Snitsky wrote:
> Honestly. And the rhetoric the officials uses: "We will not
> tolerate people
> stealing for citizens" I don't know if people are stealing from
> private
> houses (this did happen during Andrew but after weeks without
> water, ice,
> food), but they seem to be stealing for stores. I love how they
> play on
> fear of the darky hordes!
Reports I'm hearing are now classifying the types of looting, with most folks not concerned about looting for survival items. And those taking TVs, barrels of "non-essential" goods and such...where are they going to put it? No, the biggest concern are individuals or gangs armed and shooting at shooting at people, or, in one reported instance, trying to loot Children's Hospital that, at the time, was still occupied losing resources rapidly before evacuations. There is already one reported sexual assault in the SuperDome.
The fear, stress, heat and helplessness is taking it's toll on all remaining inhabitants and rescuers alike, but like you, I worry that the rest of the nation just sees a lot of poor, extremely disenfrancished, undereducated black people and are writing them off.
As of this morning, it appears the rest of the country is finally beginning to process this.
> To me, it sounds really optimistic to
> think that
> power will be restored in a month.
Delusional is more like it.
> The effect on the ecosystem will be catastrophic. Toxic water will
> eventually be pumped into the Mississippi River to exit N.O. It
> will end
> up in the Gulf of Mexico, where it will follow the coast to the
> west
> towards Texas, shutting down oyster beds indefinately. The
> commercial
> fishing industry will crash, as will shrimping (I'm assuming).
> Residential
> fishing, which brings in a few billions dollars in direct and
> indirect
> costs, will cease to exist until the water is no longer
> contaminated
Egads, there goes my fried oyster fixation, and I guess my gumbo will take on some new and questionable flavors. But my question is this: The Gulf Stream flows all the way to northern Europe and the British Isles. I wonder what degree of contamination and effect we'll see from that?
- Deborah