It's marked on the right side of this picture. I'm repostin g it, becsause the original post is in the first page of 250 responses. 
Posted on 09/09/2005 11:06:37 AM PDT by hipaatwo
Who are these podunk fools - Send the Army in there with an Abrams to shove his fat butt off the bridge - how dare they presume to close a federal highway and stop victims and relief
We know that, according to Major Garret, the Red Cross had supplies ready to deliver to the superdome and it was a relatively short distance away.
We know that the Red Cross believed it was important to get the supplies to the people at the Superdome, even before the hurricane hit.
We know that the State Homeland Security ordered the Red Cross to keep out of NOL, citing safety concerns.
We know that the bridge to Gretna was blocked by police officers keeping the people contained to NOL.
What we don't know yet is, was it the same bridge.
ping
Reading the entirety of the article makes it even worse. The reanimated Bull Connor sheriffs were firing over the heads of those black folks trying to cross the bridge. All totally illegal of course, and totally racist. I hope there is a way to sue their asses off, and make them as poor as the ones they were firing "at." I wonder where their school buses were by the way? Since they were on high ground, they didn't flood out. They are probably still parked where they were 10 days ago. Where their high and dry schools opened as shelters? Of course not.
There were a 100 buses in the parking lot of the Dome and Convention Center. If you want buses the trip isn't far.
It's marked on the right side of this picture. I'm repostin g it, becsause the original post is in the first page of 250 responses.
So for many of them, it wasn't that they didn't evacuate for being unwilling to leave. They had no way to get out. Which makes this a very different case than someone who stayed in Gulfport when they had a car to get out.
Around New Orleans its doubtful that he was a Republican. One sad fact is that these poor blacks have lived in squalor since the Civil War, controled by the racist Democrat machine in Louisiana. Since they are so compassionate and so concerned with the fate of the African American population, why did they never do anything for them other than keep them down and trot them out on election day to vote Dem?
The other sad fact for me is the responses on this thread by supposed caring people. Sure there are criminal elements in the population of black New Orleans. But what about all of the decent people who were just trying to get out of the hellhole? Apparently people on this thread are content that some of them died of heatstroke, dehydration, and lack of medicine on that bridge. I think the police chief/sheriff was criminal.
Thanks. Needless to say, this does not surprise me. Bull Connor just doesn't give a damn.
When government fails, society must pick up the slack, and failing that, individual initiative must rule the day. When individuals are allowed/have been trained to do nothing in direct contravention of self-interest then they mill about the streets of a flooded city-cum-toxic-swamp blaming everyone else for their troubles.
No car, no bus, no train, but you still have feet. Or how about people who did have cars or other means of personal transport looking after their neighbors? Once the storm hit it very quickly became every man for himself and that was way too late for many. I thought it was disgusting how the first places abandonded, apparently, were the nursing homes, with the patients still locked inside. Great commentary on human nature, don't you think? Whatever happened to forethought and planning? Not like the newspapers and television stations in New Orleans were not repeating, at least three times a day, what people should do in an emergency. The first rule of any emergency: be prepared.
The real issues here are not "what did the government (at all levels) do for the people?" but "what did the peope do for themselves?"
The answer, in any case, to both rhetorical questions is: nothing.
That is not the point. Walking for miles would have been just as dangerous than staying put and wasn't an option for most. They had all the food, water, supplies within New Orleans (on dry land), more so than the small town they were kept out of.
A trick is being played here. There were tons upon tons of supplies in the city proper that was untouched and not utilized. The police did not keep the peace and there was a complete breakdown of local authority. How in heck would walking fifty miles going to improve their lot? The Mayor and Governor should be thrown in prison.
And apparently they weren't even allowed to use those afterwards.
Thanks for making my point for me.
If you were black, and lived in NO, without a car, would you want to go to the superdome, or cross the bridge and be on high ground, and walk right into Bull Connor's office, and say high, got a place to stay? How bout letting me stay in one of them school buses? Or find a church or something. Or better yet, go to a hospital or medical facility. In any event, what they did is illegal. They should be sued, and then sued some more. Their lives should be made a living hell.
Last time I looked, there were eight points on the compass, and west, across this bridge, was merely one of them. Can't walk west, start walking in another direction.
As for the looting, if transportation was an issue, why weren't people stealing bicycles or cars off dealer's lots for the express purpose of getting out? I'm sure some did (and good for them!) but from what we've seen, the high-priority items were guns, home electronics and jewelry. Now you tell me, are people engaged in that kind of activity worried about getting out/being rescued or are they attempting to take advantage of a situation only to have it blow up in their faces?
Any way you slice it, this was merely another example of people too stupid to pour piss out of a boot, with instructions of the heel.
I know this question has been asked of you before, but pray tell, if these people were on foot, where and how far were they going to go - and what were they going to do when they got there?
The problem is not that the bridge was "closed" by the local sheriff and they couldn't hoof it to Houston or even to Gretna. If they had gotten in, they likely would have taken to looting Gretna - certainly for water (the only thing essential at this time) and likely a lot else. That means breakins, fires, mayhem, possibly violence against whoemever was there. Chaos.
The problem was, aid was not allowed in by the State and the local government had completely broken down. Looting and vandalism was rampant in NO. This would likely have occured in Gretna, and the grannies trapped in wheelchairs at the Terrordome still would not have gotten food and water from those who had managed to make it into town.
Of course, Shep and Whorealdo would have been pleased...
I live on a dead end county public road with only a few handfuls of houses on it. No stores, no gas stations. If the same terrible situation happened here, rest assured we residents would close our road, a public road, from wandering people - some portion of which might be interested in a lot more than food and water. If we saw a real need and had the means we would provide help at the head of the road. But nobody is getting in unless they are legitimate law enforcement or accompanied by them.
You can't blame the temporarily blockaded bridge for those who may die in the future because they to evacuate. Anyone who wanted to leave has had a way out for most of this week.
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