Geraldo is holding a little baby at the New Orleans Convention Center while yelling (a few inches from the baby’s ear) about how bad the conditions are there. The baby looks utterly terrified. Poor thing — after all that it’s doubtless gone through over the last few days, being hoisted into the air by a deranged, screaming news anchor with a scary moustache must take the cake…
My favorite part was when Geraldo referenced Willowbrook. For those of you who weren’t around in the 1970s, Willowbrook was Geraldo’s Watergate (actually it occurred BEFORE Watergate became public). He exposed Willowbrook, an abusive nursing home. The funny thing tonight was when he said “the Convention Center reminds me of Willowbrook.” Like anyone but Geraldo knows what the fuck he is talking about (except me, of course).
That said, it was disturbing to see Shepard Smith saying that people in New Orleans STILL have no idea where to go for food and water. Smith did explain, however, that authorities aren’t allowing people to walk out of New Orleans. So for those bitching that people should take the initiative, there’s your answer.
I give Geraldo a lot of credit for being there. You might find fault with his style, but his point is undeniable. Instead of taking issue with Geraldo, I think your efforts would be better spent scrutinizing the leadership of this Nation, which has utterly failed us.
I saw Geraldo screaming too. Just what we all needed to see. And poor Shepherd Smith seemed like he was losing it too. I hope he can curl up somewhere and get a good night’s sleep.
Speaking of Fox News coverage- here’s a theory that may be worth investigating.
Shep Smith visited the French Quarter and marveled at what good condition it was in and the fact that there were cops on most corners, minimal looting, and the people surviving there seemed to be doing okay.
As a former resident of NO I’m thinking of something that might have those cops on those corners keeping the peace- cash in hand.
I wonder if anyone has investigated this possibiity.
Tom.. possibly yes.. but possibly it might be because its the only part of no that escaped extreme damage.. and it is the heart and soul of no.. if the french quarter crumbles the entire city is lost
“A public health expert said New Orleans residents who return to their homes would face “a wilderness” without power and drinking water that will be infested with poisonous snakes and fire ants.”
from cnn.com
jesus.. these people have the worst luck down there.. i bet its really hard to resist the temptation to come back into the city and try and salvage for your belongings and to protect your property
Instead of taking issue with Geraldo, I think your efforts would be better spent scrutinizing the leadership of this Nation, which has utterly failed us.
Please. I’ve already talked a bit about the leadership, local and national (and have been savaged in some corners for “playing the blame game”). There is also extensive discussion of the leadership’s failures in comments… and on TV… and all over the Internet. There’s nothing wrong with also having a bit of fun with Geraldo. We all need a laugh right now.
The fire ants and snakes were always part of the disaster scenario… they’re not “bad luck,” they were an inevitable aspect of what a storm like this would do (and has done).
I think most of the cops have the welfare of the whole city in mind. I mean, I probably would have turned my badge in the first day of the goat-fuck, but these poor people spent a week without patrol cars or jails in waist-deep sewage trying to restore order. Doesn’t seem to make much sense if you could just take a pay-off and stand in the dry, uninhabited French Quarter.
brendan.. yeah i was just oblivious to that part of mother natures wrath in that area being from a northern city where all we have are rats that can take down a dog..
mad max.. yeah i agree. i doubt the police officers working their tails off would let their brothers behind the badge just collect money and stand guard in the french quarter
Kayne West had something interesting to say during tonight’s telethon…
After (West) stated, ìGeorge Bush doesnÃt care about black people. Please call óî the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
…Quick! Cut to the FUNNY black man.
Actually, West was wrong. Bush doesn’t care about any people who make less than $10 million a year and who don’t contribute to the RNC. Let’s get that straight…
Geraldo and Sheppard Smith looked like they were at a breaking point…..Which is pretty much expected for Gerald.
But Shep really looks bad…….His spirit has been broken.
Question: Are those guys staying at the Center and on that bridge?
If they are, are they getting food and water?? Both are bitching a ton, but why don’t the Fox helicopters fly in some supplies (and the other alphabet networks).
————
As far as that poor baby goes, he’ll be traumatized for life by the site of that loon in his face.
My favorite was Gerald telling the ‘young lady’ to back up so he could get the ‘old lady’ on camera.
Aren’t these people suffering enough not to have to deal with this clown?
“As far as that poor baby goes, he’ll be traumatized for life by the site of that loon in his face.”
I think that’s what happened to the Taliban sniper who almost got Geraldo at Tora Bora. The sniper saw that face in the scope and lost bowel control right when he squeezed the trigger…
I also saw the report about authorities not letting people walk out of NO, and I commented about it on another thread. WTF? Do you know anything about it? Which “authorities”? Local, state, or federal?
Since when are people not allowed to leave a disaster area under their own power?
I’ve never seen Shep act like that either, and I’ve never liked his reporting, until now. He really acted upset, and I think it was a good story. Maybe the reporters are actually human after all. ;> But I am totally shocked and amazed that whomever is supposed to help people haven’t. Even tho in my belief those people who were shooting at others trying to help them are coming off of Meth, it should not have happened. All people *Under God* tax paying citizens should not have to wait all these days to be helped.There are good people and bad people in this world. No person should have to go thru this.. where is our government?? where is the help?
“I feel much better. I feel like we’ve gotten everyone’s attention and hopefully they’ll continue to do what they’re doing,” Nagin said Friday night in the damaged downtown Hyatt hotel, where his temporary lodgings and command post have been set up since Hurricane Katrina made life in the Big Easy insufferable.”
“I do think the pleas for help basically got the nation’s attention, and the nation’s attention got everybody to stop and re-evaluate what was going on, including the president. … He basically said, ‘Look, our response was not what it should have been and we’re going to fix it right now.’”
memo to mayor…BUSH APPEALLED FOR THE MANDATORY EVAC you dip shit…BUSES under water!!!!
So it is obvious BUSH stayed in NO for quite some time, put Blanco, Landreui, Vitter and Nagin on prozac and said “YOU SAID YOU GUYS HAD THIS UNDER CONTROL”
The two fox reporters looked like they were trying to excite everyone. Scared the heck out of that baby. Get those guys some prozac and a chill pill. Brendan. Great linc for Venice. Wanted to see Cypress Cove and you really helped me out. My prayers to all my buds from the sportsmans state.
which has be wondering (yes speculating) Blanco, Landrieu, Vitter and now Nagin don’t have any unkind/blame words for Bush (Admin)…Nagin weaseled on his own lapses but was calmer…Landrieu was blasted by A.Cooper for “praising” other politicians and the president and addressing realitity… Blanco? where the hay is she? took one helio ride, everytime I heard her speak she has prefaced with thanks to the president…vitter haven’t heard anything from him except estimates of magnitiude…not a lot out of them about -terrible feds …their reaction distinctly different from the “mad max”’s lurking around…which seems a little odd cuz dem elects live to blame bush….things that make you go hmmmm
okay what I’m saying is, I bet dollars to doughnuts, that “vitter” exerted some kind of control when he saw “Blano’s” operation had no control or grasp, and no plan or didn’t inituate any plan…I bet the inside was sooo FUBAR vitter communicated …these people have there heads up they’re asses and we need help!
There is no way if the feds screwed up, Landrieu would first priority be thanking BILL FRIST on CNN. No f’ing way. These people f’d up and are thanking the pres. left and right cuz “they” are in a bad bad political sit. than Pres. and I bet the Pres. said I’ll take the knocks.
ChrisG, as unrealistic as I find the rest of your plea (not to say that it would be bad if it came true, just very unlikely) it will be next to impossible to show absolutely no one who’s stupid. What percentage of the survivors fit the category has been debated–and it certainly doesn’t describe all of them–but surely some of the refugees are morons who had the ability to leave but decided to ride out the storm because they thought that they knew better than everyone else. Pan across a big enough crowd of “real people”, and you’re bound to catch a few.
This guy is incredible. He’s exactly what the UK’s best comedian (Chris Morris) so often parodies. “Fire me at the battlefield! I want to smell the war!” type hyperbole. “This 9 year old child is now a war orphan, one of the many the people here call ‘the desert confetti’. I have a boy that age myself, a hour ago I phoned him and told him to move out of the house, to make room for his new brother.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or just be really, really angry.
Concerning the question about not allowing people to leave NO, I said in another thread that having the Feds take over is a double-edged sword. They can be somewhat facist when it comes to controlling the situation.
“Bush doesn’t care about any people who make less than $10 million a year and who don’t contribute to the RNC. Let’s get that straight…”
Must be quite a few multi-millionaires living in the red states……
I have a hard time taking you seriously when you make comments like this. It just makes you look less then intelligent. I did like your remarks on Geraldo however. Sorry.
In truth, Bush DOESN’T care about average people, even white Christians in red states. Bush is the agent of Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Defense. Bush tells the poor whites in Red States what they want to hear, but deep down he has no intention of actually helping them. Some examples:
Whatever happend to prayer in school?
Whatever happened to school vouchers?
Why are are all the labor jobs formerly held by southern whites being shipped to China?
Why is Bush encouraging the wholesale illegal immigration from Mexico to take up construction jobs formerly held by southern whites?
I will repeat. Bush really doesn’t care for anyone but the rich white people he went to prep school with. The guy is an over-priviledged frat boy. Or, at the very least, he may actually feel bad for poor white people, but having lived a life of priviledge he has no way of comprehending how truly dire their situation is…
Just came up on MSNBC. Weren’t the authorities running around yesterday saying the evacuation of the Superdome was complete? Don’t these people talk to each other?
“Since when are people not allowed to leave a disaster area under their own power?”
since 1927 at least. the black peopple who scrambled on top of the levee were not prevented from evacuating because the authorities didn’t want to lose the workforce; the white people were evacuated. this has all happened before.
NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper’s outburst to go out uncensored.
There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge “was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn’t realize (West) had gone off-script,” said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
…Ummm. I would hope they wouldn’t drop out what the guy said. It’s called censorship. Whether it was appropriate or not, since when is it okay to censor free speech? This wasn’t a cuss word, it was an opinion (well informed or not).
Should he have said it during a fund-raiser? Probably not. Should NBC being saying they should have censored it? Hell no!
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — While thousands of people waited to be evacuated from the squalor of flood-stricken New Orleans, two major fires raged along the waterfront on Saturday.
Without water, firefighters were helpless. They were forced to abandon efforts to fight a blaze that threatened to consume an upscale riverfront mall, where looters had been seen earlier.
Fifty-foot flames also engulfed an industrial district along the Mississippi River and threatened to spread from warehouse to warehouse. (Watch the fires sweep along waterfront)
…Does it occur to anyone else that the Feds should call in the Forest Service from Coloardo and start dropping fire retardant on these fires? I’m sure it will occur to FEMA Director Michael Brown after he is “told about it” two days from now.
Do you really think it wise to drop chemicals on an area that still has people in it?
BTW, I’ve heard that of all the LA National Guard units available before the hurricane, the governor only deployed about 1/2. If true, you can’t blame the feds here. She’s commander-in-chief and has the authority.
Is this true?
Also, from what I understand almost 75% of active duty military and National Guard troops are here in the US. If you count all military in Iraq, Afghanistan and support in Kuait, you’re looking at about 12% of our forces.
I realize that we generally depend solely on National Guard to help communities with disaster relief, but I’d like to know what % of units available locally to La. Miss. AL were pre-deployed prior to the storm. This would be the responsibility of the state’s governors. They could call for what they needed as a disaster declaration was already signed by the President.
re: Kayne West had something interesting to say during tonight’s telethon…
After (West) stated, ?George Bush doesn?t care about black people. Please call ?? the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
…Quick! Cut to the FUNNY black man.
Actually, West was wrong. Bush doesn’t care about any people who make less than $10 million a year and who don’t contribute to the RNC. Let’s get that straight…
Much agreement there Mad Max. Our elustrious Prez signed his most profound bill this past year in putting a deadline on those who need or WILL need to file total bankruptcy. Our attentive, caring leader has now made it impossible for any of those poor souls in the hard hit regions to file bankruptcy for total relief of debt. As of October 17th, 2005, they will only be able to file a partial plea and will be responsible for paying back a very large portion of their debts due to his “care and compassion” for the middle and lower income families of the nation. Bush doesn’t care less for blacks, he cares less for any and all of us living from paycheck to paycheck, yet our tax dollars slug away for his Armani suits, silk boxers and his personal chefs preparing his meals on our dime. The man portrays less worry about anything that his own countries population may be enduring, but goes full throttle into a foreign land to put our young Americans at risk of death. In his most “compassionate cancellation” of his “vacation”, he is shown taking a tour of the Katrina hit areas, yet is high dollar loafers had not a speck of mud on them. This isn’t due to his aides wiping them for him, but from his lack of visitation to any areas that may give him bad publicity, and by this I mean the truly squalid and death permeated areas of downtown NO. Now, back to his bankruptcy bill. Not only has this new bill taken the burden of debt and slammed our fellow citizens on the Gulf right in the chops, but it has also put all of us in a trick bag due to our governments control over what our gas will cost, how our fuel will be divied out, etc. We all will suffer for his decisions, both current and past. My throat is so tight from disgust right now that I’d pay $10.00 for a blue Valium………………
I trying to figure out how any of this is Bush’s fault - and nothing I’ve seen in these posts helps much.
And Max - if NBC edits out that idiot’s remarks, it is not censorship. Censorship is when the government places constraints - not when NBC, a private company does. Pretty clearly the folks running the fundraiser realized that it would be wrong to derail an event aimed at raising money to aid hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens, of all colors, from three states, just so some race-baiter could score cheap political points.
Anybody who thinks this is about race is just deluded. There is a broad measure of blame to spread around, starting at the local and extended up to the federal level. It appears everyone was caught unprepared, although given the simulations run in the past, and the predictions of doom that preceded landfall, it’s a mystery how they could have been.
I doubt the people affected by the hurricane will be held to these standards. They will be elegible for lots of federal aid and will probably have many rules suspended for them (as it should be - if not, we should raise hell). The problem is going to be that NO, which has done little locally to boost industry other than tourism, is going to be difficult to rebuild economically.
I know several groups of people here who escaped from NO and were adamant about returning (one group is several generations born and raised and can’t fathom any other home). They are all currently re-thinking this. They are all fairly well-educated and have jobs that are portable and could probably find something here in Houston. They’re looking into it.
They are horrified by the anarchy back home and the racial angle relentlessly hyped by the media is no help. The white ones consider themselves marked as the ones who will have to take the blame for any and all wrongs done to blacks and that racial relations will be further poinsoned to an extent that they don’t feel comfortable moving back to a majority-black city which is largely run by blacks. Like it or not, that’s the way they fell.
Another group is black. They are also appalled by what’s going on.
The other group is black and are appalled by what’s going on. They’re afraid to return and feel that the criminal element will be given further reign because people feel guilty about the plight of people left behind. Crime was already a huge issue in the city. They’re scared and don’t feel safe and don’t feel that anything will be done about it because of the same poisoned state of race relations. Cracking down on violence will be seen as racist. They’ve kind of given up.
Both groups are good people. They’re the kind of people you want to come back to the city.
sorry to ramble on, but this is just so upsetting. They love NO but don’t see any future there. BTW,
both groups would like to see the feds just take over running the city
I don’t understand the significance of putting the word BIG in front of a noun. Does that automatically make it evil, or is it just a knee-jerk buzzword? Would this also work for BIG Unions, BIG Regulation, or BIG Welfare?
Your comment about poor whites is somewhat condescending, don’t you think?
Whatever happened to prayer in school… Ask the ACLU.
Whatever happened to school vouchers…. Ask the NEA.
Regarding China & Mexico, people tend to enjoy buying cheap goods and food, from San Francisco to Boston, and blaming southern whites (?) for voting for Bush is a little far-fetched. There are no solutions, only trade-offs.
Concerning Mr. West, he was there as a guest of NBC, and they have a responsibility to their viewers. Do you think it’s ok to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theater?
You should call Mr. Brown up and offer your services. Apparently, these solutions of yours only occur to you.
You can’t figure out how any of this is Bush’s fault, eh?
Cutting Army Corps of Engineering Funding for the levees - not Bush’s fault? He signed the Bill.
FEMA re-configured to be LESS responsive to disasters than it was four years ago during 9/11. Last time I saw, Bush was in charge of the Federal response to this stuff.
Homeland Security Funding - What was the NUMBER 1 thing that came out of 9/11? Lack of communication! How much Homeland Security funding went to make communications systems unified across the U.S. in the event of an emergency? As far as I can tell, none. However, Red States like Wyoming have all kinds of money to spend in the event Al Qaeda ever attacks Casper. Seems to me Bush, who is leader of the Republican Party which Controls Congress could have bought some f-ing radios over the past four years.
Finally, Bush appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA. Brown, a former lawyer, has played lawyer baseball and used legal-speak on par with Bill Clinton during Monica-gate to try to weasle himself out of responsibility for the Feds’ lack of response. Bush should end his mis-placed loyalty for incompetent pricks like Brown, Rummy, et al and begin asking for some resignations.
There is no Big Unions, Big Welfare and Big Regulation because Big Business has taken care of those things through its Big Donations to Big Crooks in Washington. Answer your Big Question?
Also -
Prayer in School - Since when do Republicans give a rat’s ass what the ACLU thinks? The Republicans control the Congress and most state legislatures. They could start pushing through a Constitutional Amendment tomorrow if they truly believed in it, but the don’t.
School Vouchers - Same thing. The Administration thinks the NEA is a terrorist organization (their words). You mean a Republic Congress answers to the NEA?
I seem to remember those same products being cheap in the 80s before NAFTA and WTO and Wal-Mart doing quite well then. Maybe there are just greedy bastards wanting a 40% profit margin instead of a 25% profit margin at the expense of the country.
As far as my comments about poor whites, I’m sorry if the truth hurts. They are just being “played” by the Republicans. The same way a lot of blacks are “played” by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. The only difference is Jesse Jackson isn’t the President.
Finally, Kanye West didn’t yell “fire” in the movie theatre. Besides, the people sitting outside the Convention Center in New Orleans weren’t exactly watching TV last night.
Max - The reason for my arguments were to show that there are organizations in this country (ACLU & NEA) that provide checks and balances in this country. You responded by suggesting that the Republicans are omnipotent and could do away or make unlawful any organization that disagrees with them. How many tin-foil hats do you own anyway? And as long as everyone is being “played”, what keeps the “Republican Guard” from hauling you away. They are probably monitoring this blog right now. I also heard that Mr. West suffered an unfortunate accident……
One more thing, since you brought the BIG thing up. I suppose it would be better if LITTLE Oil, Pharma, Business and Defense came to the the folks rescue in NO. They would do a much better job of providing to little fuel, medicine, money, and manpower. And then little people could complain about how little they were doing while asking for to little regulations to stop such terrible abuse.
The oly person that has done a worse job than that deranged wild eyed idiot Geraldo, is Ray Naggin, the Mayor of New Orleans..He should be run out of what is ledt of that town on a rail. He sent these folks to the Superdome with no thought of what to do next. It just shows waht happens in a tradgedy when local government is incompetant. Now he is foul mouthed hollening for someone else to help his sorry ass out of this mess.I lived in Houston most of my life, and hurrican after hurricane we were prepared. We had qualified leadersjip..Quit whining and get up and try to help yourself just a little bit.And run these dramatic fools like Geraldo and Gretta back to Aruba where they belong..Give me a break..
Geraldo update: now he is emotional because they have evacuated everyone from the Convention Center; I think he was hoping to be able to self grandize a tad longer. What a ghoul.
Thanks for thinking I’m insane. Here are other people thought to be insane:
Winston Churchill in 1937.
Thomas Paine in 1774.
Galileo
Coprenicus
If knowing the truth before others makes me “insane,” then I guess I will have to live with it. I just hope you stopped being another Bush apologist before you end up living in denial like Pat Buchanan does about Richard Nixon.
Birt-
You said:
“The reason for my arguments were to show that there are organizations in this country (ACLU & NEA) that provide checks and balances in this country. You responded by suggesting that the Republicans are omnipotent and could do away or make unlawful any organization that disagrees with them.”
That’s not what I said at all. What I said was the Republicans don’t really give a rats’ ass about school choice or gay marriage or any of the crap they drag out. They drum up support from ignorant rednecks like yourself by paying lip-service to these divisive “cultural” issues when, really, their only true agenda is to rape the American taxpayers and send the proceeds to their corporate paymasters - Big Oil, Big Pharma and Defense. As for the “Republican Guard” hauling me away, if the premise of the Government stripping away all of my rights is so bizarre, how come the Republican stalwart National Rifle Association is fine for using that as an argument to raise money and propose legislation while the left-leaning ACLU is in league with the “tin foil hat” wearers? Oh, and there is no LITTLE pharma, oil, defense - or if there is, not for much longer with the Republicans in control.
Nagin did a crappy job. But you know who did a worse job? Bush. Why? Because after 9/11 he should know better how to respond. Blaming some Mayor for not being an expert in responding to natural disaster doesn’t excuse FEMA, whose ONLY job is to respond to disasters, NOT to act.
I found it interesting that today Michael Brown said he was able to move the buses into New Orleans because he was waiting for the city to be secured. That’s funny. There wasn’t any shooting going on out on I-10 when the refugees sat out there for two days without food and water.
Nagin did a crappy job. But you know who did a worse job? Bush.
My opinion, subject to change as new facts come in: if Bush & the feds had done a better job, hundreds of lives might have been saved. If Nagin & the local authorities had done a better job (i.e., BEFORE the hurricane), thousands of lives might have been saved. Therefore, I am not inclined to agree with you. You don’t have to “be an expert in responding to natural disasters” to understand that buses have wheels and are more effective than nothing at evacuating people who cannot get themselves out of the city. Nor do you have to be an expert to understand that, if all the studies say it takes 72 hours to evacuate a city, it’s a bad idea to wait until 24 hours beforehand to order everyone out, given that, 48 hours before the storm, the forecast was as threatening as any forecast could possibly be. Indeed, the fact that you don’t have to be an expert is proven by the fact that I, a non-expert, was saying exactly this on Saturday.
P.S. You’re right about one thing, though: “Blaming [the] Mayor … doesn’t excuse FEMA.” The concepts that “the locals screwed up” and the “the feds screwed up” are NOT mutually exclusive.
You know, I’m going to have to disagree with you on that. Why? Nagin ordered an evacuation to the Superdome as the shelter of last resort. 10,000 people went there. The rest chose to stay home. The Superdome could have held 50,000. Heck, it could have held 100,000, if need be. I seriously doubt if the people most impacted by the hurricane would have shown up for the buses if they didn’t bother with the Superdome.
As it was, New Orleans saw the greatest mass evacuation in U.S. history. The number of people who died after the fact at the Superdome or the Convention Center are a fraction of those who have died trapped in their attics or from dehydration in the past few days.
Besides, where were the buses for the poor in Mississippi? Where are the photos on Drudge of the buses destroyed in Biloxi and Gulfport. Isn’t Haley Barbour as guilty as the Governor of Louisiana for negligence?
There is plenty of blame to go around. I just happen to believe that as our 9/11 President and the creator of the Department of Homeland Security, Bush’s FEMA should have been more responsive today than it was four years ago during 9/11, which it hasn’t been.
Yo max! You are definitely in awesome company with those great thinkers! My question to you is: are they there with you now? Are their voices in your head?
Really? You don’t think they HAD to stay home, because they had no feasible way to leave? I hope I won’t hear you peddling this crap about how “Bush neglected the poor blacks” if you can’t even see that the LOCAL government neglected the poor blacks by not giving them a feasible mode of transportation.
I seriously doubt if the people most impacted by the hurricane would have shown up for the buses if they didn’t bother with the Superdome.
Again with the callous attitude. “Didn’t even bother”? Does it occur to you that they weren’t given adequate means to get to the Superdome? Or adequate notice of how to take advantage of what means were provided? Please. You’re playing a double game here, claiming Bush neglected the poor but acting like the poor had the “choice” to do whatever they wanted before the storm, but “didn’t bother” to choose wisely. You can’t have it both ways, Max.
Do you have RNC.org set as your homepage? All you Bush-leaguers pretty much read off of the same tired script of attacking those who disagree with you and refusing to accept blame no matter how obvious the blame is.
Steve, you haven’t exactly shown yourself to be too balanced in your opinions either.
Max -
The plan for New Orleans calls for evacuations to sites outside the city, I don’t think the SuperDome qualifies as outside. In addition your assertion that it could hold more is just not true. While its certainly true that it can hold more people during a sporting event you have to realize that long term it has a much smaller capacity and lower levels couldn’t be used because of the possibility of flooding.
Okay. I came off callous and I wrote in too absolute of terms. However, my (unintentional) callousness doesn’t impact thousands of peoples’ lives. Bush’s does. If we are talking about criminal negligence, there is enough to go around - including the Mayor, Governor, FEMA and the President.
In addition, I do believe a large percentage of those who died did not “bother” to go to the Superdome. From what I have seen in postings and in the news, it seems an awful lot of people in New Orleans, just like in Gulfport and Biloxi, chose to ride out the hurricane and died even though they could have sought shelter. Should Nagin have done more for the poor? Yes. So should have the authorities in Mississippi.
And I can “have it both ways.” Sometimes people, including poor people, make the wrong decision. That doesn’t give the FEMA Director the excuse to throw his hands up and say, “Well, you chose unwisely so you are screwed.” Despite the desire of some (not you) to see the world in black and white, the world does not deal in absolutes.
Okay. The more I read about what was laid out in the NO evacuation plan the more I realize Nagin really screwed up (though I thought he had done a crappy job pretty much from the beginning). That said, the people who were stuck in New Orleans were not just the victims of the Hurricane but the victim of Nagin’s incompetence - which makes FEMA Director Brown’s victim-blaming even more unacceptable.
Frist - “I’m not going to get into finger pointing now. I did call for oversight hearings - I wouldn’t have done that if I weren’t concerned. We’ve got to do better.” - is hardly a ringing inditement of the President … it’s a challenge even for someone seeking the most negative in Life to read such sentiments into it !
[Max] Yeah. Smith is at the breaking point after a week of sleepless nights with little food covering the story. Geraldo is at the breaking point after flying in on a nooner from New York today.
Bingo. Geraldo was also a day late; the “cavalry” had already started arriving in town by then. And according to the reports I saw, the military had just spent the afternoon feeding the crowd, just prior to Geraldo’s arrival. IMHO that’s what made his performance look so ridiculous.
This is an archived post. Comments are closed.
To leave a comment on a newer post, please visit the homepage.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:10:37 am
My favorite part was when Geraldo referenced Willowbrook. For those of you who weren’t around in the 1970s, Willowbrook was Geraldo’s Watergate (actually it occurred BEFORE Watergate became public). He exposed Willowbrook, an abusive nursing home. The funny thing tonight was when he said “the Convention Center reminds me of Willowbrook.” Like anyone but Geraldo knows what the fuck he is talking about (except me, of course).
That said, it was disturbing to see Shepard Smith saying that people in New Orleans STILL have no idea where to go for food and water. Smith did explain, however, that authorities aren’t allowing people to walk out of New Orleans. So for those bitching that people should take the initiative, there’s your answer.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:12:00 am
I give Geraldo a lot of credit for being there. You might find fault with his style, but his point is undeniable. Instead of taking issue with Geraldo, I think your efforts would be better spent scrutinizing the leadership of this Nation, which has utterly failed us.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:13:21 am
I saw Geraldo screaming too. Just what we all needed to see. And poor Shepherd Smith seemed like he was losing it too. I hope he can curl up somewhere and get a good night’s sleep.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:15:11 am
Brendan, you’re doing a great job.
Speaking of Fox News coverage- here’s a theory that may be worth investigating.
Shep Smith visited the French Quarter and marveled at what good condition it was in and the fact that there were cops on most corners, minimal looting, and the people surviving there seemed to be doing okay.
As a former resident of NO I’m thinking of something that might have those cops on those corners keeping the peace- cash in hand.
I wonder if anyone has investigated this possibiity.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:18:31 am
Tom.. possibly yes.. but possibly it might be because its the only part of no that escaped extreme damage.. and it is the heart and soul of no.. if the french quarter crumbles the entire city is lost
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:21:34 am
“A public health expert said New Orleans residents who return to their homes would face “a wilderness” without power and drinking water that will be infested with poisonous snakes and fire ants.”
from cnn.com
jesus.. these people have the worst luck down there.. i bet its really hard to resist the temptation to come back into the city and try and salvage for your belongings and to protect your property
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:21:52 am
Instead of taking issue with Geraldo, I think your efforts would be better spent scrutinizing the leadership of this Nation, which has utterly failed us.
Please. I’ve already talked a bit about the leadership, local and national (and have been savaged in some corners for “playing the blame game”). There is also extensive discussion of the leadership’s failures in comments… and on TV… and all over the Internet. There’s nothing wrong with also having a bit of fun with Geraldo. We all need a laugh right now.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:22:46 am
The fire ants and snakes were always part of the disaster scenario… they’re not “bad luck,” they were an inevitable aspect of what a storm like this would do (and has done).
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:24:29 am
I think most of the cops have the welfare of the whole city in mind. I mean, I probably would have turned my badge in the first day of the goat-fuck, but these poor people spent a week without patrol cars or jails in waist-deep sewage trying to restore order. Doesn’t seem to make much sense if you could just take a pay-off and stand in the dry, uninhabited French Quarter.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:28:08 am
brendan.. yeah i was just oblivious to that part of mother natures wrath in that area being from a northern city where all we have are rats that can take down a dog..
mad max.. yeah i agree. i doubt the police officers working their tails off would let their brothers behind the badge just collect money and stand guard in the french quarter
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:28:26 am
Kayne West had something interesting to say during tonight’s telethon…
After (West) stated, ìGeorge Bush doesnÃt care about black people. Please call óî the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
…Quick! Cut to the FUNNY black man.
Actually, West was wrong. Bush doesn’t care about any people who make less than $10 million a year and who don’t contribute to the RNC. Let’s get that straight…
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:28:26 am
Geraldo and Sheppard Smith looked like they were at a breaking point…..Which is pretty much expected for Gerald.
But Shep really looks bad…….His spirit has been broken.
Question: Are those guys staying at the Center and on that bridge?
If they are, are they getting food and water?? Both are bitching a ton, but why don’t the Fox helicopters fly in some supplies (and the other alphabet networks).
————
As far as that poor baby goes, he’ll be traumatized for life by the site of that loon in his face.
My favorite was Gerald telling the ‘young lady’ to back up so he could get the ‘old lady’ on camera.
Aren’t these people suffering enough not to have to deal with this clown?
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:31:18 am
“As far as that poor baby goes, he’ll be traumatized for life by the site of that loon in his face.”
I think that’s what happened to the Taliban sniper who almost got Geraldo at Tora Bora. The sniper saw that face in the scope and lost bowel control right when he squeezed the trigger…
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:31:27 am
max ill let that one slide cause it was funny…
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:32:58 am
“Geraldo and Sheppard Smith looked like they were at a breaking point…..Which is pretty much expected for Gerald.”
Yeah. Smith is at the breaking point after a week of sleepless nights with little food covering the story.
Geraldo is at the breaking point after flying in on a nooner from New York today.
Go figure.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:39:27 am
I have a suggeston, NO FACES on the
tv of anyone that is
famous
elected
stupid
(sorry, it is late, that last
one slipped in)
anyway, a moratirium not only
on press conferences, but on
any faces other than real
people, in the old days the news
men and women were behnd the cameria
and the typerwriter and not in
front of it, for after all we seek
the news not the idiots prancing
in front of the camera showing us how
much they care
This is a natural disaster of
great size and effect aand had
affected many many people, let us
give them the dignity of recognizing
it is their lives and fates that
it is all about, not our feelings or repsonses.
Good will come evnetualy but I hope it hurries up!
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:42:40 am
Mad Max (12:15):
I also saw the report about authorities not letting people walk out of NO, and I commented about it on another thread. WTF? Do you know anything about it? Which “authorities”? Local, state, or federal?
Since when are people not allowed to leave a disaster area under their own power?
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:44:53 am
Maybe Geraldo was scared that a chair was going to come flying his way.
(come on, someone just HAD to say it!)
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:46:34 am
sledge.. a flying chair my improve giraldo’s appearance should it make contact with his face.. haha
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:49:58 am
callmemickey -
It didn’t do his face wonders the FIRST time it happened.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:00:59 am
I’ve never seen Shep act like that either, and I’ve never liked his reporting, until now. He really acted upset, and I think it was a good story. Maybe the reporters are actually human after all. ;> But I am totally shocked and amazed that whomever is supposed to help people haven’t. Even tho in my belief those people who were shooting at others trying to help them are coming off of Meth, it should not have happened. All people *Under God* tax paying citizens should not have to wait all these days to be helped.There are good people and bad people in this world. No person should have to go thru this.. where is our government?? where is the help?
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:14:48 am
well Nagin is calm now…
“I feel much better. I feel like we’ve gotten everyone’s attention and hopefully they’ll continue to do what they’re doing,” Nagin said Friday night in the damaged downtown Hyatt hotel, where his temporary lodgings and command post have been set up since Hurricane Katrina made life in the Big Easy insufferable.”
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBUO6KC5DE.html
the consitions were insufferable, but I usually retain that for Huffingtonpost contributers or benifit concert/entertainers
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:15:56 am
typo hell, sorry
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:30:16 am
another except from above, this is pretty lame
“I do think the pleas for help basically got the nation’s attention, and the nation’s attention got everybody to stop and re-evaluate what was going on, including the president. … He basically said, ‘Look, our response was not what it should have been and we’re going to fix it right now.’”
memo to mayor…BUSH APPEALLED FOR THE MANDATORY EVAC you dip shit…BUSES under water!!!!
So it is obvious BUSH stayed in NO for quite some time, put Blanco, Landreui, Vitter and Nagin on prozac and said “YOU SAID YOU GUYS HAD THIS UNDER CONTROL”
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:41:45 am
The two fox reporters looked like they were trying to excite everyone. Scared the heck out of that baby. Get those guys some prozac and a chill pill. Brendan. Great linc for Venice. Wanted to see Cypress Cove and you really helped me out. My prayers to all my buds from the sportsmans state.
Tight Lines,
Max
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:48:55 am
which has be wondering (yes speculating) Blanco, Landrieu, Vitter and now Nagin don’t have any unkind/blame words for Bush (Admin)…Nagin weaseled on his own lapses but was calmer…Landrieu was blasted by A.Cooper for “praising” other politicians and the president and addressing realitity… Blanco? where the hay is she? took one helio ride, everytime I heard her speak she has prefaced with thanks to the president…vitter haven’t heard anything from him except estimates of magnitiude…not a lot out of them about -terrible feds …their reaction distinctly different from the “mad max”’s lurking around…which seems a little odd cuz dem elects live to blame bush….things that make you go hmmmm
September 3rd, 2005 at 3:06:31 am
Saying prayers for safety and
peace in NO, and for healing and
success for all he efforts, and for
a good and positive future and much
learning from all of this for
all concerned. Night for now and
peace.
September 3rd, 2005 at 3:09:08 am
okay what I’m saying is, I bet dollars to doughnuts, that “vitter” exerted some kind of control when he saw “Blano’s” operation had no control or grasp, and no plan or didn’t inituate any plan…I bet the inside was sooo FUBAR vitter communicated …these people have there heads up they’re asses and we need help!
There is no way if the feds screwed up, Landrieu would first priority be thanking BILL FRIST on CNN. No f’ing way. These people f’d up and are thanking the pres. left and right cuz “they” are in a bad bad political sit. than Pres. and I bet the Pres. said I’ll take the knocks.
look deeper people.
September 3rd, 2005 at 3:17:57 am
ChrisG, as unrealistic as I find the rest of your plea (not to say that it would be bad if it came true, just very unlikely) it will be next to impossible to show absolutely no one who’s stupid. What percentage of the survivors fit the category has been debated–and it certainly doesn’t describe all of them–but surely some of the refugees are morons who had the ability to leave but decided to ride out the storm because they thought that they knew better than everyone else. Pan across a big enough crowd of “real people”, and you’re bound to catch a few.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:39:53 am
This guy is incredible. He’s exactly what the UK’s best comedian (Chris Morris) so often parodies. “Fire me at the battlefield! I want to smell the war!” type hyperbole. “This 9 year old child is now a war orphan, one of the many the people here call ‘the desert confetti’. I have a boy that age myself, a hour ago I phoned him and told him to move out of the house, to make room for his new brother.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or just be really, really angry.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:27:52 am
Concerning the question about not allowing people to leave NO, I said in another thread that having the Feds take over is a double-edged sword. They can be somewhat facist when it comes to controlling the situation.
“Bush doesn’t care about any people who make less than $10 million a year and who don’t contribute to the RNC. Let’s get that straight…”
Must be quite a few multi-millionaires living in the red states……
I have a hard time taking you seriously when you make comments like this. It just makes you look less then intelligent. I did like your remarks on Geraldo however. Sorry.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:24:00 am
Birt-
In truth, Bush DOESN’T care about average people, even white Christians in red states. Bush is the agent of Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Defense. Bush tells the poor whites in Red States what they want to hear, but deep down he has no intention of actually helping them. Some examples:
Whatever happend to prayer in school?
Whatever happened to school vouchers?
Why are are all the labor jobs formerly held by southern whites being shipped to China?
Why is Bush encouraging the wholesale illegal immigration from Mexico to take up construction jobs formerly held by southern whites?
I will repeat. Bush really doesn’t care for anyone but the rich white people he went to prep school with. The guy is an over-priviledged frat boy. Or, at the very least, he may actually feel bad for poor white people, but having lived a life of priviledge he has no way of comprehending how truly dire their situation is…
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:39:45 am
“Superdome exodus on hold”
Just came up on MSNBC. Weren’t the authorities running around yesterday saying the evacuation of the Superdome was complete? Don’t these people talk to each other?
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:03:33 pm
“Since when are people not allowed to leave a disaster area under their own power?”
since 1927 at least. the black peopple who scrambled on top of the levee were not prevented from evacuating because the authorities didn’t want to lose the workforce; the white people were evacuated. this has all happened before.
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:14:54 pm
More on Kanye West…
The show, simulcast from New York on
NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper’s outburst to go out uncensored.
There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge “was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn’t realize (West) had gone off-script,” said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
…Ummm. I would hope they wouldn’t drop out what the guy said. It’s called censorship. Whether it was appropriate or not, since when is it okay to censor free speech? This wasn’t a cuss word, it was an opinion (well informed or not).
Should he have said it during a fund-raiser? Probably not. Should NBC being saying they should have censored it? Hell no!
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:20:20 pm
Here we go again…
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — While thousands of people waited to be evacuated from the squalor of flood-stricken New Orleans, two major fires raged along the waterfront on Saturday.
Without water, firefighters were helpless. They were forced to abandon efforts to fight a blaze that threatened to consume an upscale riverfront mall, where looters had been seen earlier.
Fifty-foot flames also engulfed an industrial district along the Mississippi River and threatened to spread from warehouse to warehouse. (Watch the fires sweep along waterfront)
…Does it occur to anyone else that the Feds should call in the Forest Service from Coloardo and start dropping fire retardant on these fires? I’m sure it will occur to FEMA Director Michael Brown after he is “told about it” two days from now.
Geez.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:14:09 pm
Mad Max:
Do you really think it wise to drop chemicals on an area that still has people in it?
BTW, I’ve heard that of all the LA National Guard units available before the hurricane, the governor only deployed about 1/2. If true, you can’t blame the feds here. She’s commander-in-chief and has the authority.
Is this true?
Also, from what I understand almost 75% of active duty military and National Guard troops are here in the US. If you count all military in Iraq, Afghanistan and support in Kuait, you’re looking at about 12% of our forces.
I realize that we generally depend solely on National Guard to help communities with disaster relief, but I’d like to know what % of units available locally to La. Miss. AL were pre-deployed prior to the storm. This would be the responsibility of the state’s governors. They could call for what they needed as a disaster declaration was already signed by the President.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:14:38 pm
re: Kayne West had something interesting to say during tonight’s telethon…
After (West) stated, ?George Bush doesn?t care about black people. Please call ?? the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
…Quick! Cut to the FUNNY black man.
Actually, West was wrong. Bush doesn’t care about any people who make less than $10 million a year and who don’t contribute to the RNC. Let’s get that straight…
Mad Max: Beyond Superdome | 09.03.05 - 12:33 am | #
Much agreement there Mad Max. Our elustrious Prez signed his most profound bill this past year in putting a deadline on those who need or WILL need to file total bankruptcy. Our attentive, caring leader has now made it impossible for any of those poor souls in the hard hit regions to file bankruptcy for total relief of debt. As of October 17th, 2005, they will only be able to file a partial plea and will be responsible for paying back a very large portion of their debts due to his “care and compassion” for the middle and lower income families of the nation. Bush doesn’t care less for blacks, he cares less for any and all of us living from paycheck to paycheck, yet our tax dollars slug away for his Armani suits, silk boxers and his personal chefs preparing his meals on our dime. The man portrays less worry about anything that his own countries population may be enduring, but goes full throttle into a foreign land to put our young Americans at risk of death. In his most “compassionate cancellation” of his “vacation”, he is shown taking a tour of the Katrina hit areas, yet is high dollar loafers had not a speck of mud on them. This isn’t due to his aides wiping them for him, but from his lack of visitation to any areas that may give him bad publicity, and by this I mean the truly squalid and death permeated areas of downtown NO. Now, back to his bankruptcy bill. Not only has this new bill taken the burden of debt and slammed our fellow citizens on the Gulf right in the chops, but it has also put all of us in a trick bag due to our governments control over what our gas will cost, how our fuel will be divied out, etc. We all will suffer for his decisions, both current and past. My throat is so tight from disgust right now that I’d pay $10.00 for a blue Valium………………
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:31:53 pm
I trying to figure out how any of this is Bush’s fault - and nothing I’ve seen in these posts helps much.
And Max - if NBC edits out that idiot’s remarks, it is not censorship. Censorship is when the government places constraints - not when NBC, a private company does. Pretty clearly the folks running the fundraiser realized that it would be wrong to derail an event aimed at raising money to aid hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens, of all colors, from three states, just so some race-baiter could score cheap political points.
Anybody who thinks this is about race is just deluded. There is a broad measure of blame to spread around, starting at the local and extended up to the federal level. It appears everyone was caught unprepared, although given the simulations run in the past, and the predictions of doom that preceded landfall, it’s a mystery how they could have been.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:32:19 pm
Harleydeby
I doubt the people affected by the hurricane will be held to these standards. They will be elegible for lots of federal aid and will probably have many rules suspended for them (as it should be - if not, we should raise hell). The problem is going to be that NO, which has done little locally to boost industry other than tourism, is going to be difficult to rebuild economically.
I know several groups of people here who escaped from NO and were adamant about returning (one group is several generations born and raised and can’t fathom any other home). They are all currently re-thinking this. They are all fairly well-educated and have jobs that are portable and could probably find something here in Houston. They’re looking into it.
They are horrified by the anarchy back home and the racial angle relentlessly hyped by the media is no help. The white ones consider themselves marked as the ones who will have to take the blame for any and all wrongs done to blacks and that racial relations will be further poinsoned to an extent that they don’t feel comfortable moving back to a majority-black city which is largely run by blacks. Like it or not, that’s the way they fell.
Another group is black. They are also appalled by what’s going on.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:34:20 pm
I don’t know if this was said, but I’d be scared too if Geraldo was anywhere near me. I certainly hope that baby won’t need anti-Geraldo counseling.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:37:29 pm
sorry I hit the wrong button, I meant to preview.
The other group is black and are appalled by what’s going on. They’re afraid to return and feel that the criminal element will be given further reign because people feel guilty about the plight of people left behind. Crime was already a huge issue in the city. They’re scared and don’t feel safe and don’t feel that anything will be done about it because of the same poisoned state of race relations. Cracking down on violence will be seen as racist. They’ve kind of given up.
Both groups are good people. They’re the kind of people you want to come back to the city.
sorry to ramble on, but this is just so upsetting. They love NO but don’t see any future there. BTW,
both groups would like to see the feds just take over running the city
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:52:03 pm
wadikitty-
Regarding the Forest Service, you are right. Maybe they should use the Forest Service planes that can pick up water from the Gulf and drop it.
See. I admit mistakes and it doesn’t take me five days and hundreds of estimated deaths and badgering from my own political party to do so.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:53:06 pm
Max - Thanks for your comments. A few thoughts…
I don’t understand the significance of putting the word BIG in front of a noun. Does that automatically make it evil, or is it just a knee-jerk buzzword? Would this also work for BIG Unions, BIG Regulation, or BIG Welfare?
Your comment about poor whites is somewhat condescending, don’t you think?
Whatever happened to prayer in school… Ask the ACLU.
Whatever happened to school vouchers…. Ask the NEA.
Regarding China & Mexico, people tend to enjoy buying cheap goods and food, from San Francisco to Boston, and blaming southern whites (?) for voting for Bush is a little far-fetched. There are no solutions, only trade-offs.
Concerning Mr. West, he was there as a guest of NBC, and they have a responsibility to their viewers. Do you think it’s ok to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theater?
You should call Mr. Brown up and offer your services. Apparently, these solutions of yours only occur to you.
Regards, Birt
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:59:21 pm
Brad Clark-
You can’t figure out how any of this is Bush’s fault, eh?
Cutting Army Corps of Engineering Funding for the levees - not Bush’s fault? He signed the Bill.
FEMA re-configured to be LESS responsive to disasters than it was four years ago during 9/11. Last time I saw, Bush was in charge of the Federal response to this stuff.
Homeland Security Funding - What was the NUMBER 1 thing that came out of 9/11? Lack of communication! How much Homeland Security funding went to make communications systems unified across the U.S. in the event of an emergency? As far as I can tell, none. However, Red States like Wyoming have all kinds of money to spend in the event Al Qaeda ever attacks Casper. Seems to me Bush, who is leader of the Republican Party which Controls Congress could have bought some f-ing radios over the past four years.
Finally, Bush appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA. Brown, a former lawyer, has played lawyer baseball and used legal-speak on par with Bill Clinton during Monica-gate to try to weasle himself out of responsibility for the Feds’ lack of response. Bush should end his mis-placed loyalty for incompetent pricks like Brown, Rummy, et al and begin asking for some resignations.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:08:52 pm
Birt-
There is no Big Unions, Big Welfare and Big Regulation because Big Business has taken care of those things through its Big Donations to Big Crooks in Washington. Answer your Big Question?
Also -
Prayer in School - Since when do Republicans give a rat’s ass what the ACLU thinks? The Republicans control the Congress and most state legislatures. They could start pushing through a Constitutional Amendment tomorrow if they truly believed in it, but the don’t.
School Vouchers - Same thing. The Administration thinks the NEA is a terrorist organization (their words). You mean a Republic Congress answers to the NEA?
I seem to remember those same products being cheap in the 80s before NAFTA and WTO and Wal-Mart doing quite well then. Maybe there are just greedy bastards wanting a 40% profit margin instead of a 25% profit margin at the expense of the country.
As far as my comments about poor whites, I’m sorry if the truth hurts. They are just being “played” by the Republicans. The same way a lot of blacks are “played” by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. The only difference is Jesse Jackson isn’t the President.
Finally, Kanye West didn’t yell “fire” in the movie theatre. Besides, the people sitting outside the Convention Center in New Orleans weren’t exactly watching TV last night.
September 3rd, 2005 at 3:06:22 pm
Yo Max, your posts more than suggest that you are insane. Please get some help.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:30:07 pm
Max - The reason for my arguments were to show that there are organizations in this country (ACLU & NEA) that provide checks and balances in this country. You responded by suggesting that the Republicans are omnipotent and could do away or make unlawful any organization that disagrees with them. How many tin-foil hats do you own anyway? And as long as everyone is being “played”, what keeps the “Republican Guard” from hauling you away. They are probably monitoring this blog right now. I also heard that Mr. West suffered an unfortunate accident……
One more thing, since you brought the BIG thing up. I suppose it would be better if LITTLE Oil, Pharma, Business and Defense came to the the folks rescue in NO. They would do a much better job of providing to little fuel, medicine, money, and manpower. And then little people could complain about how little they were doing while asking for to little regulations to stop such terrible abuse.
Peace out Max, and may your dogma protect you.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:55:52 pm
The oly person that has done a worse job than that deranged wild eyed idiot Geraldo, is Ray Naggin, the Mayor of New Orleans..He should be run out of what is ledt of that town on a rail. He sent these folks to the Superdome with no thought of what to do next. It just shows waht happens in a tradgedy when local government is incompetant. Now he is foul mouthed hollening for someone else to help his sorry ass out of this mess.I lived in Houston most of my life, and hurrican after hurricane we were prepared. We had qualified leadersjip..Quit whining and get up and try to help yourself just a little bit.And run these dramatic fools like Geraldo and Gretta back to Aruba where they belong..Give me a break..
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:21:52 pm
Geraldo update: now he is emotional because they have evacuated everyone from the Convention Center; I think he was hoping to be able to self grandize a tad longer. What a ghoul.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:00:24 pm
I think Gerald got a tranxene shot this morning…….He seems much better.
I haven’t checked out CNN or MessNBC (in years…lol), and can only imagine how those fools have been acting.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:21:58 pm
steve in pa-
Thanks for thinking I’m insane. Here are other people thought to be insane:
Winston Churchill in 1937.
Thomas Paine in 1774.
Galileo
Coprenicus
If knowing the truth before others makes me “insane,” then I guess I will have to live with it. I just hope you stopped being another Bush apologist before you end up living in denial like Pat Buchanan does about Richard Nixon.
Birt-
You said:
“The reason for my arguments were to show that there are organizations in this country (ACLU & NEA) that provide checks and balances in this country. You responded by suggesting that the Republicans are omnipotent and could do away or make unlawful any organization that disagrees with them.”
That’s not what I said at all. What I said was the Republicans don’t really give a rats’ ass about school choice or gay marriage or any of the crap they drag out. They drum up support from ignorant rednecks like yourself by paying lip-service to these divisive “cultural” issues when, really, their only true agenda is to rape the American taxpayers and send the proceeds to their corporate paymasters - Big Oil, Big Pharma and Defense. As for the “Republican Guard” hauling me away, if the premise of the Government stripping away all of my rights is so bizarre, how come the Republican stalwart National Rifle Association is fine for using that as an argument to raise money and propose legislation while the left-leaning ACLU is in league with the “tin foil hat” wearers? Oh, and there is no LITTLE pharma, oil, defense - or if there is, not for much longer with the Republicans in control.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:26:43 pm
bigjake-
Nagin did a crappy job. But you know who did a worse job? Bush. Why? Because after 9/11 he should know better how to respond. Blaming some Mayor for not being an expert in responding to natural disaster doesn’t excuse FEMA, whose ONLY job is to respond to disasters, NOT to act.
I found it interesting that today Michael Brown said he was able to move the buses into New Orleans because he was waiting for the city to be secured. That’s funny. There wasn’t any shooting going on out on I-10 when the refugees sat out there for two days without food and water.
Brown = Lying fuck.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:40:46 pm
Nagin did a crappy job. But you know who did a worse job? Bush.
My opinion, subject to change as new facts come in: if Bush & the feds had done a better job, hundreds of lives might have been saved. If Nagin & the local authorities had done a better job (i.e., BEFORE the hurricane), thousands of lives might have been saved. Therefore, I am not inclined to agree with you. You don’t have to “be an expert in responding to natural disasters” to understand that buses have wheels and are more effective than nothing at evacuating people who cannot get themselves out of the city. Nor do you have to be an expert to understand that, if all the studies say it takes 72 hours to evacuate a city, it’s a bad idea to wait until 24 hours beforehand to order everyone out, given that, 48 hours before the storm, the forecast was as threatening as any forecast could possibly be. Indeed, the fact that you don’t have to be an expert is proven by the fact that I, a non-expert, was saying exactly this on Saturday.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:43:53 pm
P.S. You’re right about one thing, though: “Blaming [the] Mayor … doesn’t excuse FEMA.” The concepts that “the locals screwed up” and the “the feds screwed up” are NOT mutually exclusive.
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:30:04 pm
Brendan-
You know, I’m going to have to disagree with you on that. Why? Nagin ordered an evacuation to the Superdome as the shelter of last resort. 10,000 people went there. The rest chose to stay home. The Superdome could have held 50,000. Heck, it could have held 100,000, if need be. I seriously doubt if the people most impacted by the hurricane would have shown up for the buses if they didn’t bother with the Superdome.
As it was, New Orleans saw the greatest mass evacuation in U.S. history. The number of people who died after the fact at the Superdome or the Convention Center are a fraction of those who have died trapped in their attics or from dehydration in the past few days.
Besides, where were the buses for the poor in Mississippi? Where are the photos on Drudge of the buses destroyed in Biloxi and Gulfport. Isn’t Haley Barbour as guilty as the Governor of Louisiana for negligence?
There is plenty of blame to go around. I just happen to believe that as our 9/11 President and the creator of the Department of Homeland Security, Bush’s FEMA should have been more responsive today than it was four years ago during 9/11, which it hasn’t been.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:09:39 pm
Yo max! You are definitely in awesome company with those great thinkers! My question to you is: are they there with you now? Are their voices in your head?
Meds, Max, Meds.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:37:53 pm
The rest chose to stay home.
Really? You don’t think they HAD to stay home, because they had no feasible way to leave? I hope I won’t hear you peddling this crap about how “Bush neglected the poor blacks” if you can’t even see that the LOCAL government neglected the poor blacks by not giving them a feasible mode of transportation.
I seriously doubt if the people most impacted by the hurricane would have shown up for the buses if they didn’t bother with the Superdome.
Again with the callous attitude. “Didn’t even bother”? Does it occur to you that they weren’t given adequate means to get to the Superdome? Or adequate notice of how to take advantage of what means were provided? Please. You’re playing a double game here, claiming Bush neglected the poor but acting like the poor had the “choice” to do whatever they wanted before the storm, but “didn’t bother” to choose wisely. You can’t have it both ways, Max.
September 3rd, 2005 at 9:38:13 pm
steve in pa-
Speaking of great thinkers…
“meds” and “tin foil hats.”
Do you have RNC.org set as your homepage? All you Bush-leaguers pretty much read off of the same tired script of attacking those who disagree with you and refusing to accept blame no matter how obvious the blame is.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:16:16 pm
Steve, you haven’t exactly shown yourself to be too balanced in your opinions either.
Max -
The plan for New Orleans calls for evacuations to sites outside the city, I don’t think the SuperDome qualifies as outside. In addition your assertion that it could hold more is just not true. While its certainly true that it can hold more people during a sporting event you have to realize that long term it has a much smaller capacity and lower levels couldn’t be used because of the possibility of flooding.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:17:33 pm
Brendan-
Okay. I came off callous and I wrote in too absolute of terms. However, my (unintentional) callousness doesn’t impact thousands of peoples’ lives. Bush’s does. If we are talking about criminal negligence, there is enough to go around - including the Mayor, Governor, FEMA and the President.
In addition, I do believe a large percentage of those who died did not “bother” to go to the Superdome. From what I have seen in postings and in the news, it seems an awful lot of people in New Orleans, just like in Gulfport and Biloxi, chose to ride out the hurricane and died even though they could have sought shelter. Should Nagin have done more for the poor? Yes. So should have the authorities in Mississippi.
And I can “have it both ways.” Sometimes people, including poor people, make the wrong decision. That doesn’t give the FEMA Director the excuse to throw his hands up and say, “Well, you chose unwisely so you are screwed.” Despite the desire of some (not you) to see the world in black and white, the world does not deal in absolutes.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:26:40 pm
David and Brendan-
Okay. The more I read about what was laid out in the NO evacuation plan the more I realize Nagin really screwed up (though I thought he had done a crappy job pretty much from the beginning). That said, the people who were stuck in New Orleans were not just the victims of the Hurricane but the victim of Nagin’s incompetence - which makes FEMA Director Brown’s victim-blaming even more unacceptable.
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:59:11 pm
Geraldo and his over-dramatic story is
always dificult to tolerate, but if it helps at all I guess im ok with it. i just cant stand him as a reporter. he is out for himself, not the story.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:01:24 pm
Well thank you David. I never claimed to be politically balanced; then again I never claimed to be mentally balanced either.
Yo Max, nice to see you finally read the report.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:43:06 pm
steve in pa-
Doesn’t change the fact that Bush has dropped the ball as well. This, according to such liberals as Newt Gingrich and Bill Frist.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:50:57 pm
Max, do you have links for the Gingrich and Frist statements?
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:56:43 pm
Here you go…
Gingrich…
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/343077p-292944c.html
Frist…
http://www.fox23news.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=997CB1EB-D928-4E46-8248-0D5C7866835F
September 4th, 2005 at 6:13:13 am
Mad Max - enough, BS, already !
Frist - “I’m not going to get into finger pointing now. I did call for oversight hearings - I wouldn’t have done that if I weren’t concerned. We’ve got to do better.” - is hardly a ringing inditement of the President … it’s a challenge even for someone seeking the most negative in Life to read such sentiments into it !
OY !
September 6th, 2005 at 11:34:44 am
[Max] Yeah. Smith is at the breaking point after a week of sleepless nights with little food covering the story. Geraldo is at the breaking point after flying in on a nooner from New York today.
Bingo. Geraldo was also a day late; the “cavalry” had already started arriving in town by then. And according to the reports I saw, the military had just spent the afternoon feeding the crowd, just prior to Geraldo’s arrival. IMHO that’s what made his performance look so ridiculous.