“When the hurricane struck, it did not turn [the Gulf Coast] into a third-world country. It revealed one.”
Another week
I’m tracking lots of political news still, but I’m not sure what I want to say about it all. So for now, you can see what stories I’m reading in my Furl archive to the right.
A great day for the free press
CNN just reported that they’ve received a restraining order, allowing them access to anything they want to cover. No government agency is going to hide things from them without a fight!
Panoramas
The Washington Post has an incredible set of panorama photos of the disaster in New Orleans. Requires Flash.
And here is a gallery of photos of the preparations before the storm.
Outrage
Let’s say it outright. The truest measure of any president, of any leader, is how well he takes care of his own people. And Bush, well, Bush has done a simply spectacular job of taking care of exactly his own people — the wealthy, the corporate, the extreme religious right, his core base of supporters — while happily and fiercely ignoring, restricting, condemning, destroying the rest. Are you educated or progressive or liberal or alternative-minded or sexually open or homosexual or anti-war? This means you. Are you dirt poor and belong to a minority group and don’t drive an SUV and contribute six figures per annum to the RNC and maybe live in a flooded swamp in the Louisiana bayou? This means you, squared. Sucker.
Here, then, is the new American motto, as reimagined by BushCo: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and we’ll let them die in a filthy and decrepit storm-ravaged American football stadium while our president languishes on vacation and ponders his oil futures and fondly remembers his good ol’ days of getting drunk at Mardi Gras before going AWOL from the military. God bless America.
This is disgusting
Two shaky House incumbents, Democrat Melancon and Republican Boustany, hope response to hurricane rallies voters behind them. House Republican campaign chief Reynolds touts chance to market conservative social-policy solutions; Rep. Baker of Baton Rouge is overheard telling lobbyists: “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”
Baker explains later he didn’t intend flippancy but has long wanted to improve low-income housing.
Compassionate conservatism my ass.
Little time today
I’ve had an unusually busy day and haven’t had time to update. Things keep on happening of course, and I have responses to much of it. I’ll try to get to it later.
Help needed for the animals, too
UPDATE: Please read the latest info in comments before you try to help these people! Thanks to (emma) for the update.
This was passed along to me by a friend:
———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 00:54:39 -0400
From: Ellen Datlow
Reply-To: cw96@yahoogroups.com
To: cw96@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [cw96] animal rescue needed
This was just posted on sff.net:
Transport Provided to Anywhere – Room Desperately Needed! (For the Animal Victims of Katrina)
There is transportation provided, with people ready and waiting, for upwards of 200 dogs and 150 cats so far rescued from the devastation of hurricane Katrina. What these animals need is a place to go. Kennels, boarding, vets offices, shelters with any extra space, foster
homes and rescues. Even one or two open kennels would greatly help.
>From what we know, all animals have been vaccinated and are in good health considering the conditions. There are dogs and cats of every breed and size. Some are in groups of two, three or four, hailing from
the same family, while some are solitary. ANY KENNEL SPACE AVAILABLE CAN CERTAINLY BE USED. These drivers are willing to move these animals ANYWHERE they need to go. Absolutely anywhere.
The current safe houses for these animals are being inundated and some of these pets will have to be euthanized if they are not moved to make
room for the incoming animals.
Please feel free to pass on this information everywhere. Every forum, every list, every community.
REMEMBER THESE ANIMALS WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO YOU.
If you know anyone, anywhere, that is willing to take in even one cat or dog, please have them contact Lynda at the information provided below.
They are also asking for ANY kind of donations for the animals – money, food, bedding, water, etc.
Please Contact Lynda V. at: 203 515 3024 (cell)
Home: 203 227 5308
Email: Lynda@portone.com
Please contact at any time, day or night. These volunteers, rescuers and shelter workers are working around the clock.
PLEASE spread the word on this animal rescue effort!
Police will use force
Officials have determined that everyone must leave the city, whether or not they want to go, and are determined to use force to remove the approx. 10,000 stragglers if necessary.
“We’re trying to save them from themselves,” he said. “We’re going to get the residents evacuated and then we’re going to get all the criminals out of New Orleans. “
With fires raging in some buildings and houses and New Orleans in lockdown, the authorities said today that they made 150 arrests this week as they tried to bring some order to the streets.
And with the city’s municipal buildings unusable, the authorities today created a temporary jail at a local Greyhound bus station.
UPDATE: Just to be clear, I don’t disagree with this. The water is incredibly toxic in N.O. at this point, and full of bacteria as well. People need to abandon this place, for now, until it’s clean again.
40,000 bodies?
From Talking Points Memo, a pointer to this interview with a funeral director who will be working in Gulfport working with the dead:
Funeral director deploys to hurricane region
A co-owner of Shelbyville-based Gowen-Smith Chapel has been deployed to Gulfport, Miss., to help with recovery since Hurricane Katrina, and his business partner here has described the grim task there.
“DMort is telling us to expect up to 40,000 bodies,” Dan Buckner said, quoting officials with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, a volunteer arm of Homeland Security….