Addicted

The people who wrote this are emergency medical technicians who are level-headed and resourceful. Also, white and middle-class.

Trapped in New Orleans
By LARRY BRADSHAW and LORRIE BETH SLONSKY

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreens store at the corner of Royal and Iberville Streets in the city's historic French Quarter remained locked. The dairy display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours without electricity, running water, plumbing, and the milk, yogurt, and cheeses were beginning to spoil in the 90-degree heat.

The owners and managers had locked up the food, water, pampers and prescriptions, and fled the city. Outside Walgreens' windows, residents and tourists grew increasingly thirsty and hungry. The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized, and the windows at Walgreens gave way to the looters.

There was an alternative. The cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts, fruit juices and bottled water in an organized and systematic manner. But they did not. Instead, they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily chasing away the looters.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home on Saturday. We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at a newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the Walgreens in the French Quarter.

We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of the National Guard, the troops and police struggling to help the "victims" of the hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed, were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New Orleans.

The maintenance workers who used a forklift to carry the sick and disabled. The engineers who rigged, nurtured and kept the generators running. The electricians who improvised thick extension cords stretching over blocks to share the little electricity we had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop parking lots. Nurses who took over for mechanical ventilators and spent many hours on end manually forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients to keep them alive. Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators. Refinery workers who broke into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue their neighbors clinging to their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who helped hotwire any car that could be found to ferry people out of the city. And the food service workers who scoured the commercial kitchens, improvising communal meals for hundreds of those stranded.

Most of these workers had lost their homes and had not heard from members of their families. Yet they stayed and provided the only infrastructure for the 20 percent of New Orleans that was not under water.

* * *

ON DAY Two, there were approximately 500 of us left in the hotels in the French Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists, conference attendees like ourselves and locals who had checked into hotels for safety and shelter from Katrina.

Some of us had cell phone contact with family and friends outside of New Orleans. We were repeatedly told that all sorts of resources, including the National Guard and scores of buses, were pouring into the city. The buses and the other resources must have been invisible, because none of us had seen them.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the city. Those who didn't have the requisite $45 each were subsidized by those who did have extra money.

We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food and clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly and newborn babies. We waited late into the night for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute they arrived at the city limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By Day Four, our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was dangerously bad. As the desperation and despair increased, street crime as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and locked their doors, telling us that "officials" had told us to report to the convention center to wait for more buses. As we entered the center of the city, we finally encountered the National Guard.

The guard members told us we wouldn't be allowed into the Superdome, as the city's primary shelter had descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole. They further told us that the city's only other shelter--the convention center--was also descending into chaos and squalor, and that the police weren't allowing anyone else in.

Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the only two shelters in the city, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that this was our problem--and no, they didn't have extra water to give to us. This would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and hostile "law enforcement."

* * *

WE WALKED to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and were told the same thing--that we were on our own, and no, they didn't have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred.

We held a mass meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and constitute a highly visible embarrassment to city officials.

The police told us that we couldn't stay. Regardless, we began to settle in and set up camp. In short order, the police commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge to the south side of the Mississippi, where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the city.

The crowd cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the commander that there had been lots of misinformation, so was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The commander turned to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are there."

We organized ourselves, and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched past the convention center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group, and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news.

Families immediately grabbed their few belongings, and quickly, our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, as did people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and other people in wheelchairs. We marched the two to three miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions.

As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us that there were no buses waiting.

The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the six-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans, and there would be no Superdomes in their city. These were code words for: if you are poor and Black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River, and you are not getting out of New Orleans.

* * *

OUR SMALL group retreated back down Highway 90 to seek shelter from the rain under an overpass. We debated our options and, in the end, decided to build an encampment in the middle of the Ponchartrain Expressway--on the center divide, between the O'Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned that we would be visible to everyone, we would have some security being on an elevated freeway, and we could wait and watch for the arrival of the yet-to-be-seen buses.

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away--some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the city on foot.

Meanwhile, the only two city shelters sank further into squalor and disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers stealing trucks, buses, moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could be hotwired. All were packed with people trying to escape the misery that New Orleans had become.

Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone stole a water delivery truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for looting! A mile or so down the freeway, an Army truck lost a couple of pallets of C-rations on a tight turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in shopping carts.

Now--secure with these two necessities, food and water--cooperation, community and creativity flowered. We organized a clean-up and hung garbage bags from the rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and cardboard. We designated a storm drain as the bathroom, and the kids built an elaborate enclosure for privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas and other scraps. We even organized a food-recycling system where individuals could swap out parts of C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for kids!).

This was something we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina. When individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for yourself. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids or food for your parents. But when these basic needs were met, people began to look out for each other, working together and nstructing a community.

If the relief organizations had saturated the city with food and water in the first two or three days, the desperation, frustration and ugliness would not have set in.

Flush with the necessities, we offered food and water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people.

From a woman with a battery-powered radio, we learned that the media as talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the city. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway. The officials responded that they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking city) was accurate. Just as dusk set in, a sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces and screamed, "Get off the f**king freeway." A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced off the freeway. All the law enforcement agencies appeared threatened when we congregated into groups of 20 or more. In every congregation of "victims," they saw "mob" or "riot." We felt safety in numbers. Our "we must stay together" attitude was impossible because the agencies would force us into small atomized groups.

In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered once again. Reduced to a small group of eight people, in the dark, we sought refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We were hiding from possible criminal elements, but equally and definitely, we were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew and shoot-to-kill policies.

The next day, our group of eight walked most of the day, made contact with the New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually airlifted out by an urban search-and-rescue team.

We were dropped off near the airport and managed to catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young guardsmen apologized for the limited response of the Louisiana guards. They explained that a large section of their unit was in Iraq and that meant they were shorthanded and were unable to complete all the tasks they were assigned.

* * *

WE ARRIVED at the airport on the day a massive airlift had begun. The airport had become another Superdome. We eight were caught in a press of humanity as flights were delayed for several hours while George Bush landed briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being evacuated on a Coast Guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

There, the humiliation and dehumanization of the official relief effort continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a large field where we were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the buses didn't have air conditioners. In the dark, hundreds of us were forced to share two filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed to make it out with any possessions (often a few belongings in tattered plastic bags) were subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.

Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been confiscated at the airport--because the rations set off the metal detectors. Yet no food had been provided to the men, women, children, elderly and disabled, as we sat for hours waiting to be "medically screened" to make sure we weren't carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heartfelt reception given to us by ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome.

Throughout, the official relief effort was callous, inept and racist. There was more suffering than need be. Lives were lost that did not need to be lost.

LARRY BRADSHAW and LORRIE BETH SLONSKY are emergency medical services (EMS) workers from San Francisco.

====================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."

..................Paul Rodriguez.....................................

This is the one that made me go nuts
(September 08, 2005 -- 03:35 PM EDT // link // print)
The White House sought and received a provision in the new Katrina disaster relief supplemental "that would extend from $15,000 to $250,000 the purchasing limit for an individual transaction for federal employees with government-issued credit cards

-- Josh Marshall

what are they purchasing at 250,000 a pop?

what are they purchasing at 250,000 a pop?

Posted by: mkh at September 12, 2005 07:22 AM

A new house.

Linda,

Powerful, powerful read. Do you have a link? And if so, would you think about posting the link at the Democratic Daily? http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/

I know the folks who frequent that place would want to read that article. It shows exactly the spirit of compassion and empathy that we have when our basic needs are met, as they said. Manslow's Hierarchy holds true.

Dalai Lama: Fight violence with peace, poverty with compassion, By John Miller, Associated Press Writer
read it here:
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=513#more-513
or here:http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=ID%20Dalai%20Lama

Linda E., found the link to the story. Thanks so much for posting it. Very powerful. http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/556/556_04_RealHeroes.shtml

Cheney quip adds fuel to Katrina politics

On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney became the latest high profile official to offer a soundbite about Hurricane Katrina, saying all evacuees he's met have been 'thankful,' adding to a spate of comments raising eyebrows regarding the Katrina disaster.

According to Reuters, Cheney's words were in response to reporters' questions about what evacuees had had to say to the Vice President as he toured the Austin convention centre in the wake of the demotion of FEMA director Michael D. Brown, who initially had been in charge of the federal relief efforts:

"Not one of them mentioned any of it. They're all very thankful where they find themselves right now."

Straight off the bat, on September 1st, Department of Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff attempted to preemptively defend the Administration by blaming the victims:

"The critical thing was to get people out of [New Orleans] before the disaster. Some people chose not to obey that order. That was a mistake on their part."

The next day, in a similiar vein, FEMA Director Brown told CNN:

"... I think the death toll may go into the thousands. And unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the evacuation warnings. And I don't make judgments about why people choose not to evacuate. But you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. And to find people still there is just heart-wrenching to me because the mayor did everything he could to get them out of there."

On September 5th, former First Lady Barbara Bush unwisely cracked about the Astrodome's Hurricane Katrina evacuees:

"What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

On Friday Raw Story reported that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was overheard by Houston Chronicle's Purva Patel as he talked to three boys living on cots in the Astrodome:

"The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

Saturday's Washington Post carried an article entitled "Some GOP Legislators Hit Jarring Notes in Addressing Katrina" which contained yet another installment in the "insensitive" series:

"The latest elected official to step into the swamp was Rep. Richard H. Baker, a 10-term Republican from Baton Rouge. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that he was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

In return, on Thursday, Vice President Cheney was greeted by a doctor who had lost his home in Mississippi, who declared: 'Go f**k yourself.'

Ok ... Linda and KJ that story has been mentioned several times over the last week on this blog.

It was originally published here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sfsocialists/3687.html

And here:

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18427.shtml

Contact info for the authors can be found here:

SEIU 790 http://www.seiu790.org/ourlocal/

LARRY BRADSHAW, chief steward of the Paramedic Chapter of SEIU Local 790 in the Bay Area, and LORRIE BETH SLONSKY, a member of the same chapter and editor of the Gurney Gazette

Here are additional follow up stories published yesterday by the NY Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Follow up stories:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/national/nationalspecial/10emt.html

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/09/BAGL1EL1KH1.DTL&hw=slonsky+bradshaw&sn=001&sc=1000

If you want something to email, I suggest the NY Times article as it mentions corroborating statements from 2 other witnesses that they tracked down.

Please be respectful and do not post entire extremely lengthy articles. An excerpt and a link is sufficient.

Linda E., :-) It was good talking to you again. And thanks again for the story. I bookmarked the Socialist Worker Online. If you ever want to chat, you can find me at The Democratic Daily.

Here are the neocon talking points I've picked up from my Korean father:

- The poor and the middle class in NO are lazy-a$$ people.
- As lazy-a$$ people, they don't deserve government help. They squandered it on welfare already, having kids after kids out of wedlock and using AFDC payments to buy a Cadillac. (Gotta love that Reagan propaganda.)
- Bush may be God's man but could not block Katrina on his own.
- NO was a decadent place where you could walk into a neighborhood bar to watch sex acts. It deserved to be struck.
- The conclusion: NO has no right to blame the federal government.
- The 1994 Northridge quake in Los Angeles was caused by the porn industry of San Fernando Valley.
- San Francisco will suffer greatly soon because of its gays.

All from a man who claims not to know who Rush Limbaugh is, but says everything Rush says, verbatim. I concluded that the Korean radio stations he listens to are neocon parrots after all, just like the community they serve. (At least they switch over to Christian broadcasting at least 8 hours a day, so that may explain it.)

As much as I hate my neocon Ford piece of crap, I am so glad that it's not a Hyundai. And when the contract on my Samsung phone expires, I am getting a Sony Ericsson, Nokia, or some other brand from a more civilized country. There is a reason why South Korea can blanket the US with cell phones and cars, and still fail to join the ranks of civilized, developed nations; its people are so damn Neanderthal, and fail to care for the less fortunate in the society.

My counterpoints were:

- Koreatown's wealth is not built on hard work, but TAX EVASIONS. Otherwise you can't have so many "poverty level" Koreans buying suburban mansions and Lexuses.
- My Korean-American CPA had me evade taxes for a while too - until the IRS caught up with me and assessed me penalty upon penalty.
- My current Chinese-American CPA makes me pay my fair share, and gives me tips on LEGAL tax savings.
- Given that the Koreans took "it's your money" mantra to heart, they are on their own if a disaster strikes Koreatown. Don't come asking me for help.
- As the frontmen in the American Christian death cult, the Korean churches do NOT deserve a cent of any Katrina relief donations.
- And given that it was common practice for Koreans to bring their elderly parents into the US and put them on welfare (without them ever having paid into the US system), they have no right to complain about welfare recipients. If the Korean government won't pay them welfare payments back home, TOO BAD.

GOP warns Roberts on probing questions
WASHINGTON (AP) - On the opening day of confirmation hearings, Senate Republicans advised Supreme Court nominee John Roberts against responding to probing questions from Democrats on divisive issues: "Don't take the bait," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn

Great message Senator. Just tell Roberts to keep his mouth closed and don't answer anything. Even the right won't take that lightly.

Posted by: Linda Enterkin at September 12, 2005 07:18 AM

Linda

Thanks for posting this here. It's one too, that I missed.

With so much in the news, so many news outlets and so many good blogs, it's hard to keep up sometimes and easy for even the most active of us to miss out on good stories and previous conversations about them.

dwahzon- thanks for the link to the story I posted. I wouldn't have posted the entire article, but I didn't have a link to post- it came from a school teacher friend of mine in Vancouver without the link included. She is extremely trustworthy in her sources, a good friend and a member of OXFAM. and evidently, this story is now worldwide. I was shocked to read about the response of some of the policemen and guardsmen in the article. Didn't know it had been posted before though. Sorry.

Linda:

Its great to hear from you again. Your posted story earily sounds like the concentration camps we saw during WWII for Japanese Americans.

Its interesting how during an election year we saw W carrying ice, volunteering and getting better FEMA results for Florida then he did 9 months after the election. Perhaps we need a story regarding how he refuses to deal with Democratic governors like Blanco and in effect punishes its citizens b/c they had the audacity to vote for Democrats in state office. I would like to write, when I have time, a scenario of a hurricane Katrina under the exact same circumestances hitting N.O. in September 2004, instead of 2005, 60 days before the election and how much different W's response would have been. My guess, is that he would have left the campaign trail and been helicoptered down to the N.O Superdome on Tuesday to deliver food, water, lights, etc and a well choreographed campaign speech with the 40,000 national guard troops down the street. He would have moved heaven and earth to deal with the hurricane debacle. Just call me cycnical.

and let me ad to my scenario, and choreographed by Karl Rove.

Ira,

Another idea (maybe for me to write out):

California gets struck by a huge earthquake or tsunami.

What will Bush do, if the primary area of damage were the San Francisco Bay Area?

What will he do, if the damage were concentrated in Orange County, Inland Empire, or Los Angeles's Koreatown?

I know that the answer will be extremely different for the two scenarios.

Maybe time for another novel (if I weren't so busy writing my current one...)

Ok server errors

if this works you have been defeated

Hey happy people

check this out Ive been exchanging emails with the good doc in Mississippi and asked him yesterday to use his ebay video money for tshirts he sent me this back earlier

www.cafepress.com/benmarblemd

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ally: anold is in deep trouble,maybe he can be linked to W's 38% popularity, but I am sure W would do anything, anything to salvage anold's re election chances including helping lets say San Franscisaco vs San Diego. We pray that won't happen(a calmaity or needing the feds help).
But I truly want to see how W dealt with Governor Blanco during the critical days after the hurricane and how it differed lets say from his cordial words I am sure, with his bud Haily Barbour. I heard that there was literally a shouting match b/w Blanco and W. the days after the hurricane. Does that now mean that every blue state governor and its citizens are at risk when counting on any type of federal aid, with this adminsitration, of being singled out and not timely helped. Is there a smoking gun, memo, tape with this conspiracy theory of mine. I know it won't happen but would love to hear that answer from and Independent Hurricane Breaux Commission.

Posted by: Linda Enterkin at September 12, 2005 12:39 PM

I do understand. Let me suggest that in a case like that Google is your friend. Just copy and paste the first 6-8 words of the first sentence into google with quotemarks and see what google turns up for links for you. Adding the authors' last names outside the quotemarks would nail it down even more.

I've done this often when looking to see where an article might be available.

So the next time someone sends you something without a source... google it or yahoo it or use whatever search engine you prefer.

It is a remarkable story and when I first saw it on 9/6 I spent quite some time tracking it down and trying to verify that it was really true and that the 2 authors were creditable sources. I'm thrilled that NY Times and the San Francisco Chronicle have both picked up the story as have a number of smaller newspapers.

Oh, one more place to check for articles is Yahoo's news page:

http://news.yahoo.com

type in names or a phrase from an unsourced article in the search field and make sure the dropdown is set to news. It's amazing how much will turn up here.

Here's the search for 'slonsky and bradshaw' (typed in without the quotes)

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=slonsky+and+bradshaw&c=

Just a trick or two in tracking things down and verifying them.

DW btw ty for the advice earlier

seems i had larger issues after all.

Good thing Mr. Lova Lova was home for lunch. I never would have figured that crap out.

"Katrina Pushes Issues of Race and Poverty at Bush says the Washington Post", and this is an arena where the the DNC, JK and JE need to step forward.

And can someone PLEASE shut up Jesse Jackson..Give Al a microphone..

Sharpton just has the spirit in him lately

Posted by: Ira at September 12, 2005 01:16 PM

Ira,

I couldn't agree more. If ever there was a time that John Edward's speech about two Americas would resonate with people-now is that time.

A must read piece from yesterday's NY Times Magazine:

Taking Stock of the Forever War
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/11OSAMA.html

Some of us saw this all coming, and could do nothing to stop it from happening.

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at September 12, 2005 01:29 PM

Matthew, if its any comfort..

NOTHING lasts forever.

BTW Matthew great article yesterday..

Bravo

my guess is that JK and JE are afraid of being targeted as trying to take political advantage of a suffering. My attitude which I am sure you would agree with is that this is absolutely no time for our Dem leaders to be timid. I did read a comprehensive letter JK wrote and posted here last week regarding fixes needed at the federal level but oncall I am sure you remember Lakoff, Wallis and others talking about how our leaders need to be seen as having an alternative values message last year and this truly is a time to debate those values. It should be framed as dealing with racial and poverty issues vs more tax cuts for the top 1%. Al Gore was right in 2000 to take that issue on and was accused of class warfare. No, the classwarfare was provoked by an incompitent Administration and we need to now show an alternative values message regardless of what Ken Mehlman tells us.

HOLY SHITTOKKI BATMAN!!!

New York Times ATTACKS..

I mean you GOTTA see this one ...

OMG Im actually kinda impressed. Wow

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/opinion/09fri1.html?hp

NBC Anchor Says Reporters Feisty Again

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

Published: September 12, 2005 9:13 AM ET

NEW YORK (AP) NBC's Brian Williams says the lasting legacy of Hurricane Katrina for journalists may be the end of an unusual four-year period of deference to people in power.

There were so many angry, even incredulous, questions put to Bush administration officials about the response to Katrina that the Salon Web site compiled a "Reporters Gone Wild" video clip. Tim Russert, Anderson Cooper, Ted Koppel, and Shepard Smith were among the stars.

The mute button seemingly in place since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been turned off.

"By dint of the fact that our country was hit we've offered a preponderance of the benefit of the doubt over the past couple of years," the "Nightly News" anchorman said. "Perhaps we've taken something off our fastball and perhaps this is the story that brings a healthy amount of cynicism back to a news media known for it."

Williams spent much of the past two weeks in New Orleans, huddling in the Superdome with suffering residents and giving one of the first warnings on the "Today" show that the levees had been breached.

Hundreds of reporters, in all media, did heroic work on the Gulf Coast in the deadly storm's aftermath. None arguably was as financially and symbolically important to his company as the job turned in by Williams.

It could solidify his spot as network news' top anchor. He was NBC News' point person at a time its rivals had none, since replacements haven't been named for the late Peter Jennings at ABC News or Dan Rather at CBS.

"Nightly News" viewership the week after the storm jumped 2.5 million from the week before, its lead over second-place ABC increasing to 1.1 million from 300,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. A Williams-anchored "Dateline NBC" special about Katrina was the most-watched program all week.

more... http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001096477

The Empire Strikes Back

Just spoke with my father...it seems the powers that be...ever so white and ever so elitist (and ever so evil) have great plans for New Orleans. He casually mentioned that the evacuation of the black population will allow for more socio-economic development geared towards a more white population.

Sounds terribly disturbing in a Nazi-esque kind of way, no?

My father will with out a doubt be on the Advisory Committee for Master Planning, and I am attempting to do so myself to counter the bastards.

I have not been able to reach my former employer, but when I do, I am certain I will have no problem retaining a position with the firm and positioning myself to be a leading voice within the Master Planning Committee.

This will take a couple of months, since I live in Austin and restoration of the New Orleans infrastructure is only just beginning.

Someone has to be there to stop the "old boy network and Neocon brigade" from completely modeling a city based upon their master political plan.

It is even now in the works.

Ira- I also tend to think the response to Katrina by the Bush administration had as much to do with politics as it did with race. New Orleans is the most democratic area of Louisiana, we all know that. I'm not so sure that it's that Bush hates black people-I honestly don't think he thinks much about poor black people at all. I honestly think that the slow response was because he hates Democrats. If an identical tragedy should occur in California- especially in one of it's more Democratic areas- I suspect the response would be identical to that in New Orleans. Of course, maybe not, because Bushie wouldn't want to put Ahnold in a bad light. I suppose we'll have to wait for the next great California earthquake to know the true answer to all this, and, being the bad luck president that George W is (quoting Bill Maher here), I'm sure it will happen sometime over the next 3 years. WE had the New Frontier, The Reagan Era,- this presidency will just be known in history as the "National Disaster." There's no doubt about that.

"Reporters Gone Wild" video clip. Tim Russert, Anderson Cooper, Ted Koppel, and Shepard Smith were among the stars.

Posted by: monkey

When sheppard smith starts doing a strip tease on air to vintage Prince music in the back ground...i may just tune in again

Atlease then that fine a** white man would be doing something useful for me for a change

Ill buy that for a dollar

Indy... I'm stunned I tell you, stunned. NOT!

Good People
by Jack Johnson

"Good People"

You win
Its your show, now
So whats it gunna be
Cause people
Will tune in
How many train wrecks do we need to see?
Before we lose touch of
We thought this was low
It's bad gettin worse so

[Chorus:]
Where'd all the good people go?
Ive been changin channels
I dont see them on the tv shows
Where'd all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow

They got this and that and
With a rattle a tat
Testing one two,
Now whatcha gunna do?
Bad news, misused,
Got too much to lose
Gimme some truth
Now whos side are we on?
Whatever you say
Turn on the boob tube
Im in the mood to obey
So lead me astray by the way, now

Where'd all the good people go?
I've been changin channels
I dont see them on the tv shows
Where'd all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow

Sitting round feeling far away
So far away but I can feel the debris
Can you feel it?
You interrupt me from a friendly conversation
To tell me how great its all gunna be
You might notice some hesitation
Cause whats important to you is not important to me
Way down by the edge of your reasons
Its beginning to show
And all I wanna know is..

Where'd all the good people go?
Ive been changin channels
I dont see them on the tv shows
Where'd all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow

They got this and that
With a rattle a tat
Testing one, two
Now what you gonna do?
Bad news, misused, gimme some truth
You got too much to lose
Whose side are we on?
Whatever you say
Wrong and resolute but in the mood to obey
Station to station desensitizing the nation

"I'm not so sure that it's that Bush hates black people-I honestly don't think he thinks much about poor black people at all."

that is what I have been saying here about the entire Bush family. Except for a very few very wealthy black contributors who he has elevated to our state courts here in Texas and some black conservative ministers, I don't think the Bush family has had any interactions with poor blacks. Its conscience indifference more than antipathy, I just swear that this upper crust, expensive Kennbunkport homes and leisure boat, pearl wearing family is completely out of touch with this very large segment of forgotten Americans. And its probably more of a class thing then a racial thing. Hell he ignores Anglo poor in Appalachia in West Va, just as much, except those who have found jesus and want to stop killing babies as they say. And it is this vacuum which John Edwards, John Kerry and others have spoken so eloquently about, now need to be filled with a voice; b/c it certainly won't come from W.
Bill Clinton is thought of as the first black President; W as the black apathy President. Do we not recall his turning down an opportunity to address the NAACP last summer that even his dad never did and the message that sent.

The woman who filed charges on bush for RAPE in Dec 2002 was BLACK.

Margie Schoedinger was not only black she adamantly stated she could prove she had began 'dating' bush as an underaged minor.

Apparently they went WAY back

Too bad about that bullet to the brain before anyone could seriously ask her about it.

What will Bush do, if the primary area of damage were the San Francisco Bay Area?

Posted by: AllyMcLesbian at September 12, 2005 12:56 PM

Ally:

Simple. Call the Army. Re-take the financial center out of SF and place it under the World Bank, where Wolfowitz is in charge. Turn Cal Berkeley and Stanford into full military research facilities. Kill the wounded.

Oh, and raise the property values again another 10% so that the onlypeople able to buy houses make a minimum of $250k annually. (The same as it is now.)

Posted by: Fe at September 12, 2005 02:34 PM

Freaking YIKES!!!

Run Ally, RUN...

Breaking News: Embattled FEMA chief Michael Brown resigns.

"President Bush toured flood-ravaged New Orleans this morning and denied race or the war in Iraq played a part in the administration's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.

"The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort," Bush said when asked if the government's slow response was due to the fact that many of the storm's victims were poor African-Americans, a charge some U.S. black leaders have levied against the administration.

"When those Coast Guard choppers . . . were pulling people off roofs, they didn't check the color of a person's skin. They wanted to save lives," he said."

Bush may not dislike black people, he just has no respect for them or for poor people in general. The Coast guard, volunteers and medical staff had more empathy towards the evacuess then Bush would ever have in his life. It was due to their efforts in spite of Bush that helped this disaster from being even worse. Note what Bush has done to evisorate Medicaid and Public Housing for the Poor in the last 5 years. Did he give a damn about how the new Bankrutcy Law would effect the poor and especially those swamped with out of control medical bills. I disagree about this being primarily about black people. Its much more about his conscience indifference to the poor; black/white/hispanic/asian he doesn't care vs spending his time with his Pioneers. Call this class warfare; I don't care.

Nice article on General Honore here:

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/11/katrina.hurricane.general.ap/index.html

Guess what today's "Big word for Bush" is?

Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, President Bush today toured the flooded streets of New Orleans -- his first up-close visit of the storm-wracked city.

"I can assure people ... that this recovery is going to be comprehensive. The rescue efforts were comprehensive, and the recovery will be comprehensive."

Comprende?

The issue

50% Black
50% Poor

=

Double damned

Argue both it gives them NO room to wiggle

Vote on MSNBC... scroll down ... look in right sidebar

Do you approve of President Bush's handling of Katrina's aftermath? * 99955 responses


Yes 10%

No 88%

I don't know 2%

Posted by: Fe at September 12, 2005 02:34 PM

Fe, that makes sense, considering that there ARE plenty of Republicans in the Financial District. It's worth saving for Bush. (I used to work as an administrative assistant in the Financial District - and got nowhere. One reason why I am no longer in the Bay Area.)

As for property values, here in SoCal, I'd blame the Korean speculation with money from tax evasion (the Koreans are masters of residential real estate as much as the Japanese are masters of commercial real estate), I dunno who to blame in NorCal.

And Christy, don't worry about me. I am staying clear of the neocon Social Darwinism the best I can.

BROWNIE is FIRED!!

Posted by: Ira at September 12, 2005 02:57 PM

This kind of stuff makes me even more enraged at the Korean tax evasion here in Southern California. Much of the "savings" does go back into Bush's war chest.

A case in point is my mother's veterinarian. I've asked her to find a new vet, she's refusing so far.

I've already asked Barbara Boxer to stop further Korean immigration (after what Reverend Moon and others have done to America), and will ask Dianne Feinstein to do the same, but I have a feeling that it's too little, too late.

While the Koreans screw up the West Coast, the Cuban-American lobby has done its damage in the Southeast. The US needs all the help it can get, yet Cuba's aid will be rejected.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9311876/

Read this gem...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_11.php#006507

Excerpt...

QUESTION: Mr. President, where were you when you realized the severity of the storm?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I was -- I knew that a big storm was coming on Monday, so I spoke to the country on Monday* morning about it. I said, there's a big storm coming. I had pre-signed emergency declarations in anticipation of a big storm coming.

QUESTION: Mr. President ...

PRESIDENT BUSH: -- which is, by the way, extraordinary. Most emergencies the President signs after the storm has hit. It's a rare occasion for the President to anticipate the severity of a storm and sign the documentation prior to the storm hitting. So, in other words, we anticipated a serious storm coming. But as the man's question said, basically implied, wasn't there a moment where everybody said, well, gosh, we dodged the bullet, and yet the bullet hadn't been dodged.

The 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will go on.

“There will be a Jazzfest. We are committed to putting on the 2006 Jazz and Heritage Festival, whatever that may take,” said Quint Davis, producer/director of the springtime musical extravaganza and president of Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans, which produces the festival with AEG Live, the nation’s second highest-grossing concert promoter.

Details are sketchy at this point.

“We don’t know when, we don’t know where, we don’t know what format,” Davis said. “There will be a Jazzfest in 2006. It will be in Louisiana. It will be as close to New Orleans as we can get it.”

The producers would like to hold the event at its customary site at the Fair Grounds Race Course, but if that’s not possible they are committed to holding it in Louisiana. “We’ll be starting from the Fair Grounds and working our way out” in determining a location, Davis said.

This commitment comes from all of the major stakeholders in the festival, Davis said.

Davis and Jazzfest founder George Wein have met with AEG Live Chief Executive Officer Randy Phillips and other top AEG Live officials. AEG will continue to bankroll the festival, as it did in 2005.

The plan to go forward with the 2006 festival has the support of members of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, which owns the festival. Davis and Phillips have have been in contact with foundation Executive Director Don Marshall, who has been in contact with board members.

The producers and the foundation also have committed to contribute to a fund to support festival staff, many of whom have been dislocated by Hurricane Katrina. Jazzfest planning typically begins in September.

Well, not exactly fired... Mike Brown 'resigned' as head of FEMA.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050912/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_brown

OMG

Posted by: monkey at September 12, 2005 03:13 PM

where did you get that from...??

The man is dain bramaged I swear.

This is the one that made me go nuts
(September 08, 2005 -- 03:35 PM EDT // link // print)
The White House sought and received a provision in the new Katrina disaster relief supplemental "that would extend from $15,000 to $250,000 the purchasing limit for an individual transaction for federal employees with government-issued credit cards

-- Josh Marshall

what are they purchasing at 250,000 a pop?

Posted by: mkh at September 12, 2005 07:22 AM

Let me cut through the idle speculation. Contracting officers are contracting things en masse like berthing barges, RV's, fuel, food, vehicles, double-wide office trailers for temp facilities, shower trailers, toilet trailers, generators, water tanks, etc. Before these had to be run through a lot of red tape. This just cuts the red tape.

Posted by: victoria ellen at September 12, 2005 03:27 PM

Any truth to the rumor that Brown will receive the Harken-Arbusto Achievement Award? Or just the Medal of Freedom?

Christy,

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_11.php#006507

"liberals dancing on the graves of black people; they are rejoicing and thrilled with the death and suffering and have planned this reaction since 911" Rush is telling his listeners today.

I agree with the Randi Rhodes show that Rush is trying to start a race war. He is a vile human being pushing disgusting filth. He needs to get back on his drugs.

JK on a cargo plane today to personally deliver Mass. relief supplies including thousands of baby formulas to N.O.evacuees. That is how a real leader acts.

Posted by: Ira at September 12, 2005 04:00 PM

I've had enough.

I'm boycotting EVERY single one of Rush's minions, including the ENTIRE Korean community of Southern California (that's a LOT), from now on.

That includes my hair salon, where the Death Book is everywhere, and the hairstylist keeps asking me when I will get married (hello, I could get married now if you didn't vote for Bush and Ahnuld!) or whether I am interested in going to her death cult church to find a mate (no way). I've found a better hair salon closer to work anyway.

Let me cut through the idle speculation. Contracting officers are contracting things en masse like berthing barges, RV's, fuel, food, vehicles, double-wide office trailers for temp facilities, shower trailers, toilet trailers, generators, water tanks, etc. Before these had to be run through a lot of red tape. This just cuts the red tape.

Posted by: Veritas at September 12, 2005 03:33 PM

Veritas, Thanks for the clarification. Makes a lot of sense... and it's the way we want our government to respond in an emergency.

"liberals dancing on the graves of black people; they are rejoicing and thrilled with the death and suffering and have planned this reaction since 911" Rush is telling his listeners today.

Posted by: Ira at September 12, 2005 04:00 PM

Rush Limbaugh is indeed a vile human being.

This needs to backfire on him. How can we ensure that happens?

Brown's resignation/firing cements his place in history as the whipping boy for Bushco. From now on we can be certain that any investigation will ultimately lead to Brown being called inept by the people that originally hired him.
____________________________________________________

Posted by: monkey at September 12, 2005 01:56 PM

I posted something about this yesterday. From now on Bushco Propaganda has to withstand the firestorm of criticism that it deserves when the blogosphere can identify where Bushco Propaganda is seen carrying the company line. Personally, I don't have any faith that the propagandists will be any more objective reporting the facts. Let them earn my respect.
________________________________________________________

Indy, I think it is great that you intend to work with the planning commission. I hope that there will be other like minded individuals on the commission as there is strength in numbers. Go get 'em.

Well said, Fe!

In all fairness, With the Coast Guard in charge things do seem to be happening. Allen and Honore seem like they are use to getting things done today, not a few days later.

I suddenly realized this week that so many of the things that were driving me nuts, like parents on one bus kids on another, were caused by poor decisions there on the ground. No, I'm not playing the "blame game" here (and Veritas, like Newsweek every statement I make includes the the words "except the Coast Guard" but that's a subject for another post) Even Michael Brown wasn't directly to blame for say, Jefferson Parish getting it's commuications lines cut, and switched over to a Fema line, that was done by someone there not thinking. So the question becomes, who needs better training, and how do they get it?

new thread...

Hell he ignores Anglo poor in Appalachia in West Va, just as much, except those who have found jesus and want to stop killing babies as they say.

Posted by: Ira at September 12, 2005 02:14 PM

No Ira, he doesn't stop ignoring those who have found Jesus and want to stop killing babies. He
ignores those poor people too. He just wants their vote so makes them feel guilty to vote against abortion and gay rights. They remain poor and neglected, and manipulated.

"Roberts refused to say whether he sees any erosion of precedent regarding that decision, explaining that he did not want to get into the application of legal principles to a particular case that might come before the court. But he noted that "the central holding" in Roe v. Wade was reaffirmed by a 1992 Supreme Court decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey , which "is itself a precedent that would be entitled to respect under stare decisis ."

Roberts said, "I do think it is a jolt to the legal system when you overrule a precedent" and that "it is not enough that you may think a prior decision was wrongly decided." Other factors must be considered, he said, including stability, the predictability of the court and whether the precedent had been eroded by subsequent developments.

This sounds like wiggle room for Roberts around stare decisis to eventually overrule Roe v Wade under his so called 'subsequent developments theory".

Freemont Ca. Fire Dept told by FEMA that the valuable communications equipment they wanted to deliver on Tuesday after the hurricane from Ca. would cost $50,000 to air freight and were told instead FEMA would not pay for it and rather to just send it by bus; this took one week. Then 40 patients on ventilators die at City Hospital b/c of a lack of provisions and bad communications. Sounds like there ought to be a grand jury investigation into potential criminal negligence by FEMA.