Update to this story…

Not for me…but about the “inadequecies” of our wonderful Red Cross USA…

Source…

Dispute Impeded Red Cross Katrina Response

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Red Cross was warned years before Katrina hit to resolve its internal disputes or risk a repeat of snafus that plagued the Sept. 11, 2001 relief effort, according to internal documents made public by a Senate panel Monday.

Thousands of pages of Red Cross e-mail, corporate documents and whistleblower complaints paint a picture of an organization whose mammoth structure contributed to the charity’s uneven response to Hurricane Katrina.

In an Oct. 29, 2001 e-mail, board member Bill George warned Red Cross chairman David McLaughlin to resolve the group’s disputes. At the time, the nation’s largest charity was reeling from CEO Bernadine Healy’s resignation amid charges it had mismanaged Sept. 11 donations.

“The worst thing we could do is to gloss over the split on the board, make some superficial changes in governance, and see the whole scenario repeated three or four years from now,” the Medtronic Inc. executive wrote.

“I do not think the board can continue kidding itself that it wants a strong leader and then not giving that person the authority to lead,” he said. Four years later, the group’s next CEO, Marsha Evans, would resign in the aftermath of Katrina, citing board friction.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, calling for immediate changes, warned the Red Cross board Monday that “‘business-as-usual’ cannot continue.” He said the documents raise questions about the Red Cross’ ability to keep close watch on billions of dollars in donations.

“This type of culture, a culture that discourages people from coming forward, management that does not want to hear the bad news, and is more concerned about good press than good results, is a theme that I am hearing too often,” said Grassley, who as Finance Committee chairman oversees charitable organizations.

His committee released the documents Monday.

In a statement, the Red Cross said it would fully cooperate with the committee’s review. The charity has said it responded to Katrina the best it could in circumstances almost unimaginable, while acknowledging that it stumbled in “technology, logistics and coordination.”

“The American Red Cross is committed to learning from our prior challenges and making the necessary changes,” the charity said Monday, noting it had recently launched an independent audit to review operations.

A House report earlier this month on the Katrina response found the Red Cross was overwhelmed by water, food and supply shortages as well as a disorganized shelter process. Some lawmakers have called for a change to the national response plan that gives the Red Cross the primary role and the dollars that flow with it.

Replying to a Senate inquiry, the Red Cross said this month it was working to improve coordination with FEMA and local charity groups.

It said it had no “fixed deadline” for hiring a new CEO to replace Evans, who took over in August 2002 as the organization was shaking off criticism over how it handled Sept. 11 donations, some of which were quietly set aside for future terror incidents.

In dozens of letters to Grassley’s office, former Red Cross employees and volunteers detail a culture of inefficiency in which poor communications, layers of bureaucracy and resistance to change contributed to waste and chaos after Katrina struck.

Typical of the complaints: Red Cross trucks rolling in with goods or sitting idle in parking lots, but not always accounted for; volunteers staying in hotels rather than shelters, holding them for use in case it was needed for someone “with more privilege in the organization;” orders placed for food well in excess of need; extensive travel paid for at retail rather than pre-negotiated volume cost.

“We ask for the Red Cross to be more accountable for donor funds,” wrote Christee Lesch, a hurricane volunteer from Adel, Iowa. “They tell the public how much money has been spent on disaster relief, but not how well it is spent.”

Documents also show Red Cross leaders eager to repair the group’s image following its fundraising flap, but at times uncertain how to navigate among the local chapters, which represent 30 of the charity’s 50-member board. Ultimately, Evans was counted on - unsuccessfully - to smooth out problems.

In a June 18, 2002, letter, Bill Van Eman, chairman of the Brazos Valley, Texas, chapter complained that the charity’s national leaders were unfairly asking the chapter, following media criticism, to lower its administrative costs below 10 percent of funds raised.

“Allowing us to have a small portion of the funds raised was a wise idea,” Eman wrote. “It could have been phrased as a ’special administrative cost’ and not a soul would have said anything. … If all we get as local chapters is bad publicity and additional paperwork, I do not feel this is a wise use of funds.”

McLaughlin responded: “Withholding some funds to cover chapter expenses makes infinitely good sense. With our new president on board, I suspect that we will be undertaking a thoughtful analysis of how we fund disaster response.”

On the Net:

Senate Finance Committee: http://finance.senate.gov/

And, furthermore, here are the Senate Documents regarding this current situation…

February 2006
2-27-06 Grassley Urges Red Cross to Improve Governance, Respond to Volunteers’ Concerns

American Red Cross’ Response to Sen. Grassley’s Specific Questions in his Dec. 29, 2005, Letter

Documents from the American Red Cross Supporting its Response to Grassley’s Dec. 29, 2005, Letter

Response 1, Response 2, Response 3, Response 4, Response 5, Response 6, Response 7, Response 8

Interesting email day today…

Seems “urban survival” is coming back in vogue in a big way again…

First email was from John C. P. Goheen of Terranova Pictures, from the western suburbs of the big city of Denver, Colorado. He’s a television journalist who’s looking for assistance on a couple of stories….one area regarding “bomb shelters”, and the other on urban survival techniques. Here’s his email…

Hello Richard,

I am a television journalist researching a couple of stories…one on urban survival techniques and one on underground shelters (some would call bomb shelters) .

I came across your site and found it very interesting. I am interested in identifying several things. Related to the underground shelters story, I am interested in finding manufactures of this product. I would also like to locate and find someone who has a vintage 1950s era shelter that would allow me to video tape.

I am trying to find examples of things people are doing to be better prepared for the unexpected, either man made or natural. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks, John
John C. P. Goheen
Terranova Pictures

My reply to him follows…

Hi John,

Thanks for the kind words about the site. There are several companies across the US manufacturing prefab fallout shelters, including delivery and installation.

Walton McCarthy at www.bombshelters.com has been featured in many documentaries and news stories before and after 9/11. His former website was www.radius-defense.com .

A friend of mine runs www.safecastle.com , and offers three types of prefab steel shelter here…

You can read more about JC at his blog.

Author Robert Crais is a true Robert A. Heinlein fan. Read about his visit to Heinlein’s bomb shelter in Colorado Springs. Includes photographs.

http://www.illumirate.com/opinions.cfm?cat_id=425565&item_id=93250

His web page was recently updated, and I can’t find a current link to his original article. The current owner of Heinlein’s old home might be able to help you get some video footage. Not sure of the address in Colorado Springs, but someone in that town might be able to direct you there.

Regarding examples of prepping….well, I eat, live, breathe, and share the prep lifestyle for a living. Just earned a electronic media degree, finishing a web degree in May, and started an emergency and disaster management degree this summer, but I’ve live the lifestyle all my life.

I have contacts all over the nation that do the same, and most have the same goals and ideals I do. Many of my closest friends are also active and retired public safety, military, law enforcement and emergency management folks, who have dealt in some way, shape or form with disasters big and small…and helping communities respond and recover.

My background (available on my website) includes years in federal employment, defense electronics, and manufacturing, as well as a love of the outdoors, nature, and the physical world around us.

In being ready for nature and man made disaster, you have to know what the threats around you are. Studying history and events that occur locally and regionally help prepare folks for hurricane zones, tornadic activity, earthquake zones, and the like. My goal is helping others recognize these historical threats, and make plans on dealing specifically with them.

With the events of Katrina, our nation saw the decades of planning went for nought; billions of dollars of government funds to the states went to waste, fraud, and graft; hundreds of man-years of disaster education were useless; and untold numbers of real American lives were put at risk…by a nation that SHOULD have been able to respond INSTANTLY to a natural disaster that took DAYS to actually hit the New Orleans area.

What does this mean? In a true national catastrophe, it falls to the individual to develop skills to save themselves, their family, and friends in a true disaster. What is needed is a much larger program that starts at bottom up, such as the FEMA CERT program, instead of talking heads and management wonks from DC (such as Micheal Brown) who have NO background whatsoever in emergency planning, who are doing the thinking and making decisions, without truly knowing what is about to happen to real people.

My goal is to actually develop training plans, videos, and radio broadcasts that do exactly this. I’m already creating video productions aimed at young adults, and have produced a Telly Award winning set of PSAs, which you can see at www.yaaaonline.com . This is just the start. Many more folks like myself are working on this area of work, and we will be successful.

I’ll be glad to share your request for info on my email lists, and several forums. Or, if you’d like to talk to me further, my contact info is below.

Good luck in your quest, and hope I’ve been able to help some.

Rich

Got something you’d like to share with John? Email me, or hit the CONTACT form at the top of the page to send me a message.

The other email was from Howard D. Shapiro…a big time L.A. lawyer who is seeking a little assistance in regard to Les Stroud, star of the cable television show Survivorman. I’ll share more later…let’s just say Les is coming to the states to visit for now…

So, I was hanging out with Vice President Cheney the other day…

…and he didn’t shoot me…or anyone else…

A first hand report on Cheney’s First Public Speech…since…”The Shooting”…
By Rich Fleetwood

The events of Friday, February 17th, 2006, in Cheyenne, Wyoming went off without a hitch at the State Capital Building for me, Wyoming Public TV (based here at Central Wyoming College), and the rest of the state.

It was a big day. VP Cheney came to town…to give a little speech, here in his home state of Wyoming. Stood right there on the floor of the State of Wyoming House of Representatives, and reminisced about his years in Wyoming, with his high school and college years, his first baby steps in politics as an intern for Senator Al Simpson in the State House, his many trips to Washington and powering up the political ladder, and many other personal and sometimes a bit private memories. Thankfully, he didn’t drop off first at F.E. Warren Air Force base…where one of the largest Nuclear Missile Commands in the world, with siloes all round us, resides on the west side of town here in Cheyenne…to load up for bear…or any other small furry mammals.

And, he started it all off by letting the world know that his target…er..um…his friend, Harry Whittington was doing fine and up and around (he was in fact giving his own short news conferenence at almost the same time down Texas way). Of course, all this is old news to the world THIS week.

But, last week, the media WORLD was hanging on a thread…waiting…salivating…tensed to pounce…on what Cheney’s words MIGHT be, in this…his FIRST public speech since the near fatal wounding…ok..the attempted..er…uhm…the “accidental” wounding…of Harry, the Lawyer…which gets me to thinking of that old Shakesperean quote,

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” [Henry VI, Part 2]”

..sorry, disregard that quote…a bit off topic…back to the story.

So…There we were, Wyoming Public TV, with our big, shiny, and packed satellite truck, parked all by its lonesome on the private driveway to the back door of the Capital Building…

The street in front of the capital building is lined with over a DOZEN other satellite news and microwave trucks. Reporters with cameras working for CNN, FOX, NBC, and many more media wonks are lined up and down the sidewalk doing their pre-rolls and other B-roll stuff.

A couple of the biggies have run cables across the grounds to our truck, as their video feed to THEIR networks and stations, for this event, are coming DIRECTLY from us. Our WPTV cameras are literally going to be feeding the event live to satellite…to the rest of the world….wowsers…THIS is ONE of the reasons I decided to go into media…

As my previous posting states, we had it all set up and ready Thursday night. Cameras and cables and audio installed and tested by 10pm. Everything’s good. Time for dinner and a short night of sleep. We have to be back at the capital at 6:30am Friday morning for the secret service to scan and sweep the truck.

Up at 5am…a quick breakfast, with a pissy waitress at the Little America hotel on I-80. We jump in the CWC Vans and zoom on over to the Capital Building. The two other WPTV employees that are going inside with me, Jackie D. and Kyle N., the station’s main producer/director, go through the entire security process…wands, dogs, and not quite friskings…in the main entrance area near where the truck is parked.

We head upstairs and onto the house floor, to power up cameras, check the audio and video connections, and make sure all cable runs are securely taped down. We’re in for a few minutes and see all is well, and then the secret service empties the east wing of the Capital to do a final sweep.

Did I mention it was FREEZING yet? The high temperature of the day is only minus 9 degrees. Teeth are already chattering…I’m wearing slacks and a sport coat and tie…required of anyone who’s going to be in the House chamber…not enough to stay warm.

I hang out in the satellite truck for the hour or so while the sweep is going on, while the rest of the crew is doing some prep work in the other building next door for our televised legislative report at seven this evening. It’s an interesting period of time.

All I will say is this…the truck was hot..the cameras were on…and security was doing their job on the House floor. Very interesting stuff…and only *I* got to watch. (I’ll share a little video clip later. One of the unfortunate issues with doing this is that I couldn’t take my Sony Handicam into the building…a rule against electronic devices is being enforced…drats).

Later, we’re heading back inside…sweep is done, and ALL the state congressmen, senators, legislator wives, and a few more folks, are on the second floor…lined up dozens deep…going through the security process all over again, more wands…a metal detector to walk through with lots of pretty flashing lights..and many visible, and not quite visible, weapons…just in case.

Finally, we’re inside the huge room of the House…I go to my television camera, set up on the second floor, and put my headphones on. Kyle and Jackie do the same. And we wait…for over an hour.

Each of us, during that time, get checked more than once for our photo ID, by the secret service, and are ok’ed again. Finally, a few minutes late, the entourage shows up, the crowd gets REAL quiet…and about 5 minutes later, the show starts…and the rest is history.

Cheney’s speech came off well. Our coverage and camera work came off beatifully. Our WPTV logo soared around the world in news clips for the next 24 hours, as reference was made to the speech by media wonks on every continent.

And Cheney DIDN’T resign…as many folks were thinking might happen.

No, I didn’t “really” get to PERSONALLY hang with him, since I was on the second floor. But, Kyle ALMOST got to shake his hand, while running the camera from the back of the house floor, next to the walkway between the seats Cheney strode down glad-handing all the congressmen as he headed out to catch the next flight out of Cheyenne, for places much more populated.

One can only assume that he had more hunting on his mind…possibly using the mini-guns mounted under the wings of Air Force 2, to strafe unsuspecting pronghorn antelope on the windswept plains of central Wyoming.

Here is the coolest part of this whole entire event for me…I did get to be the hands running the camera for the wide overhead camera shots of one of the most powerful men in the world…as he shakes off a bad week, and comes out ready to get to work again.

The world is being seen TRULY through my eyes, as I keep the television camera aimed and focused, with my unwavoring hands of steel, and the confident gaze of a trained broadcasting graduate playing his small role in the earth shattering (not) din of a SLOW news day, keeping the little hash camera aiming marks on the black and white video screen on top of my camera centered…just like that laser powered scope on Cheney’s quail gun.

In other words, the week, and day, from hell for me, in getting down to Cheyenne to take part in this event, was all worth the pain and tears. It was a world changing day for me…and for Cheney, as well as for Wyoming.

As soon as Cheney left, the crew and I went to work immediately. We tore down the cameras and tripods, ripped up the taped down cables, rolled things up and move the whole shebang next door, and setup an entire set with painted backgrounds, four cameras, 6 wired mikes, and a full bank of lighting kits…to prepare for the evening’s live broadcast of the Legislative Report on Wyoming’s Budget Session, all in one of the Hearing Rooms in the Herschner Building.

Later that night, after the Legislative Report was broadcast, we packed up the truck, rolled up HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of feet of audio and video cable, moved the truck to its assigned parking space behind the Capital building, and lock everything up. Teeth are chattering like beavers in a fresh pine forest.

The temperature is down to minus 28…and we are literally freezing to death in mere moments…finally finishing everything right before the first death occurs…and we head out to eat at the Outback Steakhouse near I-25 and I-80…to warm our innards AND our out-tards back to health.

Sheesh…I strongly dislike extremely cold winter weather in Wyoming! You know it’s cold when you try to talk to someone, your words come out and freeze in mid air and fall to the ground, and you have to pick them up and take them inside to thaw them out…to finish the conversation…

Let’s see how things go from here on out for him, and us…

Rich

…from the Red Cross. Yes…THAT Red Cross…

Seems that a handful of files I have been offering for download for many years (since 2002) has offended them. The files were received, in good faith, from a team member of the Witchita Falls Emergency Management Agency many moons before 2002, on CD for me to share with the world via my website.

I even put them on my first CD rom publication in 2002, after checking with my local chapter of the Red Cross in Worland, Wyoming, and getting their permission after they viewed the entire CD. After that, my CD master disk had to go through a copyright check before thousands of copies were made at cost, to be GIVEN AWAY by a good friend of mine in the preparedness business. The manufacturer went through every file, and found NO copyright issues.

Now, here some 3 years later, the Red Cross has “caught up” with me (literally…the envelope contained copies of letters sent [and returned] by the USPS in Nov. 2004, and July 2005. They want me to remove 133 files from the CD master. View the actual letter here.

I sent a nice return email to the Office of General Counsel of the Red Cross asking clarification of exactly what they were saying…

What I didn’t include was some rude, crude, and socially unacceptable comments about how the Red Cross seems to steal, lose, or otherwise screw people out of their hard earned money, even to the point of STEALING services and REFUSING TO PAY ANYTHING for use of equipment they used and abused after signing contracts stating they would be responsible for…

For example, a good friend of mine, “Alfie”, is based in the DC area. He has had personal dealings with these folks, who have their “ivory tower”, a huge headquarters in Merrifield (where their letter was postmarked from, incidentally). He shared the following with me…

“Alfie” recommends I pursue this hard…if the Red Cross decides to rain down their own little game of terrorism on a poor, hard working family man who is paying his own way, as well as for his wife and two kids, through full time college at the same time.

“Alfie” suggest that I follow through and consider these options…

“Alfie”, I have to agree with you. I have done NOTHING but HELP get these life saving documents into the hands of tens of thousands of Americans in the past 4 years since the events of September 11th, 2001. I’ve shared over 600 gigabytes of files with 700,000 unique visitors in that same time, and ALL on my own dime.

If I have to redo the CD…no problem. If I have to remove the files from my site, no problem. I’ll just do it.

If I have to go to the mass media…main stream media…underground media…to let the world know that the Red Cross…the agency so many millions of Americans have come to WANT to depend on…DOES NOT want to share life saving information as WIDELY and OPENLY as possible, well…I’ll just have to do that as well.

Want to see the files for youself? Check out the file set here… I also have all the files from the 1998 FEMA CD Rom titled Fema Disaster Preparedness & Mitigation Library • 1998 edition also on the site. They are also all available for free.

The REDCROSS files use less than 27 megabytes of space. The FEMA CD rom file set use just over 33 megabytes. The PDF navigation fails to work for the FEMA file set, but I have a php script that lists every file in the set, on the server and creates a browser link to the file.

Both of these sets have been COMPLETELY free for every visitor to the site.

I state on the CD set that I sell, that I only ask payment for the many dozens of files *I* have created over the years, and NOT for the rest of the government and preparedness digital files that I have added to the set, to compile in one place, a massive collection of over 19,000 pages of survival and preparedness information. From Day One of this online project, it has been about SHARING the info…not making a profit.

Please read the letter as it was received, and see if you can detect any goodwill from the Red Cross. I am concerned for their actions. I will post any reply I receive from them, here.

Support your local Red Cross chapter….somehow….

I’ll be removing the files in question from the RED CROSS folder of SurvivalRing.org, as well as the directory on the Civil Defense Now Ultimate Digital Library CD Number One, and putting the excised files into their own unique directory, and a statement to the effect that the RED CROSS does not, and has never created, supported, or is in any way connected with the files in question.

Joy to the world, my friends….

Had to run some errands this afternoon, including a couple of hours at the radio station putting my weekly radio show together for tonight, and then putting in on the server to play when it was supposed to. Called Annie to see if she needed anything and then ran to the store for a couple of items, ran the car thru the car wash to get all the grit and grime from the previous two snow storms cleaned off the old town car, and then grabbed a couple of burgers for dinner for us.

All this time this afternoon, both Kenny and Laurie were up at the arts center here at the college, doing rehearsals and finishing sets and props for Guys and Dolls, which goes live this week for six shows…

Well, head up main street, and come to the College Hill road, where I turn to come down the side street to our dorms…I see an ambulance pulled up to the stage door…folks standing around the back…lights flashing. Do I stop and check on the kids, or get home to see if they’ve called?

I head home…and pull into the parking lot, almost into a space…then I see Annie sitting in her wheelchair at the wheelchair ramp waving to get my attention…I zoom over to her and jump out…

Laurie has been hurt on the set…hit her head and been knocked cold…behind the stage during a scene change….

As I get Annie in the car, and the wheelchair into the trunk, the ambulance is leaving the parking lot across the campus.

The hospital is a block and a half down the street…we get there 45 seconds before the ambulance, and I have Annie out and in the door before Laurie is unloaded.

Kenny rode over with her in, sitting in the front of the meat wagon, and is still in his costume as Nathan Detroit, still wearing his fake mustache and spats.

Laurie is alert and talking, and none too happy, strapped down on the gurney.

Seems she was back stage during the scenery change during intermission and bent over to grab something, and hit her head on c-clamp being used to hold two ropes together. She knocks herself silly, but doesn’t knock herself out…just seeing stars.

For a few minutes she continues on, then gets dizzy and goes to sit down on the stage steps, and the crew is aware of this and thinks it’s a good idea. A few moments later, they check on her and she is slumped over and out cold. They try to wake her up for a second… and she won’t. By the time the stage director gets down behind stage, she does wake up, and they take her to the green room (sofa and comfy chairs) to better check on her in the good light.

A couple of crew guys take her in there and sit her down…she’s alert again, but her head hurts. She sits up for a moment, then is out cold again…and the ambulance is called immediately.

So…we’re in the hospital with her now…and half the cast and crew from Guys and Dolls in sitting in the main hall of the hospital, since the tiny waiting room is full of half a dozen small families in for their own emergencies.

After three hours, one CAT scan, lots of nurses yelling at us for wanting to be in there with her (only one visitor allowed at a time), and lots of paperwork ( and us and Laurie with no insurance…she’s 23 and working a part time job while in college full time ), we’re out of there and she’s home…

Prognosis…minor concussion. Results….Laurie has a LOT of friends who really care for her and were very concerned for her.

The stage director came right over moments behind the ambulance. The choregrapher/costumer/music director Leslie didn’t….the main director ( and the college’s Theater professor ) didn’t…and also threw a hissy fit for the many folks leaving to be with Laurie.

So what have we learned? A few folks in the theater department have their priorities screwed up. Laurie has more friends than she knows what to do with. And, she needs to wear a helmet on set now…

She’ll be ok…and Annie and I have a few more gray hairs now…

Rich

Well, got down here to Cheyenne this evening without incident…pretty good considering a winter storm came thru the past two days all across Wyoming, and I had to travel across a good chunk of the state.

Got the Capital building all set up with cameras, audio, and so forth hooked up to the satellite truck and tested…all a-ok for tomorrow.

Found out that of ALL the media people in the state covering the “visit” tomorrow, that only THREE of us (including me) from Wyoming Public TV are allowed in the House floor, with EVERYONE else having to sit it out and watch via closed circuit TV in the Herschner building next door.

I must say I’m a bit excited about tomorrow…although it’s going to be a VERY long day. Have to get there HOURS early for security check, do the broadcast, tear down the cameras, tripods, and cables, and move them ALL over to the other building A.S.A.P., for the afternoon broadcast of the weekly legislative update, which our station is doing every week for the next few weeks.

I’ll have my tiny Sony HC20 MiniDV camera with me and try to get some footage before and after the speech…and any I can DURING the event.

More later…

Rich
(feeling “special” since I get to hang out with some VERY powerful people tomorrow)

Source..

February 13, 2006
Detention Camp Jitters
by Maureen Farrell

“Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national security initiatives put in place in the Reagan era could see internment camps and martial law in the United States.”
– The Sydney Morning Herald, July 27, 2002

In 1984, the Rex-84 readiness exercise program was conducted by 34 federal departments and agencies, reportedly as an exercise to handle an influx of illegal aliens crossing the Mexican/U.S. border. Brought to Americans’ attention during the Iran-contra hearings, the exercise, which was conducted alongside another drill, “Night Train 84,” also tested military readiness to round up and detain citizens in case of massive civil unrest.

None of that ever happened, of course, and in many respects, it seems silly to even mention it. After all, other Reagan-era initiatives, like the Armageddon exercises Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld participated in, are far more interesting. Then, too, despite a brief moment of sunlight in the 1970s (when Congress, according to former President and CIA director George H.W. Bush, “unleashed a bunch of untutored little jerks out there”), emergency detention plans had been in place since the 1950s, without incident. Americans have not been herded into camps since World War II, so why worry about it now?

Continue Reading »
My…My…this is interesting. What’s Old Is New Again…so to speak..

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