News Blog @ i66.com

Rain and Wind Have Begun in New Orleans

From our Storm Digest Blog, which has complete coverage of hurricane Katrina:

Tropical storm force winds are already hitting Orange Beach, AL as well as the mouth of the Mississippi and we're 12 hours from the eye of the hurricane hitting the coast.

Here we go.

President to Speak About Katrina

President Bush will be making a statement at 12:30pm EDT regarding the impeding hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, and also a comment or 2 about Iraq. Stay tuned.

Fox Report on Oil Rigs in the Gulf

Nasty report on Fox - according to authorities, many of the oil rigs in the Gulf will be totally affected by the strength of the hurricane. While all crews have been evacuated from the rigs, many of them are old and will not withstand 50 ft waves and 160 MPH winds Katrina is packing. Experts say that everyone in the US will pay for this one, since Louisiana also is one of the major ports for foreign oil imported to the US.

Epic, they're saying. Plus now Brian Wilson read an email from a view who was a former meteorologist with NOAA during Camille and Audrey. He says that the most deaths occurred not from winds, not from rain, but from the thousands of SNAKES which occupied high ground when the storms hit. OH. MY. GOD.

Katrina Tops 165 MPH Winds

From our Storm Digest Blog:

From the 11am forecast discussion via NOAA:

THE AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTERS JUST MEASURED A 166 KT FLIGHT LEVEL WIND IN THE NORTHEAST EYEWALL...WHICH REQUIRES AN ADDITIONAL UPWARD ADJUSTMENT OF THE CURRENT INTENSITY TO 150 KT. A DROP IN THE EYE GAVE A CENTRAL PRESSURE OF 907 MB. KATRINA IS COMPARABLE IN INTENSITY TO HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969...ONLY LARGER. GPS DROPSONDE DATA FROM THE NOAA G-IV MISSION EARLIER TODAY SHOWED KATRINA'S INTENSE CYCLONIC CIRCULATION EXTENDING THROUGH THE 200 MB LEVEL...WITH THE FLOW SPIRALING ANTICYLONICALLY OUTWARD IN A WELL-DEVELOPED UPPER-LEVEL OUTFLOW PATTERN BEYOND A COUPLE HUNDREDN MI FROM THE CENTER.

150 Knots = 172.8 MPH. E---gad. To convert knots to MPH, multiply knots by 1.15. Flight level winds (which are typically 20,000-33,000 ft) are about 192 MPH. Bet that was a rocky ride.

The forecast discussion also contains verbiage reminding those who read it that the wind field has been extended to include 150 miles north of the center of hurricane Katrina:

THIS ADVISORY SHOWS AN ADDITIONAL EXPANSION OF THE WIND FIELD OVER THE EASTERN SEMICIRCLE BASED ON AIRCRAFT AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE FORECAST TO SPREAD AT LEAST 150 N MI INLAND ALONG THE PATH OF KATRINA. CONSULT INLAND WARNINGS ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICES.

Katrina - Category 5

From our Storm Digest Blog:

Yep, you read it right. According to the Weather Channel, beaches in Florida are already closed, and the mass migration from New Orleans is taking place - that storm surge prediction we told you about yesterday is 18-20 feet for the Louisiana coast. This will put New Orleans underwater, as the levies have only been able to withstand Category 3 hurricane winds.

Is Katrina it going to really be a Category 5 when it lands? Looks that way, along with the forecast track:

THE SPREAD IN THE MODEL TRACKS ALONG THE NORTHERN GULFCOAST IS AT MOST 90 MILES... SO CONFIDENCE IN THE OFFICIAL FORECAST IS RELATIVELY HIGH.

Here's the latest satellite pic of Katrina:

More as we get our coffee....

Chris Matthews Blogs Pat Robertson

In our quest for our Saturday morning jollies, we started looking at media blogs and lo and behold, we choked on our coffee reading Chris Matthews of Hardball Fame. He blogs about none other than Pat Robertson in his latest entry and astonishingly seemed to have a plethora of inflammatory comments made in the past by Pat, which truly gives you the feeling Pat's on the edge of some Alzheimers in his twilight years:

He’s said, “feminism encourages women to kill their children.” He agreed with Jerry Falwell, that other paragon of televised intolerance, that 9/11 was God’s answer to the “pagans, abortionists, feminists, lesbians, the ACLU and the liberal group People for the American Way.”

While Pat backed down from the Falwell statement saying he'd misunderstood Falwell's comments (whaaaaaaaat? Pat has a problem with comprehension and he interprets God's word for other people???) , he's got more words of wisdom for us:

But Robertson then followed up two years later with his own subtle suggestion about the State Department: “If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom, I think that’s the answer.”

Egads. We're telling you the only excuse for such talk is some kind of mental condition Pat can't control. And just to add insult to injury, here's another:

Remember when the reverend revealed that hurricanes would descend on Orlando because Disney World dared to host a few “gay days”? I wonder if Robertson was rooting for the hurricanes?

Issues, man. Pat, the Christian Right man of God, has issues.

More The Missing, Media, and Blogs

Missing pretty girl syndrome. False consensus effect. Big phrases, big deal, huh? What do they mean? Well they're relative because when this office actually watches Fox News beginning at 8pm and sees every show with some Natalee Holloway interviews which ask the same questions with the same answers over and over, something most definitely is wrong. A full half of Bill O'Reilly's show, Hannity & Colmes, along with Greta's full hour (with an obligatory nod to Katrina) was dominated by Aruba. The 8-9pm hour can be painful for us, as you know; normally enduring Bill O'Reilly for 10 minutes makes us want to commit hari-kari with a chopstick.

"Missing pretty girl syndrome" was a term coined we believe by blogger Michelle Malkin first, followed by similiar phrases by NPR's Gwen Ifill and other print media critics (Washington Post, NY Times etc) to describe the media's sensationalized coverage of young, attractive, missing white women to the exclusion of other missing people regardless of race or gender.

The same term can be applied to the focus of some blogs. Blogs themselves are personal opinions of the owners; if a blogger wants to blog the focus path of a specific missing pretty white girl, then so be it. However, we believe this fosters the same syndrome some cable news networks are afflicted by, and literally ignores the thousands of others who are missing. Since we've seen blogging affect media and even what they cover, it's safe to say the two are somewhat related.

There is a pattern to anything as focused and limiting as this syndrome, at least from the stages of a news cycle. It begins by the breaking news, where the interviews with families, spokespeople, experts, and authorities are asked about their initial experiences and other information about the missing person. Closely following this is the public perception phase, where the interviews are "ramped up" by reporters and hosts and the questions are increasingly more intimate and accusatory. Sometimes these questions are specifically directed to the victim's actions/character, the family, and/or authorities as contradictory and imflammatory; the resulting responses lead public impressions and perceptions of "fact" falsification (victim, family, friends) and incompetent investigative activities (authorities). Sound familiar? We knew ya'll were smart.

As time goes on, the resulting coverage, such as Fox News and victim-specific bloggers at the moment, enters a stage of media hype and sensationalism, the latter of which often ignores the facts and focuses on invoking emotion for viewership and in the case of blogs, readership and donation. Questions like "what do you think" or "how do you feel" are typical of the type of inquiries by a journalist or host that cause the person being interviewed to speculate or emote when answering. Perhaps an example of this is the recent re-arrest of the Kalpoe brothers and their friend: it's not clear on any of the posted articles at MSM sites if the charge *truly* is for the Alabama teen, and tv coverage on cable causes the view to associate the charges without even thinking about it simply by the questions being asked and responded to. On the surface, one would tie the arrest to the current case, however reading the release from Aruba, that's not explicit.

At this point, false consensus effect usually presents itself in some segments of the viewing/reading public. False consensus effect is defined as the perception people have that their opinions, beliefs, theories, and perceived facts are representative of the public at large. Put it this way: if one is in a group where everyone thinks or acts about a topic in the same manner, one might feel the collective opinion is indicative of a larger population outside one's group, when in fact it isn't.

Eventually, the coverage tapers due to other more important stories, the police find the missing person, or both. The problem here is that along the way, the false consensus effect by the public can result in trial by media. Currently, this is the case in the Natalee Holloway story - while her parents are rightly outraged at Aruban authorities, we can't count how many times they have been on TV stating that *they* have very little facts. This automatically leads to theories of cover-up, fabrication, and secrecy; in Aruba's case, they operate under Dutch law and are bound by it's contraints in releasing information. That's fact, no matter what the public affected by the Aruba case feels. Everything else is gosssip and speculation, until confirmed or released by authorities. Mark our words: rampant speculation feeds the fuel of misperception and can result in problems gathering evidence towards prosecuting a suspect, or even result in the perpetrator(s) release.

Recently CNN's president took a shot at Fox News for the tabloid coverage they've been producing lately, and Fox shot back with one thing - the ratings CNN has lost. All the blogging Greta did recently about "helping" missing person's families, while probably well- intentioned, is not necessarily the fair and balanced story Fox News as a whole professes to report. Remember the news cycle as you watch these cases (or any topic really) develop in the media - and you decide.

Jodie Renee Collie: Amber Alert Issued for 12 Year Old North Carolina Girl

From our Missing Abducted Blog:

Text of an email sent to Fox News

To: ontherecord@foxnews.com ; oreilly@foxnews.com ; Comments@foxnews.com ; Colmes@foxnews.com ; Foxnewsonline@foxnews.com ; Viewerservices@foxnews.com ; Myword@foxnews.com

Subject: Please have Fox get on the ball and cover active AMBER ALERTS like the one right now!!!!!!!!

There is a current Amber Alert in NC, a registered sex offender that has a 12 year old girl Jodie Renee Collie. Every night Bill O' Reilly talks about Jessica's law and the outrage, and now the network you all are on doesn't even report Amber Alerts as a Fox News Alert. We have breaking news all day about Natalee Holloway who's seach has had millions in resources and even more in media exposure. At least cover the Amber Alerts.

The Rocky Mount North Carolina Police Department has activated the Amber Alert after the girl was reported missing on Friday morning. Authorities say she was discovered missing from her home Friday at about 6:50 a.m. Authorities suspect that she was abducted by a registered sex offender.

Jodie Renee Collie is described as a white female, approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 114 pounds. Authorities say the girl has blonde hair and green eyes.

Police say the abductor, Phillip Daniel Denkler, 27, is a registered sex offender. He is described as a white male with straight, short, black hair and brown eyes.

The two were last seen in a beige 2005 Hyundai Sonata with North Carolina license plate number NMN-2630.

anyone who has information about this case is asked to call the Rocky Mount Police Department at (252) 972-1411 or you may dial 911.

Alert issued on missing girl-RockyMount Telegram

By J. Eric Eckard, Rocky Mount Telegram

Friday, August 26, 2005

Rocky Mount police issued an alert this morning after a woman reported that her 12-year-old granddaughter vanished from their home.

Police are looking for Jodie Renee Collie of the 1100 block of South Cambridge Circle, and they say she could be with a known sex offender.

"She had been in contact with a Phillip Daniel Denkler, a who is on the state's sex offender registry," said Rocky Mount police Detective Jeff Harris. "She received a phone call from him, and this morning, she's missing.

"The day after (Denkler) got out of jail, he started calling her."

Denkler was convicted in 2004 in Edgecombe County of two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child, and he served eight months behind bars, according to the N.C. Department of Correction Web site.

Collie's grandmother reported the girl missing Friday morning, police said.

"She went to wake her up for school, and she was gone," Harris said.

Authorities said they're not sure whether Collie went willingly with anyone, but because of her age and Denkler's possible connection, an alert was issued Friday.

The 27-year-old Denkler's last known address was Yonkers Road in Raleigh. Denkler was charged earlier this year with impersonating a police officer and reckless driving to endanger.

Katrina Posed to Become Cat 4

From our Storm Digest Blog:

Katrina is gearing up in the Gulf of Mexico, and when Max Mayfield at NOAA's Hurricane Center in Miami says it's probably going to be a big one, you can usually believe him:

I just don't see any reason why this will not become a very, very powerful hurricane before it's all over," hurricane center director Max Mayfield said at a news conference.

Category 4 storms on the Saffir-Simpson scale include dangerous sustained winds between 131 and 155 mph (210-249 kmh) and can create a storm surge of 13 to 18 feet (4 to 5 meters).

NOAA is predicting a more westerly path for the hurricane, which means Louisiana needs to pay attention, since New Orleans is mostly below sea level. Oil's at 66 bucks a barrel as investors bet it misses the refineries, but those are odds we're not sure we'd take in Vegas.

Conservative Christians Not Happy With Robertson

Being the troublemakers we are, we started poking around to see what the Christian Right was saying about Pat Robertson's comments and subsequent apology regarding Venezuelan President Chavez. We were amused:

Some leading Christian conservatives also said Robertson went too far.

``The Southern Baptist Convention does not support or endorse public statements concerning assassinations of persons, even if they are despicable despots of foreign countries, and neither do I,'' said Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch in a statement to Baptist Press, his denomination's news service.

We don't think he likes Pat anymore. Let's try another:

R. Albert Mohler Jr., another prominent Southern Baptist, wrote a commentary urging Robertson to rethink his words, saying they have ``brought shame to the cause of Christ'' and made evangelism more difficult.

Nope, no forgiveness there, either. One more:

National Association of Evangelicals President Ted Haggard told CNN that Robertson wasn't speaking for evangelicals but he should be forgiven.

``Granted, his semantics might not have been well advised,'' he said Tuesday.

Well, there's one with a decent attitude for Pat. Let's try Muslims:

Muslim leaders speaking out about the comments included Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Washington-based Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.

``If that had been a Muslim cleric talking about killing a head of state, you would have never heard the end of it,'' he said in a statement. ``The White House would have denounced it as terroristic, extremist and incendiary or provocative, violent hate speech.''

Pat Robertson, Christian terrorist. Just reading that gives us a chuckle :)