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Water SA
On-line version ISSN 1816-7950
Print version ISSN 0378-4738
Water SA vol.37 n.1 Pretoria Jan. 2011
River modelling to infer flood management framework
Darrien Yau Seng MahI,*; Ching Poon HiiII; Frederik Josep PutuhenaII; Sai Hin LaiIII
IRiver Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
IIDepartment of Civil Engineering (Water & Environment), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, km-17 Kuching Samarahan Expressway, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
IIIDepartment of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
River hydraulic models have successfully identified the weaknesses and areas for improvement with respect to flooding in the Sarawak River system, and can also be used to support decisions on flood management measures. Often, the big question is 'how'. This paper demonstrates a theoretical flood management framework inferred from Sarawak River modelling outputs. The river model simulates the movement of flood waters through river reaches. Information on flood levels and overtopping of embankments is used to guide a flood early warning system. The above-mentioned elements were combined in a logical framework that showed logic sequences and impact indicators for improved flood relief activities in the city of Kuching, Malaysia.
Keywords: Flood, framework, InfoWorks RS, logframe, river modelling
The Sarawak River system has been the subject of numerous studies, due to the location of Kuching, the capital of Sarawak State, Malaysia, within the basin. The state government has invested huge amounts of resources and time in researching the river. Two very important outputs of those funded projects have been the topographical and hydrological data essential to river modelling (Dyhouse et al., 2003). Without these data, investigations aimed at understanding the hydrological behaviour of the Sarawak River would be futile. Earth surface data represented the elevation, profile curvature, flow path length, upslope area and conveyance capacity of the river. Hydrological data represented the meteorological and rainfall-runoff mechanism (Yu et al., 1999). However, as it is difficult to imagine the effects of these factors, a river computer model is useful in enabling visualisation of the system (Liang and Molkenthin, 2001; Sinnakaudan et al., 2003). The modelling outputs support decision making (Hämäläinen et al., 2004; Oxley et al., 2004) and can be used, as in this study, to formulate a flood management framework.
The Sarawak River (see Fig. 1) rises in the Bungoh Ranges to the south of Kuching city, at the border with Indonesia, meanders across a wide coastal floodplain and through the capital city before discharging into the South China Sea. The river basin has an area of approximately 1 430 km2 and a stream length of about 120 km, which consists of 2 principal tributaries, namely, Sarawak Kanan River and Sarawak Kiri River. The 2 tributaries meet near Batu Kitang, some 34 km upstream of Kuching. Kuching city is very flat and low-lying. Parts of the city are susceptible to flooding from fluvial and tidal events. The average annual rainfall in the catchment is about 3 800 mm (Memon and Murtedza, 1999).
On the eastern edge of the city, the Sarawak River divides, and prior to 1998 2 exits to the sea to the sea existed, on the Sarawak River and Santubong River. In order to protect the city, the Sarawak State Government blocked the 2 rivers and allowed only 1 outlet to the sea, via the Kuching Barrage, aimed at controlling the river and tidal flows (KTA Consulting Engineers, 1994). The river flow was modified from the natural tidal regime to a regulated flow, by means of a system of gates constructed along a land isthmus just downstream of Kuching city (Sharp and Lim, 2000). However, the opening and closing of barrage gates for flushing, de-siltation and navigation, was operated in such a way as to allow a certain degree of tidal influx into the Sarawak River system. Tidal effects were significant till the river confluence at Batu Kitang.
After the completion of the barrage, and with the downstream flow regime altered, major floods took place in February 2003, January 2004 and January 2009. To further mitigate the flooding problems, the state government announced the construction of an 8 km flood bypass channel from Kpg Paroh to Salak River (Jurutera Jasa Consulting Engineers, 2006). Sarawak River would be cut off by a second barrage. These facilities are expected to be in full operation by 2015, at which time the Sarawak River will be separated into lower and upper rivers.
River modelling
A MWH Soft model, InfoWorks River Simulation (RS) was utilised for modelling the Sarawak River. InfoWorks RS involves tight coupling of GIS functionality and full dynamic flow simulation. Such a model relies profoundly on the accuracy of topographical data (Benito et al., 2004; Sinnakaudan, 2009). The basin-wide digital terrain model (DTM) was derived from 3 sources: a 1:25000 topographical map of urban areas, a 1:50000 topographical map of rural areas and a river corridor survey exercise that produced river cross-sectional profiles at intervals of 1 km in urban areas and 5 km in rural areas. The survey exercise was carried out in 2000 in conjunction with the Sarawak River Mitigation Options Study (Jurutera Jasa Consulting Engineers, 2003). In the absence of more advanced earth-surface observation datasets, the available topographical data was the best available at the time. These were adequate for 1-dimensional (1-D) modelling, as previously indicated by the reports of Jenny et al. (2007) and Salim et al. (2009) on modelling Sarawak River systems.
There are 24 hydrological stations along the Sarawak River, which record hourly rainfall and water level data. However, there is no direct measurement of flow data. Rating curves are available for 2 upstream stations, Buan Bidi and Kpg Git, which have been calibrated from time to time (Mah et al., 2007). The 2 upstream ends were treated as Flow-Time Boundaries. The downstream end, at the estuary, was treated as a tidal Stage-Time Boundary. Barrage gates were modelled as radial gates. With these hydrological data, a base river model simulating the existing conditions was calibrated, using channel and floodplain friction as free parameters, against recorded and modelled hydrographs of Sarawak River. A detailed description of the modelling steps can be found in Putuhena et al. (2005-2006) and Mah et al. (2010). As demonstrated in Fig. 2, the matching of the recorded and modelled hydrographs during the February 2003 flood event (DID, 2003) is acceptable, with a correlation coefficient of over 0.80. The calibrated model had been able to mimic the real river behaviours at 80% confidence before any of the intended investigations were begun (MWH Soft, 2008).
The base model, carefully calibrated against discharge for one event, can be utilised to predict discharge, using independent data for the second event, and including the flood bypass channel, a new barrage and tide levels. The bypass was modelled as an extended river channel to Salak River. A tidal Stage-Time Boundary was imposed at the outlet of the bypass.
No gauges were available at Salak River at present. However, a tide table was accessible from the marine department.
The January 2004 flood event was generally quoted as a 100-year flood event (DID, 2004). The event flood flows were run through the developed model. The Sarawak River basin did not have a any documented flood management framework, but has 2 mitigation structures, i.e. the Kuching Barrage and the upcoming flood bypass channel. Model 1 was derived for existing mitigation conditions (Fig. 3), where the Kuching Barrage was included. Model 2 incorporated the flood bypass channel (Fig. 4). Both models enabled the exploration of many engineering solutions.
For purposes of demonstration, Model 2 was utilised to produce an inundation analysis along the river corridor. The river model computed the floodwater level and flood maps at different time steps. It was proposed to extract those data resulting in a rate of floodplain submergence from river bankfull level to a depth of 2 m. Based on the assumption that a normal adult Asian has a height of about 1.6 m, human settlements were known to be close to the river, and most of the village houses outside Kuching were single-storey houses, a flood depth of 2 m was taken as a reference point, beyond which flooding would inflict drowning. Some localities, for example Batu Kawa had recorded a flood level up to 6 m.
This rate would be a reflection of the river flooding severity (see Table 1). The higher the value of this rate, the more vulnerable the location will be to rapidly rising and widespread floodwater. Table 1 presents floodwaters rising from bankfull level to 0.5 m, progressively to 1, 1.5 and 2 m, together with the associated time and affected length. The analysis shows that the Lower Sarawak River is the most vulnerable to flood risk. Kuala Maong and Pending, due to their low elevations, had the fastest time for a 0.5 m water level rise, i.e. less than an hour. Both locations would submerge at a rate of 4-5.8 km/h. The risk along the Upper Sarawak River was ranked as 'moderate' but Batu Kawa demonstrated the widest floodwater spread. Batu Kawa would submerge at a rate of 0.7-1.9 km/h. The upstream tributaries floodplain had a rate of submergence of 0.2-1.8 km/h. These data were fed into a flood management framework to enable decision support.
Flood management framework
A theoretical framework for flood management for Sarawak River system was developed using a systemic approach (Bell and Morse, 1999) known as the Logical Framework or Logframe. Logframe is a management and planning tool which links cause and effect through a hierarchy of objectives (Putuhena and Kusmulyono, 2007). The Logframe comprises of a 4 x 4 matrix. Column 1 provides a narrative summary of activities and objectives. Reading from the bottom, these steps are Activity, Output, Objectives and Ultimate Goal. Each of these has a specific definition and role. Column 2 contains the Objectively Verifiable Indicators (OVI) that provide evidence of the statements in Column 1 of the same row that have been achieved. Column 3 provides the Means of Verification (MOV) by which the OVI are measured, and is equivalent to the monitoring and evaluation system. Column 4 lists the major assumptions, which influence the progression from a lower to a higher row in the framework.
The flow of logic through the framework starts in the bottom left-hand corner at the level of activity and follows a sequence of IF AND THEN statements, as illustrated in Fig. 5. IF the Activities are completed AND the Assumptions hold, THEN the Outputs will be achieved, IF the Outputs are completed, AND the Assumptions hold, THEN the Objectives will be achieved, and so on.
The Ultimate Goal refers to the sectoral objective to which the project is designed to contribute. For this exercise, the Ultimate Goal was to reduce the excessive flood loses along the Sarawak River system. There were 4 strategies identified that needed attention, i.e.:
New flood map
Flood early warning system
Flood relief programme
Community education.
The Goal, Purpose, Outputs and Activities are 4 systemic approaches that are set out (Table 2) in 1 frame, taking into account the necessity of a 'Flood Early Warning System'. For purposes of demonstration, we applied the Logframe to the above-mentioned elements (Goal, Purpose, Outputs and Activities of a flood warning system) in the first column. Reliable detection of flood conditions was a critical component of an effective local flood warning programme (Pappenberger et al., 2008). In order to assist with this, modelling outputs were included in the second column as indicators.
This had contributed substantially (as exhibited in Table 2) to identifying the priority areas most likely to need emergency notification, critical time for evacuation, and the most effective route for relief. For example, Kuala Maong was predicted, based on a 100-year flood, to be submerged to the critical 2 m level of floodwater in 1 hour 25 min, with, on average, less than half an hour for each water rise of 0.5 m. This is a short duration of time which should warrant greater attention from the authorities. The map showing the extent of flooding per 0.5 m level rise can identify the affected households and thus separate them into zones and plan an appropriate evacuation strategy. Questions which need to be answered include: who is in the most critical zone if floodwaters were to rise continuously for the first 30 min, where should they go, how much time do they have, which agency is responsible, etc. These questions were provided with guidance. These were the data offered to support decision making, and dissemination of such information would enable its use in formulating action plans, thus allowing the responsible parties to take rapid action.
Concluding remarks
As flooding continues to affect a greater portion of the growing population in Kuching city, communities with persistent flood problems or with risk of great losses when flooding does occur, are continually seeking methods to mitigate flood losses. In this paper, a river model was developed to identify flood conditions. This information was fed into a Logical Framework for addressing issues of emergency response and flood information coordination. A clear flood framework would enable many agencies to work closely together to rectify the flood situation in the quickest and safest manner. Often there is investment into the development of river hydro-informatics systems without sufficient dissemination of data or execution of action plans. It is important that this expensively-acquired information is propagated and used in an effective way, and how it is used to influence decision making processes.
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PUTUHENA FJ, MAH DYS and LAI SH (2005-2006) Floodplain mapping and visualization for flood risk assessment and decision support in Sarawak Kanan River. J. Environ. Syst. 32 (3) 203-221, doi:10.2190/ES.32.3.b [ Links ]
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Received 14 April 2010; accepted in revised form 13 December 2010.
* To whom all correspondence should be addressed. +604-5995874; fax: +604-5941036; e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
the bar
At the beginning
of this new century, we extend the season's best wishes to all our readers.
We wrote that same greeting a year ago and express it again to cover those
who subscribe to either school of millennium beginnings.
A number of our
readers write asking us for frequent updates on electric utility deregulation.
As a new session of our state Legislature convenes this month, deregulation
is once again a timely topic. We reassure our readers that legislators
in Jefferson City are dealing with deregulation in a responsible way.
After numerous
public hearings, they conclude we have a lot to lose if we diminish our
current resources. That's because we now enjoy reliable electric service
delivered through a publicly owned, consumer-owned and privately owned
regulated system. Also, we enjoy relatively low cost power in our state
along with projections of moderate rate increases in future years.
The California
electricity shortage and skyrocketing rates have slowed down a move toward
deregulation in Missouri and other states. Some states that passed deregulation
legislation will revisit the issue this year to decide if they should
The damper the
California crisis threw over deregulation reaches all the way to Washington,
D.C. That observation was made by a senator who has led the charge for
deregulation nationwide. Those close to the issue say the momentum gained
for national legislation was lost because of California.
A study issued
recently by a national consumer group says systemic market conditions
and flawed law are dashing any hope consumers will benefit from restructuring.
The study points to indicators of massive market failure. They warn consumers
will be hurt, not helped, if restructuring results in marketing arrangements
controlled by powerful interests.
The price of natural
gas more than doubled in recent months. Rapidly rising home heating bills
have made consumers angry. Their anger has political ramifications because
they will ask elected officials (fair or not) how they let this happen.
If deregulation of the natural gas industry gets some of the blame, it
will dampen the enthusiasm of legislators wanting to advance electric
utility deregulation at this time.
The focus of our
state Legislature is clearly on the consumer as they debate this complicated
issue. They will not allow a bill to advance that would raise rates for
any class of consumer. They will not allow a bill to advance that would
diminish the extraordinary reliability of our present system.
A track and field
expression for pole vault is "the bar is set high." When our present electric
generation, transmission and distribution systems are measured, we find
the bar to be set very high. It will be difficult for anyone to advance
a deregulation plan that can clear the bar at its present setting.
The objective
of deregulation and restructuring of the electric utility system in Missouri
will remain clearly focused on the consumer. Legislators will change nothing
until a plan is advanced that will "raise the bar" as it relates to consumer
confidence in our existing systems.
Stork was executive
vice president of the Association of Missouri Electric
Cooperatives and a member of Three Rivers Electric Co-op.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
HUNDREDS of youngsters from across the district have used the film industry to improve their studies, and even seen their own films shown on the silver screen.
Almost 40 primary schools have been involved in the Bradford Film Literacy project, and organisers say that around 70 per cent of these children have seen an improvement in their literacy skills.
The project is a collaboration between the schools and Bradford City of Film, along with support from Little Germany-based Curriculum Innovation Centre, and is just coming to the end of the second year.
Mixing film with the school curriculum, the scheme involves lessons where young people look at movies, TV and animations the same way they might study books, and encourages them to ask questions like why certain camera angles are chosen, what the film maker was trying to make the audience feel and how certain effects are created.
Pupils then used what they learned to write, direct, edit and star in their own films, and to mark the end of the successful second year.
Bradford's Media Museum hosted a "world premiere" of these shorts on Tuesday and yesterday, where they saw their finished films for the first time.
Before each film, which ranged in length from two to five minutes, school representatives spoke from the front of the stage to talk about the challenges of making the movies and what they would do better next time around.
Films included re-tellings of the Robin Hood legend, pirate adventures, stories about bullying, and surreal dreams. Schools from Bradford, Ilkley and Keighley took part in yesterday's event. Those who make movies set in the past spoke of the difficulties of making sure no modern buildings were in the frame.
In the last three months the scheme has attracted funding from Cape UK which has helped bring professional film makers to classrooms to offer advice to budding young Spielbergs.
The manager of Magiclight Pictures, which made The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, Barney Goodland, was one of the film makers who came to Bradford to support the programme.
He said: "The Film Literacy Scheme is a wonderful way to help young people learn. By using interactive film and animation workshops the programme encourages creative thinking and ideas, while at the same time developing key literacy skills."
Although the project currently only takes place in the district's primary schools, it is hoped it could eventually be rolled out to secondary schools. And organisers say the scheme has proved so successful that schools in other parts of the country are looking to roll it out there too.
Students at Bradford University are currently involved in a PhD study of how effective the project is in improving children's school achievement.
David Wilson, director of Bradford City of Film, said: "We are trying to improve literacy through film, and about 70 per cent of the young people who are involved have shown a marked improvement in literacy skills. It was all about working as a team, the children had to get together and put their thoughts on paper, and then following through and making a movie.
"A lot of these children already had skills in making films because they can use an iPad, we were all amazed how quickly they picked things up.
"It is especially helpful for boys, who are less likely to engage in reading and writing. It seems to be showing results and we're now looking to replicate this model. We have 38 schools involved at the moment but we want to extend things into secondary schools.
"It is great that we've got this facility in Bradford, and we hope seeing their films on the big screen will encourage their love for the cinema. We want these kids to know you can study film and animation in Bradford. The city is the envy of a lot of people studying these subjects."
He said that the efforts the young people had put in had also made them realise how damaging film piracy can be. Mr Wilson said: "They realise how much work they have put into a film and we tell them 'imagine how much effort it takes to make Batman?' They realise that it is wrong for someone to just take that without paying, which is an important message to get across and they really get it."
Cllr Ralph Berry, Bradford Council's portfolio-holder for Children and Young People, said "Using our UNESCO film designation in such an innovative way is really starting to make a difference in terms of attainment in Bradford schools. The project is also attracting attention across the UNESCO Creative Cities network and I understand that there is a PhD research programme accompanying the work. We look forward to seeing the results next year."


text:
Loeffler Randall Piera Metal Tip Flats $350
I was away last week spending time with friends in Florida and getting some of my Christmas shopping out of the way. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to do my weekly lust list and deal finds. This week I've decided to merge Hubba Hubba Friday and Stealing or Dealing together for the Holidays. This is just a teaser of more to come Monday. I'll look for some last minute finds for all of us. I know that I'm forgetting someone from my list!


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text:
David Friedman / NBC News
Neighbors Bob Reilly, left, and Jim McGovern embrace among the burned-out remains of their Breezy Point, N.Y., homes on Wednesday.
BREEZY POINT, N.Y. — As Hurricane Sandy turned the streets of this community into raging rivers on Monday evening, one company of volunteer firefighters ditched their rescue boats and sought refuge in the community center. Inside they found another bunch of volunteer firefighters, also stranded by rising water, who asked, "Are you here to rescue us?"
That was shortly before 70-mph winds blew embers the size of baseballs through the heart of this close-knit community on the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City's Queens borough.
Interviews with residents and firefighters on Wednesday provided a more complete account of how the disaster unfolded in this beachside town when Sandy blasted ashore.
In a community where firefighters are demigods, where a memorial at the end of the point honors more than 30 residents who lost their lives at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, three companies of volunteer firefighters were overwhelmed by flooding and an inferno that destroyed more than 100 houses. Yet they fought the elements all night, saving many people and protecting houses on the perimeter of the burn zone, including the home of a 9/11 widow.
David Friedman / NBC News
The Rockaway Point Fire Department, one of three volunteer fire houses in Breezy Point, was unable to get its flooded trucks running during the storm. The men took to boats to pull people from the water.
When the water hit about 5:30 p.m., quickly disabling the fire engines and ambulances of the Rockaway Point Fire Department, its volunteers abandoned their firehouse. But when a call came in to rescue a wheelchair-bound elderly woman trapped in a flooded house, Lt. Jimmy Morton and four of his men put on their wetsuits and headed out in two motorboats — a 14-foot inflatable Zodiac and a 15-foot fiberglass Wheeler, steaming up the road into a hurricane.
Breezy Point residents search for the past, look to the future
The idyllic beachfront town of Breezy Point, N.Y., suffered through 9/11 and a devastating jet crash nearby. But this tight-knit community is determined to carry on. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
The Breezy Point peninsula was inundated, the waters of the Atlantic Ocean merging with the waters of Jamaica Bay. Electrical transformers arced and sparked in the sky. Streets were disjointed as entire blocks of houses were shifted off their foundations. The winds blew 3-foot waves into the boats. Debris wrapped around the propellers. Finally they had to turn back, ditching their boats at the community center, crawling up a ladder and through a window to safety. They still don't know what happened to the woman in the wheelchair.
Inside the community center, known as the Clubhouse, the Rockaway Point crew found 20 firefighters from the Point Breeze Volunteer Fire Department, who had abandoned their own firehouse next door when it flooded. They were tending to about 20 people, mostly elderly and disabled. All were huddled on a stage where schoolchildren usually put on summer plays, with rising water lapping just a few inches below the lip of the stage.
David Friedman / NBC News
Chairs sit on the elevated stage of The Clubhouse, where Point Breeze Volunteer Fire Chief Marty Ingram and fellow firefighters huddled with rescued residents to escape rising floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy.
The Point Breeze fire chief, Marty Ingram, a retired Air Force helicopter pilot, had just finished leading the group in a prayer, an Our Father in the candlelight, when the Rockaway Point firefighters arrived.
A glow in the sky
"I was scared. We all were," Ingram said. "I told everyone, 'We're beach people. Just imagine it's a summer day and you're standing in three feet of water at the beach, and relax.'" Afraid they would drown when water got higher than the windows, blocking escape, Ingram decided that if the water reached two inches on the stage, the men would take down the Christmas lights strung across the ceiling and use them as a rope line to try to cross the rapidly flowing Point Breeze Avenue to reach a two-story house. He finished a second Our Father, when everyone agreed the water might have receded a little bit.
David Friedman / NBC News
Point Breeze Volunteer Fire Chief Marty Ingram. "I told everyone, 'We're beach people. Just imagine it's a summer day and you're standing in three feet of water at the beach, and relax.'"
It was about 8:30, just before high tide, when they first noticed a glow in the sky.
Breezy Point: 'Whatever is not flooded is on fire'
Glenn Serafin had been one of the first to see the flames, near his home on Atlantic Avenue, on the ocean side of town in the knotted area of tightly grouped houses known as the Wedge, where the streets are as wide as sidewalks, the lots only 20 by 43 feet, the houses seven to 10 paces wide. He had been tending his pump, ignoring repeated phone calls from the community safety office insisting that everyone evacuate. He was expecting a few feet of water in his basement, as had happened in previous hurricanes, but he allows that "my thinking was flawed." He took a nap about 6:30 p.m., but was awakened by water in his basement, which had risen neck high. Then the electrical outlets started popping from the salt water, and he heard the rush of water moving up the street.
Then, after 8 o'clock, out his back window, he spotted the fire, in one of the bungalows behind the larger beachfront house of Rep. Bob Turner (who got his job after Anthony Weiner lost his for sending nude photos and risque text messages). The fire leaped to the congressman's house, then to the house next door, where an older lady has kept a parrot for 50 years, the one that entertains children by repeating some choice words it learned from her dockworker husband. Then it jumped again and again, driven by the powerful southeast wind. The phones were out. The cell phones were out. Serafin used a garden hose and a margarita pitcher to throw water on his plastic storm shutters.
Read more Sandy coverage on NBCNews.com
Everyone knows everyone in the Wedge, often hanging out together at the Sugar Bowl beachfront bar. When a friend once asked Serafin, 'Do you know Alice" he replied, "Oh, yes. She's my wife's brother's wife's brother's wife."
The people here own the houses, but not the land. They live in a gated co-op, some here full time, but most, like Serafin, staying mainly in the summer. A bungalow sells for $350,000, a larger house up to $800,000 or a million in the overheated New York real estate market, but these are mostly middle-class families, heavily Irish-Catholic, enjoying a unique community nicknamed the Irish Riviera. The cars pushed around by the waves carried window stickers from Holy Cross and Georgetown. At the end of each block, the water lapped over yard shrines to Mary and Joseph.
At the swamped Clubhouse, the firefighters could see a firestorm of embers driven by the winds, a volcano erupting toward them in a hurricane. The smoke drove more people out of their houses, even those who had been safe on second floors.
Devastated NY community built by firefighters burned beyond their reach
Across a flooded parking lot, Jack O'Meara and his wife, Aileen, were waving flashlights to alert the firefighters. The men from Rockaway got back into their boats, dodging concrete flower pots in the streets. These men — Michael Valentine, Brandon Reilly, Brian Doyle, Michael Kahlau and Jimmy Morton — went back and forth, pulling in family after family, including the O'Mearas, along with their grown children, John and Trish, and their two cats, Leon and Bright. The firefighters plucked more people abandoning Olive Walk ("Life is good," the sign says) and Roosevelt Walk ("walk softly").
Now the firefighters were worried about embers setting fire to the wooden roof of the Clubhouse, which was starting to fill with smoke. After a third Our Father, they returned to the Point Breeze firehouse and were finally able to get their fire engines started. They began using them to ferry the waterlogged band at the Clubhouse to a more-secure shelter at the flood-damaged St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church.
Breezy Point, N.Y., suffered devastating losses as a result of Sandy. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.
The community's third company of volunteers, 10 men from the Volunteer Fire Department of Roxbury at the other end of the point, also saw the glow from the fire, but they, too, were in no position to respond. They were on the second floor of their firehouse, driven upstairs by the flood. Their fire trucks sat in four feet of water. All the radios were down, the phones dead. Only when the water went down a couple of feet could they drive to the fire.
A fire marshal whose home is in the Wedge, Kieran Burke, said it was about an hour, after he first saw the glow and smoke, before anyone began fighting the fire. Even then, until about 11 p.m., he said, there was only one hose directed at it.
Slideshow: Sandy slams East Coast
The assistant chief on scene from the New York Fire Department, Joseph Pfeifer, the same first chief to arrive at the World Trade Center on 9/11, said the department came as soon as it was called, though travel on the peninsula was slow in the high water. The timetable will be sorted out in the investigation, but Pfeifer said what's sure is that the city firefighters found an inferno, with at least 20 homes ablaze by the time they arrived. Telephone poles were on fire. Sinkholes opened up in the sandy soil, swallowing cars. Hydrants were hard to find under the seawater and had no water pressure, so the men "drafted" ocean water. Through six alarms, with nearly 300 firefighters working until mid-day Tuesday, they were able to do little more than hold the edges of the fire.
Holding the line at a widow's home
The volunteers from Point Breeze rode to the fire in the bucket of a payloader tractor, fighting alongside the Rockaway volunteers and the paid professionals until 5 in the morning. At one point they worked especially hard to save a large tan house facing the ocean. That's Sheila Scandole's house. Her husband, Robert, was a stock trader with Cantor Fitzgerald who died at the World Trade Center, and they both grew up in Breezy Point.
David Friedman / NBC News
Kieran Burke, a fire marshal, surveys the burned-out remains of his Breezy Point home on Wednesday. He was nearby at his mother's home, which survived but was flooded, when the fire started.
Slideshow: Surviving Sandy, twice
When the sun came up, the Sugar Bowl bar was gone. Kieran Burke's home was down, too, in the middle of a charred landscape the size of two football fields. Firefighters went house by house through the community, but so far found no one dead. The congressman's house was down, its white metal railing decorating a clump of debris at the edge of the burn zone. No one was quite sure what happened to the parrot next door. (Update: The parrot seems to have been rescued by an off-duty firefighter.)
But the house of Sheila Scandole, the 9/11 widow, remained, scarred but standing, staring out at the beach and the calming Atlantic Ocean beyond.
More Sandy coverage from NBCNews.com:
- As National Guard comes to rescue, so do NJ residents — with power outlets
- For some New Yorkers, it's back to business as usual
- For some who stayed behind in New York, it wasn't too bad
- New Jersey investigating reports of price gouging
- Subway-dependent businesses see traffic slow to halt
- Fed up with waiting, air travelers rush rental car counters
- NY's Bellevue Hospital evacuates patients as power stays cut
- Off-duty NYPD officer dies saving his family from Sandy
- Toppled tree exposes skeletal remains, cement box
- Your Sandy photos: Show us the heroes in your life
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


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text:
The Ed Show for Monday, January 27th, 2014
Read the transcript to the Monday show
January 27, 2014
Guest: Chris Van Hollen, David Stockman, Goldie Taylor, Josh Marshall, Jan
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening Americans and welcome to the Ed Show
live from New York. Let`s get to work.
BARACK OBAMA, 44TH AND CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tomorrow
night, it`s time to restore opportunity for all.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: If President Obama wants to give an honest,
candid State of the Union address that his economic policies are not
working and that they`re exacerbating income inequality.
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president sees this is a year
of action.
OBAMA: I think 2014 needs to be a year of action.
CARNEY: The year of action to work with Congress where he can.
JOHN BOEHNER, SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Hell
no, you can`t
CARNEY: And to bypass Congress where necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s so much easier just for the king to make things
OBAMA: Because Congress didn`t act .
DAN PFEIFFER, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: And he is going to work in every
way he can with his pen and his phone to try to move the ball forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In just a stroke of his pen, he`s the most powerful man
in the world.
OBAMA: I could use that pen to sign executive orders.
CARNEY: To lift folks who want to come up into the middle class.
OBAMA: Because Congress didn`t act.
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: That`s what he needs to be doing is building
consensus and not taking his pen in creating law.
OBAMA: I got a pen and I`ve got a phone.
PAUL: When the executive branch tries to assume the legislative powers
that that`s a form of tyranny.
SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight folks. Thanks for watching.
Gosh. With a stroke of a pen, the president can give somebody a raise. He
could do this executive authority kind of thing in a just a stroke of a
pen. You know what? America needs a raise and the Republicans need an
ultimatum after all we`ve been through. That`s what I believe.
Twenty-eight hours from now, the president will step to the podium in the
chamber and give his sixth State of the Union address.
We try to pull out some of the Republican highlight to the last five. We
couldn`t find any good comments.
The president will focus on income inequality and this is supposed to be
the year of action. Better watch the tone.
He`s going to touch on issues like raising the minimum wage, extending the
unemployment insurance, and college affordability. All very admirable.
All very important. The president is also making it clear that he`s not
waiting for Congress to act on Sunday.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that the president will bypass
CARNEY: I think what we saw last year in 2013 was a Washington that did
not deliver for the American people. And the president sees this is a year
of action to work with Congress where he can and to bypass Congress were
necessary to lift folks who want to come up into the middle class.
SCHULTZ: Now, it sounds good. But really it`s a lot of generic talk,
isn`t it?
White House really hasn`t made fully clear when and where this executive
action is going to be taking place and on what. But Democrats want the
president to increase the minimum wage. We`ve been talking about that for
a long time especially for federal contractors.
Meanwhile, Republicans are already complaining. Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell said on Sunday that the president is putting himself out on
a limb?
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The president has
sort of hung out on the left and tried to get what he wants through the
bureaucracy as opposed to moving to the political center. We`re anxious to
help him create jobs but we`re not going to go over and endorse more
spending, more debt, more taxes and more regulation.
SCHULTZ: Hanging out on the political left. Gosh, if you really want
people to make more money that`s really a liberal policy, isn`t it? Income
inequality, the wealth gap in America, the president calls that the
challenge of our time but that`s hanging out with the left.
You know, the other Republican Senator from Kentucky pretty much saying the
same stuff. Rand Paul is taking this executive action stuff as a vague
threat from President Obama
PAUL: It sounds vaguely like a threat and I think it also has a certain
amount of arrogance in the sense that one of the fundamental principles of
our country where the checks and balances that it wasn`t supposed to be
easy to pass legislation. You had to debate and convince people.
SCHULTZ: Did he say arrogance? Well, sometimes arrogance is good
especially when there`s an absence of action. Consensus? Since when have
the Republicans paid attention to any consensus that the American people
might be projecting on any subject?
Rand Paul must not be reading the polls. We`re a culture of polls.
The American people are on the exact same page with the president of the
United States on a number of issues. He`s -- they want action.
Recent polling shows that 58 percent of the American people want
unemployment insurance extended. That would be almost six out of 10
Americans. 69 percent of Americans thinks that unemployment benefits
should be extended for a year or longer. That`s almost seven out of 10
people you run into on the street. 71 percent of Americans think that the
minimum wage should be passed. Lawmakers in 30 state said taking it upon
themselves and are now pushing minimum wage on a local level. Local
lawmakers are also fed up with the obstructionist Republicans in Congress.
President Obama is exactly right to take action without Congress and he
would be inept if he did not do it on the part of the Progressive movement
because that`s what he ran on. Hope and change. We done the hoping, it`s
time for the changing. There`d been a lot of good things but not enough.
I think that this is a moment of awakening for the president of the United
States, maybe a little personality shift, maybe a little shift impact.
Both the president and the county can only take so much obstruction and
inaction from people who by the way are on the payroll and get health care
and retirement benefits. That would be the people in Congress, the
Republicans, the people, the American people.
Have you noticed? They want everything the president wants in the
majority. It`s also important to point out that Vice President Dick Cheney
when you start talking about executive powers. He wanted to expand
executive power when W was in the White House. The big question is, just
how forceful will President Obama be tomorrow night?
Hey, I guess you could call this the pre-game show? Is he going to be Mr.
Nice Guy again and offer up a bunch of olive branches floating out of the
White House windows? Is he going to say that he wants to work with
Congress? Is he going to talk about bipartisanship? Give me a break.
C`mon. Mr. President, don`t let me turn the TV off tomorrow night. I
don`t want to see -- I want to see a different guy up there tomorrow night.
If you can call out the Supreme Court on citizens united, I think you can
do just about anything at the State of the Union and keep it real
interesting for the American people. And that is really the thing. The
president should show up with a very determined effort tomorrow night.
President Obama can`t be blowing smoke this time around because we`re
running out of time. The hourglass is pretty much turned on his
administration. I know we`re only in 2014 with plenty of time to go but
this is how it`s going to work. Next year, it`s all about the
So there`s a very short window of opportunity for the president to get the
attention of the American people, use the pen and actually do something,
because legislatively the Republicans aren`t going to give him anything.
The American people are counting on this president to be forceful across
the board tomorrow night.
Let`s go back to last year`s speech.
These are things that the president of the United States asked for after
being reelected.
OBAMA: Now is our best chance for bipartisan comprehensive tax reform that
encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit.
Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months and
I will sign it right away and America will be better for it. Let`s get it
done. Let`s get it done.
SCHULTZ: OK. So he didn`t get tax reform, he didn`t at climate change and
he didn`t get immigration. But this is going to be the year of action.
How about a year of reality?
The Republicans aren`t going to do anything, Mr. President, unless you do
use the pen. So don`t talk about it. You got to start doing it on
Wednesday morning 9 o`clock is a good time I think.
If this is a year of action, let it be a year of action. So what if the
Republicans don`t like it? The American people want you to do something.
They understand the obstruction. They don`t care about the tone at this
point. They want some Chicago politics nationwide, man.
The president needs to turn his finger to the Republicans and say, "You`ve
been obstructing me, you`ve been slowing the country down and we`re going
to leave you behind." And if they start talking about impeachment? Good.
We`ll have a lot to talk about.
There`s no downside to the president coming out, using the bully pulpit
tomorrow night and just taking it to the Republicans. After all, we have
to define what a year of action is.
Let`s start with some straight talk at the State of the Union address and
let`s talk about how they have behaved and done nothing to move the country
And when you say income inequality to a Republican, they think, "Wait a
minute. We might have to tax somebody to do that, you know? Those 25
percent of the corporations that have their money parked offshore that we
can`t get to." That`s where they are and that`s not where the country is.
How about it, Mr. President?
Get your cellphones out, I want to know what you think tonight`s question.
"Should the president call out Republicans for their inaction?" I mean
call them out for their inaction. Text A for yes, text B for no to 67622,
you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring you the results
later on in the show.
Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland join us tonight here on the Ed
Show. Congressman, great to have you with us.
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, (D) MARYLAND: Good to be with you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Everybody has a wish list. You just heard mine. But -- what is
going to be different this year? The president called for action on tax
reform, climate change and immigration. He didn`t get any of that.
So what is going to make this speech in this year different?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, that`s a good question. Look, Ed, one of the reasons
that Congress as it historically low levels of public support is because we
have done nothing in terms of working with the president to try and move
the economy and jobs forward.
You laid out that list of things the president called for last year. Not
only we not move the ball forward on those things, but in the House, we
haven`t even been given a vote on those issues.
So the president is going to have to do two things. Number one, he`s going
to lay out that common sense of (inaudible) that you just talked about,
minimum wage increase, disgraceful that you can work full time in this
country and still be in poverty, invest in our infrastructure. You got
huge unmet needs. You got a lot of people still employed in the
construction industry. That`s a no-brainer, a win-win.
And the president has to say to Congress, "You got to do these things and I
want to work with you. But if you`re not working with me, I`m still going
to find a way to get important things done." And the federal government is
a major purchaser of goods and services. We can lead by example in how we
purchase goods and services on the behalf of the American people. And the
president has lots of leeway as the chief executive in that area.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, I get a sense that Democrats are behind closed doors
saying, "I hope he goes and text it to him. Go get him. It`s time."
How much more time do the Democrats have to spend on waiting for the
Republicans to try to move the country forward? We got such an ideological
split on Capitol Hill on how the country should be run. What are we
waiting for?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, we`re not waiting down here, Ed. We`re going to move
forward on it. We got our own budget proposal that lays out our priorities
in clear contrast to the Republican budget proposal.
Their proposal is essentially a declaration of class warfare. You know, we
hear the Republicans always .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
HOLLEN: . talking about, "You guys are declaring class warfare." Take a
look at the House Republican budget from last year, major tax cuts for the
wealthiest Americans while slashing important safety net programs. If
that`s not a declaration of class warfare, I don`t know what is.
VAN HOLLEN: And so the president`s got to layout these challenges, layout
the contrast, invite Republicans to work with them but make it clear that
we`re not going to go as slow as the slowest vote.
SCHULTZ: How far are you willing to see the president go before it would
raise some questions about his authority to do things? I mean, I think
it`d be a hell of a conversation for the country to engage in. I mean,
well they`ve already talked about impeachment in the past but it would seem
to me that the Democrats would be saying, "Mr. President, you go. You go
as far as you think you have to go." Was that attitude out there?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, Ed, look, obviously everybody wants to make sure that
everyone is -- works within their constitutional power. So nobody is
suggesting, I know you`re not, that the president take extra constitutional
At the same time, we know that the constitution gives the president lots of
flexibility within the powers that he is given. And we do believe the
president should exercise those powers for the good of the people.
Again, take climate change, for example. You could put in the place laws
that would be -- reduce climate change in a much smarter way if you get
Congress engaged. But if Congress is going to refuse to engage, the fact
is the president has lots of authority on his own to take certain actions.
So we`d all be better off if Republicans in Congress would work with the
president but that doesn`t mean he doesn`t have alternatives using the
executive powers.
SCHULTZ: Should the president point out some of the polls that are out
there consistently on minimum wage? And all of the different things about
income inequality and speak to the definition to it? And really frame it,
you`re on the wrong side Republicans and you haven`t wanted to move on
anything. I mean, how direct do you think the president should be and how
effective would that be?
VAN HOLLEN: No, that I think he needs to be directive about, Ed. Because,
look, the figures are startling and I think every American understands that
it`s unacceptable that we`ve had productivity gains over the last three
decades, we`ve seen a doubling in economic output and yet overwhelmingly
the majority of those gains have gone to people at the very, very top where
everybody else is essentially been running in place in terms of real wages.
The president has to take that on, head on. I think he will. Look, we
just saw the Conservative government in the UK, in England, say they
support a minimum wage and yet we`ve got Republicans here who for
ideological reasons, refuse to accept reality that the minimum wage will
first lift 5 million plus Americans out of poverty, will help tens and
millions more, and will help create more jobs by giving more people a
little spending money in their pocket.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
VAN HOLLEN: People who will go out and create more jobs by buying goods
and services at their local grocery stores with local merchants. So this
is another no-brainer. And so I think, Ed, the president`s got to be very
direct on issues like job opportunities, economic equality. We need a
country where everybody shares in the growing prosperity of this country,
rather than what we`ve seen for the last couple of decades and certainly
the last couple years where all the gains have gone to folks at the very
top. And everyone is getting a sense that the rules are rigged against
most Americans
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
VAN HOLLEN: You see, you know, when people say they want performance pay
on Wall Street and yet you see these huge bonuses even when taxpayers had
to bail them out.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Chris Van Hollen, good to have you with us tonight.
I appreciate your time so much. Thank you, sir.
VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.
SCHULTZ: I hope the president talks about the TPP tomorrow night. I hope
that he steps out and explains exactly how that and supporting middle class
families matches up, because a lot of people can`t make that connection.
Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen,
share your thoughts with us on Twitter at Ed Show and on Facebook. We
appreciate it when you do that.
Coming up, disrespecting the presidency. A Tea Party Senator attacks
Former President Bill Clinton in a nasty way.
But first, Wall Street bull of one percenter (ph) plays the victims card in
Trenders tonight. Stay with us.
SCHULTZ: Time now for the Trenders, social media action this is where you
can find us ed.msnbc.com, Twitter.com Ed Show and Facebook.com/edshow and
of course on the radio Sirius XM 127 Monday through Friday, noon to 3:00.
You can get my podcast at wegoted.com.
The Ed Show social media nation has been very active today. We are
reporting. Here are today`s top Trenders voted on by you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, look. I can spin around.
SCHULTZ: The number three Trender, Super Bowl kickoff.
HAZEL SANCHEZ, CBS REPORTER: Super Bowl week has officially kicked off
here in Jersey City, home base for both the Denver Broncos and the Seattle
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crews are working nonstop to transform this stretch of
Broadway into Super Bowl Boulevard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sea .
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hawks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sea .
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hawks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Broncos.
SCHULTZ: Bad lip reading gets the side line scoop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are something that could gross you out?
PEYTON MANNING, DENVER BRONCOS: Old folks allergies that could sure do it.
Voldemort, yes I said Voldemort. I`m a nervous wreck. I like that girl up
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did I get this tattoo of a mustache?
CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: What the hell did you just say?
SCHULTZ: The number two Trender, into the sunset.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman Trey Radel is resigning.
STEPHEN COLBERT, THE COLBERT REPORT SHOW HOST: Yes, this rising Tea Party
star was caught in a coke bust .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radel pleaded guilty late last year to cocaine
possession .
COLBERT: Apparently, he forgot the part of the Tea Party story where you
dump the product in the harbor before the cops show up.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Trey Radel heads back to the sunshine state.
TREY RADEL, FORMER REPRESENTATIVE, (R) FLORIDA: I need to focus on what`s
most important and that`s my family and that`s getting healthy. And that`s
exactly what I`m doing.
SCHULTZ: And today`s top Trender, one percent persecution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s your typical football field size. Yeah. Somebody
has to have it right?
SCHULTZ: Venture capitalist Tom Perkins takes his persecution comparison
too far.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tom Perkins warns of a dangerous drift in American
thinking from the left.
JON STEWART, DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART SHOW HOST: You know, I don`t
think something can even be considered an issue or a debate in this country
unless there`s been a Hitler reference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perkin`s right. I would call attention to the
parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to the progressive war on the American
one percent namely the rich.
THOMAS PERKINS, VENTURE CAPITALIST: You know how selfish is this guy is I
guess is the criticism. So the answer is pretty selfish.
SCHULTZ: Joining us tonight, David Stockman, Former Budget Director under
President Reagan. Mr. Stockman, great to have you with us tonight.
Appreciate you doing the interview.
DAVID STOCKMAN, FORMER BUDGET DIRECTOR UNDER REAGAN: That`s fine.
SCHULTZ: Is this becoming an image problem for the Republicans that they
don`t know how to talk about or approach the wealth gap, the income
inequality in America? Obviously, this is the political conversation and
it seems like they`re having a hard time struggling, or dealing with it.
STOCKMAN: Well, I think what he said is down right appalling. The man
should have his head examined, have his mouth washed out with soap as my
mother used to say.
This is utterly wrong to say that kind of comparison but I also think it
should be a wakeup call for progressives. After all, how did someone that
blitheringly stupid become so monumentally rich.
It wasn`t simply because of genius adventure capital. It`s because there`s
been a massive continuous wind fall to the one percent as a result of the
wrong headed policies of bailing out Wall Street, cheap money, zero
interest rates year after year for several decades now.
And as a result, financial assets keep inflating to values that are crazy.
People, who are in the financial business capture those wind falls, think
they`re geniuses, and go around and make prognostications as stupid as the
one that you opened up with tonight.
SCHULTZ: Well Tom Perkins reiterated this point today in an e-mail to
Bloomberg. And he wrote, "In the Nazi area it was racial demonization.
Now it is class demonization." I mean some, you know, wealthy Americans
are making the case.
STOCKMAN: Yeah.
SCHULTZ: "Hey, this is just the way it is. And we shouldn`t be doing
anything about it." And going that far and saying something like that, I
think speaks to the core of what`s wrong with the Conservative movement in
America. They don`t care.
STOCKMAN: Well, I think it also goes to the core of what is this Federal
Reserve doing. It`s not helping Main Street. All of this cheap money is
just a mother`s milk of speculation in gamblers who buy things, you know,
with a yield.
SCHULTZ: So how do you change that?
STOCKMAN: You have to change the Federal Reserve. And this is where I
fought both Bush and Obama. They keep putting on the fed the Bernankes,
the Greenspans, now the Yellens and we could name others who somehow think
they are academic zealous that if they keep interest rates at zero forever.
That we`re going to become wealthier, that our economy`s going to grow,
we`re going to create jobs and none of this has happened. It`s wrong.
They are in the service of the one percent.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
STOCKMAN: And we have to change that. That`s more important than anything
that`s going on on Capitol Hill at this very moment.
SCHULTZ: So I have always been a proponent of access to the capital for
the little guy .
STOCKMAN: Yeah .
SCHULTZ: . which of course is not really in good hands in America right
now .
STOCKMAN: Yes. But zero interest rates don`t help the little guy.
SCHULTZ: Well .
STOCKMAN: It goes to the big speculators on Wall Street.
SCHULTZ: But if the little guy gets access to the capitals, to the big
banks who are hoarding the money, hoarding the way they would have a chance
of being an entrepreneur in America. I think that`s really what it`s
STOCKMAN: Yeah.
SCHULTZ: It`s the concentration where the capitals go and it`s the problem
isn`t it?
STOCKMAN: Well, sure, because 10 percent of the households have 80 percent
of the financial assets, one percent has 40 percent.
When you have a speculative kind of environment, a casino in the financial
markets we are not investing for growth, for technology and jobs. For the
last 13 years, CAPEX, real CAPEX has been less than one percent a year.
That`s not creating the foundation for growth or jobs, all of it goes to
buy back, stock buy backs, big MNA deals, special dividends. The cash is
flowing up to the top to the one percent or so .
STOCKMAN: . out of the foundation of the economy.
SCHULTZ: So, the president`s going to talk about extending unemployment
benefits. He`s going to talk about the minimum wage and college
affordability. All very admirable things but certainly totally different
from what you`re talking about. I mean if you really want to .
STOCKMAN: Yeah.
SCHULTZ: . fundamentally make change to close the income gap. You`re not
going to do it in a short period of time, but over the long haul it would
raise wages in this country and bring it closer.
STOCKMAN: But this is not due, I might say Ed, to the dead hand of Ronald
Reagan 30 years ago.
SCHULTZ: No, I`m not. I`m not. I`m not.
SOTCKMAN: In other words, we have raised taxes. OK, we finally have. We
should raise the capital gains tax to the same level as income tax.
SCHULTZ: We can`t have corporations parking money offshore not paying
their fair share.
STOCKMAN: You know, I agree with all of that.
SCHULTZ: I mean that`s a big part of it. That would bring billions to the
STOCKMAN: Yeah, but Obama .
SCHULTZ: And treasury needs more money, right?
STOCKMAN: OK, I agree with that. And we need more revenue and we need to
get our fiscal house in order.
One thing Obama can do unilaterally is look hard at the people he`s
appointing to the federal reserve and ask are they Wall Street, you know,
oriented or are they more, you know, oriented to the main street economy
that has a totally different need than what this current zero interest rate
policy and bond buying and Bernanke choice.
SCHULTZ: I don`t hear much confidence in your voice, Mr. Stockman, that
anything is going to change anytime soon.
STOCKMAN: I don`t -- unfortunately, I don`t .
SCHULTZ: Glass-Steagall. Glass-Steagall would be a .
STOCKMAN: It would be a wonderful thing to bring Glass-Steagall back. The
big bangs are bigger than ever. We should be breaking them up. They can`t
be regulated. They spent five years, you know, basically baring the
Volcker Rule and everything else.
SCHULTZ: Break up the big bangs.
STOCKMAN: Yes.
SCHULTZ: You`re talking like Bernie Sanders now.
STOCKMAN: You know the point is banks are not free enterprises .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
STOCKMAN: . their words in the state, you can`t regulate them. They are
too big. They are too powerful.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
STOCKMAN: The lobbyist are too strong. K Street will always override what
the regulators are trying to do. So, you need to go to the fundamentals.
He`s not addressing the banking problem. He`s not addressing the fed
problem. He`s not addressing the gambling problem.
SCHULTZ: All right.
STOCKMAN: That`s what he needs to do.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Stockman, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate
your time. Thank you so much. We`ll see if any of that shows up in the
State of the Union.
Coming up, new proof that righties are shaking in their boots over Hillary
for president.
And later, is John McCain a true Conservative? You bet you. I think he
But next, I`m taking your questions on Ask Ed Live. Stay ahead. Stay with
us, we`ll right back.
SCHULTZ: Thanks for staying with us here on the Ed Show. Love this
segment Ask Ed, got some questions coming in tonight. Our first one comes
from Charlie. He wants to know "Why isn`t the minimum wage automatically
increased every year to reflect the rising cost of living?"
Well, first of all the business community lobbies intensely every year to
make sure that the minimum wage does not go up. It`s the business
community. It`s the chamber of commerce. That`s the devil on the detail
bottom line.
Our next question is from a user who goes by the Twitter hander (ph)
Fearless. "Do the Republicans think that we are going to let them get by
without signing a Jobs Bill this year?"
Yes, they do. And I think that they will never sign a Jobs Bill with
President Barack Obama. It simply will not happen because it would
probably create jobs and that`s the last thing they want.
Stick around, Rapid Response Panel is next.
JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC ANCHOR: I`m Julia Boorstin with your CNBC Market
Wrap. Stocks start the week with decline. The DOW falls 41 points, the S
and P loses 8 points and the NASDAQ flies 44 points.
Today`s economic news fail to inspire any buying in new homes that drops 7
percent last month, more than expected.
Caterpillar shares that were at bright spot. Earnings exceeded the
estimates ascending the stock up about 6 percent.
And the Apple shares are plunging in after hours trading after the closing
bill profits came in stronger than expected with iPhone sales disappointed.
That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show.
Republicans, clearly, are desperate. They have no clear presidential
frontrunner insight right now. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton hasn`t declared
whether she`s running and already has a support of a top Democratic Super
It`s apparent. The only hope Republicans have for 2016 is to go on off
fence. And when the Benghazi conspiracy well runs dry, though resort to
acts of political desperation like this.
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: The Democrats, one of their big issues is
they have concocted to insist Republicans are committing a war on women.
One of the workplace, laws, and rules that I think are good is that bosses
shouldn`t prey on young interns in their office, and I think really the
media seems to be -- have given President Clinton a pass on this. He took
advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office.
There is no excuse for that and that is predatory behavior. And it should
be something we shouldn`t -- on one of associate with people who would take
advantage of a young girl in his office. This isn`t having an affair. I
mean, this isn`t me saying, "Oh, he`s had an affair. We shouldn`t talk to
Someone who takes advantage of a young girl in their office, I mean,
really, and then they have the gal to stand up and say, "Republicans are
having war on women." So yes, I think, it`s a factor. That`s not
Hillary`s fault and I mean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it should be an issue.
PAUL: . but it is a factor in judging Bill Clinton in history.
SCHULTZ: Well, folks, it`s 2014 and there are no boundaries. You heard it
right folks. Senator Rand Paul accused former president of predatory
behavior in order to diminish the accomplishments of his wife and deny
Republican war on women. I mean, it don`t get anymore desperate than that,
does it?
Hillary Clinton, United States Senator, former Secretary State, and
presidential candidate, her resume`s as long as your arm, regardless to the
opinion you may have of Hillary Clinton, she should be judged on her own
qualifications and her performance and we shouldn`t be talking about
something her husband was involved in decades ago which the country has
clearly forgotten.
Maybe Rand Paul missed the news, but I do believe that Bill Clinton was
impeached in the house. I think that Rand Paul is just trying to get the
country thinking about the bad times with the Clintons in connecting the
two. It`s a cheap shot.
Joining me now is our Rapid Response Panel, MSNBC Contributor and Columnist
for the theGrio, Goldie Taylor and Josh Marshall, Founder and Editor of
Talking Points Memo, great to have both of you with us tonight.
Goldie, what do you make of this tasteless tact that a sitting United
States senator is doing -- and I should point that Senator Paul`s comments
were a follow up to his wife, Kelley, who was recently profiled in an
article in Vogue. He called Bill Clinton`s behavior "predatory and
offensive to women." I mean, is this the Republican`s only hope to get
women`s attention in the upcoming election year and just trying to smear
Hillary by association? Your thoughts on all of these.
GOLDIE TAYLOR, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: You know, you and I talked about this a
few days ago in the idea that Republicans really, were going to have to
find themselves a brand new leading candidate, you know, after sort of the
demise of -- well, what`s happening with Chris Christie. And it looks like
Rand Paul wants to step into that slot as the so called frontrunner in the
GOP field.
It`s an unfortunate strategy that he`s taken to reach back some 20 years to
blame whatever President Clinton did in this White House on his wife and
try to connect it in that way. Hillary Clinton`s resume is longer than
both of Rand Paul`s arms and both of his legs and toes and his neck to go
along with it.
She ought to be judged on that record and that record alone. But, you
know, he really ought to be talking about policy at the end of the day. He
ought to be talking about his opposition to the vows of this Woman`s Act.
She ought to be talking about his opposition to, you know, the Lily
Ledbetter Act. He ought to be talking about, you know, really his
opposition to, you know, equality in income when it comes to, you know,
paying men and women equally in this country. He ought to be talking
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
TAYLOR: . women having access to, you know, feminist health care services
in all kinds of equality health care.
SCHULTZ: Well, he`s and Goldie--
TAYLOR: He ought to be talking about those things.
SCHULTZ: Goldie, but, Rand Paul, sitting senator from Kentucky, says that
liberals have concocted this war on women, that all of this legislative
stuff attacking women`s rights, I guess, is just a fairy tale to him that
it really hasn`t happened.
I find it absolutely amazing. I don`t even know if the guy watches the
news at all. Josh Marshall, is the only thing that they can find negative
on Hillary Clinton, if everything else isn`t going to work, they might as
well attack Bill?
JOSH MARSHALL, TALKING POINTS MEMO: Well, I think, you know, Democrats, I
have to imagine, think it`s great if Rand Paul takes this line because,
look, I am not myself to won (ph) but I`m going to go out on a limb and say
that I don`t think you appeal to women by attacking a female candidate
because her husband cheated on her. That`s stupid.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
MARSHALL: That`s really -- that makes no sense at all. (Inaudible) side
effect that this happened almost 20 years ago. The press -- but Rand Paul
said about the press who went light on it, I mean, man, does he remember
1998 and 1999? I was down -- I was down in D.C. covering that impeachment
trial. It was crazy. You know, this kind of thing is, it is offensive but
it`s so silly and I don`t know where -- I can`t imagine Rand Paul in any
sort of like media strategist who thought this was like.
SCHULTZ: Well.
MARSHALL: . a great idea.
SCHULTZ: And that`s what struck me -- is when I saw this, I thought --
now, I wonder if Rand Paul went into that studio knowing he was going to
say that or he just got diary of the mouth then it just came right out and
he just didn`t -- ain`t just thought (inaudible) just keeping rolling
against the Clintons any way. He possibly could, so he thought and take a
step. But then I see that this article in Vogue clearly, it`s a strategy.
MARSHALL: Well, I think there`s two things. I think, partially is you`re
right. Sometimes, you just start talking and you just end up going in a
really weird direction and I assume you went out the studio and wanted to
know what he was saying.
Here is the thing. I think, with this, applies. If you already hate Bill
Clinton and you already hate Hillary Clinton, then this kind of attack
makes sense because that means Hillary`s a hypocrite.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
MARSHALL: . because she stayed with her husband after he did -- look, this
was not Bill Clinton`s greatest moment. We can all agree to that. But it
does not appeal to anybody outside of the, you know, that Clinton-hating
core of the GOP.
SCHULTZ: Well that`s -- and Goldie, that`s a thing. It just appears to me
that Rand Paul is trying to show the base. "Hey, I can hate the Clintons
better than anybody." You know, "So, you got to go along with me, I`m your
guy. I can hate them. We all hate in everything what the country went
It`s a cheap shot, isn`t it?
TAYLOR: It`s a cheap shot. I mean, I was sleeping in this very studio,
the night that they, you know, voted to impeach Bill Clinton in the House.
You know, our congressman here in Georgia, Newt Gingrich, sort of led that
charge. And so, you know, and he certainly did not get a pass. No one
gives him a pass for that. Certainly, people are looking at the full body
of work that Bill Clinton has behind him on a global scale and certainly,
that has been impressive, you know.
And it isn`t as if this kind of behavior, you know, has an ideological or
even a partisan bias to it. It happens on both sides of the House
especially when you got men in power. But what also typically happens when
you`ve got a lot of men and power is that they tend to attack women as if,
you know, they are the victims in some of these situations, as if they
were, themselves, you know, the predators. And I think that`s what he`s
trying to cast Hillary Clinton as a predator and that`s simply not going to
He`s got to give himself one out of a Republican primary and this may help.
But he would have to then win a general election and if he win a general
election, win many, many, many of the votes in this country, half of them,
are women and women aren`t going to be sitting, you know, quietly while you
attack another woman like that running for office.
SCHULTZ: But he`s given women in this country credits saying that they`ve
won the war on women. I don`t know if he`s paying attention and, you know.
TAYLOR: Maybe the women in his family.
SCHULTZ: Yeah. That`s right. All the radical legislation that has been
out there in numerous Republican states. Goldie Taylor, Josh Marshall,
great to have you with us tonight. Appreciate your time.
Next up, John McCain`s conservative. CRED (ph) is on the line. We`ve got
them average back tonight in Pretenders. Stick around.
SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight, the maverick meltdown with Arizona
Republicans. Arizona`s GOP condemned their Senator John McCain for his
voting record. They are labeling the former Republican presidential
nominee as too liberal. Let me remind you why John McCain is not a
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What point is a baby entitled to human rights?
JOHN MCCAIN, SENATOR OF ARIZONA: At the moment of conception. I have a
25-year prolife record in the Congress, in the senate.
Complete with dying fans.
I just believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman. And
I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue.
Here comes this attack on Benghazi and there`s so many questions that are
unanswered when.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you tell it`s a cover up?
MCCAIN: I call it a cover up.
I endorse Governor Bush. I endorse Governor Bush. I endorse Governor
Bush. I endorse Governor Bush. I endorse Governor Bush. I endorse.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FRM PRESIDENT OF US: By the way, I enthusiastically
SCHULTZ: John McCain is a failed presidential candidate, but not a failed
conservative. The senator`s record is just as sorted as the rest of the
other GOP stars.
But if the Arizona Republicans want to paint John McCain as too liberal,
they can keep on pretending.
And oh, by the way, this big liberal gave us this vice-presidential
candidate that ain`t liberal.
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed show. This is the story for the folk who
take a shower after work. President Obama is promising to take on a new
strategy on 2014. That`s the executive powers. Well, in tomorrow`s State
of the Union address, the president were reportedly double down on his
goals of addressing income inequality in advancing the middle class in this
As we highlighted in the beginning at tonight`s program, the president may
use his executive power to bypass the Congress and get things done.
DAN PFEIFFER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: And president can`t. He`s not
going to tell to American people that he`s going to wait for Congress.
He`s going to move forward in areas like job training, education,
manufacturing on his own to try to restore opportunity for American
SCHULTZ: Well, the one place he should not use his executive power is to
push for fast track authority, on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Now,
we`ve been spending a lot of time talking about this for months and there
is no question it is a job killer. Just like NAFTA was 20 years ago. It
would completely counteract President Obama`s goal to a little class wage
earners in America.
Ugly enough, the Obama administration has some kind of code of silence on
this issue. Silence appears to be their strategy. The deal has been
negotiated without any congressional input, and now the Obama
administration and corporations are trying to ram it through the Congress.
The American middle class can afford for secrecy or silence on this issue.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky joins us tonight from Illinois.
Congresswoman, great to have you with us. I appreciate your time. You
REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, (D) ILLINOIS: And happy birthday Ed. Happy birthday
to you.
SCHULTZ: Well, thank you for reminding me that my fishing days are now
even more numbered. Well, thank you very much. That`s very kind of you.
Congresswoman, this is a huge deal if it goes through. It`s a huge piece
of authority fast track. It does -- as we have documented, circumvent the
Congress in a representative government. Should this be in the State of
the Union tomorrow night? Are you looking for the president to give some
explanation here?
SCHAKOWSKY: You know, I have mix feelings about this Ed. You know, this
is the largest trade deal. It makes NAFTA look small. There are 12
countries. They represent about 38 percent of global economic activities.
And yes, it is a bad deal for Americans. But I have to tell you Ed that
time is on our side. A group called the Citizen Straight Campaign just
denounced 550 different groups that have come out against it. The more
people know about it. The more they don`t like it and are organizing
against it. And so, I don`t know that we want to stir the pot right now,
and hopefully, we can postpone this deal. I haven`t really seen a ramming
through right now.
And in the mean time, a lot of really good organizing in education like
you`ve been enjoying can be going on. But there is no question that when
you talk about income inequality, or getting our economy growing, inviting
countries like Vietnam that have a minimum wage of $0.28 an hour.
SCHULTZ: Sure.
SCHAKOWSKY: . we should not be inviting them to be with us.
SCHULTZ: So, Congresswoman Schakowsky, you think the Congress has gotten
out in front of this that the trade groups have got out in front of this,
that there is enough of word astounded (ph) to really slow the momentum
that the White House was looking for?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I have to tell you that I`ve talked my friend across the
aisle, Michele Bachmann. There are many Republicans as well that are
really not interested in this kind of fast track authority. As you can
imagine, they`re not interested in giving the president more authority to
SCHULTZ: Sure.
SCHAKOWSKY: And we have to agree with that because it takes away the power
of the Congress to amend or to change in any way the provisions of a
negotiated agreement. So, I think we have the votes or soon will to defeat
fast track and that`s what would bring us right to the Trans-Pacific
SCHULTZ: And tell us more about this trade group that has come out in the
-- I think you said 500 different organizations, where are they -- how
powerful are they? And what does it mean?
SCHAKOWSKY: Yeah, I mean, the really great thing about the Citizens Trade
Campaign is that it is so diverse when you have human rights groups because
we know we`re dealing with countries that have human rights abuses -- the
faith community, the labor community, and the environmental community,
because we could have our own environmental laws being challenged by
corporations. And you know, the big winners -- let`s face it, once again,
are the multinational.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SCHAKOWSKY: . corporations in Wall Street. So this kind if a coalition is
going to be out educating their members as well as, you know, the work that
you`re doing, and members of Congress are doing, I think, are going to slow
down the whole process, and hopefully, just put it to sleep.
SCHULTZ: Last year, the president talked about climate change. He talked
about tax reform. He talked about those that he didn`t get any of it in
2013. OK. It didn`t get tax reform at all. So what`s makes us believe
that anything is going to change on the heels of these State of the Union
address? And beyond that, how aggressive do you want the president to be
tomorrow night in pointing out the obstruction that he has had to put up
with, that the countries had to put up with, and how we have it move
forward? I mean, when does the president run out of patience when he has
the attention to the American people which is the State of the Union?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, the president is going to be talking about action
tomorrow. And that action is going to -- includes his power of the pen,
the executive authority for him to act without calling on Congress and the
phone. And what he means by that is calling up.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SCHAKOWSKY: . organizations like the college presidents to come in and
work with him and not.
SCHULTZ: But I`m saying, he`s got to make sure the American people and the
guys that are sitting on the other side of the aisle, they know he means
business and he is going to do it. And I think that that`s really where it
all sits for tomorrow night.
SCHAKOWSKY: I`m looking for that too.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, always a pleasure. Good to
have you with us.
SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you Ed.
SCHULTZ: That`s the Ed Show. I`m Ed Schultz. Politics Nation with
Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now. Good evening Rev.
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text:
Let's look at the rubric first, noting that this renewal only takes place at the Easter Vigil. When baptism, confirmation, and First Eucharist are celebrated at another time, this renewal is not used:
237. After the celebration of baptism, the celebrant addresses the community, in order to invite those present to the renewal of their baptismal promises; the candidates for reception into full communion join the rest of the community in this renunciation of sin and profession of faith. All stand and hold lighted candles.
A few things to note:
– This renewal takes place after Confirmation, if we go by the book.
– Even though candidates for full communion are included in this renewal of promises, some communities do not receive baptized Christians at this time. My present parish does not, and I think this works better liturgically and pastorally. The rite still gives the option to include them. (see RCIA 562ff.)
– The candles are lit for this renewal. I wish there were some convenient and non-distracting way to effect this. I have yet to find it.
The assembly will renew baptismal promises (RCIA 238-239) as the elect made them earlier in the rite. Then we have the Easter Vigil Sprinkling with Baptismal Water:
240. The celebrant sprinkles all the people with the blessed baptismal water, while all sing the following song or any other that is baptismal in character.
I saw water flowing
from the right side of the temple, alleluia.
It brought God's life and his salvation,
and the people sang in joyful praise:
alleluia, alleluia.
The allusion is Ezekiel 47:1-2, 9. The rite does call for a song, and often is presumes a psalm. This Ezekiel text is a favorite of mine. A budding composer probably works through familiar texts like the Lord's Prayer, the Mass Ordinary, the Ave Maria, and Psalm 23. I would say this text deserves to be up in that territory. Vidi Aquam, if your bent is traditional or classical.
Unless one of the baptismal acclamations in RCIA 595-597 is used or developed for this, I would assume a Scripture-based text or a psalm is the intention. Water in a title of a song isn't always key. I know an otherwise nice hymn like "Come to the Water" is used for the Sprinkling Rite. Better would be a song that reflected baptismal faith, like something based on Matthew 28 or Ephesians 4. On the other hand, the image of thirsting for God is part of the Easter Vigil in Psalm 42. So maybe you don't need to be as finicky as I.
The presider concludes the sprinkling with a brief prayer, and I'm sure, all can breathe a sigh of relief. From here on out, everything at Mass looks just like a normal Sunday, only with extra decorations and lots of First Communions.