Three-star Lt. General Honore may earn another star.

He’s in charge of the National Guard moving through New Orleans.
Colourful.

“If you ever have 20,000 people come to supper, you know what I’m talking about. If it’s easy, it would have been done already.”

Pragmatic.

“By-and-large, these are families that are just waiting to get out of here. They are frustrated; I would be, too. I get frustrated at the cash register counter when the paper runs out.”

Realistic.

Hundreds of National Guard and active duty troops are carrying weapons in the city. But the way they carried those guns was a concern to the general.

He ordered all he encountered to point their weapons down, said CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr, who was with the general. Honore repeatedly went up to military vehicles, National Guardsmen standing sentry and even to New Orleans police officers, telling them to please point their weapons down and reminding them that they were not in Iraq.

I want to believe more Jean Valjean’s than Javerts are assisting.

What I have read at some god-blogs this week has been as frightening as some of the suffering, desperation, plight and anarchy.

By the way, many unbelievers don’t know this, but hatred is not a sin. I’m sure you Bible-reading Christians know where to find the verses confirming that assertion. For the rest of you, perhaps your time would be better spent reading the Bible instead of reading my blog every day and complaining about what I write.

I have done a study of hate in the bible, this statement is partly true, but not all true. If anyone with a Rev or MDiv or PhD would like to tackle this, and let me know, I’ll link up.

And as recovery and evacuations continue, now with stepped up authority and order, I wonder how many will be shot. I also wonder how many of the criminals that terrorized the vulnerable in New Orleans will succumb to water borne viruses and pathogens before the National Guard finds them and rounds them up.

Update: The National Guard has set up a tempory arrest holding area. Charges will be laid under federal law.

Beware the false prophets, the opportunists, the cruel ones with idols of their own making

British tourists trapped in the Superdome call out for help.

Canadian consulate workers are tracking Canadians and doing all they can to get them out of the hurricane ravaged areas.

In Houston, 15 countries set up flags at reception tables in the Astrodome in an attempt to find their citizens, get them processed and get them home.

Colby Cosh looks at why the Dutch seawall system is worth a look, but may not work in Louisiana.

147 people are confirmed dead in Mississippi

Redwood Dragon

I met a refugee from New Orleans
Who said: A shattered monument lies prone
There in Lake George. Near it, ‘midst scenes
Of hopeless rage, its shattered visage, lone
And leering lies half sunk, (more)

Tourists an afterthought

40 thousand ill and injured people have been processed and airlifted from the New Orleans Airport

150 miles of coastline is devestated. The flattened and destroyed acreage is larger than Great Britian.

Fema is listing it’s accomplishments. There will be time to autopsy the chain of failures but right now people need help, need to see and hear what is being done.

Fema says 800 ill and injured will continue to be triaged each hour through the airport field hospital

154 thousand people are in shelters in Texas

Thousands more have been taken in by family and friends.

Locusts and Wild Honey in New Orleans lost everything, and everyone he cares for lost everything they own. Rev. Elborne is focused on finding people. (via Notes in the Key of Life)

Some evacuated far from the storms path, others left the lowest areas but still endured treacherous weather. Some huddled in attics and others swam to safety in the midst of the storm. Only God’s miraculous intervention spared their lives. We know of several in our community, not in our immediate church membership, who did lose their lives.

The Red Cross says 94 thousand people are in 300 of its shelters in eight states: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia.

Wanderings of a Post Modern Pilgrim

As far as I can tell in my awareness of human nature, you put thousands of people in high stress, without food, water and comfort, then ignore them for several days as things seem only to get worse… well, what can we expect. I don’t care if it is New Orleans after Katrina, Los Angeles of San Francisco when the San Andreas Fault lets go with the BIG one, Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein, or wherever. The possibility of lawlessness should always be anticipated in emergency management planning. To not do so is carless and dangerous.

What do you give to the richest country in the world?