Hurricane Katrina

[Guest]

Doesn't matter, the last thing that this country needs right now is to be racially divided.

[bob_barron 0]

Kanye spoke from the heart... right or wrong in your opinion...he was honest to himself, and to the current beliefs of ALOT of hurting people.

 

And if those hurting people think the President doesn't like black people, they're stupid.

 

But of course, publicly voicing the thoughts of the victims is wrong so 'fuck kanye west'.

 

-1 for the needless emoticon.

 

A telethon isn't the place to call the president a racist.

[Guest El Satanico]

The country will always be racially divided, but only one side notices it.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

Yep...Im sure the African American demographic in New Orleans was glued to their televisions for the Kanye promo...

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Who's to say they don't already have false information?

 

Kanye West reinforcing misconceptions about the situation doesn't help anything.

 

He's appealing to the black demographic - some of who will take his word to heart and spin it out of control.

 

The entire black population of the United States doesn't live in New Orleans - his tirade will raise racial tension on a large scale, not just in a specific concentrated area.

[Guest]

The country will always be racially divided, but only one side notices it.

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Of course, and that's the worst part about this situation, which is that it's going to bring it to the forefront.

[2GOLD 0]

Kayne can say whatever he wants. Anyone taking anything Kayne West says seriously just needs to stop. I stopped listening to Kayne after he wore diamond earrings during his little "diamonds are evil" video.

 

But let him talk. If he believes this is all racism, let him believe it. I really could care less what the fuck Kayne thinks, I just want to get the people out who want to get the hell out. If some group, both black AND white for christ sake, want to stay and steal tvs or hurt people then let them be stuck in New Orleans till they run out of supplies and die.

 

If you stole food or clothes from stores, I got no beef with those people. If Kayne believes sending in the army is an open invite to shoot black people then he can believe. And anyone dumb enough to try and hurt someone WHILE the military is in the city isn't exactly important to society anymore. People in New Orleans should be helping each other to survive since they are all in the same god damn boat.

[cbacon 0]

If this tragedy happened in upscale white New York or something they would have definitely acted quicker

Dumbshit. It's one of the most historically relevant cities on the continent. I don't think the plan was to let this happen.

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Of course people didn't want this to happen. Problem is, they could've done something to strengthen the city's defenses, and the manpower that could've been available. Case in point, the national guard. Not cutting the flood control flooding 44% in 2001 to pay for the war in Iraq would have helped.

[Guest]

The National Guard is activated by the governor. Or, what about blaming what happened in New Orleans on the hurricane? That's a really novel concept right there.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Yeah, if only Bush had done more to protect a sub-sea level levee-backed city that had survived on serendipity for 40 years! Just like anything, Bush can in fact be blamed! Hooray!

Hey let's make liberals look like garbage, or rather, since they do it themselves, just make it visible:

I was on my home and was on the ramp getting off the highway. I saw a mini-van on the side of the road. There was a lady standing next to the van and in her arms she held her child. I can only assume her mini-van had broken down. I don't know, perhaps with so many gad stations being out of gas, she had also run out. I slowed down and started to pull over to offer her a ride. At the very last second I noticed a "W" sticker on the back of her vehicle and I sped up and drove off.

[Guest]

Go down one more post.

[Guest]

OOOOOOOH! MORE! MORE!

 

I feel really bad as a human being. That child is not responsible for their parent's belief system. They are innocent and do not deserve to be out in the heat. (It is warm but not so bad that they would even break a sweat) I try not to punish people for what they believe.

 

THE IRONY.

 

On the other hand, so many hateful thoughts went through my head. I wondered how a person could see what was going on in NO and still have one of those awful stickers on their car. How could they support an awful excuse for a human being that has let our country down and is letting Americans die after they have made it through the storm? How can someone be so blind and so stupid?

 

There it is again, sweet irony.

 

I thought that if she loves * so much, maybe he would come along and help her the same way he is rescuing all of those poor people in the weather stricken part of our country. Let's see what her hero can do for her.

 

I never did go back. I was so upset with that sticker and with the fact that someone would support an idiot who is so clearly running our country into the ground.

[dubq 0]

The National Guard is activated by the governor.  Or, what about blaming what happened in New Orleans on the hurricane?  That's a really novel concept right there.

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No kidding. That's a stretch.

[Guest El Satanico]

The National Guard is activated by the governor.  Or, what about blaming what happened in New Orleans on the hurricane?  That's a really novel concept right there.

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No kidding. That's a stretch.

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No, it's not

 

Nobody is trying to pass blame for the destruction.

[Fökai 0]

The National Guard is activated by the governor.  Or, what about blaming what happened in New Orleans on the hurricane?  That's a really novel concept right there.

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No kidding. That's a stretch.

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No, it's not

 

Nobody is trying to pass blame for the destruction.

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Too bad that no one is accepting it either.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Here's the big problem with this whole disaster issue: people are more interested in protecting their own damn spot than they are about helping the people of NO. Instead of the bureaucracy chiefs, politicians, other leaders doing what it takes to help people they are trying to go around and get their whole "angle" on it to make themselves look good and make other people look bad. It just goes to show you the mindset in the Beltway in Washington D.C. If it doesn't happen in D.C. then Congress and the bureaucracy doesn't give a crap until it's too late.

 

We've already seen this from the nutjobs who blame the hurricane on "global warming" which demonstrates how low our country has gone. I guess we've reached the point where we are going to start blaming politicans for NATURAL DISASTERS.

 

Also, we've got the whole race card being played here which is going to be divisive as all hell. That's great what Kayne said: the military is going to shoot any black person they see. You have lawlessness and anarchy going on down there with beatings and rapes and that idiot wants to try to justify that type of behavior. Better yet, you tell people this type of message and it's going to make the situation worse. Just wait till the National Guard has to shoot a criminal in the streets who happens to be black and all of the nutjobs in the country are going to be yelling and screaming about it not being a "justified" killing.

 

There are parts of this country this day and age that make me sick. Everyone is looking out for themselves and nobody else and that is a reflection on not only society, but the government that represents it. No one wants to be held accountable and no one wants to step up and do what's right. At this pace this country won't last another 50 years.

 

Also, Nancy Grace sucks. Nuff' said.

[Papacita 0]

Of course it's not just as bad. But in times like this, when you don't have anywhere to put these piles of shit, you should deal with them equally. This is a very special situation and it calls for the type of action that we usually would not go for.

 

If someone is willing to take advantage of this horrible event by trying to run off with electronics, I have no problem with them being taken down in order to restore some decent order to the area. I will not shed a tear for a one of em.

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Honest question: Why are the protection of material goods even an issue at this point when lives are at stake? While you could argue that some of the people that are taking electronics and what not have misplaced priorities (but then again, maybe not when you consider that these people have just lost everything to their name, and while they may not be able to use the objects they're taking, they can be sold with the money from the sales being used as a means to get themselves back on their feet. Not the most practical thinking considering the situation, but if one looks at it from this aspect, it's not exactly the most irrational thing in the world), at the end of the day your job is to save lives. Worry about the TVs and shit after the fact. For you to suggest that people who take non-essential items should be shot--in essence equating human lives with meaningless goods (or at least that's how it sounds to me)--is fucked up IMO.

 

As far as Kanye's comments go, I don't necessarily agree with them (I don't think you can just boil this down to race), but really I think it needs to be said. Say that it's divisive or what have you, but this notion didn't suddenly originate with Kanye--a lot of black people feel this way, and are passionate about it. The same stance he took last night were the same arguments I've been hearing all week on black-centered radio, on other websites and forums and judging from the MSN video, it's the same stance being taken by a lot of the victims in NO, and while you could argue that it's divisive to bring this issue up in an open forum, I think it's much more divisive for us to just sweep the opinion of a sizeable portion of the affected population under the rug just to keep a few feathers from being ruffled, because their voices go unheard, their resentment is just gonna fester and tensions will increase.

 

And Kanye's a known black racist? I must have missed that memo.

[chaosrage 0]

More bad news. It keeps on coming.

 

2:15 A.M. - (AP): National Guardsmen halted the evacuation of the Superdome early Saturday after buses transporting the refugees of Hurricane Katrina stopped rolling.

 

About 2,000 people remained in the stadium and could be there until Sunday, according to an estimate from the Texas Air National Guard.

 

Guard members said they were told only that the buses had stopped coming and close down operation where buses pull up to be loaded.

Does that mean the people at the Convention Center have to wait until all the people in the Superdome are evacuated? They could all be dead by Sunday.

[yankovic fan 0]

Just checking in. I live in Houma, 60 miles south west of new orleans and we just had mid-moderate wind damage. Most homes are now back with power.

 

If anyone has any lost relatives in the New Orleans area, PM me as I have some work related resources that I could probably use to help.

[chaosrage 0]

Geraldo is happy on Fox News. A stream of helicopters one after the other is emptying the Superdome. A rate of 100 people leaving every 5-10 minutes. "This is the turning point. "The United States Calvalry has arrived."

[chaosrage 0]

WWL-TV's Josh McElveen: The stench coming from the Superdome is "indescribable."

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Geraldo and Shepard Smith at the convention center and a bridge nearby (respectively).

 

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/02.html#a4763

 

I was surprised by how pissed off they both seem.

[Downhome 0]

Here is another fantastic video, this time of looters:

 

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1125662264

[Guest Brian]

Here is another fantastic video, this time of looters:

 

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1125662264

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Wel, since you called them looters, we know what color they are.

[ant_7000 0]

Kanye pretty much summed up pretty much what I was feeling and thinking at the time.

[Downhome 0]

Does the governor of LA hate black people too?

[SuperJerk 0]

Does the governor of LA hate black people too?

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You mean Arnold?

[SuperJerk 0]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.response/index.html

 

The big disconnect on New Orleans

The official version; then there's the in-the-trenches version

 

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Diverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday, with statements by some federal officials in contradiction with grittier, more desperate views from the streets. By late Friday response to those stranded in the city was more visible.

 

But the conflicting views on Thursday came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:

 

Conditions in the Convention Center

 

    * FEMA chief Brown: We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need. (See video of Brown explaining how news reports alerted FEMA to convention center chaos. -- 2:11)

 

    * Mayor Nagin: The convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we are running out of supplies for the 15,000 to 20,000 people. (Hear Nagin's angry demand for soldiers. 1:04)

 

    * CNN Producer Kim Segal: It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children, you should see them, they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw... people who are dying in front of you.

 

    * Evacuee Raymond Cooper: Sir, you've got about 3,000 people here in this -- in the Convention Center right now. They're hungry. Don't have any food. We were told two-and-a-half days ago to make our way to the Superdome or the Convention Center by our mayor. And which when we got here, was no one to tell us what to do, no one to direct us, no authority figure.

 

      Uncollected corpses

 

    * Brown: That's not been reported to me, so I'm not going to comment. Until I actually get a report from my teams that say, "We have bodies located here or there," I'm just not going to speculate.

 

    * Segal: We saw one body. A person is in a wheelchair and someone had pushed (her) off to the side and draped just like a blanket over this person in the wheelchair. And then there is another body next to that. There were others they were willing to show us. ( See CNN report, 'People are dying in front of us' -- 4:36 )

 

    * Evacuee Cooper: They had a couple of policemen out here, sir, about six or seven policemen told me directly, when I went to tell them, hey, man, you got bodies in there. You got two old ladies that just passed, just had died, people dragging the bodies into little corners. One guy -- that's how I found out. The guy had actually, hey, man, anybody sleeping over here? I'm like, no. He dragged two bodies in there. Now you just -- I just found out there was a lady and an old man, the lady went to nudge him. He's dead.

 

      Hospital evacuations

 

    * Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

 

    * CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It's gruesome. I guess that is the best word for it. If you think about a hospital, for example, the morgue is in the basement, and the basement is completely flooded. So you can just imagine the scene down there. But when patients die in the hospital, there is no place to put them, so they're in the stairwells. It is one of the most unbelievable situations I've seen as a doctor, certainly as a journalist as well. There is no electricity. There is no water. There's over 200 patients still here remaining. ...We found our way in through a chopper and had to land at a landing strip and then take a boat. And it is exactly ... where the boat was traveling where the snipers opened fire yesterday, halting all the evacuations. ( Watch the video report of corpses stacked in stairwells -- 4:45 )

 

    * Dr. Matthew Bellew, Charity Hospital: We still have 200 patients in this hospital, many of them needing care that they just can't get. The conditions are such that it's very dangerous for the patients. Just about all the patients in our services had fevers. Our toilets are overflowing. They are filled with stool and urine. And the smell, if you can imagine, is so bad, you know, many of us had gagging and some people even threw up. It's pretty rough.(Mayor's video: Armed addicts fighting for a fix -- 1:03)

 

      Violence and civil unrest

 

    * Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.

 

    * CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street. (Watch the video report on explosions and gunfire -- 2:12)

 

      The federal response:

 

    * Brown: Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.

 

    * Homeland Security Director Chertoff: Now, of course, a critical element of what we're doing is the process of evacuation and securing New Orleans and other areas that are afflicted. And here the Department of Defense has performed magnificently, as has the National Guard, in bringing enormous resources and capabilities to bear in the areas that are suffering.

 

    * Crowd chanting outside the Convention Center: We want help.

 

    * Nagin: They don't have a clue what's going on down there.

 

    * Phyllis Petrich, a tourist stranded at the Ritz-Carlton: They are invisible. We have no idea where they are. We hear bits and pieces that the National Guard is around, but where? We have not seen them. We have not seen FEMA officials. We have seen no one.

 

      Security

 

    * Brown: I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face. ( See Jack Cafferty's rant on the government's 'bungled' response -- 0:57)

 

    * Chertoff: In addition to local law enforcement, we have 2,800 National Guard in New Orleans as we speak today. One thousand four hundred additional National Guard military police trained soldiers will be arriving every day: 1,400 today, 1,400 tomorrow and 1,400 the next day.

 

    * Nagin: I continue to hear that troops are on the way, but we are still protecting the city with only 1,500 New Orleans police officers, an additional 300 law enforcement personnel, 250 National Guard troops, and other military personnel who are primarily focused on evacuation.

 

    * Lawrence: The police are very, very tense right now. They're literally riding around, full assault weapons, full tactical gear, in pickup trucks. Five, six, seven, eight officers. It is a very tense situation here.

[iliketurtles 0]

Geraldo and Shepard Smith at the convention center and a bridge nearby (respectively).

 

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/02.html#a4763

 

I was surprised by how pissed off they both seem.

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I watched this last night live...it was pretty unreal. Seeing Shepard Smith flip out was extremely surprising, but about damn time someone steps up and tells the truth. Geraldo is a fucking crazy bastard anyways, but this was just beyond description. Just unreal stuff. And Hannity and Colmes are just idiots. God.

[SuperJerk 0]

And Hannity and Colmes are just idiots.

 

What did they do THIS time? [/frustrated dad voice]

[iliketurtles 0]

And Hannity and Colmes are just idiots.

 

What did they do THIS time? [/frustrated dad voice]

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They just ask stupid questions that they know no one knew answers too. Just watch that clip and how many times Smith says "I don't know" or "No idea."