Now show me the demographics on the assholes causing the post-hurricane-flooding misery.
That.......that will be the telling stat.
Demographics for a given city should be approached with caution; much depends on where the city limits line (or parish line, or county line) is drawn. How much "suburban" area is incorporated into a given city? I would surmise that the lines are close-in in New Orleans, and that the city contains relatively little suburban-type territory. Like Washington and Atlanta, also unable to annex suburban areas, New Orleans is a black-majority city, but with a high income, highly educated white minority. What's largely missing, in New Orleans, Atlanta, Washington, and other centercities is middle-class areas.
So, New Orleans (within the city limits, not the metro area) is two-thirds black. Why, then, does it seem that 99% of the SuperDome refugees; 99% of the looters; 99% of the armed, roving gang members; 99% of the people on roofs and bridges are black? Several reasons suggest themselves. Economics, of course: the mostly upper-income whites either lived on higher ground, and/or had the means to leave. But, to be politically incorrect, it should be noted that even under "normal" circumstances, crime rates among blacks are exponentially higher than crime rates among whites. Let me be blunt: if New Orleans had been a white-majority city, the instances of looting, murder, and rape would have been far lower.
None of this is to suggest that the folks in New Orleans should be left to their own. Heroic efforts to save them, both public and private, continue. But the race baiters and the poverty pimps are out in force, even among the Fox News anchors. And that's a shame. Any suggestion that responses are slower in black areas than in white areas is unfounded.
And it could depend on the nature of the question. For example, using public transportation to get to work does not mean the respondent doesn't own a car - it just means that they don't use a car to get to work.
The simple fact behind the level of this disaster seems to be that somebody (namely, the mayor and staffers) should have read the disaster plans, realized that the walls were designed to protect from a Category 3 or less storm, and been prepared to get people out.
All the planning in the world does no good unless and until custodians of the public welfare are prepared and trained to implement the plans at minimum cost in lives, human welfare, and money.
The local government in New Orleans, and the state, failed to do what was needed to protect the citizens. Eventually, voters get the government they deserve.
The per capita income of blacks does not include Earned Income Credit, Food Stamps, Section 8 Housing and a number of other federal programs. Your "demographics" are meaningless.
Fact: Food and Water should have been Airlifted into NO within hours of the Levees breaking and it becoming obvious how difficult it would be for help to arrive via ground.
Fact: President Bush, the Governors of Mississippi and Louisiana, and Alabama and the Mayors of the larger towns and cities, Members of Congress should move into the affected areas and set up living and working command and control centers.
Yes, the President should move to New Orleans with additional temporary "White House" locations in MS and AL. Of course all necessary and prudent security should be transfered, as well, along with the fullest possible communications technologies. The President and the others should be seen pitching in physically for some time every day doing some volunteer rescue activities, such as handing out food and water, patroling with the NG, etc.
This would demonstrate the extraordinary leadership based on real empathy and compassion, that is essential.
It would also make it possible to provide leadership based on truly holding the entire chain of command of every level of government responsible for turning the disaster around with no inexcusable delay tolerated.
This action would do more than anything else to turn the mob psychology that has resulted in so many horrible acts to be doused and to rekindle the better angels of the human nature in all the suffering souls in the region.
Fact: New Orleans and all other cities, towns, and villages that require rebuilding must not be rebuilt as they were, where they were.
New cities should be built from the ground up. The new cities can then be built according to the best scientific principles of site planning, architecture, engineering, city planning, infrastructure, communications, energy, and transport, etc.
This is how lemonade can be made from lemons.
ping for reference
Thanks for the great info. Added it to my armory of facts.