A request for DNC and other party leaders - aplan to make aREAL difference

[Stinky The Clown]

As you read this, ask yourself: "What should **I** do if ....... "

The fact is, most all of us have little more than a vague idea of what to do in the event of a cataclysmic event such as Katrina ..... or 'The Big One' in California ...... or another grand scale terrorist attack ..... or the **really** big 'Big One' possible along the New Madrid fault, near Memphis.

And the fact is, in the event of even a more modest emergency, you and me, we're the true 'first responders'.

So back to the opening question: "What should **I** do if ....... "

It seems to me that we can get the word out in a way that reaches everyone in the country. Imagine, if you would, a new kind of PSA (public service announcement). One that's, say, an hour long. It would be to the old style PSA what late night infomercials are to 60 second ad spots ...... except they'd be meaningful.

I'd love to see some group - and the DNC seems as a good a group as any - to coordinate the development of such a program. All on-air persons would be volunteers. Hopefully even the technical crew that shoots the spot would be volunteers. As would the researchers and specialists, and authorities that would contribute to it. Air time would be donated or, if that's not possible, sponsored in much the same way as current PBS programming is sponsored (' ... this program was made possible by a grant from XYZ Company, People for the Whatever, and viewers like you who made contributions to its production and airing .... and the Democratic National Committee ')

Get someone like James Lee Witt (back in the news and a highly competent and highly respected disaster response authority) to act as host. Get volunteer 'ordinary' first responders to make appearances. A search and rescue person to speak to getting yourself found when lost. An ER nurse to speak to first aid to use *before* help arrives. An earthquake expert to speak to areas of safe refuge and areas of danger. A civil engineer to speak to bridge safety during an evacuation, or downed power lines, or broken gas mains. An epidemiologist to speak to contaminated water issues, or mold in the aftermath of a flood, or the potential for medical epidemics. You get the idea.

That first program would have national applicability and be somewhat general. And it focus not on 'fear' but on what **you** the person can do to help yourself and those around you. Practical, hands on, individual-person-level information that is practical and useable.

Then produce a series of area-specific spots. One that speaks to hurricanes for the east and Gulf coasts. One that speaks to earthquakes for the west coast and the middle Mississippi valley area. One that speaks to blizzards in the northern plains. Again, you get the idea.

I see the very real need for such general information.

I see the production of such people oriented material as a really GREAT way for the Dems to be seen as actually doing something, even at a time when they're out of power.

Now, I am neither a disaster expert nor a production expert, so the 'how' and the specific 'what' of all this is for others smarter than me to come up with.

But I'd like to know what you folks here think about this.

Thanks for reading.