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In a message dated 9/2/2005 11:33:25 A.M. Central Daylight Time,

bbledsoe@... writes:

My son's special forces reserve unit in Dallas is being sent down there.

BEB

I lost a student who is a TxNG MP to NOLA Monday (2 weeks left in class too

he was doing well) and both my coordinator and my Asisistnt Instructor are

deployed with TX DMAT 1 to SA. Backfill is becoming an iusseu even in

education.

Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

LNMolino@...

(Office)

(Cell Phone)

(Office Fax)

" A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and the

author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with unless

I

specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended only for

its

stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain by the

original author.

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See now everyone knows I can't spell or type as I hit send TOO fast on that

last post.

Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

LNMolino@...

(Office)

(Cell Phone)

(Office Fax)

" A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and the

author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with unless

I

specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended only for

its

stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain by the

original author.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Lou:

I am a member of the Texas National Guard.I have not received orders, I am

hoping that our illustroius governor gives us orders to go and assist

them.The people in NO desperately need our help.I called my unit and no

orders have come down. I am going to eagerly jump when orders are in hand.

Regards,rabbiems

> [Original Message]

>

> To: < >

> Date: 9/2/2005 10:21:59 AM

> Subject: Perspective

>

> Cut and pasted in its entirety from another list.

>

> From: " "

> To: " Bill "

> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:51:35 -0600

> Subject: The PMAC will never host an important event like it did tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or

more surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and

held a

> press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the

right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we

decided

> as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

> At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

form

> for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

important

> than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

copies

> and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

the area

> for another 8 hours.

> On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

the

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on

roofs.

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode

back to

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

up.

> We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the

survivors

> and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

for the

> first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

rolled in

> from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

was

> dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

hauling in

> supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

arrived

> directing us what to do.

> One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

loot.

> I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

counter

> terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to

come

> help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening

to hear

> that.

> After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then

IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and Big Baby and Tasmin

helped

> us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were

giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym " Dungeon " was being used as

a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

> I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

in

> and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

lowest of

> the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

left. He

> turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what

everybody was

> saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

the attic,

> smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

completely

> sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

here

> he was.

> We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the

way.

> As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because

a looter or

> a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

with

> him said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

right

> now. " A few minutes later he was unconcious and later pronounced dead. I

then

> left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I

couldn't

> take it anymore.

> That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on

things.

> For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God

bless.

> Bill

> LSU Sports Information

>

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and

the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with

unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended

only for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain

by the

> original author.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Lou:

I am a member of the Texas National Guard.I have not received orders, I am

hoping that our illustroius governor gives us orders to go and assist

them.The people in NO desperately need our help.I called my unit and no

orders have come down. I am going to eagerly jump when orders are in hand.

Regards,rabbiems

> [Original Message]

>

> To: < >

> Date: 9/2/2005 10:21:59 AM

> Subject: Perspective

>

> Cut and pasted in its entirety from another list.

>

> From: " "

> To: " Bill "

> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:51:35 -0600

> Subject: The PMAC will never host an important event like it did tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or

more surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and

held a

> press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the

right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we

decided

> as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

> At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

form

> for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

important

> than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

copies

> and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

the area

> for another 8 hours.

> On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

the

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on

roofs.

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode

back to

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

up.

> We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the

survivors

> and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

for the

> first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

rolled in

> from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

was

> dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

hauling in

> supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

arrived

> directing us what to do.

> One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

loot.

> I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

counter

> terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to

come

> help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening

to hear

> that.

> After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then

IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and Big Baby and Tasmin

helped

> us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were

giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym " Dungeon " was being used as

a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

> I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

in

> and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

lowest of

> the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

left. He

> turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what

everybody was

> saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

the attic,

> smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

completely

> sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

here

> he was.

> We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the

way.

> As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because

a looter or

> a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

with

> him said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

right

> now. " A few minutes later he was unconcious and later pronounced dead. I

then

> left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I

couldn't

> take it anymore.

> That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on

things.

> For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God

bless.

> Bill

> LSU Sports Information

>

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and

the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with

unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended

only for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain

by the

> original author.

>

>

>

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Share on other sites

My son's special forces reserve unit in Dallas is being sent down there.

BEB

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Borenstein

Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 11:09 AM

To:

Subject: RE: Perspective

Thanks Lou:

I am a member of the Texas National Guard.I have not received orders, I am

hoping that our illustroius governor gives us orders to go and assist

them.The people in NO desperately need our help.I called my unit and no

orders have come down. I am going to eagerly jump when orders are in hand.

Regards,rabbiems

> [Original Message]

>

> To: < >

> Date: 9/2/2005 10:21:59 AM

> Subject: Perspective

>

> Cut and pasted in its entirety from another list.

>

> From: " "

> To: " Bill "

> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:51:35 -0600

> Subject: The PMAC will never host an important event like it did tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or

more surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and

held a

> press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the

right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we

decided

> as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

> At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

form

> for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

important

> than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

copies

> and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

the area

> for another 8 hours.

> On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

the

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on

roofs.

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode

back to

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

up.

> We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the

survivors

> and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

for the

> first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

rolled in

> from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

was

> dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

hauling in

> supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

arrived

> directing us what to do.

> One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

loot.

> I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

counter

> terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to

come

> help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening

to hear

> that.

> After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then

IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and Big Baby and Tasmin

helped

> us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were

giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym " Dungeon " was being used as

a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

> I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

in

> and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

lowest of

> the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

left. He

> turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what

everybody was

> saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

the attic,

> smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

completely

> sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

here

> he was.

> We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the

way.

> As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because

a looter or

> a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

with

> him said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

right

> now. " A few minutes later he was unconcious and later pronounced dead. I

then

> left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I

couldn't

> take it anymore.

> That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on

things.

> For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God

bless.

> Bill

> LSU Sports Information

>

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and

the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with

unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended

only for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain

by the

> original author.

>

>

>

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Share on other sites

Dno't woryr Luo,

Nodoby noitced.

Mike

> Re: Perspective

>

>

> See now everyone knows I can't spell or type as I hit send TOO

> fast on that

> last post.

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the

> author and the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or

> associated with unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is

> intended only for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the

> public domain by the

> original author.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I take it the gentlemen is not an EMS person.

Not to be cynical, but the kind of stuff he describes is something we see

everyday. Just spend a night at The Tubs (Ben Taub Hospital) in Houston and

you'll see that and worse.

Perhaps your friend will now have a concept of what EMS folks deal with each

and every day and tell his friends. I hate that he has had to go through

this, and I applaud him for his humanity, but I also wish he had taken all his

football players to the Morgue and let them wander among the corpses, smell

them, look at their wounds, and contemplate what death is like.

One Sunday morning in Mexico City I accompanied a med student friend to the

Medical Examiner's Morgue. He made extra money assisting with autopsies every

weekend. When we got there, I was almost overwhelmed by the smell and the

sheer numbers of corpses. They were stacked everywhere, in the halls, on top

of each other, in the autopsy rooms (the refrigerators were full) and, by

actual count, there were 57 of them who had met their maker over the last 24

hours

from trauma or other than natural causes. I got to see a lot that day, and

I'll never forget it.

But it's not unusual, and the next weekend---same thing.

Why am I reciting this? Because the average person is SO INSULATED from the

horrors of life that we deal with daily that they have no concept of what

it's about.

While I regret every loss of life in NOLA, perhaps this event will serve to

bring home to some folks who have lived in ivory towers just what life on the

streets is all about.

A good friend's son just got deployed to Iraq, and in two weeks his Humvee

has been blown up by an IED, his unit has been attacked by mortars almost every

night, he has come under fire daily and shot back at numerous folks. His

life is on the line every minute.

Now, while I realize that there are many folks in NOLA who simply could not

find a way to leave, there were plenty of others who could have and did not.

I'm sorry about them and their loss of life and property. But what's

happening there is no different from what's happening all over the world in

other

places. Only now it's us it's happening to.

We have lead charmed lives here in this great country. Maybe it's time we

started thinking about the security of our nation in earnest. Not just our

security from those who hate us, but our ability to respond to natural

disasters. God forbid that a terrorist act that might disrupt another urban

area

happen on the heels of this one. What would we do? Whine?

What I see from this incident is a nation that is complacent, soft, lazy, and

collectively dumb. We blew it, and it's not just our politicians who blew

it. It's we, ourselves, who blew it by continually placing our greed for

creature comforts over the welfare of our nation.

As I have said before on here, I grew up during WW II at a time when the

whole nation was on a war footing. Every single man, woman and child were

intimately involved in the war effort in some way. I remember mashing tin cans

so

that they could be recycled, and I remember food rationing, gasoline

rationing, the inability to buy tires, shoes, and even the money changed.

There were

no copper pennies because all the copper was needed for the war effort.

Ladies met weekly to make bandages out of old sheets and clothing. Almost

every family took in a soldier at some time or another.

The times were hard, I know, but there was a wonderful sense of community and

a joy in doing what we could do for the war effort. We didn't have

television, but when a major event happened, loudspeakers were set up behind the

post

office, and everybody in town gathered to listen to President Roosevelt or

Winston Churchill speak.

I remember some of those speeches. These folks knew how to make a speech.

They didn't giggle and smirk while they were speaking, and they rallied the

people in ways I have never seen since.

I remember Roosevelt saying, " The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, "

and Churchill saying,

" We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the

seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing strength in the air, we shall

defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we

shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the

streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender. "

I remember my grandfather reading that quote to us at Sunday dinner. He

emphasized the part about " we shall defend [ourselves], whatever the cost may

be,

we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we

shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, WE

SHALL NEVER SURRENDER. "

I remember the day Roosevelt died, and everybody was crying. And then

Truman, who had been kept completely in the dark about the atomic bomb, made the

decision to end the war.

Most of you have no idea what I'm talking about because not since then has

our country been unified in fighting a war. In fact, since then we have never

fought a war with the sole purpose of winning at whatever cost.

We went in to Korea as a " police action " and Truman refused to turn MacArthur

loose on the Chinese. We went into Viet Nam without a clear goal, and we

got run out with our tail between our legs because we had no plan to win.

Now, we are in the second Iraq war. We could have won the first one but our

politicians decided not to.

We now are told that we must stay the course in Iraq II, but we have neither

committed the troops nor the resources necessary to win it. And our leaders

have led us to believe that we can still maintain our soft, cushy existence at

home while sending troops to do a job that they lack the tools to accomplish.

We are not on war status. Other than the families who have Soldiers,

Sailors, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, and CIA personnel on the front

lines,

we are unconcerned. We leave these uncomfortable things to others, and we

don't want to think about what is really happening.

Our politicians refuse to let us see the coffins of dead soldiers being

returned to us because they want to maintain the illusion that nothing unusual

is

going on, we're winning, and we'll be out of there someday. One prominent

politician scoffed at the notion that we would be in Iraq very long, stating

that

the whole thing would be over in 5 days or 5 weeks. That was a long time

ago. Another one stated that we would be greeted with rose petals. Well,

we've been greeted with mortars, IEDs and rocket fire.

Still, our politicians are unwilling to tell us the truth. We need many

more troops, more hardware, and

more resolve. We need the draft. We are so short of manpower that we're

unable to handle a natural disaster at the same time we're fighting a foreign

war. What would happen if a devastating earthquake hit California tomorrow?

What would happen if North Korea decided to attack South Korea? We could

not possibly respond to those situations with our present resources. We're

using National Guard as front line soldiers in Iraq, and they are not around to

defend the homeland or deal with natural disasters. Not only that, our

government didn't even have a list of available placed to send refugees (YES,

REFUGEES. That's what they ARE.).

We, the most powerful country in the world cannot even handle a natural

disaster today without fucking it up. Our leaders created a bureaucracy,

Homeland

Security, that is an agency without a rudder, that has spent billions of

dollars without ONE THING to show for it at the local level, and it is

responsible

for the botching of the response to Katrina. But Congress and the President

deserve just as much blame.

We get the government we deserve because we vote for who governs us. Most

of us do not bother to vote. So those who didn't vote have no room to gripe.

But for those of us who do, let's for once hold our politicians' feet to the

fire. Let's get up close and personal with them and challenge them to prove

to us that they've got the brains and the will to do what needs to happen in

this country next election.

I'm not a fan of any political party. I happen to think that professional

politicians, of whatever party, are scum, and the lowest form of blood sucking

life. I will vote for the person who can show some leadership. So far,

nobody in the federal government has showed a rat turd's worth of leadership.

If you love your country, get involved.

I am encouraged by what the people of Houston are doing. I'm sure that

Texas will make us proud in the coming weeks. We're special folks in Texas,

and

we'll do what has to be done. It would be nice if we had some leaders to

lead us, but even without them, we'll do the right thing.

But this will not be over for a long time, and we'd damn well better be

thinking about getting our country ready for the next crisis. It will be along

long before we're ready for it.

Gene G.

And moderators, if you don't like my pithy language, grow up! I'm only

using language our kids use at school.

GG

> Cut and pasted in its entirety from another list.

>

> From:  " "

> To: " Bill "

> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:51:35  -0600

> Subject: The PMAC will never host an important event like it did  tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be  doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there  won't be a more gratifying or more

> surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We  went up to the office today and held

> a

> press conference regarding the  postponement of the game and it was the

> right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field  House are being used as shelters we decided

> as an office to do everything we  could to help the situation. 

> At  first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief form

> for all  of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

> important

> than that.  It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a  football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

> copies

> and carried them  over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave the

> area

> for another 8  hours. 

> On  the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

> movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course the 

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs. 

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode back

> to 

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

> up. 

> We  met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors

> and it  was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and for

> the

> first  time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man rolled

> in

> from New  Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he was

> dead. And that  was the scene all night. What did we do, we started hauling

> in

> supplies. And  thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta arrived

> directing us what  to do. 

> One  of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

> loot.

> I asked  him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of counter

> terrorism,  but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come

> help. He said the  death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to

> hear

> that. 

> After unloading supplies, I started  putting together baby cribs and then IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and  Big Baby and Tasmin helped

> us. At the same time, families and people  strolled in. Mothers were giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym  " Dungeon " was being used as a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see  it. 

> I  worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled in

> and  they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the lowest

> of

> the  low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take. 

> A  man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone  to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

> left. He

> turned  out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody

> was

> saying.  He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke.  Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to the

> attic,

> smashed his  way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was completely

> sunburned and  exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

> here

> he was. 

> We  finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way.

> As we  left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered  gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a

> looter or

> a  convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man with

> him  said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

> right

> now. " A  few minutes later he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I

> then

> left as  they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn't

> take it  anymore. 

> That was the scene at the PMAC and  it gives me a new perspective on things.

> For those of you who I haven't been  able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me  an email to let me know. God

> bless. 

> Bill

> LSU Sports  Information

>

>

> Louis N.  Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

>   (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A  Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are  the opinions of the author and

> the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to  speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or  associated with

> unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this  E-mail is intended only

> for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or  confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in  the public domain by

> the

> original author.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gene, I have bit my tongue and hoped as a usual lurker that someone else

would call you on this but as none have I feel compelled to do so.

I have the utmost respect for you, your experience, your credentials and

your dedication to EMS but......

Some of the things you state are exactly what I will bet that you have spent

your 20-30 + years in EMS fighting against. How many times have you heard

It took so long for the ambulance to get her " or " they got here and then

needed more people to haul grandpa down 4 flights of stairs, they should

have all come at once " .

My point is, no one can plan for this sort of catastrophe. When looking at

it in hindsight, even in this case, it is not easy to say what could have

been done differently.

The President and Congress of the United States could no more have looked at

the areas affected and predicted a MAJOR hurricane to do this sort of

devastation than you could look at the guy eating at Mcs and decide to

preposition outside when he goes down.

What you are asking of the United States Government is System Status

Management a nationwide scale. Predict what will happen, where it will

happen, plan for it and respond immediately! No more possible on a

statewide or regional scale as it is on a local scale. Regardless of

whether you claim a political party or not, this reeks of partisan rhetoric.

If President Bush's crystal ball had been functioning properly and he would

have foreseen the destruction mostly caused by a levee break and sent troops

in....they would be dead!!!

The levee around New Orleans has been there for a hundred years, it has been

improved upon and modified and studied and criticized. How can anyone say

that what happened only happened because of a cut in funding over the last

few years. If this same storm had hit 7 years ago, would everyone blame

Clinton??

It is a natural disaster of epic proportions. No amount of planning,

positioning or funding could prevent it.

The entire nation needs to cut the crap, cut the blaming, cut the

partisanship.

The administration of the US government, state government or local

government could no more plan for this than your county EMS could plan for 2

full arrests, a major accident with 7 critical injuries and an emergency 72%

O2 sat on a nasal cannula at the local nursing home. You couldn't handle it

you can't plan for it and you can't anticipate it...You just have to deal

with it.

Again, I have the utmost respect for you. I just think we as a country need

to quit finger pointing, blaming and accusing and get down to the business

at hand. Cut the partisanship, racism and accusatory BS and just get to

work.

Chambers, LP

-- The PMAC will never host an important event like it did tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or

more

> surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and

held

> a

> press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the

> right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we

decided

> as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

> At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

form

> for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

> important

> than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

> copies

> and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

the

> area

> for another 8 hours.

> On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

> movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

the

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode back

> to

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

> up.

> We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors

> and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

for

> the

> first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

rolled

> in

> from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

was

> dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

hauling

> in

> supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

arrived

> directing us what to do.

> One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

> loot.

> I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

counter

> terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come

> help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to

> hear

> that.

> After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then

IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and Big Baby and Tasmin

helped

> us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were

giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym " Dungeon " was being used as

a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

> I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

in

> and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

lowest

> of

> the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

> left. He

> turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody

> was

> saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

the

> attic,

> smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

completely

> sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

> here

> he was.

> We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way

> As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a

> looter or

> a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

with

> him said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

> right

> now. " A few minutes later he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I

> then

> left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn

t

> take it anymore.

> That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on

things.

> For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God

> bless.

> Bill

> LSU Sports Information

>

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and

> the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with

> unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended

only

> for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain

by

> the

> original author.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gene, I have bit my tongue and hoped as a usual lurker that someone else

would call you on this but as none have I feel compelled to do so.

I have the utmost respect for you, your experience, your credentials and

your dedication to EMS but......

Some of the things you state are exactly what I will bet that you have spent

your 20-30 + years in EMS fighting against. How many times have you heard

It took so long for the ambulance to get her " or " they got here and then

needed more people to haul grandpa down 4 flights of stairs, they should

have all come at once " .

My point is, no one can plan for this sort of catastrophe. When looking at

it in hindsight, even in this case, it is not easy to say what could have

been done differently.

The President and Congress of the United States could no more have looked at

the areas affected and predicted a MAJOR hurricane to do this sort of

devastation than you could look at the guy eating at Mcs and decide to

preposition outside when he goes down.

What you are asking of the United States Government is System Status

Management a nationwide scale. Predict what will happen, where it will

happen, plan for it and respond immediately! No more possible on a

statewide or regional scale as it is on a local scale. Regardless of

whether you claim a political party or not, this reeks of partisan rhetoric.

If President Bush's crystal ball had been functioning properly and he would

have foreseen the destruction mostly caused by a levee break and sent troops

in....they would be dead!!!

The levee around New Orleans has been there for a hundred years, it has been

improved upon and modified and studied and criticized. How can anyone say

that what happened only happened because of a cut in funding over the last

few years. If this same storm had hit 7 years ago, would everyone blame

Clinton??

It is a natural disaster of epic proportions. No amount of planning,

positioning or funding could prevent it.

The entire nation needs to cut the crap, cut the blaming, cut the

partisanship.

The administration of the US government, state government or local

government could no more plan for this than your county EMS could plan for 2

full arrests, a major accident with 7 critical injuries and an emergency 72%

O2 sat on a nasal cannula at the local nursing home. You couldn't handle it

you can't plan for it and you can't anticipate it...You just have to deal

with it.

Again, I have the utmost respect for you. I just think we as a country need

to quit finger pointing, blaming and accusing and get down to the business

at hand. Cut the partisanship, racism and accusatory BS and just get to

work.

Chambers, LP

-- The PMAC will never host an important event like it did tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or

more

> surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and

held

> a

> press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the

> right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we

decided

> as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

> At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

form

> for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

> important

> than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

> copies

> and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

the

> area

> for another 8 hours.

> On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

> movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

the

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode back

> to

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

> up.

> We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors

> and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

for

> the

> first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

rolled

> in

> from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

was

> dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

hauling

> in

> supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

arrived

> directing us what to do.

> One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

> loot.

> I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

counter

> terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come

> help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to

> hear

> that.

> After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then

IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and Big Baby and Tasmin

helped

> us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were

giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym " Dungeon " was being used as

a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

> I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

in

> and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

lowest

> of

> the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

> left. He

> turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody

> was

> saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

the

> attic,

> smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

completely

> sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

> here

> he was.

> We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way

> As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a

> looter or

> a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

with

> him said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

> right

> now. " A few minutes later he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I

> then

> left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn

t

> take it anymore.

> That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on

things.

> For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God

> bless.

> Bill

> LSU Sports Information

>

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and

> the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with

> unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended

only

> for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain

by

> the

> original author.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gene, I have bit my tongue and hoped as a usual lurker that someone else

would call you on this but as none have I feel compelled to do so.

I have the utmost respect for you, your experience, your credentials and

your dedication to EMS but......

Some of the things you state are exactly what I will bet that you have spent

your 20-30 + years in EMS fighting against. How many times have you heard

It took so long for the ambulance to get her " or " they got here and then

needed more people to haul grandpa down 4 flights of stairs, they should

have all come at once " .

My point is, no one can plan for this sort of catastrophe. When looking at

it in hindsight, even in this case, it is not easy to say what could have

been done differently.

The President and Congress of the United States could no more have looked at

the areas affected and predicted a MAJOR hurricane to do this sort of

devastation than you could look at the guy eating at Mcs and decide to

preposition outside when he goes down.

What you are asking of the United States Government is System Status

Management a nationwide scale. Predict what will happen, where it will

happen, plan for it and respond immediately! No more possible on a

statewide or regional scale as it is on a local scale. Regardless of

whether you claim a political party or not, this reeks of partisan rhetoric.

If President Bush's crystal ball had been functioning properly and he would

have foreseen the destruction mostly caused by a levee break and sent troops

in....they would be dead!!!

The levee around New Orleans has been there for a hundred years, it has been

improved upon and modified and studied and criticized. How can anyone say

that what happened only happened because of a cut in funding over the last

few years. If this same storm had hit 7 years ago, would everyone blame

Clinton??

It is a natural disaster of epic proportions. No amount of planning,

positioning or funding could prevent it.

The entire nation needs to cut the crap, cut the blaming, cut the

partisanship.

The administration of the US government, state government or local

government could no more plan for this than your county EMS could plan for 2

full arrests, a major accident with 7 critical injuries and an emergency 72%

O2 sat on a nasal cannula at the local nursing home. You couldn't handle it

you can't plan for it and you can't anticipate it...You just have to deal

with it.

Again, I have the utmost respect for you. I just think we as a country need

to quit finger pointing, blaming and accusing and get down to the business

at hand. Cut the partisanship, racism and accusatory BS and just get to

work.

Chambers, LP

-- The PMAC will never host an important event like it did tonight

>

>

> Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or

more

> surreal

> experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and

held

> a

> press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the

> right

> decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we

decided

> as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

> At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

form

> for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

> important

> than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

> copies

> and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

the

> area

> for another 8 hours.

> On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

> movie

> Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

the

> survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs

> Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode back

> to

> the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

> up.

> We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors

> and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

for

> the

> first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

rolled

> in

> from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

was

> dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

hauling

> in

> supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

arrived

> directing us what to do.

> One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

> loot.

> I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

counter

> terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come

> help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to

> hear

> that.

> After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then

IV

> poles. Several of our fball players and Big Baby and Tasmin

helped

> us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were

giving

> berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym " Dungeon " was being used as

a

> morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

> I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

in

> and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

lowest

> of

> the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

> left. He

> turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody

> was

> saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

the

> attic,

> smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

completely

> sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

> here

> he was.

> We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way

> As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a

> looter or

> a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

with

> him said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

> right

> now. " A few minutes later he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I

> then

> left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn

t

> take it anymore.

> That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on

things.

> For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of

> phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God

> bless.

> Bill

> LSU Sports Information

>

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> LNMolino@...

> (Office)

> (Cell Phone)

> (Office Fax)

>

> " A Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

>

> The comments contained in this E-mail are the opinions of the author and

> the

> author alone. I in no way ever intend to speak for any person or

> organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or associated with

> unless I

> specifically state that I am doing so. Further this E-mail is intended

only

> for its

> stated recipient and may contain private and or confidential materials

> retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in the public domain

by

> the

> original author.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your nice words, but they're probably not deserved. Perhaps I

should expand a little on my comments.

Read down.

GG

> Gene, I have bit my tongue and hoped as a usual lurker that someone else

> would call you on this but as none have I feel compelled to do so.

>

Well, thanks for doing it. I welcome the opportunity to expand upon my

previous thoughts.

>

> I have the utmost respect for you, your experience, your credentials and

> your dedication to EMS but......

>

> Some of the things you state are exactly what I will bet that you have spent

> your 20-30 + years in EMS fighting against.  How many times have you heard

> It took so long for the ambulance to get her "   or " they got here and then

> needed more people to haul grandpa down 4 flights of stairs, they should

> have all come at once " .

>

> My point is, no one can plan for this sort of catastrophe.  When looking at

> it in hindsight, even in this case, it is not easy to say what could have

> been done differently. 

>

You are correct that it's not easy, but in this case, there was a plethora of

information coming in from NOAA and military sources that was, essentially ign

ored by not only the feds but the local authorities. That this was a

disastrous storm was no surprise. There was ample time to have taken better

measures to deal with it. And that's documented in NOAA's records. So it's

not a

guess like SSM is.

FEMA was created for the exact purpose of planning for this kind of

catastrophe. That it failed is the fault of those who run the ship, in this

case,

W. Bush. It is the law of the sea that the Captain of the Ship is

responsible for everything. Bush appointed a doofus, Brown, to FEMA, because

he

was a political asslicker, and his former expertise was in running horse shows.

Also, Bush created the HSA and fractured FEMA and put it under the head of

the agency, Chertoff, who has absolutely no experience or expertise in running

a disaster response. So there was a double failure. Bush and his team

created a flawed department. We see that now, and now it will have to be

fixed.

>

> The President and Congress of the United States could no more have looked at

> the areas affected and predicted a MAJOR hurricane to do this sort of

> devastation than you could look at the guy eating at Mcs and decide to

> preposition outside when he goes down.

>

Wrong. This hurricane has been predicted for years, and there is ample data

on record to support that conclusion. For 40 years it has been discussed,

written about, and examined, that the levees of NOLA could not withstand a

hurricane of this magnitude. The LA Congressional delegation has tried for

years

to get money appropriated for the Corps of Engineers to fix this problem, but

Congress has never done it. Even Rush Limbaugh said this on his show today.

>

> What you are asking of the United States Government is System Status

> Management  a nationwide scale.  Predict what will happen, where it will

> happen, plan for it and respond immediately!  No more possible on a

> statewide or regional scale as it is on a local scale.  Regardless of

> whether you claim a political party or not, this reeks of partisan rhetoric.

> If President Bush's crystal ball had been functioning properly and he would

> have foreseen the destruction mostly caused by a levee break and sent troops

> in....they would be dead!!!

>

Not partisan. The U. S. Government, in the form of NOAA and the military

had ample warning of this storm, and they had no plan to deal with it, nor did

they deal with it. Neither did the Governor of Louisiana nor the Mayor of New

Orleans. All are responsible, but to say that this couldn't have been

planned for better is to ignore the facts. All knew 36 hours ahead of time

that

this was going to be a bad, bad storm.

>

> The levee around New Orleans has been there for a hundred years, it has been

> improved upon and modified and studied and criticized. How can anyone say

> that what happened only happened because of a cut in funding over the last

> few years.  If this same storm had hit 7 years ago, would everyone blame

> Clinton?? 

>

Yes, and rightly so. For 40 years folks have known that the levees were not

secure. The fault goes right through every administration, Democrat or

Republican. No president, starting with Nixon, has pushed this, and no

administration, Republican or Democrat has done it's duty, so all the goddam

politicians are guilty as sin. This is not a partisan thing. It is a

practical

thing. This could have been prevented, and the planning could have been done

and

carried out competently. Instead, Congress chose to pass a highway bill with

a zillion pork barrel projects, including one bridge to an uninhabited island

in Alaska that would have paid for about half the needed repairs to the

levees.

>

> It is a natural disaster of epic proportions.  No amount of planning,

> positioning or funding could prevent it.

>

True that it was a disaster of epic proportions. You cannot prevent the

storm, but you can plan, position, and fund for it. This has NOT been done.

Many, many things were not done that could have been, beginning with mobilizing

the school busses and city busses of NOLA to evacuate those who couldn't drive

out, doing more to force them out, and so forth. This was essentially a

local failure and the Mayor is responsible.

>

> The entire nation needs to cut the crap, cut the blaming, cut the

> partisanship.

>

Agreed. We need now to think about how we might respond if a terrorist

exploded a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, New York, or any other place. If we

can't get troops in in less than 3-5 days, then we're in deep shit. There is

plenty of blame to go around. It lies not just with W, although he just

happens

to be the Commander in Chief at this time, but with the whole government from

local to federal.

>

> The administration of the US government, state government or local

> government could no more plan for this than your county EMS could plan for 2

> full arrests, a major accident with 7 critical injuries and an emergency 72%

> O2 sat on a nasal cannula at the local nursing home.  You couldn't handle it

> you can't plan for it and you can't anticipate it...You just have to deal

> with it.

>

There will always be failures of a plan, but I am more optimistic than you

that things can be planned and carried out better than they have been. First,

we need to cut through the mass of red tape that requires the feds to wait

until a state governor requests aid before starting it. The President must

have the authority to order preparations, staging, and immediate response. The

whole scheme of things is wrong. Congress needs to respond to this

immediately. And I hear that the President and the Governor of LA sparred for

24

hours over who was going to control the national guard. That needs to be

fixed.

The Guv wanted to be able to use the troops to declare martial law, and the

Pres didn't. At least that is my understanding. Somebody should have

declared martial law the minute the goddam thing hit and moved the troops in.

Bush didn't have the authority to do that, but neither did his administration do

anything to fix that flaw in the law. [Also neither did Clinton, Bush 41,

Readan, or Nixon].

We must cut through this muddle or we're going to suffer one disaster after

another. Don't think for one minute that OBL and his followers have not been

tracking each and every mistake made, and preparing to capitalize on it.

I grew up during WW II, and I can tell you that our country rose to the

occasion in a magnificent way then, because we had real leaders. Bush

is

no leader. I don't know whether or not you've been in the military or not,

but I have, in an infantry company, and the thought of following GWB into

battle horrifies me. This man just doesn't get it. He's no leader. He

inspires embarrassment every time he opens his mouth. He can't even talk about

a

disaster without making that little frat-boy sneering grin that he has. He is

a man who is incapable of empathy.

If you want to see how a real leader would handle a situation, go look at the

films of lin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill speaking in times of

disaster. These men were leaders. W is a joke.

About the only politician on the scene now who has any leadership qualities

is McCain. It's a pity that the Bush Republicans ran the campaign

against him, led by Karl Rove, which tried to paint him as a coward and a

traiter.

But that's all they know how to do. Even Bush 41 is a better man, by far,

than W. He's a true hero. Too bad he and Bar spoiled little W and made him

the wimp he is.

>

> Again, I have the utmost respect for you.  I just think we as a country need

> to quit finger pointing, blaming and accusing and get down to the business

> at hand.  Cut the partisanship, racism and accusatory BS and just get to

> work.

>

> Chambers, LP

>

> You're right that we have to get to work, but if we don't fix the problems,

then we'll just repeat the same debacle the next time something happens. If

your plumbing has a leak, you don't just say, well, leaks happen, and nobody

can plan for them, so we'll just live with it. Nope. We fix it.

We must fix the flaws in our government. That means getting serious about

being at war with terrorists, getting serious about planning and executing

plans when a disaster happens, and involving every citizen in the defense of our

homeland.

Criticism of government is not bad, it is good. You might want to recall

that in Soviet Russia and today in China and North Korea, dissent is not allo

wed. No one dared to say that the Emperor's New Clothes didn't exist. Now,

we

have folks who are so partisan that they think that it's wrong to criticize

our politicians because " they're doing the best they can. " Well, if that's

not enough, then they merit our criticism.

We as Americans MUST hold our leaders to the standards that are necessary to

insure the security of our country. Our current government falls far short,

IN MY OPINION.

Every patriot owes the duty to question authority, question the leadership,

and demand that the right things be done. Right now, we are mired in

mediocrity in government at all levels. Our country can do SO MUCH BETTER than

it is

doing now, but we cannot do it without leadership. We lack leadership, and

as a result, we are in a heap of trouble.

Right now, if you question the President, in some quarters you are branded as

a traitor, one who does not support our troops, and every other nasty thing

that a guy like Karl Rove can think up.

That's exactly why now is the time to question the President. He has the

mandate, the authority, and the power. Either he uses it intelligently and

forcefully or he falls short. He has fallen short.

I love my country, and I support the troops. I don't like our President.

I don't think he either has supported our troops nor has he protected our

country. Like it or not, that's my position. And there's plenty of military

people who will say the same thing. Read Hackworth's work, Hunt's

and so forth. These are all credentialed military men who tell it like it is,

and it IS that W has screwed the military from day one.

Oh, and I'm armed and dangerous and I'll kick yer ass if you git too

contrary with me. Just kidding. Really.

OK. Your turn.

GG.

>

> -- The PMAC will never host an important event like it did  tonight

> >

> >

> > Little did I know what I would be  doing following Hurricane Katrina's

> > aftermath but as I type right now, there  won't be a more gratifying or

> more

> > surreal

> > experience I went through tonight. We  went up to the office today and

> held

> > a

> > press conference regarding the  postponement of the game and it was the

> > right

> > decision. As the PMAC and Field  House are being used as shelters we

> decided

> > as an office to do everything we  could to help the situation.

> > At  first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief

> form

> > for all  of the people. The copiers will never print a document more

> > important

> > than that.  It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of

> > game notes for a  football game that is now meaningless. We printed the

> > copies

> > and carried them  over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave

> the

> > area

> > for another 8  hours.

> > On  the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the

> > movie

> > Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course

> the

> > survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs

>

> > Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As and I rode back

> > to

> > the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her

> > up.

> > We  met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors

> > and it  was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and

> for

> > the

> > first  time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man

> rolled

> > in

> > from New  Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he

> was

> > dead. And that  was the scene all night. What did we do, we started

> hauling

> > in

> > supplies. And  thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta

> arrived

> > directing us what  to do.

> > One  of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become

> > loot.

> > I asked  him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of

> counter

> > terrorism,  but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come

> > help. He said the  death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to

> > hear

> > that.

> > After unloading supplies, I started  putting together baby cribs and then

> IV

> > poles. Several of our fball players and  Big Baby and Tasmin

> helped

> > us. At the same time, families and people  strolled in. Mothers were

> giving

> > berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym  " Dungeon " was being used as

> a

> > morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see  it.

> > I  worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled

> in

> > and  they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the

> lowest

> > of

> > the  low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

> > A  man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, " I just need

> > someone  to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing

> > left. He

> > turned  out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody

> > was

> > saying.  He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the

> > levees broke.  Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to

> the

> > attic,

> > smashed his  way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was

> completely

> > sunburned and  exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and

> > here

> > he was.

> > We  finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way

>

> > As we  left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he

> > suffered  gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a

> > looter or

> > a  convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man

> with

> > him  said it was " an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there

> > right

> > now. " A  few minutes later he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I

> > then

> > left as  they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn

> t

> > take it  anymore.

> > That was the scene at the PMAC and  it gives me a new perspective on

> things.

> > For those of you who I haven't been  able to get in touch with because of

> > phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me  an email to let me know. God

> > bless.

> > Bill

> > LSU Sports  Information

> >

> >

> > Louis N.  Molino, Sr., CET

> > FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

> > LNMolino@...

> >   (Office)

> > (Cell Phone)

> > (Office Fax)

> >

> > " A  Texan with a Jersey Attitude "

> >

> > The comments contained in this E-mail are  the opinions of the author and

> > the

> > author alone. I in no way ever intend to  speak for any person or

> > organization that I am in any way whatsoever involved or  associated with

> > unless I

> > specifically state that I am doing so. Further this  E-mail is intended

> only

> > for its

> > stated recipient and may contain private and or  confidential materials

> > retransmission is strictly prohibited unless placed in  the public domain

> by

> > the

> > original author.

> >

> >

> >

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Amen, Brother Gene-

When the disaster agency can't handle a disaster, the border security people

can't secure the border, the EMS support budget for the agency totals 4% (gee, I

thought life preservation - citizens and responders- would be worth more than

THAT) and over $400,000 in furnishings goes into the new headquarters for the

TSA and they can't seem to detect knives and guns in carry on luggage, there is

a fundamental failure that puts US ( and U.S.) at risk.

" Service is love made visible. Friendship is love made personal. Kindness is

love made tangible. Giving is love made believable " - Anonymous

Larry in Houston

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I'd like to interject a few things here...

Mike :)

Gandy said:

> FEMA was created for the exact purpose of planning for this kind of

> catastrophe. That it failed is the fault of those who run the ship, in this

case,

> W. Bush. It is the law of the sea that the Captain of the Ship is

> responsible for everything. Bush appointed a doofus, Brown, to FEMA, because

he

> was a political asslicker, and his former expertise was in running horse

shows.

> Also, Bush created the HSA and fractured FEMA and put it under the head of

> the agency, Chertoff, who has absolutely no experience or expertise in running

> a disaster response. So there was a double failure. Bush and his team

> created a flawed department. We see that now, and now it will have to be

fixed.

M> FEMA is quite broken. The concept of Homeland Security is

quite broken. The idea should be to take what we have now and mold it

into something more like a Public Safety and Security Agency (PSSA)

that's responsible for the USFA, NFA, EMS and federal law

enforcement/working with state and local law enforcement. This needs

to be an " operational " agency with a planning branch, not a planning

agency with an operational branch. Training must be a priority - for

federal, state and local agencies. Large-scale drills must be done,

done again, and re-done. Inter-agency communitcaions MUST become a

priority (more than just the 5 NPSPAC channels on each band).

Every public safety agency in the US should be required by federal law

to purchase communications systems and gear that are

interoperability-capable. This will force manufacturers to make

products that work with each other, but still allow for local choice

in vendor and system - as long as it's capable of working with other

agencies (and yes, you can still create " secure " systems, like

Austin/ County's APCO-25 system that only allows authorized

radios onto the system - you'd just have to require that an assisting

agency be able to provide digital ID's for the radios to be added to a

system, but I digress...).

Gandy said:

> There will always be failures of a plan, but I am more optimistic than you

> that things can be planned and carried out better than they have been.

First,

> we need to cut through the mass of red tape that requires the feds to wait

> until a state governor requests aid before starting it. The President must

> have the authority to order preparations, staging, and immediate response.

The

> whole scheme of things is wrong. Congress needs to respond to this

M> Agreed. And local agencies need to be able to request

assistance from other agencies immediately, while still being

" overseen " by the federal agency that will end up funding it.

Allowing local agencies to make the initial requests, then

transferring the request authority to the state, and then to the

federal level allows resources that are needed to start coming, and

gradually puts more controls in place as the disaster begins to be

mitigated. Requiring it to start from the top every time is a bad

idea that obviously doesn't work...

> immediately. And I hear that the President and the Governor of LA sparred

for 24

> hours over who was going to control the national guard. That needs to be

fixed.

> The Guv wanted to be able to use the troops to declare martial law, and the

> Pres didn't. At least that is my understanding. Somebody should have

M> Which is in violation of federal law, at least the way the

Mayor wanted to use them. The Posse Commitatus act prohobits the

military from engaging in law enforcement activities. There are

other, better trained resources for providing law enforcement, and the

model for that works - other regional law enforcement officers are

brought in, sworn in as Special Deputy US Marshalls, which gives them

law enforcement powers at a federal level. The state, either through

existing law or executive order, gives federal agents the powers to

enforce local laws. Voila, a law enforcement presence. Not that the

military can't keep the peace and enforce civil order - that they can

in fact do... and using both at once seems to be the best of both

worlds.

> We must cut through this muddle or we're going to suffer one disaster after

> another. Don't think for one minute that OBL and his followers have not been

> tracking each and every mistake made, and preparing to capitalize on it.

M> Except that if I'd have been OBL et al, I'd have attacked

RIGHT THEN. Spread our resources thin, made it impossible to keep up.

It's a testament to the enforcers and protecters we have in place now

that we didn't get attacked. But be ready...

Mike :)

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I'd like to interject a few things here...

Mike :)

Gandy said:

> FEMA was created for the exact purpose of planning for this kind of

> catastrophe. That it failed is the fault of those who run the ship, in this

case,

> W. Bush. It is the law of the sea that the Captain of the Ship is

> responsible for everything. Bush appointed a doofus, Brown, to FEMA, because

he

> was a political asslicker, and his former expertise was in running horse

shows.

> Also, Bush created the HSA and fractured FEMA and put it under the head of

> the agency, Chertoff, who has absolutely no experience or expertise in running

> a disaster response. So there was a double failure. Bush and his team

> created a flawed department. We see that now, and now it will have to be

fixed.

M> FEMA is quite broken. The concept of Homeland Security is

quite broken. The idea should be to take what we have now and mold it

into something more like a Public Safety and Security Agency (PSSA)

that's responsible for the USFA, NFA, EMS and federal law

enforcement/working with state and local law enforcement. This needs

to be an " operational " agency with a planning branch, not a planning

agency with an operational branch. Training must be a priority - for

federal, state and local agencies. Large-scale drills must be done,

done again, and re-done. Inter-agency communitcaions MUST become a

priority (more than just the 5 NPSPAC channels on each band).

Every public safety agency in the US should be required by federal law

to purchase communications systems and gear that are

interoperability-capable. This will force manufacturers to make

products that work with each other, but still allow for local choice

in vendor and system - as long as it's capable of working with other

agencies (and yes, you can still create " secure " systems, like

Austin/ County's APCO-25 system that only allows authorized

radios onto the system - you'd just have to require that an assisting

agency be able to provide digital ID's for the radios to be added to a

system, but I digress...).

Gandy said:

> There will always be failures of a plan, but I am more optimistic than you

> that things can be planned and carried out better than they have been.

First,

> we need to cut through the mass of red tape that requires the feds to wait

> until a state governor requests aid before starting it. The President must

> have the authority to order preparations, staging, and immediate response.

The

> whole scheme of things is wrong. Congress needs to respond to this

M> Agreed. And local agencies need to be able to request

assistance from other agencies immediately, while still being

" overseen " by the federal agency that will end up funding it.

Allowing local agencies to make the initial requests, then

transferring the request authority to the state, and then to the

federal level allows resources that are needed to start coming, and

gradually puts more controls in place as the disaster begins to be

mitigated. Requiring it to start from the top every time is a bad

idea that obviously doesn't work...

> immediately. And I hear that the President and the Governor of LA sparred

for 24

> hours over who was going to control the national guard. That needs to be

fixed.

> The Guv wanted to be able to use the troops to declare martial law, and the

> Pres didn't. At least that is my understanding. Somebody should have

M> Which is in violation of federal law, at least the way the

Mayor wanted to use them. The Posse Commitatus act prohobits the

military from engaging in law enforcement activities. There are

other, better trained resources for providing law enforcement, and the

model for that works - other regional law enforcement officers are

brought in, sworn in as Special Deputy US Marshalls, which gives them

law enforcement powers at a federal level. The state, either through

existing law or executive order, gives federal agents the powers to

enforce local laws. Voila, a law enforcement presence. Not that the

military can't keep the peace and enforce civil order - that they can

in fact do... and using both at once seems to be the best of both

worlds.

> We must cut through this muddle or we're going to suffer one disaster after

> another. Don't think for one minute that OBL and his followers have not been

> tracking each and every mistake made, and preparing to capitalize on it.

M> Except that if I'd have been OBL et al, I'd have attacked

RIGHT THEN. Spread our resources thin, made it impossible to keep up.

It's a testament to the enforcers and protecters we have in place now

that we didn't get attacked. But be ready...

Mike :)

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-- wegandy1938@... wrote:

" FEMA was created for the exact purpose of planning for this kind of

catastrophe. ... Also, Bush created the HSA and fractured FEMA and put it under

the head of

the agency, Chertoff, who has absolutely no experience or expertise in running a

disaster response. So there was a double failure. Bush and his team

created a flawed department. We see that now, and now it will have to be

fixed. "

Tom Ridge, as the original SecDHS, should have done more to maintain the 'all

hazards' capability rather than the focus on terrorism.

" Criticism of government is not bad, it is good. ...Every patriot owes the duty

to question authority, question the leadership,

and demand that the right things be done. "

" To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to

stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but

is morally treasonable to the American public. " - Theodore Roosevelt

" The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be

secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: " Our country --

when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right. " - Carl Schurz

Lary RN LP

Houston Texas

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-- wegandy1938@... wrote:

" FEMA was created for the exact purpose of planning for this kind of

catastrophe. ... Also, Bush created the HSA and fractured FEMA and put it under

the head of

the agency, Chertoff, who has absolutely no experience or expertise in running a

disaster response. So there was a double failure. Bush and his team

created a flawed department. We see that now, and now it will have to be

fixed. "

Tom Ridge, as the original SecDHS, should have done more to maintain the 'all

hazards' capability rather than the focus on terrorism.

" Criticism of government is not bad, it is good. ...Every patriot owes the duty

to question authority, question the leadership,

and demand that the right things be done. "

" To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to

stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but

is morally treasonable to the American public. " - Theodore Roosevelt

" The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be

secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: " Our country --

when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right. " - Carl Schurz

Lary RN LP

Houston Texas

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I like Browns head of FEMA background even better

" Brown`s previous position was as a commissioner of the International

Arabian Horse Association and he had no experience with disaster response

until he was named FEMA director. "

_____

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Gawd, I thought this was a joke until you posted that. No wonder we

are knee-deep in the brown stuff.

-Alfonso R. Ochoa

> I like Browns head of FEMA background even better

>

>

>

> " Brown`s previous position was as a commissioner of the International

> Arabian Horse Association and he had no experience with disaster

response

> until he was named FEMA director. "

>

>

>

>

>

> _____

>

>

>

>

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Who put him in office. The same guy (weekend warrior) who put us in a war.

Neither one know what their doing.

Henry

" Alfonso R. Ochoa " wrote:

> Gawd, I thought this was a joke until you posted that. No wonder we

> are knee-deep in the brown stuff.

>

> -Alfonso R. Ochoa

>

>

> > I like Browns head of FEMA background even better

> >

> >

> >

> > " Brown`s previous position was as a commissioner of the International

> > Arabian Horse Association and he had no experience with disaster

> response

> > until he was named FEMA director. "

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > _____

> >

> >

> >

> >

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-- " Mike Reynolds " wrote:

Before circulating rumors that are not accurate I would suggest everyone

view the following site. It will tell you exactly what Mr. Brown's prior

experience is. http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm

That only outlines his Federal employment. He was hired by Joe Allbaugh, former

head of FEMA and GWB's campaign chairman.

What did he do before?

Check this out:

From Tom Connelly to the Board of Directors:

As the Board directed during our recent conference call, negotiations

have been ongoing with Mike Brown in relation to his resignation.

Attached is the final agreed upon separation agreement which Mike has

executed and presented to us. He realized that this matter was going to

go to the Board and he wanted to have signed it before it was actually

presented.

I plan to sign the agreement Monday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, but in

the meantime, if you wish to make any comments, please forward them to Joleen

White and she will make sure we all see them.

SEPARATION AGREEMENT

I. PARTIES

The Parties to this Agreement are:

A. International Arabian Horse Association, a Colorado non-profit corporation,

which is located in Arapahoe County, Colorado ( " IAHA " ); and

B. D. Brown, an individual who is a resident of Boulder

County, Colorado.

II. RECITALS

A. Mr. Brown is employed as the Judges and Stewards Commissioner of IAHA.

B. Mr. Brown and IAHA are currently involved as co-defendants in litigation.

C. Mr. Brown desires to resign from his employment with IAHA, and IAHA desires

to accept Mr. Brown's resignation. However, in an attempt to accomplish an

orderly transition for IAHA, the parties desire a gradual disengagement of the

relationship so that Mr. Brown can complete his pending work and continue to

assist in the defense of the pending litigation.

III. COVENANTS

In consideration of the mutual covenants set forth herein, and for other good

and valuable consideration, the sufficiency of which the parties

hereby acknowledge, the parties agree as follows:

A. Upon execution of this Agreement by the parties, Mr. Brown

will resign from his position with IAHA, effective January 31, 2001.

B. Mr. Brown will employ his best efforts to conclude his work on pending

matters during the month of September, 2000, and will assist in an orderly

transition, and will continue to assist in the defense of litigation against him

and/or IAHA relating to his work as Judges and Stewards Commissioner.

C. Prior to January 31, 2001, Mr. Brown will use all of his accrued vacation

time.

D. IAHA will continue to pay to Mr. Brown his full salary, including benefits,

through January 31, 2001.

E. During the months of February, March and April, 2001, IAHA will pay Mr. Brown

his full salary, as severance pay.

F. Mr. Brown will continue to assist in the defense of litigation against him

and/or IAHA relating to his work for IAHA as Judges and Stewards Commissioner,

as reasonably requested by counsel for IAHA, unless reasonably objected to by

counsel for Mr. Brown.

G. IAHA will pay to Mr. Brown a consulting fee of $100 per hour for time he

spends assisting in the defense of litigation after April 30,

2001, such fee to be paid within 30 days of the date services are billed to IAHA

by Mr. Brown.

H. IAHA will continue to provide and to pay for health insurance for Mr. Brown

and his wife through October 31, 2001.

I. By October 1, 2000, Mr. Brown will cause to be contributed from the

D. Brown Legal Defense Fund Trust to the IAHA Legal Defense Fund the sum of

$25,000.

J. IAHA will, without limitation and to the fullest extent allowed by law,

continue to indemnify Mr. Brown and to hold Mr. Brown harmless from all

liabilities, obligations, claims, causes of action, or expenses of any kind,

including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, that may arise or be incurred by

Mr. Brown arising out of the performance of his employment as Judges and

Stewards Commissioner of IAHA, including his duties under the terms of this

Separation Agreement.

K. Mr. Brown further agrees to abide by the provisions of Paragraphs 17 and 18

his Employment Contract and the confidentiality requirements of Resolution 5-90.

L. This Separation Agreement shall not in any way be construed as an admission

by either party of any acts of wrongdoing whatsoever.

The parties recognize that, due to the nature of Mr. Brown's duties as Judges

and Stewards Commissioner, he has been the subject of numerous personal attacks,

and that there have been numerous allegations made during the course of his

employment that Mr. Brown engaged in conduct that would constitute cause for the

termination of Brown's contract with IAHA. IAHA specifically acknowledges,

however, that no cause exists to terminate Brown's contract with IAHA.

M. The Parties hereby and forever release and discharge each other, their heirs

and assigns, from any and all causes of action, actions, judgments, liens,

damages, losses, claims, liabilities and demands whatsoever, whether known or

unknown, which arose prior to the date of this Separation Agreement.

N. Any dispute arising under this Separation Agreement shall be

submitted to arbitration before the Judicial Arbiter Group in Denver,

Colorado. In the event any arbitration is held pursuant to this Agreement, the

arbitrator shall award the prevailing party his or its reasonable attorneys'

fees and costs.

O. This Separation Agreement sets forth the entire agreement between the parties

hereto, and fully supersedes any and all prior agreements and understandings

between the parties hereto pertaining to the subject matter hereof.

P. The parties have each been represented by counsel in connection with this

Separation Agreement and have read the entire Separation Agreement and

understand each of the terms hereof.

Q. Colorado law shall govern the interpretation of this Separation Agreement and

the resolution of any dispute arising in connection herewith.

R. No modification to this Separation Agreement will be effective, unless such

modification is made in writing and signed by each of the parties hereto.

S. In the event that any part of this Separation Agreement and General Release

is determined to be void, or otherwise unlawful, the remaining portions hereof

shall remain in full force and effect.

Date:

D. Brown

International Arabian Horse Association

http://www.awhitehorse.com/editorials/brown_resignation.html

" Service is love made visible. Friendship is love made personal. Kindness is

love made tangible. Giving is love made believable " - Anonymous

Larry in Houston

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-- " Mike Reynolds " wrote:

Before circulating rumors that are not accurate I would suggest everyone

view the following site. It will tell you exactly what Mr. Brown's prior

experience is. http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm

Hmmm... what is this about a 'city councilman with emergency management

oversight'? ALL city councilman have emergency management oversite...and animal

control oversight...and EMS oversight... THAT IS WHAT A CITY COUNCILMAN DOES, or

they DON'T get reelected!

Interesting, NOT A WORD mentioned about a job he held for 11 years...

CHeck this out:

IT'S TIME TO FIRE MICHAEL BROWN....AGAIN. " The federal official in charge of the

bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing

horse shows.

And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director

in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have

qualified him for the position.

The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was

heading up FEMA.

The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over

the handling of the New Orleans disaster.

'I look at FEMA and I shake my head,' said a furious Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday,

calling the response `an embarrassment.'

Brown - formerly an estates and family lawyer - this week has has made several

shocking public admissions, including interviews where he suggested FEMA was

unaware of the misery and desperation of refugees stranded at the New Orleans

convention center.

Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the

commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse

Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado.

`We do disciplinary actions, certification of (show trial) judges. We hold

classes to train people to become judges and stewards. And we keep records,'

explained a spokeswoman for the IAHA commissioner's office. `This was his

full-time job . . . for 11 years,'she added.

Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged

supervision failures.

`He was asked to resign,'' Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time,

confirmed last night. " --Boston Herald.

http://www.michaelgraham.com/

(not exactly a flaming liberal website)

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Good OL' Boy syndrome at its' best.

Henry wrote:

Who put him in office. The same guy (weekend warrior) who put us in a war.

Neither one know what their doing.

Henry

" Alfonso R. Ochoa " wrote:

> Gawd, I thought this was a joke until you posted that. No wonder we

> are knee-deep in the brown stuff.

>

> -Alfonso R. Ochoa

>

>

> > I like Browns head of FEMA background even better

> >

> >

> >

> > " Brown`s previous position was as a commissioner of the International

> > Arabian Horse Association and he had no experience with disaster

> response

> > until he was named FEMA director. "

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > _____

> >

> >

> >

> >

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I apparently jumped to his defense too quick. I just knew that his " only

experience " was not just the Arabian horse organization. I do not believe

that he was the best choice for the job and the newly assigned deputy will

definitely help.

However, I firmly believe that the federal response could have been much

better, in New Orleans at least, if Mayor Blanco would have acted

appropriately in requesting assistance in a timely manner.

Mike

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