Official Hurricane Katrina Thread

[whottt]

From MSNBC, interviewing a black woman from New Orleans...

She said she always thought white people were to blame for a lot of things,

Yeah...because all whites are racist...

but since she's been in Houston, so many white people have been truly trying to help her out and have been so compassionate.

She's really going to when she finds out that the state that's bailing her state out is Bush's home state, the biggest reddest state in the Union... full of all those racist Republicans, with Republican racist leadership....

Someone get Jesse J. and Kanye on the line, she's not towing the party line.

Right...Rev Jesse's biggest fear is that his blacks will stop embracing victimhood...and the day the Democrats can no longer empower their victimization and play the race guard... to get the minority vote, they are truly ed. Victimhood is all they got going for them these days....Just like all those ignorant Iraqi "savages" that can't be civilized...according to the anti-war movement. Hence the mass desire to lay this at the feet of the fed.

[whottt]

I've heard about that order with Blanco, and someone should have been on the phone explaining it to her. I've heard it explained as a clerical error.

Amazing...I made a post about it the first or second day after the Hurricane...and it was military official that was ing about it...

Whottt, they had no plan.

NO PLAN.

No...what they lacked was ESP...to know the situation in the city with absolutely no city or state control within the city...and their leaders sitting on their asses in Baton Rouge not willing to cede authority.


You want the US government to pile 5000 helicopters and 40 thousand troops into the city without having a ing clue who goes where, where the police where, what the Lousiana Guardsmen were doing...where people where people were firing on rescuing...

I can just see you roaring with approval if Bush sent the Guard into the Special Event Center to take the shooters out(something he lacks the authority to do)...and 200 or 300 civillians get killed in the crossfire.

The Govt didn't know about this situation until Honore got there and drove down each and every street ascertaining the situation...with no help from the Govenor or Mayor or the freaking police force...

[MannyIsGod]

Whottt, they had NO plan. Can you understand they had no plan? FEMA had NO PLAN.

Whottt, the didn't have a plan.

Hey Whottt, did you notice Chertof saying they didn't have a plan?

Yo, Whottt, those damn cracka's didn't have a plan.


RE , THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN

[whottt]

What were the plans of the City and State Government? Sit on their ass and let the Fed Handle it?

Thank god we don't have ing Blanco as our Govenor or there would 90,000 sitting in front of the Astrodome clueless looking for water and food....

I mean ...she didn't think about it before the hurricane...why would she think about it after. Amazingly...Perry can wipe his ass without W's help.

[spurster]

You go out and live in your own waste for a few days with little food and water and be told constantly that help is on way. You might be little angry, too. Most posters in here seem a little y without having that experience on top of it.

[MannyIsGod]

Whottt,

They
Had
No
Plan

And now, I'm out. I want to do something constructive about the situation today other than about plans with whottt.

[Kori Ellis]

What were the plans of the City and State Government? Sit on their ass and let the Fed Handle it?

Thank god we don't have ing Blanco as our Govenor or there would 90,000 sitting in front of the Astrodome clueless looking for water and food....

I mean ...she didn't think about it before the hurricane...why would she think about it after.

Why are you giving Chertoff a pass for his statements? You always avoid it.

[whottt]

I think the Fed ed up. I've said so...I just don't think it's all on them. It's not all on them. And I think they ed up less than anyone.
They are the only ones that didn't collapse.

[Kori Ellis]

I think the Fed ed up. I've said so...I just don't think it's all on them. It's not all on them. And I think they ed up less than anyone.
They are the only ones that didn't collapse.

Of course it's not all of them. I don't think anyone says it's all of them. You are posting like an extremist.

There's been screw ups on every level - local, state, federal and some citizens. But when Chertoff comes out and says (lies?) flatout that they had no idea the results could be anything like this -- that's a big problem.

[whottt]

I just know...next Presidential election...I want a leader who breaks down into profanity laced tirades and starts crying a little in the face of disaster...nothing says leadership like that. It's always good to have someone that loses it running the ing country....or your state and city.

[whottt]

Of course it's not all of them. I don't think anyone says it's all of them. You are posting like an extremist.

There's been screw ups on every level - local, state, federal and some citizens. But when Chertoff comes out and says (lies?) flatout that they had no idea the results could be anything like this -- that's a big problem.

No...the big problem is everyone pulling the ing race and poor card and laying it on the fed. That is what's happening.....and that's partisan bull . I have seen people saying the cause of this is racism and using the freaking AP caption as proof...

[Shelly]

September 4, 2005
Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans?
By ANNE RICE

La Jolla, Calif.

WHAT do people really know about New Orleans?

Do they take away with them an awareness that it has always been not only a great white metropolis but also a great black city, a city where African-Americans have come together again and again to form the strongest African-American culture in the land?

The first literary magazine ever published in Louisiana was the work of black men, French-speaking poets and writers who brought together their work in three issues of a little book called L'Album Littéraire. That was in the 1840's, and by that time the city had a prosperous class of free black artisans, sculptors, businessmen, property owners, skilled laborers in all fields. Thousands of slaves lived on their own in the city, too, making a living at various jobs, and sending home a few dollars to their owners in the country at the end of the month.

This is not to diminish the horror of the slave market in the middle of the famous St. Louis Hotel, or the injustice of the slave labor on plantations from one end of the state to the other. It is merely to say that it was never all "have or have not" in this strange and beautiful city.

Later in the 19th century, as the Irish immigrants poured in by the thousands, filling the holds of ships that had emptied their cargoes of cotton in Liverpool, and as the German and Italian immigrants soon followed, a vital and complex culture emerged. Huge churches went up to serve the great faith of the city's European-born Catholics; convents and schools and orphanages were built for the newly arrived and the struggling; the city expanded in all directions with new neighborhoods of large, graceful houses, or areas of more humble cottages, even the smallest of which, with their floor-length shutters and deep-pitched roofs, possessed an undeniable Caribbean charm.

Through this all, black culture never declined in Louisiana. In fact, New Orleans became home to blacks in a way, perhaps, that few other American cities have ever been. Dillard University and Xavier University became two of the most outstanding black colleges in America; and once the battles of desegregation had been won, black New Orleanians entered all levels of life, building a visible middle class that is absent in far too many Western and Northern American cities to this day.

The influence of blacks on the music of the city and the nation is too immense and too well known to be described. It was black musicians coming down to New Orleans for work who nicknamed the city "the Big Easy" because it was a place where they could always find a job. But it's not fair to the nature of New Orleans to think of jazz and the blues as the poor man's music, or the music of the oppressed.

Something else was going on in New Orleans. The living was good there. The clock ticked more slowly; people laughed more easily; people kissed; people loved; there was joy.

Which is why so many New Orleanians, black and white, never went north. They didn't want to leave a place where they felt at home in neighborhoods that dated back centuries; they didn't want to leave families whose rounds of weddings, births and funerals had become the fabric of their lives. They didn't want to leave a city where tolerance had always been able to outweigh prejudice, where patience had always been able to outweigh rage. They didn't want to leave a place that was theirs.

And so New Orleans prospered, slowly, unevenly, but surely - home to Protestants and Catholics, including the Irish parading through the old neighborhood on St. Patrick's Day as they hand out cabbages and potatoes and onions to the eager crowds; including the Italians, with their lavish St. Joseph's altars spread out with cakes and cookies in homes and restaurants and churches every March; including the uptown traditionalists who seek to preserve the peace and beauty of the Garden District; including the Germans with their clubs and traditions; including the black population playing an ever increasing role in the city's civic affairs.

Now nature has done what the Civil War couldn't do. Nature has done what the labor riots of the 1920's couldn't do. Nature had done what "modern life" with its relentless pursuit of efficiency couldn't do. It has done what racism couldn't do, and what segregation couldn't do either. Nature has laid the city waste - with a scope that brings to mind the end of Pompeii.
•

I share this history for a reason - and to answer questions that have arisen these last few days. Almost as soon as the cameras began panning over the rooftops, and the helicopters began chopping free those trapped in their attics, a chorus of voices rose. "Why didn't they leave?" people asked both on and off camera. "Why did they stay there when they knew a storm was coming?" One reporter even asked me, "Why do people live in such a place?"

Then as conditions became unbearable, the looters took to the streets. Windows were smashed, jewelry snatched, stores broken open, water and food and televisions carried out by fierce and uninhibited crowds.

Now the voices grew even louder. How could these thieves loot and pillage in a time of such crisis? How could people shoot one another? Because the faces of those drowning and the faces of those looting were largely black faces, race came into the picture. What kind of people are these, the people of New Orleans, who stay in a city about to be flooded, and then turn on one another?

Well, here's an answer. Thousands didn't leave New Orleans because they couldn't leave. They didn't have the money. They didn't have the vehicles. They didn't have any place to go. They are the poor, black and white, who dwell in any city in great numbers; and they did what they felt they could do - they huddled together in the strongest houses they could find. There was no way to up and leave and check into the nearest Ramada Inn.

What's more, thousands more who could have left stayed behind to help others. They went out in the helicopters and pulled the survivors off rooftops; they went through the flooded streets in their boats trying to gather those they could find. Meanwhile, city officials tried desperately to alleviate the worsening conditions in the Superdome, while makeshift shelters and hotels and hospitals struggled.

And where was everyone else during all this? Oh, help is coming, New Orleans was told. We are a rich country. Congress is acting. Someone will come to stop the looting and care for the refugees.

And it's true: eventually, help did come. But how many times did Gov. Kathleen Blanco have to say that the situation was desperate? How many times did Mayor Ray Nagin have to call for aid? Why did America ask a city cherished by millions and excoriated by some, but ignored by no one, to fight for its own life for so long? That's my question.

I know that New Orleans will win its fight in the end. I was born in the city and lived there for many years. It shaped who and what I am. Never have I experienced a place where people knew more about love, about family, about loyalty and about getting along than the people of New Orleans. It is perhaps their very gentleness that gives them their endurance.

They will rebuild as they have after storms of the past; and they will stay in New Orleans because it is where they have always lived, where their mothers and their fathers lived, where their churches were built by their ancestors, where their family graves carry names that go back 200 years. They will stay in New Orleans where they can enjoy a sweetness of family life that other communities lost long ago.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.

Anne Rice is the author of the forthcoming novel "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt."

[Kori Ellis]

No...the big problem is everyone pulling the ing race and poor card and laying it on the fed. That is what's happening.....and that's partisan bull . I have seen people saying the cause of this is racism and using the freaking AP caption as proof...

So you have more of a problem with people the race card than you have with Chertoff's statements?

You are an idiot.

[Kori Ellis]

I'm confused by this ...

Five dead were army workers: report

05sep05

Associated Press reports that at least five people shot dead by police as they walked across a New Orleans bridge yesterday were contractors working for the US Defence department.

A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal. The contractors were on their way across the bridge to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain, in an operation to fix the 17th Street Canal, according to the spokesman.

The shootings took place on the Danziger Bridge, across a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River.

Early on Sunday, Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley of New Orleans said police shot at eight people, killing five or six.

No other details were immediately available.

I thought that the five people that were killed at Danziger Bridge were "suspected looters".

[timvp]

I thought that the five people that were killed at Danziger Bridge were "suspected looters".

That's what happens when you hire black contractors.

[SpursWoman]

I'm confused by this ...



I thought that the five people that were killed at Danziger Bridge were "suspected looters".

Wow....the story I heard from the Police commander or whoever that guy was wasn't even close to that...

[Kori Ellis]

Wow....the story I heard from the Police commander or whoever that guy was wasn't even close to that...

I know. I heard that too. I thought they were "suspected looters" who were firing upon the contractors.

This is saying that the ones that were killed were the contractors themselves.

This is very weird.

[timvp]

I don't even read Whottt's post in this thread. Whottt's style of arguing is to pick a side and then stick with it come , high water or a Cat 5 hurricane.

He backed the current administration so there is no way he will say anything negative about anyone on the federal level. That's how Whottt operates.

Just like Brent Barry. Barry could throw up a billion and Whottt would be right there holding his hand talking about great he is.

[Jelly]

Regarding the shooting incident. The police were escorted a group of ACoE to work on levees. The ACoE was fired on by an armed gang. The police fired on the gang. Five were shot. Two are dead. Good for the police.

(Now, some of you can start your sympathy party for these armed thugs. )

[timvp]

Regarding the shooting incident. The police were escorted a group of ACoE to work on levees. The ACoE was fired on by an armed gang. The police fired on the gang. Five were shot. Two are dead. Good for the police.

That's what I thought, too.

But read what Kori posted. I'm hoping that article is wrong.

[Vashner]

The first news report was contractors killed. .it was in error and retracted later.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

(Now, some of you can start your sympathy party for these armed thugs. )

You're dead set on wrestling that Drama Queen le from T Park, aren't you?

[timvp]

The first news report was contractors killed. .it was in error and retracted later.

Alright, good. Though someone should tell the media, since there are still sites running with the story.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

But when Chertoff comes out and says (lies?) flatout that they had no idea the results could be anything like this -- that's a big problem.

Actually I think he's telling the truth. I don't think FEMA foresaw the levees holding in the face of such a massive storm and then breaking after the fact.

I think they foresaw a massive storm flat out drowning everyone in NO in one fell swoop.

Remember, they were expecting 20,000 stuck around, now it's 120,000. That changes your gameplan a little.

[timvp]

Actually I think he's telling the truth. I don't think FEMA foresaw the levees holding in the face of such a massive storm and then breaking after the fact.

They knew the levees would break if a Cat 4+ storm hit. They got lucky that it didn't break right away.

Yet the response was still slow.

I think they foresaw a massive storm flat out drowning everyone in NO in one fell swoop.

So their game plan was that everyone was going to die so there wouldn't be any need for rescuing?

Superb.

Remember, they were expecting 20,000 stuck around, now it's 120,000. That changes your gameplan a little.

BS.

Read early on in this thread. Never did anyone think 20K stayed. Everyone in here and everyone in the media KNEW it was somewhere around 200K. If it's only 120K, then that's less than everyone expected.