Katrina sinking in.

[Dale]

I'm watching the NBC telethon. I was wondering who would sing Randy Newman's "Louisiana." Turned out it was Aaron Neville.


Louisiana

What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tyrin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has done
To this poor people's land."

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

[The Weekenders]

Well, sorry for extreme sounding rhetoric there Doug, and I think that a failure to acknowledge the poor's inability to get the hell out of there and a lack of local leadership to make that happen must be considered. But it wasn't because most of the poor were black. They were just there in what seems to be an impoverished, messed up social dynamic.

Race baiting is not helping and it's irrelevant. I guess I should have just made it that simple.

[Jack]

Race baiting is not helping and it's irrelevant. I guess I should have just made it that simple.

I have found that the "what's simple is true" saying doesn't always hold true (or simple).

[jGilder]

Anyone know what these are?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... 1109012015

And why didn't this guy didn't bother to put them to good use?

I know that those are school busses but I don't know why they were not put to use, sorry.

We already covered this. The drivers had no doubt already evacuated with their families. If they were put to use the National Guard or someone from FEMA might have provided personnel to drive them around picking up folks who couldn't get out.

[chas]

It's not a simple matter of black and white and anybody who characterizes it that way is a simpleton or being disingenuous for gain.

I stand corrected on this. It isn't just a matter of race; it is a matter of poverty. In this case the poor people were mostly black.

It's really a matter of what the media you're paying attention to are covering. The 'burbs of NO are largely white, and more well-off than the cityt. You know what? The relief services there are no better. Entire towns on the gulf have been leveled. As in no houses standing. All the relief workers are doing there is painting numbers on the rubble -- as in the number of corpses. Many of those houses had been standing for over 100 years -- through Camille and all the other sh*t that the gods have unleashed at them. Towns inland in both LA and MS, black, white, and mixed, wealthy, middle-class, and poor, are facing the same relief services or lack thereof as New Orleans. The difference is that the population isn't so concentrated, and they don't make as good a story or wedge issue, so these places don't garner the media attention.

[missy]

From what I personally understand of the "chain of command" in disaster relief control, and from articles I'm reading and news I'm hearing, it really looks like it's the governor of LA that has dropped the ball big time.
By Mr. Bush declaring the area a disaster area 2 days ahead of time, it opened the route for the governor to ask for the National Guard and FEMA and all the other Federal agencies to be in place to give aid BEFORE the storm hit. The governor did not do this.
After the storm hit, the governor sent the guard, but they were in Baton Rouge - far enough away with broken down infrastructure to take a while to get there.
When the levies broke, there was also a loss of communications out of the city. The state governmnet had no idea of the numbers of peole in the Superdome. The government didn't know until Wed that there WERE people at the Convention Center.
I'm not saying that there's not a lot of other "blame" to go around. The mayor of New Orleans has also come off as totally incompitent. I don't blame the police that have quit. There's no order at all. There seems to be no one coordinating or in charge.

And, yes, there's also some personal blame to go around, too. Not just the thugs shooting and looting (and I'm NOT talking the looting of food). There seem to be an awful lot of able body people walking around in the background of every shot of the Convention Center. They certainly aren't ALL there with sick or incapacitated relatives. Why didn't they leave in the first place? Why didn't they walk out since? It's maybe 2 miles from the convention center to I10 - and I10 is elevated there, so it's not flooded.

[Cynth]

Doh!

I'm not sure what this means. I should assume it was not a compliment, correct?

[oscartherabbit]

From where I am, it rather seems that the US authorities have made what I would call a complete arse of the support and rescue operation. They had at least 2 days warning, and yet four days afterwards there is still no sign of anything resembling an effective response.

Frankly, if that happened in my country, I'd want their heads on a plate.

All those in difficulty have my utmost sympathy. God speed.

All those who have the power to do something about it and yet are conspicuously failing to do so have my utter contempt.

[emmline]

Doh!

I'm not sure what this means. I should assume it was not a compliment, correct?

Not aimed at you Cynth. It was because Simon asked a question that had already been answered in the post he was citing. He was "doh-ing" himself.

[Cynth]

Really?! Well, thank you so very much, emmline. That is a load off my mind. It seemed like a very unusual response from s1m0n. My sincere apologies, s1m0n . I seem to get confused rather easily. Should I say "Doh!" now?

[s1m0n]

Doh!

I'm not sure what this means. I should assume it was not a compliment, correct?

It means I'm an idiot for asking a question, the answer to which was right ther in the post I was responding to.

[Daniel_Bingamon]

What I haven't heard much said on the news is credit to local police, fire and other resue people that live in New Orleans - These people have their homes destroyed like the others, their families are in some other state. Some them don't know where they are, but they are making a difference by doing their jobs under the most incredible pressure and very little direction given.

Just like the firemen who ran into the trade tower on 9/11/01.

As for now, this region needs our support. Not constant political bickering and finger pointing. In fact, I'm sick of political finger pointing - I wish all the politicians, TV crews and the like would shut up and do something usefull.

[BillChin]

What I haven't heard much said on the news is credit to local police, fire and other resue people that live in New Orleans - These people have their homes destroyed like the others, their families are in some other state. Some them don't know where they are, but they are making a difference by doing their jobs under the most incredible pressure and very little direction given.

I saw a news segment that showed one police precinct being run out of a Walmart store. The police were eating the food from the shelves of the store. They sometimes had no gasoline and had to siphon it out of cars left behind. Many of the roads are still under water, with some the water is shallow enough to drive through, some not and there is no easy way to tell. Some police handed in their badges to go look for or be with their families.

Almost all have lost their homes, their material possessions (cars, electronics, furniture, clothes), and all have seen their city completely destroyed. It is beyond comprehension.

[oleorezinator]

well i'm drownin' in new orleans. yes i'm drownin' in new orleans. well they didn't send no trucks, cause bush don't give a f... yes i'm drownin' in new orleans. well they put us in the dome now. cause we ain't got no homes now. if your black you gotta stay, but the white folks got away. cause we're drownin' in new orleans. was this what fats was singing the last couple of days? of course it's inappropriate with the white house is doing such a grand job and all! how dare i? the nerve of some people!

[s1m0n]

The most likely plausible I've heard all week was from a former FEMA employee, who explained that they had excellent contingency plans in place for dealing with New Orleans being hit by a cat 4 hurricane. The levees broke exactly where the computers said they would, the city flooded on cue, etc--all was the way FEMA had foreseen.

The same was true of Biloxi and the other cities of the gulf. They had excellent contingency plans in place for responding to a cat 4 hurricane hitting them, too.

However, the simulations and the plans considered each city in isolation, and the plans for each involved the same resources being deployed to each. Not "equal" resources--the same. The same men, the same generators, the same trucks were supposed to be in four places at once.

They all forgot that sometimes hurricanes can be four cities wide.