it's so fitting that the only reliable news source at this point seems to be the Onion. Their 'America Under Attack' graphic kills me. God's statement is the only poignant or meaningful thing i've read about Sept.11th so far, and this graphic is the most accurate expresion of how much we know so far. it's all sweeet *also, read the "whats on tv tonight" thing.

dead on. so dead on. I also like the America turns into a Jerry Bruckheimner Film piece. They really found the way to be able to help provide insight into what happened through humor without being tasteless.

and they have more links to aid donation places than any other website i've seen. so most of those links got re-directed, the graphic i was talking about is the map at the bottom of the "U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With" thing. ;) email me sem, i think i have a present for you

Crap. Onion did an excellent job with this whole mess. The not knowing what else to do, area woman bakes american flag shaped cake cracked me up. Seems like there's a lot of that going around. Richmond (as I assume everywhere else) is full of flags. On cars, on shirts, on pants, hats, buildings. I sort of have a problem with this backlash of patriotism. I mean, you didn't give a fuck before and what's flying a flag gonna do? It takes something huge to make everyone feel vulnerable..and maybe that's good. But waving a flag around? The local grocery store sells car magnets for ten dollars a piece. I guarantee the proceeds do *not* go towards helping rescue workers or the victims families. It's more of the same shit that disgusted me during Desert Storm. Does anyone remember the set of trading cards that came out? Or maybe we should make GI Joe dolls of Bin Laden and Bush and the rest of the taliban. It's the commercialism versus the lack of action that bothers me. And I'm on a soapbox and I'll stop now. Yea. The Onion did good.

http://ndms.dhhs.gov/activations/Terror_Events_SEP2001/SITREP24.doc if you want to know what's going on with the rescue efforts, that's the deal. also, from a list i subscribe to: Nancy Ross-Stallings just forwarded this to me to forward to the lists. After she called me and explained what was going on, I thought it was important for the list members to know what is really going on. On Tue, Oct 2, 2001, 8:00:00 PM GMT rstallings wrote: Tom, As requested, I am sending you this to post to the ACRA lists. I am hoping to dispel some of the rumors and to help clarify questions that the archaeological community has regarding the WTC disaster. It is my understanding that some archaeological organizations have developed lists of archaeologists who are interested in helping with the disaster. First, I must clarify that I was deployed to the WTC disaster, by the Federal Government on September 12, to work as a Forensic Anthropologist, not as an archaeologist. The reason for this is that for nearly seven years, I have been a member of the United States Public Health Service, Office of Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team (DMORT). When disasters such as hurricanes, floods, plane crashes and terrorist acts occur, these teams are offered by the USPHS, usually in concert with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the cities, counties, and states that are impacted by a disaster, as a component of the National Disaster Medical System. During the time that a DMORT Team member is deployed, they become temporary federal employees. For an explanation regarding DMORT Teams, and they types of occupations they are drawn from, go to http://ndms.dhhs.gov Once there, click on "Current Activation and Deployments" for comprehensive information about the recovery operations going on in New York City, with recent updates, and for some examples of other deployments from the recent past. Click on "Joining A Team" and then on that page go to "About Our Teams" to gain further information. Since DMORT Team members are expected to work 12 plus hour shifts, seven days a week, they are sent home to rest after two weeks or so. With many deployments, they are round the clock operations, so I was not surprised to be placed on the 7PM to 7AM shift. With commute time on each end of the shift, my time "on duty" ranged from 14 to 16 hours, depending on traffic and when the day shift personnel arrived to replace us. This left only a few hours of time for sleep, showering and eating, before we were sent out the following evening. While I was in New York, I was at the World Trade Center site, the Manhattan Medical Examiner's Office Morgue (which is handling all of the fatalities from the WTC), and at the Staten Island Landfill, where the debris from the WTC are being taken for recovery operations. As of Wednesday, September 26, in excess of 115,000 tons of debris had already been transported to Staten Island. Informal estimates that I heard place the tonnage at about 6% of the estimated debris. This may or may not be accurate, and at this point it may by impossible to determine. Early in the deployment, I worked at the Manhattan Morgue, but once the landfill operation was established, I was moved out there to work as a Forensic Anthropologist to identify human tissue that could be sent to the Medical Examiner's office for preparation to extract samples for DNA analysis. The heavy majority of the deceased will most likely be identified legally by using DNA, due to the condition of the remains. The condition of the human remains makes it sometimes difficult even for trained forensic anthropologists to identify and separate from the food items from the restaurants and personal lunches that were in the WTC complex and surrounding buildings. The appearance of both types of remains, in many cases, differ markedly from faunal and human remains I have worked with from archaeological sites. The removal of the debris from the World Trade Center to Staten Island is being conducted by very large pieces of heavy equipment (some a few stories high) and semitractor trailer size trucks. No archaeological work of any type is being conducted at the WTC site. This site is extremely hazardous. In one of the worst days, it is my understanding that they lost 5 search and rescue dogs (seeking both injured and deceased people) due to the unstable nature of the debris piles. By the time the debris are loaded in the trucks by the heavy equipment, archaeological context is lost. Watching the equipment work, the operators, quite rightfully, are picking the option of stability of the debris they must operate off of over ensuring where exactly the debris were first encountered. As of last week, some of the debris were still very hot, with oxygen exposure causing steam and smoke to continue to rise. The fire department was on hand to provide assistance, if necessary. Once at Staten Island, the human remains and identifiable personal effects are being recovered using non-archaeological techniques. Due to the sheer volume of the debris, this is the only practical way to do it. The recovery techniques were developed at the behest of the FBI and the Manhattan Medical Examiner's Office and are working well for the type of recovery operation that is necessary. It is very important to stress that this is a crime scene and there are chain-of-custody issues that are critical to this operation. Therefore, with very few exceptions, police officers, fire department members, the FBI and some individuals from such agencies as the National Transportation Safety Board or other pertinent agencies are the ones who do the actual recovery. While at the Landfill, DMORT Forensic Anthropologists and DMORT Forensic Dentists work under the auspices of the New York Police Department Crime Scene Search Division and were subject to all of their protocols. >From a psychological standpoint, for the workers from all the disciplines who are there, this is probably the most horrible disaster in the recent history of the United States. Despite being accustomed to working with crime scenes, seeing senseless human destruction and fragmentation, many veteran police, firemen, and others are having special and unique difficulties with this one. In any disaster, federal teams such as DMORT are supported by mental health teams with trained counselors whose specialty is disaster-related services. These counselors are on-site and maintain frequent contact with team members throughout their deployment and after the deployment as well. One cannot help but take certain aspects of one's work "home" with them and sometimes these impacts can become detrimental to the team member, and also their familiy members and friends. At this point in time, that is all I feel that I can offer by way of explanation regarding the recovery operations at the WTC. As soon as DMORTS from other regions in the US have been deployed and served their periods of activation, there is a chance I will be asked to redeploy. This, however, will be based on whether the authorities in New York still have a need for our teams, and which specialties within those teams they still feel a need for. Ultimately, it is their decision, since the federal government leaves it up to the discretion of the local (city, county) agencies about the type and nature of the US Public Health Service teams they wish to have assisting. The purpose of these teams is not to come in and "take over" operations or tell the local authorities what they should or must do regarding the disaster, but to serve as additional personnel that will fit well into to the on-going operations. In closing, I have shared to the best of my ability what I know about the operations surrounding the WTC disaster. I request that if anyone has additional questions regarding DMORT, please log-on to the website above and contact the US Public Health Service through it. I do not have any application forms, and have no role in the decisions that are made regarding the qualifications of applicants, or in the decision-making process leading to an invitation to join one of the teams for future deployments. Sincerely, Nancy A. Ross-Stallings, Ph.D.