Carl on Katrina

Dear Friends,

As the dimensions of the Katrina disaster slowly become apparent, this is all I have to say.

Eleven years ago, my brother and I found ourselves on the Sunset Limited train, Amtrak's Los Angeles to Orlando service. It was a long ride and we talked to people from all over. One person was a young woman from Pass Christian, Mississippi. The name of her hometown was intriguing enough and she told us about the ups and downs of small-town life along the Gulf Coast. She got off at either Bay St. Louis or Gulfport (Pass Christian lays right between the two) and as it was the middle of the night, we couldn't really see much. Earlier that day, we were able to see the natural wonders of the Bayou as the train snaked through southern Louisiana. All we saw of New Orleans itself was the train station. These are places I have since longed to return to, to really visit them. Today, some of them, Pass Christian in particular, are devastated or simply gone.

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For local perspective on how real people in that area are coping with the situation, I urge you to look at this local paper.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/12537525.htm

While these folks are dealing with reality, others wade deeper into Wonderland. For examples of opportunism and sick minds in a time of crisis, I ask you to look at the editorial below. While these are religiously inspired, we all know that there are secular versions of this kind of NONSENSE. I am sure you have come across instances of this. Allow me to express deep shame caused by the ones coming out of Europe. Instead of engaging - thereby surely wasting energy put to better use elsewhere - in the blame game of your choice, why not volunteer or make a donation to the Red Cross (see links below)? The time will come for assessment, analysis and even justified recrimination. That time is NOT now. At least not for the people in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. And if they are trying to survive, who are we to do anything other than try to help?

always, Carl

From the Philadelphia Inquirer: September 2, 2005.
Nonsense in a time of crisis

"From some, crisis elicits bravery, generosity and endurance.
From others, alas, it elicits nonsense. In Katrina's heart-rending aftermath, here are three examples of foul hot air blowing at hurricane force:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who you'd think would have a little more sense of how to behave in the face of tragedy, wrote an essay suggesting, half-seriously, that the hurricane's landfall in Mississippi was God's punishment to the state's governor, Haley Barbour. It seems Barbour, former national chair of the Republican Party, did a turn as an oil lobbyist during President Bush's first term and wrote some memos opposing sound global warming policy. Some climatologists see a link between global warming and increased hurricane activity, but it's not proven. The main point is this: For God's sake, RFK Jr., Barbour right now is struggling to help his bleeding state. Now is the time to send the poor man aid and support, not op-eds looking to kneecap him on a policy point. You knew this next one was coming, and you can hardly be surprised who provided the inevitable idiocy: Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, speaking in Philadelphia on Wednesday, described the winds, floods and devastation along the Gulf Coast as God's first punishment for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. However you feel about the invasion, how can you watch on CNN the deprivation, shock and anguish of the poor people of New Orleans, Gulfport and Biloxi and say with satisfaction, "Yep, just deserts." Heartless, horrible and beneath contempt. Not to be outdone by Farrakhan, Michael Marcavage, locally based leader of a group called Repent America, also cast Katrina as an act of divine vengeance, not on Donald Rumsfeld, but on the sinful Big Easy itself. You see, Katrina's arrival came on the eve of a large gay festival in New Orleans. Words fail to express how obnoxious Marcavage's suggestion is. The problem of theodicy, how to explain why God lets bad things happen to good people, is as old as human awareness. But the noisome way these three comments resolve the conundrum is not only insensitive; it is, to use an old-fashioned word, blasphemy."

Donations:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083101758.html

http://www.n-tv.de/574442.html

www.redcross.org

Carl Bergquist
temporary address:
Koertestrasse 30, QU
10967 Berlin
Germany
+49 179 810 7201 (cell phone)

New Orleans Satellite

Tristan da Cunha

Want to see the most remote Islands in the World?


http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/tristan_da_cunha/tristan_map.html

I had been reading heart wrenching accounts of the living and dead left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I feel horrible that I will be spending my afternoon with my kids coaching football while other Americans are living and dying in such horrific fashion just a few states away. As I was thinking about what I could do to help from Oregon, I was relieved to see that Britney was okay.

Britney Spears Prays for Hurricane Victims
By Associated Press
Thu Sep 1, 4:40 AM

NEW YORK - Britney Spears, who was raised in Kentwood, La., says she is praying for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In a posting on her Web site, the 23-year-old pop star writes that her "thoughts and prayers go out to everyone" in the states along the devastated Gulf Coast.

"All of my family members there are safe and thank you to all my fans for your concern," says Spears.

Absolutely disgusting that this would be posted as a major story on Comcast's website. If they needed to cover a celebrity angle, how about more on the still missing father of Rock & Roll, Fats Domino, or the lack of celebrity fund raising to rival that for the recent Tsunami victims? Any 'fan' that voiced concern for Britney or her family should be removed from the country.

I apologize Package, I'm just a bit fired up.

Tolerating others is the price we pay for being tolerated ourselves.

Power of Myth

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth is essential viewing for anyone old enough to appreciate its vital teachings. One of the greatest interviews ever recorded, this six-part, six-hour encounter between teacher- mythologist Campbell and student-journalist Bill Moyers (recorded in the two years preceding Campbell's death in 1988) covers a galaxy of topics related to Campbell's central themes: Mythology is humanity's universal method of seeking the transcendental, and "follow your bliss" is the timeless formula for spiritual satisfaction. Campbell himself is the embodiment of these themes, an erudite scholar and quintessential storyteller, recalling a wide spectrum of myths from throughout history (Japanese, Native American, Egyptian, Mayan, and many more) to illustrate humankind's eternal quest to grasp the mysteries of creation. Historical artifacts and illustrations bring these timeless stories to life.
An astute interviewer, Moyers is an acolyte in perfect harmony with Campbell-as- mentor, wording questions with penetrating perfection as their intellectual dance reaches exhilarating heights of meaning and fascination. Moyers also finds the perfect hook for a global audience, examining Campbell's admiration of George Lucas's Star Wars saga as a popular tapestry of ancient myths, and Lucas himself is interviewed in a DVD bonus segment ("I'm not creating a new myth," he says, "but telling old myths in a new way"). Campbell's seemingly endless well of knowledge reaches a simple conclusion: we need myths to survive like we need oxygen to breathe, as a life force with which to understand our existence--past, present, and future.

An astoundingly vicious hit piece on President Bush, at (where else?) the New York Times: Waiting for a Leader.
Once again, the leftist media is going way over the top, working every conceivable angle to damage the war effort and the Bush administration. Global warming, Kyoto Protocol, National Guard in Iraq, levee funding cuts—all the fault of President Bush. History began with his presidency, apparently, and anything bad that happens anywhere on Earth can be laid at his feet.
It’s beyond disgusting.