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I came across one of the most powerfully disturbing scenes from 9/11 that I’ve ever experienced. Something you won’t see on your TV screen. A 911 call from a gentleman on the 105th flooor of the first tower to collapse…as the first tower collapses. @_@

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE9TLgCVLBM

You think you’d seen it all…and then YouTube ups the ante….

(It’s *very* disturbing…you’ve been warned)

For those of you interested in helping out the victims of that horrible earthquake that devastated parts of Pakistan, India & Afghanistan (20,000-30,000 dead so far), it looks like the International Red Cross/Red Crescent would be the way to go:

http://www.ifrc.org/helpnow/donate/donate_response.asp

Or if you have a problem with a crescent (like some people in this country), and since they have plenty of families from that region, there’s always the British Red Cross:

http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=49880&cachefixer=

Let’s hope people aren’t too wary from other disasters to actually care…
(Not like the mainstream media is pointing in any direction when it comes to aid…)

A fabulous timeline of what really went down with the whole Katrina debacle @ Think Progress:

http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/
(With something not often seen in blogs…proof!)

Example:

August 26:
Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares state of emergency in Louisiana

vs.

September 3rd:
Senior Bush administration official lies to Washington Post, claims Gov. Blanco never declared state of emergency

Blame Game Rating: +3 to Wisdom, -2 Bullshit

…and about damn time!

I’ve seen the press cover a number of horrible situations, but I’ve never seen so many, on both sides of the politicial spectrum, get so visibly upset on the air.

From CNN’s Anderson Cooper going off on Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu…

…to Geraldo Rivera damn near losing it while reporting on the convention center situation during Fox’s “The O’Reily Factor”…

…to NBC photojournalist Tony Zumbado giving a tortured first hand report about the lack of support, the numerous deaths about him and the horrid conditions at the superdome (look for the title “Convention Center Chaos“).

These people are mad as hell. (Welcome to the club)

They’ve thrown their softball questions away and have begun to ask those pipe-hittin’ questions that need to be pursued.

…about damn time!

Slate magazine’s Jack Shafer writes an excellent article which collects some prime examples of the television press finally “smelling the coffee”.

Also, in a stunning example of he-said-we-said, CNN gives a eye opening comparison on the government’s take on the situation versus CNN’s own “in the trenches” reporting.

To quote my gal, Soledad O’Brien, while interviewing FEMA director Michael Brown, “How is it possible that we’re getting better intel than you’re getting?”

How indeed…

Rock on, people and don’t let up for one second!

You know what time is it, folks!

Red Cross (Donate)
http://www.redcross.org/

Salvation Army (Donate)
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

Update [8/30/05]: More info from FEMA:

Donate cash

• American Red Cross — (800) 435-7669 English; (800) 257-7575 Spanish
• Operation Blessing — (800) 436-6348
• America’s Second Harvest — (800) 344-8070

To donate cash or volunteer:

• Adventist Community Services — (800) 381-7171
• Catholic Charities, USA — (703) 549-1390
• Christian Disaster Response — (941) 956-5183 or (941) 551-9554
• Christian Reformed World Relief Committee — (800) 848-5818
• Church World Service — (800) 297-1516
• Convoy of Hope — (417) 823-8998
• Lutheran Disaster Response — (800) 638-3522
• Mennonite Disaster Service — (717) 859-2210
• Nazarene Disaster Response — (888) 256-5886
• Presbyterian Disaster Assistance — (800) 872-3283
• Salvation Army — (800) 725-2769
• Southern Baptist Convention — Disaster Relief — (800) 462-8657, ext. 6440
• United Methodist Committee on Relief — (800) 554-8583

More often than not, when horrible things happen on a large scale, similar smaller things get pushed by the wayside…

While everyone has been ultra-concerned about the tsunami victims, Costa Rica was hit with floods that have left many thousands of people homeless and have wiped out entire communities…

I have to agree…considering how similar this was to what’s happening in SE Asia, why did I have to hear about it many days later from the blogs?

Lack of size doesn’t make it any less important…here’s my adding to the list to get the word out…

Donations are being taken by the Red Cross and the Costa Rican Red Cross.

I have to admit…America has surprised me. I already had the mindset that the US really wouldn’t care much about the tsunami victims.

They’re half a world way. They’re not true “first-world” countries like us. Hell, not only are none of the countries Christian, but the one that lost the most people is a Muslim nation. Tens of thousands of people have died in earthquakes (or hundreds of thousands have died due to genocide or starvation) before and no one seemed to give a damn. Add in the fact that the US has always had a larger than average self-centric attitude, and I have to admit that I didn’t expect much. Boy was I wrong…

The corporations are donating money at levels that rival 9/11. The public donations are building up so much that they’ll probably overtake what the government has vowed to send. Organizations like the American Red Cross have received more donations since the disaster than they had all last year. Even the company I work for offered to match 100% of any employee’s donation. It’s good to see…

(I’ll refrain from mentioning how the government got shamed into uping their amount of help…or how the companies will take advantage of their donations to whip more industry into the effected areas…Oh wait…)

And on the flip side, there’s even surprise from the ravaged areas. Thailand recently declined Japan’s offer of $20 million in tsunami aid, stating that they’ve already got the situation in hand and that the money would be better sent to the areas that have more of a need. They could have taken the money for themselves and no one would have been the wiser. Damn…it keeps getting better. :)

Keep it up folks! Now if someone would just start paying attention to our own tsunami danger…

Think again…

Let’s put aside the fact that a whopper hit Alaska back in the day. There’s a more massive danger from the grandaddy of ‘em all: a mega-tsunami. Yep kids…thousands of feet high…hundreds of miles long.

I wrote about the possibility of a mega-tsunami hitting the east coast of the US about three years ago. I took the Discovery Channel to task for actually letting the general public know where the island was that could cause this. Take a little evil intent and and add some explosives in the right places, and Oops! Pow! Surprise! The next winner of the Apprentice will have to be gill-equppied in order to get to work.

Now after the destruction caused by the tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, hopefully people will come to realize that not only is the US vulnerable to this too, but that the east coast is in real danger.

(Since the information has already been out there for a while, I don’t mind pointing towards the suspect island. Hopefully it’ll actually scare enough people into forcing the government to do something to prevent it.)

For those of you want help out the earthquake and tsunami victims in Southeast Asia, but aren’t completely comfortable with giving unknown (to you) organizations your credit card number…there’s a solidly safe way with a retailer you’re all familiar with…

Amazon.com is currently giving a direct outlet for people to donate money to the Red Cross! So if you’re comfortable enough giving your credit card info to Amazon, please donate to the Red Cross today!

[Thanks to R. Cary for the what what!]

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is asking for major assistance in order to help all the countries devastated by the earthquake and resulting tsunamis that killed over 44,000 people (as of last count) in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia.

So please, donate today to help out your fellow human begins in their time of dire need!

Update (1/9): Here’s are the major safe places to make donations:

American Red Cross @ Yahoo
American Red Cross @ Amazon
Oxfam America
Unicef

Update (12/28): There’s a special blog for the quake/tsunami situation providing all sorts of information and help possibilities. A Small Victory is also providing donation information possibilities from multiple sources.

A little more than three years ago, many American helped out as much as they could when many thousands of people died all on the same day. This is no different, ladies and gents…at your most humane level, it’s not different at all. So please help!

(If you think this is different, shame on you…)