Katrina Thread / New Orleans

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Setabs:

--- Quote from: M3talhead on September 02, 2005, 01:15:27 pm ---

I have been sickened by how quickly the "entitlement" population of N.O. has turned itself into a jungle society, trampling on the elderly and those who can't defend themselves. I am also sickened by people who should behave better in the news media (CNN, FOX etc.) who spend more time and breath criticizing and second guessing the relief efforts than doing basic information distribution. They (Miles O'Brien is a classic example) roll in in their air conditioned motor homes and satellite trucks and assume that because they got two or three vehicles in that the entire relief effort should be able to do the same. They forget that the storm was over and the trucks were rolling towards N.O. when the levee system failed and the task changed from one of moving support materiel in to one of moving people out. Further, the very road system that would normally permit fast response is under water hindering movement in either direction.

You know, I lived there for 10 years and it was clear that the culture of South Louisiana was one of take and take (natural resources, government handouts, the bounty of the delta) and put nothing back. I remember Ducks Unlimited video of south Louisiana hunters using automatic weapons to slaughter geese in rice paddies at a time when folks in the Prairie Pothole region of the upper mid-west were trying to nurture declining populations of geese before they made their annual migrations south. People from outside the state were appalled; locals shrugged their shoulders and moved on.

St. Tammany Parish (Mandeville, Covington, Slidell) has a large population of folks from outside the state who felt the same way. I have been asked several times whether I miss south Louisiana and to them my answer has been no. I have learned never to say never but it is unlikely that I'd ever go back. I have friends who essentially said the same and believe (like me) that it would be a mistake for our federal government to rebuild NO as it was. Something will have to be rebuilt but why would anyone invest billions of dollars in a hole next to the Gulf of Mexico?

The city's motto is let the good times roll. Don't worry about or plan for the future, don't build a strong education system and certainly don't help yourself. Go ahead and drain more marshes and build more subdivisions at or below sea level. Cut channels directly from the Gulf of Mexico into the heart of the very marshes that buffer the cities from the Gulf which permits salt water incursion to kill the marsh. Don't let the Mississippi River replenish the marshes with silt and natural build-up because it might flood some of those subdivisions that don't belong in a flood plain. Then, when the worst of the inevitable happens, cry, and chant "we need help" and let blowhards like Sharpton and Jackson rave about the injustice of the "system".

Thanks for letting me vent!

--- End quote ---

Didn't NO have one of the most corrupt PD's?

I could understand why fox and other news agencies can't start handing stuff out. They would simpley run out of supplies and at worst start a riot within 30min. I have seen on fox and abc them help out. the guy from the studio b show his crew gave ice and water to a few people that would come up and those in desperate need. On ABC they where driving around town and came across two men that had two elderly people in boats and begged ABC to take them to a place where they would get picked up.

I watched part of the Black caucas try and turn the lack of relief in to a prejudice issue against elderly, poor and blacks. That is just sad.

billf:

--- Quote from: Setabs on September 02, 2005, 01:25:49 pm ---I watched part of the Black caucas try and turn the lack of relief in to a prejudice issue against elderly, poor and blacks.
--- End quote ---

Stingray:

--- Quote from: Setabs on September 02, 2005, 01:25:49 pm ---

Didn't NO have one of the most corrupt PD's?

--- End quote ---

I do believe they have that reputaion, but how much basis that has in fact I have no idea. I did hear one news report about police officers going to a supply room in the PD where disaster relief supplies were supposed to have been stored. There was nothing there. Apparantly everything had been either taken or sold by police officials before the hurricane ever happened.

-S

fredster:
I'm sure we'll see a lot of stories in the next few weeks. This will be studied for years to come.

But right now we have got to remember we are the United States of America. We hold together in a crisis. We have got to be unified behind the people comming in to help these people.

We'll have to decide if NO will be rebuilt later. We have to make sure that we help those US citizens to the fullest extent we can and Soon.

It's a national disgrace what's happening there. The local government, state government, and federal government seem overwhelmed by it. There's no "nerve" center being setup. Fingers are being pointed so early in the game. It's unreal.

We don't have time to worry about the scum. I say save 100 scum if only one of them is worth saving. We need to make sure that this disaster is addressed NOW. Call your law makers, give to the red cross, ask your boss if he'll help somehow.

Band together and judge these people later. It's not their fault. Not a single one of these people were alive in 1718 when they started that city. Not a single one of them contributed to the engineering of the levees. None of them wrote the hurricane relief plans we see in "action" now.

Stingray:
Fredster, I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with every word in your last post.

-S

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