New Orleans and Katrina

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

all funny business aside.  this is serious shit.

We've talked about good vibes and doing the right thing and all, but now is the time for action.  I am appealling to everyone who reads this to support the Red Cross in some small way, either through a monetary donation or a blood donation.  People are dying by the minute because there's somehow, in the richest nation on the planet, not enough resources to save lives NOW.  I am personally donating money and blood to the Red Cross to aid in helping my fellow human being.

All I can do is cry tears of saddness at the pure human tragedy happening right now while I live in relative safety and comfort, and my baby rests at home with food and water and clean diapers.  I am outraged that we can't do better.  I am saddened that people are standing around yapping about this (myself included) but not actually doing enough to save lives.  So I'm putting my money where my mouth is.  

Please help, if you can in any small way.  This is just the beginning of a nightmare we must endure for years to come.

Thank you.

John Conaway

[Specialist]

my band will be playing a benefit next weekend, the cover charge will be a donation to the red cross.

i will personally make a donation as well.

[The Boar]

I know this is "yada, yada, heard it before" but I have some family down in the Lousiana and Mississippi area, and things are so terribly bad. They are okay and relatively lucky in terms of damage to their possessions, but they have been relaying the news and things are just terrible. Riots and looting are starting to break out in places like Baton Rouge and Jackson (areas outside of the disaster zone), and I've heard reports of armed roaming gangs. The reports out of New Orleans are just too hard to hear -- it's like the apocalypse, seriously.

If anyone even has an inkling of contributing, PLEASE to do so, because God knows they need it.

[EC]

http://kiro.liquidviewer.net/kiro-od/mayornagin.asf

[fitzcarraldo]

Yeah, found this read (unbelievable), thoughts and prayers are down there. Love that town of Nawlins:

New Orleans Quotes: "I'm satisfied with the response." --George W. Bush at NO Airport..."The results are not acceptable." --G.W. Bush earlier at White House... "We're going to help these communities rebuild....Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter.) --Bush During Disaster Tour...{"...................................."} --Dick Cheney..."No one has thought enough of us to even bring us a cup of water....Several bodies lie scattered around. Edwards pointed to an elderly lady dead in a wheelchair and said, "I don't treat my dog like that." He says he buried his dog." --Man Outside NO Convention Center..."They don't have a clue what's going on down here....They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn - excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed," New Orleans Mayor Nagin...Instead of helping people left desperate in the wake of Katrina's wrath, [the inactive U.S. Custom's three] Blackhawks actually were slated to transport a CNN news crew to take video shots of those people." --a former regional Internal Affairs supervisor for U.S. Customs...."I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." --George W. Bush 9/1/05..."The storm surge most likely will topple our levee system" New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin 8/28/05..."No one can say they didn't see it [the breach of the levees] coming." --Newhouse New Service..."Bush slashed levee reinforcement funding "down to a trickle," and New Oreans is in a Democratic Party state." --Jerry Politex..."A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource." --Conservative NH Union Leader..."It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." --GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert..."An Act of God destroyed a wicked city." --Christianist Repent America director Michael Marcavage..."Take a close look at the people you see wandering, devastated, around New Orleans: they are predominantly black and poor." --NYT Columnist David Brooks...The people remaining in New Orleans "who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city....the federal government did not even know about the Convention Center people until today." --Bush FEMA director Michael Brown...To help in rescue efforts, "donate cash [to Pat Robertson's] Operation Blessing." --FEMA website..."Since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal." --NYT


WTF! The evacuation of the poor should of been handled a lot better. Buses the day before organized perhaps since they knew they were fucked to begin with a good day and a half before.
 
http://www.redcross.org/


Yeah, gonna send a few bucks. Hope everyone here hasn't been affected by all this, I mean friends and family in the Gulf.
 

[ratsprayer]

im not in any shape to contribute, monetarily.  im rounding up all the old baby clothes that dont fit my daughter any more and clearing out the kitchen of some extra food, too.  my brother-in-law is a firefighter, and hes planning to go down for 30 days if he can find someone to join him, but theyre mainly only looking for emt's now.  i think hospitals are taking offers for regular ol' people to go down for 2 weeks.  id go if i could, really.  lets keep the rescue workers and volunteers in our thoughts too.   :)

[aMillionDreams]

I'm going to send what I can, too.  My mom left to volunteer down there two days ago but there's no telling where she is or if she's okay.  I think they are turning most people away because all these volunteers are draining resources in the area.  I hear that the gangs are still running the show down there. What a nightmare!  

[EC]

I hope your Mom's all right, aMD.  I hope she gets in touch soon.

Man, I think I put a link up of an interview the CBC did with the mayor, and we listened to it in the office yesterday, and it felt like it did when we were listening to the 9/11 attacks on the radio.  Just this odd sense of "What are you waiting for?"  directed, mainly, at Bush.

Interesting insights, too, about how New Orleans has always been such a big port, and therefore a fair amount of drugs would pass through it.  People had pretty good warning that this was coming, so they got themselves out of town, and the people who remain would be people who wouldn't have access to cars, so probably the very poor or the drug addicts, or whatever.  And something about N.O. having one of the biggest populations of people with guns.  But if you've got a lot of addicts who are jonesin' for fixes combined with guns...  yeah.  Bad news.

Anybody know how much longer it's all expected to last?  Is there an estimation for when all the people will be evacuated?

[aMillionDreams]

Yeah there was a lot of poverty in New Orleans and at least in this country, where there's poveerty, there are drugs, guns, and gangs.  Apparently the local goverment has also been notoriously corrupt for years which contributed to the state of the levee during the time of the storm.  And most people who didn't evacuate were those who couldn't afford it.  I had never heard about the drug trade theory but that would make sense.  I heard the mayor's desperat SOS message and it sounded really desperate, he was fed up with the feds.  I know this was a "natural" disaster but there were some things that happened after the fact that we/they could of changed for the better.
I don't know when they are going to get those people out of there but I heard that it may take two months to turn the power back on in the city, if that's any indication.  Bush Bush said in his speech last night that the convention ccenter was "secured" but he didn't mention the Superdome which was housing 30,000 refugees.  And remember this city sits 12 feet below city level, so the water has no where to go, it's just sitting there getting more and more contaminated and once it does foes away, that's when the disease will really start to set in.  I've been following this thing too closely since my mom told me she was headed that way and I'm beginning to be in the camp of people who are saying that we should NOT rebuild New Orleans. Sorry for the long post, but I've been thinking about this shit constantly lately!

[corey]

Well, it's also going to pollute the hell out of the ocean when it finally does start to drain down a bit. That's gonna cause all sorts of problems right there.

I heard that the local Wal-Marts were looted and that the entire ammunition departments had been wiped out, so people have even more ammo than they started with.

I really don't understand why the people don't just try sticking together at a time like this instead of shooting each other. It doesn't make much sense.

[EC]

One thing that makes me feel really creeped out is calling your own people "refugees".  That's been all over the media, and it's the phrase for me that sums up this tragedy.  (For 9/11, it was Bush saying "We will hunt them down and kill them."  That phrase sticks in my head.)

Fuck, I didn't even think about the water issues.  Holy shit.

The thing I keep thinking, is where are they gonna put 30, 000 people?  I mean they have to do something, but are people opening up their homes, or is there another dome somewhere?  Because our goddamn Skydome over here is pretty useless, and could certainly provide temporary shelter.  Maybe we should pipe up.  

I really don't understand why the people don't just try sticking together at a time like this instead of shooting each other. It doesn't make much sense.

That may be the saddest bit.  Although, quite frankly, there's so much fear in the US already, add to that a high gun population, panic, withdrawal, sadness...  And a sense of being left behind by your own government.  It might make sense that people feel they need to be vigilantes and take the law into their own hands.  Cuz your fucking president isn't.

I just really hope the whole world learns from this once all the people are safe.  I really really really hope it does.

[The Boar]

Although, quite frankly, there's so much fear in the US already, add to that a high gun population, panic, withdrawal, sadness...  And a sense of being left behind by your own government.  It might make sense that people feel they need to be vigilantes and take the law into their own hands.

I agree, but man, they were shooting at the rescuers! That's f'ed up, no matter how you look at it.

Thankfully, today, things seem to be looking up. The people are relocating to the surrounding states, and the government has chartered 3 Carnival cruise ships for 6 months to hold about 8,000 people. Refugees are being housed at a ginormous church across from my neighborhood, so it's good to know everybody's trying to do their part.

This response has been thoroughly unacceptable, at all levels, and I hope that when everyone is safe and all the dead have been laid to rest, that there can be a calm and collected yet ruthless analysis of what went wrong. Kinda like 9/11. In my opinion, witch hunts aren't the best response to this kind of tragedy, and I hope we learn from it, as Meg said, instead of just pointing fingers.

[wordawg]

This response has been thoroughly unacceptable, at all levels, and I hope that when everyone is safe and all the dead have been laid to rest, that there can be a calm and collected yet ruthless analysis of what went wrong.

Agreed.

I wait to see the President bullshit his way out of this one.

wordawg

[ratsprayer]

Agreed.

I wait to see the President bullshit his way out of this one.

wordawg

this 'regime' has a funny way of making themselves look better in dire times.  i expect something big to happen very soon to bring bush out of the gutter.  all the warning signs are there.  maybe well catch saddam, wait oh we already did that?  bin laden?  hes dead already?  well shit.....

[SMc55]

Sorry for the long post, but I've been thinking about this shit constantly lately!

No need to apologise man. I'm not surprised you're thinking and talking about it a lot. There's a lot to say about it. And some uncomfortable questions, like 'How different would the response have been in a richer area?'

And I agree with Megan that it seems strange to hear people called refugees in their own country - but maybe that's just a diffent use of language thing.

[ratsprayer]

ive been reading non stop about all this, as im sure a lot of people have.  remember within 24 hours of the tsunami how many photos and satellite images there were?  notice the lack thereof from new orleans.  shit is going on there that we dont know about, and theres obviously a reason were not supposed to know.  the looting vs. finding thing has already proven this is all about race.  the government is saying and doing fuck all because the majority of people down there are impoverished minorities.  ive read about national guardsmen confiscating cameras, and you see like i said before, the lack of photos except from the controlled media.  i personally think the deathtoll will be at least 10 times wot they say, and dont they want getting out with people taking pics.  read blogs from people who actually live there.  the national guard has the city surrounded, and they wont let anyone in.  its not because of the looting and shootings, like were made to think.  sorry for the rant again, i just feel this is our government at an all time new low, and thats saying a lot.  

after saying all that, the truth will bring down the liars, and the positive vibes will win out.  this is opening the eyes of a lot of people to the atrocities of bush et al.  just as much bad as they offer, look at the outpouring to help from every aspect, ive seen it all over.   :)

[aMillionDreams]

I have also wondered about the lack of video and photography coming out to the media, too.  I know that there is no lack of cameras in the superdome or in downtown New Orleans, but in this day and age with technology the way it is we will hear the real story one day.  The only footage I saw recently was of the National Guard being air dropped onto the convention center with guns in hand and it scared the shit out of me.  Any time the president has to call up the national guard something has gone terribly wrong and the only acceptable alternative is to start killing American citizens in order to restore order.  
I think that this is a terrible, unfortunate event but I don't feel that pointing fingers is the way to deal with it either.  Just as these citizens turned refugees are not responsible for being herded together and left for dead, so to is Bush not responsible for one of the worst natural disasters in american history.  It would be difficult to argue why the mayor is not responsible for the levee, but it's hard to point fingers at him the way that he has handled this god awful situation in the past days.  I think there were a lot of mistakes made on every level but when it comes down to it, we need to learn from this event and move on.

By the way,  I heard from my mom, she's safe, somewhere in Mississippi and she is working on rescue missions and delivering gasoline.  I'm still worried about her, but she was okay as of 2:00 yesterday afternoon.

[EC]

So glad to hear that your Mom's okay.  Clearly a good human being.  :)

Bush not responsible for one of the worst natural disasters in american history

ie he didn't make the storm happen?  No.

I mean, well, I don't know.  I assume that the US government can't change the weather, but then again, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I'm trying really hard to see all of the information that's coming out of here as objectively as I can (ie without blaming Bush for everything because it's easy and it makes me feel good to do so).  The lack of media images is really, really freaking me out.  I cheered for Kanye West, but only because I knew he was saying something he wasn't supposed to, not because I fully support what he said. (ie that George Bush doesn't care about black people.  I don't really think Bush cares about anybody who isn't directly involved in the middle east or Texas or oil wars).  

I heard there's a little band of Canadians holed up somewhere that have got together to protect themselves.  

Oh man.  It's such a terrible thing.

[SMc55]

By the way,  I heard from my mom, she's safe, somewhere in Mississippi and she is working on rescue missions and delivering gasoline.  I'm still worried about her, but she was okay as of 2:00 yesterday afternoon.

So very glad to hear that.

[TheLink]

it is true that we cannot stop a "natural disaster", however, we are making them worse with our nonstop burning of fossil fuels thus raising the temp of the waters the hurrcanes go through before smashing these very unprotected coastal communities.  Second, I wonder why Harry Connick Jr, and many others were able to get to New Orleans before the National Gaurd.  Let's face it, the Republican agenda leaves behind a lot of people that are American and it is pathetic to me and should not be put up with.  Also, I was discusted with the way some "Americans" acted and the violence that followed.  Maybe we are just another 3rd world country that leaves behind those that don't benefit the governments agenda.  Seems a bit obvoius.  It was just purely a disgusting display of poor planning and lack or concern for those less foprtunate.  Just my opinion, and I am NOT a liberal.  This has and will be the worst 8 years the US will have to endure since the Reagan era.  Peace.