What happened there ?

Murder and mayhem in New Orleans' miserable shelter

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050903/ts_nm/mayhem_dc

Leroy Fouchea, 42, waited in the sweltering heat for an hour to get his ration -- his first proper food since Monday -- and immediately handed it over to a sickly friend.

He then offered to show reporters the dead bodies of a man in a wheelchair, a young man who he said he dragged inside just hours earlier, and the limp forms of two infants, one just four months old, the other six months old.

He said people were let die and left without food simply because they were poor and that the evacuation effort earlier concentrated on the French Quarter of the city. "Because that's where the money is," he spat.

A National Guardsman refused entry.

"It doesn't need to be seen, it's a make-shift morgue in there," he told a Reuters photographer. "We're not letting anyone in there anymore. If you want to take pictures of dead bodies, go to Iraq."

Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok.

Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. 

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it's really difficult to say. Racism in America is so embedded into the collective mind that some actions from the whites might be unconcious. I think the Bush admin was sleeping. They are to blame. Bush was day dreaming while on vacation as usual, so he is not to be blamed. Definitely not his fault, this time.

"Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. "

uhm, a diaster of this scale is beyond the emergency powers of city/state. That is why we have FEMA and the National Guard, who took their time showing up.

And yes, Kayne West is a democrat, as is the majority of black voters in the United States. Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

Interesting feedback from another forum with some NO locals

We're naming it Lake George, 'cause it's his frickin fault. Have you seen all that data about the levee projects' funding being cut over the past three years by the Prez, and the funding transferred to Iraq? The levee, as designed, might not have held back the surge from a direct Class 5 hit, but it certainly would not have crumbled on Monday night from saturation and scour erosion following a glancing blow from a Class 3. The failure was in a spot that had just been rebuilt, not yet compacted, not planted, and not armed (hardened with rock/concrete). The project should have been done two years ago, but the federal gov't diverted 80% of the funding to Iraq. Other areas had settled by a few feet from their design specs, and the money to repair them was diverted to Iraq.

The NO paper raised ###### about this time and again, to no avail. And who will take the blame for it? The Army Corps, because they're good soldiers and will never contradict the C in C. But Corps has had massive budget cuts across all departments (including wetland regulatory) since Bush took office, and now we've reaped what was sown. It really pisses me off to see the Corps get used by the Administration to shield Bush -- they do great work when they're funded. This was senseless, useless death caused not by nature but by budget decisions.

Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. 

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it's really difficult to say. Racism in America is so embedded into the collective mind that some actions from the whites might be unconcious. I think the Bush admin was sleeping. They are to blame. Bush was day dreaming while on vacation as usual, so he is not to be blamed. Definitely not his fault, this time.

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Of course Bush is not to blame... It's all the people who do his job for him that fcuked up

totster

I hope they don't impeach Bush over this, it would be a tragedy.

The Hand of God winning over the lies of Iraq. We can't let this happen. Support Bush.

Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

We don't know much about Thai politics either, but that don't stop us good ole' boys putting our big size elevens in there too.

Yeehaw!

Hurricane Pam, July 2004, a hypothetical hurricane to give a dry run to FEMA if a hurricane hit NO in JULY 2004.

From the NY Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 - When Michael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, returned in January from a tour of the tsunami devastation in Asia, he urgently gathered his aides to prepare for a similar catastrophe at home.

"New Orleans was the No. 1 disaster we were talking about," recalled Eric L. Tolbert, then a top FEMA official. "We were obsessed with New Orleans because of the risk."

Disaster officials, who had drawn up dozens of plans and conducted preparedness drills for years, had long known that the low-lying city was especially vulnerable. But despite all the warnings, Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the very government agencies that had rehearsed for such a calamity. On Thursday, as the flooded city descended into near-anarchy, frantic local officials blasted the federal and state emergency response as woefully sluggish and confused.

"We're in our fifth day and adequate help to quell the situation has not arrived yet," said Edwin P. Compass III, the New Orleans police superintendent.

The response will be dissected for years. But on Thursday, disaster experts and frustrated officials said a crucial shortcoming may have been the failure to predict that the levees keeping Lake Pontchartrain out of the city would be breached, not just overflow.

They also said that evacuation measures were inadequate, leaving far too many city residents behind to suffer severe hardships and, in some cases, join marauding gangs.

Large numbers of National Guard troops should have been deployed on flooded streets early in the disaster to keep order, the critics said. And some questioned whether the federal government's intense focus on terrorism had distracted from planning practical steps to cope with a major natural disaster.

Disaster experts acknowledged that the impact of Hurricane Katrina posed unprecedented difficulties. "There are amazing challenges and obstacles," said Joe Becker, the top disaster response official at the American Red Cross.

Under the circumstances, Mr. Becker said, the government response "has been nothing short of heroic."

But he added that the first, life-saving phase of hurricane response, which usually lasts a matter of hours, in this case was stretching over days.

While some in New Orleans fault FEMA - Terry Ebbert, homeland security director for New Orleans, called it a "hamstrung" bureaucracy - others say any blame should be more widely spread. Local, state and federal officials, for example, have cooperated on disaster planning. In 2000, they studied the impact of a fictional "Hurricane Zebra"; last year they drilled with "Hurricane Pam."

Neither exercise expected the levees to fail. In an interview Thursday on "Good Morning America," President Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." He added, "Now we're having to deal with it, and will."

Some lapses may have occurred because of budget cuts. For example, Mr. Tolbert, the former FEMA official, said that "funding dried up" for follow-up to the 2004 Hurricane Pam exercise, cutting off work on plans to shelter thousands of survivors.

Brian Wolshon, an engineering professor at Louisiana State University who served as a consultant on the state's evacuation plan, said little attention was paid to moving out New Orleans's "low-mobility" population - the elderly, the infirm and the poor without cars or other means of fleeing the city, about 100,000 people.

At disaster planning meetings, he said, "the answer was often silence."

Inevitably, the involvement of dozens of agencies complicated the response. FEMA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, were in charge of coordinating 14 federal agencies with state and local authorities. But Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans complained Wednesday on CNN that there were too many cooks involved.

Kat - I'll have my say love. I've been to to New Orleans and its a shi*e hole - even Bourbon street (smells like one). Louisiana is most corrupt state in yankland, New Orleans is crime ridden mess apparently murder capital of yankland.

Seems to me local govt has a major responsibility for this mess and as far as race politics goes whenever something goes wrong this always seems to be the reason. Sorry I don't buy it - about blo*dy time people start looking at themselves and accept some personal responsibility than depend on the governement for everything.

I've been to to New Orleans and its a shi*e hole

I've read Anne Rice's novels about New Orleans - the place is full of gay vampires.

Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

We don't know much about Thai politics either, but that don't stop us good ole' boys putting our big size elevens in there too.

Yeehaw!

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Kat - I'll have my say love. I've been to to New Orleans and its a shi*e hole - even Bourbon street (smells like one). Louisiana is most corrupt state in yankland, New Orleans is crime ridden mess apparently murder capital of yankland.

Seems to me local govt has a major responsibility for this mess and as far as race politics goes whenever something goes wrong this always seems to be the reason. Sorry I don't buy it - about blo*dy time people start looking at themselves and accept some personal responsibility than depend on the governement for everything.

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Brit, I don't disagree with the jist of what you're saying. But as far as race politics and history go, it's a lot more deeply entrenched, detailed, and complicated.

The Photo caption controversy is all over the Internet

"Looting" or "finding"?

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/..._controversy/?x

The Yahoo photos at the origin of the controversy:

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/photos_...shxwaoma_photo1

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

Hurricane Pam, July 2004, a hypothetical hurricane to give a dry run to FEMA if a hurricane hit NO in JULY 2004.

From the NY Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 - When Michael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, returned in January from a tour of the tsunami devastation in Asia, he urgently gathered his aides to prepare for a similar catastrophe at home.

"New Orleans was the No. 1 disaster we were talking about," recalled Eric L. Tolbert, then a top FEMA official. "We were obsessed with New Orleans because of the risk."

Disaster officials, who had drawn up dozens of plans and conducted preparedness drills for years, had long known that the low-lying city was especially vulnerable. But despite all the warnings, Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the very government agencies that had rehearsed for such a calamity. On Thursday, as the flooded city descended into near-anarchy, frantic local officials blasted the federal and state emergency response as woefully sluggish and confused.

"We're in our fifth day and adequate help to quell the situation has not arrived yet," said Edwin P. Compass III, the New Orleans police superintendent.

The response will be dissected for years. But on Thursday, disaster experts and frustrated officials said a crucial shortcoming may have been the failure to predict that the levees keeping Lake Pontchartrain out of the city would be breached, not just overflow.

They also said that evacuation measures were inadequate, leaving far too many city residents behind to suffer severe hardships and, in some cases, join marauding gangs.

Large numbers of National Guard troops should have been deployed on flooded streets early in the disaster to keep order, the critics said. And some questioned whether the federal government's intense focus on terrorism had distracted from planning practical steps to cope with a major natural disaster.

Disaster experts acknowledged that the impact of Hurricane Katrina posed unprecedented difficulties. "There are amazing challenges and obstacles," said Joe Becker, the top disaster response official at the American Red Cross.

Under the circumstances, Mr. Becker said, the government response "has been nothing short of heroic."

But he added that the first, life-saving phase of hurricane response, which usually lasts a matter of hours, in this case was stretching over days.

While some in New Orleans fault FEMA - Terry Ebbert, homeland security director for New Orleans, called it a "hamstrung" bureaucracy - others say any blame should be more widely spread. Local, state and federal officials, for example, have cooperated on disaster planning. In 2000, they studied the impact of a fictional "Hurricane Zebra"; last year they drilled with "Hurricane Pam.

Neither exercise expected the levees to fail. In an interview Thursday on "Good Morning America," President Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." He added, "Now we're having to deal with it, and will."

Some lapses may have occurred because of budget cuts. For example, Mr. Tolbert, the former FEMA official, said that "funding dried up" for follow-up to the 2004 Hurricane Pam exercise, cutting off work on plans to shelter thousands of survivors.

Brian Wolshon, an engineering professor at Louisiana State University who served as a consultant on the state's evacuation plan, said little attention was paid to moving out New Orleans's "low-mobility" population - the elderly, the infirm and the poor without cars or other means of fleeing the city, about 100,000 people.

At disaster planning meetings, he said, "the answer was often silence."

Inevitably, the involvement of dozens of agencies complicated the response. FEMA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, were in charge of coordinating 14 federal agencies with state and local authorities. But Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans complained Wednesday on CNN that there were too many cooks involved.

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This lack of coordination under the oversight of federal agencies is a haunting spectacle. This is the same excuse used about the CIA and FBI after 9/11.

The Photo caption controversy is all over the Internet

"Looting" or "finding"?

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/..._controversy/?x

The Yahoo photos at the origin of the controversy:

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/photos_...shxwaoma_photo1

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

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Interesting find. But even more so, the 2nd photo of white people "finding" stuff has been removed by AFP on the link.

I wouldn't mind 'finding' Butterfly's remote controlled motor boat.

I heard last night when I was up the pub, that some South American and Carribean countries (I think Honduras was mentioned) have offered assistance, anyone have information about this..?

totster

I wouldn't mind 'finding' Butterfly's remote controlled motor boat.

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The Photo caption controversy is all over the Internet

"Looting" or "finding"?

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/..._controversy/?x

The Yahoo photos at the origin of the controversy:

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/photos_...shxwaoma_photo1

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

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Interesting find. But even more so, the 2nd photo of white people "finding" stuff has been removed by AFP on the link.

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Yeah, biased reporting like this has been around for a long time and it happens all over the US not only just in the south. This biased reporting is one of the primary causes of racial prejudice. Studies have been done (I doubt that I could find the reference for this information since I learned about this probably 20 years ago) about how blacks were portrayed in newspapers. It was discovered that if a crime was reported in a newspaper and if the criminal was black then the criminal's race would usually be mentioned in the article but if the criminal was white then it would not be mentioned....the subconscious impression that this would make is that criminals are black. It was also found that if a black person was accused of raping a white person then the races would be mentioned the most often, black raping black came in second and a distant third and fourth were white raping black and white raping white......again creating the subconscious prejudice that rapists are black. These are self perpetuating biases and very subtle in that newspaper readers mostly are unaware of it and even newspaper editors were shocked to hear the results of this research.

Given Americans pay State Taxes, isn't there some fiduciary Duty of Local Govrenment to look after them.

I expect someone will sue.

Thanks for the article TM.  Anyone who claims this has nothing to do with race, doesn't know the history of the United States and should refrain from making empty comments.

My Sentiments exactly!

Glad you are finally here in this thread, Kat!

Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. 

uhm, a diaster of this scale is beyond the emergency powers of city/state. That is why we have FEMA and the National Guard, who took their time showing up.

And yes, Kayne West is a democrat, as is the majority of black voters in the United States. Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

Speak to Kat's hand, Britmaveric.

You just got served....

I must be stuck in the Twilight Zone, I agree with most of what TM has to say (without the drama) 

Me too. Disasters do strange things.

cv

The cartoons were great and said it all in a way that words alone can't.

Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

uhm, a diaster of this scale is beyond the emergency powers of city/state. That is why we have FEMA and the National Guard, who took their time showing up.

And yes, Kayne West is a democrat, as is the majority of black voters in the United States. Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Speak to Kat's hand, Britmaveric.

You just got served....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Served...I think Brit has just been ripped a new one.

Live TV feed from New Orleans

Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

We don't know much about Thai politics either, but that don't stop us good ole' boys putting our big size elevens in there too.

Yeehaw!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Kat - I'll have my say love. I've been to to New Orleans and its a shi*e hole - even Bourbon street (smells like one). Louisiana is most corrupt state in yankland, New Orleans is crime ridden mess apparently murder capital of yankland.

Seems to me local govt has a major responsibility for this mess and as far as race politics goes whenever something goes wrong this always seems to be the reason. Sorry I don't buy it - about blo*dy time people start looking at themselves and accept some personal responsibility than depend on the governement for everything.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Brit, I don't disagree with the jist of what you're saying. But as far as race politics and history go, it's a lot more deeply entrenched, detailed, and complicated.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good to know we are on the same side... I just hate when race issue is used needlessly - in the end it really does dilute when real situations arise. We've have our problems in the UK, so its not dissimiliar to America.

Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

uhm, a diaster of this scale is beyond the emergency powers of city/state. That is why we have FEMA and the National Guard, who took their time showing up.

And yes, Kayne West is a democrat, as is the majority of black voters in the United States. Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok? Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Speak to Kat's hand, Britmaveric.

You just got served....

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Served...I think Brit has just been ripped a new one.

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:D Arse intact!!

See Above - Kat and I are on the same page from her own mouth!!! We might not agree on everything, but we do respect one another!!

The cartoons were great and said it all in a way that words alone can't.

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they were brillant

"Kayne West is a democrat - typic BS bringing race into this. 70% of New Orleans is black therefore must be a race issue. This rubbish happened because the mayor and the governor (democrats btw) had no emergency disaster plan in place. The muppet mayor was saying just tuesday that everything was ok. "

uhm, a diaster of this scale is beyond the emergency powers of city/state.  That is why we have FEMA and the National Guard, who took their time showing up.

And yes, Kayne West is a democrat, as is the majority of black voters in the United States.  Please don't attempt to try and tell black Americans/minorities about racial politics in America, ok?  Because in comparison you don't have a clue.

Yes Brit, Kat can speculate on racial politics in the UK all she likes, but how dare you have the gall to do so on America

Live TV feed from New Orleans

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Live Radio is even better

National Guard: http://216.22.26.45:8002/listen.pls

LSP: http://ods.org:8003/fema

WWLTV: http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmP...&props=livenoad

Radio codes: http://www.pimall.com/nais/n.radio.code.html

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:kk-9BpM...eis/Tables/LACo des.htm+louisiana+radio+codes+10-97&hl=en