Posted on 09/09/2005 11:06:37 AM PDT by hipaatwo
Think local officials are less to blame for deaths in New Orleans than federal officials? In the most jaw-dropping story of the week, UPI has the police chief of Gretna, Louisiana, admitting that he closed off one of the major arteries out of New Orleans on Monday, before the storm hit:
"We shut down the bridge," Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit.
"All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down," he said. The bridge in question -- the Crescent City Connection -- is the major artery heading west out of New Orleans across the Mississippi River.
He added that the small town, which he called "a bedroom community" for the city of New Orleans, would have been overwhelmed by the influx. "There was no food, water or shelter" in Gretna City, Lawson said. "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people. If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged."
Just get's deeper and deeper.
Total failure of leadership at the local level.
Ping! to 618!
I'm not going to rehash all that I witnessed and experienced in this forum in the past week or so. We disagree and that's all I really have to say.
I have seen some of the nastiest games ever played- played out right before me on the computer- by the cruelest of people.
There was one week a couple of months ago I was called a *racial slur*, a stupid woman and a bigot in one thread.
I learned to move on from it. And seriously it did not even cause me to pause.
BTW- What is the alternative?
To have a mod come in and play nanny.
There are people in the world who say mean things- this fact should not be a surprise to any of us.
The internet is a breeding ground for venting and ranting- so , yes- some people will lash out- some people will even write things they would enver say or that they don't even really feel- so what?
It is just noise and on the internet is pretty easy to avoid it all together-scroll over it.
I LOVE a good fight........especially against the ignorant and narrowminded creeps who hide in the shadows on this forum and rear their ugly heads on threads like this.
The bozos don't speak for most of us, and they sure as hell don't speak for me.
Stick a finger in their eyes by sticking around.
Don't go, stick around.
We certainly need you and I would really miss your posts.
Ping me when you need someone to cover your back, I'll be there.
I know I'm late to this, we were camping.
But please don't leave. Please.
Ping me and I will smackdown anyone who is being crass to you.
Please. You're one of my heroes.
Please stay. I'm too new and stupid to navigate without your ping list. Just crossing my fingers hoping that you will stay.
DO not let the HATERS, morons & arrogant lunatics drive you away!
SADLY, we have more than a few of each of those benighted creatures on FR.
they HATE conservative "persons of colour", like you & me, because we do not conform to their preconceived notions.
free dixie,sw
Ok then, were the riots in Lansing a couple of years back "race riots"? What about the ones in Seattle and in San Fransisco? Or is it only a race riot when the participants are mostly black rather then mostly white?
I am trying to get people to stop swallowing the race baiting kool-aid served up by the MSM. But sadly it seems some here are gulping it down and holding out their cups for more.
That premise and vague promise of this site is belied by the spiteful and seemingly capricious bannings of witty and intelligent posters while narrow-minded mental midgets run roughshod over decent people.
There are other conservative forums and blogs to read and discuss where inane and shallow analysis can be more easily sidestepped.
It's a shame but I remind myself that I read this site for 5 years without signing up for a reason. Once registered and posting it's too easy to ignore unacceptable comments and behavior until one steps back and sees the big picture.
There was potential here, but smart and funny are no longer prized. Mean and stupid are welcomed with open arms.
I know you are welcomed elsewhere, Mike, so I know I'll be seeing you.
Every open-minded person regardless of race is appalled by what has happened in the aftermath of Katrina. Certainly there has been race baiting, but it has beed done by both whites AND blacks. This does not make it right, but it shows that there are still some stereotypes that linger in our society. And unfortunately situations like these bring them to the surface.
What people need to realize is that what happened in New Orleans is the result of decades of state and local authorities turning a blind eye to crime, and they ignored the situation because to do something about it would interfere with their own corruption. When people seek elective office to enrich themselves through graft rather than to serve, the entire society suffers. This does not excuse what the looters have done, but it did contribute to the conditions that sparked it.
If you leave, it will be a tremendous loss for us. We have had two events in the past six months that seemed to have driven a wedge between our members (Terri Schiavo was the other), but I think that in the end they prompt us to examine what we truly stand for and this makes us stronger. Soon this will also be behind us and we can learn from it.
Amen!
Please understand in every community with the population FR has increased to, is going to have it's share of idiots.
Amen again.
That is what happened in NO, and that is what happened in LA.
If you have some evidence that mobs of "white folks" were at some time stealing clothing, TVs and booze. Burning down buildings,raping children and murdering people in a drug addicted haze and threatening to kill rescue workers trying to save people of their own skin color- at any period in history- please show me so I can condemn that and call that a race riot.
Now it is YOUR assumption that the terminology "race riots" means all "black folks are doing it", not mine. I never said anything close to that.
If you are trying to tell me that the majority of people rioting in NO were NOT dark skinned welfare recipients go ahead.
You may imply that I am a bigot for refusing to grant criminals sensitivity in riots - do it all you want- but I'm not a bigot- You can say it-and other websites , the one who hates freerepublic and revels in this thread, can go all giddy talking about what a bigot I am and we are at Freerepublic- but I am not- so nothing you or anyone says is going to make me feel bad about it or change my opinion of the situation.
I do,however, feel a certain responsibility for what has happened in NO- I was a social worker and I went to school for four years to learn how to perpetuate a welfare system and worked in a profession that has trashed our country more than anything else in history.
I even worked with some folks from Compton getting them easy work so they could get their checks, and who killed a "white" guy during the riots.
Why? Because he was white. I Have the blood stained memories still.
I am sorry about my involvement with trying to get Jesse Jackson elected and working for a very liberal-Democrat Congressman and now I see the damage. Welfare has ruined people's lives not the color of their skin- not the amount of pigmentation they have- not the country their ancestors came from.
So I feel pretty sensitive about what is going on with this myself-, so if someone says ...all those social workers and liberals ruined this country-look what they have done to the people of NO , look at what liberal idiots they are- I would know it was true.
The difference is I am not crying victim- I would rather spend my time trying to fix it.
That's a little overboard, don't you think?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.