Heroes of the Day

In the midst of Jared Lee Loughner's murderous rampage through Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's meet and greet with constituents at a Tuscon supermarket that left six people dead and 13 people injured, including Rep. Giffords, there were people who stepped up and became heroes.

These people ought to be recognized for their bravery and heroic actions for they saved lives.

First up is Daniel Hernandez. He was Gifford's 20 year old intern.

Moments later, he was at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' side. Less than a week after the 20-year-old intern started working for the congresswoman, he was using his bare hands to stop blood gushing from where a bullet had entered her head.

Hernandez, who trained as a certified nursing assistant, said he lifted Giffords' head to make it easier for her to breathe, then applied pressure to her wound.

"She was alert and conscious, but she wasn't able to speak, so the way she was communicating was by grabbing my hand and squeezing," Hernandez said.

Employees from the nearby Safeway supermarket brought out clean smocks from the meat department to cover Giffords' wound until paramedics arrived, he said.

"My main thing was just to keep her as alert as possible and just keep trying to interact with her... The entire time I was with the congresswoman, she was still responding," Hernandez said. "She was obviously in a lot of pain, so I let her know to squeeze my hand as hard as she needed to."

She "was my first and only priority," Hernandez added later in a CNN interview. I was "trying to take care of her emotional needs" and "keep her calm."

Hernandez's calm and methodical actions saved Giffords' life by providing prompt medical attention and tending to Giffords. So too were the unnamed supermarket workers who found needed items to help Hernandez get the bleeding under control and provide easier access for her to breathe.

The other heroes in this traumatic event included spunky 61 year old woman, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away another magazine from Loughner as he was attempting to reload after two men who are so far unnamed wrestled Loughner to the ground.

"He shot the woman that was next to me, and I was just waiting for the next bullet," Maisch said.

Then Maisch saw the gunman was on the ground near her. "Two gentlemen had knocked him to the ground, and somebody yelled 'Get the gun,'" Maisch said. "So I knelt up - he was on his right side - I knelt up and reached over him. I couldn't reach the gun, but as he was doing that he also pulled another magazine out of his left pocket, which he dropped on the pavement, and I was able to get it before he did.

"At the same time, another gentleman had picked up the gun. So he was secured."

She said she could not get a good look at the gunman's face. "He had a stocking cap on, and the way he was pushed on the ground, I could only see a little bit of the left side of his face, 'cause he had the stocking cap almost up to his eyes, both at the side, and above his eyebrows," she said.

Had he been able to reload, the crowd would have been in jeopardy of being hit by another 30 rounds. After arriving on scene, law enforcement found more than 90 rounds of ammo in Loughner's pockets.

Currently, Rep. Giffords remains in critical condition although doctors are cautiously optimistic. She's in a medically induced coma that allows doctors to control swelling and they revive her from time to time to check her responses, which have so far been positive.

The Guards Who Stopped Brunn's Rampage

Meet the guards who stopped James Von Brunn before he could do more damage, but not before Brunn murdered security guard Stephen T Johns. They're heroes.

But the men who were closest to slain guard Stephen Johns - and opened fire on the 88-year-old gunman, James Von Brunn - were not with them.

Security guards Harry Weeks and Jason McCuiston were told by investigators to take a few days off - and used the time to mourn their 39-year-old fallen friend.

"He was a good officer, said Weeks. "A real gentle man. It's so hard to believe that he's gone."

Speaking at his home in the Maryland suburbs, Weeks said that he and Johns and some of the other guards were supposed to play some basketball this weekend.

"I told him I was going to cover him like old school Danny Ainge," Weeks said, referring to the retired NBA player who was famous for his trash-talking style. "I'm just going to miss Johns."

McQuiston, who was visiting Weeks, said they used to talk from time to time about the museum being a lightning rod for anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers.

"It is a target, even though people don't think of it that way," McCuiston said.

The security guards spoke a day after Johns' 11-year-old son bared his agony. "I thought he would make it," Stephen Jr. said, recounting how he visited his mortally wounded dad at his hospital deathbed.

Weeks and McCuiston are heroes, saving the lives of others by their actions. According to the complaint against Brunn, the two guards fired a total of eight times, seriously injuring Brunn and stopping Brunn from continuing to attack. Still, one of the three shots fired by Brunn struck and killed Johns.

Investigation Underway On US Airways Flt. 1549 Hudson River Crash

There were many heroes yesterday in the crash of US Airways Flight 1549, but none more so than the pilot, Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III, who managed to glide the stricken plane for a safe water landing on the icy Hudson River.

Investigators are focusing on the reports that the plane flew into a flock of birds, perhaps gulls or geese, causing both engines to fail. Radio reports indicate that the pilot called in an emergency and sought a location to land the stricken plane. Controllers suggested Teterboro Airport, but Capt. Sullenberger instead opted to make a water landing. With all the planes flying through the New York City skies, this was the only plane to run into problems yesterday. Sullenberger is apparently one cool customer, having been a US Air Force pilot, and has a pretty impressive resume.

To give some idea of what can happen with a bird strike, here are two videos. The first shows a Thompsonfly jet that ingested two herons in one engine and was able to make an emergency landing on the one remaining engine.



The second video shows a test of a Rolls Royce engine where scientists and engineers fire frozen chickens into the engine to see if it can continue functioning. The geese that were ingested by the engines on the US Airways flight were significantly larger. Engines are not designed to withstand ingesting birds larger than chickens.



Bird strikes are a fairly common occurrence, and they are a scourge at New York City airports, particularly JFK, which is situated adjacent to the Gateway National Wildlife Refuge and home to tens of thousands of migratory birds. It's unclear precisely when the birds hit the plane, and an investigation of the voice recorder and data recorders will show when the events transpired.

Survivors tell of the harrowing experience, but all can say that they survived the ordeal, thanks to the skill of the pilot and the quick thinking of ferry crews and emergency personnel who raced to save all those on board.

UPDATE:
Here's a profile of a 20-year-old ferry captain from NY Waterways who was among the first on the scene and whose boat helped fish 24 passengers off the stricken airplane from the icy Hudson River.

UPDATE:
Investigators have found that the left engine for the plane fell off at some point, and are now going back to the scene and beginning a search for the part. It's also unclear whether the other engine is still attached. Here's a photo of the plane just moments before the crash (via the NYT).

Heroes Save Trucker From Exploding Truck Rig

Two good Samaritans saved a trucker from his burning truck when it flipped on the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday. They put their own lives in jeopardy to save the driver from the flames.

State police say two good Samaritans smothered the flames as a trucker burned after his tanker flipped over and caught fire on a New Jersey Turnpike ramp in Secaucus.

The Samaritans were following the truck in two separate vehicles.

Angelica Mercado tells WNBC-TV in New York she bundled up Rajinder Singh and drove him to University Hospital in Newark as fast as possible. The nursing student says he gave her phone numbers of releatives to call.

The 33-year-old Queens, N.Y., resident is in critical but stable condition with second- and third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body.

Unfortunately, only one of the heroes was identified. Singh is quite lucky to be alive.

Traffic was a nightmare last night as the delays caused by the fire backed up traffic throughout Northern New Jersey.

UPDATE 11/22/2008:
There are more details about the heroes who helped save Singh, including twin brothers, Sergio and Eddie Valenti from Paramus Catholic High School, who tried to put out the flames, a man who called for emergency assistance, and an unnamed woman who helped pull Singh's boots off before they melted to Singh's skin.

No Greater Honor For No Greater Sacrifice

Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis will receive the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor. There is no greater honor for a service member of the US Armed Forces but for Pfc. McGinnis, this honor will come posthumously:

McGinnis was perched in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee when a grenade sailed past him and into the truck where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning to the others, then jumped on the grenade. The grenade, which was lodged near the vehicle's radio, blew up and killed him.

Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, said McGinnis easily could have jumped out of the truck and saved himself.

'It saved their lives'
"The instinct is, jump out of the vehicle, but his four buddies were in the vehicle with him ... and he chose to place himself on top of the grenade and absorb the impact, and it saved their lives," Edgecomb said.

Memorial Day is Monday, and it's a good time to remember to thank those who served, along with remembering those who made the supreme sacrifice.

Thank you.

UPDATE:
More on McGinnis' heroism from Stars and Stripes, which notes that he was posthumously promoted to Specialist and that he was also awarded the Silver Star for his actions. The honor will be presented to his parents in a White House ceremony on June 2. McGinnis joins three others who served in Iraq in receiving the Medal of Honor: Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor (posthumously) and Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham.

US Navy SEAL, Lt. Michael P. Murphy was honored with a Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan.

National Medal of Honor Day

Thank you to all those who have earned this nation's highest honor. You don't win the Medal of Honor, you earn it with blood, sweat, and in many cases, giving your life so that your fellow soldiers, sailors, and Marines can live to fight another day.

3,463 men have received the Medal of Honor. The 3,464th, Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor, a Navy SEAL, will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony currently scheduled for April 8, 2008.

NBC To Air Scaled Back Version of the Golden Globes

Well, the writer's strike claims its first Hollywood awards show.

After trying for weeks to salvage the high-luster Golden Globe Awards ceremony, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. is set to announce today that it will forgo the annually televised black-tie event scheduled for Sunday in favor of a scaled-down press conference broadcast on NBC.

The compromise would allow the winners to receive their awards but would cut out the lavish dinner and ceremony, an event the Writers Guild of America had vowed to picket.

The extended press conference would be covered by NBC News, which, though part of NBC Universal, is not a division affected by the ongoing writers strike.

The 9 p.m. press conference would be preceded by a "Dateline" special on the nominees and a clip show and would be followed by an hour-long "Access Hollywood-style" program covering the Golden Globes parties around town, according to what NBC has told the studios.

According to an email sent to the movie studios by NBC on Monday, the Golden Globes broadcast would proceed as follows:

At 7pm NBC will air Dateline with clips and interviews with nominees. (Currently scheduled to air for two hours on Saturday night.)

At 8pm, NBC is in talks with Dick Clark Enterprises for a one-hour retrospective/clip show.

At 9pm there will be a press conference covered by NBC News announcing the Golden Globe winners. (9pm-10pm)

At 10pm NBC will broadcast an "Access Hollywood" style, Golden Globes party show... visiting the various parties in Hollywood.

YAWN!!! Not that I was going to watch the Golden Globes anyway, but at lease I wont be relegated to the small television while Mrs. Legalbgl watches the stars parade themselves in flimsy dresses (OK, I like that part) and self aggrandizing speeches.

Will this lead to the networks and the union coming to a compromise before the Academy Awards? Could this be the triggering event that brings both sides to the bargaining table one more time? It has been several weeks since both sides broke off discussions and neither side has shown any willingness to budge on the issue of Internet and alternative media residual payments. Mainly because neither side can adequately calculate the amount of money that is at stake.

All I know is that I don't want this to stop next season's '24' or 'Heroes'. However, if this strke goes on until April, it wont matter to me anyway, baseball season will be here and all that matters is that I can watch my Mets!!!

Colorado Heroes

One was an unarmed Vietnam veteran who exposed himself to fire from the Colorado shooter, while the other was an armed volunteer security guard who risked her own life to confront the violent shooter, who had already killed four other people in two separate incidents.

Together, they saved hundreds of people at the New Life Church.

Bourbannais was behind a pillar at the time, deciding what to do next.

“The only thing I could think to do was walk out from the pillar so the gunman would see me,” he said. “He was a man in black, but he sure wasn’t Johnny Cash.

“So I yelled, ‘Coward!’ stood out, and our eyes met and he lifted his rifle, fired, and I took a few fragments – very minor – in my left forearm.”

Bourbannais stepped behind the pillar again and repeated his demand that the security guard give him a gun so he could take the shooter out. When he got no response, Bourbannais stepped out from behind the pillar to confront Murray again.

At that point, another security guard, 42-year-old Jeanne Assam, arrived with her gun drawn. Unlike the male guard, she was using hers.

“They were engaged in a firefight. He was firing. She was firing,” Bourbannais said. “And she was completely exposed. I was in Vietnam for 14 months in combat, and it’s the bravest thing I’ve ever witnessed. She kept yelling, ‘Surrender,’ and returned fire the complete time.”

Bourbannais walked parallel to her toward Murray as Assam shot him.

“As he slumped down and his head tilted, I said to her, ‘That’s the calmest, bravest thing I‘ve ever seen. How did you do it?’ “ he said. “She said ‘I was praying and asking the Holy Spirit the entire time to guide me.’ ”

Vieira asked Bourbannais if he realized that he could have been killed.

“I figured my chances were 30 percent,” he said, as calm as if he were describing a trip to the corner store.

Larry Bourbannais and Jeanne Assam are heroes.

Thank you.

Your fellow congregants thank you for putting your lives on the line to save hundreds of others from injury or death at the hands of Matthew Murray.

Had they waited for the police to arrive, the carnage would have been unimaginable as Murray had hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Instead, their quick thinking averted the loss of even more life.

UPDATE:
A report indicates that the shooter died of a self inflicted gunshot wound after being hit four times by Assam. This doesn't diminish the heroism of Bourbannais or Assam because without their confrontation with Murray, he would have continued his shooting rampage until he was either cornered and killed or he ran out of bullets.

Requiem for a Hero

President Bush awarded Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award given to a member of the US Armed Forces.

It was posthumously given to Murphy for his courageous efforts in Afghanistan and presented to his parents.



The New York Times finally saw fit to cover this story today, more than a week after other New York area papers and outlets did so. The story carried in the Times was good, but one has to wonder why it took so long to recognize the heroism and selflessness of Murphy in trying to get a message broadcast to get help in the face of vicious fire from Taliban that outnumbered his SEAL team by more than 25-1.

Actually, one doesn't have to wonder why. Two words sum it up: institutional bias.

Murphy knew what he was fighting for.

Long Island Hero To Receive Posthumous Medal of Honor

Back in February, I wrote that Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy was being considered for a Congressional Medal of Honor.

I can now write to say that President Bush will bestow Murphy with the Medal of Honor for his actions in saving a team member on a mission in Afghanistan in which he lost his life.

Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy of Patchogue was killed in June 2005 after leading a four-man reconnaissance mission to find a key Taliban leader east of Asadabad.

The mission turned to disaster when local sympathizers informed militants of the frogmen's position and the SEAL team came under heavy fire.

Even after being wounded, Murphy crawled into the open to make a radio call and continued to fight, the Navy said. That call allowed for the rescue of one wounded man, who eventually wrote a book about the firefight.

Bush will present the Medal of Honor to Murphy's parents at the White House on Oct. 22.

It is a bittersweet moment for Murphy's family and friends, but it is an accolade that is most deserving.

Helicopter Heroes

Giving up his seat to a wounded soldier, a courageous Army officer strapped himself to the side of an Apache helicopter gunship that airlifted them out of a furious firefight in Iraq, the military said yesterday.

The Army called it an "unusual casualty evacuation," but Chief Warrant Officer Allen Crist's selfless act goes way beyond heroism.

Realizing that Spec. Jeffrey Jamaleldine needed medical attention fast, Crist put the critically wounded man in his own spot on the two-seat Apache on Saturday.

Crist then rigged a harness to strap himself to the fuselage and crouched on the stubby left gun wing of the aircraft.

With Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Purtee at the controls and Crist hanging on for dear life, the Apache flew out of the battle zone. It kept low, about 200 feet, until it reached a field hospital, the military said.

As if that wasn't enough, the Apache crew didn't stop for congratulations, but instead refueled and reloaded weapons to resume providing air cover for the ground forces.

Debt of Gratitude

John Doe, the clerk at the Circuit City store who alerted authorities to the actions of the Fort Dix Six, is a John Doe no more.

His name is Brian Morganstern.

Thank you Brian.

Your actions may have saved countless lives by speaking up and contacting law enforcement who confirmed that the group who wanted to make copies of that video were up to no good and intent upon causing mayhem at Fort Dix and other military installations and gatherings in the region.

Juxtaposed

Meryl Yourish takes a theater company to task for trying to pair up a play about Yoni Netanyahu with one about Rachel Corrie. The story was originally reported by the Boston Globe.

The family of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has forced Watertown's New Repertory Theatre to cancel a planned run next spring of a one-act play about a 1976 hostage rescue mission because it was to have been paired with the story of a pro-Palestinian American activist.

"To Pay the Price" centers on Jonathan "Yoni" Netanyahu , the older brother of the former prime minister, and a hero in Israel. Yoni Netanyahu was the lone Israeli military person killed in the daring mission in which a planeful of hijacked Air France hostages on their way from Tel Aviv were rescued at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The play draws on Netanyahu's letters and interviews with family and friends.

"My Name Is Rachel Corrie " is a one-woman play about the American activist who became a member of the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that advocates for Israeli troops to leave the West Bank. In 2003 , Corrie died during a protest when she was hit by a bulldozer. She was 23.

If Yoni's name sounds familiar, it's because not only was he the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu (and leading candidate to replace Olmert), but he was the sole Israeli soldier killed in the raid on Entebbe that rescued hostages held by Palestinian terrorists on July 4, 1976. He was a hero who died way too young.

Corrie, on the other hand, was a terrorist sympathizer who died trying to protect a smuggling tunnel from being bulldozed by the Israeli military. She's sainted by the extreme left and Palestinian sympathizers because she purposefully put herself in harm's way to defend terrorists as part of the pro-terrorist group ISM. She died at the age of 23.

So, what does the theater company do? They go out and find an Israeli who wrote a play castigating Israel. Figures.

UPDATE:
The theater company's website is here.

A Hero Remembered

Yesterday marked two extremely sad occasions. One was Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (Yom HaShoah) and the other was the massacre of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech. There was a common thread between the two.

Out of the pain and suffering come tales of heroism and hope.

One of the heroes from the scene at Virginia Tech had a connection to the Holocaust. He was a Holocaust survivor who gave his life so that others could live.

Liviu Librescu put his body between the gunman shooting up Norris Hall classrooms and his students. He used his body to keep the door closed and gave his students time to escape through the window before being shot to death by Cho.

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio.

Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

His final act was one of supreme sacrifice. He was a hero.

Others noting Librescu's heroism: Hot Air, The Jawa Report, Israellycool, and Law School Conservative.

It was also an act of hope.

Words cannot describe the kind of heroism involved, but Librescu wasn't alone. Andrea Peyser notes another hero from the scene of such carnage.

UPDATE:
Ed Morrissey points to another hero - a student named Derek O'Dell who blocked a door with his body to keep Cho from entering another classroom.

Being a Hero Could Be Quite Taxing

Back in January, Wesley Autrey did a selfless, good deed: He placed his life at risk to rescue a teenager who had fallen onto subway tracks in New York City. And in return, he's received cash, scholarships for his daughters, a trip to Disney World, theater tickets and other items. And now, at this post, tax professor James Maule of Mauled Again considers whether Autrey can expect something else, not quite as nice: a tax bill from the IRS.

The issue boils down to whether the benefits bestowed on Autrey are rewards or gifts, because rewards constitute gross income under the tax code. But how does one distinguish between the two? According to Maule, the IRS regulations that require inclusion of rewards in gross income do not define reward nor make distinctions between the circumstances under which they are offered and collected.

Long Island Navy SEAL May Get Medal of Honor

A US Navy SEAL, Lt. Michael P. Murphy, who is originally from Patchogue, New York, is being considered for the Medal of Honor. He died in Afghanistan after risking his life to save his colleagues during a 2005 battle. If awarded, Murphy would become only the third person to earn the Medal of Honor since 2001.

Murphy, who was 29, was killed in a fierce firefight in mountainous terrain along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He led a four-man special reconnaissance unit that was secreted into the Hindu Kush mountains along the border in June 2005.

The unit was reported to be trailing a high-ranking terror leader near 10,000-foot peaks when they were ambushed and overrun by scores of insurgent fighters on June 28, according to Newsday interviews and media reports. The newspaper Navy Times reported in October that Murphy's actions -- "far outnumbered and surrounded by enemy" -- were being reviewed for the U.S. Navy's first Medal of Honor awarded since the Vietnam War.

A troop transport helicopter that sped to their rescue with eight Navy SEALs and eight Army commandos aboard crashed after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. All aboard were killed. A single member of Murphy's team managed to elude capture, and eventually was reunited with U.S. forces.

Relatives of the SEALS have said the lone American survivor told them that Murphy came to his rescue when he was trapped by insurgents during the battle, according to the interviews and reports.

The survivor also told relatives that Murphy was shot when he climbed to higher ground and into the open to send an electronic call for help. Wounded, Murphy completed the call, then continued fighting. It is this action that is believed to be at the heart of his consideration for the Medal of Honor.

A Gold Star

In a rare instance of bipartisanship, the House voted 400-0 approving the Congressional Gold Medal on the Tuskegee Airmen.

That was the vote in the House of Representatives Tuesday night in favor of Rep. Charles Rangel's bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen. In a body known for its partisanship, it was a remarkable expression of national unity and consensus. As Mr. Rangel notes, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld - who Mr. Rangel has urged be impeached - released a letter urging members of Congress to support the initiative. "I don't agree with Secretary Rumsfeld on too many things. But when it comes to the Tuskegee Airmen we stand shoulder to shoulder," Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who represents Harlem, said in a press release.

The resolution itself tells a remarkable story: "The Congress finds the following: In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt overruled his top generals and ordered the creation of an all-Black flight training program. President Roosevelt took this action one day after the NAACP filed suit on behalf of Howard University student Yancy Williams and others in Federal court to force the Department of War to accept Black pilot trainees."

It goes on, "Due to the rigid system of racial segregation that prevailed in the United States during World War II, Black military pilots were trained at a separate airfield built near Tuskegee, Alabama. They became known as the 'Tuskegee Airmen'. The Tuskegee Airmen inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces, paving the way for full racial integration in the Armed Forces. They overcame the enormous challenges of prejudice and discrimination, succeeding, despite obstacles that threatened failure."

That unit of African American pilots deserves every accolade that this country can bestow on a unit, and to the soliders individually. Their heroic actions were instrumental in the Allied war effort in Europe.

Among the feats performed by the Tuskegee Airmen, this one stands out: the Redtails were the only fighter group who never lost a bomber to enemy fighters. They were requested by bombing groups that learned of the unit's record, and knew that their comfort factor (and survival) was greatly enhanced when the Redtails were escorting them. This, despite the fact that few actually knew that the unit was comprised of solely African Americans. Further:

By the end of the war the 332d had claimed over 400 Luftwaffe aircraft, a destroyer sunk only by machine gun fire, and numerous fuel dumps, trucks and trains. They flew more than 15,000 sorties and 1500 missions. The unit received recognition through official channels, and won two Presidential Unit Citations, 744 Air Medals, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, fourteen Bronze Stars and several Silver Stars.

In all, 992 pilots were trained in Tuskegee from 1940 to 1946. About 450 deployed overseas and 150 lost their lives in training or combat.

UPDATE:
Incorrectly listed the award as a Gold Star, when the award is a Gold Medal.

Katrina Coverage: Weekend Update, Part II

Blogging will be light today, so here are some links that I find extremely useful to get the latest news.

Google News for Slidell. News for Biloxi.

The Volokh Conspiracy weighs in on the funding of levee protection systems around New Orleans. They wonder what was more important than upgrading the levees around New Orleans over the past four decades that the billions necessary to conduct the upgrade were not set aside.

A story of flight from Slidell. 25 hour drive from Slidell to Lake City, Florida.

Meanwhile, the effects of the storm on the national economy and local economies far from the epicenter of this disaster are minimal. I can personally attest to that fact. Yesterday, I had to drive to Woodbury Commons Outlet Center in New York. This is an outlet with more than 250 stores. The place was absolutely packed and people were busy shopping away without a care in the world. No where did I see a Red Cross booth set up to take donations of food, clothing, or money, despite the fact that all of the stores were holding their annual Labor Day sales - most had anywhere from 30-70% off their regular outlet prices. It's not as though the Red Cross couldn't work with the Chelsea Premium Outlets Group (who manage Woodbury Commons) to set up a donation booth somewhere on the grounds.

I would estimate that they could have filled up multiple tractor trailers with food and clothing for distribution to families affected by Katrina.

Bill Hobbs looks at the issue of bussing those who couldn't make the New Orleans mandatory evacuation on their own and wonders why Mayor Nagin didn't use the buses at his disposal to do so. Will he be held accountable for that? I certainly hope so. This huge crisis might have been a little less dire in New Orleans had someone thought to use those buses to evacuate those who could not get out on their own and thought they could ride out the storm. There's also a juicy tidbit that states that the emergency plan specifically calls for the use of buses to get people out of town. The fact that there are hundreds of buses in that depot underwater shows that the New Orleans government failed to abide by its emergency plans. Someone was derelict in their duty to protect and defend the people of New Orleans.

Wizbang asks you to spot the crime. Personally, I think that kid should get a medal. He saved the lives of a school bus full of survivors from New Orleans. He did what the City of New Orleans should have done, but didn't.