I turned on my television today and saw the usual. Talk of refugees, chaos, people dying of starvation, thousands with no running water or electricity, and gunshots fired at helicopters and hospitals. But CNN, MSNBC, and the rest weren't reporting from Iraq, Darfur, Sudan, or any African nation for that matter, they were reporting from New Orleans.
The ABC news website leads with a headline, "Losing Control." The front page of the Washington Post has a picture of white cops in riot gear and automatic weapons, riding in an armored transport through a sea of black faces. The New York Times calls New Orleans an increasingly "desperate and chaotic city." If you feel like this is something out of the third world, you're not alone. New Orleans is quickly coming apart at the seams.
FEMA has suspended boat rescues because of the danger, not from the flood, but from people driven into chaos and desperation. There is widespread looting in New Orleans, some of it bourne out of opportunistic, but most of it from people just trying to get the food and supplies they need to survive. They see the images that we see on television but in real life of bodies floating in the streets and other bodies beginning to be stock piled outside of the city's convention center.
As authorities tried to shuttle people into buses to transfer them from the Superdome to the Houston Astrodome, a group broke free in hopes of storming a nearby Hyatt Regency. They were stopped by police with 12-gauge shotguns and AR15s. The mayor of New Orleans issued a "desperate S.O.S" because the city is out of resources to help 20,000 people in the city's convention center and they don't have anywhere to take them.
Granted, this is too big of a job for any president. But this one is clearly nowhere near up to the task. Bush held a press conference with President Clinton and the sr. Bush today to announce they have setup a private fund raising drive like they did for the Southeast Asia tsunami. Bush briefly spoke the need to restore law and order but spent most of the time talking about efforts to keep gasoline flowing to the rest of the country. "The good folks must understand that major refineries have been shut down, which means it's going to be hard to get gasoline to some markets," Bush said. "Americans should be prudent in their use of energy in the next few days. Don't buy gas if you don't need it."
Article comments
1 - Dude
Did you hear Bush's speech on Wednesday, right after he just flew over the disaster? It was one of the worst speeches he's ever given -- and he's given a lot of bad speeches before.
But hey the guy only had to cut his five-week vacation short, so I guess we should cut him some slack.
2 - 1Potato
"Bush doesn't speak to or for people like them."
Didn't they vote for him? And who the hell are you to say he doesn't speak for them? Because you say so?
"He never has and never will."
I guess we need someone who really relates to the working men and women of Lousiana. Like Hillary Clinton.
"As Bush ended his talk about gas prices and relief efforts today, Bill Clinton lingered for a moment in front of the cameras as if he wanted to say something or at least hear Bush say something more. Bush walked briskly out of the room."
We don't want a President who just says something (or in this case "almost" says something). We want him to do something. And he is so far. We'll see if he does enough.
That's my opinion, from me.
3 - brent
I'm not here to debate how Bush is at president. But I really dont know why so many people are blaming him. Had the majority of those people left like they were told (the ones that could afford a bus ticket at least) the rescue efforts would be dramatically easier. I'm fairly confident that the majority of the people that live there are well aware of the consequences of a storm of Katrina's magnitude.
4 - Marc
By the title of this post I didn't expect to get too far before coming across a bit of partisan nonsense. But really I might get past the second sentence. "Talk of refugees, chaos, people dying of starvation,"
Are you not aware medical experts place starvation deaths occuring from 1 month to 3 months (dependent on health) after the last ingestion of sustenance?
Or, are you just another political hack looking to score some [dim]ocratic brownie points?
5 - james
Are you not aware that people may have been withour food before the hurricane? Maybe the people who did not leave did not have vehicles to leavea. Maybe they had no friends or family in other states? Take your political comments and leave them to yourself. Jabs like "dimocratic" are so juvenile that your ignorance disgusts me. Americans Are in need period. If we are to keep refering to ourselves as the rgeatest country in the world then please keep your moronic statements to your self and proving our claim false.
6 - james
I apologize for the typo errors. I was so insensed by the previous comments I failed to proof read.
7 - dave
It's 'incensed'.
8 - dave
...and it's 'proofread'.