September 01, 2005

9/1: The Rescuers

Note: On account of the cong. recess, The Hotline and the Blogometer are taking off one last Friday before Labor Day. We'll be back on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

For all the attention blogs have received in recent years for bringing down powerful figures -- Trent Lott, Dan Rather -- or publicizing stories the media would otherwise be inclined to avoid -- Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Cindy Sheehan -- less attention has been paid to the organizational power of the blogosphere. The entirety of today's Blogometer is dedicated to documenting the blogs' reaction to Hurricane Katrina, in which we discern 3 broad categories of responses: criticism, information and fundraising.

Blog traffic is up overall, the same way cable news ratings are. Both the right and left are pointing fingers -- at Pres. Bush, at other officials, at the media and other businesses -- after all, criticism is the bread-and-butter of the political blogosphere. Despite the partisan rancor, blogs have started message boards independent of outside influence, plus local LA and MS media have grown blogs of their own — bringing information to readers outside the area and helping displaced residents find relief, and each other, within. Fundraising efforts overlap with some traditional (i.e. non-blog) websites, but most activity so far largely originated at independent blogs from across the political spectrum. Had the blogosphere existed in its current form on 9/11, it would have looked something like this.

Speaking of Bush, he is in a very difficult spot. Yesterday he had solid support from conservatives, but now his response is meeting criticism, starting with National Review's influential group blog The Corner. Many conservatives defend him, but more in the manner of criticizing his opponents on the left. For their part, liberal bloggers have been making hay of an 8/30 AP photo of Bush on tour in CA, holding a presidential seal-adorned acoustic guitar, standing with a country singer. Is that picture a new "My Pet Goat"?

As if the level of blog interest isn't obvious enough, 9 of 10 top searches on Technorati so far today are Katrina-related: "1. Katrina 2. 'New Orleans' 3. 'Hurricane Katrina' 4. Mandeville 5. Natalie Glebova 6. Slidell 7. Covington 8. Looting 9. Metairie 10. 'Chad Myers.'" Glebova is Miss Universe '05; Myers is the CNN meteorologist who lost his temper while reporting on Katrina early 8/29. Meanwhile, It's worth comparing the last blog obsession, Sheehan's just-concluded protest in Crawford, with Katrina. BlogPulse's trend search allows for a side-by-side comparison of how often the terms "Hurricane Katrina" and "Cindy Sheehan" have recently been used. You can see the results of this comparison here. It's not even close.

KATRINA I: How You Can Help

Today is "Blog Relief Day" -- not relief from blogs, but for blogs to donate to relief efforts for Katrina victims -- as suggested by Hugh Hewitt, then spearheaded by Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds and N.Z. Bear from Truth Laid Bear.

• Reynolds: "The plan for tomorrow's flood-aid blogburst: I'd like each blogger participating to put up a post recommending a charity, or other action to help, and linking back to this post where I'll keep a comprehensive list of both bloggers and charities. Basically, a Carnival of Hurricane Relief. That way readers of any blog will have ready access to recommendations on all the blogs." On 8/31 Reynolds created a post -- the one linked above -- specifically for recommending ways to donate, and by post-dating it to 9:00 p.m., kept it at the top of the page. He has since changed the date again to 9:00 p.m. 9/1, updating with more info.
• Bear: "The day is here, and I would ask bloggers everyone to join in today and encourage your readers to give, give, and give some more to the Katrina relief charity of your choice." Instructions at the link above. As of mid-morning, TTLB recorded 728 blogs from 11 countries had logged in to announce the fact of their individual contribution (though not the amount) and the charity to which they donated.

Liberal Skippy the Bush Kangaroo: "this is not about red states v. blue states...this is not about left v. right...this is not about liberal v. conservative..." Having donated $100.01, he writes: "and now, skippy challenges everyone who writes a political blog, no matter what side of the spectrum they inhabit, to do the same. but that's not all of the challenge. skippy then dares everyone on his blogroll (who will be receiving an email with this double-dog dare), after they donate, to (a) blog about it, and (b) send an email to everyone on their blog roll."

A Daily Kos post also lists charities, based on an Information Week article "detailing which organizations are already primed and ready to start providing relief," and posts a poll at the bottom: "Now is definitely the time to reach out and help these victims. This is not a political issue as all of you know. It's a human issue." An update from mid-evening last p.m.: "More donations coming in since my last update. We are now over $9,000 coming in at $10,111.02!!!"

Another site collecting donations and listing progress is Liberal Blogs for Hurricane Relief, linked on many blogs as a BlogAd. The goal is $1M; in just a few hours they're at $5.6K. The website is coordinated by Chris Bowers, who runs the BlogAds' Liberal Blog Advertising Network, and he announces the page/explains the concept at MyDD.

Ex-"Star Trek" actor Wil Wheaton and PokerStars are organizing 2 online poker tournaments to raise funds for Katrina relief: "PokerStars will be matching every buy-in 100% and will be offering prizes to the winners. Wil will also be offering autographed copies of one of his books to every member of both final tables."

Stephen Bainbridge warns against giving to Catholic parishes in N.O., as a court ruling could mean the money will be diverted to pay priest abuse claims. Hewitt begs to differ, opining that this won't happen "unless there's a judgment against the Diocese of New Orleans, and even if there is such a judgment, my guess is relief money would be spent long before the courts reopen."

The Internet's contribution to the disaster relief is news (as it was after the tsunami) because of its usefulness for networking. While not specific to blogs, AP lists the Missing Persons Board at NowPublic.com and others. MSNBC producer Tony Maciulis posts a round-up of more-specifically blog-based efforts.

Washington Post's Security Fix blog warns about Katrina-related phishing scams, which have already begun.

Chuck Simmins starts a page to keep track of overall estimated donations. So far he counts $45.3M.

BuzzMachine: "Now what I hope to see is people connecting on jobs -- elsewhere in the country -- for some of these people."

KATRINA II: Tales Of The Ex-City

The Times-Picayune's Breaking News Weblog is cribbing much of its news from CNN and FNC. But T-P's Doug MacCash writes: "In addition to all of the other horrors befalling New Orleanians during the flood was the creepy discovery that red ants form themselves into floating clusters to avoid drowning. As Dante Ramos and I paddled along Carrollton Avenue on Wednesday, I saw two glittering, golf ball-sized masses of ants floating beside our canoe." Corporate cousin NOLA View has been posting e-mails from Orleanians, including some trapped and needing rescue.

Wizbang's Orleans-based Paul, as a "self-appointed spokesman for Hurricane Katrina victims everywhere," says blogs and the MSM both need to "chill out": "I've seen the same blogger complain both that the coverage of Katrina was 'Hurricane Porn' beforehand and in a separate post whine that the media did not do enough to convince people that they should have evacuated.... You can't have it both ways." He writes: "Let's get some work done and play Monday morning quarterback sometime in early 2006. There's about million or so of us who would prefer it that way." Wizbang founder Kevin Aylward has set up a method for readers to donate to Paul; so far $1K+ has been raised. Paul also lists "the sum total of all my worldly possessions: 4 pairs of shorts, 5 shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 pairs of underwear, 1 pair of blue jeans, a box of family pictures, 2 flashlights, a piece of trench art my grandfather brought back from WWI and my father's hammer. (Hey, it means a lot to me!) That's it. Everything else is gone. And BTW, I'm unemployed."

Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill posts a 1st-hand account from a medic inside the Superdome: "There are now 20,000 people inside the Superdome. The only medical personnel at the Superdome are Acadian Ambulance paramedics and EMT's and a small team of doctors and nurses from New Mexico. They are exhausted understaffed and out of medical supplies. The only current source of medical supplies are those that Acadian is able to ferry in. Dialysis equipment is no longer functioning. Sick people are getting sicker. 30 people have now died in the Superdome," and other incidents include "one suicide" and "at least 2 rapes."

Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave reports, N.O.-based Kevin Boyd of Louisiana Libertarian "talks about Katrina in this entry, and mentions what part of the city he lives in. His last post was on Saturday, 8/27/05. None of us have heard from him, either by email or post. Kevin, let us know if you're okay when you get a chance. I'm sure you are just evacuated and trying to cope with it, but we're a bit worried."

KATRINA III: How To Find Out More

Among the many resources available:

• Craigslist has multiple pages set up to route Katrina aid. One page collects website URLs and phone numbers for people who want to donate or volunteer. There are pages for lost and found, temporary housing, more volunteer info and general info.
• N.O. Pundit has temporarily ceased to function as a blog -- its last new post was 8/30 -- listing its message boards for individual neighborhoods around the city, as well as a board for people outside the N.O. metro area.
• NYTimes.com has a useful interactive map with a satellite display, elevation info, population density, minority population spreads, and household income spreads.
• For aerial photos of N.O. before and after, see GlobalSecurity.org.
• NBC affil. WDSU blog to cover Katrina news. CBS affil. WWL has a blog for news, and another blog set up specifically for its own employees to contact each other.

KATRINA IV: These Fingers Were Made For Pointing ... Whatever Your Politics, There's Something Here To Angry Up The Blood

There is no shortage of complaints that various people and institutions didn't do enough beforehand, are not doing enough now, or have otherwise acted mendaciously. Here's some of what we found:

Since before noon on 8/31, Michelle Malkin updated one post only until late in the p.m. In one update, she asked: "Where is Amazon.com? And how about Yahoo!? Microsoft? Dell? Cisco? Countless readers and a few bloggers have wondered why these tech companies, which stepped up the plate to help raise millions of dollars for tsunami victims last year, have not yet set up fund-raising efforts." Enlighten New Jersey was among many blogs who wondered the same, specifically about Amazon. They cite an Information Week article quoting a company spokesperson explaining that they "had no plans to post a donation link on its site" because the Red Cross had time to prepare. Over night, a link materialized on the right-hand corner of Amazon's front page. But Kapusta Brothers is not impressed. They post a screen shot of the page from the tsunami -- in that case, the link occupied the center column of the page. Not so today.

Malkin had also asked whether Hollywood would respond the same way they did for 9/11 (prior to the announcement of the NBC telethon on 9/2). Prior to that point Crooks & Liars responded: "Yes sir, only a couple hours after the disaster that is Katrina, Michelle expects Hollywood and musicians to have concerts and telethons already coordinated. Those Hollywood weirdos and music types sure are an evil and uncaring bunch as they destroy the fabric of our society."

At Huffington Post, ZDNET's Russell Shaw suggests there mightn't have been a flood had Carter beaten Reagan in '80: "Sparked by his prodding, we might have had decades of global warming controls in place. ... Since hurricanes need warm water to feed, what if that temperature difference -- however slight -- might have caused Katrina to be slightly weaker?"

Right-leaning Matt Szabo: "Tonight, I heard one of the worst things I have heard in a long time: a supposed man of God" -- L.A.-based Rev. Lewis Logan -- "suggested that the South deserves the death and devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina because it is revenge for centuries of racism." At an anti-LAPD rally, Logan said, "it is no a coincidence that [Katrina] is exactly 50 years from the time of (inaudible) lynching and murder." This language is totally outrageous and recklessly malicious. It trivializes -- for cheap political purposes -- the suffering of millions of Southerners of all races." Additionally, AMERICAblog finds a Christian group blaming the disaster on annual gay festival Southern Decadence.

Swing State Project's Bob Brigham credits Daily Kos with goading the RNC's GOP.com into changing the featured item on the front page from V-J Day to Katrina. Brigham compliments the DNC site for being faster as well: "Dean was also using the Democratic online infrastructure to help out the Katrina victims, while it was business as usual for Bush's GOP."

Ann Coulter is drawing criticism for comments she made on Bill O'Reilly's radio show (another person was filling in as host) about how NYCers weren't likely to give money, and criticizing the FDNY as well. Crooks & Liars hosts audio, and initial reactions.

At TAPPED, Matt Yglesias calls the Superdome strategy "serious planning failure," as it "should have been clear to the relevant officials that concentrating thousands of refugees in a sports arena that was at risk of being cut off from the rest of the city -- and, therefore, any supplies -- was going to be unsustainable."

Michelle Malkin, in a 9/1 post: "United Nations Undersecretary-General Jan Egeland -- yeah, the same jerk who called America 'stingy' during the Indonesian tsunami disaster last year -- has come around to offering the U.N.'s help to victims of Hurricane Katrina." On the other hand, she highlights a story from Canada's National Post titled "British ally largely indifferent to U.S. Plight."

Salon's Eric Boehlert, at Huffington Post: "One of America's largest cities has been decimated ... yet networks are content this afternoon running soap operas and allowing local affiliates to air syndicated nonsense like 'Judge Joe Brown'?"

Hedgehog Report implores everyone to can it with the altered gas station signs listing prices as "Arm," "Leg," "First Born," etc.: "One thing that just has to stop now... news networks showing pictures like this one. This joke has been around for so long, it isn't even funny anymore."

BUSH: Hail To The Loaf?

Conservative Byron York at The Corner makes the clearest criticism of Bush from the right so far: "This month began with the deaths of 21 U.S. Marines in Iraq, continued through the Cindy Sheehan protest/media circus, and ended with Hurricane Katrina." Even if only for PR reasons, Bush would have done better to remain in DC. "For one thing, he would have had the stage to himself, given the traditional absence of Congress. For another, he would have been better placed to make ... more substantive comments about the war" that conservatives including ex-Bush speechwriter David Frum have "called on him to make. And lastly, his message would not have been subject to the distractions of all the vacation/nonvacation talk that inevitably comes up when he spends an extended period of time in Crawford. There is a proper time for a president to leave Washington, but five weeks is just too much."

Fellow NROer Rod Dreher writes, "Bush's reaction (so far) has been inadequate": "The human drama playing out in Louisiana now beggars description. We don't need mere emoting -- the hapless Gov. Blanco shows how useless that is. But we do need our president to make an emotional connection of some sort with his suffering countrymen. You can be tough, competent AND emotional. It's called Giuliani 101."

Liberal Kevin Drum summarizes: "While New Orleans was undergoing a slow motion catastrophe on Monday and Tuesday, Bush was mugging for the cameras, cutting a cake for John McCain, playing the guitar for Mark Wills, delivering an address about V-J day, and continuing with his vacation. Then, on Wednesday, when he finally got around to saying something, it turned out to be a flat, defensive, laundry list of a speech. These are not the actions of a president in touch with the country -- especially a president who usually excels at reacting to tragedies like this."

Liberal AMERICAblog reviews Bush's 8/31 speech: "First, he recited a list of the facts about the situation...like he had just learned them himself. But, hey, he saw the devastation....he asked the pilot of Air Force One to fly over the gulf coast. He asked that himself, he told us. ... He should be challenging the oil industry not to gouge...and not to screw with the American people. He should, but he won't. This gas thing is going to get really ugly...really, really ugly. And Bush's pals in the industry better not be reaping windfalls."

Anti-war righty Cunning Realist: "First, this president has either completely lost his "politician's sixth sense" about what do to when the spotlight is on, or he's getting some utterly gawd-awful advice from his handlers. Maybe it's both. ... Perhaps the answer to all this lies in the following question: Do George Bush's actions demonstrate that he even wants to be president at this point?"

Andrew Sullivan, on the Times-Picayune article (hosted at TPM Cafe) re: the Bush admin's '04 "cuts to protecting New Orleans' levees": I agree with a commenter on [TPM Cafe]: 'There's of course no way to know whether this would have made any difference.' But it's not a plus for the president right now."

Democrats.com's Bob Fertik wonders why the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, which shows Bush at 45% approval, does not include a question on impeachment. He posts text of a letter he sent to the Post and ABC, pointing out that Pat Buchanan has suggested impeachment, and during the Lewinsky scandal pollsters asked the question regularly.

Bush is not without his defenders: PoliPundit's Lorie Byrd disagrees the Howard Fineman's latest column, questioning Bush's response. She writes: "I think it is fine that he did a fly over in Air Force One, but I really don't think he needs to be anywhere near the disaster site until things are under control. Presidents, and the entourage that comes with them, get in the way and that is the last thing rescue workers need." RedState: "If we're going to get into the politics of this (and they haven't even found all of the bodies yet, so why not?), let's not skew any of the blame from the highly efficient, corruption free government of Louisiana. Their preparation for a disaster they've feared for decades should have them lined up in the street and shot, if we're gonna go this route. That's one hell of a lot of dead Democrats."

KATRINA IV: Start Making Sense

A sampling from among the many other conversation threads about what Katrina means to New Orleans, the Gulf coast and the U.S. at large:

In a 9/1 post, Wizbang's Paul writes: "Now consider this... ~10 feet of water in a city for ~10 weeks. Most homes will simply dissolve. Basically anything under 3 stories is gone... But the big concrete buildings including the office buildings are safe right? We just replace the interior of the bottom floors right? Not so fast.... In New Orleans (and many other places) our buildings 'float' via a system of modo [sic] sized pilings. The mud is too soft to actually support them but the friction holds them in place. -- Now take that same mud and let it sit underwater for 10 weeks. The foundation of our 30 to 40+ story skyscrapers will erode. When that happens they will start to lean.... 40 story buildings don't "lean" too well."

The question of whether to rebuild New Orleans, posed bluntly in a post by Jeff Jarvis on 8/30, is generating a lot of discussion. Captain's Quarters speaks for many bloggers: "Americans don't do pessimism, not as policy and not as part of our national character. ... How we take care of New Orleans will say something about our national character and whether it remains as tough and optimistic as our history, for all its flaws, amply demonstrates. Will we walk away from a tough fight? Will America shrug its shoulders and tell the city that we don't want to take on difficult tasks? Make no mistake; our response to New Orleans will say just as much about our staying power as a cut-and-run from Iraq would, and to much the same audience." Joe's Dartblog: "The answers is yes. Yes, things are rebuilt. Yes, when we are attacked we rebuild. Yes, when there is a torrent we rebuild. Yes, things are rebuilt. ... For this city founded in 1718 and for the 1,337,726 Americans there and in its environs, there can be no greater measure of emotional aid than to cease discussion of letting New Orleans die." Conservative John Hawkins doesn't quite say N.O. should not be rebuilt, but he leans that direction: "Do we really want to rebuild what amounts to a major city in a saucer? ... Maybe this sounds outrageous to some people, but I question whether we should be sinking 30-40-50 billion dollars into a city that's probably always going to be one hurricane away from total ruination."

A controversy floated by Daily Kos, Eschaton and a user of Flickr: The comparison of 2 photos from Yahoo News of New Orleanians wading through chest-deep water; the 1st described a young black man as a looter, while the 2nd did not so describe 2 young whites. Neither photo implied much more context. Conservative Xrlq responds, pointing out that Yahoo doesn't write the captions. AllahPundit, in Xrlq's comments: "It is indeed comic to see leftists trying to pin this on Yahoo News instead of AFP. Do they not know who writes the captions for these photos? Or does it simply not fit the narrative to blame the French?" One Hand Clapping, on the looters: "Probably there's nothing left to loot and once the TV and stereo snatchers found they couldn't eat or drink them, the glamour wore off pretty quickly. I'd be willing to bet that within a couple of blocks of stores there is a lot of snatched stuff sunk under the water. It's hard to lug a set of Michelins through chest high sludge, I'm guessing."

Re: the econ. impact of Katrina, the official NAM blog lists a few salient facts: N.O. "exported $26.1 billion of manufactured goods" and "a quarter of U.S. agricultural goods." Plus: "Overall, New Orleans port shipped out 5% of U.S. total exports."

Brendan Loy writes, earlier this summer he had criticized "War of the Worlds" for its "portrayal of an overwhelming tendency toward mob savagery," but in the wake of Katrina, the movie seems to have been on-target: "[W]hen society's usual safeguards and structures break down, it takes only a relatively small group of people acting like savages to make life totally untenable for the majority whose inclination is to remain non-savage, forcing them to either become savage themselves or else be utterly at the savages' mercy."

Posted by at September 1, 2005 12:38 PM