Katrina Live Thread, Part XIV

Various ^ | 2 September 2005 | Various

[oceanview]

phone lines don't need commercial electricity.

[Spktyr]

Unless Sean Penn is flying a chopper or flying people out on his private aircraft, he can go take a flying leap...

[Cboldt]

Phone service runs independently from power. That is, if you have an old fashioned land line phone. If you don't have one, get one.

[BurbankKarl]

There is an entire shelter in MS that came down with dissintary...bloody diarrea....said they must have swallowed the bad water...

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Yep, I think the city was around 70 per cent African American...welfare was there, but not all urban blacks by any means are on welfare. There have been aggressive programs designed to get mothers off welfare, that have been pretty good, at least when I was involved with the program. A lot of the mothers weren't third generation welfare mothers. A lot of the women I dealt with were from marriages or relationships that had fallen apart and left them with little education and kids in tow...and they had a lot of motivation to make life better for their kids.

Of course, there were others who were just coasting...

[debg]

She's "not desperate like some people on their roof!"

[oceanview]

that's FEMA's fault too Karl. Its Brown's fault that these people refuse to leave their homes.

</sarcasm>

[plushaye]

Yes, there it is. Thanks. Strong men have quaked before 'that look'.

[lainie]

I saw some of that (Robert Reich). I hadn't forgotten, but was reminded: he is a core-of-the-soul socialist. He's moving to teach at Berkeley this fall, because he wants to see the less fortunate slobs that can't afford private universities become bigger wage earners (and presumably taxpayers). And, you know, to give something back to the little people. He's very selfless like that.

[oceanview]

she hears the helicopter. GO OUTSIDE AND WAVE AT IT FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!

[conservative cat]

I don't like all the vaccines, either. I think that it is better to quarantine and treat the exposed kids before turning them loose on the kids in the schools. My older two have received all of their shots but my youngest hasn't had Hep B (bloodborne, sexually transmitted) or Chicken Pox (no guarantee of permanent immunity like the actual illness.)

[BurbankKarl]

James Lee Witt was paid $500k to develop the state disaster plan last year... I can't wait for the Congressional hearings.

[debg]

Sounds like a neighborhood that hasn't been searched. (Hard to know since she's stated she's heard helicopters but hasn't gone outside.)

[CedarDave]

How's she know the FOX number, that's what I want to know? I know some of the landlines are working; the Bell building downtown is the only one where there are lights at night.

[DrewsMum]

Sean penn just knows that he won't be able to run his mouth about the Prez later if he didn't do something himself

[lainie]

The last I heard about an insane bar owner in the FQ was last Sunday night, when the Cigar Bar dude said he wasn't leaving (and invited the city coroner to go ahead and sign his death certificate in advance). There's black humor and then there's just plain old stupidity.

[mystery-ak]

OMG...I didn't know that....

[Spktyr]

Yup. Order your popcorn now...

[No Blue States]

"Unless Sean Penn is flying a chopper or flying people out on his private aircraft, he can go take a flying leap..."

[DouglasKC]

While the thread is slow, allow me to make a comment. While prayer is vital, Blanco's call to prayer Wednesday morning, the morning after the levee burst, seemed a sort of resignation. A moment of prayer, certainly, then---"Everyone evacuate", "Stop the looting or we will shoot you," "Moblize the boats and helis that are staged but can't come in due to shots being fired at them", and on and on. Decisive action was required, and Blanco asked the citizens to spend the day in prayer... Yes, thankful you survived, at that point, but the fight for survival was just beginning

Yup, and the point we need to keep pounding is that she has 30,000 Louisiania National Guard troops under her direct command. She didn't have to wait for Bush. She could have sent in these people to restore order and take back the city. When she requested additional help (not till Wednesday) the city would have been secured and they could have because evacuations in earnest.