Blogging is a new "feature" of the internet. It allows an easier way to update web pages and gives a "log" type setup with some automatic features. This is the second Blog I've created, the first can be seen here.

 
I'm Aaron Broussard and I know more than you
Hurricane Dennis is over 48 hours away from striking with four of the five computer models showing the storm staying away from the New Orleans area. Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard decides to call for a voluntary evacuation for Jefferson and requests the state to implement "contraflow".

Asked why he deviated from the plan developed by the state in conjunction with Jefferson Parish and the other metro New Orleans parishes, Broussard stated he was worried that he would have to call for an evacuation "in the middle of the night."

What he didn't say was that as an elected liberal Democrat, he, and only he, has the foresight to tell the masses when to evacuate for a hurricane. Apparently, the residents of Jefferson Parish are not quite capable of reading the reports from the National Hurricane Center or listening to our own local weathermen and deciding when is the opportune time to evacuate.

Quite naturally, the following Monday, now that Hurricane Dennis has made landfall well East of us, as was predicted, Broussard then had to go on the Spud McConnell show onWWL radio and blast Governor Blanco, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and the St. Bernard Parish Council for not joining in his evacuation plans. As added insult, he called the workings of the St. Bernard Council a Chinese firedrill without St. Bernard Parish President Junior Rodriquez to lead them.

To the best of my knowledge, the St. Bernard Council was making plans to call for a voluntary evacuation at 5:00 PM on Friday, July 8. When the afternoon forecast was released by the National Hurricane Center, that plan was cancelled. There was no on-again, off-again evacuation as Broussard suggests.

The Council, in my view, basically said they were going to call for an evacuation if the storm did not take the turn to the north as forecast. This was a possibility since we never truly know where a tropical storm will go and Dennis had not started moving north earlier as was predicted. However, once the afternoon forecast was released, Dennis did start turning to the north and the Council felt there was no need to call for the evacuation, so it was cancelled.

Regardless of whether or not a government body calls for an evacuation, it is important to remember that it is only a voluntary evacuation. As Broussard stated repeatedly, he and other government officials will never call for a mandatory evacuation. Therefore, it is each persons and each families decision to make when they will evacuate. Waiting on the government to tell you is abdicating all responsibility for your own personal safety.

Knowing what the state plan is for evacuating the metro area, if I lived in Jefferson, I wouldn't wait for Jefferson to call for an evacuation. I would keep up with the latest forecasts for the storm and double check my own plans. I can understand not wanting to drive at night and I would leave early, on my own, if I did not want to face that.

Last year for Ivan, my wife left with the kids by 10:00 AM, well ahead of any evacuation orders. I stayed behind to finish boarding the house and left around 11:00 PM. The reason I could wait so long was I knew I was going to have a shorter drive and I waited for some of the traffic to die down also.

I did face traffic, from New Orleans to Slidell, but I knew what alternate routes were available and took them to avoid most of it. I had to drive out of the way several miles, but I never sat in traffic for longer than five minutes.

So, in parting Mr. Broussard, you are yet another reason I will continue to call St. Bernard home and, not even for a fleeting moment, will I ever consider moving to Jefferson Parish.
Those of us who live in St. Bernard are quite capable of making our own decisions and we don't need your help in matter.

Be good to yourself,
Westley Annis
da-parish.com
posted by Westley at 7/13/2005 11:22:00 PM

 

People Power - The terrorist plot to destroy democracy from within. By William Saletan

So many things to talk about, from hurricanes to eminent domain, that I'm just going to have to do one at a time to get it all done.

I just read this article on Slate.com, written by William Saletan, that talks about the terrorist message that was broadcast after the bombings in London on July 7.

The main trust of al-Quida's messages is that democracies are weak governments that can be easily toppled if you scare the citizens enough. Saletan explains that al-Quida's beliefs about democracies are wrong and that our democracies will live long after Osama bin Laden and his minions have died.

The entire article is well worth reading, but if you don't have the time to do so, then read these last five sentences of the article.

Many of us didn't vote for Bush's government or Blair's. But we're loyal to them, in part because we were given a voice in choosing them. And if we don't like our governments, we can vote them out. We can't vote out terrorists. We can only kill them.

Be good to yourself,

Westley Annis

da-parish.com

posted by Westley at 7/10/2005 05:43:48 PM