The news for New Orleans citizens dying just got better. The AP is reporting that all buses transporting people out of New Orleans have been halted. Reason? Nobody is quite sure. But people have been told that buses may not be rolling again until Sunday. With 2,000 people left at the Superdome and still 30,000 at the convention center, what started as a government failure has turned into border line government manslaughter.
The New Orleans convention center has turned into a sight of vast rapes and murders. Quoting a Reuters report by Mark Egan, "Sitting with her daughter and other relatives, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered the cavernous convention center in recent nights raping and murdering children. She said she found a dead 14-year old girl at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, four hours after the young girl went missing from her parents inside the convention center. 'She was raped for four hours until she was dead,' Joseph said through tears. 'Another child, a seven-year old boy was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night.'"
So where is the help? Where is the Calvary? A U.S. military hospital ship left Friday from the east coast and is expected to reach New Orleans in the middle of next week. Are you trying to tell me this ship couldn't have been put to sea as early as August 27th, when many meteorologists began to predict landfall of Hurricane Katrina to be on or near New Orleans? Lt. Gen. Steven Blum said the National Guard troop count is expected to be at 7,000 by the weekend. 7,000? Makes the 40,000 troops serving in Iraq seem a bit important now, doesn't it? Not to mention the other 15,000 stationed in Afghanistan and other middle east regions.
I have a lot of issues with FOX News but their on-site reporters got the job done tonight. Geraldo Rivera broke down in tears standing outside the convention center holding a baby and pleading to whoever in power that would listen to get these people out of there. Shepard Smith echoed similar remarks and FOX News producers back in New York and Washington couldn't hit the cut-off switch fast enough. Rivera and Smith are seeing first hand what anybody not there can't even imagine. Rivera described the scene in and around the convention center as "Dante's Inferno" and "hell on earth."
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark C.
Good comment. Kick Bush's arse next election or sooooner!
Mark
Melbourne
2 - JB
Embarassing when he said " I don't think anyone ever thought the levees would give way."
That is a LIE. Everyone from that area (me included) knows those levees are only for Cat 3 level flooding. If the wetlands hadn't been destroyed and funding cut, lives would be saved.
" We are fighting them over there, so we can die over here!"
3 - Chadzilla
You know, it's human nature to want to blame a human being for this. And, if we want to, we can.
How about New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin? Within two days the police force was well under half strength and the fire department just about dissolved. The reason? They were starving and without communication just like everyone else. Mr. Mayor, you say you're pissed? I am too. If you're going to sit there and tell the world we should have known better before hand, why didn't the police and fire department have pre-positioned secure stores of food and water? Yup, I think you got caught off guard too, Mr. Mayor and now you just don't want to 'fess up. Have YOU no sense of decency, Mr. Mayor?
How about Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco? She says that the fed's military response hasn't happened fast enough. Really? When The Kat hit, you had less than a thousand Louisiana National Guardsmen in New Orleans - most of them clustered up around the Superdome. Again, since we all knew that this would be the worst thing to happen since 9/11 well in advance, I'm thinking the number should have been something more like 15,000 in the city. The 800 or so that were there brought enough food to last them for two days after the storm. Yes, Governor Blanco, you were caught off guard too, but that doesn't stop you from being "pissed" and blaming the feds too. Have YOU no sense of shame, Governor Blanco?
You know, this whole thing is a sucktacular cluster of a disaster folks. I hate it. But, you know what? We're America the nation of human beings, not America the nation of superior life forms. We're mortal, we make mistakes, and believe it or not, our military can NOT solve every last one of our problems the day that they happen. The people that live in our country are susceptible to the same forces of nature that the people of the rest of the world are. It's time to stop trying to place blame, and put our money where our blogs are, and get this thing over with quick as we can. Stay informed of local efforts (my town just sent buses full of water - drop the water, pick up people), give money, and if you want to play the blame game, I'd say two things - 1) wait for a more constructive time, and 2) be fair and get everyone that should be blamed.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
4 - you
Orleans county went to Bush in 2004. Some might say you reep what you sow.
5 - John Peterson
It's obvious the political leaders both elected and unelected have screwed the pooch during this whole disaster.
These people were too poor to go anywhere and so now they've been left to rot in that convention center and Stadium. Why is it taking so long to evacuate them? Why did Nagin get those hotel people out before the Stadium people? Why is Texas the only state that seems to be stepping up? What the HELL is FEMA doing. FEMA has to be looked at as the biggest joke of all in this whole thing. If I see their casual, calm, cool and collected leaders on TV one more time I think I'll pull and Elvis and shoot the tv. These guys exemplify government employees.
Also, yes the Bush admin cut funding for the levees but Clinton never gave one damn dime to repair them either.. they're politicians folks. The levee that initially breached was actually repaired/renovated very recently.
I won't sit here and blame anyone for the trajedy, to do so is just a bunch of partisan crap, but we can sure as hell blame these lame ass politicians (local, state, and fed) and lack of leadership in the aftermath.
6 - John Peterson
Also, shame on Fox for pulling the plug on Geraldo and Shep.
Apparently, Geraldo and Shep forgot that they're supposed to sugar coat their reports into palatable bites for the "folks" as O'Reilly calls them. What a load! Their reporting was the best I've seen and for those that say they overreacted and got too emotional: screw you too!
I want you to stand out there in hot humidity surrounded by human waste with little food or water for five days and see if you get a bit emotional. Some leader like Jesse Jackson ought to step up, get down into that convention center today and demand that those people be taken out of there before anything else is done in that city.
We need somebody who knows how to kick some ass get down there and take care of that problem asap.
7 - Reality
Gv. Blanco had only 1,000 National Guardsman because they are in Iraq and you are idiot if you don't know that.
Bush was on vcation, Condi went to see a comedy and was buying thousand dollar shoes days after the hurricane and Cheney is still on vacation. It is a national disgrace and they did not give a damn!
8 - Nathaniel Winn
I wonder, if troops etc had rolled up day one, would we now be hearing of the police state, Patriot Act, opressing minorities.
Hey guys, there's a disaster going on right now; I think all the effort to cast blame does a disservice to those suffering. The time will come to express loathings and prejudices, but let's wait til folks are evacuated, eh?
9 - Georgio
I think the blame can be spread around equally and as bad as I think Fema and the federal Govt was I also think that every politician in Louisiana should have to answer a lot of questions..when I saw the aerial pictures of everyone on their rooftops my first thought was my God where are the small boats to save them...there was such poor planning by everyone ..In a city that was vulnerable to floods wouldn't you think they would have had a bunch of rubber rafts for the police department..when the swift boats from Calif came in I was elated to see how well they worked going down the streets saving ppl until stupid Fema stopped them because they said it was unsafe,,geezzz how dumb can they be,,
10 - Kurt
A delightful letter to The Prez from Michael Moore
11 - Mike Joki
Tragedy at the hands of mother nature is regretable and heart breaking. Tragedy at the hands of politicians and bureaucrats is inexcusable. The pitiful disaster relief efforts of the federal government are to me a clear indicator that something is drastically wrong somewhere. There's a huge stain on the shirt - fronts of Washington. It's the blood and tears of every hurricane victim .
12 - Steve
I don't konw about the rest of you but I never assume anyone is look out for me but me. Further I am struck that no one seems to remember that in the early stages of the rescue efforts brave responders were greeted with gunfire. Perhaps some degree of the blame lies with those savages.
13 - Dave Nalle
>>7,000? Makes the 40,000 troops serving in Iraq seem a bit important now, doesn't it? Not to mention the other 15,000 stationed in Afghanistan and other middle east regions.<<
No, because the slowdown is mobilization not availability. You just can't gather troops and prepare them and transport them to the crisis spot instantaneously. It takes a few days.
Dave
14 - Dave Nalle
>> If this was Orange County California, instead of the 9th poorest city in America, do you honestly think over 30,000 people would still be stranded?<<
This may be the most despicable thing I've seen posted this week. Your bigotry and hatred disgust me.
Dave
15 - Dave Nalle
>>Gv. Blanco had only 1,000 National Guardsman because they are in Iraq and you are idiot if you don't know that. <<
Wrong. There are a total of 10,500 guardsmen in Louisiana, only 3000 were in Iraq. That leaves him with 7500. But a lot of them have not been able to get to mustering centers or from there to the crisis zone because of the conditions in the state.
Dave
16 - William Morris
You people want to blame Mr. Bush for everything. Maybe he somehow caused Katrina as a way to hurt all those people. Maybe he went down and blew holes in all those levee's himself so that the whole town of New Orleans would flood. I think that we are doing the best we can with what we have. If you want to place the blame look at Chadzilla's column. If our troops weren't in Iraq maybe things would go better. If the stars were aligned different maybe things would go better. Bottom line Bush is doing the best he can and quit blaming him for everything.
17 - MY TWO SENSE KATRINA
Katrina…
First and foremost, why, as Americans do we point the finger during this history-turning-event … I mean yes the hurricane did hit, massively, causing unthinkable damage, but, what I don’t understand is why we as Black Americans point the finger to our fellow White Americans motioning that this natural disaster is because of them, no, stop right there all the name calling and pointing fingers needs to stop, thee main problem with all of this is poverty. Poverty, has no color lines, affects whites, blacks, brown, green, purple, what ever you consider yourself as… just because the majority of the population where Katrina hit is mostly all black does not mean we need to start a racial war over something that could of happened to anybody, anywhere, any-color. I do see the concern in our powerful black leaders; our president, Bush, did not respond quick enough, hopefully if it was the flipside and our fellow white brothers were trapped in hell, our president would of done the same within the same time frame he did… Again, I stress what he did was not right, but, lets fix the situation at hand and not batter a racial cry when we do not necessary need one right now… What I propose is a fund, all Americans should donate at least one dollar so we can help our fellow Americans (yes our fellow Americans… this is not a situation when we need to leave our own country to fight poverty, but, in our own homeland… what happened to our security).
My two sense ,
Bryan Christopher
18 - Dave Nalle
In fact, Bryan, there are more whites in poverty than there are blacks, as a percentage as well as a total number. Blacks still lag behind on total wealth accumulation, but there are more whites on welfare and more whites under the poverty line. In fact, in the latest figures the .2% increase in people under the poverty line was entirely new whites sinking into that low income level. Blacks actually moved out of poverty by a slight fraction at the same time.
Dave
19 - Anthony Grande
Whites and Blacks under the poverty line vote for DemocRAts who like to keep them under the poverty line.
20 - Silas Kain
And Italo-Americans vote for Sicilians to keep Organized Crime in power. Anthony, darling, you can't keep blaming the Democrats. You need to take some personal responsibility.
21 - 1Potato
Sicilians... voting...what?
22 - 1Potato
Yea Anthony, start taking personal responsibility for those poor blacks and whites over in Lousiana and get them out of their poverty!
Bada Bing!
23 - Silas Kain
The point, 1Potato, is that my Sicilian schtick makes as much sense as his DemocRAT rant.
24 - Bob A. Booey
This is one of the most mindless political discussions in the history of this site.
That is all.
25 - Randy from California
I can't believe you people. This is not the time to point fingers. This is the time for action. I was so sick of watching this ciris on CNN. All they do is complain about the Bush Administration. I'm no Bush supporter, but wake up. This is a CIRIS. What Shep and Geraldo did last night was amazing. They went beyond want a "journalist" is, and were human beings. I had to laugh at some other reporters who complained that people they ran into didn't know anything. Why didn't they tell them. Go FOX! CNN sucks.