friday

As we were getting the kids up and ready this morning to go over to the office, we got a call (from the maintenance guy, she didn't have the guts to call herself) that the manager would not be meeting with us and would not be extending our lease.

It's kind of like God's saying, "OK, you folks are just too hardheaded. You've got rats, you broke your toe kicking a door, your cat disappeared, someone got into your car, both of you got what look like spider bites while sleeping, and you still want to stay? Nuh-uh. I'll take care of that."

So, yeah, I guess we'll just try to look on the bright side. Not totally sure what we'll do at this point. We saw some other apartments, but they were just awful. We got preapproved for a mortgage (from the French, "death pledge") and what might be a good opportunity kind of fell into our laps...an old friend of my dad's is probably going to be selling his house. Jon went over today and saw it and really liked it. So, maybe that's what we'll do. I think we're going to email him and see if we can go over to see it as a family in a few days. Based upon the speculated asking price, we think it wouldn't be more than our rent, and it sounds like utility costs are comparable. I'm kind of really excited about that idea.

Jon's off today and he's gone off to Juma at the local masjid, so hopefully we'll start to get to know the Muslim community here.

Guess we'll see what the next week brings...

vent

Feeling down again. Yeah, "hate" is a bad word. I just don't feel like typing "despise".

I hate being woken up at 12:30am by rats having a grand old time.

I hate that we don't have much of a choice but to try to stay here.

I hate it that we won't be able to find a home as close as this to Jon's work; and, even if we can, it will most likely be way out of our price range and/or have major lead issues due to age.

I hate not being able to bring in my cat (Leia, Manhattan's still missing) to take care of the rats, because it would mean paying them $500 just for the right.

I hate renting.

I hate that we can't buy a house; doing so would likely mean locking Jon into a dead-end job and our children going to substandard schools.

I really, really just don't like this. To be realistic, if the management hasn't taken care of the rat issue at this point, they're not going to. I hate this.

wednesday

Caught another rat. And there's at least one more. Maybe we don't want to stay here?

Someone got into our car, rummaged through the glove compartment, and popped the cover of the gas tank. Nothing noticed missing. Contacted credit bureau just in case. That's what I get for thinking we live in a safe part of town. Ditto the question above.

Postponed the meeting with apartment managment until Friday.

And Manhattan, our sweet cat, hasn't been seen since Monday. Very uncharacteristic. Visited Animal Control but he wasn't there...

par-tay

We went to a teddy bear pajama party at the library this evening. Enter...Paddy Bear. An early birthday present. That ended up being even earlier than intended because of a curious kiddo...he came out of my closet proudly proclaiming, "Look! A bear!"

Anyway, he likes Paddy. And had a good time at the library. And even fell asleep on the way home, woo hoo!

In other good news, I finally found a recipe I'm happy with for a yummy but easy potato corn chowder: dice two medium red potatoes, cover with water, and boil for 5 minutes. Drain, then add a can of creamed corn, a cup of Wild Oats' corn chowder base (from the bulk bins), add enough milk to cover and a bit more, then add a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Cook until the potatoes are done, stirring often. This made enough for the three eaters of this household, though I might make a bit more next time. Yummmm.

And Kansas City mamas---looking for a good motorcycle? Or maybe your dh would like one? Jon is selling his 2005 Honda Rebel, a great putzing around or commuter bike that gets about 70mpg. It's located in KC :)

tuesday

Found this quiz via Jaime's site and it is scarily accurate as to my state of mind right now...though I'm not so sure about the "voluptious atmosphere"...

mamaspeak took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Wishes to find her stimulation in a voluptuous atm..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Called the apartment management and they've invited us over to "see what they can do". We're going to ask that they let us sign a new lease at the new rent level, and in exchange, we drop the charges with the BBB and AG.

In most states, what they did would be considered retaliatory illegal eviction. But, as a guy at the AG told me, all of Arkansas' rental laws were written 100+ years ago when all the legislators were wealthy landowners with sharecropping tenants.

(insert virulant infix)

Got a letter that the apartment complex is terminating our lease. We have 30 days to vacate.

We called them on their immoral business practices, and they're kicking us out.

Moral: Let people screw you over, or they'll screw you over even more.

Have already filed with the BBB and Attorney General...

Punks. PUNKS.

dern smart animals

Saw another rat last night. It dived into a crevice between the dishwasher and the cabinet (that I hadn't even noticed before). so it must be getting in at the hole where the dishwasher's water line comes in. The nice thing about this is that I think the crevice has to be the only way the rat can come in and out of the kitchen...so I put a sticky trap right in front of it. There's no way the rat could come out without getting stuck. I got in my lookout chair and kept an eye on it and, sure enough, I saw the rat stick its head out. I expected for it to make a run for it, but it waited. And looked. It knew something was different. And it didn't trust the difference, so it stayed inside. Didn't come out at all last night. Argh! Judging from my experience with my pet rats, I think it'll probably come to "trust" the sticky trap if I leave it there long enough, though. Hopefully. I could just plug up the crevice with steel wool, but it's a great catching spot and the rats would probably just gnaw a hole in a less easily monitored spot.

Good shows have started back up, so that's nice. Watched Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy...pretty good. I was really enjoying Going Tribal, but after watching enough episodes, it became clear that with every tribe the guy lived with, he was "invited" to experience and basically cheapen their most sacred ritual. So, Fear Factor with a heavy dose of exploitation and imperialism. Really immoral.

Eleanor is 5 months old today! Oh, and today's also my sister's 10th birthday (geez, how can that be?). Happy Birthday!

there but for the grace of god go i

Had a horrible experience today.

We went over to my mom's this afternoon and hung out for a while watching Thomas videos, then she invited us out to a Chinese buffet for dinner. Yay, I love Chinese :). It was just beginning to rain a bit when we left. Soon after we got on the freeway, it began pouring. Absolutely pouring; the hardest rain I have ever driven in (thanks, Rita). I could barely see the white line beside the highway and could kind of make out car lights ahead, but not well. For an awful five or ten seconds, I could not see anything at all. I was really scared; I felt much more in danger than I ever have. I was too scared to pull off, because I could not see the shoulder well enough to see if it was clear and wide enough, and I thought it would be impossible to get back on. We finally got to our exit and I pulled off into a gas station to calm down for a minute. The rest of the drive wasn't as bad, but we did got through some deep water standing in the road. It slacked up while we were eating and the drive home was manageable. Ohmigosh, I hope I never drive in rain like that again. It wasn't a lot compared to what so many have gone through, but it sure shook me.

And I'm glad to say that Jon won't be driving back down in it tomorrow; his mom has bought him a plane ticket back here. Whew. If I could barely do it for twenty minutes in a car, eight hours on a motorcycle would be horrendous.

We did have a nice morning, though. My little sister came over for a while; the kids love her, so that was nice.

Ugh, I'm still shaky from driving.

little brain

Ellie has discovered that if she bites me in a certain way while we're nursing, I will let down. I don't know whether to be irked or be proud that she discovered a causal relationship.

friday

Jon's riding his motorcycle up to visit his mom and family this weekend. Kinda lonely here.

We made cookies this morning and had some of them after lunch. Tristan really enjoyed rolling out the dough and decorating with sprinkles. I tried out a train cookie cutter that I'd gotten from the Johnson County, KS Museum, but the resulting cookies look more like deformed jackrabbits than choo-choos, I think. Tristan was thrilled, though.

The apartment maintenence came and found the hole our little ratty friend came in, then plugged it with steel wool. Hopefully that's that.

argh.

I'm pretty peeved at our apartment management today. Our lease will be ending at the beginning of November. When we moved here in May, we were offered a six month lease or a year lease. I asked twice if there was any chance that rent would be raised if we just took the six month, and was told that there was "no way". We were also told that we could go month-to-month after our lease was over with no penalty. Well, got a letter this morning that they're raising our rent by $25/month with a new lease, as long as we sign before September 30; otherwise it increases $25 plus $1/month per day until we sign. Oh, and if we want to go month to month, it's another $100/month.

Oh, I'm not happy. I called and complained and she said, "sorry, there's nothing I can do." We did write a letter to the office, saying that we planned to contact the Better Business Bureau, the state apartment association, and a few apartment search places if they wouldn't honor our original verbal agreement. Not much we can do, though, if they won't. I'm sure they're doing it because demand for rentals has increased due to the influx of new residents because of Katrina. Just so wrong.

Did find a good article on Muslim women and the hijab...I covered for about six months, but usually don't anymore. Brings up some good points that I haven't seen talked about in mainstream media. Another great source of information on this is the though-provoking The Veil and the Male Elite by Mernissi.

clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere...

I've been a pretty lazy housekeeper for, well, all of my life. But you know the bit about how one can never cross the same river twice? Yeah, I'm now a supremely effective but not too anal housekeeper. Yup. A new leaf and all that jazz.

So, mostly just cleaning this week. I'm excited by the idea that Tristan won't remember growing up in a messy house. He's totally in his own room now. We cleaned it up nicely and organized it. He really likes it and feels like a big kid. It's great not to have to worry about either of the kids waking the other up at night or in the morning. Ellie is able to sleep in later than him, which has been great.

Oh, I did have a doctor's appointment yesterday. I broke my middle toe last Saturday, so that was the impetus to go in, though I also brought up my still-periodically-painful knee, and my massive hair loss and odd sweating. I did get him to do some blood tests to check thyroid, etc, which is what I wanted. But all in all, it was a pretty useless appointment. The doctor (a third year resident) couldn't tell what was wrong with my knee and vaguely said that I could come in for x-rays if it's still hurting in a couple of months. My dad warned me that they wouldn't/couldn't do anything about the toe, but I'd called the nurse line and was advised to go in since it's noticeably crooked and will end up healing that way. Well, Dad was right, they didn't do a dern thing. They offered to buddy tape it, but I'd already been there two hours (with Ellie and Tristan at home with my mom, albeit with a bit of pumped milk), so I said I'd do it myself. Yeah, it's going to be a good while before I go to the doctor again.

the triumph of man

Caught our little visitor!

And, as my dear husband so astutely pointed out, it was not a mouse, but a young rat.

Caught him on a sticky trap, took him to a wooded area quite a ways away, poured oil on the trap, and let him get unstuck and run off.

Goodness, I hope that was the only one.

monday

Jon send off an application today for a second job, a night shift at an academic library.

I feel awful. He works so hard for us. He went to grad school full-time while working full-time to support us. But insurance and utilities are so much here that we're worse off financially than we have ever been. And insurance will be going up in January. He doesn't think I should get a job. A full-time job for me would mean very little, since the only jobs I'm qualified for would barely cover daycare (if we could find one; the ones we've heard good things about all have long waiting lists). I am thinking about trying to get a night job, the same hours Jon is looking at---7 to midnight or so. I could waitress or bartend, I guess. Not much else to do at night. I don't know how Ellie would do, though; Jon might be up with a crying baby the whole time I'm at work (that's what happened when I saw the Brothers Grimm). I feel crappy because I was the one who pushed moving here and the one who got us into this. If he gets the job, that will mean he's working 9am-midnight Monday-Thurs, 9-6 Friday.

In other downer news, I saw a mouse last night. Ugh. No good way to deal with that. At least it is motivation to clean.

saturday

My kiddo just continues to surprise me. Tristan, a devout co-sleeper for his first 30 months and who has been sleeping on a twin bed in our room since a bit before Ellie's birth, decided last night, on his own and out of the blue, that he wanted to sleep on the bed in our other bedroom. And he did; he was there all night long, until around 9 this morning when I heard "Mama?" Attachment Parenting makes comfortably independent kids after all.

An incredibly symbolic bit of news: just a few days before the Senate failed to block the Bush Admin's impotent power plant emission policy, a bald eagle was found with severe mercury poisoning. Power plants with uncontrolled emissions pose a huge danger to our environment and our children, but apparently the Administration and Senate are just more concerned about the profit of their big business buddies.

ew ew ewwwww

The weather is starting to cool off and I've been having visions of opening up the apartment windows to let in some fresh air. Yesterday afternoon, I went into our bedroom, pulled up the blinds, and saw....


WASPS! Icky, yucky wasps completely covering a nest they'd managed to build between the screen and the glass. They were crawling all over each other in layers; more wasps than I'd ever seen in one place before. Guess that's one window that won't be opened anytime soon.

I'm starting to understand why people say parenting is hard in a different way once kids are old enough to ask questions ad actually understand things. I tried to impress Tristan with the fact that wasps can hurt us, but there is a fine line between "we should stay away from them so that we don't get stung" and "oh my goodness, we should be constantly paralyzed with fear". This theme has come up a few times in the past weeks; a bit ago, we saw a snake (a water moccasin!) in the drainage creek near our home. He seemed pretty scared for a while afterwards, but he hasn't mentioned wasps (or "bees", as he calls them) today, so I don't think he's unduly worried.

Oh! And good news, mamas out there----remember the to-do back in June about the diaper fetish site that was stealing photos of cloth diapered babies? The guy was finally arrested, along with one mom who was exploiting her kids. It was the CD AP community that brought the site and situation to the FBI's attention, so yayyy for concerned mamas.

yay for free stuff

I came across Baby Legs from a MDC banner ad. They looked super nifty and there was nothing to lose, so I entered their free pair daily give away. I got some really ambiguous automatic reply that said something like, "Thank you for entering. You will love our Baby Legs!" Didn't hear anything else, so I figured I didn't win, but a free pair came in the mail today! And they are cute---Ellie is wearing them in the pic. I can definately see how these would be fabulous for EC, but they're great for diaper changes too, since you have one less layer to go through, but still have the cozy legs. They're sock weight with elastic woven in at the top and bottom. I tried them on Tristan too, and they fit him as well---he's saying he wants a pair, which might be a good idea, since he goes around bottomless most of the time to make potty'ing easier. I think I might have to figure out a knitting pattern for some leg warmers...

Oh! I heard from Kati, via an old email addy I thought was dead. Yay! She's invited me to come visit...!

We went to the library storytime yesterday and it's apparently teddy bear month, so the stories were all teddy-related. And Tristan has decided he wants a bear. I'm absurdly excited about that.

lead in lunch boxes!

If your child has any soft-sided vinyl lunchboxes, check out this link.

The level of lead in one lunch box, an Angela Anaconda box made by Targus International, tested at 56,400 parts per million (ppm) of lead, more than 90 times the 600 ppm legal limit for lead in paint in children’s products.

It is not possible to tell by appearance whether a vinyl lunch box may contain lead, so CEH is advising parents to avoid vinyl lunch boxes altogether.

Bye, bye, soft and squishy Bob the Builder box. Your claymation cuteness is certainly appealing, but you are simply not worth the risk.

ouch

I'm afraid I've really screwed up my right knee. I hurt it somehow back in Mena---I was just stepping up on a curb and it suddenly hurt like mad. I limped for a couple of days, then it got better...but it started hurting again yesterday. I can't fully put my weight on it or totally straighten it out. What a headache. It's so hard to go to the doctor with kids.

Since I'm now getting hits from four search engines and in the hopes that Europeans do random searches on their names, I'd like to post that I'd love to get back in touch with Katarina Orlewicz, born in Danzig, but formerly of Schonau and Berchtesgaden, Germany. Kati, I'm afraid I may not have been as grateful as I should have been last time I saw you, but I really value your friendship and would enjoy to hear how you're doing. Please leave a comment if you ever come across this.

monday

When I was a kid, I had a comfort object---Molly Bear, who I slept with forever. I think that Molly is sadly in storage....anyway, I love the idea of the kiddos having a bear. Tristan has absolutely no interest in one, but he suggested that Baby might like one. I think she may get one (just one, mind you; otherwise the special-ness isn't quite there) for the new year or for her birthday. She's already inherited an Under the Nile teething doll that Tristan rejected as a baby, and she seems to like it---she'll hold it and stare at it google-eyed for a minute, then shove its head in her mouth.

It's so cute to see how she stares at Tristan in wonder. I think she already adores him. Sometimes I'll catch her just grinning at him.

The train thing might be slowly waning. He's begun being interested in the Wiggles; we inherited an old tape from my sister. They're pretty cool, so I'm all about that. Trains are still his main thing, though; see the "number choo choo" he made on the fridge?

Oh, and mothers to other train obsessed kiddos---Tuesday Morning has various Brio wooden railway things for 30-60% off retail (including a few faboo pirate-themed items). I don't often buy the deals I post, but I can kinda live vicariously by passing them on :)

yeehaw

Looks like firms tied to BushCo will be the ones doing most of the rebuilding along the Gulf Coast---oh, and they'll be able to underpay their workers, too, courtesy of an executive order on Thursday.

pirates are cool.

trains and feet eaters

Ack! I'll have a three year old in less than a month! How the heck did that happen?

Tristan has been really impressing me lately. After being a TV glutton for months, this week, he's decided he's not all that into it. He hasn't been asking for TV at all. He has been wanting to look at Thomas the train stuff online, though---at the 'official' website, there are a few games. He does surprisingly well at the memory matching game. There's another section with all the characters; he'll say, "Mommy, please talk about Henry!", or whoever. And I have no idea how he can tell some of the characters apart. There are three or four blue engines, but he can tell the difference, even if the photo is only a thumbnail. I sure can't.

Ellie's decided that she likes floor time, which is pretty neat. She's a wiggly little turner now, though, so it's only floor time...no more bed time for her.

I'm trying to figure out a new template for my blog, so don't be surprised if it suddenly looks different. Or even looks different a few times. I couldn't decide on a college major, so I doubt I can easily decide upon a template, which is much easier to change.

Oh! And knitters----Little Knits is donating all profits right now to hurricane victims. She already has good prices, so in case you were looking for an excuse...

i am concerned...

...that people are already forgetting their outrage at the Katrina catastrophe as Bush's admin spins out their twisted stories.

Found another first-hand account, written by two Paramedics stuck in NO: Hurricane Katrina, Our Experiences.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Oh, and did you hear? Fuhrer Bush has decided that it will be he who will personally head an investigation into Katrina. Oh yeah, and, just like with the Iraq dead, no photos may be taken of the dead in New Orleans. Out of sight, out of mind, they must figure.

tuesday

Tristan's glasses finally broke, after lasting an amazing six months. A bit of a pickle for us---Target Optical has a fabulous warranty, but it doesn't do much good when one moves to a state without even one Target Optical. So, since Tristan really can't do without them, we bit the bullet and I took him to an optometrist this afternoon. We're picking up the glasses tomorrow and I think the frames will end up better than our last. Jon and Tristan are going to Kansas City at the end of the month and will get warranty replacement glasses then, and we'll have a spare.

Revolt-worthy quote of the week, from Barbara Bush, at the Astrodome:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

monday

Had a fine time in Mena, where the only store open after 8 is Super Wal-Mart. Got to see some family I hadn't seen in a long while, and they got to meet the kidlets. Good time. Tristan loved going up to Queen Wilhemina State Park to see an old "steamie" and ride the little train.

Random photo time. Click for an enlargement.

glad to know his priorities are right

From Bush's speech in Alabama this afternoon:

The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch.

Ahh, Fearless Leader, I am so happy to know you're looking out for the rest of us.

friday

Five days since Katrina hit and people are still suffering and dying.

I feel really, really horrible. Stupid PBS programmers put on a Barney with a Barney-fied version of 'When the Saints go Marching In' and I started crying. There are just too many questions that need to be loudly asked about this.

Where was the planning? If Harry Connick Jr was able to (in his words) easily drive a car load of supplies in to the Convention Center, why are these people still starving? Why all the hype over 'extreme violence' when the actual people on the ground are saying that there is actually very little of that? What would the recovery look like if those stuck in New Orleans were rich white Republican constituents?

I'm not really hot on the idea of impeachment, since the best it'd give us is Cheney (unless he eats a few french fries, then it'd be Frist), but I say we should have a vote of no confidence and mid-term elections. Get that guy out before he kills more people.

I've been calling the local Red Cross, trying to get information on donating blood and volunteering at the Fairgrounds shelter, but I was only able to leave my number in the hopes of someone calling me back. Anyway, we're going on a long-planned trip to southern Arkansas this weekend to vist family. Would rather conserve gas, but it is family, I guess.

If you're a Mothering mama and would like to offer a room to a displaced/homeless MDC family, please check out this thread and pm me.

Lastly, a couple more bits of choice reading...

How the Free Market Killed New Orleans

Besides, to have accepted foreign aid would have been to admit the truth---that the Bushite reactionaries had neither the desire nor the decency to provide for ordinary citizens, not even those in the most extreme straits. Next thing you know, people would start thinking that George W. Bush was really nothing more than a fulltime agent of Corporate America.

Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

Resources for refugees in Central Arkansas

With thanks to my sweet hubby for the information.

State of Arkansas Katrina Assistance Relief Effort
A clearinghouse of information about shelters and other local services available to storm evacuees in the state of Arkansas

Little Rock television station

Press release from the City of Little Rock, with list of discounts and other special information for those sheltering from the hurricane in Little Rock.

There will be a Job Fair at the Jacksonville Community Center on September 2 and September 6 from 9am-3pm both days.


Shelters in the Little Rock Area:

Red Cross of Greater Arkansas - Shelter open at Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock. Food and beds available. Call 748-1030 for more information.
Directions:
Take Exit 139A from Interstate 30 (Roosevelt Road exit)
Go west on Roosevelt Road to Schiller Street
Turn left on Schiller Street and go to Gate 11 (on the right)


Jacksonville Community Center, 501-982-1511.
Directions:
North on Highway 67/167 to Main Street exit.
Turn left at light at bottom of ramp
Go to second light (Municipal Drive)
Go left on Municipal Drive to second building on the left


Local television station's list of available housing

Arkansas Tourism list of hotels and shelters with lodging available


Local School District Registration Information (several refugee children already enrolled):
Little Rock School District, 501-447-2950
North Little Rock School District, 501-771-8010
Pulaski County Special School District, 501-490-6307

A Can't-Do Government

By PAUL KRUGMAN (NY Times)
Published: September 2, 2005

Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.

So why were New Orleans and the nation so unprepared? After 9/11, hard questions were deferred in the name of national unity, then buried under a thick coat of whitewash. This time, we need accountability.

First question: Why have aid and security taken so long to arrive? Katrina hit five days ago - and it was already clear by last Friday that Katrina could do immense damage along the Gulf Coast. Yet the response you'd expect from an advanced country never happened. Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided. Many have yet to receive any help at all.

There will and should be many questions about the response of state and local governments; in particular, couldn't they have done more to help the poor and sick escape? But the evidence points, above all, to a stunning lack of both preparation and urgency in the federal government's response.

Even military resources in the right place weren't ordered into action. "On Wednesday," said an editorial in The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!"

Maybe administration officials believed that the local National Guard could keep order and deliver relief. But many members of the National Guard and much of its equipment - including high-water vehicles - are in Iraq. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," a Louisiana Guard officer told reporters several weeks ago.

Second question: Why wasn't more preventive action taken? After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. "The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."

In 2002 the corps' chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration's proposed cuts in the corps' budget, including flood-control spending.

Third question: Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA's effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals.

Last year James Lee Witt, who won bipartisan praise for his leadership of the agency during the Clinton years, said at a Congressional hearing: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."

I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com

from the front

For those watching what is unfolding in New Orleans...

- a blog from someone on the ground.

- an article about conditions in the Superdome.

- And this is a letter from a doctor in New Orleans. I got it from my dad, who works in public health. Posting 'cause of the bit at the bottom about forwarding on:

This is a dispatch from New Orleans from Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington:

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police escort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the French Quarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fignters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of clich� way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care phyisican. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuild will take. And the horror of so many dead people .

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MAY BE INTERSTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH

Greg Henderson

And, finally, a bit of beautiful news: nolajen, a MDC mama who evacuated from New Orleans had a beautiful natural birth and healthy baby boy in Alabama as Katrina was blowing in on Monday.