New Orleans Reporting

[vava]

This is something I saw on another board...

 

Look at these images, it seems that Black people 'loot'

First black person

 

Second black person

 

 

While the Whites people 'find'

 

White people

 

No media biases here...

Edited September 1, 2005 by vava

[skhara]

First black person

 

LOL

 

 

 

While the Whites people 'find' wink.gif

 

 

Well in the photos presented I can differentiate between looting bare essentials and looting as much beer as you possible can and stuffing some in the back pockets or carrying a huge bag of loot.

[ED]

Vava jan that’s (was) the case in New Orleans every day before hurricane, but I love that city for what its worth, imagine Crescent st. in Montreal and the whole city was like that

 

Sad very sad, I was there once many years ago, had a blust at marty grand days…….I was getting ready to go soon, take the fam for a vacation but…….

[Nakharar]

Neo Orleans a floating megacity

 

They should bail on New Orleans, and build Neo Orleans as a floating megacity on Lake Pontchartrain....

 

http://www.dorkingout.com/archives/2005/08...neo_orleans.php

 

http://www.dorkingout.com/images/neoorleans.gif

[Accelerated]

I wonder if this is going to cost Bush (Republicans) votes, the whole thing has been roundly recognised by the Aussie media for what it is: a massive failure on the part of the US government.

[Nakharar]

National Guardsmen Pour Into Louisiana

 

By ALLEN G. BREED

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Thousands of National Guardsmen with food, water and weapons streamed into Louisiana on Friday to bring relief to New Orleans' suffering multitudes and put down the looting and violence. ``The cavalry is and will continue to arrive,'' said one general.

 

The assurances came amid blistering criticism from the mayor and others who said the federal government had bungled the relief effort and let people die in the streets for lack of food, water or medicine.

 

In Washington, President Bush admitted ``the results are not acceptable'' and pledged to bolster the relief efforts with a personal trip to the Gulf Coast on Friday.

 

``We'll get on top of this situation,'' he said before setting out, ``and we're going to help the people that need help.''

 

Earlier Friday, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked a wide area of New Orleans and jolted residents awake, lighting up the dark sky and sending a pillar of acrid gray smoke over a ruined city awash in perhaps thousands of corpses, under siege from looters, and seething with anger and resentment.

 

A second large fire erupted downtown in an old retail building in a dry section of Canal Street.

 

There were no immediate reports of injuries. But the fires deepened the sense of total collapse in the city since Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.

 

The blast took place in a section of the city directly across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. It was about two miles from the Louisiana Superdome and less than a mile from the New Orleans Convention Center, the two spots where tens of thousands of hungry, desperate and hostile refugees awaited buses to deliver them from their misery.

 

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard said 7,000 National Guardsmen arriving in Louisiana on Friday would be dedicated to restoring order in New Orleans. He said half of them had just returned from assignments overseas and are ``highly proficient in the use of lethal force.'' He pledged to ``put down'' the violence ``in a quick and efficient manner.''

 

``But they are coming here to save Louisiana citizens. The only thing we are attacking is the effects of this hurricane,'' he said. Blum said that a huge airlift of supplies was landing Friday and that it signaled ``the cavalry is and will continue to arrive.''

 

As he left the White House for his visit to the devastated area, Bush said 600 newly arrived military police officers would be sent to the convention center to secure the site so that food and medicine could get there.

 

City officials have accused the government - namely the Federal Emergency Management Agency - of being slow to recognize the magnitude of the tragedy and slow to send help.

 

``Get off your asses and let's do something,'' Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL-AM Thursday night in a rambling interview in which he cursed, yelled and ultimately burst into tears. At one point he said: ``Excuse my French - everybody in America - but I am pissed.''

 

Across the city, law and order broke down. Police officers turned in their badges. Rescuers, law officers and helicopter were shot at by storm victims. Fistfights and fires broke out Thursday at the hot and stinking Superdome as thousands of people waited in misery to board buses for the Houston Astrodome. Corpses lay out in the open in wheelchairs and in bedsheets. The looting continued.

 

Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the looters ``hoodlums'' and issued a warning to lawbreakers: Hundreds of National Guardsmen hardened on the battlefield in Iraq have landed in New Orleans.

 

``They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded,'' she said. ``These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will.''

 

At the Superdome, group of refugees broke through a line of heavily armed National Guardsmen in a scramble to get on to the buses. And about 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at the convention center grew ever more hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead, including at least seven bodies scattered outside the building.

 

Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults.

 

``We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten,'' Compass said. ``Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon.''

 

A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.

 

``There's a lot of very sick people - elderly ones, infirm ones - who can't stand this heat, and there's a lot of children who don't have water and basic necessities to survive on,'' said Daniel Edwards, 47, outside the center. ``We need to eat, or drink water at the very least.''

 

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

 

``I don't treat my dog like that,'' Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. ``You can do everything for other countries, but you can't do nothing for your own people.''

 

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said FEMA just learned about the situation at the convention center Thursday and quickly scrambled to provide food, water and medical care and remove the corpses.

 

By midmorning Friday, despite a constant buzzing of military helicopters overhead, there was still no sign of the relief to the tens of thousands lined up outside the convention center.

 

``I'm trying to keep hope alive, but slowly my hope is fading,'' said refugee Carl Clark. ``Believe it or not, these people are human. Right now they're crowded like animals. They're trying to keep their dignity. ... I don't even know what the Red Cross looks like.''

 

Raymond Whitfield, 51, watched a National Guard truck drive by the convention center, but like most other official vehicles, it did not stop.

 

``The National Guard just drives around and around. I know the police, the National Guard, they got generators, so they can sleep and eat,'' he said.

 

``Look at them,'' he said of the men inside the truck, ``they're not even sweating.''

 

``Everybody's on the edge right now,'' said 28-year-old Kenya Green. ``Every day, it's `The bus is coming, The bus is coming,' but still nothing. ... They don't give us no information.''

 

Conditions were dire at the Superdome as well. By Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. Evacuees from across the city swelled the crowd to about 30,000 because they believed the arena was the best place to get a ride out of town.

 

The flow of refugees to the Houston Astrodome was temporarily halted overnight after about 11,000 people had arrived - less than half the estimated 23,000 people expected.

 

``We've actually reached capacity for the safety and comfort of the people inside there,'' American Red Cross spokeswoman Dana Allen said. She said people were ``packed pretty tight'' on the floor.

 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced that Dallas would host 25,000 more refugees at Reunion Arena and 25,000 others would relocate to a San Antonio warehouse at KellyUSA, a city-owned complex that once was home to an Air Force base. Houston estimated as many as 55,000 people who fled the hurricane were staying in area hotels.

 

While floodwaters in New Orleans appeared to stabilize, efforts continued to plug three breaches in the levees that protect this bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, which is wedged between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.

 

Helicopters dropped sandbags into the breach and pilings were being pounded into the mouth of the canal Thursday to close its connection to the lake.

 

The chief of the Louisiana State Police said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers - many of whom from flooded areas - turning in their badges.

 

``They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives,'' Col. Henry Whitehorn said.

 

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, ``'Go to hell - it's every man for himself.'''

 

FEMA officials said some operations had to be suspended in areas where gunfire had broken out.

 

Outside a looted Rite-Aid drugstore, some people were anxious to show they needed what they were taking. A gray-haired man who would not give his name pulled up his T-shirt to show a surgery scar and explained that he needs pads for incontinence.

 

``I'm a Christian,'' he said. ``I feel bad going in there.''

 

Hospitals struggled to evacuate critically ill patients who were dying for lack of oxygen, insulin or intravenous fluids. But when some hospitals try to airlift patients, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan said, ``there are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, `You better come get my family.'''

 

Associated Press reporters Adam Nossiter, Brett Martel, Emily Wagster Pettus, Robert Tanner and Mary Foster contributed to this report.

[phantom22]

"The chickens are coming home to roost." The effects of the massive incompetence of the Bush Administration are just beginning to be recognized.

 

Iraq will most definately break into three nations. Only a brutal dictator could keep the factions under one roof. The National Guard is so decimated (a large % of them are in Iraq and Afganistan) that they could not mobilize quickly enough at home. Soon the inflationary bubble will burst (even Greenspan predicts this). I would have been pleased with any of the other 3 in 2000. McCain would have to be sensitized on Armenian issues, but he would have stood heads above "W" as presidential material. You can thank the Christian Fundamentalists for this mess.

Edited September 2, 2005 by phantom22

[hytga]

they removed the image of the wite people finding things

[Azat]

This is embarrassing. If this is how prepared the "most powerful" country is for a bit of rain and wind just imagine how well they will do when the dirty bombs start raining in.

 

 

Bravo to the government and the people of Texas. 2 thumbs up.

 

And here is an interesting article from LA Times for all to read. This country is screwed up.

 

-----------------

 

TIM RUTTEN

A warning sent but left unheeded

Tim Rutten

Regarding Media

 

September 2, 2005

 

 

As commentators and public officials survey the morass of loss and desolation that once was a great American city called New Orleans, one of the words we hear and read over and over again is "unimaginable."

 

In fact, the tragedy that this week destroyed a vibrant metropolitan area that was home to 1.4 million people and the city proper that was a national cultural treasure was not simply imagined but foreseen with a prescience that now seems eerily precise.

 

These days, media criticism has become a kind of blood sport. One of its practitioners' most frequently repeated complaints is that mainstream news organizations have become increasingly — if not solely — reactive, retailing the sensation of the moment to an audience hooked on titillating irrelevancies.

 

Well, that didn't happen here.

 

Three years ago, New Orleans' leading local newspaper, the Times-Picayune, National Public Radio's signature nightly news program, "All Things Considered," and the New York Times each methodically and compellingly reported that the very existence of south Louisiana's leading city was at risk and hundreds of thousands of lives imperiled by exactly the sequence of events that occurred this week. All three news organizations also made clear that the danger was growing because of a series of public policy decisions and failure to allocate government funds to alleviate the danger.

 

The Times-Picayune, in fact, won numerous awards for John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein's superbly conceived and executed five-part series — that's right, five-part — whose initial installment began with a headline reading: "It's only a matter of time before south Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day." One of the separate stories in that first installment — each part consisted of multiple pieces supported by compelling graphics — began: "The risk is growing greater and no one can say how much greater."

 

The series' second part began: "It's a matter of when, not if. Eventually a major hurricane will hit New Orleans head on, instead of being just a close call. It's happened before and it'll happen again." In that installment, McQuaid and Schleifstein reported that "a major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time.... Evacuation is the most certain route to safety, but it may be a nightmare. And 100,000 without transportation will be left behind.... Hundreds of thousands would be left homeless, and it would take months to dry out the area and begin to make it livable. But there wouldn't be much for residents to come home to. The local economy would be in ruins....

 

"People left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter in New Orleans for people too sick or infirm to leave the city. Others will end up in last-minute emergency refuges that will offer minimal safety. But many will simply be on their own.... Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising waters. Others will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days."

 

Sound familiar?

 

Later, in August 2002, New York Times reporter Adam Cohen wrote that New Orleans "may be America's most architecturally distinctive and culturally rich city. But it is also a disaster waiting to happen.... If a bad hurricane hit, experts say, the city could fill up like a cereal bowl, killing tens of thousands and laying waste to the city's architectural heritage. If the Big One hit, New Orleans could disappear."

 

Cohen went on to report that, "So far, Washington has done little and New Orleans' response has been less than satisfying."

 

The reporter quoted Terry Tullier, head of the city's Office of Emergency Preparedness, as saying, "When I do presentations, I start by saying that 'when the Big One comes, many of you will die — let's get that out of the way.' "

 

Chilling then; worse now.

 

A little more than a month later, NPR's "All Things Considered" aired an extended two-part broadcast on New Orleans' peril that was, in its own way, every bit as compelling as the Times-Picayune's series. In its opening sequence, reporter Daniel Zwerdling accompanied scientist Joe Suhayda, a researcher from Louisiana State University, as he used an extending measuring rod to determine how high hurricane-driven flood waters might rise in the French Quarter if a levee gave way. Here's an excerpt from the transcript of what followed:

 

Suhayda: It's well above the second floor there and it's just about to the rooftop.

 

Zwerdling: Do you expect this kind of hurricane and this kind of flooding to hit New Orleans in our lifetime?

 

Suhayda: Well, I would say the probability is yes....

 

Zwerdling: So, basically, the part of New Orleans that most Americans and most people around the world think of as New Orleans would disappear underwater.

 

Suhayda: It would. That's right.

 

The NPR report went on to note that none of Suhayda's views were even remotely controversial in the scientific or engineering communities. This was not global warming — or even second-hand smoke. And, as Zwerdling went on to explain with great clarity, there was similar agreement that the steps taken by the federal and state government in earlier years to protect the city from smaller storms and to ensure that the Mississippi River would remain open to commerce had dramatically increased the danger from the inevitable larger storm. It was, in other words, the same conclusion the Times-Picayune's reporters reached.

 

Both organizations also agreed that a massive — and expensive — overhaul of the levee system was required, if the danger to life and property were to be alleviated.

 

So what happened in the three lost years between then and now?

 

Nothing.

 

And did the mainstream news media simply drop the issue, moving on to the next big thing, another victim of our real epidemic — national deficit disorder?

 

Not really. Since 2002, when all these reports ran, the Times-Picayune has published no fewer than nine stories reporting that the combination of tax cuts, the war in Iraq and the demands of homeland security had led President Bush's administration to repeatedly reject urgent requests from the Army Corps of Engineers and Louisiana's congressional delegation that it allocate the money to save New Orleans.

 

Today, while Bush personally surveys the consequences of his decisions, the staff of the Times-Picayune — driven from their offices by the flood waters — is busy putting out an electronic edition of a newspaper that, in this instance, has done just what a paper is supposed to do: serve the common good.

 

Politics may have failed the people of New Orleans. Politicians certainly failed them. They may have failed themselves by not demanding better. But their newspaper and other important segments of the American press did not fail them.

 

Nowadays, it often seems like every other third person with access to a mike or computer is a press critic, who thinks that their particular beef could be resolved by simply resorting to the good old-fashioned practice of shooting the messenger.

 

As it turns out, one of the truly unforeseen lessons of New Orleans is that whether you rhetorically gun down the media messengers — or simply ignore them — the result is a self-inflicted, sometimes fatal wound.

[skhara]

This is something I saw on another board...

 

Look at these images, it seems that Black people 'loot'

First black person

 

Second black person

While the Whites people 'find'

 

White people

 

No media biases here...

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

I overheard a conversation at work today. They were talking about black guys and white guys and how guns and big screen TVs were stolen. It reminded me of this thread.

[vava]

they removed the image of the wite people finding things

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

It seems that there's a bit of a controversy now. Please see some of the following links for some clarifications:

 

Pictures at Flikr

 

Article in Salon

 

And here is an interesting article from LA Times for all to read.  This country is screwed up.

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

 

Great article Azat - LA times, you say?

[Accelerated]

one of the letters posted in the leading Sydney paper:

 

The speed with which society in the US has reverted to barbarism in the wake of Hurricane Katrina makes the quite fortitude of our Asian neighbours' response to the tsunami seem positively inspirational

[Azat]

Great article Azat - LA times, you say?

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

Ha Vava jan

 

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-rutte...e-more-channels

[Azat]

This is just too sad.

 

1. FEMA Director is a long time Bush friend who has never worked in any organization like FEMA prior to his appointment

2. 3 years ago major news organizations did reports that pointed out the weaknesses in the levee systems, but it was ignored by the administration

3. The director of Army Corps of Engineers who is responsible for the levee systems resigned when his project was killed by the FEMA director who identified this project as "pork" (it would have cost 200 Million. Plus we have huge projects to build in Iraq)

4. 10.5 Billion has been allocated by the Federal government as a "down payment". My guess we are looking at a 100-200 Billion dollar problem.

5. Congress, current and past, needs to realize that they are as responsible for all the deaths. The levee systems that was started in 1965(no that is not a mistake, it really was started in 65) and that was suppose to be completed by 75 is only 80% complete as congress does not want to allocate money for it to be completed. Most likely these corrupt fat ass pigs that we put in office know more about these things then does the Army Corps of Engineers.

6. Denise Haster(republican who has his lips surgically attached to Bush's ass) suggested that we do not rebuild New Orleans. (Of course not, we have to rebuild Iraq and don't have money for our great cities)

7. 3 days prior to the hurricane hitting scientists said that it is a direct hit. Government did NOTHING to help people move. In fact the director of FEMA said afterwards "They had warnings in time, I don't understand why they did not move out". The son of a bitch(as all these rich republicans) does not get it that there are poor people in this country who do NOT own a land rover like he does.

8. 1+ days prior the hurricane FEMA said that they are forming an Arc of support or some thing like that with hundreds of mobile units that were going to sweep in right after the hurricane to help the people. COMPLETE LIE as NO one showed up until yesterday.

9. Government cannot even guarantee the safety of the red cross workers who are ready and willing to go in to help.

10. Where are all those F*&%ing Compassionate Christians that elected Bush. Hypocrites.

11. I GUARENTEE you that if this was a predominantly white city there would be luxury cruise ships to save the people and Uncle Bush and his cronies would have been there the day after with food and water and all means of transportation.

 

And all this time FOX news is reporting how GREAT the evacuation is going and how well the federal government is doing.

 

I'll say it again, this is how well we do with 3 days warning just imagine how good the Federal government is going to be doing when dirty bombs start raining in with no warnings.

Edited September 3, 2005 by Azat

[Azat]

I overheard a conversation at work today.  They were talking about black guys and white guys and how guns and big screen TVs were stolen.  It reminded me of this thread.

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

So lets assume that 1000 people steal TVs and all kinds of crap. SO WHAT?

[skhara]

So lets assume that 1000 people steal TVs and all kinds of crap.  SO WHAT?

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

Nothing much. Just made me think of this thread. I was surprised they were talking about it and kind of loud too.

[phantom22]

So now you all see what a big fraud Bush is. Do you remember the VIP treatment that Bin Laden's relatives received right after 9/11 being whisked out of the US on luxury government planes?

 

Iraq is all about OIL interests alone. Get It?

 

Can't openly criticize Bush since we are a police state now. The major media outlets are totally silent on what is transpiring.

 

Bush/Cheney should be impeached and since the Republican Party won the last election, McCain should be appointed VP and then assume the Presidency. Won't happen though, since the Dems don't want to give a Republican a head start.

[Azat]

Hagarag, are you saying that Bin Ladens relatives should have been punished because Bin Laden is a criminal? For you info the luxury planes that they were whisked out on were NOT government planes and they did pay for the trip. In any case that is irrelevant.

 

I knew what Iraq was about long time ago.

 

I can criticize Bush and his family and his cronies all day long. Just as you are doing in the above post and NOTHING will happen to peons like you and I

 

I wish that were the case and Bush and his whole administration got impeached, but these guys are spin doctors and the "compassionate christians" will keep them in office and praise the wonderful job they did in New Orleans no matter what happens there.

[phantom22]

Bin Laden family's US exit 'approved'

 

BILL ANDREWS

 

 

THE United States allowed members of Osama bin Laden’s family to jet out of the US in the immediate aftermath of September 11, even as American airspace was closed.

 

Former White House counter-terrorism tsar Richard Clarke said the Bush administration sanctioned the repatriation of about 140 high-ranking Saudi Arabians, including relatives of the al-Qaida chief.

 

"Somebody brought to us for approval the decision to let an aeroplane filled with Saudis, including members of the Bin Laden family, leave the country," he said.

 

Mr Clarke said he checked with FBI officials, who gave the go ahead. "So I said: ‘Fine, let it happen.’"

 

He first asked the bureau to check that no-one "inappropriate" was leaving.

 

"I have no idea if they did a good job," he added.

 

Dale Watson, the FBI’s former head of counter-terrorism, said that, while the bureau identified the Saudis who were on the plane, "they were not subject to serious interrogations".

 

The plane is believed to have landed in ten US cities picking up passengers, including Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston and Houston. At the time, access to US airspace was restricted and required special government approval.

 

Tom Kinton, director of aviation at Boston’s Logan Airport, said: "We were in the midst of the worst terrorist act in history and here we were seeing an evacuation of the Bin Ladens."

 

But he said it was clear the flight had been sanctioned by federal authorities.

 

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the US who is said to have organised the exodus, met President George Bush on September 13, 2001, two days after the terror attacks. It is not known if they discussed the repatriation plan.

 

The White House has declined to comment on the claims, but sources said the Bush administration was confident no secret flights took place.

 

Mr Clarke said he did not recall who requested approval for the flights, but believes it was either the FBI or the State Department.

 

But FBI spokesman John Iannarelli said: "I can say unequivocally that the FBI had no role in facilitating these flights."

[Arpa]

Vava jan that’s (was) the case in New Orleans every day before hurricane, but I love that city for what its worth, imagine Crescent st. in Montreal  and the whole city was like that

 

Sad very sad, I was there once many years ago, had a blust at marty grand days…….I was getting ready to go soon, take the fam for a vacation but…….

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

Is our technology turning against us?

Or, is Mother Nature reiterating her promise/threat; “You cannot fool Mother Nature”. And coming back with a vengeance?

Karogh en mardik sharzhel lernerin,

Ou bazki ouzhov sandzel geterin

Bayts ov e karogh…?

 

What is the rest of it? Who wrote it and where?

Was it Sevak?

[Azat]

Hagarag, you should run for office as you can be a GREAT politician. Because you just say what you want to say even if it does not answer the question.

 

Where in your store does it say that the place was a luxury plane supplies by the US government? That is the specific item I disagreed with your post.(reread my reply to you) I do agree with that part that they allowed them to leave the country, but SO ***ing what? if you commit a crime and non of your relatives are involved, do you think the US government should keep them where they are?

 

As for why they got to fly a plane when everyone else was not allowed to is because they have POWER and you and I do NOT

 

In any case this thread has nothing to do with the stuff you posted so stop posting here, post in some other thread

[phantom22]

Azat,

 

Yes, I am guilty of hijaking this thread, but you helped along the hijacking.

 

My background is almost all Armenian, but I was raised as an odar Christian.

 

I am sick and tired of this President referring to himself as a Christian, which he is clearly not by his actions.

[phantom22]

Azat,

 

You have noticed that politicians often DO NOT answer the question they are asked but use the question to respond as they wish with what they had planned to say. They wait for the opportune question to bait and switch.

[Vayri7X]

if you are in Austin area, call 211 and you will get hooked up with volunteer work.

Also, several crews of people have raised funds for boats , arms , food and water and are in the waters as we speak ( private citizens pooling resources).

 

Food Not Bombs is also mobilizing all over the country, a long-standing grassroots food -distribution system.

 

The armenian priest called me today . He says that the local church in DFW has not yet organized specifically, but the archdiocese is going through the CWS.

 

rant below: read at your discretion

 

 

 

 

for almost four years i lived in louisiana and have gone back and forth there my whole life between livingston parish , baton rouge and new orleans. during a family crisis, i was taken in by a poor family in biloxi miss, right near the military base , and stayed there for over a month. i was raised in every state for some time save alabama and georgia in the "south " and southwest from florida to Nevada with the fatherst north being oklahoma

 

 

let me tell you , that where i lived, we had no indoor plumbing until we dug our own sewage pit and installed it ( i got pics of it) , usually no electricity as jobs were scarce. no ac and indoor heating for years... the school was so bad in the parrish due to the lack of funding due to the poverty of the area that the kids above 15 did not go and self-educated themselves on everything from Greek and Latin and African studies to algebra and got GEDs ( like i had to although i went to college eventually by hustling like a mug 1) ...

 

 

there was swamp under the house ,in front of it and in back of it.. and when andrew hit we were #$%ed but rebuilt the long wood=house we lived in , often from wood-palates and scrpa and driftwood

 

 

let me tell ya'll , if you are not from this sector and parts , you got no idea HOW POOR lots of these people were TO BEGIN WITH and we were NORMAL for our area... how we had no transportation, and the only job 30 mintues away was SHONEY's . And you have no idea what it is like to be rural and forgotten and mocked on national tv and jokes and blamed for the skeletons and sins of a whole society ( crime, welfare, racism, etc)

 

so take what I am saying and put yourself in some of these pics when you try to make judgements about folks staying or " making a so-called "choice" to leave"

 

I don't even want to tell you what it was like in the Ward... my roomate made a living by busking in Jackson Square as a dancer and I read palms, coffee , cards and runes for tourists

 

and add that it was the END OF THE MONTH

 

and that you get sick of people crying wolf over and over and just get kind of jaded and think you can ride it out. like some of my friends did and now they gone.

 

And if you dare tell me that the hegemonic forces in our society of class and race + the distribution of wealth due to property and ownership , in addition to the inefficiency of hierarchy and the chain of command have nothing to do with the poor-aZZ response, you are either extremely privileged and sheltered, ignorant, or a cowardly misanthrope- maybe all three. And if you dare tell me that nobody has cared and overcome these skeletons of this area floating into our national discourse and just plain helped each other out , then i will call you blind and also maybe a cowardly misanthrope.

 

my angry side says , maybe the empowered sectors with the resources to act, such as the administration and ruling class, just cause they don;t care about boudreaux, bubba and leroy ( i.e., poor and or rural whites -rednecks ! and blacks) and that if BIff the Stockbroker and his ilk were underwater on Wall Street, you bet your a@#$ that they would mobilize

 

my other side is too busy getting my self down to Reunion Arena in Dallas and next heading to Austin, SA and Houston.

[Azat]

wow. an eye opening post. Thanks Vayri7X