Hurricane Katrina

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

If that previous article is true then Bush isn't the one who deserves to be getting all the haterade.

 

The Drudge Report showed the NO could've evacuated a lot of its poor people with school buses (giving a link to Yahoo! which showed those buses underwater). In fact, the NO mayor was SUPPOSED to use those buses by some type of order/law that concerns mass evacuations from the city.

 

Just goes to show you once again how politics/bureaucracy keep getting us, our soldiers, and other people of the world killed. Absolutely sickening.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I don't understand where N.O. mayor Ray Nagin is taking so much heat. The man is doing all he can, with what resources he has at his disposal, which isn't much. Outside of ordering the evacuation much sooner, there's little else that could have been done.

[Fökai 0]

Refresh my memory because I'm totally blanking on it now...

 

What foundation infamously bungled the donations that came in after 9/11? Was it Red Cross, a 9/11 fund or someone else?

 

I'm going to be donating a lot of money with my friends and family, but I need it to go to the the "safest" place I can find.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

United Way was the one that screwed up pretty bad and took a lot of heat.

 

This LiveJournal post tends to do a good job weeding the 'good' from the 'bad', although it assumes that you think organizations that will use your money to evangelize is bad, so apply your own conditions.

[EricMM 0]

This event itself nonwithstanding, this hurricane has caused some people to utter some of the most asinine things I have EVER heard.

 

Not even just on this board. People everywhere, whether they don't want to help people because it would make Bush look bad, or they think that poor people don't actually HAVE much, so it should be EASY to up and leave, some of the quotes I've read have been appalling.

 

This whole search for blame is either 1) a desire to punish someone out of simple grief and fear and whatnot or 2) a desire to further one's self over someone elses losses due to these events.

 

I dunno which is more prevalent. But I do know one thing: this blame game isn't helping a god damn person. MAYBE, once this is all over, and the streets are drained, and the incident is fully understood, knowing HOW it happened can help us prevent such an event in the future. But, now, all this bickering is at worst divisive and at best worthless.

 

Talk about something else. We obviously don't have all the answers if we can't easily find the truth. The people who can help, help, and the people who cannot help, try to find something more to do than saying this is all Bush's fault or all the Mayors fault.

[Fökai 0]

The people who can help, help, and the people who cannot help, try to find something more to do than saying this is all Bush's fault or all the Mayors fault.

 

For those that can't help, if you're watching people literally die on your television screen...especially when it's not a third-world country...it's easy to have your emotions run through the wringer. For me, my emotions have gone from "shock" to "anger" to "complete despair" to "hope" to 'blaming anyone at fault" to the current stage of "hoping the worst is over"...which it isn't.

 

this is a long article, but read it anyway. I don't see how people can't place more blame on Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin. To me it's plain as day that neither one of these morons should have been in power in the first place:

 

Where does it say anything about Hagin making a mistake? This guy is basically doing what Giuliani did on 9/11, except this time that government aid didn't show up when it was sorely needed. You can hear the emotion in his voice.

[Fökai 0]

Here's a LiveJournal linked from the charities blog - there are links at the bottom to support what he has said. I'll pull the article if inaccuracies or complaints arise. I edited it to exclude the remarks that were a bit left-wing.

 

Please read...

 

(Posted as a public post--which people know I never *ever* do on my LJ.)

 

Originally posted by myself in response to this Livejournal entry:

 

Trust me when I say Nagin is right and ops there are a complete and utter clusterfuck.

 

I have been listening to streaming feeds of police/National Guard scanners and ham radio nets since the disaster (very often you get news there that isn't reported widely).

 

FEMA is not letting groups in that aren't on their preferred contractor list, even turning away a Florida group with *500 floatboats* that could have been used in rescue ops. They have turned away people with buses who are willing to drive them et al.

 

FEMA attempted to shut down the one ops center in the NOLA area where the state and local authorities were coordinating rescue efforts--a member of the National Guard got into an angry shouting match telling them that they would have to shut down rescue efforts *indefinitely* if that area was closed.

 

FEMA is also promoting blatantly dominionist groups (including Pat Robertson's own "Operation Blessing"--which has been used, among other things, to ferry blood diamonds out of Africa under the name of "charity shipment") over known, reputable charities like Americares and Mercy Corps.

 

Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice were actually shopping and attending PLAYS while it was being widely broadcasted that the levees had failed andNew Orleans was under eight feet of water.

 

Trent Lott, known dominionist, even claimed that FEMA was doing a "great job" even though his house was in one of the areas of Mississippi that got smited (yes, Mississippi got it WORSE than New Orleans did) and there are entire *counties* in Mississippi who have asked for assistance for the past six days from FEMA and heard *NOTHING* above the county level regarding mutual aid or assistance.

 

Ham radio operators are *still* the main method of communication between stricken areas (even more so than the National Guard nets).

 

We won't go into how conditions have been allowed to deteriorate in both the Superdome and Convention Center to the point mass deaths and rapes are occuring. In the Convention Center, which (according to local NOLA media) has damn near turned to Thunderdome, there was a member of Spain's Parliament who was trapped on the second floor for *five days* and the US government claimed they were unaware of this till *yesterday*.

 

Anyways, it's rare that I actively pimp anything online. I'm going to pimp something here, namely, a list of good and bad charities to donate to for NOLA relief (sorted on "good guys" who pretty much give aid to anyone with no strings attached, and "bad guys" who actively support dominionism)

 

Here's the links:

 

http://nola-biglist.blogspot.com/

 

http://www.livejournal.com/community/dark_...ian/245640.html

 

I encourage you to mirror this widely and support the "good guys" on the list.

 

(References to media should folks want documentation of the above)

 

(Further news links, including info on the mismanagement of the Convention Center rescues and the possible *faking* of a photo op at a feeding center).

[The Czech Republic 0]

No, that is not what Kanye raps about.

 

"I started [thinking], if I was to make a song about [crack], I wanted to start where my parents told me it started," West said, explaining the record's origins. " 'How we stop the Black Panthers?/ Ronald Reagan cooked up the answer.' You say, 'Ronald wasn't even the president at the time,' but he was the governor of [California] when the CIA conspired to bring down the Black Panther Party. It goes back to artists being on the chitterling circuit and labels giving them drugs to lull them over and not be focused on their business. Crack was placed in the black community, used to separate the groups who were to protect us from police brutality and racism at the time."

 

West does floss hard on Late Registration — he even has record called "Celebration" — but strikes a balance on the LP.

 

"Heard 'Em Say," which features Maroon 5's Adam Levine, is another track that follows Kanye's contemplative political path.

 

"So this is in the name of love like Robert say/ Before you ask me to go get a job today/ Can I at least get a raise from minimum wage?/ And I know the government administered AIDS/ So I guess we just pray like the government say."

 

His mom is a college professor, I believe.

[chaosrage 0]

From July

 

Many residents won't evacuate New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, July 22 (UPI) -- A major hurricane, with 130 mph winds and an 18-foot-high storm surge, would not scare 60 percent of southeast Louisiana residents, a survey found.

 

That would be a dangerous decision, said Jesse St. Amant, emergency preparedness director for Plaquemines Parish, because Louisiana's sinking coastline and levees no longer protect residents from a Category 3 storm.

 

The University of New Orleans Survey Research Center and the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Task Force survey, released Thursday, also found many who evacuated during Hurricanes Georges in 1998, Lili in 2002 or last year's Ivan might not have traveled far enough to escape danger, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said Friday.

 

In 2002, an American Red Cross estimate found 25,000 to 100,000 people would be killed if a major hurricane hit the New Orleans area.

 

If people don't evacuate when directed by officials the number of casualties would be "beyond comprehension," according to St. Amant.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

No, that is not what Kanye raps about.

 

"I started [thinking], if I was to make a song about [crack], I wanted to start where my parents told me it started," West said, explaining the record's origins. " 'How we stop the Black Panthers?/ Ronald Reagan cooked up the answer.' You say, 'Ronald wasn't even the president at the time,' but he was the governor of [California] when the CIA conspired to bring down the Black Panther Party. It goes back to artists being on the chitterling circuit and labels giving them drugs to lull them over and not be focused on their business. Crack was placed in the black community, used to separate the groups who were to protect us from police brutality and racism at the time."

 

West does floss hard on Late Registration — he even has record called "Celebration" — but strikes a balance on the LP.

 

"Heard 'Em Say," which features Maroon 5's Adam Levine, is another track that follows Kanye's contemplative political path.

 

"So this is in the name of love like Robert say/ Before you ask me to go get a job today/ Can I at least get a raise from minimum wage?/ And I know the government administered AIDS/ So I guess we just pray like the government say."

 

His mom is a college professor, I believe.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Dude, shut the fuck up.

[Slayer 0]

Excellent counter-argument

[2GOLD 0]

Excellent counter-argument

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree, I feel like I just watched Fox News.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I don't think Czech is racist but with his outright hatred of Kanye I can see why some people have accused him of being one.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I hope they get me on "college professor" being a redundancy. PWN3D!

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I don't think Czech is racist but with his outright hatred of Kanye I can see why some people have accused him of being one.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I don't care if he doesn't like Kanye or not. It's just that the "MAH PEOPLE, DA GUMBIMNT" shtick comes off as very racist and I'm sure he wouldn't say something like that in "real life" if there were black people around.

 

And 2GOLD, you keep saying Kanye wore diamonds while rapping about how bad diamonds are. In the song, he explicitly talks about being at a jeweler and making sure the diamonds he's buying aren't "conflict diamonds."

[The Czech Republic 0]

Kanye himself is the one saying "us" while he's halfway across the country from the hurricane. I mean, I don't use first-person plural pronouns to refer to the white people in New Orleans. I didn't say, "boy, I hope my people can get out of town safely." I have no connection to them. I mean, he says "they're coming here to shoot us," literally, he's saying the Navy is going to the Rockefeller Center to gun down Mike Myers and himself. It's just ridiculous. He has no association with the looters beyond skin color, which isn't a basis for association to anybody else.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Kanye himself is the one saying "us" while he's halfway across the country from the hurricane. I mean, I don't use first-person plural pronouns to refer to the white people in New Orleans. I didn't say, "boy, I hope my people can get out of town safely." I have no connection to them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What does that have to do with what I posted? And some black people strongly identify with their race. As do other minorities and groups.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Kanye himself is the one saying "us" while he's halfway across the country from the hurricane. I mean, I don't use first-person plural pronouns to refer to the white people in New Orleans. I didn't say, "boy, I hope my people can get out of town safely." I have no connection to them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What does that have to do with what I posted? And some black people strongly identify with their race. As do other minorities and groups.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It has to do with why I'm mocking the guy. I couldn't logically say "my people" in regard to the whites, Czechs, nearsighted, college students, trumpet players in the city. I have things in common with them, but they're not my people.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Kanye himself is the one saying "us" while he's halfway across the country from the hurricane. I mean, I don't use first-person plural pronouns to refer to the white people in New Orleans. I didn't say, "boy, I hope my people can get out of town safely." I have no connection to them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What does that have to do with what I posted? And some black people strongly identify with their race. As do other minorities and groups.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It has to do with why I'm mocking the guy. I couldn't logically say "my people" in regard to the whites, Czechs, nearsighted, college students, trumpet players in the city. I have things in common with them, but they're not my people.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well people have held such group identifications since the dawn of civilization. I don't see why that is worth mocking. I do agree that the AIDS thing is silly, though.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Crack was placed in the black community

 

While this is extreme, there is a credible body of evidence to link the CIA with Central American drug dealers in the 80's.

 

CIA Inspector General Frederick R. Hitz told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 16 that there were ties between the CIA and Central American drug dealers who supported Nicaraguan contra rebels in the 1980s (Walter Pincus, "Inspector: CIA Kept Ties With Alleged Traffickers," Washington Post, March 17, 1998, p. A12; "CIA Official Defends Paper's Allegations," Orange County Register, March 17, 1998, p. 9).

 

Hitz said, "There are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug-trafficking activity or take action to resolve the allegations."

[The Czech Republic 0]

Kanye himself is the one saying "us" while he's halfway across the country from the hurricane. I mean, I don't use first-person plural pronouns to refer to the white people in New Orleans. I didn't say, "boy, I hope my people can get out of town safely." I have no connection to them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What does that have to do with what I posted? And some black people strongly identify with their race. As do other minorities and groups.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It has to do with why I'm mocking the guy. I couldn't logically say "my people" in regard to the whites, Czechs, nearsighted, college students, trumpet players in the city. I have things in common with them, but they're not my people.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well people have held such group identifications since the dawn of civilization. I don't see why that is worth mocking.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But this one is so far flung. These are poor people, who very well may have had precious little living space to begin with, now homeless, struggling to get food, water, and medication (and plasma TVs, God knows why) any way they can, with little help from anyone. Kanye West is a famous rapper from suburban Chicago, most noted for wearing blazers and not talking about shooting bitches. Where's the connection? We've given more shit to Damaramu for saying "we" about OU's football team.

[snuffbox 0]

Kanye West is the hip hop Barry Goldwater.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Barry Goldwater had more street cred.

[snuffbox 0]

Barry Goldwater had more streed cred.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, he was just more drunk.

[The Czech Republic 0]

In that case, Joe McCarthy trumps all

[Da Maintenance Man 0]

When Kanye said "they've given them permission to go down & shoot OUR PEOPLE" he meant "OUR PEOPLE" as in his fellow black people. What's so hard to understand about that? I know Kanye isn't down there himself w/ all those people starving & all but come on, it's pretty easy to understand what he was saying. Stop being so technical.

 

I think there's a certain brotherhood & bond that exists between blacks (& other minorites) that whites just can't see for some reason. That's why we got groups like the NAACP, etc.

[The Czech Republic 0]

And like I said, Kanye has nothing in common with them beyond the color of their skin. That's not enough. He is not poor. He is not from New Orleans. He is not struggling to live. The biggest hardship he's gone through was smashing his mouth into a steering wheel because he fell asleep driving. Maybe it's jsut because I'm a honky that can't understand a brother, but I feel he's unqualified to put himself in their boat.

[SuperJerk 0]

And like I said, Kanye has nothing in common with them beyond the color of their skin. That's not enough.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

He belongs to the same ethnic group and subculture.

 

I strongly advise you to enroll in some sociology classes before you decide to define terminology for someone else. You simply don't know what you're talking about.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

A natural disater takes place and this clown wants to bitch about a nothing nobody like Kanye West. "Shut the fuck up" in this regard is INDEED a strong counter-arguement.

[snuffbox 0]

In that case, Joe McCarthy trumps all

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Definitly. Senator Joe ranks up their with other Wisconsin homeboys like Jeff Dahmer and Ed Gein. Its just too bad his liver exploded.

 

Czech, etc...How 'bout we agree to move all the Kanye discussion to the thread in the music folder?