[lbo-talk] Regarding NOLA, Mississippi and Alabama

[snitsnat]

At 04:12 PM 8/30/2005, Doug Henwood wrote:
>ThatRogersWoman wrote:
>
>>The survivor stories coming out are gut wrenching.  I don't think the
>>rest of the nation is comprehending, yet, the ramifications of this
>>cataclysmic disaster, save the rapid rise at the gas pump.
>
>We were channel-surfing last night to catch up. MSNBC incongruously had 
>Tucker Carlson anchoring disaster coverage. Fox was absolutely idiotic; at 
>one point, they had a reporter standing with a road atlas she'd evidently 
>just bought at a gas station or something, pointing to the locations of 
>the major cities in Mississippi. "Here's Biloxi; it's a mess," was about 
>the extent of it. CNN, however, had an excellent, heart-rending account of 
>distress and destruction from someone on a cell phone identified only as a 
>"photojournalist." With all the resources this gang has, it's amazing how 
>little of it they can convey.
>
>Later on MSNBC, Keith Olberman did point out that the Bush admin had just 
>cut flood control spending in the region by 70%.
>
>Doug

I just listened to the FEMA news conference. I realize this is worse than 
they ever imagined but I'm hard pressed to understand why, after years and 
years of preparation for natural and man-made disasters, wars, etc. these 
people appear to be a little stumped about what to do with half a million 
people who no longer have homes, basically. And that's just NOLA proper, 
right? because the greater metro area and all the towns and cities that 
were hit along the Miss. coast and inland... Well, at least the water will 
drain outside the bowl. But the folks in NOLA, they have to live somewhere.

Imagine, some of these people did not have enough money to do anything but 
gas up, get in the truck and go. (phoooey on SUV haters! :) Others stayed 
on their shrimp boats because they didn't even have a credit card to get a 
hotel room on high ground somewhere.

So, FEMA, and I know they do work hard and I"m not knocking the individuals 
and well meaning people who work there, but FEMA doesn't seem to know 
_what_ to do with this mess. Every hurricane that looks like it might come 
close to NOLA is always accompanied by discussion of the Bowl. No one 
thought about a disaster recovery plan in the event something like this 
happened? WHAT?

So, CNN just showed footage of Biloxi. A bunch of kids have a drum line 
going, I kid you not. They're dressed uniformly, in tan slack and dark blue 
tee-shirts, carrying rakes and shovels as if they were rifles, and the rest 
playing the drums -- reminds me of being in the drum and bugle corps!

So, they're marching around, up and down, a prepping ritual before they 
begin to do some cleanup? What jokers! I guess it's the only way to deal. I 
know when I'm most upset, I go into joker mode.

and DEb, thatnks for that great link.

                        -- rwmartin