Katrina Live Thread XII

Various ^ | 31 August 2005 | Various

[bwteim]

And here is a non-animal story....

Did you catch that video yesterday (CNN I think) of a little girl in pink shorts standing on a curb under water in streets fully flooded, with an older man, her grandfather, probably, standing near their old car, packed full in the back, and she is saying to camera teaam: help us please, please push our car?

THAT was a *heart breaker*.

[Ellesu]

Worse than animals.

[Ovation_girl]

What a horrible experience for those who were not a part of those creating problems at the Superdome and for all the children. And who is to say that housing 45,000 at the Astrodome will not lead to the same deteriorating conditions with restrooms malfunctioning and vandalism and general uprising as time passes. I mean even at a football game, stadium bathrooms become a total mess...

[mwl1]

Well, at least it gives BJ something constructive to do.

[Diddle E. Squat]

For those who haven't read the article you referenced, it is here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002463400_katrinasuperdome01.html

[r9etb]

On a side note, if you expect the worst, there are never any surprises, and the dynamics are dampened greatly.

Plus which, you're able to respond more intelligently, because you'll have already considered what you'd do next.

In my line of work (satellites) one finds that a lot of mission failures are caused by a failure to ask (much less answer and plan for) the question: "what's the worst thing that could happen?"

There are a lot of folks in NO and elsewhere who clearly didn't ask that question. And the mediots are now showing that they haven't thought about it either.

[Darth Gill]

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulard

Soulard is a historic neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a thriving, eclectic area; and is home to the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States and a popular Farmers' market.

It's listed in the encyclopedia as the second largest. I didn't make it up. But if you want to think of Mobile or any other city as being "second largest" that's fine with me. Personally, I detest the idea of "mardis gras." :)

[Spktyr]

What format or player is that? It doesn't load up for me.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Katie makes me want to pop her. But then, she's done that for years. I can't believe I'm listening to the Today show...

[AmericanInTokyo]

No estimate on Japanese tourists there. The Japan embassy in D.C. would know. It is not particularly a Japanese tourist season, as schools and workers are mostly in place in Japan. I would not imagine any. However, any Japanese tourists stuck in that Superdome would have had a nervous breakdown by now.

Unfortunately, for most Japanese, although they know "rooizianna" (Lousiana) for jazz and Cajun cooking, they also have a strong image of it as being unsafe--fairly or unfairly--for the name "Yoshihiro Hattori" rings in their ears since 1992. It would be safe to say that many Japanese are not surprised of reports of looters firing back at aid workers...and total social breakdown. For many of them, that city and state has been and will be very 'kowai'.

I've come across no shortage of people in Japan who have said, "why do you Americans go to all these foreign countries to restore order when you have such dangerous places still within your own country that are not peaceful and orderly". It has always been a tough question as a represenative of America to them, unofficially and whether I like it or not, to answer.

[Pravious]

"This doesn't even look like America."

Ditto. It's sad and embarassing.

President Bush also pissed me off this morning - saw a clip from his interview with Good Morning America, and he's SMILING (smiling?!?!) as he explains how many refineries we've lost (well... free hint, government... LET THE OIL COMPANIES BUILD SOME NEW ONES!). That and the "we'll build New Orleans back, better than ever, just wait and see!" BS he shoveled in our general direction yesterday. I don't want to hear platitudes and political BS... I expect the Feds to actually DO something (like, um, send in the Marines maybe?) to try and take control of things, because it's obvious the State people in charge (the Governor and Mayor of New Orleans) are about as useful in this situation as I am.

[LadyBuzz]

I did see that - truly a heartbreaker

[Frank_Discussion]

HEY! Update on my friend - GOOD News!!

One sister showed up on the doorstep with her two kids, the other sis still in the hospital, and the mom was found and is okay!

Yahoo!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I hadn't even heard of the St. Louis Mardi Gras until you mentioned it.

I used to live near NO parade routes. I hate Mardi Gras.

[Ellesu]

a child was raped in the dome? OMG! I have been without power, I had not heard this.

[SE Mom]

Blackhawks landing at the SD now...armed soliders being dropped...

[LadyBuzz]

It ain't gonna be pretty - another disaster waiting to happen

[andyandval]

You can find the link here.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1474619/posts

[jeffers]

"To: jeffers

Crap....lost my streaming video/audio. I was watching the one through CBS news. Is any other any better than the rest?"

Dialup here, pulling so hard I've breached my ethernet cables...data packets three inches deep on the floor, rising rapidly, no streaming anything.

[bwteim]

And I think that captures the essence of the problems more than the looter images. They (that little girl and her family) and others are in serious difficulty and we have no time to debate how they got to that state at this time.