I assume I have been banned on Kos for my diary “Put the Niggers in the SuperDome” .
I don’t know what it means when you cannot post anymore. I guess it means you are banned. Anyway my diaries are not intended to offend.
It’s not the first time. I have been Stu Piddy, Flip Floss, Altheperson, Freddy Marshall, and someone else, I cant’ remember.
All I know is I can’t post on a diary that has 500 responses. Here is the diary. I don’t think it’s well written. Most of the things I write are not well written. But they are prescient. I have a blog.
http://www.bushplanet.blogspot.com/
Thees are not well writen either. But they seen to come true.
Here’s the latest diary on the New Orleans.
I have been called a lot of names for saying New Orleans would be flooded and largely destroyed before the Hurricane hit and and even after the idiots on the news said the Hurricane had spared New Orleans.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/28/233314/707
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/29/1156/60033
Flip Floss’s diary :: ::
What I am going to say now is that there are thousands who are dying and dead. They will be scandal and rioting and rightly so in my opinion as the “Negroes” of New Orleans and tourists were left to drown. And that’s what happened to a lot of people but the news media and the public is slow to announce and realize the obvious.
I am not going to apologize for being perceptive and reading between the lines. If you can’t see that the poor people were herded into the unsafe Superdome because no one cares about them then that is not a problem I can address.
People have called for my banning for the title of a diary called “Put the Niggers in the Superdome”. This kind of racism, this kind of stupidity is horrific and it needs a horrific title. It’s obvious what that was all about. Any one who wants to think can see the Superdome roof is too large a span to be safe. If the Hurricane had been as strong as a Cat 5, I imagine it would have collapsed.
But what the news media is concentrating on now is looting. Not all the dead people buried in well over 40,000 homes underwater in New Orleans alone. Your not hearing about that, your hearing about gas prices. What about the other towns along the coast? You’re not hearing about that either. Thousands are dead; I am saying that because it is obvious to me. Your also not being made aware that there are people who are trying to survive the flood waters who are still trapped inside their homes and very little is being done to save them because they are black.,
I have discovered that the news media is operating on the cheap too. Just like they do in Iraq. They aren’t covering anything. They are using private as well as their own footage to cover the disaster and are recycling the footage from two days ago. As with Iraq they don’t want you to know it’s a disaster. But many here on Daily Kos believe them. And I don’ t blame you because none of us are really well educated in how to decipher the news. It’s quite unreal and phony.
What’s going on in Iraq is mind blowing. This is mind blowing but we are not even being told about it. When it’s a real disaster they do not sensationalize, they underplay.
I will bet there are thousands not hundreds dead. Why doesn’t somebody do something and why didn’t somebody do something more before this event occurred.
Yes it is Bush’s fault. He’s on vacation again. And he put National Guard troops who could have saved American lives in Iraq so they could run around senselessly and be blown up. That war is over and has been over.
The people on this website are of a conservative bent and provincial it seems to me. If you want to ban me, you are welcome. It doesn’t matter. Other people including myself have been banned before simply for saying things that other people disagree with. I have never been a troll. My advice is to open your mind to the possibly that as long as someone is not calling you a profanity you ought to let them express themselves.
I am very angry at what’s happening in New Orleans. This event, I believe is only beginning to unfold not just in terms of the deaths but also of the social destruction of the Black population that is now being blamed for looting. I’d loot too! It’s quite insane there is no food, water, electricity or housing. I would take whatever is available to survive and make myself comfortable and not worry about paying for it.
I don’t think people are stealing TV sets.
Where the hell is Bush. He should be there right now. The entire city of New Orleans is largely destroyed. That’s reason enough for a President to appear
Right on! Great rant. I agree with you about the looting.
for dropping this in up-thread, but I have tripped over what looks like some backstory–an accomplishment for me, as my connection is dial-up, slow as molassas, and prone to constant failure, but enough complaining, over at Liberal Street Fighter, they link back to this.
Which contains some of the info that Stu Piddy has been talking about and something more. Look at the dateline: Tuesday. It is now the wee hours of Thursday. All day Wednesday I have been following this story from the announcement that one, count them one, breach at the 17 th Street Canal to the photos people have been posting which surely seem to indicate three breaches and pretty much the entire city underwater, but guess what: Rescue workers knew during daylight Tuesday that three levees have been breached.
I mean at all levels here we have denial and suppression–and yes this is going to cost lives; the evacuation of the Superdome is coming a full day late–
Yes, President Nero is his true name.
But also, all of the official people are playing CYA.
Think I’ll go cry now.
The Storm After the Storm David Brooks puts an historical perspective on race and natural disasters.
Civic leaders intentionally flooded poor and middle-class areas to ease the water’s pressure on the city, and then reneged on promises to compensate those whose homes were destroyed. That helped fuel the populist anger that led to Huey Long’s success. Across the country people demanded that the federal government get involved in disaster relief, helping to set the stage for the New Deal. The local civic elite turned insular and reactionary, and New Orleans never really recovered its preflood vibrancy.
Interesting viewpoint. I especially like the commentary on the news media.
Its kinda too bad the tone was as if it was intended for … somewhere else… We’re a nice community here, worthing hanging out on our own merits, and not just as a back-up to ‘semifree-republic’. But I gather you’d initially prepared it for that audience, so it all makes sense, really.
Anyhow, actual reality is welcome here, as far as I’ve seen. We’re much less hung up on “politically expedient reality”, after all.
So while “The people on this website are of a conservative bent…” is most likely true of “over there”, its really not true here. I hope no one reading this diary assumes its aimed at us Bootribbers. Many of the current residents have moved here from less pleasant places — its definitely a bit of an adjustment.
So, welcome!
I didn’t write it for them. I just slopped it out and it seems to have gotten a big response. I think it was the title. I didn’t thin it through. I like Boo man and I hope I didn’t offend you.
It is better here.
I don’t know that much about blogging really. I just write quickly and hit the post button. I thought these two sites were connected or something.
If I had spent more time with it, I would have posted it here as a pieces on which I spent more time.
I was just surprised that they seemed to have banned me yet again…if that’s what they did.
Oh well…
It was your mood. It was your gut. It feels authentic to me. Don’t worry about the bozos who complained. It’s true, and that’s what counts.
We’re you banned over at Dkos for this diary? I wrote a comment on your diary over there quoting songs from one of my favorite Award winning prolific writers Randy Newman…he grew up in the South…Louisiana to be exact. Anyone remember any of these lyrics…..”Louisiana…Louisiana..they’re tryin’ to wash us away..they’re tryin to wash us away”- how prophetic was that lyric…and “Rednecks”..”We’re Red Necks..we’re red necks, we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground, we’re rednecks, we’re rednecks…and we’re keepin the niggers down” and think of the horrific photos of what happened in Alabama during the 60’s, then think of this great lyric..”Birmingham, birmingham..the greatest city in Alabam..you can travel round this entire land, there ain’t know place like Birmingham” and Sail Away..”In America you get food to eat, don’t have to run in the Jungle and scuff up your feet, you just sing about Jesus, drink wine all day..it’s great to be an American…Sail Away, Sail Away..we will cross the mighty ocean down to Charleston bay” If you have any of these or other early/auto bio songs by Randy Newman give them a listen while this nightmare continues down in the south. He nails it and he did it years ago.
Chamonix, I’d give you a 5 if they were legal just for quoting Randy Newman’s great songs. I have recc’d Rednecks to so many people who are self-righteously indignant about “terrible racist Southerners”, as if race isn’t a problem for the entire country!
If only we had some new writers around like Randy Newman to wake up this dumb fuck country we live in. I guess a lot of rappers are doing it, but I can’t get past the first two lyrics with the non melodies
What do you expect from that site …when DHinMI writes a “Do not pick on Bush diary…. I think that pretty much sums up the mentality over there
You’re kidding me.
Some people just have NO sense of humor.
Or, as I replied to that asshole Lucian over at DKos yesterday after the asshole bashed my HSUS diary for caring about animals, not people (that shit again), “There’s one in every crowd.”
P.S. Lucian’s username should be Lucifer. He’s a black cloud in every diary I’ve ever seen him comment on. (Actually, clouds are too nice — how about steaming pile of s__t?)
Susan, I loved that diary you did on the animals. I watched the video you linked to, on and off, all day. It was a necessary, and bright, respite in an otherwise difficult day made so much harder by comments like the ones from Lucian’s.
Still haven’t watched the video! Figured it’d be good if HSUS did it.
Some dumb bozo is on my TV.
Susan, this is a side of you I have never seen!
I like it. š
That’s cute … I do get very pissy sometimes. And I was on a tear this morning. I could not sleep last night — despite medication that regularly helps me sleep like a baby. So, I’m sleep-deprived and just so terribly, terribly upset about how avoidable so much of the death and destruction was.
And, on that diary yesterday at DKos, so many people were posting the most lovely notes and saying that they’d donated to HSUS.org. It was an example of how wonderful people can be. And, it’s BY DEFAULT that everyone — except dicks like that Lucian — knows that animal lovers and caregivers also care deeply about people, for pete’s sake. And I did include a link to the Red Cross too!
That’s not the first time that that Lucian has pooped all over one of my diaries, or other people’s. He’s a troubled person. To put it kindly. And he should get on some good meds or get some therapy, if there are meds therapy to deal with his kind of nastiness and negativity.
I couldn’t believe you got zapped for that, Susan, I didn’t see it until much later. Made me so angry. . So few people know that the first convictions against child abusers were with laws against animal abuse. Or that the Humane Society regularly finds abused children where they find abused animals.
(True confessions: I’ve partnered with the HSUS on a preventing cruelty to animals and to kids program for younger children, aimed at teaching little kids not to grow up abusing smaller children or animals)
Frankly, animals help keep us sane, and happy. And people need that help especially when their lives are completely torn apart, like with this devastation.
You can add this from Wonkette to your perspective when it comes to how the Media treats “race issues” in its coverage of the disaster:
that link doesn’t show different perspectives how the Media treats “race issues”…it shows different perspectives from different wire services…one that is right of center and one that is left-leaning.
of “here” as opposed to “there”. I’ve found I really feel gentler and kinder here than there. Sometimes I like to be that way and sometimes I want the harder edge so I go “there”. This whole story about Katrina has both the harder side and the gentler side.
People have complained about bloggers bringing in partisanship or politics in the picture, but holy moses, I’ve never seen such destruction and such potential for further disaster. We have a CIC who absolutely cannot function without someone telling him what to do. Somebody turn on Cheney’s pacemaker please!
for a second there I thought you’d said, “Somebody turn on Cheney’s peacemaker…”
Would that make me some sort of Freudian dreamer?
“you may say that I’m a dreamer,
but I know I’m not the only one”!
It’s angry and we are all angry today, and your post ings true.
I think you made your point in an excellent way-this seemed to come out just the way you said-writing quick and from the gut and I would agree with your observation.
I noticed something else tonight that pretty much horrified me about the media, they spent a fair amount of time bemoaning the death of the casinos/gambling industry..fucken christ..there’s millions literally of human stories and they are talking to the CEO of Harrahs for example..wtf
Thank you, it is sickening how much attention the casinos are getting. How about the story of poverty in NO? How about stories of children that are hungry today for lack of food because of a natural disaster and the SAME children being hungry every friggin’ day of their lives because of this disaster of a president?
How about the stories of no health care because of the natural disaster and the same lack of health care because of this disaster of an administration that plunges more and more people into poverty, that would be 1 in every 10 people in this friggin’ ‘white is right’ country?
What about the story of the education that will be stalled because of this natural disaster and the story of NCLB disaster that the NO educators have been struggling under?
There are hundreds of thousands stories out there, so stop with the friggin’, ‘oh good lord, another casino hits the friggin’ dust.’
Yup…
you heard more about a run away bride than the plight of those left in New Orleans…and Nero fiddles…
.
A New Orleans police officer holds a shot gun as he tries to keep people away from a drug store in a flooded area of downtown New Orleans. Numerous other nearby stores, were previously looted. AP Photo/Eric GayMartial law proclaimed in the city of New Orleans, Bush back in the WH, expect soon a speech from him saying we will be tough, even in these trying circumstances. Will our Commander-In-Chief order looters to be shot, don’t want to see property of business and companies stolen, when the local law enforcement and NG units are saving lives.
George will restore order in a state where chaos is wrought by the disaster Katrina. No one talks about the unpreparedness of the Gulf coast states, and the funds taken away because of the Iraq adventure.
New Orleans — Rescuers along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pushed aside the dead to reach the living.
100 Dead in One Mississippi County
One Mississippi county alone said its death toll was at least 100, and officials are “very, very worried that this is going to go a lot higher,” said Joe Spraggins, civil defense director for Harrison County, home to Biloxi and Gulfport. In neighboring Jackson County, officials said at least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm.
Several victims in Harrison County were from a beachfront apartment building, which collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water as Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds. Louisiana officials said many were feared dead there, too, making Katrina one of the most punishing storms to hit the United States in decades.
~~~
looters vs finders
What are people to eat?
Why didn’t I see this with the Tsunami “victims”?
Because that’s what martial law means. It means they can summarily execute lawbreakers. So you can bet your bottom dollar that people are being shot for trying to feed their families.
Hence the need for “journalists” and their cameras to leave the city first…
Exactly who is it that’s going to enforce martial law? Umm…wouldn’t they be put to better use in rescue and relocation efforts? It would be a fucking waste of resources and manpower to have the national guard patrolling grocery stores and “treating ruthlessly” those people who are scrambling to get food and diapers.
They were saying tonight that they were pulling people off search and rescue to stop the looting. WTF??? Don’t they realize that if you’d search and rescue quicker, there’d be fewer people that would see the need to loot?
There are thousands dead and dying. Someone has to yell out to help these people. Instead of hearing about how nobody cared in the future someone must be heard now to try and save people.
They don’t want to hear about this in the news so they just let the people die. They don’t even want to hear about it on Daily Kos.
The Kos “Coalition” are really sad they are attacking anyone who is attacking Bush… perhaps had it been NARAL responsible then it may be different.
Check this out
I didn’t even get through the whole thing and I read “shut the fuck up”, SYFPH, “prove that race had anything to do with it”, etc. etc.
I can’t believe that I used to spend so much time at that place — either it or I have sure have changed a LOT in the last six months…
It has changed.
And it’s changed on purpose imo. Kos has set the tone by his many actions the last 10 months.
First it was the “Fraudsters”. That set the tone that we were okay with disenfranchising large segments of the US public (i.e. black people) and that Bush’s election was undoubtedly legit no matter what Conyers et al were discovering.
Then jumping on the “gay” aspect of Gannon even as those of us working on it tried to steer the discussion elsewhere.
Then Pies and “Women’s studies set”
Then Conspiracy Theorists.
Then “Hippies and anti-war types”
…. and now here we are.
DLC of the blogosphere. Right where the advertisers (i.e NBC and the volleyball ads & Time Warner with the Pie ads) want/ expect dkos to be.
dhinimi is earning his keep today
unfucking believeable
I didn’t even get through the whole thing and I read “shut the fuck up”, SYFPH, “prove that race had anything to do with it”, etc. etc.
Yes, the in the analysis of two members of the leadership it’s a problem involving ‘leftist Ann Coulter clones’ ‘playing the race card’.
I guess it’s an accident that most of the folks trapped in the city are black.
and while the ward heelers at the dailyKaukus tell chide us not to politicize the disaster, the right gets right on with it:
and while the ward heelers at the dailyKaukus tell chide us not to politicize the disaster,
It’s almost as if they hadn’t read The Center for American Progress’s excellent analysis which was posted here and which I received in my email yesterday. Perhaps the problem is that they’re not well informed?
“Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city. From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence,’ New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.”
One wonders what he would say about Biloxi. Disgusting people. Disgusing set of values.
indeed, and it’s an ongoing blindness since Nov 3rd, if not before.
That’s great. I can’t comment over there however. But I just use another name when I get around to it.
DailyKos has gotten weird. Still some good people over there, but what a feel of MSM!
Dropped a few 1’s and 4’s ; D
SYFPH indeed! Be happy if I never see that acronym again (but I know that over there, I will).
.
Can you believe it!
Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said to release strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) within days at the request of oil corporations. He also mentioned both crucial pipelines are down because pumps do not work due to power outage. I can’t imagine strategic oil pipelines dependent on electrical power and not self-generating diesel units.
Shame on USA – lack of refineries and preparation for natural disaster.
~~~
And this morning, MSNBC is treating us to a segment on how we should feel bad for the insurers, who will have to pay out billions for the damages. Yeah, my heart f’ing bleeds for them, especially after the way my insurance premiums exploded to pay for 9/11…
The looting thing is so stupid; just another distraction from reality…but the footage of the police officers doing their own looting (at a slower pace, and with shopping carts) was interesting. COuldn’t believe they showed it!
CNN had the same yesterday with the CEO of Lloyds, who had put the presentor in his place by saying… “Well that is our business to help people when at these times, otherwise we would be in this business”.
The asshole presentor also tried to attack Elliot Spitzer and the Lloyds guy actually stuck up for Spitzer.
I am so f’ing angry right now I can hardly type. I think we are seeing the racism of this country played out for us all if we only have eyes to see. Just imagine if those 10,000 (?) people in the Superdome were rich white people – what would we be seeing on our televisions and demanding be done about it? What if those “looters” (what does it matter – everything is going to be destroyed by flood waters anyway) were desperate white people?
What our media is telling us is that the black people of the south are criminals at best and expendable at worst.
Can your head explode with anger and your heart be broken at the same time?
First, I have to say that I did a BIG double-take when I saw the title of the diary, but context is everything.
And you better believe that’s the sentiment, so if it’s all the same to the desperately naive, I’d rather folks be honest. Do you honestly believe folks are fooled when others start talking in code?! I know that’s how we are viewed. Period. Moving on…
Oh, and I’m just sick to death of the endless loops of the same few people looting! Yes, it’s illegal, but WTF would ANY of us do if we were flooded with no where to turn? Lost everything. Wiped out. Little to your name before Katrina and nothing now. No food to eat? Children to feed? No electricity to keep your insulin cold, and you and/or your spouse/parents/relatives are diabetic? It’s not as if you could go in and actually sell any of it at this point–the food will likely go bad just sitting there anyway!
But to circle back to evacuating to the Superdome…just why in the hell did they not have vans and buses to evacuate people in the first place? They have to evacuate them now ANYWAY when it’s much more dangerous. As I understand, two folks have died in the Superdome already.
BTW–While I absolutely feel for the students at Tulane, there ARE more colleges and universities in the area than Tulane, like Xavier University of LA, U of New Orleans, etc.
Just heard the mayor finally say on CNN that of the 250,000 people who remained in New Orleans (20% of pop.) about one-third have very likely drowned already.
You were right, flip floss. I thought your diary on dkos was great.
I’m so sorry. It’s enough to make you cry. Why? Why did they allow this to happen and tell no one?
They (Bushco) are psychopaths. I just watched Bush’s incredibly insincere speech. He basically repeated what Chertoff said earlier. It’s too damn little, way too damn late! I am so angry!
Congratulations on writing a 3-Part Diary that is more relevant and more important than anything else on the Blog you were just banned from yesterday.
The treatment you just received from the Netizens there demanding you pull the diary and title show just what remains there after all the Purges.
And for all who don’t know, there have been a rash of bannings there in the past week. If you do not tow their line full on, you will be expunged for any reason they can think up. This diary a year ago would have been promoted to the front page, now it is banned.
WTF? I’m really surprised I haven’t been banned for just taking on some of the front pagers in comments seeing all this. F that place. I give it another year or so before it becomes completely irrelevant. yes, unfortunately, it will take some that long to figure it out. probably after the 2006 election.
I think your title is appropriate to your point. Don’t worry about being politically correct here. The offending word should only be used carefully. But only the super-sensitive would misinterpret your intent here.
I recommended all your “nigger” diaries over at dKos, and I was saddened (although not altogether surprised) that a massive chunk of the comments was about the appropriateness of the title and not the content of it.
This focuses on the oil stuff, but the logic behind it is absolutely relevant: we don’t know the scale of the disaster because there is no information.
(but note that the lack of information is not necessarily a plot, it just reflects the scale of the catastrophe)
The news organiztions had few people covering it apparently. And they were cheap. Using private citzens to show roofs being blown off. We are not allowed to see the bodies floating around as it might reflect badly on Bush I suppose.
This is really censorship. Just like in Iraq and many other places.
I agree with you Booman, but I’d also add that IMO there’s a whole lot of them “over there” addicted to bickering rather than discussion, which is why I rarely go there anymore.
I think the ‘nigger in the superdome’ title is a smack in the gonzo-journalist style of the late great Hunter Thompson. Banning this at kos suggests they’re sharpening the site to be a political weapon for 2006 and beyond. Will it work? I don’t know in terms of net effectiveness. Does that make them a little green footballs of the left? Nah, just more uptight and boring.
sharpening the site to be a political weapon for 2006 and beyond
More like a dull blade…
how can you be taken seriousely when female politicians have to put their blogads under ads with women in bikinis…
where this caravan heads to the Astrodome
I think the Astro Dome trip is a trap. They are going to keep them there for a short time unitl the camps are ready. There’s plenty of dry land there. I don’t think they will build the camp on the Astro Dome floor. But that’s not a bad idea with toilets available and all. Maybe they will be forced to by social pressure though. Could go either way.
I don’t think however many of these people want to go to Houston.
they should all go camp out in Crawford.
And on a different note, sorry to hear about the banning… but hell, while there are still a few really interesting people over there who stay, I suspect, more out of stubbornness than anything else, it has, overall, become pretty much an echo chamber.
Remember when kos used to put a front page post explaining every (very rare) banning and stressing that it was a last resort, etc? I do.
Man, that place has devolved.
Damn shame, probably could’ve been avoided. C’est la vie.
that’s a shame, you should continue it daily.
I agree with you and all the posters here. This is why the other place is not a good place to be in commune with other ppl of this society. Sadly tho it is the site of what reality is …really..there are so many like them there…anyhow..Thanks for coming here and posting your heart…I want to say a heartfelt Welcome and stay as long as you desire. We, I have found, will listen. Stay with as long as y ou need to vent your heart and mind. This is a different place…I hope you will see that now, and stay with us forever. Hugs and I do completely understand…
today 8/31 I have yet to hear about Bush golfing, eating cake and strumming his ole geeetar while Americans were drowning. Not once!
Already on CNN, they have shown African American people pushing past police out of supermarkets and such. They keep showing three people carrying white bags. And that’s about it.
The media will report anything to keep the public from “thinking”.
They report what Bush Gestapo Media wants them to report. Smoke and mirrors, that’s all it is.
Oh… Bush destroyed FEMA by creating Homeland Security??? well we’d better slap up a photo of LOOTER.
Bush Inc is the ultimate in looting and looters.
If you were banned at dKos for these diaries, it’s BS. Is Kos the only one allowed to make controversial comments?
Some folks were suggesting over at MLW that the banning was not b/c of the content necessarily but that Stu had various usernames… but I don’t want to hi-jack this thread..
That would be reasonable. It’s been a long standing rule that multiple UID’s will get you banned.
It’s been a long standing rule that multiple UID’s will get you banned.
True. Even if it is a rather lame rule.
Well you obviously did not read the thread… because it was clear no multiple id’s were used.
I saw this diary both “there” and “here”, but I still don’t really understand the point. I was watching the news today and they were talking about moving the people in the superdome to the astrodome in Houston, where the Red Cross is setting up a temporary city for refugees, with all the necessary amenities. They even made the point that the astrodome would only be a temporary home because they were concerned about the psychological health effects of being displaced indefinitely. It seemed to me that everyone involved was concerned about the well-being of those afflicted.
My friend Ned Sublette passes along an email attributed to a rescue worker in New Orleans. Ned says:
The poorest 20% (you can argue with the number — 10%? 18%? no one knows) of the city was left behind to drown. This was the plan. Forget the sanctimonious bullshit about the bullheaded people who wouldn’t leave. The evacuation plan was strictly laissez-faire. It depended on privately owned vehicles, and on having ready cash to fund an evacuation. The planners knew full well that the poor, who in new orleans are overwhelmingly black, wouldn’t be able to get out. The resources — meaning, the political will — weren’t there to get them out.
This was not a plan…
Are you talking about the people who were bused to the superdome, or others? How was being bused to the superdome not a plan?
they walked, most of them and then they stood outside for hours on end — did you miss all of this?
There was no plan. It was a rush job in the heat of the moment.
Now if you are talking about the busing to Houston and the Astrodome, that’s different — sure that’s a plan, only its two and half days too fucking late!
I want to know what streets they think they’re going to drive the freaking buses down to pick people up at the superdome? And whch highways are clear enough and structurally safe enough to drive away from NO on?
The thought of 80,000 drowned people makes me cry. Because they were too poor to get out, even with advanced warning. How many were lost in the tsunami, with no warning?
Sickening.
I don’t think they can take them to the astro dome except by force. Doesn’t make sense to take these people that far away. No one will want to go.
I think they will drop the idea. it’s not feasible. But whose the idiot who came up with it. Michael Chertfoff, by chance?
There absolutely were buses that brought people to the superdome. I’m sure many walked as well, but it looked like everyone who wanted to was able to get to the superdome. As for the lines, they were checking all bags for weapons and explosives. I suppose you could have bypassed that process, but I imagine it was done with the safety of everyone in mind. Besides, everyone in line was inside the superdome by the time the hurricane hit. I’m confused about what evil force many, including the diarist, are railing against. I’ve seen nothing but good intentions by everyone involved.
shoudl I say, at all, because these are the first posts on BMT that I’ve seen from you, but no one here has used the term “evil force” but YOU.
Now, if you want to know what people are railing against, it is racism, institutionalized racism — you know, they kind that is so invisible to those never affected by it that they have a hard time believing it exists?
EVERYONE was in the SuperDome by the time the hurricaine hit?!? Have you ben watching the Coast Guard pluck people from their rooftops? Have you read the reports of bodies floating in the streets? Do you have X-ray vision that you can see inside the attics and underneath the rubble and you know that there is no one in there? Please stop now with the assinine hyperbole.
As to individual rescue people, peace officers and especially the Coast Guard (thank goddess they haven’t all been sent to Iraq), of course they are doing the best that they can and no one here has said otherwise.
That the response to a disaster of this magnitude in “the richest, bestest country in the world” is this much of a clusterfuck is what people are railing against. It is inexcusable.
I just saw Jack Cafferty on CNN, a person I gerneally thin is one of the biggest receptacles for hot air, wonder out loud and over the attempt of Wolf Blitzer to interrupt him about the planning or lack thereof, for this — he said:
We cannot compare this to the tsunami because that came pretty much without warning. We had a WEEK of warning, the destruction in South Florida, and certainly in the 48 hours before landfall, anyone who was paying attention should have known what was coming.
That we did not have our shit together is bullshit of the highest order.
I used the term “evil forces” because that is the subtext I read into a statement like, “Put the Niggers in the Superdome.” To me this statements suggests that putting people in the Superdome was an injustice, and I fail to see how that is the case. At worst it was a less than ideal attempt to improve a bad situation.
EVERYONE was in the SuperDome by the time the hurricaine hit?!? Have you ben watching the Coast Guard pluck people from their rooftops?
My statement was that everyone in line was in the superdome by the time the hurricane hit. I believe that is an accurate statement. I don’t know the particulars of why some people chose (or were forced) to stay in their homes.
That we did not have our shit together is a fair criticism, but one that (in my mind) points a finger at the early warning system, not inherent racism in our society.
on racism in America and it’s prevelance, maybe in a couple of weeks, if you’re still interested
Like I said, when you haven’t been affected, it is invisible.
Early warning system? No, I think it can point a finger straight at the clusterfuck that is our system of government at the state and federal level.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that racism doesn’t exist in our society, but the imperfect evacuation of New Orleans does not strike me as an example of such. I saw no preferrential treatment given to anyone based on race. People without cars were obviously at a great disadvantage, but that’s just one of many ways that poor people in America are left out to dry. I guess I’ll have to take a raincheck on that schooling.
I don’t have the numbers, but you can bet that the VAST majority of the poor in NO (ie, those who did not have the financial means to evacuate) were black. If they were white, maybe they would have warranted the commandeering of the public buses to get them the hell out of the city before Katrina hit. Instead, they got the superdome (maybe it was less expensive?)
By comparison, many of those in the WTC bombings were white suburbanites. Remember how quickly people responded there? Remember the 24-hour a day coverage?
This is an even greater tragedy in terms of lost life and displaced people. Why is our government so slow to act? Hmmm…
Why is our government so slow to act?
That’s a great question which deserves a thorough examination when things settle down. As I said in another diary, what should we have done differently? What could we have done differently?
If they were white, maybe they would have warranted the commandeering of the public buses to get them the hell out of the city before Katrina hit.
Maybe. Maybe not. All I saw was a desperate attempt by everyone involved to save lives, not a “back of the bus” mentality. But I won’t begrudge anyone for having that perspective.
What will you school me in?
Why am I the only person who predicted what was going to happen in New Orleans. I have no special connections. But I chronicled on Sunday before the Hurrican Broke very accurately what would happen. Here’s the Sunday prediction before Katrina struck. And all the comments of people who were schooling me to become one of “THEM”. I will never become on of “THEM”.
http://flip-floss.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/28/233314/707
Here’s my blog with more of the same on a variety of subjects that much to my surprise always seem to turn out to be as predicted.
http://bushplanet.blogspot.com/
I don’t think it’s because I’m smart. it’s because I don’t believe the world is real. Not in the way other people do. I’m not a conspiracy theorist.
The subject came from brinnainne’s post. I’m with you, I never really liked school.
Stark, you are fucking wrong. I can tell you that Mayor Nagin hesitated to declare a mandatory evacuation because he didn’t want to deal with the legal liability of having to move people out. This was discussed on the local channels. I think he waited until it was too late to move large numbers of the poor out. I remember him saying people can find a way out. People didn’t. When Hurricane George aimed for the city and turned literally in the last minute, Mayor Morial had comandeered buses to move the people out, besides opening the superdome. The buses weren’t offered this time: why?
Nagin has proven himself to be a wanna be rich man, willing to allow the preying of the poor in New Orleans for valuable real estate. Nagin was ceo for the monopoly that is Cox cable company before being elected mayor on a platform of reform. First thing he did? Bust corruption in the city by arresting the low level players, such as cab drivers. Not touched is the white collar corruption that masquerades as city revitalization that steals from the poor and working class.
Race and class, particularly in New Orleans and many similar cities, are absolutely linked.
Those in charge left the poor to fend for themselves. That is an absolute disgrace. The fact is that the majority of the very poor in NO are black, and this diarist along with many of us are saying that that is absolutely linked to the low level of concern that they received before the storm, during the storm, and for the last several days… add to that, by the way, that the media can’t seem to get enough of the “oh my god look at the black people looting” stories, when I’d wager that the vast majority of “looting” is people trying to get necessary supplies so they can survive while the government takes its sweet-ass time getting its shit together to, you know, actually do something helpful.
I’m not saying it’s all about race, or that it’s all about class. I’m saying you can’t separate the two in this culture, and probably especially not in Louisiana.
I commented that the SuperDome was not safe before the Hurricane hit because of the roof span and it’s possible collapse. But the idea was if you see this coming send in the navy an aircraft carrier…I don’t know something to evacuate the people as best as possbile.
I too as someonle else noted the opposing lanes in the highway had not been opened up (at least two) Why was Bush still on vacation before this hit, during and even up until today when he finally commented on all the “hard work” WE all have to do.
His being on vacation tells us all he doesn’t care, he wasn’t aware. Just like 911. If you work hard as a president you show interest in your job and stay on top of things. Bush didn’t do that…again and everyone below him represented that attitude.
Lots of people are dead who might have survived in the South of the US and in IRaq.
Ok, I understand your point better now. You saw the potential problems that would arise by putting people in the superdome back when there was still time to do something about it. You are casting blame on those responsible for the evacuation efforts, for not seeking out better alternatives, a choice they subconsciously (or consciously?) made due to continuing race inequality in America. Is that the gist of it?
Sure. That’s all there is to it.
if you tell me what part of the point you don’t get..
I’ve been looking at the utter devastation in coastal areas at this very busy site:
http://alt.ngs.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM
Add the impossible-to-shift floodwaters, the toxic vile waste that now fills houses, the complete breakup of the water and sewage systems, the disappearance of all jobs, the relocation of key personnel, the weeks or months it will take to bring any energy into the city – and what is going to happen?
There are two scenarios in my view.
Let us see whether America as a nation is really every-man-for-himself or deep down still retains some idea of social commitment.
I’d be willing to bet that most of the food and supplies being taken wouldn’t be able to be sold anyways. Natural disaster… GET THE FOOD AND SUPPLIES YOU NEED TO SURVIVE. More power to them.
Having stood in lines to get ice while on Guam during one of two typhoons (where you lose power for MONTHS – we lived off-base) I can tell you that it gets panicky and surly waiting for ice, water and supplies to that can be used to close windows that were broken.
I’ve never looted, but I sure as hell am not going to judge an area that has been hit with biblical type disaster.
And.. I too am sick of seeing the same “looting” shots on CNN.
Let’s talk about how DHS looted from FEMA and the levees were not repaired/strengthened. That’s the real fucking story.
What plan? There is no plan.
I think it’s ridiculous what the media is saying about things in NO. Anyone taking things is supposedly a “looter.” But I defy anyone to tell me that they wouldn’t be doing the same thing in a similar situation.
When we had the big blackout in 2003 here in New York the first couple of hours were pretty flippin chaotic. I was running a small theater at the time and people started showing up who couldn’t make it home as it was their second home. So I went out and bought as much water, food, fruit and beer as we could get with our petty cash at the corner bodega. I also talked the guy into selling me his last D size batteries. This was at around 5pm that afternoon. If, goddess forbid, it had been an actual terrorist attack, who knows how quickly things may have devolved and how we all would have been fighting for water, food and diapers too. I find it really hard to believe that people are out stealing the reported TVs and such. I would think survival would be foremost in most people’s minds (though probably not all).
you read my mind..as to the banning, it’s their loss. The news just showed a fleet of NO city school buses sitting in a yard flooded up to their windows…why those were not comandeered on Sat or Sun. to take people they knew would be unable for many reasons to manage to take themselves to safety out of the city en mass, well……that’s what your diary is about.
Thankyou. Here’s a blog full of my diaries.
http://bushplanet.blogspot.com/
.
NEW ORLEANS – Authorities all but surrendered the streets of New Orleans to floodwaters, looting and other lawlessness Wednesday as the mayor called for a total evacuation and warned the death toll from Hurricane Katrina could reach into the thousands.
The frightening estimate came as desperation deepened in the city, with gunfire crackling sporadically and looters by the hundreds roaming the streets and ransacking tiny shops and big-box stores alike with seeming impunity.
“We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: “Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands.”
That would make Katrina the deadliest natural disaster in the United States since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
~~~
I don’t have anyway of knowing. But it looks to me like 10=-=50 thousand are dead all over the south
I’m writing from Baton Rouge, having evacuated on Sunday. My sister is still missing, though I believe her to be holed up with her boyfriend in a two story house.
Mayor Ray Nagin waited until the last minute to call for a mandatory evac, because then he would be liable for those who can’t evacuate, and would have to house them somewhere. The fucker is running for reelection and was carefully weighing his cards. Also, last summer, he called for an evac when the storm was obviously heading for Florida.
People are being rescued from rooftops and attics, then deposited on the interstate with no food or water. It is insane. The Feds are so far no where to be seen except to make blustery speeches on TV and military rolling right by citizens that need evac. Some New Orleans police are allowing looting, though I am sure this is going to stop. Blanco has been sold on the idea, I am sure, of shoot to kill.
The most good has come from Louisianians themselves, and some kindhearted out of towners, all of whom came with their boats to help with the rescue.
Thank you all for this coverage of this issue. I know it is helping.
I’m so glad that people are able to help. I hope you find your sister soon.
Keep us informed if you have a moment. It’s good to hear from you.
Stu and Flip
Fuck this, I’m tired of it!! Trap the niggers in the Superdone is exactly right. That is exactly what happened here! Nicola Calipari was almost certainly deliberately assasinated by US troops in Baghdad. He was fucking killed because Italy was swapping hostages for Iraqi prisoners and he was the point man behind the whole operation to keep this horrible but necessary reality hidden from the Bush administration. Face it folks.
But this is the lowest: The majority of Americans are so fucking stupid that they want creationism to be taught as a scientific hypotheeis in bioloigy classes!!
There’s nothing complex or produund in any of this that needs to be discussed and intellectually analyzed. That country is fucked!! I have deciced to renounce my US citizenship and focus on keeping Europe safe for science, philosophy and seriousness.
Europe is so much better. So much more civilized and progressive than what we have here. Our nation is diseased by it’s history of slavery and it’s refusal to admit that the legacy of slavery still continues and I’m afraid is going to brought out into the open in a way that will cause civil unrest throughout the country on top of all the economic problems.
Bush has to be stopped. He didn’t cause the Hurricane but he was on vacation and did nothing when it was known (at least by me) that this Hurricane would destroy New Orleans. He was warned by numbers of agencies about what could happen in New Orleans and the South.
He didn’t casue the Hurricane but you can be sure he will do everything he can to make the aftermath as destructive as the hurricane itself.
People must become aware that George Bush is a very disturbed self destructive person. He is extremely dangerous.
Sorry about your banning. I posted a diary the day before yesterday here claiming that 1000’s are dead in LA. Sorry, I live down here and they are dead and I’m afraid to even guess at the number at this point. I fully agree with you too when the press kept playing around with this is a CAT 4 or a CAT 5. Look, she was very very strong CAT 4…..she might as well have been a weak CAT 5. The more appropriate thing to have said is, “This is one mean bitch and ya’ll need to leave!” Claiming that when the storm shifted SLIGHTLY EAST that that spared New Orleans the CATASTROPHY….I just couldn’t believe it. I sat here with my head in my hands. If you are poor in New Orleans you are really poor. If you didn’t have transportation and a place to stay I and don’t know what your other options would have been.