After Hurricane Katrina. (photos of Miami after the storm)

[Andocrates]

New Orleans ain't the sharpest town in America - but it is in America. No excuses accepted - the goverment screwed up.

[GuyJean]

How can you help when you are being shot at by snipers, thugs, ghetto-hood-rats, gangsters and wackos?

Lack of a plan and not communicating that plan to the people (helicopters/swamp boats with megaphones) could've excaserbated the disorder and lawlessness. Might be a case of cause and effect if you ask me..

I agree, like I said before, the local official should share the blame, but once the hurricane became a cat4+, most of the burden rests on the feds.

There has to be someone in charge at a central command center in a situation like this; organization and order for a relief effort to work properly, IMO.

GJ

[Caustic Saint]

A blog from inside NOLA:

This journal has become the Survival of New Orleans blog. In less perilous times it was simply a blog for me to talk smack and chat with friends. Now this journal exists to share firsthand experience of the disaster and its aftermath with anyone interested.

[Big Booger]

How can you help when you are being shot at by snipers, thugs, ghetto-hood-rats, gangsters and wackos?

Lack of a plan and not communicating that plan to the people (helicopters/swamp boats with megaphones) could've excaserbated the disorder and lawlessness. Might be a case of cause and effect if you ask me..

I agree, like I said before, the local official should share the blame, but once the hurricane became a cat4+, most of the burden rests on the feds.

There has to be someone in charge at a central command center in a situation like this]

A sniper, regardless of planning is hard to prepare for. The one in the DC area dumbfounded police, the feds and all for weeks.

No electricity, no running water, and other basic necessities of life are paramount to civil order. Without them, unless you have thousands of soldiers policing the streets it's hard to keep the peace.

Why are electric centers not underground to prevent them from weather related disasters? Especially in coastal cities...

Why are sewage and water treatment facilities, not priority? You can survive for weeks without food, but you need clean water.

My thing is, why did it take 4 or 5 days for George Bush to go to the area? And then he comes down, does a little tour, hugs people and gets lots of publicity for it... Does it take the PResident to get things rolling?

I know FEMA was doing their job. They were there before Katrina hit... they are still there. The FEMA director looked like he'd be suckled on by a vampire... burning the candle at both ends.

There has to be someone in charge at a central command center in a situation like this; organization and order for a relief effort to work properly, IMO.

I absolutely agree. It seems like this whole thing lacks leadership.. I think the food, the security, the manpower were all there, it's a lack of leadership... and I hardly feel that the President of the USA should be called down to do the directing...

the FEMA guy looked like he was managing the situation as best as he could. I think some of the military were slacking... and it could very well be because the military are stretched thin... in Iraq.. I dunno.

And to really get to the point, I think this just goes to show you how bad the disparity between rich and poor really is. It's sickening to think about the richest people avoiding this sort of thing, and those struck and stuck in poverty having to pay these kinds of prices.

This is NOT a racial thing... it's fucking poverty... the majority of poor in New Orleans being black... I saw several of the Black Caucus Representatives trying to play the racial card on CNN... That is a fucking joke. (and the whole time I was wondering if they cared so much, why were they not down in New Orleans passing out food, helping with rescues and so on)....

Sanjay Gupta was on CNN and they did a clip where they were standing at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans and across the way employees of a private hospital were being airlifted by helicopter... while the Charity (a public) Hospital patients were stranded nearly dying... relying on hand pumps for oxygen and so on.... That's just low down....

[electrocat]

FEMA was not there and didnt do its job. Here is a link from Ted Koppels interview with the head of FEMA. Ted asked the tough questions and the FEMA guy only had stupid answers.

http://homepage.mac.com/onegoodmove2/movies/koppelbrown090105.mov


there are more videos here: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/

[American Oyaji]

This is why I don't live in the south.
These people who died were fuckin dumb to say the least.

No. They were poor and had no way out.
When you have no personal transportation, you can't outrun a hurricane.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

[Buraku]

the guys at Fox which normally are full of praise for the whitehouse admin now admit they might have handled this poorly
http://www.ericblumrich.com/wmf/Hannity-Colmes-Smith-Rivera-freak-in-NO.wmv
very sad movie clip, old folks are dead in the street, kids badly need help
criminals and thungs prey on the weak

[senshisteph]

http://www.somethingawful.com

Comedy site Something Awful recently organised a Paypal donation drive for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina (they could not use their normal credit-card processing as their servers are located in New Orleans). Because there were over 3000 dollars an hour flooding in, Paypal suspected fraud and have suspended the account, which then stood at over twenty thousand dollars.

Paypal do not usually release funds on suspended accounts. They look set to keep the lot (on top of the 2.35% fees they charge anyway).

Please contact Paypal at this link
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...contact-general
to ask them to forward the funds to the Red Cross immediately, and reinstate the account so people can continue donating.

Thanks for your help

_________________


P.S. feel free to copy to other forums or forward by email

[GuyJean]

Because there were over 3000 dollars an hour flooding in, Paypal suspected fraud and have suspended the account, which then stood at over twenty thousand dollars.

Oh, yeah.. Donations..
There's always the Red Cross site itself:
https://give.redcross.org/?hurricanemasthead

I used Mercy Corps because I've heard good things about them:
http://www.mercycorps.org/index.php?sections_id=4&subsections_id=114

Long list...
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/katrina/help.center/

GJ

[GuyJean]

'It's Hard Work'..

Bush Tour a 'Photo Op': Louisiana Senator
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-tour-a-photo-op-says-senator/2005/09/04/1125772395413.html#

"Perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street Levee," said Landrieu, a Democrat.

"Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe.

"Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a presidential photo opportunity.

"The desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.

GJ

[senshisteph]

Because there were over 3000 dollars an hour flooding in, Paypal suspected fraud and have suspended the account, which then stood at over twenty thousand dollars.

Oh, yeah.. Donations..
There's always the Red Cross site itself:
https://give.redcross.org/?hurricanemasthead

I used Mercy Corps because I've heard good things about them:
http://www.mercycorps.org/index.php?sections_id=4&subsections_id=114

Long list...
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/katrina/help.center/

GJ

Yeah, I would agree it's better to give straight to the charities themselves.

The point about the SA/Paypal thing is that people did donate that way and Paypal is currently sitting on the cash - it's not going where it's needed, and it's not going back to the donors so they can send it another way. Well, appears slashdot have picked the story now so we'll see!

[American Oyaji]

If paypal doesn't release that cash, there is gonna be a backlash against them.

[IkemenTommy]

This is why I refuse to make donations unless it is of American Red Cross. They are the ONLY organization I could think of that doesn't have a whole lot of fraudulent issues. You can safely say that I don't trust any one of those Unicefs or whatever "NPOs" out there because of this reason.

[IkemenTommy]

Sim City: New Orleans

[L S]

I used to fool myself sitting in Ichigaya thinking that shit/US politics just seemed worse b/c I was living abroad, but I realize, now that I am back, the reality is as bad or worse. This whole sad catstrophe is a clear indicator of what is wrong...
New example (and there are plenty to go around). Bush Admin. PR machine reengages to deflect criticism.....at least they are good at something...PR!.
Officials Shifting Blame For Delays
By MANUEL ROIG-FRANZIA and SPENCER HSU
Washington Post
9/4/2005

Bush, who has been criticized for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government.

The magnitude of the crisis "has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities," he said. "The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable."

At a Washington briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said one reason federal assets were not used more quickly was "because our constitutional system really places the primary authority in each state with the governor."

A government of spin.....

[GuyJean]

Google has satellite images of before and after Katrina..
Before:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.016945,-90.121461&spn=0.003071,0.002976&t=h&hl=en

After:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.016945,-90.121461&spn=0.003301,0.004576&t=e&hl=en

GJ

[Buraku]

the Bush in the whitehouse said he cares
he came down to have a look and take a photo




British Prime Minister Tony Blair led world leaders' pledges of aid to hurricane-stricken areas of the U.S. Friday with an offer to help "in any way we can." France, "determined to show its solidarity with the United States," offered a range of aircraft and two ships, with helicopters and planes capable of airlifting tons of supplies, a disaster unit with 20 soldiers, a civil defense detachment of 35 people and an airborne emergency unit, the French Embassy said.Australia on Friday said it would donate A$10 million (US$7.7 million) immediately to the American Red Cross as well as sending a team of emergency management specialists to identify what other help could be offered and providing services where most needed. Japan donated $200,000 to the Red Cross and would also provide up to $300,000 in aid supplies such as tents and power generators, The Associated Press quoted officials as saying.


The European Union said it was ready to offer any assistance in the wake of "what is perhaps the greatest civil emergency in U.S. history."German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent a telegram to President George W. Bush saying he was "deeply shocked" by the news. "Many Germans know and love the City of New Orleans and feel deeply the great worries the people there and in the region have regarding their safety and future," he wrote.On a day when President Bush got an up-close view of the devastation in Mississippi, authorities pulled more bodies from the rubble and the fuel shortage worsened to the point that people were seen pushing their cars into the few stations with gas. A specialized urban search and rescue team from Vancouver said it could join the rescue efforts in Louisiana in the wake of hurricane Katrina.

More than 20 countries have offered assistance, but the USA admin said No thank you
foreigners are offering help but the whitehouse has said that the US can take care of the situation itself.

[Naniwan Kid]

Like everyone, there have been many frustrating a difficult images shown and words said regarding the disaster and the follow-up.

As someone who has been in a natural disaster, (The Great Hanshin Earthqauke of 1995 in Kobe, Japan) I noticed some real differences. Even more recently I think of the images we saw after the tsunami that hit Asia.

The main difference is the reaction of the displaced refugees. In Kobe and in the tsunami disaster we saw people rushing to help each other, people packing up what they could carry and take it to safe ground. What we didn't see was people sitting in lawnchairs yelling "Where's my food? Where's my water?" When food and water did arrive people in Kobe got on their hands and knees and gave thanks. They didn't jeer the messengers. They didn't say "What took you so long?" Certainly this isn't the majority of refugees, but these are the images the world is seeing. I can't help but think it gives evidence to the notion of Americans feeling priviledge where others don't, and maybe that notion isn't so far off base.

I also feel frustration at the finger-pointing going on. How can the mayor of a city direct 100% of the blame at the federal government for his city not being prepared for a disaster? I also find the notion that our government didn't help as quickly as they could have because the refugees were (and are) almost exclusively black. I just heard a commentator say "It's like the Titanic. The first-class citizens get the lifeboats, and the 3rd class citizens are left to fend for themselves." The implication is that the whites were helped out of New Orleans, where the blacks were left to fend for themselves.

Well let's look at the numbers here. Before Katrina New Orleans was 70% black. For the ease of argument, let's say the other 30% was white. After being told to leave the city 80% of the population of 500,000 left as ordered. Approximately 100,000 remained, 20% of the population. admittedly almost 100% black, remained. What that also means is that (of my math is right) is the 250,000 of the city's 350,000 black citizens managed to leave as instructed. The remaining 100,000 didn't leave for a variety of reasons, but the main one seems to be that they didn't have the means to leave the city. They were certainly the poorest of the already very poor city, and I think were caught by surprise. They are often warned of hurricanes, and have been lucky time and time again. This time they weren't so lucky.

I also think there was an assumption that help would be passing about food and clothes hours after the hurricane passed. Have you ever seen the federal government work at that kind of speed? I certainly think the system will be re-examined, and hopefully next time it won't take 4 days for federal aid to make it to the ground, but I also wonder where is the state, city, and personal responsibility?

Thanks for the chance to rant....

http://mgno.com/ N.O. live blog

[Buraku]

The main difference is the reaction of the displaced refugees. In Kobe and in the tsunami disaster we saw people rushing to help each other...

You are one heartless fucker, or perhaps just prejudiced if you are trying to continue to blame this event on poor-American culture and black people

Don't know where you got the crazy idea that Kobe was a success, people were screaming for help during the 95 quake, the foreign nations lined up to help Nippon in rescue efforts and disaster response while the J-gov allowed the people to burn for days. About 5,000 bodies were pulled from the Japan rubble others died from being burnt to death or starved.



Mississippi was hit bad, New Orleans' top emergency management official called chaos a "national disgrace"
there are kids without food, corpses in the street, criminal gangs looting and old people are dying

response (VIDEO) - Aaron Broussard interview
http://www.zebrality.com/media/2005/aaron_broussard.mov
Broussard stated his opinion, telling some shocking news

[Naniwan Kid]

The main difference is the reaction of the displaced refugees. In Kobe and in the tsunami disaster we saw people rushing to help each other...

You are one heartless fucker, or perhaps just prejudiced if you are trying to continue to blame this event on poor-American culture and black people

I don't think you read my entire statement, or maybe I wasn't clear enough. One thing I am not is a heartless fucker, and I don't think reducing ourselves to name-calling helps anything. Too many talking heads on American TV are doing the same thing. Maybe you missed the part where I wrote:

Well let's look at the numbers here. Before Katrina New Orleans was 70% black. For the ease of argument, let's say the other 30% was white. After being told to leave the city 80% of the population of 500,000 left as ordered. Approximately 100,000 remained, 20% of the population. admittedly almost 100% black, remained. What that also means is that (of my math is right) is the 250,000 of the city's 350,000 black citizens managed to leave as instructed. The remaining 100,000 didn't leave for a variety of reasons, but the main one seems to be that they didn't have the means to leave the city.

How am I blaming the blacks? I could see why you would call me racist if I did blame the blacks, but I think race has nothing to do with it, or the rescue efforts.

Don't know where you got the crazy idea that Kobe was a success, people were screaming for help during the 95 quake

Certainly people were hurting in the Kobe quake, but in my personal experience I didn't see people demanding "my food" and "my water" hours after shaking stopped. Since I have to compare my personal experince in Kobe to the news coverage in the South I have a skewed perspective. People certainly DID complain weeks and months later when the government dragged it's feet on putting the homeless Kobe citizens into permanent homes. I remember one camp still had refugees one YEAR after the quake happened. I think those complaints were more well-founded. I would not call the Japanese government's response the the Kobe earthquake successful in any way whatsoever.

exthe foreign nations lined up to help Nippon in rescue efforts and disaster response while the J-gov allowed the people to burn for days. About 5,000 bodies were pulled from the Japan rubble others died from being burnt to death or starved.

If I remember correctly most of the the deaths were from fire and being crushed (traditional stone tile roofs). Certainly there were people that could have and should have been saved with more organization. Governments from around the world are lining up to help the U.S., too, but we will say "no thank you."

Mississippi was hit bad, New Orleans' top emergency management official called chaos a "national disgrace"
there are kids without food, corpses in the street, criminal gangs looting and old people are dying

All true.

Like I said, there are too many fingers being pointed. I am not pointing the blame at anyone besides whatever forces created Hurricane Katrina. I do not blame the poor folks who stayed behind for not leaving. A savvier city government would have predicted people wouldn't have the means to leave and arranged trains or busses to get people out. I am sure next time they will. I understand that in N.O. these kinds of warnings aren't that uncommon, as the government would be liable if they didn't warn people every time a tropical storm came anywhere near the city. A car-owning citizen can easily leave for safe ground, but a poor individual (at the end of the month) has to make a gamble...."do I buy a bus ticket, and not eat if it's a false alarm, or do I risk it?" 100,000 people risked it, and lost.

[Greji]

The main difference is the reaction of the displaced refugees. In Kobe and in the tsunami disaster we saw people rushing to help each other...

You are one heartless fucker, or perhaps just prejudiced if you are trying to continue to blame this event on poor-American culture and black people

I don't think you read my entire statement, -snip-

Buraku has a habit on that.

However, a further interesting point is the race to see who can pin the most blame on Bush. The front runner is the New York Times, who seem themselves to be a bit short in the memory department.

This is a quote of an editorial excerpt of theirs several months back that was just put out by NRO Media blog:

[quote/]"...Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America's rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects -- this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences.
The Government Accountability Office and other watchdogs accuse the corps of routinely inflating the economic benefits of its projects. And environmentalists blame it for turning free-flowing rivers into lifeless canals and destroying millions of acres of wetlands -- usually in the name of flood control and navigation but mostly to satisfy Congress's appetite for pork.

This is a bad piece of legislation...."[/quote]

I wonder if they even remember that they published the article.

[Naniwan Kid]

I don't think you read my entire statement, -snip-

Buraku has a habit on that.

Good to know.

And it is interesting to read that opinion from the NYT. And not surprising. Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of the present American administration, but articles like this remind me how many people in the U.S. get a full-time salary to bitch and/or moan.

[Greji]

Good to know.
And it is interesting to read that opinion from the NYT. And not surprising. Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of the present American administration, but articles like this remind me how many people in the U.S. get a full-time salary to bitch and/or moan.

There are the usual millions of finger-pointers when they feel it will reach a political end]http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000[/url]

[GuyJean]

[GuyJean]

There's always the Red Cross site itself:
https://give.redcross.org/?hurricanemasthead

I used Mercy Corps because I've heard good things about them:
http://www.mercycorps.org/index.php?sections_id=4&subsections_id=114

Or you can give money to Osama Bin Robertson, leader of the Talibaptist fundamentalists..
Disaster Used as Political Payoff
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/343813p-293471c.html

All last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

.....

Operation Blessing, with a budget of $190 million, is an integral part of the Robertson empire. Not only is he the chairman of the board, his wife is listed on its latest financial report as its vice president, and one of his sons is on the board of directors.

Back in 1994, during the infamous Rwandan genocide, Robertson used his 700 Club's daily cable operation to appeal to the American public for donations to fly humanitarian supplies into Zaire to save the Rwandan refugees.

The planes purchased by Operation Blessing did a lot more than ferry relief supplies.

An investigation conducted by the Virginia attorney general's office concluded in 1999 that the planes were mostly used to transport mining equipment for a diamond operation run by a for-profit company called African Development Corp.

And who do you think was the principal executive and sole shareholder of the mining company?

You guessed it, Pat Robertson himself.

Feed the freaks.. FEMA; Fundamentalists Exploiting My Asshole

GJ

[Blah Pete]

All last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

What ever happened to separation of church and state?

[GomiGirl]

All last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

What ever happened to separation of church and state?

Where have you been Rip Van Winkle for the past 4 years or so?

I just spat water all over my keyboard when I read that!!

[GuyJean]

Stewart Re-flex.

http://homepage.mac.com/onegoodmove2/movies/ds090605katrina.mov

GJ

[AlbertSiegel]

LOS ANGELES: Pop star Michael Jackson has written a song for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that he hopes to record with other top artists and release as a charity single, his spokeswoman said today.

Jackson, who raised more than $US60 million for African famine relief with a campaign built around his anthem We Are the World, was moved by the images of Katrina's destruction that he saw on television, publicist Raymone Bain said.

"It pains me to watch the human suffering taking place in the Gulf region of my country," Jackson said in a written statement. "My heart and prayers go out to every individual who has had to endure the pain and suffering caused by this tragedy."

He added: "I will be reaching out to others within the music industry to join me in helping bring relief and hope to these resilient people who have lost everything."

Bain said Jackson had already composed the song, tentatively titled From the Bottom of My Heart, and planned to record it within two weeks after enlisting other top performers.

"In the next 24 hours he will be personally reaching out to all of the artists to ask them to join him in this project," Bain said, adding that none of the participants could yet be identified.

Jackson, who wrote We Are the World with Lionel Ritchie in 1985 at the peak of his career, recruited more than three dozen rock and pop heavyweights including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder, for that charity single.
Advertisement
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The self-styled "King of Pop" left his Neverland Valley Ranch in California for Bahrain after his acquittal on child molestation charges in June, but Bain said he would return to the United States to work on the new single.

She said From the Bottom of My Heart would be recorded in a location convenient to the artists participating.

Jackson, who turned 47 last week, released one of the best-selling pop albums of all time in 1982, Thriller.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3402797a1860,00.html

I can now rest knowing the suffering caused byKatrina will end now that Michael Jackson will sing.