A week ago today….
…I filled my tank (at $2.38 a gallon) in New Orleans, thinking we “might” have to get out of town ahead of this hurricane. I made mental plans for doing a little business while on the road for a few days.
…I knew it was too late to go get any plywood to board up the house. Lines were already long at Home Depot across the river and, besides, I didn’t have enough spare money to buy all that wood anyway.
…I talked to neighbors, trying to get a sense of where they’d be. I told them I planned to fire up the BBQ trailer on Labor Day and we’d have a block party.
…I was planning to drive up to Baton Rouge for a food show that night.
…I was thankful for getting a decent order from Lakeview Fine Foods on Harrison.
…I stopped and bought a new bottle of New Orleans Amber rum.
Today….
…Gas prices are over $3 a gallon, IF I can find it. The business I’ve conducted since has been keeping us going all week, but inventory is about gone. I have no idea when I’ll be able to resume.
…I wonder what shape the Home Depot is in.
…My neighbors are scattered like talcum powder all over the map. I’ve been fortunate enough to find only one of them. My BBQ trailer, if it hasn’t been stolen by looters, sits rusting in skanky water at my office.
…The food show place in Baton Rouge is now an emergency shelter.
…Lakeview Fine Foods is slowly draining after being immersed to its roof.
…The bottle of rum is long gone. I don’t know when any more of this wonderful (and decently priced) elixir will be produced.
That said — thanks to friends and family, we’re doing okay. It’s just weird to think about WTFF has been going on over the past seven days.
Related posts:
I was wondering who was contemplating their last ‘normal’ night in New Orleans. I’m sure for many that the hours before the evacuation notice are a blur or just gone in all of the excitement. It is interesting to read your expectations to return for the holiday: you thought everything would be ok, but you left anyway.
1 gallon = 3.79 litres
price of gas = 2.38 US Dollar = 1.89762 Euro
ok.
currently 1 litre of gas costs us (depending on what sort) on average about eur 1,150 (= 1.44279 US Dollar).
meaning the gallon at our rates would cost us
1 gallon = 4.3585 Euro = 5.46817 US Dollar
i’m not trying to frustrate you or be condescending or throw something in your face you yourself are neither responsible for nor can do anything about. and i realize this is not being helpful in the specific situation your people are in. yet it is something i want to put in world perspective. here in austria we’ve just had massive flooding and landslides causing a high amount of destruction (some places total) in densely inhabited but difficult to access and maintain alpine regions. roads in and out completely lost, bridges, trains etc gone, houses kaputt. the whole works. all that must be rebuilt to the background music of high fuel prices.
apart from that, i’ve been reading this blog for days and all of you have my deepest sympathy and well wishes for your future. and please: i don’t think it is shameful to accept federal help if it is there. that is what paying into the system and being part of a greater overall community is all about.
I agree we Americans have no right to gripe about our gasoline prices, even at the new higher levels. Compared to most of the world, we’re getting off pretty cheap. We also gripe out our taxes, but we remain one of the least-taxed countries in the Western World.
…and good luck to all of you in your recovery efforts. Disaster is disaster, no matter where you are.
…Craig
good luck to you as well and hoping you will be able to put your lives together again *soon*.
Craig,
My thoughts are still with you. Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent posts.
I wanted to share some news about our Katrina Relief Benefit that happened last night.
Well, I have never in my life thought of the song “Bad Moon Rising” by CCR as, well, a sad song, but after hearing it performed by a musician (and New Orleans native) who had evacuated the city, it brought tears to my eyes. Lines like “I see we’re in for stormy weather…” and “Don’t come around tonight it’s bound to take your life..” hit home in a way I don’t think they were ever intended to. The musician, Chip Wilson, sang the song slowly and his voice cracked more than once. In between playing some of his originals and some classic blues covers Chip told the story of his last day in NO. You could hear a pin drop.
We served huge, warm steaming bowls of gumbo, jumbalaya and red beans and rice. Of course we served and ran out of Blackened Voo Doo and Abita. We charged 25 dollars a head and accepted larger donations from anyone who was willing and able to make them. All proceeds will go to the Louisiana Chapter of the Red Cross.
The whole event was so sucessful, despite being thrown together all mish-mash and fast, that we’ll be doing the whole thing again next Friday. About 100 people came and some who couldn’t make it sent donations anyway.
I don’t know why it surprised me but…the event was very somber. I guess I just associate music, beer, good food and a hundred someodd people with well…good times and it was a good time but also very, very emotional.
You know the world has turned upside down when a Fats Domino song makes you burst out in tears.
I would encourage anyone who owns or works in a restaurant to put together some sort of benefit for the relief effort. It is really amazing the way people come together to pull things like this off and the public really responds.
Again, Craig, thanks for your thoughtful posts. I wish you all the best. You are in our thoughts.
Holly
Maybe if you US citizens paid more taxes your governments could have organized better civil disaster plans.
I live in Australia the government just pledged 10 million for aid to New Orleans and I personally am going to give $5 to the red cross on Monday (same as I gave to the tsunami relief). I am extremely thankful I live in a socialist country. Do you think France or Germany would have made as big a balls up of rescuing their citizens?
Holly…
Heartfelt thanks to you and your group from Kim and me. Being in the food business myself, I know how they can work together at the drop of the proverbial hat.
But please — as sad as some of this has been — please play the music much too loud and just slightly too fast. It’s our way, y’know?
Rachel…
Maybe if we paid more in taxes, we could do a lot of things better. But that’s a subject for another board. Thanks for your contribution.
…Craig
i’m a filipino..
i’m 17..and i really can’t really relate in the “price of gas”..
but then,,
seeing what happened and what Katrina left behind it just made me realize everything indeed is possible. if i really can help, i really would and i will. watching the news really makes me sad day after day after day..
i may not be able to donate or even help..
but i know prayers is one of the important things right now.. and maybe..prayer will only be the thing that i can give to all the people who are in needs.
may God be with all of them and all of us.
http://www.scipionus.com/
This shows a google map that has tags saying what is happening where in N. O.
If I were any of you there I know from what I’ve seen it would be very helpful.
Stay Well
Barry from London Ontario
Craig - I’ve been using your blog to pass info onto my family and friends that have also been dislocated by Katrina. Thank you so much for your efforts. I’ve bought a t-shirt, BTW, and my dept at the univeristy is planning a RB&R fundraiser for some Xavier students that have found refuge up here in Memphis.
Even if the feds can’t seem to get it together - the world and your fellow Americans are willing to do anything to help y’all - just ask. (other LA ex-pats and I have decided that the mayor should secretly tell Canada, France et al to come on fed red tape be damned. Whadaya’ think?)
Take care and I’ll see is I can find a bottle of that rum for you!
As an American, I think gas prices should be taxed so that the price is comparable to that in Europe. The $2-3 in taxes would then go to developing mass transportation and alternative energy.
Mass transportation could have really helped in this situation. With more buses and trains out of the city, and a commitment to let people ride for free during an evacuation, most of the people currently in NOLA could have gotten out. If tracks were built sensibly on raised platforms through the city, trains could have remained in operation throughout the flooding disaster, and people who didn’t leave the city could have gathered at key stations to evacuate.
Similar things could be done in other cities, not just to prevent disasters, but to make transportation work in easier times. The extra expense would also discourage gas-wasting vehicles and unnecessary drives, and encourage carpooling, riding mass transit, building residential neighborhoods closer to workplaces, and making cities walkable and liveable without cars.
New Orleans has the opportunity to rebuild itself better than ever while also preventing a similar disaster. Let’s just hope that national policy can change to accommodate that, and that other cities take a hard look at what they can do to improve themselves at the same time.
We have not received all the news about the extensive flooding and devastating destruction in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and surrounding areas due to all the TV news concentration on what is going on over here. I caught some of it on the news last weekend before Katrina hit. My heart and prayers go out to all the people over there affected by the destruction and loss.
It seems the world is now full of displaced persons, displaced by natural events such as our hurricane and by the flooding after the massive rainfall in Europe, as well as middle east Gaza and Iraq/Afghan war-related displacements.
We truly have been cursed to live “in interesting times.”
I am a hospital chaplain in Shreveport, LA. We have been on disaster alert since Katrina hit, ready and willing to receive any and all the patients New Orleans could/would send us. We have received very few. Transfers seem to be lateral rather than up. We will remain ready and on alert.
Our population, however, has soared since this time last week. Monday, it was estimated there were at least 20,000 displaced persons here who were able to get out before Katrina hit. That estimate has gone up considerably now to nearly twice that amount and our fairgrounds, convention center, college coliseums, and every available church sanctuary and auditorium is full with refugees.
People are being extremely generous with their time and volunteering to staff and help in other ways at the refugee centers. Donations of food, new clothing, toiletries, entertainment, bedding, childcare, even job offers and housing for the future are flooding in from the Shreveport/ Bossier City community. I am SO proud of our people! I wish this sort of thing were being shown to balance and offset the shooting and the looting.
One of my patients had been separated from her fiance when he was medevacced from Tulane. She had no idea where he had been taken. I spent hours on the phone yesterday calling hospitals until I finally found him for her. Her son, PHILLIP McDUELL, is still missing - or at least we don’t know where he is and he doesn’t know where she is. I’ll take that search on next.
People in Louisiana are warm and loving and gracious. I wasn’t born here but this is my home and they have taken me in and made me welcome. That is their way. I wish it were in my power to ease the anguish in the hearts of all those who have lost so much here this week. I’ll do what I can, one person at a time.
Craig,
I work as a local government planner in Florida, and I’ve also done the same at the federal and state levels. There’s been a lot of chatter about “moving” NOLA, and whether it’s a good idea to rebuild it. I think this is largely nonsense. NOLA exists in a place where one wouldn’t ordinarily place a large city (e.g., in a swamp next to a river that floods on a regular basis and drains into a Gulf that grows and nurtures hurricanes), but it exists for very strong economic reasons. Those reasons aren’t going to go away anytime soon. And, as bad as the flooding has been, much of city appears to have gotten through it in OK shape. There’s an incredible amount of housing and mixed use areas that are going to have to be razed and rebuilt, but I think that will happen. It will require political will and lots of money, but I hope that this will also be a wake-up call for what’s been happening nationally to our government.
That said, I’ve been to NOLA a handful of times, and have eaten in its restaurants, drank in its bars, listened to its music, and have walked all over the Garden District, Uptown, Downtown, the Quarter, and have driven all over the place, marveling at the urban pastiche of humanity and its works, culture, and miseries. I never realized just how much the place means to me until this happens, and I hope, meditate, ruminate, even pray that the people of America will come through and save our brothers and sisters who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
And I’m gonna check out that rum brand…
I’m glad to hear the churchs in Shreveport are housing those displaced by this disaster.I am watching CNN who just interviewed Rev. Jackson who made it sound as though the “big churchs” with guyms and large santuaries were not takeing in any victums.
This is a disaster on a scale that caught the Federal gov. off guard , and hopefuly there will be lessons learned ,however I don’t think the race issue should be being debated by public officials and the media while rescue workers and victums are still fighting for theire lives.
There will be plenty of time to be critial and to review the timeline of events when all of the survivors are rescued and given shelter.
Craig: Your posts have made me angry (not at you), cry and laugh. It is some of the best writing I have ever read. It’s so personal. Please keep up the prose. I’m loving every minute of it. I’m also praying for you and others suffering from this hell.
I was sitting in my house on my favorite chair, in front of my computer, eating food from my refrigerator, on my phone, typing my lesson plans for my Math class for the upcoming week. Now I have none of those luxeries: No home, no chair, no computer, no phone, no job, no students to prepare lessons for
pathos from bewilderment to laughter at the moments of such outrageous situations for people, who like me, who one would assume to be so far from this descent into primal survival…and then as quickly tearful sorrow of the hardships endured and seemingly with out end(the buses are coming soon)
on another note, please do not sign me up for higher gas prices(or I would guess the poorer people in this country) I do not care what the hell they pay for fuel ‘over there’. You think its a good idea to pay more taxes? The IRS will not only take what they require of you but will accept any extra you wish to give.
Prayers to all whose lives have been(hard to find a word here, affected? evicted? scattered? damaged? hurt? grieved?…) dealt so harshly a fate from Katrina.
Hi Craig and Kim,
The benefit was really a pleasure to organize and with help from so many…not so hard to pull off.
I agree that CCR should be played fast and rollicking. Always. I should have mentioned that the musician was playing an acoustic guitar (the only one he managed to bring out of NO with him) and that was mainly why the songs seemed a little more slow and heartfelt. I also think the songs took on a new meaning in this new, strange context of these past days.
I wish you the best of luck with your business. The food industry is full of smart, hard working plucky and resourceful people and I feel certain that you and your business will recover from this tradgedy in time.
Holly
I don’t know what type bbq trailer you have but our Klose cleaned up after three weeks under water. Lotta wire brush work needed, but once we scraped it, cooked off everything that would cook off and repainted part of it (had to call the company to find out what kind of paint to use)it was good as new. The water here was 90% sewerage and 10% dead hogs so I’d guess the corrosive factor would be similar. If its a gas unit I dunno what to tell you, other than call the manufacturer.
It’s really great to hear from people all over the world who are interested in helping in this tragedy. I am another ex-pat Louisianian who desperately wants to be back home helping right now. I sent my husband off a few days ago to New Orleans where he is delivering water for the Red Cross. I would be there helping but my Dad said that it would be best to stay away with our kids because it just isn’t safe right now.
I lived for 30 years in South Louisiana and I really want people from other countries to understand that the “solution” of socialism is part of what got us into this mess. I totally understand Craig not wanting to take government money (although I think you need to in this case). In South La, and probably other places, there is a culture of expecting the government to take care of you. Some people are born and die and never spend a day not getting some form of help from the government. I knew people in New Orleans who never worry about getting pregnant or losing a job because “that’s what Medicaide is for”. They are probably treading water right now.
There is a time and place for government help, but when you don’t depend on yourself anymore but instead let the government not only work but think for you, you are lost. The people that you are watching on the news have been let down by what they have always been told would protect them, the government. But this isn’t a father’s protection-keeping our borders safe and making sure the roads are passable. They are looking for a mother’s protection-feeding, clothing and telling you everything is taken care of.
The federal government is doing exactly what it should be doing. Had the flooding not started and taken them off guard, the response would have been exactly on target. It did take a while to get in but the safety of the rescuers was also a priority. The reason this La girl isn’t there helping right now is the behavior of SOME of the evacuees in Baton Rouge who believe that they deserve more and are angry about it.
Before this sounds like I am down on the State and its people (which COULDN’T be further from the truth), let me say that if a city anywhere in the world could be rebuilt from this, it will be New Orleans. We are a family in South La and I have cried over every face on the tv screen like I am being forced to watch my cousins go through this. When the mess is cleaned up down there we will ALL come together to rebuild the city.
I told a friend the other day that New Orleans is “The City that Care Forgot” not because people there don’t care, but because they know the important things in life. If your family is safe and happy, you don’t really care about the rest. We have a lot of mourning to do over those who have been lost, but after that we will put our lives back together and go on laughing…
Hi you all,
I am from Berlin, Germany. In 1995-96 I studied in Tulane (exchange program) and have been back to NO many, many times. No other city has ever meant so much to me. I have been spending the last five days almost entirely listening to the news or searching the internet for news on the situation. While at first I was mostly worrying about rather personal aspects such as whether the uptown area was doing alright or if all of the people I knew there could leave in time (in fact some of them decided to stay and still don’t want to leave) I am by now completetly devasteted about the fate of the people trapped at the Convention Center, the Superdome etc. From here, this looks very much like a racial issue. I mean, come on, they are all black, really all of them! Which seems to imply that the other ones (white people) somehow managed to evacuate in time. I know of course that also for most of them life will never be the same, that they have lost houses, jobs and so on. But imagine being stuck on a street or inside the superdome for days on end, with a baby in you arm, starving and no help coming. I cannot imagine how utterly hopeless and unbearable this must feel. How can these people ever recover from what they have been through? I am writing this here on my nice desk, in my beautiful appartment, my baby peacefully and well fed in the next room, and I wish I knew what to do to help. Does anyone know??
What I heard from the one couple that I still know in NO (rather old, white,he an ex-university professor) and that decided to stay in their uptown house increases my feeling of frustration and helplessness: its these peoples own fault that they didn’t leave the city and look what happens, if police is not around: they loot.
How on earth, is a city going to rebuilt when its people don’t trust each other a bit and when the racial divisions are so bad?
I hope I just don’t know about the stories of people helping each other, of race or social standing being of no importance in this help. I want to again believe in New Orleans!!!
I believe the hurricane swept away property, but it didn’t sweep away the jazz, the food, the culture, the spirit… You and so many other people who are of New Orleans WILL again drink that New Orleans Amber rum, listen to great live jazz, watch the New Orleans Saints, and get back to living in New Orleans.
I live in Chicago (Chicago Fire) and travel to San Francisco (Great Earthquake). New Orleans like other cities will bounce back.
Also, New Orleans has made huge deposits of good will in peoples lives and now it can draw on that account. after all that New Orleans has given to the world, the world will not give it up.
Please ignore Rachael’s comments… as an American living in Australia, I can tell you that paying 48 cents tax on every dollar I earn - plus another 10% goods and services tax on almost everything else - does NOT guarantee good government. It just means you’re a lot poorer at the end of every paycheck.
I do hope that there is an investigation though -the civil disaster plans that did exist outlined much of what actually happened. Ignoring them is criminal. The head of FEMA claiming that security in New Orleans is “pretty darn good” while people are looting, raping and killing is appalling. But not all of the blame rests with the federal government. The governor and the mayor both predicted that the superdome would have thousands of people inside it before Katrina struck. Did they not think to stock it with bottled water or ready to eat meals? Even portable toilets? The governor could have made the proper requests for National Guard units in a far more timely manner as well…
The people of New Orleans definitely deserved better from their local, state and federal governments. Hopefully the next six months will reflect a higher priority…
To Rachel, since you are paying all those high taxes over there, maybe you should have kept your five dollars. You just might need it, don’t you think! From a very proud American.
Do you think France or Germany would have made as big a balls up of rescuing their citizens?
Posted by: Rachael at September 3, 2005 09:48 AM
Yes Rachael I do…………..in fact I think most governments would have made a huge mess, but none of them should do !
They have no experience, no practice - it is 60 years since Germans evacuated Hamburg………..the French made a pitiful sight in May 1940 fleeing the advancing Germans………….the whole problem is the Governments tell us about Terrorism and what the Bogeymen can do but have no Action Plan if things actually happened as they predicted.
As for petrol/gasoline - try Indonesia - which spends $14 billion a year subsidising fuel prices down to 24cents/litre. Now there’s an idea - the US Government could subsidise gasoline by taxing food……..
The fact is politicians everywhere are asleep at the wheel…………….I would like to imagine that a city like New Orleans - the size of Bradford in Yorkshire - in Louisiana a state the size of Great Britain - could be comfortably evacuated if some politician went on TV and said “Time to Leave”……………….it would be sure chaos
Blair could not even run the Foot & Mouth disaster properly and that cost $10 billion and needed the Army; his predecessors spent $15 billion on the Great BSE Disaster.
The fact is folks - politicians do NOT have the systems in place to deal with Disaster whether natural or man-made.
how soon we forget. i can remember that it took them a while to get into florida after hurricane andrew and all the riots and stuff going on down there and looting as well. this is not the first time our government has messed up nor will it be the last.
they goofed at pearl harbor and they have goofed alot. New Orleans has been an disaster waiting to happen for years and like the mayor and the governor and the senators have all said. they informed our government that they needed help to rebuild these leeves that failed. did they get it no cuz out govenment said they couldnt afford to do it .
where do all our taxes go. they have them so why couldnt they have rebuilt it.
and to the lady from austrailia. you might like paying outrageous taxes on everything but not us . we pay enough now and due to our ports having been destroyed will pay more in taxes as well as more for the foods we buy.
the govenment has also stated they knew the New Orleans poor couldnt get out of there because of no cars or transportation to get out. these people are poor and neglected and yes some are on welfare but just because you are on welfare dont make everyone that is bad. alot of americans are on welfare, or disability or social security due to one reason or another. so tired of hearing people condemn people because they are poor. sorry the good lord didnt bless us poor people with money and wealth he blessed us with love and caring and try to help our fellow man and not to condemn them in this moment of diaster.
yes you got hot heads but with the living conditions they were living in who can blame them sometimes. you go without food or water or clean living conditons for as long as they did people dying before your eyes and you can do a thing about it. think before you talk. to them this was their vietnam or operation iraq they are shell shocked too and alot of people will lose their minds behind this.
i say we need to support these people in New Orleans Mississippi and the rest of the gulf coast instead of condeming them.
they have a long road ahead of them and as a survivor of hurricanes and tropicals storms that hit the gulf coast before i say just treat these people as humans not as animals.
one of them said they are not refugees but americans and it is totally right.
AMERICA NEEDS TO STAND UNITED INSTEAD OF DIVIDED RIGHT NOW
Living in a small South Texas town, we often wonder how we will overcome a tragedy such as that which Katrina has left behind. We never experience much weather related issues except for heat and dryness. However, I would just like to comment that Laredo is always willing to help out as much as we can. Many people donate as much as they can, and efforts to collect money are strong. We see the news and it is hard to believe that just a year ago we were visiting that beautiful city of New Orleans, and it is even more depressing to believe that it will never be the same. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of that wonderful city.
I really do not believe the term “refugee” is meant to be degrogatory. These people need refuge and are seeking refuge in their own country from a disaster that happened in their own country. Therefore the term is acurate. They are refugees.
Open your arms, hearts and pockets people, they need refuge.
We need to stop Monday morning quaterbacking and
move forward. Right now the Red Cross and Salvation Army needs our donations. NO refugees need shelter or room and board from our American brother and sisters. Our government needs to plan how to strategically handle this crisis situation. Mark Brown-FEMA needs to be fired once this situation is manageable.
New Orleans will rise again because it is a hub for seafood, oil riggings, port provides 1/5th warehousing for the country. This devastation will impact our nation for many years to come. This is a wake up call for all Americans if Pres Bush can not manage this crisis, how on earth can he overhaul Social Security and overthrow the insurgents? I offer prayers for our leader ship because this past week has left a vacuum of leadership.
I heard Al Qaeda seeded the clouds off the north western African coast to cause all of this.
People will say that what happened this week in New Orleans is a tragedy of Titanic proportions. Actually it IS the Titanic disaster all over again. On the Titanic the 3rd class immigrants were trapped in the bowels of the ship, fighting for survival. The crew of the White Star Line refused to open the gates that lead to the lifeboats and would give the 3rd class passengers a fighting chance. If you saw the recent film you might remember the groan of the audience, when the heroine
I support our troops, at least that’s what my $.96 WalMart Chinese made magnet says I do.
Personal Responsibility
Laying blame for things takes a lot of energy, energy that we could use to help our fellow citizens. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The media has obviously lost it.
How can I help now?
1. Pray. God hears all prayers and prayer can take us away from ourselves and unite us.
2. Donate. Money, time, things, housing. Pray about it, talk to your family and do whatever you can. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who are there. That storm took from all, black, white, rich, poor, many people have lost everything.
3. Hold politicians accountable. Write to your local congressman, senator, governor. Tell them to support Katrina and the efforts and look into natural disaster potential problems in your area. If you were hit by something, do you have a plan?
I’d like to see the people that have been complaining the most actually doing something. I think if some of the politicians had filled their cars with water, driven down there and had been photographed handing it out to people in need, it would have meant more than their complaining.
God bless and know that our hearts and prayers are with you and we are working on our pocketbooks and houses being open to you too.
Yes, FEMA and the agencies at work now need support. Yes, they were late. Yes, things could have been faster. Let’s focus on the living now….
The real killer was not the storm drectly, not the late response….the killer was the failure of the levees to hold….Once those levees went, thousands of lives were lost….
Those responsible for funding the repair of the levees were the killers…and since the Federal government was responsible for funding that aspect of the disaster…well I doubt the true killers will be punished because The Bush Administration will never admit it. And, DON’T tell me Clinton was responsible, because 2 days of Iraq’s budget would have paid for thousands of American lives in New Orleans by funding levee repair.
Henry we won’t blame Clinton or Bush alone for the lack of funding for the levee repairs. The lack of funding is a problem that has existed for decades and to suggest that either of merely 2 Presidents is responsible for the funding issue is foolish.
Aren’t you proud of me?
I support our troops, at least that’s what my $.96 WalMart Chinese made magnet says I do.
I sm not talking about Pres. Bush or Clinton.
Let me get this straight. For over 2 decades thousands of lives were dependent on a levee system that once breached would kill thousands of lives. Yes, they gambled, yes they lost….
Now someone or some agency,was responsible for that loss….. Who was it that told the President, “Mr. President, The levees of new orleans cannot withstand a Cat 5. Hurricane. This is a gmable, this was a gamble we are willing to take.” - Who was the one responsible for sayinf that?
How much would it cost to fund levee upgrade?
How much does it cost to fund a week in Iraq?
Give me some numbers….
Calculate the risk of thousands of lives dependent on that levee…..give me the number it costs to aid other countries who barely give a DAMN about this country.
seems to be the last thing needed now it blaming anyone…yes the facts building the house of cards that Katrina so ably blew down have to be understood and hopefully not repeated…see this link for a bit of blame laying…
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/343324p-292991c.html
But lets do move forward and quickly tackle the mess that is there…
prays and hope we are doing what can be done for the people so hurt and scattered
Blame Blame Blame..
SHUT UP!
While simpletons sit and point fingers, rational people question “What can we do to learn from this and avoid ever having to deal with something like this again”.
And rational people gather the facts, instead of spouting tidbits that they’ve picked up from this person or that person. Learn the history of the Mississippi, the Gulf, the Coastal Area, the City of NO and its levee system. Study up on governmental funding, on the local, state and federal levels.
And I’m talking FACTS here, folks. Think back to school, when you had to write a paper or speech that proved you knew “both sides” of an issue.
Only then can you wax intellectual on this very complex situation.
This is all very sad and very political, but one should not forget the tragedy behind, once all the mediacoverage is gone.
I’m Austrian and here the water destroyed a lot about 2 weeks ago, still, not many people died, but many existences were destroyed too. I don’t know where all these horrible things came from this summer, but I’m so happy that I’m alive, I can’t stop thinking that over and over agin. I begin to appreciate things more.
I wish all of the people good luck and friendly people who’ll host them during the next few months.
all the best from austria,
Regina
Hello, This is something new for me to do,however,feel the need to do it. There is a book out in the world, a person can find it most anywhere. As far as I know this book is free to read,use, and even to pass it on or just plain ignore. I won’t tell you the name of said book as I supect, anyone reading this will know it’s name.
In it, things are told, things that are comming to pass,and if everyone thinks that Katrina was devastating, she was just a preview of what is to come and no matter how badly we all would like to blame the other person, for failure, it us as individual’s who make our own choices and decisions and therefore we are all held accountable,for those choice’s and decisions no matter color,religon,sex or status in this life. I know that I have done what I could do to help in some small way and I know that reading this is not something popular to read, but does need to be said. My prayers go to everyone who has suffered pain,loss,and life. As someone who has been though several hurricanes and shelters cause leaving area was not an option, belive me, I do understand.
I’d like to point out a small group of people are taking advantages as a result of Katrina. And let us all stop them. If you are the stockholder and enjoying windfall profit, you should feel shame and raise your voice to those petroleum industries and stop them being looters. The street looters grab some hundred bucks and illegal. However, the big looters grab some 100 million buck legally. What a shame! Let’s think what common do they have. The both looters take advantages from people when those are unable to defend. Ask yourself, “do you enjoy the gasoline prices?” I bet you do not. So why keep quite? Basically, those people may have violated the Antitrust Law already! How few government units and congresspersons never or raises very few voices on the issues? What happen to you and me next? The economy will go south - depression!
THE REAL LOOTERS ARE THOSE WHO JACK UP THE PRICES KATRINA
In one week the world as we know it changed. The world changed immediately for those in the “EYE” of Katrina.( or did it? will some choose to stay in the same miserable conditions they were in before? or will they take this opportunity to start anew?)
Regardless, everyone in America will feel the effects of this unprecidented storm for possibly years to come. School Systems, Welfare Systems, city planning, healthcare, retail business, tourism, construction, utilities, fuel prices, government beuracracy, foreign relations, travel industry. The list goes on and on. Regardless of age,sex, financial success, or race, everyone will be affected by the changes that occur in the wake of Katrina’s Aftermath. And my hope is that the main change will be spiritual.
I heard it said by victims and relief works both, that this storm was “Biblical in proportions.”
Regardless of your faith, Something truly remarkable happened here.
This was no ordinary storm, this is a storm that woke everyone up from their slumber. We are all paying attention now. I cant help but ask myself, “What is my part in all of this and How can I help make my world better?”
In the blame game that is unavoidable, I hope people learn from the mistakes made and will make efforts to keep the wrongs from happening again.
We can not see the big picture yet. But I have no doubt that the world as we know it has changed in drastic and immeasurable ways.
My heart goes out to the people in NO, Mississippi and the rest of those affected by this devistation. I have been through hurricanes before. I know that they are tricky. The go one way then turn the other…most of the time we all get lucky, sometimes we do not. There isn’t person to blame-we could go as far down the line as we want. I know that when I see a big swirling mass coming towars me I go-sometimes I go for no reason because it turns-sometimes I go for good reason because it doesn’t turn–but I go. I don’t need my mayor to tell me to go. I go. I don’t need my gov. to tell me to go. I go. I don’t my president to tell me to go. I go. I watch,I listen, I act. Some weren’t able to go and some rolled the dice. SO WHAT? Now what? We help, we rebuild. We get used to the blue tarps on roofs. We go without some luxury for a while. But we go on. We are a strong country. We are a strong people. It’s not racist that everyone we saw on tv was black-the town is 60% black! 60% of half a million is going to look pretty black. Don’t reduce this to race-it is what it is. It’s sad. But we can fix this.
To those who live in other countries….I hate to hear you say anything about my country. My country has bailed you all out more times then any of us really knows, and probably still are even though the way you thank us is not so much of a thanks by my way of speaking. Go be socialist if you want, heck be communist, be nazi for all I care-I know that before long some good ol’ American will be over there helping you out AGAIN. I haven’t seen your help, I can’t say we need your help. We will get through this like we always have-with our own sweat, our own hard work, our own will to survive, prosper, and we will come back harder, stronger, more confident, more glorious. That is the American way. We don’t know any better. We’ve never had the luxury of someone coming to our aid everytime we had a boo boo. Now won’t be any different. The slogan for the Marines holds true for your average every day American (black, white, or whatever) we are the few, and the proud.
I love this country, Love the south, love the gulf coast. I don’t have any desire to live in any of your countries-why would I, I have the best right here! Stay in Germany, France, Autrailia, Poland, or where ever you are and enjoy it there but keep your mouth shut about something and some people you will never understand, couldn’t understand-this pride is in our blood and it runs deep red-most of yours is yellow.
I will continue to do everything I can for all of you in the gulf coast! YOU WILL SURVIVE AND BE STRONGER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL FOR IT!!!!
Jeff,
I stand and wave the flag with you my friend!
God Bless
Damn irrelevant posts