[From the diaries by susanhu. Great reporting, BostonJoe!] I am apoplectic. Is that a word?
I am just listening to a story by Phyllis Petrich. I emphasize the RICH part of her name. She was rescued from the Ritz-Carlton hotel. She is now safely home in Baltimore. Her story, after the flip.
She told all this to Wolf Blitzer. I have no trascript yet. But, I took notes as best I could. She had talked to Wolf yesterday, I believe it was. She was distressed at the hotel at that time. Very worried for the safety of her group in the Ritz-Carlton. Oh the fucking horrors they faced.
Well, today, she calls Blitz from Baltimore and describes her escape from New Orleans. Shortly after she talked to Wolf yesterday, they started to hear helicopters. Then they were told that they needed to evacuate the hotel. But, she didn’t trust that information, because they had been told that before.
But, this time it was for real. She had to wade through water contaminated with feces though. Horrible. Fortunately some doctors who were with the group were able to “commandeer” or “appropriate” (I can’t remember her word choice, but it was classic) some anti-biotics from a nearby Walgreens, to innoculate them from the effects of the feces. I am only reading this next part into her voice, but I think I could almost hear it. I think the feces were from (whisper here) Black People.
It got better.
They (the official government response team, I am assuming) said they were sending 8 busses to get the rich refugees out of the Ritz-Carlton. But they actually sent 18, says Phyllis, happily. Thank goodness. And they were accompanied by helicopters. With searchlights, so they could, “search the area for any snipers, that, you know, might want to shoot us.” I paraphrase here, but that is pretty close.
They made it out. I am so happy for her. The were taken to a Baton Rouge hotel, given food and drink, and assured they would be flown home soon. Which she was.
God Bless America. And FEMA, or whoever rescued Phyllis.
I know it is wrong to rag on Phyllis. I don’t even know if she is rich or white. I am only guessing from her voice, her sense of entitlement, and her choice of hotels at her vacation spot. But this makes me want to vomit.
This is so fucked. I am now thinking five or six figures of mostly black people are dead. And, that I have to hear from this sniveling person twice in a 30 hour period on national cable news — this tourist who made a privileged escape on Thursday, before those who died at the dome or the center, and everywhere else — makes me fucking sick.
Is going on here?
Once the evac was finally called – 24 hours too f*king late – disaster declaration asked for by the Gov, FEMA activated response network, the levee break destroyed their carefully laid plans. It took them 48 hours to finally ask for, and receive, takeover by the U.S. military.
Worth reading, cuz the media has it’s collective head up it’s ass, and hasn’t published the information. Here’s their description of Joint Operation Katrina, staged starting on Saturday, waiting for the “go”:
Honore is on the ground in New Orleans (currently) by the Dome. Caller to Randi Rhodes said he didn’t know who it was, but a general came into FEMA headquarters and “was cussing and swearing up a storm”, and shit started happening.
What do they say in virtually all media? “Troops and supplies are FINALLY [sarcasm dripping] reaching the Convention Center”.
Do any of these f*king assholes know how to read, or ask an intelligent question? Fire them all and hire REAL reporters. Easy to find in all the LOCAL newspapers.
And speaking of firing, I’m thinking as per usual in bush’s administration the head of FEMA-that fuckwad will no doubt get some sort of Medal of Freedom or commendation from bush for his wonderful handling of situation…any bets on that?
RBA, maybe I’m just beyond brain dead at this point, but can you explain this a little more? I’m not getting the sequence of events, who called who when and how long it took.
” I’m not getting the sequence of events, who called who when and how long it took. “
My point exactly. No one I’m aware of has published the timeline.
This has been happening for the past two days (white people rescued) — I thought that they were done with this kind of shit
God bless America.
No offense to the religious, but if I hear that EVER again, I will vomit on the spot.
Boy, am I with you on that sentiment. Which reminds me where are all the Religious Right and their statements/help etc on all this?..no doubt hiding with Cheney somewhere so as not to get shot at by black people, right?
Just like Halliburton, they’ve got their hands out … not to help but to take. You’ve read that Robertson’s charity is in the top 3 at the DHS site.
I just watched bush on c-span and if there’s any doubt about my posting somewhere else on this thread about medals for FEMA director all I can say is fuck.
Bush was getting a briefing before he went on to witness devastation and had his usual lipbiting stupid look on his face until it came time to his little pep talk. Asked no questions basically but did perk up a bit when oil/gas lines etc were mentioned and he DID of course have some info on that.
He called Michael Brown-‘Brownie’ and thought he needed a hand(so people clapped, no kidding)for the wonderful job ‘Brownie’ had done with FEMA and getting help to people..yes I’m almost puking. He’s also saying people’s spirits are high..wtf is he high himself.
BY the way bush also said that we should donate to Red Cross and Salvation Army as they are the first line of defense or responders in these kind of disasters..wtf..so now our disaster relief is faith based right..and he blathered about armies of compassion and loving a neighbor like you’d like to be loved yourself or whatever the fuck he was saying..
I think that man would be in grave danger if he had to face real people without a lot of security, right now.
Makes me sick watching him. Watching the images today. Watching him put his arm around survivors. I just don’t buy that he gives a shit about anyone who isn’t formed with Articles of Incorporation instead of parents.
Then, seeing some of the transcripts of his attempted comforting. Blathering to a woman. He doesn’t even really hear her response. She says she needs clothes, I think it was. He says you can go down the the Red Cross over there somewhere. An aide or official tells him the Red Cross is not there. He says, no? Aide says no, that’s a truck with food and water. He says to the woman, you need food and water, right? Go down to that truck. Just clueless.
I think he should be charged with attempted comforting. And cut no plea bargain.
‘Attempted comforting’…perfect. He also is giving his pep talk now at NO and had the nerve to make a joke about it being a great city he’s enjoyed visits there before and said actually he may have ‘enjoyed’ too much at times in the past…and everyone gave a little laugh..
Yeah lets have a little levity by him about his former(maybe) drunken partying-he really doesn’t have a soul or a brain.
And add on a charge of malicious existence.
of a soul.
Reduced to impersonating a human and reckless endangerment of faith in humanity.
Hahahahaha.
I had to laugh.
Phyllis must have been so traumatized, and to think she might have had to get on a crowded air-conditioned coach to drive her to the airport! God, it just makes me weep. Thank God they sent 18 buses to the Ritz-Carlton instead of sending the extra ten to, oh, I don’t know, maybe the convention center.
Sometimes you just have to laugh. Instead of grabbing a politician by the throat and throttling them.
You’re self imposed exile from news/blogging hasn’t hurt you a bit..you’re diaries are smoken. I’m having a hard time posting because I just just keep reading and reading and saying wtf…as most everyone is.
There’s more to the story. The Ritz Carlton offered Greyhound Bus 25.000 dollars to bring the 8 or so buses in the previous night. The buses were on thier way but were commandered by the national guard on thier way and did not get in.
She spoke to Wolf about it and suddenly helicopters appeared and armed guards who probably weren’t necessary in the first place as I think the lawlessness is being wildly exaggerated appeared.
It would be very interesting to know if the group she was with happened to be a business group. And what business group that was.
This is just another of the unending series of reports that illustrate the extreme prejudice of the news.
They don’t want articulate black people to interview. They want inarticulate people who happen to be black.
Then they go on and on about snipers. teenagers and adults for that matter with guns do not necessarily qualify as snipers.
The naievte and ignorance of white America should be brought into focus. America is a provincial suburb of the planet Earth. It doesn’t even know what it’s doing in regard to race.
Michael Moore, Calling Michael Moore. We have a documentary for you.
that’s why they don’t want to accept help from any other countries — they might bring REAL journalists with them!!
journalist, it’s just your comment clicked it for me!
foreign journalists — jesus I have to finish a thought before I hit post!
They are there in force: Reuters, BBC, ITV, and other print and radio from all over (at least) Europe.
think that Georgie-boy and “Brownie” do??
No. Make that “f*ck no”! How you doing in Texas?
Feeling the need for an update…… Got Diary?
Maybe tomorrow — I definately don’t have it in me tonight.
ejmw has decided to go on his vacation and not come all the way down here — he’s going to donate to his work (and they will match 2X) all the $$ he would have spent on the drive.
Houston is packed and the survivors are heading up this way — we have about 500 families here now (many who were here before the storm as well as more recent ones) — Austin has been asked to take in 5,000 more and aparently we’ll be getting some news tomorrow about what’s going on (I talked to a reporter at the Austin-American Statesman — the Red Cross #s have been busy since yesterday) — I’ve been collecting all of the information I have and hope to know more tomorrow or at least by the end of the weekend.
I told ejmw to take his vacation for ALL of us, to relax, not feel guilty and the world will still be fucked up when he’s done.
Are you still going?
(btw) if you do a peoplefind or a google on me you will see my old address-7514 Bellehaven– we moved 3 weeks ago!
There are people coming here, there are already 500 families in and around Austin, the city is making preparations to accomodate 5000 more people — I will do what I can here. I may go to Houston later in the month, but right now, I cannot afford the gas on my own.
Did you send me an I email? I checked and checked yesterday but didn’t see one. If you want my info. (non-blog email and phone number you can ask Susan, she has the info.)
I totally undestand if you want to do something different with your check, so no pressure either way!
Did you send it to
caiteclare AT yahoo DOT com?
I don’t know why it’s not there, I checked ALL of my mailboxes just in case it got spamed somehow, but I still don’t see it…
GEEZ I thought i did– dammit
Yup- I screwed up -put an i in clare-dammit
not to interrupt -but briannanne- did you get my email?? hope you don’t think I’m some kinda nut- I really am not!
Ohyeah and I still have some Holiday Inn night freebies- altho they may be booked up tight in DC.
Maybe Houston?
(I mean, no more than any of the rest of us! [grin])
I’ll go check my email again right now!
When I heard him calling that idiot ‘Brownie’ on C-span…well anyway I guess that nickname does double duty doesn’t it..as his name and the color of his nose.
Well, I think it’s good that she got rescued (assuming that the people in the Ritz were in danger), but hope that others get some help as well..
Susan.
I was just about to rip off a censorship screed when I couldn’t find my diary. “What? The great people at Booman don’t want to hear about fucking institutional racism,” I was thinking. And then I found where it went. I am truly a tin-foil hat head, and need to rest after these two days of blogging Katrina. This just is incredibly fucked all the way around.
Joe, I love your diaries, but I don’t think this is fair to this woman. I really don’t want to make fun of anybody who got caught there. You’re absolutely right about how the media loves endangered white women, but that’s not her fault.
Sorry to be a priss.
Just had to say.
I said this in a comment at dKos, as well. I am glad she got out. She doesn’t deserve the anger I have over the whole story. She was just a human doing her best.
But, some of the ironic things that escaped her mouth made me do it. The whole “commandeered” versus “looting” thing. And the absolute way in which she was convinced that a sniper was lying in wait for her personally.
It pushed me over the edge. What can I say?
She was just a human doing her best.
No she wasn’t. From the sound of her, she’s spent her entire life following the path of mental and social least resistance.
If being made fun of on a blog she’ll probably never hear of is the worst thing that happens to her — and no, being stuck in a luxury hotel longer than expected does not count — then she doesn’t deserve any sympathy.
She did sound like a poster child for privilege. But, a lot of that may be my own biases. I am comfortable writing this rant about her, and at the same time having sympathy for the poor woman.
to the surface. Get this comment from Little Green Footballs:
“can’t help but think that 40+ years and a trillion dollars of investment in the “caring society” has culminated in what we’re seeing in N’Orleans. Instead of creating productive citizens, we’ve created a sullen underclass of predatory opportunists. In my opinion the message is clear: human decency can’t be bought, and good intentions aren’t a basis for social policy.
What we’re seeing there is exactly what will happen in California when the Big One hits or, G-d forbid, some terrorist act.
The military will probably have to take back the city not in the form of a rescue, but urban assault a la Fallujah.”
link here
Because it tends to show that paranoid-schizophrenic gene that runs in my family, but I am really, really troubled by the whole race-catastro-rescue thing we have going on here.
There were a couple of reports on dKos and here, that I believe were confirmed in some other media (though I am not sure) about the “shoot to kill” orders that were given to the National Guard troops. And how there were 300 Arkansas National Guardsmen, hardened in Iraq, ready to re-take New Orleans. And, everytime I went to post about these stories, the stories were pulled. Someone a dKos was asked to pull a Diary to this effect.
But, I can just see this. A bunch of white lower to middle class white soldiers being ordered in. With orders to restore peace. And, I am reading some comments from the RW blogs. I know they are seething to shoot some of these damned black “looters.” They basically say as much. It is just a recipe for a fucking disaster.
I don’t know. Scary. We’ve never healed from our heritage in this country. Founded on conquest, built on slave labor. Never really dealing with it. This is our struggle.
to the surface.”
Unfortunately, it’s never been very far below the surface in this country.
Civilization is a very fragile veneer, and it doesn’t take much to cause huge and damaging cracks in it. I think it’s even more vulnerable here, because this has always been such a violent country.
Talk about a sullen class of predatory opportunists! As the snarks have reported, the looting of New Orleans began in 2001 and it happened at the top.
I’d wonder what the speaker thought existed before we had the caring society. The caring society goes back 70 years not 40, to the New Deal and to some extent earlier. Before that what does s/he think that evil population’s ancestry was like?
Other than “unarmed,” I’d say probably comparably poor and comparably negligible in political power compared to the decision makers. Maybe s/he means they knew their place.
But we shouldn’t blame the caring society for their being armed. There’s a Republican organization formally chartered for seeing that citizens are well armed. Someone should ask them about it.
I like the “G-d forbid, some terrorist act.”
The terrorist acts we’ve had over the past decade have taken out a number of buildings and vehicles around the world. The worst was some guys with knives who demolished several city blocks. Katrina dissolved an entire major port city and flattened a region the size of Great Britain, said a report last night.
All the enemies America has ever had combined never did that much damage to us. I do recognize that we have to cut off access to nukes and germs, but calling terror a “war” –pu-LEEZ!
I prefer the British attitude: “We’ve seen worse; London can take it.”
Sent to me by a friend:
Randall Robinson: A black social justice advocate and author on
New Orleans:
Peace
Updates as they come in on Katrina
03:36 PM CDT on Friday, September 2, 2005
Tom Planchet
3:34 P.M. – (AP) The evacuation of Superdome refugees was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt hotel. They were move to the head of the line to be evacuated — much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome for days.
The 700 had been trapped in the Hyatt just like the others, but conditions were considerably cleaner, even without running water, than the unsanitary crush inside the dome.
3:14 P.M. – St. Bernard Parish officials say that FEMA has not called them yet…five days after the storm. …
WWLTV
Why susan that news from Superdome surely is outdated. I heard bush earlier today say specifically that the Superdome is secure and supplies are there…got that-everything is fine.
FEMA would not call parish-level. Their prime duty is coordination. 100% top-down. No “horizontal” capabilities. Their prime mission is coordinating between locals and the feds:
They are responsible for connecting needs to resources, that’s it. The responsibility for this disaster-within-a-disaster runs much deeper than one Federal agency.
Wikipedia
The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a U.S. government facility located in Bluemont, Virginia. It houses operations and training facilities above ground for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is rumoured to contain an underground facility designed to house the American government in the case of nuclear warfare.
The underground base is allegedly located inside a hollowed-out mountain and can purportedly withstand a nuclear blast. It is a central part of the American Continuity of Operations Plan, and some have suggested the base contains a fully operational Congress and White House, ready to be used in an emergency.
Not much hard information is known about Mount Weather, and many of the stories about its operation are conflicting and vague. Some say the mountain contains an entire city, while others say it is just a simple army-type base. The American government has not revealed much information about Mount Weather to date, although it has acknowledged its basic existence and stated purpose.
Encircling our capital town
Huge bunkers, lest a-bombs come down —
The secret location
Of Emergency Nation,
A million brown shirts, and one crown.
did NOT riot at the sight of wealthy white tourists getting privileged treatment right in front of them — well, fuck, I am speechless. With rage at racist priorities of the so-called relief operations and with admiration for the dignity, decency, and forbearance of its many, many victims.
The police chief of NOLA — or former chief? — has been at the convention center for six days, he told Geraldo Rivera, who’s reporting to Bill O’Reilly on FOX news.
They’ve had no help. Just National Guard who only brought rifles. People have been dying around him for days. He fears a riot tonight unless something is done.
— per a caller to Sam Seder’s show just now, who said that Geraldo was very upset and that O’Reilly tried to get him off the air
Paula Zahn! She’s spittin’ into my TV set just like that Diane Sawyer.
They are so pissed. Thank god.
Air America has the full audio of the mayor of New Orleans.
My word.
They both just lose it at the end of the tape.
But you need to hear that mayor being real.
When I listened to this tonight I joined them in losing it.
Same as I did this afternoon driving around town listening to Tab Benoit singing the CD’s title cut; Fever for the Bayou.
Bill O’Reilly:
“A lot of the people — a lot of the people who stayed [in New Orleans] wanted to do this destruction. They figured it out. And that’s — I’m not surprised.”
4:22 pm
ThinkProgress
Who call their story editors at home, want to talk about loofahs and fallafels, too. What a nob.
Kanye West let loose on Bush….totally unscripted, you could tell he was nervous but he had to get it out on live TV before they stopped him.
He said: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
I saw some reports earlier today about foreign tourists–some Canadians, Australians, others–who couldn’t get out. Has anyone seen later info on them?
It would be difficult enough to be in that situation in your own country, but to be caught in something like that thousands of miles from home must be even more terrifying.
I imagine they’re mostly white, so their stories are sure to show up on American TV. Probably sooner rather than later.
I’ve got no details further to the couple of items I posted about 15 hours back from ABC and AFP. Frankly I’m not too worried about them as I think they have the resources to survive. It’s the sick, the poor, the elderly and the special needs people who were assembled at the Superdome and Convention Centre that worry me, and the thousands who may be trapped in their homes.
As another sidelight to the real action, it seems that foreign government officials are being dissuaded/prevented from entering the area to offer consular assistance to their citizens:
Thanks for the full answer. My question was sincere, but I probably should have labeled the last part as snark. Although these days, only bitter snark is strong enough.
THE RITZ-CARLTON, NEW ORLEANS REMAINS CLOSED IN WAKE OF HURRICANE KATRINA
“I want to express my special gratitude to local law enforcement authorities who worked closely with officials of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in the evacuation process.” He also cited the efforts of five physicians, guests in the hotel, who tended to situations requiring medical attention which arose during the crisis
Well now we know where some of the authorities/relief help were. That was just such a ‘special’ little press release by the Ritz. I guess I can sleep better tonight knowing that the guests at the Ritz are now safe.
Mr. Inn
Thayer Capital and Mr. Malek led the 1995 acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, with Marriott International as a major equity partner.
…
Mr. Malek also is Chairman and CEO of Thayer Hotel Investors, a large equity partnership that purchases, owns, and operates hotels valued at $2 billion in the United States. He serves on the boards of several other large corporations including Automatic Data Processing, Inc., and FPL Group (Florida Power and Light).
…
Mr. Malek was President of Marriott Hotels from 1981 through mid-1988, responsible for more than $3 billion in annual sales and approximately 70,000 workers. During his eight-year tenure, profits of Marriott Hotels grew fourfold and Marriott Hotels rose from fourth to first in consumer preference.
mojo rap sheet
Fred Malek received his 15 minutes of fame in the 1970s as deputy director of CREEP (Committee to Re-elect the President), the Nixon White House operation behind Watergate. Unlike many of his former associates, Malek walked–but not out of Washington. After lying low for a time, he made his political comeback as a leader in the Republican Party in the late 1980s, only to resign as deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1988 when an ugly incident from his past came to light: At Nixon’s behest, he had drawn up a list of Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where Nixon thought a “Jewish cabal” was out to get him. Nonetheless, Malek rebounded yet again in 1992 as campaign manager for the Bush/Quayle ticket.
Now a GOP fundraiser, Malek once wrote a most explicit description of political influence. In a briefing paper on the federalbudget to Nixon in 1972, Malek asserted: “All major grants and construction decisions for the next fiscal year were reviewed prior to the finalization of the budgets to ensure to the extent possible they impacted on politically beneficial areas.”
Amazing work macdust..why do all these guys sort of seemlessly roll into one giant criminal/shadowy/racist sleezebag-all interconnected.
Work that was, finding the press release and background information. Awesome. I’ll just go over in the corner, now, and wretch one more time, and then have a seizure.
I don’t think it is paranoid at all to think that this is a racist exercise in ethnic cleansing-or maybe it could be called ‘genocide by neglect’ or even ‘passive genocide’. GAWD it is sickening, poor hub came home tonight with me screaming ,crying,yelling at the tube–(with it’s all of one clear stations).
A doc was asked by a reporter ‘Will they all make it?’
I am screaming –FUCK NO — jesus christ on a skateboard!
Poor hub, he is a gentle soul.
thanks you made me laugh while crying.
at the OKC memorial, there is a statue across the street at a church that was damaged by the blast.
It shows Jesus turning slightly from the devastation of the bomb blast, he’s carved in a blazingly white marble, and he’s covering his eyes with his hand.
Around him are several one foot square pylons, short, say 18″-3 foot (1/2 – one meter) tall. Polished on sides, broken on top. They represent the daycare children killed in the blast. I’ve always feared that they’re the exact height of the kids.
Title? Simply: Jesus wept.
http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/
If you ever have a chance to go there, do it. Take the virtual tour. It’s incredibly well-done, from start to finish, inside and out.
Even the reflecting pool — it’s shallow enough no one could drown in it. Maybe 1.5-2 inches of water.
Memorial is incredible, museum is incredible — as is this monument at the church across the street.
is here, scroll down:
http://www.techievampire.net/wppol/remember/okc-memorial-pics/
Earlier in the evening I heard Nic Robertson on CNN refer to “armed provate security contractors” seen on the streets in New Orleans.
This is unfuckingbelievable that our own government would deploy mercenaries to enforce control in one of our own cities. These war-profiteers are a disgrace to the country, with their obscenely high salaries being paid to them in Iraq with taxpayer money while the regular grunts are being both underpaid and also screwed every other which way by the Bush regime. Even if these creatures are working for free, (something I very much doubt), it’s still a disgrace.
Words cannot possibly describe the kind of punishment the members of this Bush regime deserve for their atrocities committed against America and against the World. Even roasting in hell for eternity is too good for them.
I was so pissed I forgot to include the link to the Blackwater mercenary announcement.
Goddamit….now I know why when I read about that 10 Billion the president signed off on and I also read that 500 Million of that money was going to the Pentagon…where that 500 Million of taxpayer money is going to go..to hire fucken goddam private security-excuse me guns for hire..jesus fucken christ is there no fucken end to the war/disaster profiteering by all these people?
Course I’m just speculating and jumping to conclusions but it’s an informed jump given this gang of criminals.
And just how long is that lousy 10 Billion going to last..I read also that FEMA is spending 500 Million a day-a day and for what so far anyway..so that 10 Billion is no doubt already goddam gone.
Not “private security”, MERCENARIES! Hired from the ranks of the WAR PROFITEERS!
Fidel Castro offerd up 11,000 doctors, while rescue workers were held overnight so they could show up at the same time as Bush. Wouldn’t want to blow a photo op.
The rights gotta be fealing humiliated when a cold war enemy from a communist regime is quicker to help out than thier own fearless leader.
This reminds me of Titanic when all the Micks were locked in below so they wouldn’t deprive a blue blood of thier god given right to lifeboats.
.
How come? Local Red Cross CEO Tom Foley offers this explanation:
“The state Department of Homeland Security in Louisiana asked the Red Cross not to go into the city because they want that message to be,
‘You need to leave the city. This isn’t going to be a sheltering spot.’ ”
~~~
On Fox News…FOX NEWS! Shepherd Smith goes off on Sean Hannity. Geraldo Rivera too. They are both in New Orleans and they are ready to kill someone.
I have never, ever seen anything like it.
Go watch.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/02.html#a4763
I saw that too and was absolutely stunned…no other way to describe it…but my god it was beautiful. Smith was perfect. He also seems to be a bit shell shocked at the complete lack of care and help that these people are being denied, being ignored, left to die.
After reading Oui’s diary about the Red Cross being denied going into NO to help I imagine he(Smith and Rivera) would be even more shocked if that’s possible.
rich people rescued would be more appropriate. Making this primarily about race rather than class is not only incorrect but politically obtuse. It plays into the racial divide and rule that the GOP has used for decades, dividing a large segment of poor whites, particularly in the South, from their class interests.
Blacks in America form a disproportionate part of the poor population, mainly due to the legacy of extreme racism, and partly due to ongoing racism. NO is two thirds black. The poor population is overwhelmingly black – so of course those left to die are mostly black. But that’s it. I’m sure well off black lawyers and business people got out fine. I’m not so sure that’s true of the poor whites of the more rural parishes south of NO – and from what I’ve read they aren’t getting any help either. The Bush admin is both the most nakedly classist one in a very long time, and the least racist GOP one. The Bushies are fine with millionaires of colour, not so fine with the poor.
BTW, for a very different response to the tragedy by a wealthy white person in the same hotel see
A doctor’s story
It’s about a local pathologist who decided to ride out the storm at the hotel. I saw an earlier e-mail report from him saying he figured that if his time had come he wanted to die in a place ‘with a good wine list.’ Once the flooding started he and out of town doctors attending a conference set up a makeshift hospital because the flooding had blocked access to the real ones. Lots of privileged people are filled with a sense of entitlement. Fortunately not all.
.
When the focus returned from their field anchors to Atlanta Studio anchor, the production script flipped over like a chapter of a book. Most interviews are with administration officials and the reports from NOLA are in line with the rescue missions of our Navy and the food and medical supplies from our boys and girls at FEMA.
What a bs from CNN – who’s providing the money and Ad revenues. Or where they threatened to be evacuated from the disaster zone, if they didn’t change tune and become embedded with our military forces?
I would like to find out what happened!
~~~