was created with the UNEDITED photo I took several weeks ago. Oy!
BJ 9/07/2005 11:39:00 PM
9/05/2005
Controversy on Katrina: flickr.com
My current photo is a political statement through art about the insanity of this devastation and the deficit and morally reprehensible federal government response to these horrors and tragedies. The image is now drawing considerable attention and angry comments in the photo stream by some flickr.com members. However, more members seem to appreciate the artwork and my messages. In fact, the image is now #1 for Monday, Labor Day, in the flickr.com "Interestingness" feature of the Explore pages. This means that of the 1.2 million members uploading photos, this image has now generated the most "interest" today.
It seems that there is quite a bit of blame now extending towards victims and defense by reports that these victims perhaps don't deserve aid for the reports of gunfire and looting. I base this one what I read, see and hear in mainstream US media. Wild rumors feed the blame to judge the homeless and evacuees. This defense of federal government response that is far short of meeting critical needs is despicable. This blame of the victims must stop. This rejection of non-jingoistic rhetoric must stop! Stop the insanity never was more apropos than now.
I myself may have been one of those who was NOT ABLE TO EVACUATE for my income is low and I have a disabled adult son. To have the income for a full tank of gas at the ready and a reliable car, let alone the money to head off into uncertainty, well that may have not been my fate at the first warnings of the scale of this disaster.
Many many middle-class and wealthy white folks have been evacuated and are homeless, having lost everything. However, many of these people have contacts and resources from without and will likely survive much better. Overall, the criticism of the relief response is a damning comment on the politics of poverty.
Never before in our American history has there been such a clear example of the degradation of the less fortunate in our own society.
BJ 9/05/2005 10:35:00 AM
9/04/2005
The next one coming will be even worse
Images taken and manipulated from published images of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and the politics of poverty. Images are not knowingly used if they do not have a Creative Commons license. Anyone who has an image included in this Photoshop montage and would like a credit, please let cobalt know at flickr.
BJ 9/04/2005 06:27:00 PM
