New Orleans

From what I've seen on TV, New Orleans is basically underwater now. That is a shame...a historic city with so much beauty rendered helpless by nature's cruelty. My sympathies to all down that way (and in Mississippi and Alabama and whereever else Katrina has wrecked her path).

About the looting, I think it's awfully tempting to condemn the folks who take those flatscreen TVs and other "non-essential" items, but put yourself in their shoes. You've just lost everything you ever owned, all through no fault of your own, and there's nothing to keep you from going ahead and taking that TV or DVD player along with the canned food or blankets that you need. Sure, it's a criminal act, and I think they should be held accountable in due time. But for now, I'm willing to give them the benefit of not holding it against them.

Just replacing what they lost, eh?

A friend just emailed this to me:

White people "find" their food in New Orleans

Black people "loot" their food in New Orleans

I report, you decide. ;)

Taboo # 7 wrote: From what I've seen on TV, New Orleans is basically underwater now. That is a shame...a historic city with so much beauty rendered helpless by nature's cruelty.

Nature's cruelty? Au contraire, mon ami. It's Global Climate Change-- something that doesn't exists here in Jesusland.

"A synthesis report,published in April 2004, based on previous studies pinpoints the Southeast U.S. as the most vulnerable to climate change. The report cited the region's heavily populated, low-lying coast, which is susceptible to rising sea levels—a risk that is made worse by more intense, and perhaps more frequent, storms."

[darkgreen]Green[/darkgreen] wrote:

bLuE oRdEr wrote: My father always tried to poud into my head the difference between "what I want" and "what I need." People need food for survival; I doubt if flat screen TVs are "needed" for survival. I guess it all depends on what they're taking, doesn't it?

Yes, I meant to add that point to my post. Where in the hell are they gonna take a freakin' flat screen TV to if they're gonna evacuate everyone out of NO, I don't think the authorities are gonna let everyone pack something like that along with them.

i couldn't agree with you gents more. i was having this conversation with some friends at dinner tonight. if i were in new orleans with no food or clean drinking water, and had no idea if and when relief was coming, i would resort to stealing food and drink from a supermarket to insure my survival and my family's survival. it's easy to take the moral high ground when you take basic necessities for granted.

but as far as electronics, appliances, etc.: how are you going to watch a big screen TV or use a DVD player in a house with no power, flooded with several feet (if you're lucky) of water? that's just criminal.

Taboo # 7 wrote: There's really no good place for a hurricane to strike...except France. Watch them try to surrender to that :p

(waits for overwhelming French backlash)

We've got also a lot of troubles here… don't need no hurricane.

The last news from New Orleans are very bad : seems it's going to take years to rebuild the city… and so much peoples died. Really sad.

Maybe Bush will reconsider his attitude to global warming now. They say it'll take years to sort NOrleans out; you can bet they'll get hit by another hurricane before then.

As regards 'looting'; if it's food and water to enable survival then you don't deserve a bullet in the head from some tooled up neanderthal... you don't deserve a bullet in the head if you're nicking an ipod either, but those sorts of things are obviously not critical to survival, so they should be handled differently.

Best wishes to the New Orleans dudes and dudettes, although it's not as if any of them will be able to read this...

Best wishes from old europe to all the victims and their relatives. Hope you get everything OK soon.

It's time to "flood" the White House (with letters or else) if Bush still denies to sign "the contract". (Reminds me of the film "Eric the Viking"... While Atlantis West is sinking the people are singing: "We don't sink, we don't sink." )

hopefully this will install some modesty in americans, now you can see that were the same as a third world country. We are at the mercy of the earth.

Agent Wood--Florida and Cuba handle hurricanes much better. New Orleans has had the worst case scenario brought to life. That city looks like it got niuked by God.

Looting I can understand for necessities but what is going on is criminal. The police had to stop looking and rescuing people so they could focus on criminals. Looting is costing lives. We need the military to intervene and rescue those people stranded. Too many lives and the destruction of a beautiful city.

bLuE oRdEr wrote: My father always tried to poud into my head the difference between "what I want" and "what I need." People need food for survival; I doubt if flat screen TVs are "needed" for survival. I guess it all depends on what they're taking, doesn't it?

Any boat showrooms downtown?

Are they looting stores or the homes of evacuees? The latter would be more despicable I think.

Is there any information anywhere on the web about which parts of NO (er...New Orleans, not New Order) are under water and by how much? I know some people in the western suburbs, they've left town and don't know what they will be coming back to. Information seems very hard to come by, but surely there must be detailed satellite pictures of the area?

404 error wrote: Is there any information anywhere on the web about which parts of NO (er...New Orleans, not New Order) are under water and by how much? I know some people in the western suburbs, they've left town and don't know what they will be coming back to. Information seems very hard to come by, but surely there must be detailed satellite pictures of the area?

there are satellite images on...i think it was bbc.co.uk. almost all of the streets are now rivers. about 80% of the city is underwater, and the parts that aren't are becoming increasingly unmanageable as rescue workers have been fired upon. new orleans is essentially in a state of anarchy as people have begun brandishing weapons at the superdome and news reporters are being told to pull out of the city for their own safety.

twist: i see what you mean now about florida. at first i thought perhaps you had a personal dislike for the state. not that i'd blame you. and i was directing you away from orlando (in the middle) as i sure didn't want to be hit! ;) however, having gone through three hurricanes in two months last year it's hard for any place to weather a hurricane (no pun intended). but you are right--because of its location, new orleans simply couldn't handle something of this magnitude the same way florida or cuba could.

I'd be stealing a boat as well...except for that whole gas thing.

Nice one on that "finding" vs. "looting" thing, Blue.

So much for me going to New Orleans for my hypothetical future honeymoon.

I can imagine there are a lot of frat boys and sorority girls from the Midwest and West Coast who are far too ignorant to realize the extent of what's happened down there. They'll have quite a surprise when they go down for Mardi Gras next year!

bLuE oRdEr wrote: A friend just emailed this to me:

White people "find" their food in New Orleans

Black people "loot" their food in New Orleans

I report, you decide. ;)

Brilliant. More motivation for me to go gonzo.

My sister inlaw and her family live in or near Orlando. Really super people. My brother inlaw is stationed in Florida with the army.

Snipers shooting helicopters rescuing people from a hospital. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?????!!!!!??????

* So we'll build the city under the water.

• Won't everyone get wet? * No, we'll pump all the water out
• Will that be safe? * Hell yes, so long as we keep maintaining the drainage systems properly
• But what if a future administration wastes all our money on a stupid war and cuts the budget for the flood defences? * We're a democracy! A stupid administration like that would never get elected!
• Of course, how silly of me! * One more thing: we'll let everyone have guns, just in case things do go wrong!
• Well that's only common sense * I'm glad you agree

Why is it the Federal government's responsibility to maintain the levees of New Orleans? When the Mississippi River flooded some cities in my State the Feds denied rebuiding money unless the city built proper flood protection. Insurance companies refuse to insure homes built in flood plains and on seaside cliffs. New Orleans knew that there was a possibility of this disaster but did not prepare for it. They should have had aplan on how to get everyone out.

The real tragedy is not the destruction caused by the water, that can be rebuilt. Rather, the issue is the failure of the evacuation and the animal like behavior of those preventing the rescue of innocent people.

bLuE oRdEr wrote: A friend just emailed this to me:

White people "find" their food in New Orleans

Black people "loot" their food in New Orleans

I report, you decide. ;)

This report reeks of racism. Now can they prove that the whiteys purchase the groceries. The whites find food, and the blacks loot the food.Bullshit. Im sorry to say that i would loot if i needed the food. If i owe a store i would give away shit.

BIGINOIL wrote: * So we'll build the city under the water.

• Won't everyone get wet? * No, we'll pump all the water out
• Will that be safe? * Hell yes, so long as we keep maintaining the drainage systems properly
• But what if a future administration wastes all our money on a stupid war and cuts the budget for the flood defences? * We're a democracy! A stupid administration like that would never get elected!
• Of course, how silly of me! * One more thing: we'll let everyone have guns, just in case things do go wrong!
• Well that's only common sense * I'm glad you agree

Thanks for you empathy and prayers.

did anyone else read the estimate from the EPA analyst that taking into consideration the money needed to pump the water out of the city; rebuild the levees; rebuild destroyed homes, buildings and highways; dispose of the toxic waste, human waste and rotting bodies; and clear the gulf of mexico of said waste, the united states does not have enough money in its entire GNP to rebuild the city of new orleans?

i hope this is just 'duck and cover'-type paranoia, but from the pictures and the stories, i'm really wondering....

I'm not unsympathetic - sorry if I sounded like that. It's important to remember that a bad situation has been made worse by awful planning and poor maintenance of the flood protection systems. The warnings were there, but ignored. Very sad, even sadder because the worst of it could probably have been prevented.

well personally i think that this is gods way of telling new orleans that he dont like jazz.

mike powell wrote: well personally i think that this is gods way of telling new orleans that he dont like jazz.

Another theory worth considering.

Although I prefer to blame Bushy & Co.

Just read that Fats Domino is one of those reported missing in New Orleans :(

What a nightmare. Parts of the city heading into anarchy. I can't blame people for grabbing essential supplies, but shooting at rescue helicopters and the like is completely insane. Then again, hard to say what any of us would do if we lost everything we owned only to end up stranded on a blazing hot overpass for days with no clean water or food, or crowded in a stinking stadium with dead bodies left lying around.

I feel the worst knowing that most of those people left in the city probably couldn't afford to evacuate. The important thing now is to just get them out quickly as possible.

Any word on Dr John Rebennack?

wow! a reporter on CNN finally admitted that the media had failed to focus on the fact that most of those left behind in new orleans are black and poor--that race and class are, in fact, actual real life issues in america! am i dreaming?

also, i just saw that a very long list of countries (including some very poor ones) are offering hurricane aid to the united states. i hope those right-wing american isolationists are eating a big, tasty slice of humble pie right now.

twist wrote: Snipers shooting helicopters rescuing people from a hospital. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?????!!!!!??????

Governor bLuE oRdEr would send in helicopter gunships-- if the National Guard weren't on duty in Iraq, that is-- with orders to rescue the stranded and shoot-to-kill any snipers.

Hell, Governor bLuE oRdEr would volunteer for gunner duty. A few hundred rounds of .50 caliber in a sniper or two should bring some sanity back to the rescue.

leeharveyoswaldR.I.P1963 wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote: * So we'll build the city under the water.

• Won't everyone get wet? * No, we'll pump all the water out
• Will that be safe? * Hell yes, so long as we keep maintaining the drainage systems properly
• But what if a future administration wastes all our money on a stupid war and cuts the budget for the flood defences? * We're a democracy! A stupid administration like that would never get elected!
• Of course, how silly of me! * One more thing: we'll let everyone have guns, just in case things do go wrong!
• Well that's only common sense * I'm glad you agree

Thanks for you empathy and prayers.

Unthinking empathy-- seeing the people as victims of a "natural disaster" over which we have no control, rather than as the victims of Bush Administration policies-- only promotes the former view. Adding some sanity to the "official story" doesn't make Biggy unempathetic.

bLuE oRdEr wrote:

twist wrote: Snipers shooting helicopters rescuing people from a hospital. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?????!!!!!??????

Governor bLuE oRdEr would send in helicopter gunships-- if the National Guard weren't on duty in Iraq, that is-- with orders to rescue the stranded and shoot-to-kill any snipers.

Hell, Governor bLuE oRdEr would volunteer for gunner duty. A few hundred rounds of .50 caliber in a sniper or two should bring some sanity back to the rescue.

ah, the beauty of the wildly ambiguous second amendment.

I remember a few years ago, when I was living in San Jose, the City wanted to build housing in Alviso-- an area of the city at the extreme southern end of the San Francisco Bay, and about 10 feet below sea level.

In California, you have to make a Draft Environmental Impact Report (an "EIR") for a project like that, and it has to be circulated for public review and comment; the Final EIR is supposed to respond to public comments and make any adjustments necessary to the project as a result of those responses.

One of my comments was regarding the EIR's failure to address the impacts of global warming on a housing development that is being built on land that is ten feet below sea level. The official response was that they're not required to address something as "speculative" as global warming. So they built ten feet below sea level.

Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, when that decision comes home to roost, people will be wringing their hands over the tragedy of "natural disasters." The cunts who decided to ignore the dangers and build below sea level will be members of Congress, maybe Senators, maybe even in a Presidential administration. And NOBODY will remember that they CHOSE to ignore the risks.

That's why it's important to look beyond the propaganda term "natural disaster" when these things strike-- there's usually more to the picture than meets the eye.

so...yay, holland?