| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 08/31/2005 : 20:04:12
What are your impressions of what's going on?
It's a sad situation and keeps getting sadder. I just heard now that it will be at least two months before ppl can go back and live in New Orelans.
I have never been to New Orleans. I always took it for granted I could go.
I am so sorry for all the people impacted by this disaster.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| darwin |
Posted - 11/03/2005 : 16:41:32
quote:
Originally posted by BLT
Another well-known maxim among politicians (this one is almost as important as holding babies):
Or you can hangout with firefighters with rolled up sleeves.
 |
| BLT |
Posted - 11/03/2005 : 14:06:14
quote:
Originally posted by darwin
Style over substance.
"Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt... all shirts. Even the President rolled up his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this crisis and on TV you need to look more hardworking... ROLL UP THE SLEEVES!"
-- FEMA press secretary Sharon Worthy, in an email to ex-FEMA director Michael Brown on September 4, 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Another well-known maxim among politicians (this one is almost as important as holding babies):
When PR is in doubt, pick up a hammer and pretend to build a house. |
| darwin |
Posted - 11/03/2005 : 12:12:50
Style over substance.
"Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt... all shirts. Even the President rolled up his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this crisis and on TV you need to look more hardworking... ROLL UP THE SLEEVES!"
-- FEMA press secretary Sharon Worthy, in an email to ex-FEMA director Michael Brown on September 4, 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
|
| 50 Pence |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 16:43:58
After the crash, when the concept of having to get food, shelter and help rise to the forefront of peoples minds. People would band together. Fast paced disasters like riots and such are a different matter entirely.
Blats |
| darwin |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 15:34:18
quote:
Originally posted by 50 Pence
I'm sure if a plane crashed and there were suvivors most would want to help one another, same if a whole loada people fall over in a mosh pit at a gig.
I doubt it. I think when panic sets in most people are only looking out for themselves if they think they're about to die. Not everyone, but most. Last week's crush of people on the bridge in Iraq might be a good example of that. |
| KimStanleyRobinson |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 15:34:00
unconcsionable, incendiary, horrible....evil, evil liberals to suggest that the entire fucking REGION could have been better prepared had the divide between the haves and the have nots not been so drastically wide.
Stop equating self-worth with available credit.
the poor in New Orleans just happen to be mainly black.
Just happen to be.
Like in most cities - the poor just happen to be mainly black.
Just sorta happens that way.
We didn't do it, right?
They're genetically predisposed to not be able to lift themselves up out of poverty, right?
Gotta be it.
Splain it to me lucy.
You are not off the hook.
Hang there, fucking white right-wing assholes.
Hang until you understand that these people were PUT HERE and are KEPT HERE BY YOU.
I don't care if the left looks crazy for bringing up race here.
We'll lose the face to get you to stick a foot in your big fat bigoted mouth.
Thats our job.
We'll act crazy, you get a fucking clue. |
| 50 Pence |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 15:28:55
I mean it in the way people collectively group together in the wake of adversity, disaster ect, i.e find it intriging that people suddenly adopt very alturistic personas when usually most people are inherently social introverts(on a public scale, basically selfish).A very effective survival mechanism. I'm sure if a plane crashed and there were suvivors most would want to help one another, same if a whole loada people fall over in a mosh pit at a gig. So i guess i didnt mean patriotism really, though such admirable behavior falls under that banner quite often when ever there is disaster, e.g WWII london blitz.
Blats |
| VoVat |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 14:22:52
Is it just me, or do all of the essays Erebus post sound remarkably similar? "Everyone on the Left is whiny, stupid, and likes to criticize." And they usually say this in a whiny, stupid, and critical way. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
As for patriotism, Mr. Pence is probably right to an extent, but the form of jingoism fueled by 9/11 seems to develop best when there's an enemy to fight. You can't exactly get revenge against a hurricane.
I was all out of luck, like a duck that died. I was all out of juice, like a moose denied. |
| 50 Pence |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 13:06:48
At least patriotic folks will have a field day just like 9/11.
Blats |
| hammerhands |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 12:15:28
Marginalizing ideas by assigning them and grouping them with marginal ideas:
It is now generally accepted in liberal-left circles that the federal government's response to the New Orleans horror was not rapid enough because the majority of the victims were poor — and especially because they were black.
I can change the whole feeling of that sentence by eliminating the ownership.
It is now generally accepted that the federal government's response to the New Orleans horror was not rapid enough because the majority of the victims were poor — and especially because they were black.
Now I will remove the most disagreeable part, and it begins to ring true.
It is now generally accepted that the federal government's response to the New Orleans horror was not rapid enough because the majority of the victims were poor.
All comedy has a kernel of truth. |
| kathryn |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 11:24:54
Michael Jackson is reportedly going to record a song he's written ("From the Bottom of My Heart") to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Sometimes, no matter how shitty things get, you have to just do a little dance. - Frank
|
| Erebus |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 10:48:53
A few people here might benefit from reading this editorial.
AN OBSCENE CHARGE
By JOHN PODHORETZ
New York Post online
Sep 7, 2005
PERHAPS the gravest weakness of contemporary liberalism is its tendency toward preening vanity — the regrettable undercurrent that suggests the views liberals espouse demonstrate just how much better, kinder, more thoughtful, more large-hearted and more caring they are than those who might think differently about policy.
On no subject is this preening vanity more evident than when it comes to race, and the preening has been especially pronounced in the past week.
It is now generally accepted in liberal-left circles that the federal government's response to the New Orleans horror was not rapid enough because the majority of the victims were poor — and especially because they were black.
This is just about as incendiary and horrible a thing to say as can be imagined under these circumstances, and given the circumstances one might have thought a little bit of evidence would be required to offer some support for it. There has been none offered, save for a couple of captions on a couple of photographs released by news agencies that seemed to suggest white looters were just helping themselves to necessities while black looters were committing crimes.
But those captions weren't written by the Bush administration, to put it mildly.
Did the president's initial rhetorical response to the calamity fall short? It sure did. So too did his management style, which is to vest extraordinary trust in the officials working for him — a system that works only when you have first-rate people in your employ, which Michael Brown, the astonishingly brainless moron running the Federal Emergency Management Administration, clearly is not.
For these failings, Bush has and will be held responsible. If he wishes to be given credit for his managerial presidency when it succeeds, he must take the blame when it fails.
But his opponents on the liberal left are not satisfied with criticizing his management or his rhetoric. Instead, they are implicitly accusing him of race manslaughter. First he was deemed negligent, owing to his conservative federalism, and then he was judged an assassin, owing to his conservative law-and-order instincts.
Indeed, the very confused rapper Kanye West, after accusing the president of failing to care about black people because he thought the early response was too slow, then turned around and said the administration's efforts to save the suffering remnant of New Orleans from the predatory gangs that had taken over was an effort to kill black people.
West's remarks have been praised in many quarters on the liberal left. The fact that so many people feel totally free to say such things without embarrassment or shame — to state as fact that the deaths of untold thousands were the result not just of confusion, incompetence or the overwhelming power of nature but because of racist attitudes on the part of uncaring white people — is simply astounding in this day and age.
The motive force behind such disgusting ideas is the paternalistic idea that black people in America exist in a state of fixed victimization from which they can and will only emerge when white people "care" enough about them to raise them up and make them whole. The fact is that the victims of Katrina were victims of nature, as human be ings have been since the dawn of time.
But why affix responsibility to the rising waters when you can simply apply your one-size-fits-all urban ideology to an unprecedented American calamity — something beyond awful that has never happened before in this country, an entire city engulfed by water?
People used to joke about "white liberal guilt" when it came to race. But there's no guilt here. White liberals feel righteous because they believe they are faultless here — that they and only they care about suffering. They are instead assigning blame to other white people, white people who disagree with their ideology of victimization.
And so they use the basest slander at a time of tragedy to make themselves feel just peachy about their enlightened, loving and deeply moral beliefs. Well, isn't that special.
|
| KimStanleyRobinson |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 09:14:02
The French Quarter is dry and Barb bush is a hag.
http://www.wwltv.com/ <--local NOLA news. |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 07:43:54
Mike's subtly-suprised expression is priceless! |
| starmekitten |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 03:48:00
I'll repost it, I had a moment of.. hmm... yeah!
----
Mike Meyers reads off prompter … switches to black singer, Kanye West:
"I hate the way they portray us in the media.
"If you see a black family it says they are looting if you see a white family it says they are looking for food.
"And you know that it’s been 5 days because most of the people are black and even for me to complain … I would be a hypocrite because I would turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before giving a donation and so right now I’m calling my business manager what is the biggest amount I can give.
"And just to imagine if I was down there, those are my people down there. So anybody out there who wants to help with the set up, the way that America is set up to help … The poor, the black people, the less well off as slow as possible. I mean, Red Cross is doing everything they can.
"We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us."
(Mike Meyers tries to get back on prompter, reads from script and then camera cuts back to Kanye. He pauses before
Kanye West: "George Bush doesn’t care about black people."
Then camera abruptly switches to another black actor
|
| Llamadance |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 03:46:06
What happened to Kanye's rant?
I think it was good to see some genuine emotion, as both him and Mike Myers had their speeches scripted. Mike Myers face during it all was funny, he didn't know where to look.
There was a couple of pictures on Yahoo news, one which showed a white couple up to their chests in water with food, the quote was something to the effect "people make their way through the flood waters with salvaged food"
There was a practically identical picture, but with a black guy, with the quote roughly being " A looter makes his way through the floodwater".
Now this was two different photographers, with different contexts to the pictures (which we can't see) but it does seem to give a racist overtone.
Alex Chilton was apparently spotted in a bar. His phone wasn't working, so he didn't try to contact anyone :D
No power in the 'verse can stop me
|
| starmekitten |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 03:14:39
Goodness, does the woman have no tact!
I was talking to my mother about this over her visit. And it's true, New Orleans is somewhere everyone has an image of. My mum, my little lives in her own sweet little world mum knew where it was and knew what it was known for and she said she wished she could do more.
I'm still holding my positive thoughts for all affected.
I hear today the police have been told to go in and get everyone out. How very unsettling and horrible. |
| Llamadance |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 03:00:16
Some unbelievable remarks from Barbara Bush:
quote:
Ex-first lady's remarks
Former first lady Barbara Bush drew attention for remarks she made about hurricane evacuees while visiting the Astrodome Monday.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," she said during a radio interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace." "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
She was with her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton, who are working together on relief efforts.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002477083_katrina07.html
No power in the 'verse can stop me
|
| kathryn |
Posted - 09/06/2005 : 12:13:18
This week's New Yorker features some beautiful, moving stuff about the flood, etc., starting with its heart-wrenching cover illustration of a trumpet-player above the flooded French Quarter.
Here is the link to a piece by Nicholas Lemann, the dean of the Columbia Jounralism School as well as the brother of NO writer Nancy Lemann. Elegan, thought-provoking writing.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?050912ta_talk_lemann
Sometimes, no matter how shitty things get, you have to just do a little dance. - Frank
|
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 09/05/2005 : 12:20:25
Sad news!! Brian, I hope your cousin is ok. Well I was watching Larry King Live two last nite and a musician (forget his name) was saying a lot of Jazz musicans haven't been found. He was cut off by Dr. Phill, so I didn't get the whole scoop.
It's very sad for many reasons.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 11:11:59
yup - no one has heard from him since Monday
-Brian
|
| Carl |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 09:40:12
Really?! |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 09:39:09
add Alex Chilton (Big Star) to the list of the missing...
-Brian
|
| astrology |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 00:07:05
hope this will help
links to whats really happening,
http://wiki.nola-intel.org/index.php/Main_Page
also links to relief ops and photos..
here is this blog last entry
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
Sunday, September 4th, 2005
12:48 am
Rest
Ok, gonna go get some sleep.
Last update for the night. Lots of police patrolling in their cars tonight, shining those high intensity spotlights at anyone on the street. The only civilians out are the homeless, one of whom you've all seen on the cam day after day -- the guy who set up his little stolen clothes shop on the sidewalk under the Pan Am building. We've got four regulars out there now -- the guy I just mentioned, a drunk who carries a cane and beats on every object he passes, a woman who wears a leather skirt and thinks everyone is a cop and offers herself for arrest, and her man who basically yells at her all day. At least the police aren't bothering them. I hope they can get some professional help, but I'm sure that's unlikely.
Oh well, hopefully things will continue to improve. It would be nice to have some pleasant news to report.
I'm a pistolero, i'm not shakin in my boots
I'm the ruler of this moon, if u move I shoots
|
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 20:00:08
Carl, thanks for your concern. It's funny Bush admitted that the aid has taken too long to arrive, only to find out he turned around shortly after and commented those that were organizing the efforts.
Oh well. 
There is some good news. The 2 month old baby given up to someone on a bus who was not let on the bus herself has been reunited with her baby.
I have also been worried about all the pets...
Here's some good news:
SPCA help for animals
Friday, 9:50 p.m.
There's hope for stranded pets in the New Orleans area. The Louisiana SPCA, New Orleans' animal control agency, has begun rescuing pets from owners houses.
Louisiana SPCA director Laura Maloney said shelter workers follow other agencies and crews through neighborhoods and rescue pets, some that are locked in houses. At the owners' request, "we break in," she said.
Owners have to call or email the operation and give their name and address and information about where the pet is confined.
The hotline number is: 1-225-578-6111. E-mail should be sent to Katrinaanimalrescue@yahoo.com.
The hotline already is in effect, Maloney said. "It's busy an awful lot. We are trying to get a bank of telephones"
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't"
|
| Carl |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 17:11:08
It's really astonishing to see part of America in this condition. My thoughts go out to anyone living there or with friends and relatives in any of the regions affected. And there's another storm on the way! Will New Orleans ever be the same again?
Bush actually admitted the government responded too slowly. He's been criticised for popping up with the arrival of aid, in that it looks like a publicity stunt. Certainly, he seemed to be putting on a phoney, concerned face while he was mingling with and grasping people. |
| PixieSteve |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 17:05:56
it's hard to be mature
 |
| apl4eris |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:53:36
Not that page, not at the moment, and not in the context you placed it.
I appreciate your attempts to find humor, but sometimes it's really poorly thought out. This is one of those times.
Interesting sig though. And the tetris page. |
| PixieSteve |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:51:09
sorry. i thought they were funny.
|
| apl4eris |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:48:14
quote:
Originally posted by PixieSteve
quote:
Originally posted by apl4eris
Check it - a huge list of organizations and useful links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083101758.html
http://katrinavictims.ytmnd.com/
Steve, are you a psycopath?
Pease quit that ridiculous troll shit. |
| apl4eris |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:39:35
Check it - a huge list of organizations and useful links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083101758.html |
| PixieSteve |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:25:08
quote:
Originally posted by Erebus
Finally, it's very interesting to see the media not-so-subtly inferred racism. NO's neighboring communities, noted above, and others are mostly composed of middle-class white neighborhoods. They too were flooded with the same level of devastation and face the same food/water shortages. So far, they've been "off camera". I'm genuinely puzzled by this.
http://yahooracists.ytmnd.com/
|
| PixieSteve |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:23:20
http://tetriskatrina.ytmnd.com/
|
| hammerhands |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 15:43:00
Since the 1950's the flood protection here is built for a 1-in-500-year flood and since 1998 is being upgraded to a 1-in-a-1000-year flood, and there is hardly anything worth saving.
The first thing a visitor thinks about in the US is the massive infrastructure. When I drive to North Dakota there are overpasses every two miles, for what? So the combines don't have to cross the highway. Maybe I have a longer memory but I recall the discussion last year about New Orleans and hurricanes.
This is criminal ineptitude. I hope the urban planners who have worked for La. since Betsy go to jail. |
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 14:20:58
I just heard back from my Mayor's office. They told me that they are working to bring evacuees here. There are ways I can volunteer here to help. They are also working to get goods to help victims too. I feel better hearing this.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
