BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture These people in New Orleans

John,

Thanks for posting that link. Quite an amazing photo-essay by someone who lived through each moment. Brings home the fact that the breached levee caused more damage than the storm itself (and who to we have to "thank" for that??).

Lots of comments about the media too, like: the "wench from MSNBC" who made up 75% of what she said! (but without the nastiness of the blogger that Raytan posted earlier)

Nancy

Sean Penn did a great job!

As for the journalists - this is always a dilemma. They are not really rescue people but they inform about what is going on. It is strange that it took so long to the goverment and the local government to figure out what is goig on.
There will be always a division - some money would go to the rocket science - sending rockets to Mars - some other money would go to feed hungry people.

Just like Jesus - he let a women to pour some perfumes into his feed saying - there will be always poor people...

Here's a piece from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/nation...agewanted=print

As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor.

For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and the Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge Mr. Bush to take command of the effort. Instead, the Washington officials decided to rely on the growing number of National Guard personnel flowing into Louisiana, who were under Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's control.

This is backed up by the Wall Street Journal: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110007230

Before the hurricane arrived in New Orleans, Adm. Keating approved the use of the bases in Meridien, Miss., and Barksdale, La., to position emergency meals and some medical equipment; eventually the number of emergency-use bases grew to six. And before landfall, Adm. Keating sent military officers to Mississippi and Louisiana to set up traditional coordination with their counterparts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As well, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England ordered the movement of ships into the Gulf.

By the Pentagon's account, it carried out these preparations without any formal Katrina-related request from FEMA or other authorities. The personnel behind the massive military effort now on display in Louisiana--airlift evacuation, medical, supply, and the National Guard--was on alert a week before the hurricane. According to Assistant Secretary McHale, "The U.S. military has never deployed a larger, better-resourced civil support capability so rapidly in the history of our country."

So where were they on the two days of globally televised horror? Why, for instance, didn't DoD fly all this help close to New Orleans as soon as it saw Katrina coming? The answer, in military argot, is that you don't deploy troops beneath a bombing run; Katrina predictably would have wiped out any help put in her uncertain path, just as she rolled over the Big Easy's wholly unprotected "first responders."

No, ABC News station.

Thank you Paula! I feel that is a major part of the problem in New Orleans. And when I found out the levee broke because a barge slammed into it; I am still amazed at what was not done ahead of time by the city. The jails released the prisoners, and one was arrested here; on the ten most wanted list. He showed up at a shelter here, lying and with a fake ID, and was turned away (it was a Red Cross shelter for out of towners, not locals, he said he was from here). He came back and lied some more, started causing problems and Red Cross called the law and he was arrested. And several carjackings occurred by out of town evacuees. We women were warned to keep our car doors locked, and carry a gun!!! (The majority of evacuees are nice people). I am very upset-the psychological effects on my neighbors along the Gulf Coast is not going to be good, and if Somebody in charge had more sense, and a PLAN, yes the city might still have flooded, but there would be fewer casualties, a little less grief. Maybe it is a very bad idea to have that many people living in such a vulnerable spot, that do not have the ways or means to help themselves or leave. We had more deaths than usual after Ivan, mostly women; and it was attributed to the shock of the storm, or something like that. And we do not understand why people think FEMA has a magic wand. Roads are impassable after a storm like this, trees have to be cut and moved, it does take time to get supplies and people to places. And that storm lasted a long time. The wind was outrageous. Bridges are out. People do not take these things into consideration. Or maybe they think FEMA has a magic carpet surrounded by a protective bubble. I can't read any more storm stuff on this forum, it is too upsetting.

Hi Firefly!

I see you are from lower Alabama. Greetings from lower Alaska!

I think FEMA is on the hook because 1) it is their whole purpose for existing and 2) they have the 'deep pockets', as all this rescue stuff and support of imported help must be paid for. New Orleans or Louisiana would quickly go broke if they were solely answerable. The military is a good asset and I would rather see them at natural disasters than in their intended place - war. Let them all retire without being eligible for Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The tendency to blame Bush is perhaps in part due to the disillusionment people have toward the war, and while they do not dare criticize it or Bush because it "would not be supporting the troops", they are redirecting some of this frustration into assigning plenty of blame on Bush for the botched aid. Interesting how he fired Brown and then let him resign to save face.

One fellow told me there are a lot of Arabian thoroughbreds seeking asylum, and even the famed Polish race horses. They are afraid Brown will come back to the Horse Racing Association!