Devastation in New Orleans & SE USA... plz help...

Don't foget Florida, its nothing but flat land AT sea level.

 

*didn't mean to say it like that!!* Its just poor people who stayed behind, what did you expect? I honestly would've done the same too.

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims. I don't know too much about that part of the U.S. but I do know that there are alot of fellow french speakers there.

 

That's not very nice

 

yahoo got in trouble for showing a black man carrying goods and calling it looting, while showing whites doing the same thing and saying they found them...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index.html

 

That is pretty messed up.

 

http://yahooracists.ytmnd.com/

 

AHAHA. Well thing is, its ok to take food and water but stealing fubu jeans isn't necceassarily 'surviving'. But yeh that is fucked up!

 

Didn't mean to sound like that. That came off rather racist now that i look at it.

 

Dont get me wrong its bad its happened I i feel for anyone caught up in it.
But buliding citys below sea level?? Is asking for trouble, flatten it and leave the shell to the sea. They knew one day it was going to happen.

 

On another forum they were blaming some stuff (like the shootings) on black people, but someone made a good point. He mentioned how like 67% of the population there was black. You can't blame a whole group of people because of a couple of idiots.

 

That's the sort of attitude you have to have in life. People are good, individuals are fucking retards who loot during a crisis, shoot at helicopters, etc. Still, It's really hard to not let the actions of individuals ruin a something for you.

 

I could understand looting. In that situation I'd do it, I'd take everything I could carry (mainly food and water but if there happened to be some high end electronics laying around then yeah, I'd take them too.) You gotta remeber that most of these people have just lost thier houses and everything they own. So yes it's wrong, but I understand why.

Been hearing on the raido that all the people who went to the stadium they have there for shelter (what is it, the astrodome?) are all now stuck there and are running out of food and water, bathrooms filling up with human waste, dead people accumulating out front, etc.

I know we're trying to keep politics out of this, but I think it says something when all it takes is one major disaster like this to completely destroy the social order of a major city and send ricocheting effects like skyrocketing gas prices around the whole country, like it shows just how vulnreble our country is to things like this and maybe this will serve as a wakeup call as to where our money is going and what the effects of our enviromental policies are. Becasue Florida had a hurricane like this and didn't degenerate into this kind of chaos. This is horrible but shameful at the same time. There's really no excuse for any city in this country to be caught with thier pants down like this and it's a shame so many people have had to pay with thier lives becasue of it.

Anyway, crazy rant is over.

 

I agree, this disaster is a wake up call to the USA on so many levels.

 

without getting into a whole political shit fest. there are some things that need to be said.

this whole disaster could have been avoided or greatly reduced. new orleans and louisiana have been trying for years to get help and money from the federal government to strengthen their levees to withstand a class 4-5 hurricane. the state and federal government knew that if a large hurricane ever hit that region it would be devistating. the fault/blame/responsibility doesnt rest entirely on the bush administration...but through their actions indirectly and direct they have compounded the problem to an overwhelming size.

the fact is our peace officers, our military, our national guard have all their resources tied up in iraq and the middle east. the federal government and state governments have all its resources tied up in the war on terror. there just is no money, no suplies, and no qualified people left to deal with a situation like this.

i doubt it, it seems like most people have resorted to 'blaming the victim.' seriouslly anywhere else this is the type of stuff that spawn civil war and revolution, but for americans its just good t.v.

 

Yeah, seeing chaos and death in our country, especially if loved ones are dying, IS GOOD TV!!! Dont be an asshole.

 

I just watched Bush "doing the rounds" with his PR people in tow, miles from the badly affected areas, and didn't seem to be that bothered by it all. I am amazed by the lack of serious action. Yeah, the affected area is the size of the UK essentially, but christ, you can try harder!

I don't deny the thought of it being partly down to Bush's rather "opinionated" stance either.

 

I couldn't believe this. Somethingawful.com was located in new orleans and is currently down and will be for a very long time.

This Wired article has links to the hosting site which is apparently still up and running since they have a diesel generator. you can view direct pictures and someones blog as more of this develops and gets worse and worse.

http://www.wired.com/news/hurricane/0,2904,68725,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

Go to http://www.somethingawful.com/ and just read their rant, I just have to agree with them.

 

I'm not one of your fellow countrymen, so I might be nobody to judge here - Mind you, I'm learning of all these things from CNN and local news, so I might be missing many things, but distance also helps see the big picture.

I think it was a case of misplaced priorities for sure - and yeah, the government had tons of warning beforehand and didn't do a thing. They just had other priorities... and here's the result.
Neither did they respond immediately like they would have been required to.
The people are not efficiently protected. That is sad and scary, and americans (government, military and civilians alike) ought to do something about it now, as to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Come on, it's the first world. I would have believed this happening in Africa or Asia. Hell, even in Central America it wouldn't be that much of a surprise, with the corruption and inefficience. But to the "leaders" of the "free world"?
This means your infrastructure is misplaced, and the government's priorities are not the people. Granted, the city is not one of the rich ones, neither one with a completely white majority. That too could be a factor (That last one I did not say first - I heard Jack Cafferty say that yesterday too). I hope not, really. I'm not going to post any political analysis of the situation, so I won't name names and start another political flamewar - but I can just say that someone up there is not doing the job they were chosen to do because they are doing something else that benefits someone else who is not the people of the States.

That's all I'm going to analyse about it.
For now, I'm looking for a way to donate something from down here. I guess I'll give extra to the next Red Cross collect, as I have no credit card or anything.
I encourage all of us here to do something similar.

 

im not being an asshole, i was just pointing out an observation. i have empathy for those people. i have friends there i dont know if they are alive or dead.

i turn on the t.v. and all i see is policemen patroling arresting looters or confiscating stolen property. i see politicans pledging money they dont have and cant come up with. i hear religious fanatics blaming the hurricane on gays, racists blaming the lack of order on blacks, blacks blaming the lack of response on racists, wallmart not honoring FEMA issued cash vouchers, the speaker of the house telling the public that rebuilding new orleans 'doesnt make sense.' a half hour of news coverage on fat dominos rescue?!

no one in the media is asking the tough questions, no one is providing information that can actually help people. instead they provide info-tainment, garbage human interest bullshit. i dont doubt that most people feel bad for those dealing with the after math of the hurricane, but i would bet the majority of people n this country wouldnt do anything more than give a little money to the redcross.