Cmdr. Cracken Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 ETWarrior: I have sympathy for these folks, because if you look at the pictures that are coming out of New Orleans, in the majority of these pictures what do you see? The disenfrachised, the poor, the ones who can barely afford the fare for public transportation. I ask you how can you expect someone of such low economic status to be able, on thier own, under thier own financal backing, get out of ANYWHERE, and be able to survive in any other part of the country? what would you do if you were that low on the economic ladder? I'd have to do what they are, sit and wait it out, hope it's not that bad, and ride out and pray that something or SOMEONE comes along to save me. We are SO fortunate to be sitting in our homes, our libraries, our computer labs, sitting on these expensive and very nice machines in cool places with food, water, and shelter. these people who are now stuck in a city reduced to the status of a third world nation barely had shelter and food to begin with. and now, they have nothing. It is a question though, why weren't these people forced to leave the day before the storm hit, to get out as many as possible? where was the federal response then? where and why didn't the federal government, knowing full well the power of the storm coming, get more of these poor and elderly and children out why they could, before New Orleans was hit by natures equivalent of a large nuclear weapon? Why didn't our president get off his ass at his luxury texas ranch, and start mobilizing the relief efforts, hell, start coordinating an evacuation, the MINUTE THEY KNEW ABOUT THE STORM!? I bet his oil company is sucking in the profits now... 3/gallon.... >.< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toms Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 From the new coverage in the UK its pretty amazing how devastating this has been. We all saw bits of news about it probably hitting NO - but since you guys get hurricanes all the time and are such a powerful, high-tech nation I kind of assumed it would do a bit of damage and then move on. Never thought it would cause so much devastation to such an old city. According to a lot of the reports over here it seems to be beig very badly managed... a lot of our reporters have compared the scenes to those after the Tsunami... not hwat you'd expect from the US. Also seems like there isn't much of a restoration plan, not sure why there is no national guard presence and so little law enforcement (well, except those cops that are off looting) after several days... All the people they have interviewed seem very PO'ed by the lack of aid they've seen. I'd have thought that since they had several days warning they would have had several thousand aid workers and national guard standing ready just outside the strike zone ready to move in immediately. Though of course a lot of the NG are off abroad right now. Bush seems to be taking a lot of heat. Interestingly about 4 years ago the US Disasters Committee said the 3 biggest threats to the US were: 1- Terrorist strike on New York 2 - Hurricane on New Orleans 3 - Earthquake in California. Looks like after the first one they started concentrating so much on the war on terror they forgot the other two... Still, two down at least... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmdr. Cracken Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 http://audio.cbsnews.com/2005/09/02/audio813006.mp3 they Mayor of New Orleans. Not happy. REALLY not happy. and personally, i don't really blame him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 I ask you how can you expect someone of such low economic status to be able, on thier own, under thier own financal backing, get out of ANYWHERE, and be able to survive in any other part of the country?I give up, it seems apparent to me that you don't actually care to read the words that I'm typing, so I'm not even going to take the time to quote the part where I said I DO have sympathy for people who couldn't afford to get out / not in the proper medical condition to get out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 I strongly resent the implication that people who called those who stayed behind stupid are just sitting around in our chairs, doing nothign to help. Indeed, especially since I'm going to be spending the next week helping take care of the injured with my mother at the hospital where they're shipping in those they couldn't evac from the hospital in time. Not to mention the food crap I'm doing. I help those that deserve my help. Some ass that is capable of leaving but won't does not deserve my help or sympathy. I think 50 bucks is good amount worth saving your life. And people have walked farther in the past. Don't give me bull**** about "it's impossible". Enjoy your BS-emo, Nalukai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 Anyway, it seems the racism crap is still going on. It alarms me that people don't get basic math. 70% of New Orleans is black, a lot of people are poor, it's only natural that most of your poor are going to be black when they're the majority in the city. It's not a matter of racism, rather biggotry based on class. The poor are always the last to be helped, if they're helped at all. Also it alarms me how people fail to realize that when resources of the local and state government are tapped, it's the federal governments job to send in aid. Especially in a crisis of this level. This is very much a matter of security now that mobs have formed and innocent people are being attacked, constantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Sith, I don't think everyone knew it would be *this* bad. Besides, the military can shoot at people now. What idiots! People are so stupid-- "Yeah man, Im going to steal a TV! Too bad there is nowhere to plug it in, and my car is flooded with water!" Then some people want to get in gang fights for nothing. Then others want to shoot at people who are trying to help them... even dumber. Whats the point? If I lost everything I wouldn't point a gun at a man trying to offer me a sanitation kit and bottle of water. I mean, I can understand a gun for defense, but... why shoot the cops... especially when they aren't after anyone! Besides, no matter what it is, you shouldn't be stealing-- whether food or a tv. The Red Cross and other organizations are donating a lot of food. And also, all of that food is moldy or contaminated by now anyways. With water several feet high and temperatures of 95+ F, nothing can keep for long. I would say in a day or two most of the bread and milk would be bad. Canned goods need to be cooked... which when your city is flooded its kinda tough to do. Nothing else would keep well, or would be wet/contaminated. Its not worth stealing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Jedi Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I think that it's been proven over and over in the past: Humans are stupid in times of crisis. Now, I'm not saying that it applies to all; merely the bastards who think that this is a great time to get a few rapes in while everyone is bunking in the SuperDome. Or the idiots who are stealing TVs. Anyway, I think it's absolutely great that Houston has taken in so many people. I've got a lot of good memories of the Astrodome, and I'm glad it's being used so well in such a hard time. Who ever brainstormed that one, good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Sith, I don't think everyone knew it would be *this* bad. The government certainly knew the levees wouldn't hold. Especially when it struck Mississipi. The planning was very poor. And a lot of people were stupid to stay when they had the means to get out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Your right, if you can leave, you should. But... I just heard on the news like hundreds of thousands of people couldn't leave - Mainly poor people without cars. Regaurdless, now people who did leave are dying... im watching TV right now and they are showing bodies in the streets who did evacuate, but just... can't survive. You certainly are right when you say the planning sucked, because they should have relocated the people who couldn't leave. They have turned into a third world country, people are dying in the streets. There is no food, or clean water. On the news there are bodies that are censored, and I even saw a dead person in a wheel chair with a blanket over them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toms Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 heck, they knew it was one of the top 3 threats to the USA... weird, scary and interesting stuff i found while looking around the webs: However one senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, has predicted the death toll could climb above 10,000 in Louisiana alone. Army engineers have said it will take anything from 36 to 80 days to pump the flood waters from the low-lying city. Guardsmen who arrived in New Orleans on Friday were also said to be shocked at what they found - even though many of them have served in Iraq. The situation was made worse by a lack of trust between the mainly poor, African-American population left behind in New Orleans and the predominately white police force, our correspondent adds. Up to 60,000 people could still be stranded in the city, the US coastguard says. Looting has swept the city. There have also been outbreaks of shootings and carjackings and reports of rapes. The federal emergency agency was trying to work "under conditions of urban warfare", director Michael Brown said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4210264.stm Snipers lurk everywhere, firing on unsuspecting police officers from an apartment complex across from the putrid refugee centre at the city's convention centre, taking aim at medical rescue workers trying to airlift premature babies from a downtown hospital and shooting at helicopters trying to evacuate people from the Superdome. There were reports of women being raped at the convention centre and unconfirmed reports of rapes inside the Superdome, where thousands of people had taken shelter. A corpse lay covered on the dirt in front of the convention centre while scores of heavily armed police engaged in a prolonged shootout with suspects in an apartment complex. Photos of two men being beaten by police officers were taken from Toronto Star photographer Lucas Oleniuk by officers who threatened to beat him, then stopped a reporter's unmarked car, pointing a shotgun at the windshield until the driver lifted his hands above the steering wheel. "People get frustrated and they just start taking potshots at the police," said one officer at the scene. More puzzling is why people would shoot at those trying to help. "Hospitals are trying to evacuate," said Coast Guard Lt.-Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesperson at the city emergency operations centre. "At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, 'You better come get my family.'" Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has asked for 40,000 troops and says they are on their way and convoys of hundreds of relief workers streamed down Interstate 10 toward New Orleans yesterday. But where did they go? They were nowhere to be seen in downtown New Orleans. http://www.metronews.ca/news_feature_detail.asp?id=10592 More than 44 foreign governments and international organisations have offered aid to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4210264.stm The phrase "mandatory evacuation" was played over and over again, along with the videos of overflowing traffic on the highways as well as lines at the gas pumps. Along the way singular examples of the panicked egress were picked by news producers looking for that little extra oomph factor. I recall one aside of a businessman who paid $3,000 for first-class "one-way" tickets to Dallas, Texas, for his family because he didn't think he could get "very far" driving since the "gas situation" was chancy. Along with these stories of evacuation we were also informed—almost as an afterthought—that there were over 100,000 people "without cars or transportation in New Orleans, who could not leave." We learned that the New Orleans Superdome would become "the shelter of last resort" for these people. As the news cameras panned over the crowds of predominately minority, elderly, and disabled people waiting, to get into the Superdome, I flashed to the header of a news story I had read in my local paper that morning: "the haves leaving New Orleans—the have-nots remain." How typical, how true, them that has, gets; them that wants, gets left behind, apologies to Billie Holiday. Wednesday Yahoo News carried two photos with captions from New Orleans. The first photo was from AFP Getty Images and bylined Chris Grayson; it showed a young man and woman, both white with the caption: "Two residents wade through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store." The second photo was bylined Associated Press with no photographer credit, its caption read: "A young black man walked through chest deep flood waters after looting a grocery store." So, the white folks "found" their food, the black guy "looted" his. http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/090205Pitz/090205pitz.html THE daughter of a Scots holidaymaker caught up in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina told last night how her mother had been forced to join in the looting to find food. Teresa Cherrie, 42, a nurse, and her partner, John Drysdale, 41, a lorry driver, from Renfrew, are marooned in New Orleans. The couple are desperately awaiting rescue on the roof of an apartment block with ten American refugees in the French quarter of Baton Rouge, while hiding from armed gangs. Her daughter, Nicola Cherrie, 21, a dental nurse, said: "She phoned this morning at half past two just to let us know they were okay. She was awfully upset and she just said she'd never been so starving in her whole life, she'd never seen so many guns, she'd never been so scared. "She said they had a tin of ravioli and a packet of biscuits for their dinner tonight. They've had to loot supermarkets for food and scavenge what they can. "It was meant to be a dream holiday but it's turned into a nightmare," she said. http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1884012005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Wednesday Yahoo News carried two photos with captions from New Orleans. The first photo was from AFP Getty Images and bylined Chris Grayson; it showed a young man and woman, both white with the caption: "Two residents wade through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store." The second photo was bylined Associated Press with no photographer credit, its caption read: "A young black man walked through chest deep flood waters after looting a grocery store." So, the white folks "found" their food, the black guy "looted" his. The media is trying to create problems. Now theres the big discussion as to whether or not the whole "rescue mission" and slow response was because most of the people in need are black. While its possible thats why it has taken so long to get relief (if you call this relief) I thik the media is just using this to create controversy. They are just as bad as the looters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Actually it's not the media, but organizations that are talking about this. Media is merely giving them airtime. Everyone is allowed their say, even if what they say is the most retarded **** to ever infect our airwaves. Even the "Repent America" people got their bit of airtime. Also, it appears Castro is offering aid. I'm hoping it's accepted as we need all the assistance we can get. If we wish to keep death tolls from rising much more, that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 The media doesn't have to air it, but they think it will give them ratings or whatever. The US better accept it the help, I don't see why they wouldn't. So, we have Japan, Germany, and Cuba helping, right? http://www.katrina.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupes. Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 Well, Google Maps has been updated with pics from the damage caused by hurricane Katrina. Superdome Breachin the levee Highway 610 Harbour Lakefront Airport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinWalker Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Sith, I don't think everyone knew it would be *this* bad. SCIAM - The Drowning of New Orleans From this Original Article. Meet The Press 9/4/05 - Transcript Meet the Press 9/4/05 - Podcast National Geographic 2004. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChAiNz.2da Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 Bush takes responsibility for U.S. failures after Katrina http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/13/katrina.washington/index.html wow... * goes outside to watch the pigs fly and check the temperature of Hell* I wonder what 'spin' they'll place on it come Thursday night. I'll definitely have to tune in (or at least record it)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toms Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Well, on the one hand it's the first time i've EVER heard him take responsibility for ANYTHING. But on the other hand his ratings are so tanked that it was about the only thing he could do to try and regain some popularity. And I'm always a bit doubtful of the value of "taking responsibility" for something when doing so has absolutely no effect on you whatsoever. It used to be that politicians would "take responsibility" for failures, then resign. These days they "take responsibility" then carry on as if nothing had happened. Its like saying "i take responsibility" is supposed to be enough to change everything, gain forgiveness and make everything right again. I see I was right about the head of FEMA not lasting long, as he actually has resigned. After The Secret Police, er.. I mean... Homeland Security relieved him of control. I suspect he's going to get all the blame. It seems to me that making all the emergency efforts go through the extra levelof bureaucracy that is Homeland Security (the same idiots turning away planes of aid because they might be terrorists) can't have helped speedy response much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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