Monthly Archives: September 2005

Summer of antics blurs focus on field

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Inquirer: Summer of antics blurs focus on field

So it turns out a summer filled with distractions, disgruntlement and dismay carries over to the playing field after all.

All through training camp, Andy Reid assured reporters (and possibly himself) that the craziness surrounding his team wouldn’t affect his mature, veteran players.

The Eagles coach was proved wrong last night.

Actually, Reid had better hope he was wrong and the Eagles’ wobbly season debut was the result of too much T.O., too much Brian Westbrook, and too much Corey Simon. The alternative explanation is too grim to think about.

The issue here is focus, and the Eagles were out of it last night.

Jeremiah Trotter was the first to lose it, allowing himself to be baited into a pregame shoving match with Falcons backup cornerback Kevin Mathis. Trotter was ejected. So was Mathis, but you have to think that’s a deal the Falcons would happily make any time.

Donovan McNabb couldn’t have been focused when he threw that bizarre pass for Westbrook that landed well behind the running back and became a fumble.

Terrell Owens didn’t look focused on the deep pass McNabb threw him in the first quarter. Owens never looked back, and Atlanta’s DeAngelo Hall was able to make an easy interception. And then there was the third-down pass Owens dropped, killing another drive.

The Eagles were called for illegal-formation penalties on each of their first two possessions. That is just plain ridiculous. After six weeks of practices at Lehigh and in South Philadelphia, how do you line up in an illegal formation twice in the span of five offensive plays?

Lack of focus, that’s how.

New York Times takes bridge blocking story national

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New York Times: Police in Suburbs Blocked Evacuees, Witnesses Report:

Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said.

The paramedics and two other witnesses said officers sometimes shot guns over the heads of fleeing people, who, instead of complying immediately with orders to leave the bridge, pleaded to be let through, the paramedics and two other witnesses said. The witnesses said they had been told by the New Orleans police to cross that same bridge because buses were waiting for them there.

Instead, a suburban police officer angrily ordered about 200 people to abandon an encampment between the highways near the bridge. The officer then confiscated their food and water, the four witnesses said. The incidents took place in the first days after the storm last week, they said.

“The police kept saying, ‘We don’t want another Superdome,’ and ‘This isn’t New Orleans,’ ” said Larry Bradshaw, a San Francisco paramedic who was among those fleeing.

Arthur Lawson, chief of the Gretna, La., Police Department, confirmed that his officers, along with those from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Crescent City Connection Police, sealed the bridge.

“There was no place for them to come on our side,” Mr. Lawson said.

Daily News blogger Will Bunch (one of the greatest blogs in Philly IMHO) had the following to say at Attytood: There’s an old sheriff in town: The legacy of racism in the parish that blocked N.O. from fleeing Hell

…it could be said that Jefferson Parish is in some ways like a lot of American suburbs — comprised of white-flight refugees from a decaying city, and overly anxious to keep out what they left behind.

And sadly, in a time of chaos, they just did what came naturally. With a few warning shots, for good measure.

Meanwhile Bush cronies are are getting rebuilding contracts – including Haliburton. Who coulda guessed?

Must reads are articles in the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Lots of blame to go around. Complete failure of leadership from top to bottom. And saddly it looks like those nearest the horror had the fewest resources to deal with it – and when they asked for help – it was slow in responding.

Duncan Black issues a call to keep light on NOLA’s reconstruction:

It’s going to be boring, monotonous, dreary work, mostly leading to a bunch of boring, monotonous stories that no one cares much about. It’s going to involve maps and city council meetings and minutes and documents and building permits and construction contracts and titles. But, it will, if done right, also involve people.

Please, press, both local and national, do your job following the saga of the reconstruction of New Orleans. There are going to be land grabs and corruption and bribery and efforts by the NO elite to keep the poor from returning.

Please, follow the story. You’ll be the only watchdog for this.

Reflect and remember

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A prayer for all those that stand in harms way to protect what we hold dear, a prayer for families who have lost so much, and a prayer for peace in our time. Remember. Reflect. Learn.

I have this to say, and apologies to all those I offend: Four years. Four years after the horror of 9-11. Four years, and the bastards that committed their evil are still permitted to walk this earth, their message has spread, and they have committed more horrible acts. Four years and the unprecedented one party rule of our Senate, House, and Executive branch hasn’t sealed the deal. Four years, and it would appear, observing our response to Katrina, that we are no safer than we were. Four years. Four years. Four years. Don’t just remember and stew in anger. Reflect and learn. Then find a way and act. Three is work to be done.

PHOTO TAKEN- 0911901- of twin towers ground-zero

Scott Rosenberg talks to his 2001 self:

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “2005?!?! My god, fill me in. These last few weeks have been rough! Give me some hope, okay?”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Come on! Four years! Where did they finally find Osama? And what did they do to him?”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “I assume the Taliban are long gone from Afghanistan, right? This war we’re fighting can’t take too much longer.”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “And what with the outpouring of international support for the U.S. these days, there must be some wonderful achievements in global cooperation!”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Oh, yeah, now there are these bizarre anthrax incidents… Who was it, anyway? What a relief it must have been to find that out!”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “You’re not saying very much. What gives?”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “You remember all that talk about Iraq at the start of the first Bush administration? They invaded.”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Yeah? Don’t tell me — Saddam was behind the anthrax!”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “No, no…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Or, what, did he finally find a way to launch his own terrorist attack?”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Nope.”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “They caught him building a nuke!”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well, no.”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “So…?”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “They told us Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But we never found the weapons, even after we toppled him. Then they told us it didn’t matter because we were building a better democratic Iraq. Then they told us not to give up despite thousands of American casualties, because if we pulled out we’d be dishonoring the soldiers who’d already died.”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Damn. I guess that means Bush lost the election in ’04, huh?”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Anyway, the most important thing is that, four years later, the U.S. has had enough time to plan and prepare for another horror. The next time an American city is endangered, we’ll be all set, right? Swift response. Leaders who spring into action. Better communications. Organization. The can-do American spirit.”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Well…”

2001 Scott Rosenberg: “Enough! Get back to the future already! You’re just bumming me out.”

2005 Scott Rosenberg: “Hey, you’re bumming me out, too!”

Police Trapped Thousands in New Orleans

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The story I shared yesterday is now getting exposure all over the web. Rogers Cadenhead summarized it to its core and his message thread is filled with outrage (and trolls):

As the situation grew steadily worse in New Orleans last week, you might have wondered why people didn’t just leave on foot. The Louisiana Superdome is less than two miles from a bridge that leads over the Mississippi River out of the city.

The answer: Any crowd that tried to do so was met by suburban police, some of whom fired guns to disperse the group and seized their water.

Around 500 people stuck in downtown New Orleans after the storm banded together for self-preservation, making sure the oldest and youngest among them were taken care of before looking after their own needs.

Two San Francisco paramedics who were staying in the French Quarter for a convention have written a first-hand account that describes their appalling treatment at the hands of Louisiana police, a story confirmed today by the San Francisco Chronicle, UPI, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

I added the following in his thread:

Shepard Smith on Fox News (video) confirmed this story as well:

They won’t let them walk out of there because I’m standing right above that Convention Center, and what they’ve done is they’ve locked them in there.

The government said you go here and you’ll get help or you go in that Superdome and you’ll get help. And they didn’t get help.

They got locked in there. And they watched people being killed around them. And they watched people starving. And they watched elderly people not getting any medicine.

And now they know it’s happening because we’ve been telling them. Repeatidly. Over and over every day.

And you know what they’re doing now? And I’m not blaming anyone, I’m you telling what’s happening.

They’ve setup a checkpoint at the bottom of this bridge. This is the bridge that takes you from New Orleans over into Gretna. From Orleans Parish, into Jefferson Parish. It’s the only way out. It’s the connection to the rest of the world. And they’ve set up a checkpoint and anyone who walks up, out of that city now is turned around.

You are not allowed to go to Gretna Louisiana, from New Orleans Louisiana.

Over there is hope. Over there is electricity. Over there is food and water. But you cannot go from there to there. The government will not allow you to do it.