Posted on 09/02/2005 2:54:29 AM PDT by jimbo123
As buses finally started arriving to pluck refugees from the Louisiana Superdome yesterday, a horrifying picture emerged of the squalor, violence and mayhem that they faced during the days spent huddled in the stadium.
Twenty-five thousand miserable people — many of whom lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina — hunkered down with little food and little water, overflowing toilets, stifling heat and the unbearable stench of human waste.
Children slept in pools of urine. Crack vials littered the bathrooms. Bloodstains smeared the walls near vending machines that had been pried open. Gunfire has ricocheted down the corridors.
There were two reports of rape, one involving a child. Three people died — one a distraught man who jumped to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for.
"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," Taffany Smith, 25, told the Los Angeles Times, while she gripped her 3-week-old son in her arms.
-snip-
Supplies were dangerously low, with one mother saying officials told her to reuse diapers by scraping them out when they got dirty.
-snip-
"There is feces on the walls," said Bryan Hebert, 43. "There is feces all over the place."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I agree with you.
IMHO, the events in NO are actually a testing and act of grace from God upon America.
It appears to me that God has definitely blessed the area in that after the storm passed, outstanding weather was held for the last week. Most damage initially seemed less than anticipated, then the levees began to flood.
The real strength of a community or city of people rests in how they think and behave, regardless of environment.
Those who complain the most, generally lack a capacity to be satiated at anything, while there still remain those who have peace of mind and joy in the face of the harshest adversity.
I saw a report from an elderly gent this morning who had lost everything and doesn't know where his wife was, yet when it came time to evacuate valued his life more than his worldly possesions. He exuded a confidence and peace, yet obviously still concerned for his wife. He wasn't asking for charity nor complaining, but when an opportunity was made available to go on TV, he considered that might broadcast his whereabouts to eventually reach his wife if she had made it out safely.
Nice try but the incompetence has been on the local side. Bush does need to take the reigns away from the incompetent boobs in Louisiana and his only fault is that he probably should have done it a couple of days ago when it was becoming quite clear that the Governor and Mayor are worthless.
I agree - we're getting only part of the information right now and reason needs to prevail. But does seem to be taking a long time to get water to those folks on the bridge. FEMA director just said that the troops would be there Sunday - that's just too long to respond.
It isn't appropriate to compare sanitation of toilets during Super Bowl to this situation. I'm sure that lack of electricity affected waste management facilities.
People have lived for so long in a robust economy and market that they have forgotten what it takes to build from the bottom up without that market available to them.
Very few people consider the logistical consequences in orders of magnitude.
Instead, most people in positions of authority today, have inherited the logistical relationships from a previously built nation.
This disaster has produced the exact opposite. It has dissolved into chaos and anarchy due to selfishness, brutality and ineptitude. This has resulted in a downward spiral.
Pretty soon, one way or another, New Orleans will be empty. Then the focus will shift to the places where the displaced citizens have accumulated. Look out for a repetition of the NO violence in these places as the realization that they are permanent refugees finally starts to sink in with these people.
sounds like a housing project in any inner city. Particularly the elevators.
The toilets are full - the waste bins are full. If one of your family has to pee, you all go together for safety. No one is guarding your possessions. Someone may take your spot, where you might have been comparably safe. You have to wade through waste anyway. I can see exhausted mothers telling their children, just do it here.
Instead these able bodied men just sat there and waited for others to help them or they took to the streets to prey on their fellow citizens.
"The toilets are full - the waste bins are full."
So do something about it. Empty them, clean them, do something useful. But don't add to the mess.
".. you all go together for safety. No one is guarding your possessions. Someone may take your spot, where you might have been comparably safe. You have to wade through waste anyway."
So? Doesn't that reflect on themselves? Why is it not relatively safe? That's why they went in there, to be safe from the storm.. yet they can't be safe from each other? 70,000 people attend football games in the Superdome, half of them get drunk but they aren't committing rape, murder and mayhem.. There behavior in a time when they should be helping each other leaves a lot to be desired, don't you think?
We are not seeing those places outside of NOLA -- Mississippi, Alabama, the outlying parishes of NOLA, were all the good is occurring. The MSM is transfixed by NOLA. We only get the worst part of the picture.
The management of this fiasco was infantile at every local NOLA level, save for spots here and there.
Considering your tagline ("If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."), I am glad you are not in the government also.
Hey at least Cindy Sheehan is off the front page.
"Yours is the first reply that gets to the heart of the problem and you will probably catch hell for it."
Nothing yet, Sarge, which shows me that most agree the problem is with the "angry young black males" but are afraid to say it for fear of being chastised.
Hey JWPJR,
Excellent post. Clear, concise and to the point. The local government failed, the politicans in that state failed and now the domestic terrorists are running the show.
Truth always scares the democrats,
NSNR-POA
Hey WA,
The bitch needs to take a number and go see the local Imam. She can eat those MRE's, or starve to death.
NSNR
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