WB: The Color Line (++)
Billmon:III. Good Will Gesture
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II. This Just In From Planet White People
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What a new, improved GOP New Orleans might look like is hard to say. If I had to guess, I'd predict it would resemble the old city about as much as the New Orleans Square exhibit at Disneyland -- except with fewer black people on the street.
Posted by b on September 8, 2005 at 19:31 UTC | Permalink
if you want to see what this will be like, come to Charleston, SC. hurricane Hugo did massive damage. then came the insurance money. people sold their historic houses that they couldn't afford to repair. all the houses got painted and poor old Charleston became the next big thing in real estate.
it had been about 50% Black, but it got gentrified. that's what will happen to New Orleans and it means the death of the soul of the city. but property values will go up, which will make the republians happy.
Posted by: vicki | Sep 8 2005 20:01 utc | 2
Not that the terrorists won -- it's more likely they're astounded at the results of their symbolic potshot -- but it looks like 9/11 precipitated what had been a gradual national degradation, and made clear, through an almost ineluctable sequence of events, what we have become.
Posted by: vidkun | Sep 8 2005 20:14 utc | 3
it looks like 9/11 precipitated what had been a gradual national degradation, and made clear, through an almost ineluctable sequence of events, what we have become.
We've always been this way. It's just that now we're having our faces rubbed in it.
Posted by: Billmon | Sep 8 2005 20:24 utc | 4
reposting: http://www.counterpunch.org/ford09022005.html>Will the "New" New Orleans be Black?
Whitey's on the moon, all right...
Posted by: DeAnander | Sep 8 2005 20:28 utc | 5
Color lines, class lines, Control Lines:
Political Breach Between Bush, Blanco Creates Parallel Recovery Operations
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 8 2005 20:40 utc | 7
STUPID BLACK MEN !!Whoops, What I meant to write is Stupid White Men! Sorry for the knee-jerk. How about writing a book about the absence of black leadership in times of crisis and call it Stupid Black Men, perhaps a picture of Marion Barry smoking crack and Jesse "Hymie Town" Jackson getting a medal from Chavez in Venezuela when he should have been on the phone with Ray Nagin. Perhaps a photo of Al Sharpton with Tawana Brawley would be appropriate. Pagones, the defendant in the Brawley case, was awarded $150 million in suit for a defamation of character that he brought against Sharpton. Stupid Black Men! Point is they were stupid men and it would seem silly to bring race into question, but if you are a liberal its ok and Stupid White Men is fine and dandy, after all its a white guy doing the writing, I am sure I could find a black man to take a check for the authorship as easily as Bush found Condeleza Rice willing to bomb other people as color as well. Now Hurricane Katrina has illustrated the the racial lines that divide this country, once again, like the election of 2000, the blame game is an adherence to what people want to believe and few are interested in thinking outside of whatever box they live in, be it liberal or conservative. In 2004, the democrats coughed up another rich white guy from the same Yale frat as Bush who killed innocent people in the democrat started war of Vietnam, Sorry I didn’t kick down the door to vote. I admit I tend to pick on liberals more than conservatives since I believe there is more hope towards the left to change but that’s my bias. I think young conservatives have no heart and old liberals lack brains. How about Stupid Lesbian Women? I guess the title is redundant but it would be about Janet “Waco Baby Burner” Reno and her decision, along with Clinton, to send Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba. That made sure the south Florida Cubans voted Bush in 2000 without which you would have had the inventor of the internet as president. How about Stupid Chubby White Men? The book about the guy that makes a “documentary” that portrays a president subservient to the wishes of his Saudi financiers over his loyalty to rooting out terrorism but omits Israel completely from the discussion. Do you think Bob and Harvey Weinstein have any bias? Does that make me anti Semitic to even ask? In the minds of many, it does. Lets take Hollywood to task for giving an Oscar to Roman Polanski who raped a young girl, left the country and joked with David Frost in a BBC interview that, “ I like living in Paris where the age of consent is 15” Meanwhile the media rips Kobe Bryant to shreds in what looks like now a consensual sex with a white woman, extortion then a legal pay off out of court. Any Bias here? Now it’s the blame game with Katrina, yes Bush is an idiot, not an evil mastermind bent on the extermination of the black race, you cant have it both ways. If you have any clue whatsoever about how things work in New Orleans you understand the recent Levee budget cuts by Bush have nothing to do with this. Nothing. They have known about this problem for 30 years at least, Just on the other side of the Mississippi River bridge is the above ground, dry city of Algiers, Ray Nagin could have bussed the poor to dry land in the many auditoriums, churches, hospitals, schools they have to offer just on the other side of the river. Its just an after thought, point is, ineffective corrupt “leadership” has kept New Orleans poor this is the fact that is being lost on the people who scream “Blame Bush”. I agree Bush is a dummy, but if the politicians in New Orleans wanted to have fixed those levees they had a generation to do it. Casinos, failed worlds fairs and the selling of the Mississippi River corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge to polluting petro-chemical industries were the priorities, (that sky rocketed the cancer rates to amongst the highest in the country), not levee building. The people’s best interests were never a consideration. In 1965 Betsy submerged much of the city, they knew it then, 40 years later Blaming Bush (for the levees) is absurd. Re- Affirming the victim mentality in a poor uneducated person is the cruelest thing you can do. There are no “hate crimes”, all crime is hatred. Bush is an asshole, our complicity in Israeli terrorism in places like Jenin fuel terrorism, our inability to confront issues frankly without guilt and social programming keep us in the dark and more people die. “Dead Nigger Storage” brought you a chuckle when Quentin Tarrentino was socially allowed to say it in Pulp Fiction, but now it’s a reality in New Orleans. Quentin gave a thumbs up to Fahrenheit 911 when it won at Cannes in which Moore cow-tows to the politically correct avoidance of Israel as being capable of anything unjust, now we can say Stupid White Men till we are blue in the face and nothing will change.
Luis Fernandez de la Reguera
http://whores2christians.blog-city.com
Oh, and I posted a story similar to this, a few days ago, but damn if i can find it again w/ all the maddess of late...
Republicans block efforts to amend relief bill, hold vote without providing copy of bill
In the wake of what the Wall Street Journal projected may be the most expensive natural disaster in American history, the Republican Leadership in the House of Representatives limited floor consideration of the $52 billion Katrina relief bill proposed by President Bush and voted to reject any Democratic efforts to amend the bill to include a wider array of relief
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 8 2005 20:57 utc | 9
Well, crap try this one...
Republicans block efforts to amend relief bill, hold vote without providing copy of bill
In the wake of what the Wall Street Journal projected may be the most expensive natural disaster in American history, the Republican Leadership in the House of Representatives limited floor consideration of the $52 billion Katrina relief bill proposed by President Bush and voted to reject any Democratic efforts to amend the bill to include a wider array of relief
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 8 2005 21:01 utc | 10
Urgent plea to the People and Government of France--
Please, Please! Rescind the Louisiana Purchase.
Posted by: Iowan | Sep 8 2005 21:09 utc | 11
As much as I know that Billmon is right, there are some other considerations too.
Evidently the flooded parts in NO are flooded with some very nasty stuff. A doctor in the zone blogs
Looked at almost all Cops in precinct. Several had chemical burns on feet. They say "The Water" so you can hear the capital letters. "Black, green, and stinks like hell." Several were obviously worried about catching something. Wouldn't ask about it unless private.As I put in the comments yesterday, there is a Superfund site in the middle of NO, flooded now, that may leak.
When the water is gone, the houses under water now will have had some 2 to 4 weeks of water. Those are wooden houses. They are gone. The only thing you can do with them is to burn them.
So it's a complete rebuild and then the ground may very well not be safe and how can you clean that up? Do you want the babies who will live there in future to bake poison sand-cakes?
The city will change a lot and no social engineering can prevent that.
Maybe thats why the levees were not high enough - you only had to wait this way.
Official WH Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana
DOES IT STRIKE ANYONE FUNNY, THAT: Only those shown in red were mentioned in George Bush's pre-katrina declairation of emergency
Economic urban cleansing , indeed.
Give to the poor? No, no he means "give to his base.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 8 2005 21:31 utc | 13
They heard bombs in New Orleans
CA. EMS workers in NOLA As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and
A must See news Clip
This video clip Hannity & Colmes shows Geroaldo and Shepard Smith in New Orleans at the Convention Center. They go off script and are furious that people are NOT allowed to take a Short walk over the bridge to safety.
A They talk of a Government road block that locked people in the city. They ask "WHY not let them walk the hell out"?
Hannity tries to minimize what Shepard and Geraldo say in the clip.
MUST watch and share
Posted by: jj | Sep 8 2005 21:52 utc | 14
[deleted long missformated comment. Feel free to repost (please preview).
b.]
Posted by: | Sep 8 2005 22:10 utc | 15
I have a conservative friend who I'm constantly arguing with that forwarded a similar piece but completely different. The bone of it was educated, civilized people would spontaneously organized to save theirselves, save others. It doesn't say but the point is FEMA was stymied due to blacks crawling through the windows to rape and loot. I wrote back to him but the message isn't going to go through. I feel like crying. Yes, visiting the third world is fun but when the third world (big talking maximum leader, little accomplishment maximum leader) is not fun.
Posted by: christofay | Sep 8 2005 22:54 utc | 17
mp3 "George Bush Don't Like Black People" boingboing
Posted by: correlator | Sep 8 2005 23:26 utc | 18
There are just so many words in any vocabulary-but there are no words left for what we as Americans are having to face as a country. We have collectively sat back and whined and bitched and moaned about the direction this country has taken since the days of, holy shit I was just about to say since the days of FDR, but my god, it has been going on so-o-o-o-o much longer than that. Every step this country has taken for the common good has been fought EVERY STEP OF THE WAY by the same EVIL SHITS you see as your leaders today. There are so many of us, that are decent, that believe in doing the right thing, that LOVE their children, that believe in their future, that would never in A MILLION YEARS KNOWINGLY HARM THEIR OFFSPRING, that we are not standing up right now and saying NO MORE!!!!! We must , I mean WE MUST SAY NO MORE!! TODAY, WE MUST SAY NO MORE!!!
Posted by: Mary | Sep 9 2005 0:19 utc | 19
Today's San Francisco Chronicle (9/8) included a
nice recommendation of Billmon by columnist
Jon Carroll. I'm glad to see a stellar performance
of posts today at the Whiskey Bar to make a good first
impression on visitors.
To see the column, go to http://www.sfgate.com and
search on "Billmon".
> I found two new-to-me blogs that impressed me too.
> There's Whiskey Bar (www.billmon.org), passionate and
> funny and smart. Like most of the blogs listed above, > Whiskey Bar maintains a series of links to other blogs > that makes you realize how small you are and how large > the virtual world is. Also, there is Making Light
> (www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/#morewhat), an
> instantly indispensable blog by Patrick Nielsen Hayden > and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, who are well-known writers > and editors in the world of science fiction. Just
> wonderful stuff.
Posted by: Jacel | Sep 9 2005 0:38 utc | 20
Katrina: Astrodome Lockdown Report From Blogger Volunteer
Jesse Jackson was right when he said "refugees" was not the appropriate word for the poor souls dislocated due to Katrina. But he was wrong about why it is not appropriate. It's not appropriate because they are detainees, not refugees.
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@jj, yeah, but your the jj we know and love...lol
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 9 2005 1:24 utc | 22
I'm glad to see a stellar performance
of posts today at the Whiskey Bar
Damn straight. I'm agog, mouth hanging open. Great, incomparably great stuff.
Posted by: Wolf DeVoon | Sep 9 2005 1:40 utc | 23
Even more! Katrina: Blog account from Oklahoma "FEMA Detainment Camp"
A blogger in Oklahoma posts her acount of delivering goods to an isolated FEMA facility for Hurricane Katrina survivors which feels to her more like a detainment camp than a shelter.
"Reminds me of that horror story related to FEMA called Rex-84," says one Boing Boing reader who asks to remain anonymous.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 9 2005 1:50 utc | 24
'During a discussion on hurricane relief efforts, an off camera protester shouts, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney. Go fuck yourself."'
Give that man a cigar!
Posted by: Dick Durata | Sep 9 2005 3:10 utc | 25
Taking the cheese, taking the cheese.
44% of "white" feel it is a racial issue? Isn't that an astounding number?
What makes a "white" a white? Do the z's get incluced - Rodriguez, Gonalez, Chavez? The Piestwas? The Chandagars? The real African Americans, who having been born in Africa, are now American citizens, and excluded because they are not descedents of those with the badge of slavery and so should not be called africcan americans?
Whoever sells rape and murder as a racial issue has just given away the majority, pumped the vaccum up a little more to stick to the old hobby horse.
Racist are assholes. We have reached the point that so are people who insist on using race to define their superior politcal sensibilities as well. You are killing us.
Posted by: razor | Sep 9 2005 3:17 utc | 26
Luis....I agree with everything you said except it's Kow!
Posted by: R.L. | Sep 9 2005 4:42 utc | 27
> September 05, 2005
>Looting by New Orleans Police
> Before anyone accuses the White House of >shifting blame by refusing to fall on its sword >over Katrina, we need to keep in mind the sort >of local government the Feds had to deal with.
>The Interdictor offers a clue: (video clip)
>
> Obviously, since this is not a totalitarian
> police state (sic), the Federal Government
> relies on local government to be first
> responders and to play the major roll initially > in maintaining order in a crisis. Katrina
> knocked over a rock in Louisiana, and there is > no way you can blame Bush for the ugly things
> that were found wriggling around beneath it.
In other words, if you're black, get back,
we're going to stab you in the back anyway.
Now it begins. Official Apartheid USA.
Posted by: NowIt Begins | Sep 9 2005 5:15 utc | 28
Billmon said:
"Of course, a humid, polluted metropolis that combines the innovative urban planning of Sugarland, Texas with the vibrant, multiethnic culture of Greenwich, Conn. might not be quite as big of a tourist draw."
My internal GPS isn't quite what it used to be, but if I'm not mistaken isn't that Orlando?
Had Jared Diamond waited one more year to publish Collapse, he could have had stuff for a big new chapter in his book...
Posted by: CluelessJoe | Sep 9 2005 7:48 utc | 30
Previously I mentioned the invisibilty of the Cheneybot since July. But he's doing a bang up job on his Ayn Rand Tour of the destroyed southern states this week! But payback is grand. Here's a clip of his most recent confrontation with a distressed American:
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Cheney_090805.wmv
Posted by: Diogenes | Sep 9 2005 10:56 utc | 31
The comments to this entry are closed.
I posted this a few days ago, a first-person account from the white side of Gretna. Just another bit of corroboration for stories like this.
Posted by: Billy Pilgrim | Sep 8 2005 19:49 utc | 1