Fuck Katrina

[Zero Cool]

 

[Illuminattile]

Flicking through the slideshow of photographs about the looting, it's a little ridiculous how many people shown are black.

 

[PuffnScruff]

Flicking through the slideshow of photographs about the looting, it's a little ridiculous how many people shown are black.

yeah,thats new orleans. the projects got hit the worst

 

[Ghetto_Ghost]

yeah,thats new orleans. the projects got hit the worst

at leat they dont have to pay a water bill no more.....

 

[roaches]

Baby, Master P, and Juvenile are homeless. Mia X lost half of her family.

I really thought I'd be able to go back soon, but now the situation just looks horrible. I made a few calls. I've been admitted to UVa for this semester. I'm going to head down there tomorrow. Hopefully in January I'll be back where I'm supposed to be.

 

[S O F I]

How come you didn't lose your home, roaches?

 

[ARon]

I was going to ask you what school you were going to. So they jsut admitted you with no cahrge since you payed at Tulane?( i think thats where you are going not sure). On CNN they were explaining what each school is doing which is pretty tight.

 

[Flipmo]

It's official. This man is my hero.

 

[Synful*Luv]

Flicking through the slideshow of photographs about the looting, it's a little ridiculous how many people shown are black.

New Orleans was hit the worst and is being talked about the most in the news and it's like 67% Black.

yeah,thats new orleans. the projects got hit the worst

They did, I can't wait to see if they're actually going to rebuild the projects or not, this would be a great chance to rebuild equal housing.

 

[ARon]

^^They were having a converstaion on CNN, and a senate rep spokeperson or something, and they said there was no point in rebuilding some of New Orleans.
And yeah we see all kinds of things about New Orleans on the news, either from people starving, or from "looting". Why aren't we reading about how they are going in their and saving people. Instead of showing shots of them driving by lines of people who look like they are on the brink of death, why arent we seeing them with busses vans cars whatever taking them out. All we see is them showing the dead bodies and talk about the desperation. It has been 3 days and still no help. Its pathetic, that help isn't coming.

 

[LyricalDisguise]

Bush is quick to send soldiers to start a war, but is too late with sending soldiers to save his own people

 

[roaches]

New Orleans was hit the worst

No. Coastal Mississippi was basically destroyed. All of the casinos (which bring 180 million dollars in taxes to the state annually) were destroyed. New Orleans has gotten fucked, but people are too stubborn to give up on urban centers. Coastal Mississippi is already forgotten.

 

[aloivas]

I just don't understand how the richest, most powerful nation in the world can be so unorganised, unprepared and most of all unresponsive to a natural disaster like this.

 

[ARon]

No. Coastal Mississippi was basically destroyed. All of the casinos (which bring 180 million dollars in taxes to the state annually) were destroyed. New Orleans has gotten fucked, but people are too stubborn to give up on urban centers. Coastal Mississippi is already forgotten.

Yeah Coastal Mississippi was destroyed, not basically, its gone. It looks like a tornado went through each and every house, everything is flattened. The only reason we don't see as much about it is because New Orleans has thousands of people in distress, as does Mississippi but I'm almost positive NO is worse.

 

[Jeremy]

I just don't understand how the richest, most powerful nation in the world can be so unorganised, unprepared and most of all unresponsive to a natural disaster like this.

I agree partialy to this. But it is really hard to get aid to most of these people because there is 3-4 feet of water where streets use to be. Most boats cannot travel in this unless they dont have propellers. They are dealing with over a 100,000 thousand people. I mean people are shooting at the rescue choppers because they cant help over 100,000 people at once. We cant really speak on the difficulties that the rescue teams are going through. I was almost crying watching the news earlier today. Just seeing the old people dying and the babies that were red hot and life less because of the heat. There is no control over the city, people are doing what they can to survive and I cant blame them. It's going to take alot of time to get the situation under control. They have now shut down the astrodome and turned the buses that just arrived to go somewhere else. THey are going to have to find places for these people to go. As I said in an earlier post we have 12,000 refugees in Memphis right now. It's really heart renching. Do I think they can do more? Yes. I cant blame people for complaining, If I lived there I would be to. It's just a really sad situation.

 

[roaches]

I just don't understand how the richest, most powerful nation in the world can be so unorganised, unprepared and most of all unresponsive to a natural disaster like this.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007023.php

* January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

* April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

* 2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."

* December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.

* March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.

* 2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.

* Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."

* June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

* June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

* August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

 

[S O F I]

Answer my question.

 

[LAZARU$]

It's official. This man is my hero.

the great niggarochi :thumb:

 

[roaches]

How come you didn't lose your home, roaches?

I go to school in New Orleans at Tulane, which is in a part of the city that was (relatively) spared by the hurricane.

Ray Nagin = the truth.

http://www.atypical.net/mm/nagin.mp3

Partial transcript:

NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect. (Listen to the mayor express his frustration in this video -- 12:09)

You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking necks.

And 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.

WWL: Did you say to the president of the United States, "I need the military in here"?

NAGIN: I said, "I need everything."

Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.

And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.

They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.

WWL: What do you need right now to get control of this situation?

NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.

I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.

I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. ... We don't have anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.

It's awful down here, man.

WWL: Do you believe that the president is seeing this, holding a news conference on it but can't do anything until [Louisiana Gov.] Kathleen Blanco requested him to do it? And do you know whether or not she has made that request?

NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing. But I will tell you this: You know, God is looking down on all this, and if they are not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price. Because every day that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the hundreds, I'm willing to bet you.

We're getting reports and calls that are breaking my heart, from people saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take it anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out." And that's happening as we speak.

You know what really upsets me, Garland? We told everybody the importance of the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, "Please, please take care of this. We don't care what you do. Figure it out."

WWL: Who'd you say that to?

NAGIN: Everybody: the governor, Homeland Security, FEMA. You name it, we said it.

And they allowed that pumping station next to Pumping Station 6 to go under water. Our sewage and water board people ... stayed there and endangered their lives.

And what happened when that pumping station went down, the water started flowing again in the city, and it starting getting to levels that probably killed more people.

In addition to that, we had water flowing through the pipes in the city. That's a power station over there.

So there's no water flowing anywhere on the east bank of Orleans Parish. So our critical water supply was destroyed because of lack of action.

WWL: Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or the containers that they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat that just couldn't be done?

NAGIN: They said it was some pulleys that they had to manufacture. But, you know, in a state of emergency, man, you are creative, you figure out ways to get stuff done.

Then they told me that they went overnight, and they built 17 concrete structures and they had the pulleys on them and they were going to drop them.

I flew over that thing yesterday, and it's in the same shape that it was after the storm hit. There is nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a line of bull and they're spinning, and people are dying down here.

WWL: If some of the public called and they're right, that there's a law that the president, that the federal government can't do anything without local or state requests, would you request martial law?

NAGIN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans. We did that a few days ago.

WWL: Did the governor do that, too?

NAGIN: I don't know. I don't think so.

But we called for martial law when we realized that the looting was getting out of control. And we redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people, but they worked all night because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night. And so we redirected all of our resources, and we hold it under check.

I'm not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.

And I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people looting and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but people are desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the majority of them.

Now you got some knuckleheads out there, and they are taking advantage of this lawless -- this situation where, you know, we can't really control it, and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small majority of the people. Most people are looking to try and survive.

And one of the things people -- nobody's talked about this. Drugs flowed in and out of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was scary to me, and that's why we were having the escalation in murders. People don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.

You have drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix, and that's the reason why they were breaking in hospitals and drugstores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their jones, if you will.

And right now, they don't have anything to take the edge off. And they've probably found guns. So what you're seeing is drug-starving crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wrecking havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We can only target certain sections of the city and form a perimeter around them and hope to God that we're not overrun.

WWL: Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because apparently there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.

NAGIN: Really?

WWL: I know you don't feel that way.

NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?

You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is more important?

And I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble. I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.

WWL: You and I will be in the funny place together.

NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.

Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.

You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.

And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.

WWL: What can we do here?

NAGIN: Keep talking about it.

WWL: We'll do that. What else can we do?

NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen, to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous.

I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can't even count.

Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.

WWL: I'll say it right now, you're the only politician that's called and called for arms like this. And if -- whatever it takes, the governor, president -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes, I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.

NAGIN: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just -- I'm at the point now where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same in this time.

WWL: We're both pretty speechless here.

NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say. I got to go.

WWL: OK. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.

He should be Time Magazine's man of the year. If Rudy Giuliani can get it for offering inspirational soundbites while heroically supervising the removal of debris in Manhattan...

 

[Advocate]

That sucks, R.I.P to the wasted gas . . .

R.I.P to everyone who died.... that was an extremely bitchy and ignorant comment if you werent being sarcastic

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