Katrina @ New Orleans

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 9:44 am

My university is accepting students that have been displaced due to the hurricane. That's good of them and I'm glad.

"I'm going to ask that question again," Nelson said. "Do we have enough (troops), and if we do, why were they not deployed sooner?"

President Bush was asked that question Friday as he toured the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast area and said he disagrees with criticism the military is stretched too thin.

"We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort to the people of the Gulf Coast, and we'll do both," he said."

You didn't answer the God damn fucking question, you piece of shit president. Jesus Christ you didn't answer the question you mother fucker why can't you answer the question %@#$!%@$%^

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:27 am

my university is doing the same. so are several other universities in indiana.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:15 pm

mkilly wrote:
"We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror...

Can he really still say this sort of stuff with a straight face?

There must be a lot of boys from the Gulf Coast who would be sitting in Iraq right now wishing they were at home doing something useful

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:12 pm

I met a couple who is staying in Tampa with his brother. They lost both of their pizza joints, two cars and thier home in Biloxi. They didn't have flood insurance. Apparently storm surge from the gulf relieved them of their burdens.

They may get lucky enough to have their cars covered though...not sure how that works. When isn't a total a total?

Kamakura · Post by **Kamakura** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:13 pm

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... TPScience/

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 6:23 pm

Kamakura wrote:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... TPScience/

Yeah, I've read a lot about this and other opinions about the safety of New Orleans. How finaces were cut to that particular project and re-routed to war and bridges in Alaska.

New Orleans is turned off right now...it may be a few months before it gets turned back on again.

Think about it... even if you are lucky enough to still have a home or insurance to build another one... when will you be able to start your job again...IF you even have a job to go back to. How long can you afford to stay in a hotel outside of the city before the money crunch hits and you have to decide to hold out and go back, or just start over somewhere else. If this happened to ME... I'd be living wherever it is I evacuated to or worse, head to N. Georgia and live with my folks until I could figure things out again. There is no way, even with my renters insurance (which doesn't even cover floods) that I could hold out as long as it's going to take New Orleans to get back to a functioning city again.

God Bless and my prayers go out to all of these people.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:58 pm

There was a Coastal Management conference held in New Orleans in July this year. I was hoping to attend (coastal engineering stuff is currently my real-world professional gig) - but buying a new house upset the budget this year.

The conference was titled:

"Coastal Zone 2005 - Balancing on the Edge"

From the conference web-site:
"Coastal Zone is the premier conference for the world's coastal resource managers. The 14th installment of the biennial conference series focused on balancing the issues and interests of land and sea. Coastal Zone 05 (CZ05), held in New Orleans, Louisiana, drew over 800 participants from all over the world and provided valuable tools, lessons learned, and new ideas to help address the coastal management issues we're all facing"

- I wish I had have gone now - just for the irony value.

Kamakura · Post by **Kamakura** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 4:17 am

Hoblit wrote:New Orleans is turned off right now...it may be a few months before it gets turned back on again.

And then?

I'm not meaning to be the soothsayer of doom here, but there is nothing to prevent this happening all over again.

Until the US president (whoever it is) agrees to sign up to the kyoto agreement (too expensive, our economy can't afford it), and everyone else on the planet gets seriously behind trying to slow down global warming we are probably all doomed in the long run.

Still. Never mind eh.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:03 am

Hoblit's right, sadly. Even those lucky enough to move back and rebuild won't have that opportunity for a long time, and most of them 1.) don't want to wait on their laurels that long, 2.) don't have enough money to stay in hotels or with relatives in other cities for that long, and 3.) are afraid to move back to where they were, bearing the chance that this will all happen again.

My immediate family is moving away permanently, and we don't know where yet. Either Sacramento, Destin, Houston, or Memphis. Becase we have family in all four of those places. My Dad's first wife's family moved to Nashville and is probably not moving back. My Dad himself is staying in New Orleans.

New Orleans isn't dead. But it is decimated. When it comes back, it will be a much smaller town, and I don't think it'll ever fully recover.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:04 am

Before I begin: my mother and brother are safe in Baton Rouge. My stepfather suffered a heart attack there a few days ago, but he's in good condition. My dad was also staying in Baton Rouge, but he's trying to visit Metairie again today to survey the damage to his home. He doesn't expect it to be that bad. My dad's other family (my half-siblings) have already permanently relocated to Nashville. They're safe as well.

So, without further ado, I'm going to paste an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush into the body of this message. But don't get turned off by that; believe it or not, though I'm from New Orleans, I disagree with Moore's statements here. I'm only posting the letter so that you can read my mother's disenfranchised response to it below.

An open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush:

"Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
http://www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st."

My Mom responds:

"Dear Mr. Moore:

I can fully appreciate your letter to Mr. Bush, however I am a resident of Lakeview in New Orleans and live 14 blocks from the 300 ft. breech in the 17th Street Canal levee. We live in a very affluent, tax paying area of New Orleans. We chose not to leave with hundreds of other people in the neighborhood of Lakeview. I did not get out of New Orleans until Wednesday. I can tell you first hand, this was not a racial issue, we were not rescued by the National Guard, Coast Guard or any other governmental agency. For 30 hours, more than 70 people were on the Filmore Avenue bridge by Marconi Drive, we saw the Coast Guard helicopters flying to all different directions but never was help sent to us. The only reason we got out is due to the neighbors in Lakeview who commodered boats and rode through the flooded streets looking for people.

So don't cry race card, race and poverty had not one thing to do with not being helped. I am proof of that.

In my opinion, it was the lack of leadership in Washington. The death toll will exceed any and all estimates. To think we live in the greatest country in the world, with all the resources available to us and such a travesty could occur in a major U.S. city because of inaction. What more can I say after what I experienced?

Randie Porobil, former address - 6642 General Haig Street
225-778-1834 New Orleans, LA 70124
504-952-0811"

Yeah, you do the math.

Michael Moore upsets me so.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:07 pm

The NYC music scene blog Coolfer.com has a great entry concerning Katrina's impact on the New Orleans music scene. Included are upcoming Katrina-related benefit concerts, status updates on musicians, venues and the music business in general.

A couple worthy reads are from links to:

Village Voice article "Beyond New Orleans, Katrina Destroys Music History Too":
http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/20 ... impac.html

LA Time OpEd "The Crescent City blues":
http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... &cset=true

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:29 pm

I have more respect for Michael Moore than Pat Robertson, but not much.

Generic, thanks for posting that letter. The media (CNN, etc.) really did make it seem like it was a race/class issue. Nice to know it's just good old-fashioned ineptitude.

OTOH, I was watching the Daily Show last night. Check out this Barbara Bush quote they played:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this is working very well for them."

Man, I just don't know.

Mogosagatai · Post by **Mogosagatai** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:33 pm

Well, after a rather momentous week, I'm in Troy, New York, attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which I'd never heard of until four days ago. I consider myself on the very lucky end of the evacuated populace.

As soon as I get some proper software on this computer, I'll return to the songfighting scene, which I have dearly missed.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:37 pm

My 2 cents is that race is one issue raised in Moore's letter-and not at all the central issue. He didn't title it "How Race Dictated Who Lived, Who Died". I have to agree with a good deal of what he says there, given that he taints everything with a made-for-Letterman tongue-in-cheek presentation. He can be a dick, his tactics are at times less than respectful, and he's not always spot on, but he certainly raises some valid points.

And now I'll change coats and suggest that this isn't the time to throw accusations at anyone. It's time to get some relief to those who need it, make things "right" and assess what the hell is left of a couple million lives. There will be a time to sort out who fucked up and how to deal with them, but it isn't now.

Mogosagatai · Post by **Mogosagatai** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:50 pm

Sorry, didn't realize we were talking politics.

Jon Eric's mom is right in that the rescuers aren't playing a race card, but I think a lot of people think that the media is race-carding by making an implied connection between blacks and all the post-Katrina looting and violence in New Orleans.

This may be partially true. In fact, I don't doubt that it is, having seen a few clips on Fox news, one in which they showed a white guy breaking into a store and said that he was "finding" leftover supplies, and several others in which they showed black people breaking into stores and said that they were "looting" them. White guy finds things, black guy loots things.

Still, I think that the majority of the problem is simply a leftover from more racist generations: that most of the salvagers, looters, and finders are indeed black, because almost all of the s/l/f'ers are poor, and most of the poor people in New Orleans are black. Sucks, but it's true. This isn't the fault of modern society, but the fault of past generations.

And unfortunately, several people will make the wrong connections themselves, without the news implying that they should. I don't know how to fix that problem. Grr.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 4:40 pm

CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC all have displayed blatant instances of innacurate reporting in New Orleans for the last week or so. The only ones who have gotten it close are the local radio and TV stations, WWL and WDSU, respectively. So the big three might have the general idea, but don't trust them with specifics. If they hadn't been about eight hours off in their reporting on when the 17th Street Canal Levee broke, they would have saved me a great deal of grief.

Calfborg · Post by **Calfborg** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:40 pm

Didn't Kanye West make the same statement on race as Michael Moore did in that letter?

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:39 am

Mogosagatai wrote: but I think a lot of people think that the media is race-carding by making an implied connection between blacks and all the post-Katrina looting and violence in New Orleans.

The media has been making a very deliberate and overt connection to race/class. Several times I've heard reporters/commentators talk about race, about how the rich whites were taken away with no trouble while the poor blacks had to sit in the superdome. They've also shown lots of clips of black leaders crying the race card. I'm not saying there's no racism going on (ho would I know?), but media is definitely hyping it.

And you know that Barbara Bush quote? THEY TOOK IT OUT OF FUCKING CONTEXT. Here's the full quote:

Barbara Bush wrote:"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many people in the arena here, you know, were underprivleged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Hmm, when you hear the WHOLE THING, it becomes clear that it's just some Texas braggadocio. Still not the smartest thing to say, but "this is working very well for them" is referring to the move to Texas, not the hurricane. I'm gonna quit watching the news. Can't trust the motherfuckers one bit.

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:46 am

c hack wrote:Hmm, when you hear the WHOLE THING, it becomes clear that it's just some Texas braggadocio. Still not the smartest thing to say, but "this is working very well for them" is referring to the move to Texas, not the hurricane. I'm gonna quit watching the news. Can't trust the motherfuckers one bit.

I live in Texas, and I completely missed the bragging. Why is it "sort of scary" if they all want to stay in Texas? Even if you grant her the benefit of the doubt and interpret her line as "this [move] is working very well for them", how underpriveleged does she think these people are for a move to the World's Biggest Homeless Shelter to be a step up? Her whole tone is that these victims are beneath the people of Texas, and that is shit.

The Daily Show is not a news program.

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:58 am

Calfborg wrote:Didn't Kanye West make the same statement on race as Michael Moore did in that letter?

erikb was paraphrasing Michael Moore when he wrote:George Bush didn't care about the people of New Orleans because they were black.

but he's quoting Kanye West when he wrote:George Bush doesn't care about black people.

The subtle difference between what West said (even the whole unedited rant he gave) was that Kanye West never once made reference to white people, and never implied that relief efforts would have been different if white people were involved. He just said what he said as a simple fact, without having skin color be the reason for the lack of effort.

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:17 am

erikb wrote:Even if you grant her the benefit of the doubt and interpret her line as "this [move] is working very well for them", how underpriveleged does she think these people are for a move to the World's Biggest Homeless Shelter to be a step up?

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, she means that the hospitality in Texas is so wonderful, it's a step up. Which is still a stupid thing to say, but not nearly as bad as it was made out to be.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:45 am

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, is a step up for her.

Katrina @ New Orleans

Liberal nut job.