Hurricane Prompts Awkward Questions ( One Cannot Ignore Away the Underclass in a Disaster)

BBC ^ | 4 Sept 2005 | Elinor Shields

[SAJ]

Quite a reasonable sentiment, bar one thing.

The mayor and the governor (and their predecessors, to be sure!) had precisely ZERO intention of getting any measureable number of people out of poverty, however defined. The political class in both large cities and poor states (NOLA is, of course, both) can only retain their power by creating and maintaining, and perpetuating if at all possible, a dependent class that will trade its votes for a handout cheque.

[teenyelliott]

It is serious CYA time in LA.

They are all scrambling to make this someone else's fault.

[Reaganghost]

"The city famous for its jazz clubs and horse-drawn carriage rides was also a place in which about one in three children lived in poverty, in one of the poorest states in the country. Observers say this group was particularly vulnerable in the face of a hurricane. Many of those trapped by Katrina's floodwaters lived in dilapidated neighbourhoods that were long known to be exposed to disaster if the levees failed. And a large number would have had no means to flee the region as the storm loomed - a recent US census found that one-fifth of the city's residents had no access to a car. "We don't have transportation," one resident told WHBF-TV. "We're living paycheck to paycheck, it's not like we're just able to get up and leave." A former leader of the black caucus in the House of Representatives agrees. "It is one thing to receive a warning to get out - it's something else to have the ability to get out," US Congressman James Clyburn said. Uneasy questions "

Sorry, the wrong questions are being asked. The question that needs asking is, "If these people had not been turned into welfare dependents, would they have had the initiative to get out and improve their own standard of living or would they have stayed there and starved because they are truly helpless? Democrats have taken away the land of opportunity for these people and trapped them in a dependent substandard and dangerous life style.

"..undermine the middle class's already shaky trust in FEMA in the future.."

Every time I see a post on this website that fosters the image of our government as competent bordering on omnipotent, I want to throw up. Unfortunately, there are a few things that we have not yet identified a better way to do than government. Government planning, theoretically one of FEMA's functions, is an oxymoron. Government security or Homeland security is not a joke, but most people on this forum know that flight security depends as much or more on the people on the plane than on screeners on the ground. The same applies to our individual safety on the street. Government never seems to learn, they keep turning criminals loose to prey on people. Democrats want to disarm people thereby removing the most important protection that actually adds some security to our streets. Unfortunately or sadly, much of our security depends on the ineptness of others instead of government efforts. I served during the era of the draft. Not denigrating the fighting men of that day, but anybody who doesn't recognize the improvement of the all volunteer (professional soldier) military of today where government is essentially subcontracting our defense to dedicated professionals rather than the military bureacracy of the post WWII days is blind or not playing with a full deck. Please people, never forget the words of President Reagan, "Government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem." The United States will never be safe as long as a single Democrat holds elected public office.

[aquila48]

It isn't just the poor in NO that were black. Isn't the power structure in NO (mayor and council) also mostly black? Why aren't they being held up for the most criticism since they are the first line of defense and they did squat to help their own poor.

There is a strong correlation between city with black leadership and miserable places to live. I wonder what possibly could explain that!?

[janetgreen]

What a sad situation that those buses were sitting there and not used. The "Mayor" has lots of 'splainin to do, but of course the damage is already done.

Hopefully this will point out the importance of electing responsible people to city and state governments. A good example is in California, where it seems that people are elected on the basis of name recognition and/or ethnicity only, with no thought of whether that person is qualified to do the job or act in an emergency situation.

Many people won't even take ten minutes to try to investigate the person they're voting for, even in this age of easily accessible information.

[ClaireSolt]

I don't think that he has any kind of good relations with any other communities in the state. He is a hostile, confrontational man and it is becoming increasingly clear that other communities did not want his problems. I heard the black mayor of Baton Rouge warning looters that they had better not show up ion his city or he would put them ion jail. Thre just isn't any love lost between rural, church-goers and sin city inhabitants.

[King Prout]

I reckon the way upstate LA feels about NOLA is similar to the way downstat Illinois feels about Chicago.

[CTOCS]

Sad, but true.

Washington DC, Detroit, Atlanta (not the burbs), New Orleans...

[Clemenza]

My parents get their news from the lamestream media. My dad told me that it has largely been a Bush bash. My foreign friends who do not understand our system of government keep asking me "why didn't Bush evacuate these people?"

[Pagey]

I think they should ask their 'so attentive' Mayor and Governor.