Posted on 09/04/2005 8:55:02 PM PDT by wagglebee
International singing star Celine Dion has little problem with the large amount of looting taking place in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, and she's slamming the U.S. government for its perceived slow response to Katrina's impact.
"You know, some people are stealing and they're making a big deal out of it," Dion said on CNN's "Larry King Live," as she said she'd donate $1 million toward relief.
"Oh, they're stealing 20 pair of jeans or they're stealing television sets. Who cares? They're not going to go too far with it. Maybe those people are so poor, some of the people who do that they're so poor they've never touched anything in their lives. Let them touch those things for once."
Dion, an celebrity from Canada who now lives and performs in Las Vegas, took a double swipe at U.S. war policy while criticizing the recovery effort.
"How come it's so easy to send planes in another country to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives?"
"I open the television, there's people still there waiting to be rescued and for me it's not acceptable. I know there's reasons for it. I'm sorry to say I'm being rude but I don't want to hear those reasons."
Fellow singer Harry Connick Jr., who hails from New Orleans, and was able to make it into the hard-hit region last week, said he was horrified by the number of bodies, including an old woman in a chair at the city's convention center.
Connick also told King a friend commandeered an abandoned city bus to help evacuate refugees.
"And I'm thinking, if [she] can get on a bus and drive a bus out with sick people, you know, well, we can't get a barge to park back up on the Mississippi behind the convention center and get these people out?"
The Bush administration was also accused of racism on national TV during a celebrity relief effort on NBC.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people!" exclaimed rapper Kayne West.
West continued:
I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help – with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way – and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!
Meanwhile, actor Sean Penn made his own personal attempt to aid those in New Orleans, but the small boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak.
The 45-year-old Oscar winner had planned on rescuing stranded children, but an Agence France-Presse report indicates he apparently forgot to plug a hole in the vessel's bottom, which took on water within seconds of its launch.
Asked about his goal in the soaked city, Penn replied: "Whatever I can do to help."
But with the boat loaded with members of his entourage, including his personal photographer, one bystander taunted: "How are you going to get any people in that thing?"
I've had it with these self-important goofs. I don't listen to their crappy music or their inane movies, and I wish everyone else would just start ignoring them.
I wouldn't go to one of her concerts if I was being paid!
So, ultimately, it is about saving lives.
I just checked the Caesars Palace website. The crappy seats start at $87.50 and they go up to $225.00. To hear a few crappy songs that have been so overplayed on the radio that anybody with a brain is sick of them.
http://www.caesars.com/Caesars/LasVegas/Entertainment/ANewDay/CDTicketSales.htm
You're absolutely right. As a practical matter looting must be stopped. You can't allow it in a society or an emergency. But it's still hard to judge those people. I don't like them. Most of the time I hate them. But I can understand Dion's point of view.
It's one thing to steal food and water, but rape and murder is an entirely different matter.
L
I honestly don't think it's a point of view; it's more just emoting.
Let'em loot, rape, shoot and scoot. Damn, I is a rapper.
Probably the Penthouse Suite at Caesar's Palace.
Or, post her home address on the web and in all the papers.
Stealing food and water in that kind of emergency is not stealing. Stealing TVs and jewelry is...and that's what I was talking about. Rape and murder are another thing entirely.
Stealing food and water in that kind of emergency is not stealing. Stealing TVs and jewelry is...and that's what I was talking about. Rape and murder are another thing entirely.
I'm not in the mood to doubt her sincerity.
Celine, what if one of those men was so horny and had never touched a girl. Would you let him rape your little girl for 4 hours 'til she died?
Well, Blacks received their freedom 142 years ago.
Me neither. I only doubt her sanity and knowledge.
It's a puzzlement.
Leni
The Irish of 142 years ago were never formally enslaved...but they weren't free.
If you try to make policy from her statements she looks like an idiot...but if you look at the human side of it... Well, some very wise people have warned us about the dangers of judging others.
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