The girlfriend had her 2-day ‘practical rifle’ course this weekend. Keep in mind that other than about 60 rounds the shot off last weekend she had no experience with a turnbolt centerfire. By the end of the course she was hitting eggs at 400 yards. Man-sized silhouettes were a given at that distance. In fact, she’s now jaded that hitting anything less than 300 yards isnt much of a challenge. The final shoot of the day was at 500 yards and that was a bit trickier, but she gave a good accounting of herself. She’s come to see that a rifle is a very personal firearm in the sense that you cant just pass a rifle around to several different people and have it shoot as well for all of them. So, now she needs her own .308 boltgun. One of the guys there had a Rem. 700 LTR that she liked although I’m leaning towards the Savage for its Accutrigger and easily swappable barrel. (Yes, she could put a Timney in the LTR but the Savage comes from the factory with a fabulous fully adjustable trigger.) Regardless, her confidence in hitting a deer-sized target has increased to the point where she no longer feels that she wouldnt want to take a shot past 100 yards…now its developing into ‘if I can see it, I can hit it’.

Being the ‘gear queer’ that I am, I asked for stats about what the other shooters had. There were two .300 Win Mags, the rest were .308’s. There was a Browning A-Bolt, a Model 70 and a Kimber 84..the rest were various flavors of Remington including one Remington 710 (‘the plastic gun’) that some poor bastard was shooting FMJ out of and having a hell of a time hitting anything. (He was also the guy with the Bushnell…so, obviously, he was shooting the gun as it was packaged – rifle/scope combo). The girlfriend was shooting my CZ550 Varminter in .308. There was a Bushnell, a Burris and the rest of the field was Leupold..mostly variable although one guy was using a fixed 6x…which I think is a good all-purpose hunting scope. The majority of shooters used bipods and the rest just threw the rifles across their packs in the prone position.
=====
The fun never stops in New Orleans. Nice little footage of a grandma in her house with her stored food and a pistol arguing with the SWAT team thats there to ‘help’ her…right up to the point one guy tackles her, snatches away her pearl handled .38 and they hustle the crying woman onto the back of a truck for ‘processing’. And then they feel good because they ‘helped’ her.  And, the great part, is that through the whole video she’s saying ‘I dont want you in my house, get out’ and they just stand there..without a warrant, telling her she has to go and that theyre there to ‘help’ her.

More stories, some not quite verifiable, of one group of cops asking civvies for details on what guns they have just so ‘they know who has what’ and then another group of comes coming along later and working off a list, takes those same guns.

If any of you are surprised by this, then you havent been following the trends since 1992. Its a sad thing to say, but some homeowner needs to sacrifice everything and just start shooting these thugs.
=====
Picked up a very swell little stove this weekend. ( http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea1.gif, http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea2.gif) Its ostensibly for the girlfriend during hunting season but I like it alot. Its a little Primus that comes with a small stand and an aluminum cup that all nests together to save space. These things arent as light as , say, a small folding stove with a butane cartridge but its utterly bulletproof. World War I technology, no moving parts, no pumps, no hoses, no fuel bottlle, nada. Just brass and steel and some old-world ingenuity. Oh, and it was $25. A gallon of Coleman fuel and this thing would keep a refugee in New Orleans cooking for a good bit of time. I store Coleman fuel for my lanterns but thats only one part of the fuel equation….I keep propane, kerosene and Coleman but the primary fuel is kerosene. The other two fuels are just for convenience and to spread out my ability to use scavenged fuels.

EDIT: Hunh…turns out this stove is still being sold with almost no changes since it was first made in the late 1800’s. Thats bulletproof tech. Model? Its a Optimus Climber Svea 123R Stove
=====
I can see where in a situation like whats going on in New Orleans it would make sense to answer the door and, when the friendly MP-5 toting people who are there to ‘help’ ask for the guns, to hand over a Ruger 10/22 and a CZ-52 or Jennings and act tearfull about it…then wait an hour after their gone and pull the Glock and AR out from behind the refrigerator and continue with life.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The girlfriend had her 2-day 'practical rifle' course this weekend. Keep in mind that other than about 60 rounds the shot off last weekend she had no experience with a turnbolt centerfire. By the end of the course she was hitting eggs at 400 yards. Man-sized silhouettes were a given at that distance. In fact, she's now jaded that hitting anything less than 300 yards isnt much of a challenge. The final shoot of the day was at 500 yards and that was a bit trickier, but she gave a good accounting of herself. She's come to see that a rifle is a very personal firearm in the sense that you cant just pass a rifle around to several different people and have it shoot as well for all of them. So, now she needs her own .308 boltgun. One of the guys there had a Rem. 700 LTR that she liked although I'm leaning towards the Savage for its Accutrigger and easily swappable barrel. (Yes, she could put a Timney in the LTR but the Savage comes from the factory with a fabulous fully adjustable trigger.) Regardless, her confidence in hitting a deer-sized target has increased to the point where she no longer feels that she wouldnt want to take a shot past 100 yards…now its developing into 'if I can see it, I can hit it'.

Being the 'gear queer' that I am, I asked for stats about what the other shooters had. There were two .300 Win Mags, the rest were .308's. There was a Browning A-Bolt, a Model 70 and a Kimber 84..the rest were various flavors of Remington including one Remington 710 ('the plastic gun') that some poor bastard was shooting FMJ out of and having a hell of a time hitting anything. (He was also the guy with the Bushnell…so, obviously, he was shooting the gun as it was packaged – rifle/scope combo). The girlfriend was shooting my CZ550 Varminter in .308. There was a Bushnell, a Burris and the rest of the field was Leupold..mostly variable although one guy was using a fixed 6x…which I think is a good all-purpose hunting scope. The majority of shooters used bipods and the rest just threw the rifles across their packs in the prone position.
=====
The fun never stops in New Orleans. Nice little footage of a grandma in her house with her stored food and a pistol arguing with the SWAT team thats there to 'help' her…right up to the point one guy tackles her, snatches away her pearl handled .38 and they hustle the crying woman onto the back of a truck for 'processing'. And then they feel good because they 'helped' her.  And, the great part, is that through the whole video she's saying 'I dont want you in my house, get out' and they just stand there..without a warrant, telling her she has to go and that theyre there to 'help' her.

More stories, some not quite verifiable, of one group of cops asking civvies for details on what guns they have just so 'they know who has what' and then another group of comes coming along later and working off a list, takes those same guns.

If any of you are surprised by this, then you havent been following the trends since 1992. Its a sad thing to say, but some homeowner needs to sacrifice everything and just start shooting these thugs.
=====
Picked up a very swell little stove this weekend. ( http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea1.gif, http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea2.gif) Its ostensibly for the girlfriend during hunting season but I like it alot. Its a little Primus that comes with a small stand and an aluminum cup that all nests together to save space. These things arent as light as , say, a small folding stove with a butane cartridge but its utterly bulletproof. World War I technology, no moving parts, no pumps, no hoses, no fuel bottlle, nada. Just brass and steel and some old-world ingenuity. Oh, and it was $25. A gallon of Coleman fuel and this thing would keep a refugee in New Orleans cooking for a good bit of time. I store Coleman fuel for my lanterns but thats only one part of the fuel equation….I keep propane, kerosene and Coleman but the primary fuel is kerosene. The other two fuels are just for convenience and to spread out my ability to use scavenged fuels.

EDIT: Hunh…turns out this stove is still being sold with almost no changes since it was first made in the late 1800's. Thats bulletproof tech. Model? Its a Optimus Climber Svea 123R Stove
=====
I can see where in a situation like whats going on in New Orleans it would make sense to answer the door and, when the friendly MP-5 toting people who are there to 'help' ask for the guns, to hand over a Ruger 10/22 and a CZ-52 or Jennings and act tearfull about it…then wait an hour after their gone and pull the Glock and AR out from behind the refrigerator and continue with life.

I am just way oversaturated in media coverage of the Katrina event. On one hand, its vitally important that I get as much information as possible, from as many sources as possible, so I can learn and see what works, what doesnt work, what should have been done differently and what shouldnt have been done at all. You don’t often get this kind of mass destruction and population displacement in a first-world country without a war of some kind. This is an outstanding ‘field laboratory’ to see what works and what doesn’t.

On the other hand, its mucking with my head with some of these infuriating tales of looting, agency turf battles and way-too-needy victims.

I read about a couple kids who stood in  line with their mom for a couple hours to get a hot meal from the Salvation Army. A gal there sees these kids and decides to give them a treat and gives each one a jumbo box of Pop Tarts…..and then the kids examine the box, see its a flavor they dont like, and hand them back.   People at the Guantanadome complained that after days of no food all they got were MRE’s….Others rush the scene when a helicopter tries to land, forcing the copter to drop the cases of water from 20′ where they burst open, useless, as a few smarter survivors futiley try to keep the crowd back so the copter can land…

Theres an expression ‘There are no victims, only volunteers’.

Sure theyre tired, sure theyre hungry, sure theyre scared…..but people have always been hungry, scared and tired and while many of them make poor decisions because of it, even more don’t…Im almost starting to think that the survivors/victims biggest enemy is themselves.

==========
I am having the most fascinating email conversation with a fella. He’s telling me all about his emergency power system that he put together to run his gear during a blackout. Its an extremely informative read and if it’s okay with him I may post some parts of it that I think the rest of you might find interesting. My needs are pretty simple: lighting, coomunications, battery charging… all things that are normally DC anyway, so right off the bat I can streamline things by leaving out the inverter for AC. (Although I might have one anyway just to play it safe.) Between fluorescent/LED lighting, small wattage radio and D- and AA-battery charger, I should be able to run for a failry good bit of time off a large enough bank of batteries. My own reading on the subject, and these emails, are convincing me that the AGM (absorbed glass media) batts will fit my needs since I want something that minimizes hydrogen gas during recharge…I want to keep these indoors in my basement area and I’d very much like to not have to worry about venting issues.
==========
“What would McGyver do” is rapidly becoming my problem-solving paradigm when I think of how Id cope with conditions in New Orleans. Of course, that means I really need to shell out the shekels and get a Leatherman Wave.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I am just way oversaturated in media coverage of the Katrina event. On one hand, its vitally important that I get as much information as possible, from as many sources as possible, so I can learn and see what works, what doesnt work, what should have been done differently and what shouldnt have been done at all. You don't often get this kind of mass destruction and population displacement in a first-world country without a war of some kind. This is an outstanding 'field laboratory' to see what works and what doesn't.

On the other hand, its mucking with my head with some of these infuriating tales of looting, agency turf battles and way-too-needy victims.

I read about a couple kids who stood in  line with their mom for a couple hours to get a hot meal from the Salvation Army. A gal there sees these kids and decides to give them a treat and gives each one a jumbo box of Pop Tarts…..and then the kids examine the box, see its a flavor they dont like, and hand them back.   People at the Guantanadome complained that after days of no food all they got were MRE's….Others rush the scene when a helicopter tries to land, forcing the copter to drop the cases of water from 20' where they burst open, useless, as a few smarter survivors futiley try to keep the crowd back so the copter can land…

Theres an expression 'There are no victims, only volunteers'.

Sure theyre tired, sure theyre hungry, sure theyre scared…..but people have always been hungry, scared and tired and while many of them make poor decisions because of it, even more don't…Im almost starting to think that the survivors/victims biggest enemy is themselves.

==========
I am having the most fascinating email conversation with a fella. He's telling me all about his emergency power system that he put together to run his gear during a blackout. Its an extremely informative read and if it's okay with him I may post some parts of it that I think the rest of you might find interesting. My needs are pretty simple: lighting, coomunications, battery charging… all things that are normally DC anyway, so right off the bat I can streamline things by leaving out the inverter for AC. (Although I might have one anyway just to play it safe.) Between fluorescent/LED lighting, small wattage radio and D- and AA-battery charger, I should be able to run for a failry good bit of time off a large enough bank of batteries. My own reading on the subject, and these emails, are convincing me that the AGM (absorbed glass media) batts will fit my needs since I want something that minimizes hydrogen gas during recharge…I want to keep these indoors in my basement area and I'd very much like to not have to worry about venting issues.
==========
“What would McGyver do” is rapidly becoming my problem-solving paradigm when I think of how Id cope with conditions in New Orleans. Of course, that means I really need to shell out the shekels and get a Leatherman Wave.

Up next – Lessons and affirmations from Kristina. This is ZNN.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Warnings – There were several days warnings. Given the choice of whether to leave or stay, I cant say what I'd have done. I need more information to make an informed decision. If I was certain that my house was going to be flooded out, I'd probably pack as much gear as possible and head for a friends or alternate location. But, I'd have done it at least 24 hrs beforehand

Police – These guys were more dangerous than the looters. I'd have avoided them and stayed out of their way. However, if one came to my doorstep demanding gasoline for his police car and wouldnt take 'no' for an answer…well, theres going to be alot of unsolved shootings down there I suspect. This confirmed my belief that while the cops and other government officals may mean well, the individual officers/agents can have their own ideas. Avoid these people if at all possible. Low profile would seem best. I was wary of these people before all of this, after reading how things have just spun out of control down there Im even more convinced that, if they arent your enemy, cops certainly arent your friends.

Power – No intelligent human could have figured the power was goingt o stay on or even be back on within a few days once the storm hit. Flashlights are great but for hot water, heat and area lighting you need something more substantial. Right now just about anything would work..Coleman propane stove, Volcano charcoal stove, kerosene heater and lamps, Coleman lanterns, etc, etc. For running electrical devices a small generator would sure be nice if you could keep it quiet and hidden. And for crying out loud, get something with good fuel possibilities….a gas or diesel generator would probably work best since your 500-gallon propane tank is probably floating adown the street.

Food – Portable. Long term. Single serving. Reasonably nutritious.  In this situation I think the MRE is top of the heap. Freeze drieds would be nice but require clean water. Canned food would work but its heavy and you may have to beat feet in a hurry. A case of MRE's holds 12 meals. At two per day per person you could go almost a week on a case of MRE's. If youre house didnt get destroyed, staying put would be alot easier with food on hand. This supports my belief that you should spread your egss into several baskets….canned (for static positions), MRE (for mobility and minimal prep), freeze-drieds (for extended long term and mobility).

Refrigeration – No power means no fridge unless you have a kerosene or propane powered fridge. While I keep alot of stuff in the freezer, I am quite aware that as far as my disaster planning is concerened it may as well not exist since once the power goes out its pretty much garbage after a couple days. Thus, my emphasis on long-term, shelf-stable foods. A generator would be great for keeping the freezer going if youre going to remain in place.

Sanitation – Dysentary is already suspected at one refugee center. I know the hows and whys of dysentary, cholera and typhoid and universally they are 100% avoidable if you'll just wash your hands, keep yourself clean, keep your food and eating utensils clean, and exercise good toilet management. Having a small kit of toiletries to last a week or two makes an immeasurabel difference in morale and hygiene. It probably also helps to keep you from being shot as a looter if you look presentable.

Evacuating – If theres ever been an example of planning your escape and being ready for it, this is it. Bridges down, roads impassable and gas unavailable. Knowing where the bridges are, where the chokepoints are, the range of your vehicles gas tank in relation to safe areas…this is all stuff you need to know. Gear has to be in man-portable, watertight containers so you can grab it and go, go , go.

Firearms – Only an idiot would have chosen to sit this one out without a gun. I'd go with the handgun and a good military rifle. Some would go with the shorgun and thats a good choice, but I can carry more ammo for a rifle and I want the high-cpactiy and the car-punching ability of a rifle caliber. Im leaning towards the .223 for a couple reasons…if I have to go mobile, ammo is alot lighter. Also the profile of an AR might be a little less intimidating to a triggerhappy cop than an AK….he might think Im 'one of them' or something. For a static position (like staying home) I like the AK.  For handguns, the Glock 9mm seems the way to go. i want capacity over caliber in this situation.

Ammo – Lots of it in portable containers. Ammo cans work well. I'd probably keep my .223 in bandoleers in an ammo can. If I had to leave in a hurry I'd try to grab 2 boxes (100 rds) of 9mm, some shotgun shells, and at least 300 rounds for my  AR. This is where the lighter weight of the .223 comes in handy. This event shows the obvious reason to store plenty of ammo and store it in watertight containers.

Communication – If there was ever a reason to learn ham radio this is it. Short range communications like FRS radios or CB's woud be handy. Especailly if, like , youre trying to run an office building. Cellphone towers are without power so theyre pretty useless until someone sets up some mobile towers.

Mobility – A decent vehicle would have made the difference for alot of people in New Orleans. Even if they didnt have a car, a fella on a bicycle with a backpack probably could have gotten to safety in a day. Maybe two.

Fuel – What I read said that if you had gasoline you could name your price on anything you wanted in the disaster area. This is so true that Im formulating a fuel storage plan and rotation schedule. Fuel for generators, fuel for vehicles, fuel for cooking, fuel for lighting.  Diesel or gasoline would do all that.

Commerce – Gasoline and cigarettes are the big barter items in New Orleans, I read. It made me think that maybe a couple of those small 1 and 2 gallon plastic gas cans at WalMart might be a good idea for when you need small change (1 – 2 gallons) and all you have are large bills (5-gallon jugs). It wasnt mentioned, but Id bet a pistol and 50 rounds of ammo would go pretty far as well. Gold coins are handy, but sometimes its the goods that deliver.

Planning – More than anyting else, this event shows that you must plan for these sorts of things and follow your plan. Make a list of gear, and get it. Make a list of skills, and learn them. Make a list of routes out of the area and drive them.

looters – Reports were of looted Kmart gun counters providing arms for gangs of looters. Police looted gun safes. The idea that you may someday have to face an armed group of a half dozen men isnt as far-fetched as people might think. The news reported a couple of guys with knives and machetes appeared at a citizens property and demanded his generator. He loosed a couple rounds from a pistol over their head and they ran. Good for him. I'd probably have done the same but I might just as easily have shot them both where they stood once they made clear their intentions. This event shows beyond a doubt that a firearm has a place in disaster planning. Given the numbers involved in this event, a high-capacity semi-auto seems the way to go.

Water – This situation proves that once municipal supplies are contaminated, the average citizen is screwed. For static use, stored water in 5-gallon (or bigger) containers makes sense. The 5-gallon ones are the upper limit of portability. As we can see on the news, the ubiquitous plastic water bottle is everywhere and theyre a great thing…theyre incredibly tough and very handy if you have a couple cases of them. They can be distributed in gear, pockets, vehicles, etc. A good quality water filter would be incredibly useful down there right now too. I'd leave the water filter in my bag so I can have it handy if I had to evacuate. All the troops and alot of the rescue personnel showing up on the news have Camelbak-type hydration packs. Great for roaming around. Some people, it seems, still havent learned that you can tap the water in your hot water heater and you can drain the standing water in your plumbing by opening the tap at the highest point in the building and then opening the tap at the lowest.

First aid – I bet anti-diarheal meds are a hot commodity right now. Antiobiotics are going to be pretty important what with all that conatminated water and filth going around. Lesson learned: first aid gear, stored in waterproof containers.

Man, theres so much to think about and to weigh my current preperations against………..

Vindication. Im psychic.

JACKSON, Miss. – Juan Herrera’s house on the Gulf coast is destroyed. He has no money, little clothing and is living with his family in a high school gymnasium. But what he needed most in Katrina’s aftermath, he said, was a job.

“I have to make money. I have nothing,” he said

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Vindication. Im psychic.

JACKSON, Miss. – Juan Herrera's house on the Gulf coast is destroyed. He has no money, little clothing and is living with his family in a high school gymnasium. But what he needed most in Katrina's aftermath, he said, was a job.

“I have to make money. I have nothing,” he said

The events of 9/11 probably gave the preparedness community more to talk about, model, plan against, and discuss than any other even since the earthquakes in California about ten years ago. The hurricane Katrina event is going to be the model for alot of preparedness minded individuals for a long time to come. 9/11 was, essentially, a very very localized disaster. In terms of utter destruction and chaos, it was limited to several blocks of NYC. The repercussions, obviously, went further, but in terms of rubble-and-carnage it was limited to a pretty small area. A person on foot could (and many, many did) get out of the danger area in a few hours of walking. Hurricane Katrina, on the other hand, is the full-scale citywide event that we very seldom ever see. Since events in the US of this magnitude are so rare, its going to be the discussion model in disaster planning for a very long time until something ‘better’ (i.e. bigger) comes along. I mention this because I, like alot of other people, are getting a little ‘saturated’ with hurricane coverage and stories. The fact remains though, if youre into preparedness youre going to hear about this event for a very long time. Count on it.

So, I’ll spare you my observations and commentaries with a cut tag

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The events of 9/11 probably gave the preparedness community more to talk about, model, plan against, and discuss than any other even since the earthquakes in California about ten years ago. The hurricane Katrina event is going to be the model for alot of preparedness minded individuals for a long time to come. 9/11 was, essentially, a very very localized disaster. In terms of utter destruction and chaos, it was limited to several blocks of NYC. The repercussions, obviously, went further, but in terms of rubble-and-carnage it was limited to a pretty small area. A person on foot could (and many, many did) get out of the danger area in a few hours of walking. Hurricane Katrina, on the other hand, is the full-scale citywide event that we very seldom ever see. Since events in the US of this magnitude are so rare, its going to be the discussion model in disaster planning for a very long time until something 'better' (i.e. bigger) comes along. I mention this because I, like alot of other people, are getting a little 'saturated' with hurricane coverage and stories. The fact remains though, if youre into preparedness youre going to hear about this event for a very long time. Count on it.

Theres a lot of things here I'd like to attribute with links but, honestly, there are so many and the huge influx of stories of this hurricane are bumping links around at the various outlets. A story that was 'page 1' a few days ago is bumped to an archive to make way for the twenty new stories and my links become 404.

• Local government
• Mayor – This guy was obviously way unprepared for his leadership role. Im sure he thought that his sole duties as mayor were to oversee Mardi Gras festivities. He's fast to ask 'where the hell' the feds are and why they dont 'get off their asses' and do something. Great rhetoric if youre trying to rally your consituency to overlook the fact that you, being mayor, had all sorts of powers, including city disaster planning, that obviously were never utilized. Impotency is an ugly word, but this guy stood there flaccid. Any disaster planning, done officially, is going to be a problem since you need half a dozen signatures, state/gov funding, etc, etc, just to stock a couple thousand gallons of fuel for your police department. This guys career should be toast…if it isnt, then the people (whats left of them) in New Orleans (whats left of it) deserve what they get: a mayor with a welfare mentality and a 'the buck does not stop here' attitude.
• City/County OEM  – I havent heard very much about city/county Office Of Emergency Management or whatever they call it down there. Id be very interested in learning more about them. I will not be surprised when they say that all records about evacuation plans and programs were, conveniently, lost or destroyed.
• Police – I could go on at length about these guys. They were basically a better trained class of looters. I can sum it up in one sentence: They were not there to help you and they should be watched more carefully than the looters.
• Firefighters – Interestingly, Im hearing almost nothing, good or bad, about these guys. Im going to guess that in this case no news is good news. Maybe Im wrong but it sounds like the firefighters held their shit together better than the cops.

• Federal Government
• FEMA – These guys have always been the 'Men In Black' for those of us in the 'preparedness community'. Given a broad range of powers they could be pretty unpredictable. They apparently got absorbed, along with many other agencies, into the DHS. Im guessing, I dont know, that this means they take their orders from DHS.
• DHS  – These guys were so wrapped up in strip searching grandmothers at airports no one thought to read that their mandate included natural disasters. The blame game is probably well into the first quarter on this one.
• Nat'l Guard  – Again, these guys were not your friends. They forcibly kept people in the horrible conditions of the superdome. I would have taken my chance wading through chest high water than stay in that circle of hell. Its tough not to Monday morning quarterback this, but I think these guys shoulda been used to secure the airport (which remained usable), set up a distribution point and start flying in planes of fuel, vehicles, water filtrations and field hospitals.

Superdome refugees – This is going to be the nightmare example, symbolizing everything that went wrong in this disaster. Im going to make a prediction here: the stuff youve heard about going on in there is nothing compared to the stories tha will come to light over the next few weeks. I guarantee you they are keeping a huge amount of it out of the press. They , and by they look at the above list, know they majorly bobbled this and the last thing they want is people knowing how bad. Things like this can never be kept secret..but they can be delayed until the blame game is well underway. You watch..in the next couple of weeks theres going to be horrific stories that will make you want to sleep with one eye open and a Rottweiler at your feet. Guaranteed.

Demographics – Everyone is falling all over themselves not to say what many people are saying in private – “What did you expect from those people?” Put a huge group of poor, black, 'welfare'-type people together and youre going to have this sort of thing happen. Is there a racial angle in this disaster? Theres certainly an economic one…quite succinctly, the not-poor had the means to leave and most did. Those who remained were mostly the poor or otherwise incapable of transporting themselves. It wasnt racism as much as it was economics…if you had the money to leave, you left. So who is left in the city? The poor (and some handicapped/elderly). Are blacks represented in large disproportions amongst the poor? Yes, any sociologist will tell you that. Ergo, if the make up of the people remaining is overwhelmingly poor, theyre probably also going to be overwhelmingly black. Plus, New Orleans, according to statistics was %67 black to begin with? I think any group in their position would have been just as prone to violence. Its certainly convenient, though, to bring up racial angles in order to deflect criticism from where it should go (see first list). Does anyone really think that as this hurricane was going on there was a buncha guys sitting at a table at the White House saying “Fema? National Guard? For what? Its just a buncha niggers down there. Fuck 'em.” Government repsonse was screwd up because it was a government response.

Mismanagement/Chain of command issues – There are plenty of reports of convoys of supplies and donatins being stopped by (National Guard/DHS/Fema/Police/etc) from entering New Orleans and told that they arent authorized to go into the city. Thats right, WalMart can send twenty trucks of food and diapers and those trucks get turned back. Why? Dozens of reasons. One agency wants to control everything, the roadblocks are just following orders, 'we cant guarantee your safety', all efforts must be coordinated through [insert agency], etc. This makes a little sense but not enough to me. If you've got a dozen truck drivers willing to drop their loads at the Superdome for those poor bastards there then grab a couple trucks of NG and go. Too many chiefs and not enough indians running around. Every agency thinks it has jurisdiction to tell the others what to do.

Looters – This isnt worth mentioning except in regard to two aspects:

1. Looting for essentials is still looting. It is a far more excusable form of looting, but its still looting. Its the difference between 'All right, take it and go but dont let me see your face here again' and a round of buckshot. (And if you believe, as some have posited, that its okay to steal laptops and iPods because youre going to use them to trade for essentials, then youre an idiot.)
2. Police/Guardsmen who loot should be shot as looters and then be hung from lamposts as abusers of authority.

Refugees – Nothing sucks worse than being a refugee except possibly being the janitor for the washrooms at a refugee camp. Theres suddnely going to be masses of unemployed people desperate for any job they can find. Expect this to lead to some ugly situations as even the 'jobs Americans dont want' that were normally the mainstay of trespassing criminals illegal 'immigrants' suddenly become desirable. Also expect very strained municpal budgets and public tempers as housing and care of these refugees becomes the responsibility of local governments with delayed support/funding from the feds. This will bring about more problems from local 'government aid' users who feel the newcomers are getting a better deal than they are.I think that when the government starts awarding contracts for rebuilding New Orleans (yes, theyre going to rebuild) they should require a certain percentage of refugees be employed. This gets them into worker housing, gets them a paycheck, and hopefully gives them some focus, direction and skills. Sort of like the WPA..except with a legitimate need for building projects.

Shortages/Economic fallout – Im no expert but it might not be a bad idea to lay off the luxuries for a while and see how things shake out. Businesses in New Orleans are obviously in a lot of trouble. Until theyre rebuilt (and if theyre rebuilt) theres no tax base, no employment, no industry, nothing. For all intents and purposes, New Orleans has become Somalia.

Politics – No one in politics is coming out of this on top. The best they can hope for is to be ignored or thought of as unnecessary for the crisis. President? Screwed. Governor of Louisiana? Screwed. Mayor of New Orleans? So very screwed. Police chief of New Orleans? So screwed under that his career will never see sunlight again. The guy in charge of the Antarctic research stations? Probably okay but he's playing it safe and not taking any calls.

Next up: Lessons and re-affirmations from hurrican Katrina. Youre watching ZNN.