Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
("When the Levee Breaks" Led Zeppelin)…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Blogcritics On Hurricane Katrina - Comments Page 3
Article comments
76 - Ann
Kanye West said what many black people in this country have been feeling. Whether it was right for him to say it during the relief efforts or not, this country is in peril. A lot of it is about race. I turn on the tv and I see black people, my people in the most pain. I'm sick and anguished. I'm hurting for my people. And reading these comments gives me no hope in my country. I see whites who look at us and want to call us ignorant, and tell us we blame them and use them as scape goats for all our problems, and call us criminals. That's why Kanye West said what he said, out of frustration. We are so tired of not being treated equally in this country. I guess in some of your eyes we'll alsways be niggers. Nothing will ever change.
77 - Michael
This is for Ann.
Why do you say things like that. Black white whatever. They are also white suffering in New Orleans. We are both human. I completely disagreed with what Kenye West said on national TV he showed alot of ignorance. This is not a racial issue and i don't want to see it turned into one. I live less than 100 miles from New Orleans. That city and this state mean alot to me. I don't care white or black, i care about my county and its people. There are thousands of people of all races in New Orleans at this terrible time, so please make it easier on all and not create another problem. We are human black or white we still live the same why no matter of color. Think outside the box for once and you might see that not everything is based on color.
78 - imelda
Michael, sadly I've never been to New Orleans - but it is a part of my cultural consciousness - all the way up here is Canada - every Jazz Fest the NO acts are always worth lining up for.
So, I don't know the colour story of the city. The tragedy of the people trapped in NO after the hurricane seems socio-economic to me. The people who had the means got the hell out of town. The poor got stuck.
And, if you were honest with yourself, you would have to agree that from all the news coverage available - the poor people stuck in this nightmare are overwhelmingly people of colour. I've seen only a handful of old "white" people and some bewildered tourists.
American race relations notwithstanding, how do you think this is perceived anywhere else in the world?
79 - imelda
Article from The Toronto Star newspaper - an outside view.
80 - imelda
Sorry guys. The link works from 'my here', but for some reason not from 'your here' - and I couldn't test it until it was posted.
So just nuke the post.
ta
81 - Kelly
This is for Imelda. I am also from Louisiana and while I appreciate your opinion on the disaster that is happening in New Orleans, as you stated you have never been to the city. Do not mistake the situation at hand. This started as an act of god catastrophe and has unfolded into choas. I am sure everyone feels the same way, one objective, get all people out of NO without loosing anymore precious lives. You must understand, of course it appears to be a matter of social class. Yes, upper, upper middle & middle class people appear to have evacuated and are not in this peril, but did you know that about 30% of the population of NO are indigent, many homeless. Also, that figure includes the fact that within that percent are people dependant on public transportaton and do not own vehicles. Let us not forget at any other time all cities/towns promote the use of public transportaton to conserve fuel, but when something bad happens people are so quick to point out and accuse the city officials/government for not taking care of the poor and making race an issue. Do you know that the mayor, Nagin, is a person of color? Or are you just one that likes to point your finger and try to place blame on anyone regardless of who or what is at fault. You must understand the LEVEE system is what failed in NO, this is a hundred year old system that granted, yes it should have been updated, but as we all have had to experience, to those of you outside this great state, BUDGET CUTS!!!!The Army Corps of Engineers know what to do but who knows what took precident over updating this system. We will rebuild this wonderful city and it will be better than ever and as always we will open up our arms like Good Ole' Southerns and welcome you one day back into the charm of the city!!
82 - imelda
Kelly, yes I do know all of that. I was trying to be diplomatic - and let's face it I am not the only one who wonders if the race of the people trapped in NO is not an issue in the seemingly slow federal response.
Yes the mayor is a person of colour - are his difficulties in getting fast action for his city related to that?
And do you wonder if the budget cuts to the flood prevention have anything to do with the perception by the Republican holy rollers that NO is half peep-show and half dirt poor people of colour - ie no political clout? They get enough religious right votes from the rest of the state.
And, you are right. It should be about saving lives. Canada offered a huge, totally self-contained field hospital - one that can handle ICU cases - that could have been on the ground last Tuesday evening. We were told "no thanks". Same for the DART unit which can turn the sludge in the streets into thousands of gallons of drinking water within hours of setting up -again, Washington said "no thanks". I don't get it.
83 - 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
84 - Gary
No need for the NRA to spin anything. Criminal misuse of firearms is not representative of the 4 million members of the NRA. Looting gun shops is not a pastime for NRA members, nor for the roughly 80 million law-abiding firearm owners in this nation. To the contrary, those law-abiding gun owners in the disaster area are already prepared to use their firearms to protect the lives of their families and neighbors. Many of the police officers in the disaster area, if not NRA members themselves, are very likely graduates of NRA firearms training. Whatever motivates criminals to loot gun shops or snipe at citizens, police, and disaster relief workers, it has nothing to do with the NRA.
For the idealist who believes it would be a better world without guns, especially in such a disaster, at least consider the following:
In a world without guns, criminals would still be committing violent acts, but now against equally unarmed citizens. In this scenario, muscle and resolve to do harm would be to the criminals' advantage because very, very few citizens are physically or mentally prepared to go into close quarters combat with a violent person wielding a knife, club, rock, or clenched fist. Criminals facing similarly armed victims are not deterred; instead they correctly sense that advantage goes to strength & resolve. However, even a frail citizen in possession of a firearm can keep the confrontation out of close quarters. Even the strongest of criminals will lose resolve when facing the prospect of dying before getting close enough to overpower the victim. Even the stupidest of criminals knows that developing leaky holes in his body would ruin his day.
For the law-abiding, firearms are an equalizer and deterrent. There would be less looting and violence in the disaster area right now if even one out every ten law-abiding citizens there was armed with a firearm - and the criminals did not know which one.
85 - Kelly
Bryan, how wonderful and wise your comments were. If only everyone could think, feel and speak the same way. I wish all the hot air used for such negative comments could be recycled into help. I for one have already contributed to helping our fellow americans, but with fellow yorkie dog owners are in the process of setting up a auction site with contributing all monies collected to go to disaster felief.
86 - imelda
OMG - are you selling Yorkies on eBay to raise money? What a brilliant way to raise the billions of dollars needed.
I just gave a couple hundred bucks to the Red Cross - damn, I could have been selling Poodles instead - I do have three of them.
Man, those poor people in NO are screwed. Up the creek without a poodle.
87 - kelly
Are you daft, where did you read that anyone was trying to sell dogs on ebay. Can you not read??? People like you obviously sit back and watch & read & of course COMMENT on disasters but really never do anything to help, now you can add that you even insult & critize when other people try to do more than just sit back and watch. No further comments from you would surely not be missed!!
88 - Josh
This hurricane is terrible and I am really stunned. But with so much delay to the disaster it is hard not to be blaming our government and our own President. It was predicted and scientifically studied that this hurricane was going to happen. At the time scientist hadn't named it Katrina it was named something else in the study. But hurricane experts had said that they could see a huge disaster like this coming for us in this hurricane season a year ago and the government did not listen to their warning. So for me that just is really ridiculous. And the things that needed to be fixed were never fixed. Everyone is pointing blame right now on whatever and I guess I am too, but if that was me I would have taken their advise even if the hurricane wouldn't have done what it has done.
It is just like the forcaster if they tell you it is gonna rain and you leave your car window open because you think it won't happen at least roll your windows up anyway just in case.
They should have listened to them anyway so this wouldn't have happened as bad as it did. Things needed to be fixed and were never fixed or even upgraded.
People are so transfixed on terrorism now that thinking of anything else that might happen is just nothing to us.
Yes I am thankful for the solders serving and I want them to come home. And yes we do have to get Iraq trained so we can go home.
We have the resouces to provide and people need them. We all need to be helping and it is time that race isn't a factor these are our own American citizens. They think we are discriminating them and I dont blame them they are tired and holding on with fear and frustration.
Thats all may America come out of this with strength and God Bless Katrina's victims.
89 - ninja
Time to remove Bush before world pandemonium erupts.
No more excuses or legislative policies or neo roman suppression. Bush had better get the hell out of the Whitehouse. We know He has committed countless crimes.
For a world put on edge by a growing pool of religious and racial terrorism, it is stunningly bold of Bush to supply feeble excuses for neglecting the masses of predominantly black refugees in New Orleans. It is extremely antagonizing.
Bush said he would not forget what he has seen in the Gulf Coast.
Let the peoples of the world not forget what they have seen of Bush’s antagonistic steps toward complete racial, religious and anti-religious chaos in the democratized world. Let us not forget how he has created for his enemies, and imposed upon his people, exactly what he claimed to be fighting.
George Bush Junior: Your administration is the axis of evil.
90 - Danielle
I have gone through and read all of this forum before making this statement.
Educated, guesstimating, reading papers, watching CNN, have or have not been there...None of this matters to these people suffering!
Let us all get to the point..HELP! Help these people...send something whether it be a care package, money, housing or prayers...do something but dont send negative messages of hate and racial dicrimination across the blog! We all know of its existence, some more severely than others but, it will not make any change right now to these people.
By all means growing up lower middle class (if that) in the Bronx I certainly do not live behind rose colored glasses but, looking at my 1 year old I can not imagine people being so senseless to bring up anyhting about this issue besides the need for human compassion and aid.
Lets leave our politcal views/opinions at the polls and bring our love for our brothers and sisters in the south up and above this and send out some love...PLEASE!
91 - kelly
Danielle, with that said, I thank you for your wise comments.
92 - Proud Cajun
I live 1.5 hrs north of New Orleans and there is only 2 ways in and out of NO. I am deeply disheartened at all of the people bashing Bush. Too many people are saying things they know nothing about. Sat a MANDATORY EVAC was ordered and people were getting out of dodge, Sun we woke up and saw the storm did not turn (like it has for the past forty years) and it was now a CAT 5. Their was excitement, chaos and commotion. Shelves were empty, generators sold out, no candles, no kerosene, you can only imagine I am sure.
While I am so saddened for the people stuck in New Orleans, people do not realize that in the south almost everyone has a 'ride'. Their are no bus systems and cabs as in other citys. It is also very tight knit and people were leaving in convoys. Unfortunately, we have missed a hit for so many decades that we feel we are invinsible. The local news shows real interviews and not just soundbites. People are saying, "I would have left had I known it would be this bad." "I didn't think it was going to hit us because it always turns at the last minutes." "I should have listened to the order to evacuate."
A handful of people, maybe a handful, couldn't leave. While this is no excuse and they still need help even though they made a mistake, the nation also doesn't realize that the behavior of some low lifes hindered the rescue. FEMA was here Sunday. The hurricane hit Mon and the levees broke on Tues. Bush left TX Wed and flew over, he could not land b/c the airport was damaged. Also, the national guard and local citizens were TRYING to get them out but had to duck bullets. We had hundreds of men in flat bed boats sitting in the water next to the interstate scratching their heads wondering why in the world someone would shoot at them when they were trying to help. Do you realize many stayed behind because they knew they would have control of the city to destroy and loot? Unfortunately, the low lifes were responsible for the good people that had to sit and wait. The mayor had to halt search and rescue on Wed and call in other police forces to now focus on criminal control. Acadian Ambulance had over 100 ambulances in NO on Sunday b/c they knew it would be needed but again, they pulled out all employees because their medics were being attacked, shot at, car jacked, having to watch their ambulance being flipped over and destroyed. The national guard had to land because bullets were flying at the helicopters. (some will say they were not aiming at them, but lets be realistic, who wants to go around flying bullets?)
The criminals and low lifes should be held accountable for hindering the search and rescue. My baby's pediatrician was one of the doctors that had to pay with his own money to get men to stand guard and chain the doors. This has nothing to with race either. That makes me so angry to hear this. Their are many whites trapped and killed, most of the whites did not go to the superdome b/c they feared violence and slow death, they opted to be alone. Many tourists and people of other races are stuck in hotels and apts in the French Quarter too, including my BIL that told us Sat "He was just going to ride it out in the Quarter." We begged him to leave, just as the mayor begged everyone else. When you live in the south you become stubborn and get tired of evacs when the storm turns anyways. This is basically what happened here. The news coverage is at the Superdome, where most of the minorities went, therefore it appears that only blacks are left behind, which is not the case.
FEMA is NEVER fast. Victims of Charley in 2004 are still complaining. We just got electricity yesterday and I live in a upper middle class neighborhood, we have no ice, no gas, nothing.... I am fortunate to have received a signal through wireless internet and could rotate plugging it into the generator. Believe me, we are all suffering and miserable. It just seems that NO is abandoned but that is only because they are trapped.
I am also so tired of people saying Bush failed NO because the very same liberals saying this are the ones that hate the army corp of engs. The liberals and environmentalists have fought them tooth and nail when it comes to funding and approvals to fix LA coastal erosion and the levees. It literally makes me sick to hear people bashing the Republican Admin when they should be realizing that they have protested so many times against protecting the people of LA, the very same people that they are claiming Bush failed.
LA's coastal erosion and levees have been ignored for 4 decades, I would hardly call that Bush's fault. If anything, Bush got us more funding for coastal erosion last year than any other president has dreamed of. He did this against the environmental liberal protestors trying to stop us from preserving our land. They were more concerned about environmental issues instead of people's lives.
The people of LA are looking like unprepared idiots because of the state of the superdome.
However, the national news does not play soundbites of Mayor Ray Nagin being very mad Sunday at all of the people for staying. He was extremely aggitated and said ONLY because of the fact that too many people ignored the warning was he going to go ahead and open the superdome. He emphasized over and over that this is ONLY TO BE USED AS A LAST RESORT because it will become a hot cesspool with no sewage, no water, no elec., etc. The people knew exactly what would happen BEFORE they went in the superdome.
He even said, "I am very reluctantly opening the superdome. I do not want to do this but don't know what else to do." This is why so many white people just stayed home.
They knew it would be a slow miserable death in there. As we watch the people standing in line Sunday, my family and I were saying, "OMG, what are they doing? This is nuts. Don't they realize the implorable conditions of so many being stranded in one being w/ no infrasture?" I even told my mom, "I would rather sit outside and let the hurricane take me versus sitting in there for weeks with disease and sewage all over me while starving to death." I was shocked to see so many people bringing their children in there.
It is so sad but I hate to see so many people being blamed for mother nature.
93 - Proud Cajun
I live in Baton Rouge where we have received close to 300,000 New Orleans evacuees. Our radio and local media have much better insight than what the national news media broadcasts. As a previous poster mentioned, much more behind the scenes havoc was happening. Tonight a local radio station was interviewing the people rescued and it was very educational.
A lady with a very large family decided to hunker down and ride out the storm. She said she was lucky to be in a upper level apartment to avoid the water. The family had a generator and had been watching the news all week while praying for the military to get to them. She said they were doing just fine until yesterday morning when Jesse Jackson started preaching to the officials about racism and how it was barbaric to walk around with guns treating people like animals. Her entire family was hiding out and praying the thugs would not get in their home. Within a few hours she said they ravaged her block and burned them out of their safe spot. Her elderly mother said, "That G-damn Jesse Jackson is a fool and he may have just killed us!" She said that before they were burned out they had been screaming at the tv for people to shut up because military and gun presence was the only thing that would save the good people. When they saw national guard trucks they ran to them crying and thanking them so much. She said thank God for our military because they saved our lives out there. She described it as living with wild crazy animals.
Other interviews were even more educational. At the superdome many of the good people realized the search was called off on Wednesday to restore order. Several men said thugs were running around stealing from everyone, literally raping women and children, and trying to gain control of the city. He said they were prepared with assault weapons and there was nothing the good people could do. I had no idea that on Thursday alot of black men formed vigilantes. The people being interviewed said they realized they had to fight to live because the thugs were trying to keep rescuers away in order to have free run of the city. I could tell by his voice that he was most likely an elderly man but the human spirit is so powerful because they formed this group and killed a man while he was raping a teenage girl. He said they beat him up and killed him. The man said several vigilantes had been formed and numerous thugs were beat to death by elderly men.
That made me cry as I listened in disbelief.
94 - Carol
If the President was any kind of leader, he should call upon all Mayors of every town of over 2000 people to meet with their social service and religious leaders to sponsor one family in their town. They could help them find housing and jobs and help support them financially until they got on their feet. The answer is not to create a FEMA trailer camp ghetto in a neighborhood which can go under water again. The answer is to spread out the poor and displaced and give them support to start over.
95 - Kelly
Well Carol, the last time I looked we were not living in a communist country. What makes you think that the President should have a right to tell the people from the Gulf coast where they will have to live. I'm sure you think that sounds so christian to sponsor a family and it is, but they can still sponsor a family without having to move them all over the country and away from everything they know and love. When they rebuild our beloved New Orleans, it will be better and with an improved levee system that will keep it from flooding again. You people just have to give us a chance.
96 - henny
as a foreigner looking at the t.v images and listening to the commentaries, I find it impossible to understand that a country like the US is so incapable of looking after it's citizens properly. The neglect that is displayed is so extraordinary towards it's people, that I can understand people not having any respect for the law or their politicians! The poverty that is displayed is something to be ashamed about and for a rich country it is inexcusable. I hope that this disaster teaches the politicians and people of the U.S something about egalitarianism, because it makes for a healthier society.
97 - Dan McIntyre
For every $15 membership in the Federation of Metro Tenants Assocations $1 is donated to the Hurricane Relief effort.
Click on http://www.torontotenants.org/applicat.htm
98 - Chicago Geek
I do not understand why people were not forcefully evacuated by the authorities before Katrina struck New Oreans?
DTS....................
http://www.jobs.co.in/
99 - Lennie Taylor
We have been watching CNN in Ontario, Canada and are feeling so awful for the family victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our understanding is that Canada offered assistance from the beginning, but could not act until we were asked by Pres. Bush. I will not say what the thoughts of a lot of us are about Pres. Bush, as they are not favourable. It only took 16 hours to send forces to Iraq, while we watched days before an abundance of assistance was given to the suffering people in his own country. I have taken monetary donations from my church as well as people I know, and will be taking them to the Canadian Red Cross who will forward it to the American Red Cross. We hope the American people will make someone(s) accountable for the lack of preparation and action from the very top down, especially in your next election. We will be watching and praying for you. Please don't blame God for this. We only wish there was more we could do for you.
100 - Silas Kain
as a foreigner looking at the t.v images and listening to the commentaries, I find it impossible to understand that a country like the US is so incapable of looking after it's citizens properly.
How do you think Americans feel? Would it shock you to know that many Americans aren't that shocked at the poor response? Would it shock you to know that Americans have lowered their expectations of government?
The poverty that is displayed is something to be ashamed about and for a rich country it is inexcusable. I hope that this disaster teaches the politicians and people of the U.S something about egalitarianism, because it makes for a healthier society.
The poverty is inexcusable and faith-based initiatives haven't made an impact on poverty as President Bush said they would. This disaster will teach little, if anything. Americans have an extremely short attention span. When they get tired of watching the floating bodies, rotting animal corpses, and stagnant water turning to poison they will do what they do best --- change the television channel. The complete and utter failure in the first four days of this disaster should send a wake up call from the national political committees down to the 9th Ward committee in NOLA. Now we have Federal level elected officials back pedaling in an effort to make the Feds look better. Americans have been misinformed about a lot where this is concerned and unless we DEMAND action we will never know a damn thing.
101 - Sharon Anderson
101 ON HOW GOVERNMENT WORKS IN DISASTER TIMES
There was a good article in yesterday's (9/6/05) Wall Street Journal by Bob Williams entitled "Blame Amid the Tragedy." This article deals with the discussion that many in the country and on hundreds of blogs online are now having regarding the "slow response by our government."
The writer, Bob Williams, like all Americans empathizes with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property. However his article gives us a quick 101 overview on how government is set up to work in times of disasters.
Quoting Williams:
"The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center.
The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.
In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved."
Greeneye comments: This is hard to image for me. The city leaders had a plan but did not exercise it. This disaster will obviously cause many state legislatures to update their city evacuation plans.
William continues in his article:
"A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.
The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.
Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation."
Greeneye comments: I think once this matter has been investigated and everything is on the table, the failure of New Orleans to successfully put their evacuation plan into action will cause many cities in America to review their own plans for evacuation. This disaster should also make every state legislature look at their local governments and make sure their leaders are able to make the right decision in times of a crisis.
William continues:
"Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.
The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.
In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance."
Greeneye comments: I personally believe there will be positive things that spring from this disaster. The loss of life, property and sadness that has overcome New Orleans, it's citizens and their families is staggering. But as with 911 the Spirit of America and Americans is strong and I hope and pray that this city that was flooded and just about destoryed will be rebuilt on new white page with greater integrity, decency and honor.
102 - spirit dove
Where is Cherie Currie when they need her? She is done chasing Bigfoot-I would expect her to be here helping out.
103 - Eric Olsen
at least carving a decorative sculpture or two
104 - Silas Kain
Katrina is Bush's Lewinsky. At least when Bill got his blow job there was a moment of satisfaction and a cigar. Katrina blew Bush and America wore the blue dress. Now, THAT's a sculpture I'd like to see in the town square.
105 - Dave Nalle
Katrina is a much sexier name than Monica, IMO.
Dave
106 - Anthony Grande
Silas, tell me how Katrina is Bush's mistake.
I would call it Nagin's Lewinsky because he failed his people.
107 - phil
"libs" (SILAS) are all alike with profoundly stupid comments and comparisons like the ones above. Did you think up the one "no one died when clinton lied"??? Everytime I read that bumpber sticker I want to hurl...because people did die when clinton lied...It was during that time with Monica Lewinsky that he let Ben Ladin get away, and blew up an aspirin factory because they were making "wmd's"...go figure....nothing said about that but turn around and some how blame Bush for 9-11...Now all you guys are scrambling to blame Bush for a storm's destruction.
The man has admitted mistakes were made, something Clinton only did when they could prove he was a liar...on national tv...about an affair with an underling on the job. Clinton just ...
was a sleaze ball...and that appeals to the left so that they can rationalize anything ..except what Bush does...
108 - Steve S
The man has admitted mistakes were made, something Clinton only did when they could prove he was a liar
and Bush came forward ONLY when he realized that no spin would cover up the fact that he put an incompetent man in an important job. There's no way to cover up blame in that, so you might as well go ahead and take responsibility. It's the only thing you have left.
Not much better than coming forward only when people can prove something...wait..it's the exact same thing.
109 - phil
Steve, Bush made a mistake hiring the wrong guy for the job, ...something anybody in that position could do, Clinton just screwed his employees...literally
110 - Steve S
Steve, Bush made a mistake hiring the wrong guy for the job, ...something anybody in that position could do
why do you set the bar so low for your President? You aren't allowed mistakes like that. Um, damn.
So we can add resume checking to the list of things the President is allowed to bungle.
We'll put it right next to 'finding proof of WMD'.
111 - phil
i wish Kerry was around to do the job...He would have gotten right down in the flood waters right away and hep dem poor people...till he got hurt steppin on a nail or somethinwould have had at least three purple hearts by now
112 - phil
come on now thats funny...every body needs a good laugh about now
113 - strangelydim
WALMART PATS ITSELF ON THE BACK FOR ITS DONATIONS, BUT YET,
My husband is a snack-food vendor who services Wal-Mart on a daily basis. He just called to say he had watched the manager of a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market give instructions to throw discontinued disposable diapers and bottled water into the crusher because he had not been told they could be 'donated' to the Hurricane victims. When the employee questioned it, the manager said they had donated enough. They have posted big signs all around about their continued 'giving' on shelves that are empty of product, when in actuality the vendors of the product are writing off the cost of those items from what Wal-Mart owes for them. This isn't just a recent thing - it happens every day of every month. We've worked for them for years in one capacity or another. How do we get the word out? I agree they have assisted, but they have recouped most if not all of what they have donated straight from the manufacturers or vendors.
114 - phil
yes i would have to agree the walmarts of the world are a far greater enemy than we realize, and actually yield more power than any political party
115 - phil
now it is starting to come out that the local goverment is the one to put under a microscope...It was reported that funds appropriated by the federal goverment for levie repairs to louisianna were embezzelled on the local level and that prior to the storm there was an audit going on investigating several groups of individuals. Also there is evidence that monbey being donated now is being abuse by local authorities!
116 - phil
when hurricane rita hits and devastates another area and the combined effects of two back to back disasters cause a massive upheaveal
in the economy, will you blame Bush
117 - phil
so Joe you are saying that homosexuality is a disease...like alcholism. Although that is a really bad comparison, I not sure what makes you feel alcoholic heterosexuals are better parents than sober gay parents