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September 3, 2005
WB: The More Things Change …
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Right now on WWL TV
a City counsel at large of NO, very upset in Baton Rouge
“Why do we send people outside Lousiana?”
“There were 200 people on a bus right now i have been with, administrators, teachers, people we need – they don´t even tell them were they want to bring them.
All these rumours about shooting and looting are bullshit – I have been there. Now this is used to put the black poor people from New Orleans out of sight. There are enough gymnasiums and government buildings in Lousianna to keep them here. ”
In between, there was Huey Long and the New Deal and the Civil Rights movement.
Cycles of hope, glimmers of enlightenment, followed by a new tide of venality and greed.
We are going, heaven knows where we are going
But we know within
And we will get there, heaven knows how we will get there
But we know we will
It may be hard sometimes
And the road may be muddy and rough
But we’ll get there, heaven knows how we will get there
But we know we will
Woyaya, woyaya…
-Loughty Amoa, Solmon Amarfio, Robert M. Bailey,, Roy Bedeau, Francis T. Osei, Whendell K. Richardson and Mac Tontah (South African)
Posted by: catlady | Sep 3 2005 18:01 utc | 2
Well here seems to be the response of the freepers–BLAME THE LOCAL DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS:
bus parking lot
Posted by: GlennS | Sep 3 2005 18:09 utc | 3
Yesterday, from National Review’s “The Corner,” an email to Jonah Goldberg from a reader about Charleston PD Chief Greenberg:
“It’s interesting that no one has yet remarked on the behavior of recently-retired Charleston police Chief Reuben Greenberg during Hurricane Hugo in 1989… He was able to get on the horn to his lieutenants around town with the order: “Don’t arrest [looters]; beat them. We don’t have any place for them in our jails.” I credit the attitude espoused in those lines – a refusal, even in the eye of the storm – to tolerate lawlessness, with the subsequent quality of the response… Though the entire response in the Charleston area was phenomenal, Chief Greenberg and Mayor Joe Riley were phenomenally strong that horrible night… Their response was pure Giuliani – before there was a Giuliani.”
Posted by: andrew | Sep 3 2005 18:22 utc | 4
The governour of LA just brings in the ex (8 years) FEMA director to “coordinate” things for the governour.
They try to spin this, but obviously the current FEMA lead is incompetent to the 10th dimension and the governour just made a very, very smart move.
they got their, um, “insurgency”
it would be inappropriate to suggest that it was an objective.
Apologies for duplicating that link – and thanks to whoever
provided it. Did not take the time to track down the original
post.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 3 2005 18:39 utc | 6
I got this email forwarded to me from a distant relative (i don’t know that we’ve actually even met, but it is an authentic email, though I redacted his name). It’s a strange & disturbing bit of anecdotal evidence about the attitudes of white New Orleanians towards their black fellow citizens, and I wanted to put it on the record here. Note that Gretna is a suburb across the river due south of downtown:
Sent: Friday, September 2, 2005 9:01 AM
Hello All,
i found a land line intact and hooked a generator up and here we are to get out a quick email:
This is a lifetime experience!!! I feel I am on a new reality show called “Survivor New Orleans Chaos” where anything goes. One of my staff is with me and Steven (brother) is with us as well however he did leave last night but will try to return. We have to “pack heat” I like saying that (carry guns) when we leave the safety net of the Gretna police compund that we assisted in setting up immediately after the storm. I also like to say “pop a cap in his ass” we are all on edge and it is truly a war zone. Matt said whehn we retrieved his dogs yesturday there was a dead body in the street in front of his house that the neighbors shot. I have also formed a neighborhood militia in my neck of the woods and if we don’t shoot ourselves we will be a force to be reckoned with. I haven’t held a gun in over 20 years but I must say I look butch with it in my belt.
We have set up a very slick compund/ base camp for Gretna Police dept. Gnenerators/ ac, tents, bathrooms, you name it. It’s a block away from our warehouse/ compound. We are very fortunate to be a part of that team (Gretna) They were light years ahead of preparing for the storm and it shows. The force is tired and stressed b/c of the threat of all the New Orleans cast aways attempting to come over the bridge into Grtetna. They have a round the clock police line. They are armed with riot guns and machine guns.
We are attempting to begin set up for entergy and base logistics. They will have compounds set up all over the south for the reapair and hopefully we can secure that business to save our company with some business to get us through these unreal times.
BTW, water was turned on last night. I wish we could see the CNN or BBC news coverage but we are isolated as you can imagine.
That is all for now and this email does not recieve so email me back at xxxxxx@xxxxx.com in case I get this rare opportunity to email out again.
Posted by: Billy Pilgrim | Sep 3 2005 18:55 utc | 7
I was wondering when those stories would begin to trickle in.
Posted by: eftsoons | Sep 3 2005 19:05 utc | 8
WWL TV now – a group of black folks holding a press conference
“Keep people in Lusianna”
“Don´t call the refugees – its an insult”
“There is no violence on the streets”
“These people ar not gangster, we have an obligation to open our homes”
“To not have people in shelter by now is incomprehensable.”
“We call on the state government to open every place available for refugees. There is no need nor use to send people to Utah. It´s a waste of busses – they are driving to Utah – we need them to get people out of NO”
b: Like I said, that guy is a distant relative of mine. It’s one of the emails I got back in response to requests about family down there. So in part the email was sent in some sort of confidence, and in part I’m just embarrassed for the guy. Does that make sense? You’ll just have to take my word for it (for whatever that’s worth), it’s a real email.
Posted by: Billy Pilgrim | Sep 3 2005 20:25 utc | 11
Man they didn’t even let Mike Brown come to the mike for the 3 pm conference. Gag order from up above or has there been a coup?
Posted by: ~ | Sep 3 2005 20:29 utc | 12
The white businessmen bought the black people from the dealers, chained them in ships, and confined them here into slavery. Then they they set them free with no survival skills in the immense white world, where they proceeded to hang them from trees. Then came all these years of oppression and recently the snatching back of the vote they were falsely ‘given’. The white rock fake musicians stole their blues and made billions.
But the black man always triumphs. They can’t take away that infinite capacity for joy and laughter that accompanies the American Negro through all his experience, and that has always filled the white man with an indescribable longing. Endless envy.
If this keeps up, the black man will be a superhuman. They have lived through it all and this is something they are equipped to handle. Soon the destitute white man will be seeing and hearing that unmistakable ring of joy and laughter as they recover once again. There is always compensation somewhere for the things we are denied. The sick bloated white man will soon be witnessing triumph an an elevation of human spirit. And once again, he will be left out.
Posted by: jm | Sep 3 2005 21:29 utc | 13
Beautiful JM.
It gives me satisfaction and hope whenever I see attempts by the white racist community to denigrate blacks slip, fall, crash because the target doesn’t share their need to cause pain to others. Sometimes this is very frustrating to some of us slavers, who are poised with the whips.
I would agree with your last post if I were more optimistic.
Posted by: rapt | Sep 3 2005 21:50 utc | 14
@B- are you monitoring the German press, by any chance? They’re calling Pres. Loser on his bullshit. Here’s a report via a website:
Dutch viewer Frank Tiggelaar writes:
There was a striking dicrepancy between the CNN International report on the Bush visit to the New Orleans disaster zone, yesterday, and reports of the same event by German TV.
ZDF News reported that the president’s visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of ‘news people’ had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.
The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.
link
This isn’t the only bullshit photo op. Supposedly the levee was being repaired. Pres. showed up…filmed…all equipment now gone, and no repair going on…americablog has the story..
I ran out of words so long ago…
Posted by: jj | Sep 3 2005 23:18 utc | 15
once again jm you have put a little smile on my face, tho you are a little more optomistic than me, i’m workin’ on it
Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2005 23:25 utc | 16
The Potemkin President.? omfg! that is the utmost pithiest comment and description I have heard yet for this experiment.
Thanks for that eftsoons, that made my night.
“Mobile truths” and moblie Potemkin villages, Indeed!
Perhaps,Condiliar Rice plays a Catherine II of Russia in the white house named Condi the Great to GW’S Potemkin kinky sex game…
This is like living in some bizzaro alternate universe. I would seriouly question my very sanity if not for you moonbats, pour me a double bar keep! No Ice.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 4 2005 0:45 utc | 18
Not original – I think credit for that goes to Elaine Supkis of the Table Talk diaspora.
Posted by: eftsoons | Sep 4 2005 0:58 utc | 19
More reports emerging about what FEMA actually did. From them you would think FEMA had been conducting an active containment exercise.
Posted by: eftsoons | Sep 4 2005 1:04 utc | 20
@jj – German press – the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, compareable to the Wall Street Journal in influence and conservatism, printed Mayor Ray Nagins “get of your asses” speech (translated to German). That tells you something about the mood.
Lots of independent German reporters on the ground too. There were various direct feeds by German reporters out of NO on Wednesday morning and they didn´t like what they saw.
noticed newspaper headlines in the vending machines this afternoon: “Help at Last! Troops in New Orleans!” with pics of BDU’d soldiers comforting the afflicted, handing out water, etc.
my take: another attempt to instil Army-worship. FEMA was hardly visible, Nat Guard understaffed and not deployed, everything waits around for days getting worse and worse, then Yippee, here come the regular Army cavalry over the hill to the rescue. Our Boys and Girls in Uniform, heroes of the hour. the troop-worship in the lead articles and headlines is really worrying. turning the armed forces into the visible, romanticised, iconified presence of the Paternal State is one of those classic fascist memes…
at the same time, word is that the Army has actually been told this is a combat operation, i.e. they are being deployed “against insurgents” in NO just like in Iraq. this Army Times article (hat tip Sam Smith) gives some idea. so in the mainstream press where I live, the Army are a bunch of Florence Nightingales and Mother Teresas rushing to the rescue of their suffering countrymen and -women. but in the Army Times they are an anti-insurgent force, unleashed in a combat op to “take this city back” (hello? posse comitatus anyone?)
thank goodness for the German press. those staged photo ops for Potemkin Preznit Pretzel are just getting to be too damn much.
why the out-of-state transport of the refugees, a damn good question. getting them far enough from home that they can’t afford to come back and contest the land grab?
Thanks b. I had no idea. Pls. keep us posted, as you can. Can you say any more from personal experience how this is playing in Germany? Doesn’t it make Am. a laughingstock. So, this is the great Am. can-do spirit in Action.. Or are people starting likewise to wonder if there is something more sinister behind it – as we’ve discussed on these threads?
Posted by: jj | Sep 4 2005 6:31 utc | 23
Especially since the global oil crisis will affect everyone and this disaster is an example of what could be in store for others.
Posted by: jm | Sep 4 2005 8:10 utc | 25