Beyond Katrina

Restore Control of the National Guard to the States

The Federal government's response to the Kansas tornadoes has been chillingly de ja vu Hurricane Katrina.  Found  an interesting blog post over at Daily Kos suggesting that a solution is to repeal the  1986 Montgomery Act   (which stripped governor's of their powers to control their state National Guard units)  Now I used to be a Jeffersonian states rights advocate until Hurricane Katrina.  I personally happen to feel it's not an either/or but a both/all.  Local, state, and federal leaders need to solidify in times of crisis.  Katrina significantly overwhelmed every agency involved, so  I don't see how handing control over to state officials is a solution. Nevertheless good thought leadership by the Kos blogger.  Check the post out here.

Guard faces shortages in dealing with natural disasters

Nancy A. Youssef of McClatchy Newspapers has penned an unsettling article focused on the National Guard's lack of preparedness for natural disasters due to the fact much of their equipment is in Afghanistan. According to Youssef, "the Guard has been shipping gear to hurricane-prone states in an effort to ease concerns, but a large disaster affecting several states would tax the Guard's ability to respond, according to National Guard officials and government reports". Well this doesn't do much to inspire confidence as we move into Hurricane Season 2007 . Check out the article  here.

Iraq Veterans Memorial as Public Media

Source: The Center for Social Media

New sites for public media—far outside the realm of public broadcasting—are burgeoning. Now here comes the Iraq Veterans Memorial, which showcases videos made by the family, friends and comrades of fallen soldiers in the Iraq war. This non-partisan site honors the fallen in a way that takes advantage of participatory media technologies, and the site is a platform from which we as members of the public can begin and continued informed discussions about the meaning and cost of U.S. geopolitical strategies. What an excellent example of public media made by and for the public. Check out the site at iraqmemorial.org.

The Center for Social Media showcases and analyzes strategies to use media as creative tools for public knowledge and action. It focuses on social documentaries for civil society and democracy, and on the public media environment that supports them. The Center is part of the School of Communication at American University.

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Today's Quote - Disaster Reporting

We  manage the fear, but the strain takes its toll. And then there's the horror of what I have seen…in Rwanda piles of bodies lifted by bulldozer and dumped into mass graves. In Bosnia little children shot in the head by a guy who thinks it's okay to aim his gun at a child. In Somalia and Ethiopia, walking skeletons. And always the weeping….children, women, even men. These images and sounds are always with me. Yes I have often wondered why I…why we… do it? After a few seconds the answer used to come easily: because it matters, because the world will care once they see our stories…because if we the storytellers don't do this, then the bad guys will win. We do it because we are committed, because we are believers.

Christiane Amanpour
Edward R. Murrow Awards Ceremony RTNDA2000
Minneapolis September 13, 2000


More inspiration from Amanpour, here.

Members of the 1190th Continuing to Train at Camp Shelby, Mississippi

Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers from across the U.S. are continuing to train at Camp Shelby for deployment to the war on terror. That includes about 50 soldiers of the 1190th from Baton Rouge. wafb.com reports here.
   

Today's Quote

But when we collectively cannot solve a crisis affecting our own people in our own backyard, we offer little assurance we have solutions for Iraqis halfway around the globe... If we can’t rebuild New Orleans, how can we fix Baghdad?

Walter Jenny Jr.
The Edmond Sun

Army Reporting New Information into the Death of Louisiana Soldier

>It appears the U.S. military has been trying to cover up the details of an incident in Iraq in which four soldiers were killed, including Jonathan Bryan Chism of Prairieville, La. More at wafb.com.