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Tuesday, September 13
Where There is Hope: The Story of Steve
by
Caroline Vernon
on Tue 13 Sep 2005 04:00 PM CDT
 Where There is Hope: The Story of Steve
by William Rivers Pitt, Truthout.org
Although
we have seen many examples of incompetence and the lack of a much
needed sense of urgency to help those whose lives have been completely
devastated by the hurricane, it is comforting to know that there is
sometimes a rainbow after the storm. This story is beyond compelling...
it is just one example of how even the worst tragedy can bring out the
very best in people.
In cold blood he leapt into burning Etna.
-- Horace
Paging Oprah Winfrey. You're going to want to sit up and take notice of this one.
So
there's this guy named Steve, who grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Steve is what you would describe as an average guy, works construction,
went to a tech/voc high school, a townie with oak leaf clusters. A
solid citizen. A good man.
A little
back story, to set the Steve stage, to tell you about the kind of man
he is. Steve loved this woman once upon a time, and dropped somewhere
in the neighborhood of two grand on an emerald ring for her. As it
turns out, the woman in question was barking-mad insane, and wound up
stabbing him in the back - literally. Steve got the ring back after the
relationship finished its little Hindenburg routine, and took it to a
bridge.
He fully
intended to toss the ring into the river under the bridge. He stood
there with the emerald band in hand, composing his thoughts. Across the
bridge came a very young woman with a couple of babies in tow. Steve
could tell right away that she was not anywhere near the well-to-do
neighborhood. Instead of giving the ring its symbolic drowning, he gave
it to the lady with the babies. He told her how much it was worth, and
told her to pawn it, told her in the best Steve Miller fashion to take
the money and run. She flipped out completely, weeping with gratitude.
This is a Steve theme. Now you know what you need to know about the man.
Anyway,
Steve fell in love with a woman from New Jersey named Linda. Linda at
some point last year got fed up with Jersey and checked out to New
Orleans. New city, new culture, new climate, new everything. Everything
was cool, until Katrina showed up. Steve lost track of Linda, as did
her family, as did the country, once her city got wiped off the map.
Steve
sat and watched CNN like the rest of us, and called Linda repeatedly to
no avail. He called her parents and asked if they had heard from her,
and they hadn't, and were flipping out. Finally, two Sundays ago, he
said enough was enough. He told his boss that he was heading to New
Orleans to find her, and his boss cut him two paychecks to help him. He
called Linda's father and said he was going to find her and bring her
back if it killed him. He hopped a plane to the closest available spot,
and poured himself into the worst, most dangerous place in America, to
find the woman he loved.
Snapshots of Steve in the Big Easy:
He
banged from one shelter to another, to another, doing a loop through
the five of the biggest shelters over several days looking for Linda.
At some
point, Steve got his hands on a flat-bottom boat and rowed around the
city. He found dozens and dozens and dozens of people, and rowed them
to shelters. He saved perhaps a couple hundred lives.
One day, he met Harry Connick Jr. at a shelter, and asked him if he had seen a pretty white girl named Linda.
One day,
he met an Iraq veteran in a shelter who was just back, who was
permanently in a wheelchair from shrapnel wounds, who was desperate to
do what Steve was doing, who had lost his whole family to the storm.
One day, he pounded through a rooftop to pull people out of their attic.
One day,
he heard a baby crying in a house, and went in to find the baby on the
floor in between two dead bodies, and took the baby to a shelter.
He
turned almost yellow at one point from the foul water. He got a fungus
on his feet from the water at one point. Doctors at the shelters he
kept checking, and kept bringing people to, took care of him. He rowed,
and searched, and saved, and looked for Linda. He didn't sleep.
And then, after days of searching, Steve found Linda.
She was
in a shelter, and was well enough given the circumstances. She lost her
mind when she saw him, Steve from Lowell in the midst of the worst
place in America. She didn't want to leave when he said they were
going. "It's martial law," she said. "They're pointing guns at people."
To hell with that, Steve told her, and took her out. They rowed, and
walked, and got on a bus to Baton Rouge.
He got
her new clothes, got her a meal, and got her in touch with her parents.
When Linda called her parents, her father asked to speak to Steve. "I
don't know what to say," said Linda's dad. "I want you to come home. I
want to shake your hand. I want to thank you." The next day, they got
plane tickets home.
I hope
Linda is smart enough to marry this man. I hope Steve didn't catch
anything in that water. I hope everyone he helped rescue in his
flat-bottom boat finds their own personal salvation as best they can. I
hope the baby he rescued from between those bodies grows up to be a
wise President of the United States.
Thanks to Steve, of Lowell, Massachusetts, I hope.
(Source)
Steve King: Having It Both Ways
by
Chad Thompson
on Tue 13 Sep 2005 12:48 PM CDT
 Steve King: Having It Both Ways
There seems to be an odd theme in the "conservative camp" these days that is boiling to the surface in the aftermath of Katrina:
What's Good Enough For Me, Isn't Good Enough For Thee
First, David Yepsen makes a note of Steve King and his vote against the $51 billion aid effort to the Gulf Coast:
In
fairness, King probably does represent the views of many of his
constituents. Western Iowa is home to some of Iowa's most conservative
people. If so, perhaps it's time they quit trying to have it both ways.
Perhaps they should quit expecting so much federal money for farm
bills, Missouri River projects and things like turning U.S. Highway 20
into a four-lane road.
,,,
And
King is sometimes selective in the spending he opposes. This year, for
example, King issued press releases bragging about landing road
projects in that pork-filled federal highway bill, which he supported.
He also touted $3 million to mitigate flood hazards on the Missouri
River and $25 million for water and recreational projects in the
district.
King
is also a bit inconsistent. Just six days before he voted against
federal relief, he put out a statement saying "Iowans remember the
floods of 1993 when we all pulled together to overcome our natural
disaster. We received help from much of the country and other parts of
the world. Now is the time for Iowans to return the favor. The victims
of Katrina need our prayers and our donations. Now is the time to bow
our heads and open our checkbooks. Every prayer and every dollar
counts. This will be the longest and most expensive American recovery
in our lifetimes."
It's the old axiom: one man's "pork" is another man's "job creation package".
In addition, last week's Cityview featured an article by the neo-political pundit Steve Deace (who was at one point safely isolated to sports talk radio):
In
New Orleans, every debauchery under the sun was celebrated, and every
form of self and pleasure profited upon. Glitzy casinos and high-rise
hotels littered the landscape of the Gulf Coast. Surely these didn't
cause Katrina, but where did all the money earned from these monuments
to self-indulgence go? Certainly not into the infrastructure, since the
citizenry there is among the poorest working poor in America, and they
were surrounded by an antiquated levee system that hadn't been touched
in a generation. Those two factors have unfortunately contributed to
the mortality rate, as well as the desolation, that resulted from
Katrina.
The
problem is very simple: we (as the public) demand - and require -
the government to perform certain functions, be it trash collection,
police protection, or maintaining public works projects like levees.
Now,
when we enter an era where the rampant philosophy of low taxes, cheap
labor, and "smaller goverment" is unable to either pay for needed
services or perform successfully - the response to Katrina isn't
entirely unsurprising.
There is
rampant political discussion going on about what role the various
federal agencies did or did not meet, but there is something important
to realize:
It's not the people - it's the ideology.
Vote for Dave Loebsack for DFA Endorsement!
by
Trish Nelson
on Tue 13 Sep 2005 04:00 AM CDT
 Vote for Dave Loebsack for DFA Endorsement!
Democracy for America
Hey Bloggers!
Here’s
your chance to throw your weight around. Congressional Candidate
David Loebsack is running against Jim Leach in the Second District and
is seeking an endorsement from Democracy for America (DFA). You
can go online and vote for David Loebsack starting today, September
13th. You do not have to live in the 2nd District or even be from Iowa to vote in this election!
Below is an excerpt from the e-mail that was sent to the
candidates.
Dear Congressional Candidate,
Thank
you for applying for a Democracy for America endorsement. We help
elect fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates to all
levels of office - from school board to the United States Senate.
Earlier
this year Democracy for America endorsed Paul Hackett for Congress in a
special election in Ohio. We sent an email to our supporters urging
them to contribute online to Paul's campaign and we reiterated the
request through the Democracy for America website and blog. The
response was this: over $90,000 in online, small dollar contributions
to Paul Hackett in just 3 days. This money helped Paul go on the air
days before his special election. He finished just four points from a
victory in one of the most Republican congressional districts in the
country.
Democracy for America wants to do the same for your congressional campaign.
Democracy for America will host an online vote to determine
which congressional candidate will receive our first 2006 DFA-List endorsement.
The vote will be open to all challengers and open seat candidates. The
candidate with the most votes at the end of balloting will receive a
DFA-List endorsement and a national email appeal from DFA's Chair Jim
Dean.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/housevote
Democracy
for America is committed to winning back the United States House and we
are excited about raising your campaign the resources to win.
Sincerely,
Chris Warshaw
Political Director
Democracy for America
(click here to vote for Dave Loebsack!)
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