San Diego Wildfires

Beyond PTSD: Can Trauma Be a Path to Peace?

Michelle Renee | Posted 11.13.2007 | Living

Read More: Dealing With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Kidnapping, How to Get Over Pstd, Raising Children, Pstd, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Living News
Michelle Renee

Being kidnapped, held hostage, and and forced to rob a bank I while my daughter was tapped with explosives left us both inevitably altered. Sharing this journey while reaching out to help others has become a calling on my life I cannot ignore.

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If Only the Wildfires Were Fake, Too

Robert J. Elisberg | Posted 11.06.2007 | Politics

Read More: Fake FEMA Conference, Bush Katrina, Katrina, Bush Fema, Wildfires, Fake Reporters, Dana Perino, Bush Wildfires, Pat Philbin, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Robert J. Elisberg

Why should anyone think there was "mal-intent" by FEMA in holding a fake press conference and passing it off as real? It was just Bush administration business as usual. That's not mal-intent. It's just intent.

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Giver's Greed: Charity's Worst Enemy

Justin Hudnall | Posted 11.01.2007 | Living

Read More: California Fires, Charity, Psychology, Funding, Media, Compassion, Charities, Southern California Fires, Emotions, Disaster Relief, California Wildfires, Tsunami, Disaster Relief Organizations, Giving, Fundraising, Fire Relief, Logic, Unicef, Compassion Study, Wildfires, San Diego Wildfires, Living News
Justin Hudnall

Writing a check for medical supplies is so businesslike, while giving a teddy bear is warm and fuzzy. It makes the giver feel good, which is the problem: Giving is not supposed to be about the giver.

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Why Aren't We Better Prepared for Inevitable Disasters?

Donald Cohen | Posted 10.31.2007 | Politics

Read More: Fema, California Fires, Minneapolis Bridge, San Diego, Emergency, San Diego Katrina, Infastructure, FEMA Fires, Emergency Preparedness, Southern California Fires, California Wildfires, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, Katrina, Southern California Wildfires, Fires, Hurricane Katrina, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Donald Cohen

Will the recent fires in Southern California be a wake-up call about the nation's need to better prepare for what are misleadingly called "natural" disasters?

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How to Help Those in Southern California

Flavia Colgan | Posted 10.29.2007 | Politics

Read More: How to Help Victims of the Wildfires, California Fires, California Wildfires, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Flavia Colgan

So, even though you might not live out on the West Coast, and maybe you don't have family there, join the cause of helping out those in need in this trying time in Southern California.

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The Twin Disasters: California Burning and Wall Street Churning

Danny Schechter | Posted 10.28.2007 | Politics

Read More: Financial Crisis, California Fires, Subprime Mortgages, Market Shakedown, Wall Street, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Danny Schechter

Both involve a massive loss of people's homes. One is about California burning, the other about Wall Street churning. The one we saw the most on TV was not necessarily the most serious.

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San Diego Fires Wind Down Leaving Damaged Property And Imprinted Kids

Joe Gandelman | Posted 10.27.2007 | Politics

Read More: Del Mar Fairgrounds, California Fires, Del Mar Fairgrounds Fire Evacuation, Del Mar, California Wildfires, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Joe Gandelman

This crisis far from waning. And it's going to take a while for the signs to dissipate, the sights and smells to fade away.

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Michael Roston

Before Fires, Bush Cut Fire Preparedness Budgets, Outsourced Forest Service Work

HuffingtonPost.com | Michael Roston | Posted 10.26.2007 | Politics

Read More: Outsourcing, California Fires, California, Budget Cuts, Wildfires, Breaking Political News, San Diego Wildfires, Forest Service, Politics News

After President George W. Bush's visit to southern California, the post-Katrina Federal Emergency Management Agency is getting good reviews for its he...

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Won't Be Water but Fire Next Time, Lord

Carl Pope | Posted 10.26.2007 | Politics

Read More: Fema, Cost of Disaster, Cost of Fires, Fake FEMA Conference, Katrina San Diego Fires, Cost of Fire, Santa Ana Winds, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Global Warming, Politics News
Carl Pope

We need to rethink our urban forms; that is, how we live on the land. Inaction will carry a heavy price: just look at this week's bills.

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A Message to the Cellular Companies from San Diego

Philip G. Baker | Posted 10.26.2007 | Business

Read More: Wi-Fi Networks, Cellphones, California Wildfires, San Diego Evacuation, VOIP, San Diego Wildfires, Cell Phone Wi-Fi, Business News
Philip G. Baker

If you really want to help us in San Diego and elsewhere where emergencies may occur, don't prevent us from using VOIP on our phones.

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SoCal Fires Flame Cable Networks' Ratings

TV Newser | Posted 10.26.2007 | Media

Read More: San Diego Wildfires, Nielsen Ratings, Ratings for Wildfire Coverage, Media News

As the flames are put out, the winds die down and the federal money comes in, the cable networks are adding up the ratings from their coverage of the ...

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I'm One Lucky Fire Refugee

Erin Kotecki Vest | Posted 10.25.2007 | Living

Read More: Smoke From Fires, Air Quality, Wildfires, Santa Ana Winds, San Diego Evacuation, Asthma Smoke, San Diego Wildfires, Living News
Erin Kotecki Vest

Our neighbors were staying put, but we were packing. I was torn on whether we were doing the right thing. Were we overreacting? Were we underreacting?

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Back Home After the Fires

Chantal Sicile- Kira | Posted 10.25.2007 | Living

Read More: Living With Autism, Southern California Fires, California Fires, California Wildfires, Diary of the Fires, Wildfires, Autism, Journal of the Fires, Stories About the Wildfires, Santa Ana Winds, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Living News
Chantal Sicile- Kira

Everyone is commiserating and telling evacuation stories. We are the lucky ones. I feel guilty that my home is still intact when others have lost everything.

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California Fires Bring Serious Health Hazards

Huffington Post | E.A. Hanks & Patrick Waldo | Posted 10.25.2007 | Living

Read More: Firefighters, San Diego Wildfires, Health, Living News

Whatever is floating around in the air of Southern California has to be about as good for people's lungs as swallowing tar would be for your digestive...

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Why Are Fire Evacuees at an Outdoor Stadium?

Michelle Renee | Posted 10.25.2007 | Living

Read More: Wildfires, California Fires, California Wildfires, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Living News
Michelle Renee

I am up after 2:00 a.m., not for gusting winds and the smell of smoke, although that is still thick in the air. This time it is the burning questions that have me wide awake.

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On the Pornography of Devastation

Doug Levitt | Posted 10.25.2007 | Politics

Read More: New Orleans, Natural Disasters, Poverty, Greyhound Bus, 9/11, Katrina, Wildfires, Malibu Fires, Hurricane Katrina, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Doug Levitt

Natural disasters, like wars, are fantastical traumas, the unimaginable made manifest in a torrent of destruction. But what happens after the initial trauma has past?

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Cigarette Butts and Buttheads in a Time of Fire

Patt Morrison | Posted 10.25.2007 | Living

Read More: Cause of Fires, Cigarette Butts, Wildfires, Cigarettes, San Diego Wildfires, Living News
Patt Morrison

The radio was reporting more acreage, more homes chewed up by fire. The ash was blowing in wisps off my windshield wipers. And this man flicked a lighted cigarette out of his car.

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California Fires Show Devastating Risks Posed by Global Warming

Gene Karpinski | Posted 10.24.2007 | Politics

Read More: California Fires, California Wildfires, San Diego Wildfires, Wildfires, Politics News
Gene Karpinski

It is impossible to say that global warming caused these fires. But the worst effects of global warming will cause fires like these to be more intense and more frequent.

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Firestorms of New and Traditional Media

Candy Spelling | Posted 10.24.2007 | Media

Read More: California Fires, Southern California Fires, California Wildfires, San Diego Wildfires, San Diego, Wildfires, California, Media News
Candy Spelling

In the past, I was cynical when local and cable TV stations asked the public for video of news events. Now, though, I see the need for viewer-contributed graphics to fully tell the story.

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Fire Evacuees Find Wellness Volunteers Eager To Help

Huffington Post | Patrick Waldo | Posted 10.24.2007 | Living

Read More: Volunteerism, Red Cross, San Diego Wildfires, Wellness, Living News

Evacuees from the fires in California are getting some unconventional assistance. It may well be that "only in California" would you see people offeri...

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Where is the National Guard?

Gov. Bill Richardson | Posted 10.24.2007 | Politics

Read More: California Wildfires National Guard, Wildfires, California Fires, California Wildfires, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Gov. Bill Richardson

It is a sad irony that yesterday, the very day I sent fire crews to California, 300 more New Mexico National Guard members were sent to Iraq.

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Put Down That Hose, Comrade

Greg Saunders | Posted 10.24.2007 | Politics

Read More: Socialized Medicine, Bush SCHIP Veto, California Fires, Bush SCHIP, San Diego Wildfires, Schip, Politics News
Greg Saunders

Since the President was so concerned about "socialized medicine" that he vetoed SCHIP expansion, can we assume that his trip tomorrow is to deliver a lecture about the evils of socialized firefighting?

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From the Fires in San Diego

Chantal Sicile- Kira | Posted 10.24.2007 | Politics

Read More: California Fires, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Autistic Children in San Diego, Wildfires, Santa Ana Winds, San Diego Katrina, Arnold Schwarzenegger, San Diego Evacuation, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
Chantal Sicile- Kira

Although we San Diegans may feel like our lives are on hold, and we are consumed with thoughts about essentials such as food and shelter, to the rest of the world, it is life as usual and the fires are just another item on the evening news.

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The American Disasterscape

John McQuaid | Posted 10.24.2007 | Politics

Read More: Natural Disasters, California Wildfires, Hurricane Katrina, Global Warming, California Fires, San Diego Wildfires, Politics News
John McQuaid

Nature is wrathful and unpredictable -- and with global climate change, getting more so. Yet Americans have an annoying habit of ignoring the potential for disaster until ... after disaster strikes.

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Wildfires

Sasha Abramsky | Posted 10.24.2007 | Politics

Read More: Wildfires, California Fires, Firefighters, San Diego Evacuation, Response to Fires, San Diego Wildfires, The Guardian, Politics News
Sasha Abramsky

Apparently in some circles, it's a form of radical chic to glory in each and every calamity, to strike not the abstract concept of "America" but the real lives of individual Americans.

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