Sugar Ray Nagin
“I don’t want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don’t do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can’t even count.”
:Mayor nagin on WWL Radio
I won’t say I was ever a huge Ray Nagin fan. He’s done a good job and all. But when I heard this, I instantly became his biggest fan. I think his anger and frustration speaks the minds of many Louisiana Residents. People will say he’s lost composure but I disagree. I think his comments are exactly what needed to be said and I applaud him for saying it. I especially like his acknowledgement of the drug problem and its impact on this situation that no one wants to talk about. Thanks for putting the smackdown on ‘em for us- they cearly needed it.
Link to the transcript on cnn.com: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/nagin.transcript/index.html
There’s a link to an audio file on the front page of cnn. If you have a broadband connection and speakers it’s well worth listening to.
Happily, as I started this entry, cnn was showing the arrival of exactly what Mayor Nagin asked for this morning.
What I would like to know is…was he this angry before the hurricane hit?
Right now anger seems to simply be a useless feeling (you can see what good it is doing for the people stranded).
Jack:
I heard it - I think he expressed himself well. No doubt in anybody’s mind where he stands on the situation. Kudos to him for having the courage.
SJL
SUGGESTION: Solar-powered, shortwave radios for disaster-related communications
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, DHS should advise our citizens of the use of solar- (and/or kinetic-) powered, shortwave radios pre-/post- a disaster-related situation. Local officials and news reports have highlighted the lack of reliable communication/instruction to the citizens of New Orleans. Residents lack electricity/batteries to power existing devices. A solar-powered device would resolve this dilemma. Broadcasting the same information nationwide on multiple shortwave frequencies (simultaneously) enables local victims and families out-of-state to have access to the same information at the same time. Broadcast information will combat unnecessary hearsay so easily spread from one individual to the next.
These radios - if not well-known or understood by the general public - should be subsidized, promoted, distributed with food/water during a disaster, etc. They should be inexpensive - therefore, accessible to any nation’s poor. (Internet access may not be affordable, available or practical.) If information broadcast on the frequencies is looped, a text-line/indicator should indicate the last time an update occurred. (Likewise, the text-line should rotate any appropriate real-time/upcoming information.) As these radios would most likely sit on window sills to charge throughout the day, the device would also be “always-on”
I had just posted something about this on my blog and I came back here to see if anyone had seen what the mayor said yet. You are right…I don’t think that this is a time for composure…after 5 days of waiting while the state federal goverments kept saying “help is coming” it finally happened. I read this while the President himself was having a press conference after landing in Mississippi.
B: He certainly wasn’t angry before the hurricane hit. He’s a very calm, level-headed and actually somewhat soft-spoken man. And, you’re right, it mostly is a useless feeling, but I guess my point was more that he was acting as a voice to those who have no voice right now. He was acting as their voice and speaking their mind, useless or not, political figures in general don’t do that often. People on the streets must have heard his voice and felt someone who’s not helpless and struggling to get by a few more hours is on thier side and truely understands thier plight.
I guess its just good to know he’s fighting the good fight.
i think he is a gutless bastard trying to blame president bush for this
First honesty I’ve ever heard come from a political figure. He has been faced with extreme conditions and remained calm throughout, trusting the Federal Govt to assist, of course the idiot son of an asshole that was never elected twice blew alot of promises and once again proved what a miserable failure he is by not following through.
Seems odd that National Guard arrives at the seem time as “spineless” does to survey the damaged area.
But of course nothing president useless does surprises me anymore.
Good Lord, he’s a man in charge of a city in a crisis like we’ve never seen. He looks like a class act to me, but I’m not there in the middle of it all.
rev jim, you are a fucking asshole-president bush WAS twice elected losers like you need to get a life and get over the fact that kerry is a loser and he lost
w
Right now, I think Mayor Nagin is my new hero.
Well, I understand the man is probably stressed beyond the breaking point. At some point when this is all over, I wonder if he will reflect on whether his administration could have helped with an evacuation plan prior to the event.
Nagin’s done an exceptional job under the circumstances. He’s had to make decisions that no one should ever have to: do we use our limited personnel to save people from rooftops or violent looters? Who takes top priority? How do we maintain hope and security, when both are falling apart? How do I prevent the death toll from rising in the wake of disease, shortages, and violence?
Sadly, the electorate has a short memory. I’m afraid a lot of people will consider every tragic story as bad judgment on Nagin’s part.
But… versus what? Nagin kept his cool, he made the decisions that needed to be made. There have been mixed results, but you can’t fault him for that.
And if you’re tired, hungry, and scared, and have been stuck in the city with promises of help growing more repetitive day by day… It may or may not be the federal government’s “fault,” but that’s all academic as far as the people there are concerned.
Well, Nagin’s outrage was a lot tamer than what you would have heard coming from anyone stuck at the Superdome, or, God forbid, stranded at a damaged shelter in St. Bernard, or, worse yet, trapped in that Hell of the Convention Center.
And you know, as the man in charge, he feels the weight of every death in that city.
Let Nagin vent. He’s gone through more than anyone ever should.
All this energy wasted on blaming could be otherwise well-spent trying to help. Start a church or school fundraiser. Volunteer to go down there with the Red Cross. Donate to the Red Cross (who has been in New Orleans from Day One). Just don’t blame anyone else unless you are there up to your knees in filth without food or water. Yes, the federal government is not responding as the nation would like to see. Saying that out loud did not help one single person stranded in New Orleans.
Wow I was moved after listening to that. If I was in his situation I am not sure I would have been that composed. This is not about politics, who won what election, this is about people dying, people needing help, our fellow countrymen. The mayor is asking…pleading for help. He’s bringing up Iraq, NY, and the Tsunami because it seemed that help/action was given immediatly in those cases, and here it’s Friday and the troops are now coming in. He and the rest of NO are desperate. So many questions will come out of this, but we can answer later. We as Americans need to help now. Just help NOLA Now. Please.
I heard that interview of Mayor Nagin this morning on the web, and all I could of as I listened was YOU GO RAY! Regardless of who or what group is to blame, the bottom-line situation is help did NOT arrive timely. And that goes all the way to the top of George Bumblebush’s administration. Americans suffered and some died because of the delay in assistance. And Americans are still suffering and dying, and will continue to do so until the assistance is there and accessible. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for telling it like it is. You’re a hero in my book!
I live in Oklahoma, by the way…there’s a lot of prayer for you folks down there from us up here, and many of us are working to send you bucks and supplies pronto.
Mayor Nagin is doing a great job with the limited resources… he is/as the refugees fed up and tired of the” help is coming” soundbites coming from the government,and the agencies that were supposed to have had their “shit” together and in place before Katrina hit… and now,only today do we see some progress… how many have died waiting? How many will still die because they still wait… and still have no medicine,and food and water? And the media….they change their clothes every night… do they help people… bring food and water in… show people the way to go for help…take a leadership role… instead of highlighting the death and the gritty and the gruesome….to keep the ratings high… making a sideshow of the misery and suffering of Americans…. shame on you…. Shepard Smith… for not leading that group to the Superdome… or flagging down help… or making a stand… instead of complaining …. and screaming… what have your bosses at Fox done for the people of the disaster? What have you done? I sent a check…. and will send emails to my senators… and continue to pressure those in power to help…. the White House… the NAACP… who says it is all about race… I told them not to go there… that it was the Bush administration… shortsidedness about the scale of the task involved from the very moment Katrina took aim at New Orleans… this storm was unavoidable…but its consequences could have. Charles.
I have no knowledge of Mayor Nagin prior to this disaster. My initial opinion was that he was incompetent and jsut waiting for the Fed to come in and save his city. After hearing a little more the last few days, I think he has been saddled with a city that has been mismanaged for generations.
Yes, he has made a few mistakes that have been deadly in their consequences but after witnessing the grandstanding and utter denial by the state politicos the last few days I have to wonder if anyone else would have done any better given the mess he was handed.
I don’t think I have ever heard a more honest interview from an elected official.
I heard that interview of Mayor Nagin this morning on the web, and all I could of as I listened was YOU GO RAY! Regardless of who or what group is to blame, the bottom-line situation is help did NOT arrive timely. And that goes all the way to the top of George Bumblebush’s administration. Americans suffered and some died because of the delay in assistance. And Americans are still suffering and dying, and will continue to do so until the assistance is there and accessible. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for telling it like it is. You’re a hero in my book!
I live in Oklahoma, by the way…there’s a lot of prayer for you folks down there from us up here, and many of us are working to send you bucks and supplies pronto.
Jack - I realized posted that rather oddly. What I meant was…did get get on the phones before the hurricane and ask where his resources were coming from and when they would arrive? I’ve recently read that they have been warned since 2001 that the leeves wouldn’t hold against anything more than a lvl 3 direct hit. I can certainly understand his frustation - but what part was he and his staff making before hand?
I’m actually in Oklahoma City right now. I got here Wed before all hell broke loose.
I have an idea that may sound frivolous to some, but I’m totally serious that it could save lives.
(This is my side of a series of email conversations with some friends of mine. I have thrown out my ideas to them, and one of my friends
I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I know he was pushing hard on the state and there was some real force involved in getting the “mandatory evacuation” in place - understand that this proclomation makes it illeagal for anyone to be in Orleans Parish. I doubt he could have been more clear that people needed to leave. As for where help was going to come from, I’m not sure, but I know Entergy pulls their bucket trucks out of town so they’ll be functional to do repairs. I’m sure there’s a standard communication thing and I’m equally sure that mistakes were made on every level - I’m not saying there wasn’t. But his statements stand in stark contrast to the other information I’ve heard since I got out - he was empassioned and sincere and I found it refreshing.
Ray Nagin is also my hero!! He spoke exactly what needed to be said and how it needed to be said. I stand by our president, but I also understand that time spent talking was time spent dying.
The Mayor’s cursing and finger pointing might be his true nature. It appears that over a month ago, ABC26 ran a television special regarding the possibility or New Orleans being hit by a hurricane, Yet,the evacuation plan seems to have not been implemented. Or if it was, the plan seems to have left out those people who did not have their own means of transportation. Who should have put in place the plans to help them? The Mayor? Did the Governor give the go ahead for the plan in a timely manner? The Governor’s frustration is no excuse for being sure that all steps were properly executed by all of the responsible authorities.
I’m sorry if this sounds terrible, however after listening to the Mayor, I am afraid that most people will want to help out Mississippi more than New Orleans. The mayor sounded just like all the people demanding things on the news last night. He along with the Governor warned the residents to get out of town. They didn’t listen. They told the people to have a 3 day supply of food and water on hand. they didn’t listen. Now instead of helping out a terrible situation, he wants to place blame and make demands. I am sorry but the mayor cannot even control his own police force, over half failed to show up for work and the rest refused to stop the lootings the rapings, and mobocracy that seems to be going on in New Orleans. Instead of remaining calm and working towards a solution to the problems, he has now jumped on the blame band wagon just like all the other idiots out there making unreasonable demands. Come on lets all learn to get along and get through this horrible disaster.
Will
Jack,
I know you don’t know, didn’t mean to make you feel as though you had to have an answer - but those are the types of questions I wish people would ask in the media. I’m getting exteremly tired of the media giving a one sided story…they are making New Orleans out to be overrun by the criminaly insane or lazy - However I know this can’t be the case…can it? I heard from someone I work with that was from that area (transfed last year) that New Orleans had a bad crime scene. Is that so?
Even under ideal circumstances New Orleans is crime ridden. I would venture to say that it all stems from poverty and drugs. There’s not much of a middle class so upward mobility from poverty doesn’t seem as possible as it does in other cities with large poverty stricken populations that have a middle class. There’s a serious literacy problem in that fact that a significant percentage of New Orleans is , to some degree, functionally illiterate.
As for why things are this way and what to do about it…who knows?? Perhaps one of the positive effects of this will be the dispersment of the poor to locations with better life opportunities. Plus a breaking up of some of the gang relationships might help. The gangs in New Orleans have been strugling for territory since they started closing housing projects and moving people to other projects.
Maybe people will find a better quality of life somewhere else and not come back. Of course, the other side of that coin says that other cities could end up with groups of the more nefarious, and undesirable people from New Orleans - I feel this second scenario is much less likely than the first.
In summary, New Orleans isn’t some Platonic Utopia lead by philosofer kings.
i think everyone wants to know, what took so long to get these poor souls help? does anyone have a real answer for this? i’m a nurse and i know that people can die after 3 days without water and i think some did. why were they not helped sooner? i’m glad they now have help, but i agree that the government was dragging it’s feet and this is a valid cause for anger.
You made me smile with that last comment Jack. Thank you for insight. Hopefully this will turn out to be a blessing in disquise for NO and its people.
It does make you think though…if its well known about the crime in the city, why more authorities were not put on standby to rush in? I know, questions questions…at least the help people need is finally getting there - albeit late…but who knows what prep had gone into this beforehand?
i can not believe our government! good for ray to speak his mind. i have written the president and congress for the first time in my life….i can not believe this statement:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday that he thinks the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies have done a
“magnificent job” under difficult circumstances, citing their “courage” and
“ingenuity.”
this is enough. The bs and
self gratification is more than I can stand. I have had it. they both need to be fired!!! plus i can not wait to vote again. terrible….
Did it ever occur to an of you idiots complaining about help reaching in time that 80% of the city is flooded and can not be accessed by conventional means?
I’m from Spain and I’m following the news about this tragedy in New Orleans. I’m absolutly impacted for everything is happening and I wanna send you all my best wishes for you in this.
I’ve heard the mayor’s interview and I’ve had some impressions. I can understand this man is very sensitive with the situation because he’s living it very close and that’s why in the interview the emotions comes to the surface.
On the other hand, with the impartiality of being watching all this on TV from the other side of the world, I can see he’s laying the blame on others of the crisis and he talks like if he’s without anything to do. I guess that if he’s mayor, he has certain responsability, right?
There is another thing I call my attention, and it’s when he says the violence is due to drugg addicts…. Come on! Isn’t it too literary?
Well, anyway, despite the politics the most important thing is that people can survive and start to live again.
I send you again all my solidarity.
Mayor Nagin has gained my great respect for him as a person and politician. He is so right and our Federal Government should be ashamed of their lack of response to this disaster. In shedding his tears for his citizens he has awakened many in Washington.
God Bless you Sir
R. Sherlock, I could hardly disagree more. Up here in MN I
I agree almost 5 days later getting help to some of those refugees is shocking at best! Some people have died while waiting for that help to come…..1 death is one too many from our govt dragging their feet. Sheriff is on CNN saying they were told to not even bother coming down as they had nowhere to put them up…he said they had tents and could care less if they had accomodations but why would they tell them NOT to bother?
I’m behind Mayor Ray Nagin 100%! I can only barely relate to what is going on in New Orleans after surviving the L.A. riots and the Northridge earthquake here in California. I wish I could do more to support the people of New Orleans and Mississippi.
I also applaud Mr. Nagin for this statement:
“We authorized $8 billion to go to
Iraq, lickety split. After 9/11 we gave the president unauthorized powers, lickety split to help New York and other places,” he said. “You mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through … that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need.”
My thoughts and prayers are with you all.
To Thomas Kang:
Very interesting post. It’s great to see somebody actively striving for a solution. Getting the largest number of people out of a life-threatening situation in the quickest manner possible makes a lot of sense.
Unfortunately, I see zero chance of your plan actually being put into play. Our society simply doesn’t consider walking to be a viable solution to anything. Nope, better to let able-bodied folk stew in filth for days while waiting for the next bus to arrive.
To be fair, there are liabilities involved: what happens if someone dies of heat exhaustion while walking, or if the same kind of mob rule that’s been in place near the Convention Center takes over the roadways or tent cities? I can’t see government officials being willing to take those chances; people would be all over them if anything bad happened during such an out-of-the-ordinary maneuver. Better to stick to the current, “safe” plan so they can claim they’re doing all they can.
Yours is an intelligent and imaginative solution to a horrifying situation. I wish the officials would give it a try. But they won’t.
I for one, as an outsider, was THRILLED to hear Mayor Nagin’s politically incorrect comments on NPR this morning. As for him turning people
Seems to me that the Mayor has been hamstrung during this whole disaster. Doing what he can, but without much to work with.
Listen carefully to the interview, tho. It sounds to me that, if he were asked off the record, he’d blame much on the Governor. When directly asked whether Gov. had requested the feds to come (which I think she is required by law to do before the feds can take jurisdiction), he said “I have no idea what they’re doing.” Listen again to the part about the call for martial law, and the part about the President not needing procedure to be followed in the tsunami and Iraq. And he then lays into Bush a bit for not taking action without regard to procedure — fair enough.
But it sounds to me like Nagin thinks the Gov. is either asleep at the wheel or overwhelmed; for political reasons (?) tho, he is (barely) protecting her a bit from the fallout. Baton Rouge seems to be more of the problem rather than the solution.
BTW, I was in N.O. last Saturday (moving a daughter into college, and out again). I thought (at the time) that the mayor’s evacuation “suggestion” on Saturday (the one where he said “I may be more forceful tomorrow”) was much too understated. I wondered at the time why he wasn’t more “forceful” then. But he probably wishes now that he was — easy to say with hindsight.
I sympathize with all affected by this horrible tragedy. I don’t sympathize to those that had the means to leave but chose to stay and ride this hurricane out. These are the same people that wanted big government out of their lives, now they’re begging for big government to come save them. Wish there was a way to distinguish between them. This is not a race issue. It is a human tragedy and the respone is there. Nothing can be done over night particularly with a disaster zone of this magnitude. Bless the people working so hard to care for the people stranded. Leave the undesireable slime that wish to disrupt the rescue effort to rot in the filth that’s left in New Orleans.
On Monday, we all heard that New Orlenas had been spared the brunt of the storm. Tuesday, day two, the levees were breached, and flooding started. Day 3, Wednesday morning the reports started coming out that 80% of New Orleans was under water, and that is when it was realized how critical the situation had become.
I have yet to hear what the local officials of New Orleans did Tuesday, Wedensday or Thursday to help the process of getting federal aid into the community.
There were many cities devastated by this hurricane. It appears that New Orleans is the only city not able to cope or help itself. This puts Mayor Nagin in a bad light for pre-hurricane prepardness, as well as post-hurricane response. He is pointing fingers to defelct blame and to cover up his shortcomings as a leader of a great city.
Mayor Ray has shown that he is a human being, warts and all. He is todays equivalent of Harry Truman.
He is the only one that I’ve seen who is NOT POSTURING!!! Anyone who thinks that this horrific event is not fraught with politics lives in never-never land.
Is there anyone who believes that if the Mayor had the POWER to send in help, supplies, security, search & rescue, etc, he would not have done so in a heart beat? Just how was he going to do that when he was pitted against (yes, against!) FEMA, the Feds, Homeland Security, and every other flacid agency of our government.
It all got tangled in the G>D posturing!
I am a staunch Republican and always supported the administration, but now I say, give me some plain talkers who will get the job done and to hell with politics! If I see one more staged visit, or hear one more sound bite from politician AND reporter, I will spit!
Sugar Ray Nagin? What, so any whining, crying childlike person who can swear can be called a legend? I don’t think so. Maybe he should have done more to prepare his city for something like this. Maybe he should have done more to evacuate his city before this. Maybe he should stand up like a man and admit part of this problem is the fault of his administration. But no, like all others, including all the residents of New Orleans who decided not to evacuate when told to, he’ll blame everyone else and want everyone else to fix his problems. Maybe they should burn New Orleans to the ground like one resident stated. Make it a big park and lake area where no one lives but people can visit.
Why is it that when Andrew went through and there was a week lag time before the government got there that flags were not raised?
It would seem this may just be the typically turn around time to mobilize thousands of troops and millions of pounds of food? Why is it people are ’so upset’ now? Anyone know?
i agree Rob!
i’m disgusted that everyone is quick to blame the federal gov, when it is the responsibility of the cities/parishes/states to make sure their citizens are prepared and/or evacuated and that they ask for fed help when needed. fed help came when they asked. funny all other governors don’t expect a handout before asking first…
where were the school/metro busses before the hurricane hit? they should’ve been bussing them out ahead of the storm. they know that 10000 people don’t have cars…they know there are thousands without means to relocate…where are mayors? where WERE they and the governors in the hours before the fury of the storm?
each governor has the power to send in their own national guard…hmmm, each state governor has their state’s guard on standby waiting for the word already. he’s no truman! he wants order now and blames the feds for their lack…why didn’t he authorize HIS national guard and HIS police force to show force first. a great leader has the balls to stand up and admit fault, and then move on and get the job done–without pulling punches and taking slap shots. the illogic of some comments from some of these people makes me ashamed to be associated with what the world sees as “Americans.”
What I would like to know is, why didn’t the mayor of New Oleans, get a bullhorn and ride around in a boat and tell his people to be patient,Help is on the way?? He has done nothing. He is the mayor. He should have been out helping his people like a lot of the other mayors on the Gulf Coast. Instead he sits in his office and waits for some one else to do it. Before Katrina hit, why didn’t he have plans drawn up for police and firemen to move people to area shelters?? Unfortunately, he is like a lot of other political figures. He sits and waits for some one else to do his job and then bitches and complains about how the job should have been done. He needs to be a man and admit that the city was not properly prepared. He is the boss of New Orleans, not the state government or the federal govnerment. Mr Nagin, you have to take most of the blame!!!!
I would like to ask mayor Suger Ray Nagin what he did before the storm and flooding to prepare the city for something like this. It’s very easy to stand up and blame everyone but yourself. I believe the city and the whole USA was ill prepared for something like this.I can also understand how the people feel about the situation
their in.
Lets stop blameing and do something. Also I would like to know where you put 100,000 plus people in two or three days.
Bush dropped the ball and his incompetence reveals itself once again. He wanted a weapon of mass destruction, well he just got one, it’s called mother nature. Good going George, I thought you had the fear of God in you? Last time I heard the big guy in the sky doesn’t look kindly down on those who don’t help others when they can. Ever hear the fable of the good smamritan? 4 days? 4 DAYS?! What a joke? W is so transparent, it’s pathetic. Go get that photo-op, asshole. Way to go.
Nagin spoke the truth and is ten times the man Bush could ever hope to be. If he ran for president, I’d vote for him in a second. I guarantee he wouldn’t lie us into a war to line his and his friend’s pockets.
Sorry, but if this guy is hailed as some sort of leader, they may as well let Ponchartrain take New Orleans back. There’s plenty of blame to go around. The Feds have been sluggish, but the bottom line is, Nagin let this spiral out of control from the very outset. Your police force…in a city that lies below sea level…doesn’t have boats? He can scream all he wants about the lack of federal help, but when this is over, it will be his lack of preparedness that will be most responsible for the chaos. A police force is a law enforcement agency, not a search and rescue agency.
All of seen of your mayor and governor is a lot of whining and very little preparedness. FEMA has to co-ordinate with local and state officials to get things done. That happened in Florida last year. It’s happening in Alabama and Mississippi.
I would like to know what happened re the 20,000+ who stayed in the city during the hurricane. There are always a few who refuse to leave but I find it hard to believe 20,000+ chose to stay while expecting a Cat 5 hurricane and knowing the levees were likely to break. Did the mayor offer buses to get these people out? I’m thinking he did not. Why? Surely, he
I think Mayor Nagin was showing remarkable composure. He probably thought, like most of us all across America, that our federal government had ready-to-implement disaster contingency plans, and that FEMA would actually be able to provide swift leadership in an emergency response situation.
Knowing what we know now, it seems that the citizens of New Orleans would have been better off with local gulf states residents going in and getting them out of there, Dunkirk-style.
Many of us here in Alabama have commented that we will never again again for FEMA, or the federal government to “lead” the way.
Brian, it’s okay not to like or respect Pres Bush, but to try and lay any of the blame for any of this on the U.S. Gov’t is just incomprehensible. It was a natural disaster, plain and simple. Just because N.O. didn’t prepare for it doesn’t mean we don’t help them, but trying to play Monday morning QB at this point is useless. That was what I was trying to get across in my previous post, that Mayor Nagin should quit belly aching and start doing something. If he can’t physically help his constituants, maybe he can be a cheerleader for everyone else who is trying to help. I can’t for the life if me believe anyone with any modicum of common sense believes more help should have been there before now. N.O. was not prepared, as would probably any other city, for this disaster. Get past what has happened and get on with survival. Quit blaming others for predicaments you put yourself into and can’t get out of.
Bush is to blame for the lack of ability to prevent this devastation, are you kidding me? Ever hear of tax cuts? Where were they supposed to get the money to keep the levees working properly? What about the money to help in the evacuation process? What about the assistance (read troops) in carrying out such a plan? Nagin was absolutely correct when he brought up the fact that our government can pay billions for a war based on lies, but can’t do anything for it’s own people.
Go to the pump and think about Bush. Pretty soon the cost of everything is going to go up and all you “conservatives” (of which, by definition and history, Bush is not) need to think about why your paying so much for milk and bread. There went all the money you saved in tax cuts.
Rob, you are brainwashed and lack an understanding of the infrastructure of government. Spending money on improving the living conditions of the resident of New Orleans (and everywhere else for that matter) instead of sending a hundred plus thousand troops thousands of miles away to “help” people who don’t want our “help”, would have helped immensely in preventing the escalation of this incidence. Tax cuts = Less money for local governement first and even more so if the federal government puts lockheed martin on welfare.
Lottie, you are right to not put your eggs in the FEMA basket. No one should. FEMA isn’t there to rebuild our lives, that’s up to us. People should be prepared to care for themselves. I have been through three seperate, damaging hurricanes and have never asked for anyone’s help. I prepared for these on my own and I got through the aftermath with the support of the local community. I haven’t been through one as intense as Katrina, most of us haven’t and never will be, but I’m smart enough to know when to cut my losses and run.
Lottie, if the mayor “thought, like most of us all across America, that our federal government had ready-to-implement disaster contingency plans, and that FEMA would actually be able to provide swift leadership in an emergency response situation,” without KNOWING what those plans are, he had no business being in his position.
And of course Alabama ought not wait for the federal government or FEMA to lead the way. Local gov’t and its citizens have the duty and obligation to provide for their own safety to the extent they can — and to not be so dependent on a larger bureaucracy to swoop in to rescue. One ought not bet one’s life on the ability of something as large and massive as the US federal government to act quickly — the feds are designed to act massively but eventually. Local = faster; federal = slower. Not right, wrong, or otherwise, just a fact.
Sometimes anger and harsh words is necessary to mobilize people into action. Whether you liked it or not, it was right after that speech that President Bush and the national guard troops finally showed up.
What I don’t understand is why no one organized buses for the poor and elderly of New Orleans BEFORE the hurricane hit. Everyone knows New Orleans has a high poverty rate. How are people supposed to get out if they don’t own cars? Are thousands of people all supposed to pack into the regularly scheduled Greyhound buses? Where are they supposed to go if they don’t have family nearby or money for a motel? This is crazy. Tell people they need to get out or they will die and then give them no way of doing so? Are people ignorant or do they just not care?
Well Brian, I see you are on the same level with Mayor Nagin; it’s okay to call everyone names and blame everyone else for our problems, not deal with the problems at hand. Regardless of what is going on in other parts of the world, the response to any disaster is not immediate. Unfortunately we as a society expect everything now and don’t want to wait for anything. It’s so obvious in everything we do. You obviously don’t have any comprehension about the logistics involved in moving thousands of people and tons of equipment to an area that has been devestated. BTW, since when is it the federal governments responsibility to run and manage any city in the U.S. You must be one of those people who want government out of your life until something like this happens, then you want to cry into your milk and demand government intervention. Sorry, you can’t have it both ways.
Will, you clearly have no experience with poverty so perhaps your comments could be excused as inexperience. Lack of knowledge is okay. Lack of sensitivity is not. Your comments echo the comments of the head of FEMA and Homeland Security and no doubt will be springing up among the Limbaugh clones in the days to come. Every major disaster model for New Orleans predicted that 100,000 to 200,000 people would not evacuate the city. That is not simply explainable as people making a bad choice but reflects several realities. First, and least defensible, is that people tend to not believe things will be as bad as prediction offer that they could be. I wonder how we would each react in such a situation, especially after years of cautions in previous storms only to have the result be less than the forecast? Second, most people that remained had no means to leave. Many were elderly or infirmed. Most were poor. They did not have vehicles nor financial resources to put themselves up in a motel for days. Most live from paycheck to paycheck or welfare check to welfare check and their resources would not allow them to have to pay for their homes AND an alternative living arrangement for even a few days. Third, most don’t have caches of funds available to run out to the store and stock up on food. And, most don’t spend their limited resources on bottled water. They can barely subsist on the water that comes into their apartments or homes. Finally, where were they supposed to go? Given that they had no funds to stay in hotels, where were they supposed to live for several days. Were there shelters set up? Did local communties and churches set up places to go? If they did, it was not well advertised before the storm. Let’s refrain from blaming those who stayed for their plight. Yes, it would be wonderful if we all had the foresight and the resources to get ourselves out of harm’s way. But, for anyone to intimate that the government did not know that a major portion of the population would NOT be able to get out of town in advance, is just not reality based thinking. They needed to be helped immediately, not 5 days later. Clearly, now is better than tomorrow, but resources should have been mobilized earlier. Ray is right. His outrage is justified and, from here, shared. AND, I have donated money already and am talking to the Red Cross about the potential to go the Gulf are to help however I can.
CMON RAY WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT THEY ARENT BIG MAN
Let me tell you what Mayor Nagin did before the hurricane. He was instrumental in estabilshing the contraflow system that shut down traffic on the interstates going into the city and faorced all traffic to go in the same direction. On the day before the hurrucane, he calmly but firmly went on every news station and told the citizens of the area that this was the real deal, and that it appeared that the worst case scenario was about to happen and that everyone MUST leave. He (and the weather channel people) seemed to be the only ones who fully understood the magnitide of this. He provided the same sort of leadership that another mayor of another major American city provided nearly four years ago and was properly lauded for his tremendous leadership. I have been a Ray Nagin fan for years, especially after that skunk Marc Morial (and his predecessors) systematically destroyed New Orleans, and he has proven to be an outstanding leader througout. His comments are not partisan. He has supported Republican candidates (backed Bobby Jindal for Governor over Kathleen Blanco), and he is pissed right now at both our president (republican) and the governor (democrat). All of you who are interpreting his statements as political are just plain wrong. His actions are those from a man who dearly loves his city and the people of his city and has dedicated a large portion of his life to it. That is all. Take of your partisan glasses and listen to the Mayor. I am quite certain that Mayor Guliani would agree with me.
I don’t blame the mayor for his comments; he is just as frustrated as I. I was born and raised in uptown New Orleans and i am utterly disgusted by the lack of action by the greatest nation in the world. Were is all of my tax money going? FEMA, HOMELAND SECURITY and all those other governmental agencies with 3 letter acroynms are a complete JOKE!!!!!!
Also, where in the hell are our so called self-appointed black leaders AL SHARPTON, JESSE JACKSON, THE NAACP they are all silent. I guess there are no babies in new orleans they want to kiss right now.
–SIGNED DISGUSTED IN TEXAS–
Michael, I agree with most of what you say, but I’m not sure where you think this “magical” group of people and food and equipment comes from? Immediately for a response like this would be 4-7 days. There is no one place in the country where millions of pounds of “stuff” is sitting around and people are sitting around just waiting for a disaster like this to happen so they can roll in. Even if it was, even if there were trucks loaded with food and equipment and there was a source of people waiting with it, it would still take a couple of days to get into an area that had been devestated like N.O. And your comments about not blaming the people who couldn’t get out is spot on, but we can question why N.O. didn’t have a plan for this. It’s not the federal gov’t’s responsibility for this, it’s local and state gov’t.
Thanks, Dan from NO. I had no previous exposure to the Mayor before last Saturday. The background you gave is helpful.
Barbara–
exactly. New Orleans isn’t exactly a wealthy city. In fact, the urban area has the highest rate of poverty of any of the 50 largest urban areas in the US. The tax base isn’t sufficient to support everything the city needs between safety, education, infrastructure, disaster relief, etc. It’s doing it’s best to get by based upon what it has.
Are there even enough buses in the city to transport 100,000 people right now to destinations 10 hrs away by vehicle during the evacuation? Once they get there, what support services have been set up (outside of NOLA’s jurisdiction remember) to assist people with insufficient funds to do so? What do you do with certain elements of these 100,000 people enroute who require special needs: criminals, drug addicts, mothers with newborns, the sick, the elderly, the mentally ill, children.
This is well beyond the scope of services any government in New Orleans’ position could expect to provide.
People say don’t blame the federal gov’t. The levee system in New Orleans guarantees port of entry for the entire Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio River basin. From Kansas City to Minneapolis to Chicago to Pittsbugh. That’s kind of important. Important enough right now that the Shell filling stations all the way up here in Chicago currently have no available fuel.
The city can lay some ground work for helping in such an incident, but this isn’t NYC with a huge social services system focusing on a few blocks of lower Manhattan. To say that any mayor would fare any better in this situation is absurd.
The same can’t be said for other agencies running this show.
The mayor has no power to call in the national guard. That is the Governor’s job. He has the police force at his disposal. How could any police force be effective in such conditions?
Chicago, I think you’re absolutely right in just about everything you’ve said. However, it doesn’t negate the fact there should be a plan in place to remove people from the area when the local gov’t calls for it. If you can’t support that, then you need to tell your people that. You need to stand up and tell them that N.O. cannot support you when the next natural disaster comes. If you stay and the worst happens, you will probably die. People don’t want to hear that, but it’s the local gov’t’s responsibility to do it, whether it’s popular or not. As for the state gov’t, don’t get me started on them. At least N.O. had the foresight to reverse all traffic lanes outbound. Here in VA our elected leaders decided that wouldn’t be necesary, they actually argued over this. State and local gov’t’s are only as good as the lowliest imbecile we elect.
VP:
I’m so glad to discover that you
This exponential to the infinite disaster requires out of the box thinking, planning and implementation.
What I don’t understand is why it is taking so long to deploy help to the needy areas. Yes, in the box rationale would like to believe that access is not possible until water retreated enough.
I have sent email to FEMA and CNN and suggested that why not use a convey of Hoover crafts to deploy people and much needed help, such as food and water, rescues and evacuations.
In my opinion, this is a desperate situation, it requires creativity. Maybe what would help is to assimulate extreme creative people into this situation. Call it a special taskforce think tank, and give it enough level of authority to execute any plans developed.
Kudos to you! Kudos to Mayor Nagin! Kudos to Bush for hearing and kicking it into high gear! Keep on keeping on! People need you to be strong and throw caution to the wind in times like these! Who cares what people think should’ve been done. No one could’ve been prepared for this. Hell! Andrew was a 5 and not nearly as bad as this! Kick ass when you need to kick ass and wake up them up! Do it again if you have to! Mayor Nagin only said what I was thinking and I think alot of people were thinking. Sometimes it just needs to be said! Our prayers go with all of you and all the government officials that will be involved in helping with this disaster. God be with you and bless you in your death valley. Good for you!
I have never been a fan of Nagin because I haven’t always agreed with his policies, but in this instance I am bursting with pride. He has taken our voices and bullhorned them to the media.
I live in South Louisiana in a city damaged by Katrina. We have no power but we are not underwater so we are receiving over 100,000 refugees. It is SICKENING that so little aid was sent to New Orleans until Friday. And absolutely INHUMAN that the hospitals were not evacuated on TUESDAY.
I completely agree with the Press Conference comment. We would watch our battery powered tv and see politicians constantly giving interviews and sound bytes. I began to wonder if they had time to do anything else! Nagin just had the balls to speak the TRUTH.
I am greatly dismayed at the attitude of many Americans: that those who are stranded deserve their fate because they didn’t evacuate. You are talking about human beings, fellow Americans, MY PEOPLE! God help you if you are ever facing a crisis and no one comes to your aid because they think you should die because you are stupid.
I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. I BLAME THE HURRICANE. THE MAYOR DIDN’T RUIN EVERYTHING. THE PRESIDENT DIDN’T RUIN EVERYTHING. HARRY CONNICK JR DIDN’T RUIN EVERYTHING. FEMA DIDN’T RUIN EVERYTHING. THE LOOTERS DIDN’T RUIN EVERYTHING. THE HURRICANE RUINED EVERYTHING. THE HURRICANE IS TO BLAME. SHAME ON THE HURRICANE. SHAME ON THE FUCKING WEATHER. THE WIND. THE WATER. IT’S THEIR FAULT.
OK so it is a big mess… Quit playing the blame game, get off your butts and help out. Tossing blame this early in the process is just plane wrong. Today is only the third day after the storm passed. It takes a while to mobilize any response which is why the officials say, Have a three day supply of food and water. Quit tossing blame at the government, they say only a fool prays to the government for deliverance. Help the victims in a positive way to pull themselves up by the bootstrap and they will develope far more that will be accomplished by blaming someone else for their own stupidity. All this garbage just make the people who want to help turn their backs on New Orleans if all they are able to save is a bunch of animals. Mississippi and Alabama are doing so and moving forward… New Orleans pushes off the blame when they dont get their way instantly. Perhaps we have just begun to see Gods wrath by attempting to clean up New Orleans the easy way by washing it away in the flood.
Will
MAT and Beth,
Thank you both–MAT for your call on out of the box thinking, planning and implementation. I made one attempt in a post above (9/2/05, 02:21 PM). It rambles on for a while, but I think it’s better than the current course of action. I wonder what you think–if you ever get a chance (or have the patience–it is very long) to read it i’d be interested to hear your perspective.
And Beth, thanks for keeping up the high energy and spirits; I feel saddened when I end up having to think about whose fault it is that we didn’t prepare stronger barriers, establish more effective preparation, and create a more effective response to a city that has been fighting against nature and against the inexorable forces of equilibrium.
But your post gives me at least a little bit more energy, and I hope that energy keeps transmitting through the Internet universe and into the hearts of the people who are physically involved in the recovery efforts, at least until we are done with the task of rescuing victims and putting the city back on the road to recovery.
All of the chatter on these bulletin boards–they help us share our concerns and anxieties and let out our anger or frustration–but they pale in importance to the current task at hand, which is saving as many lives as possible and getting everyone onto safe, dry ground with a roof above and clean, running water below.
Again, I hope messages like yours do play a role in that they give extra battery power to anyone who happens to read them, and that messages like MAT’s take a seed of an idea and help to realize solutions that individuals could not have dreamt up by themselves.
Imagine a Wiki think tank that comes up with practical, more easily deployable, or more effective solutions to problems of preparedness against and response to natural disasters. We can begin with Katrina as a model.
Hopefully, this model is so unique and so singular that we would never need to utilize our collective knowledge in this regard ever again. In any case, I think if we can come up with a better browser and an extensive, self-sustaining encyclopedia by combining the efforts of the world community, we should be able to do the same for preparing for natural (and, god-forbid) man-made disasters.
Imagine that. Something like that would be made by everyone around the world, and it can be used by anyone around the world as well.
What a beautiful thing, this thing we call the Internet.
To the guy who said Bush is not to blame.
NO he and his neo cons would rather save a life
on a “white florida brain dead woman and unborn children that taking care of the “living”
Oh, YES he is to blame and by the way I am white
Thanks, Miss BJ, for injecting some sanity.
Houston didn’t “subject” its visitors to further indignity by having only two thousand cots on hand. The visitors suffered further indignity despite charitable efforts of that city.
The Feds don’t usually have to respond at levels that broke down in this case. They aren’t stockpiled or pre-organized for that. There aren’t usually this many stranded, and when there are it’s because disaster struck quickly and therefore plenty of strong and able-bodied are among the stranded. This time, the stranded were not the most capable for dealing with the difficulties, and there were a lot of them.
The national guard is a state organization and therefore all its members come from the same state that got hit by the hurricane right after the city. It took a little extra time for them to gather and line up. But they’re there.
This Hurricane hit hard, in nearly the worst way. It caused a lot of damage. The Hurricane. Hurricane Katrina. Not feds, not guards, not Houstonians. Not Republicans, not Democrats. Not even media.
I know. I rode through Carla. I volunteered for the Red Cross for hurricanes along the Texas coast whose names are long forgotten. I lost my business to Alicia. Carla and Alicia were both mild compared to this.
There’s too much hollering, recriminating, and wailing. The hurricane was bad enough. Don’t make things worse.
Instead of berating those rushing to aid, the mayor could appeal for patience, ingenuity, assisting one another, and support, encourage, and reassure that though it was taking longer than it seemed it should, help was coming. Leaders need to encourage calm cooperation, not anger and fighting.
The local government failed to stand-up and meet the challenge. Mayor Nagin should have taken the bull by the horns, immediately as this situation evolved. And I’m not talking about the hurricane, I’m talking about the fall of N.O., immediately after the storm. People will automatically align themselves to a leader during times of strife (e.g..Rudy Gulliani) because that is just simply human nature. The Police and Fire Dept., obviously have no game plan because if they did they would not be walking off their jobs in fear of their lives. Again this is the responsibility of the local government leadership. I can’t stand George Bush, but after his intial leadership after 9-11, I can’t think of anyone else to lead this country during this time of crisis…
In all of this mess it is heartening to see a real person (Nagin) who knows when politics are insulting and has the courage to say what needs to be said. He has realized and stands up for what matters. He is a true leader of the people (for the people).
Before the storm hit New Orleans, I had a slight bit of respect for Mr. Nagin. However, the comments that he has made during the last 4 days, have bordered on the edge of lunacy and stupidity. He made statements regarding the looting as “necessary because people need food”. The vast majority of places that have been robbed thus of far have been sporting goods stores and liquor stores. Second, his statements regarding the federal government are 50/50. He surely did not do enough in light of what was to happen. In fact, from what I can see, he makes the perfect politician, “Blame those who are always blamed”.
So, in the end, Mr. Nagin is a great politician, but as a person, he is a moron.
Mayor Nagin needs to look in the mirror before he blames the Feds for all his problems. One photo I saw this morning showed about 45-50 schoolbuses sitting in a flooded out parking lot. Why didnt Nagin comandeer these buses to get his citizens out of N.O. before the hurricane? How about city trucks and other vehicles? City buses? They could have evacuated 1000’s more people before Katrina hit. If he knew his city was in dire straights, why didnt he stockpile food, water and medical supplies for his citizens? It sure seems he wants to place blame outward before people look at him and his poor planning for this disaster.
Relief efforts of this scale do not happen overnight. Take into account that vehicles, food and supplies (to include immense amounts of fuel to move those supplies) must be accumulated. Routes into and out of the disaster area must be reconned, mapped, and taught to the drivers. Communications plans developed. Marshalling areas set up and distribution plans for the supplies coordinated. Now you tell me, could you do this in 1 day? 2 days? So when you want to slam an organization for not getting help to those that need it….take all those previous mentioned factors into account and ask yourself if you could do better.
I think Nagin should have taken a page from Guliani’s book. When you address the masses that need your leadership, act like a leader instead of throwing a temper tantrum. How defeatist. He could have used the opportunity to comfort, unite, pray, strengthen or give a calm, reasoned statement of reassurance. It would have at least sent some calm into the storm instead of created another little squall.
Everyone on this computer should be doing something to help people that are homeless, hungry and thirsty. How dare everyone commented about Mayor Ray of NO. HE have every right to say what he want to say. The next question is what are yall doing to help. If any one of you was mayor what have u have done nothing. Most of yall or either racist or dont give a damn while people are losing babies and families. All I see on the internet is racist white people comments but one day when God is in control yall better watch what yall say. Because its coming soon.
What many of you don’t understand is that the Mayor has very limited power when it comes to a catastrophe of this proportion. One man cannot possibly be expected to commandeer order in a life or death situation as this one. Many, if not most of his subordinates, were more concerned with saving their own families, as any of you would be in this situation. I think he is doing an excellent job–he’s stating the truth, the city needs desperate help. I would like to see what all of you would do in this same situation.
I am tired of hearing these ignorant comments made by uninformed individuals who have no insight whatsoever. People are desperate and don’t know what to do. LEARN HOW TO THINK CRITICALLY PEOPLE!!! The media tends to use any opportunity it can to show African-Americans in a negative light. To the person who said most of the people weren’t looting for food, that’s BS. The media shows two or three clips over and over again of people stealing, and idiots assume that MOST people (black people) are stealing tv’s and clothes. This is outrageous. The media focuses too much on the minority of negative instances and uses it as an excuse for why people can’t get help. I am outraged. Now people want to try and place blame on the African-American mayor. Anyone with half a brain knows that he is doing the best he can.
Well I hope the situation gets better there soon. I’ve been to New Orleans several times and love the city but I think unfortunatly it may be too late to fix what’s broken. I’m suprised no one here hasn’t blamed Iran yet. It seems they are the only ones not being blamed. You could kill two birds with one stone by saying the Iranians are hiding WMD’s in the form of gigantic weather machines and get to invade them. At least it’s more plausable than Iraq having WMD’s considering the ones who gave them WMD’s were mainly the U.S and Germany during the Iran/Iraq war.
Also up for consideration is the strategic aspect of this disaster. I.E. China. If I were China I would launch an immediate invasion of Taiwan to repatriate their territory. With America in Iraq and this disaster eating up even more resources at home there wouldn’t be much the U.S. could do to stop it. Sure there would be political fallout and maybe economic fallout but that hasn’t stopped the Chinese yet(Remember Tianamin?) There may be more reprecussions to this event than most people think.
As far as the question of shooting looters or not it almost seems a moot point. There are some argueing in favour and some argueing against. My opinion falls somewhere in the middle. You don’t need to shoot scores of looters to get them to stop. A couple would probably be suffecient as long as their bodies were displayed in promenant positions throughout the city. In fact why shoot them? Why not hang them, that used to be the standard punishment for looting. I doubt you would have to hang many before the point gets across.
Some people here seem to take the extreme view of shooting ALL the looters. While being impractical, I think it’s a little extreme. Hell if you’re thinking along those lines why not just do a high altitude Neutron bomb over the city, the hard gamma radiation would kill every living thing, including most diseases and leave the city intact. The half life of a Neutron bomb is around 2 weeks so in a month you could walk into the city with little or no residule radiation and all the building and property would be intact. Wouldn’t that get the “looters” too? Sounds a little silly to me.
Oh well thanks New Orleans for some great memories RIP.
Ray Nagin instantly won me over with that radio interview
A man that is telling people to pray. Then he goes and uses the Lord’s name in vain. We wonder why things like this happen. Just think about it.
I, too, want to see Bush wading through the same waters that the people of New Orleans have been living (?) in for the last few days!! A fly over just doesn’t do it, or a tour of another city where he says he feels their pain. Nagin’s got it right - they need beef not bull!! Has anyone wondered why the people in the Marriott and some other hotels got choppered out?? Hmmm - think there’s a class issue here? Tulane Hosp. is evacuated, but the Charity folk - well, many are still there. And I really, really don’t get how you have FEMA disaster plans made up, practiced and in place for New Orleans - and those plans include all the infrastructures to be working. How fast do you think the help would have been there if those people had been Bush’s big oil buddies??
Mary Ann
let the nigger nagin, go live with the niggers
SARGE,
Is ignorance bliss?
Whoever said “I think he is a gutless bastard trying to blame president bush for this” doesn’t know a thing. I live in Baton Rouge. I am so glad that mayor Nagin said what he said.
The federal government has failed…pure and simple…
Whoever said “let the nigger nagin, go live with the niggers” is not a human being…that’s part of the problems that we have today…
I live in San Francisco, Ca, and have been watching CNN for the last five days. By the second day I could not believe that a major city looked like a third world country. No, Katrina could not have been prevented-nor could everybody stick to FEMA’s advice and evacuate. However, what could have been prevented and better controlled was the goverment’s response to help those in serious need. It broke my heart and made me feel very angry towards the country’s decision makers.
New Orleans-Support your mayor because he had the courage to speak up and say that his collegues and peers failed. I am sad to say that your governor is a pathetic leader. I think the country needs a spokesperson like Mayor Nagin. Why be polite when FEMA, the White House, and Federal Programs have failed-to yield the ultimate cost: lives that should not have been lost.
All the anger,blame games, name calling, etc. is not going to solve the problem. I personally would NOT like to see the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES wading around in the water. I would like for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to stand tall and strong in a time of crisis.
This is not the time to cry racism or play politics. Our country is in a time of need and unless we want to create a much bigger problem than what is already happening, we need to stop and come together as AMERICANS not Democrats or Republicans, Blacks or Whites, etc.
And another thing, why didn’t the media helocopters and vans try to pull anybody out. Instead they wanted to get the BIG story. OUr countries WORST enemy is the MEDIA and ourselves.Al Quaida is looking at our country right now and probably saying to themselves “We don’t need to do anything else, they are doing it to themselves”.
Will,
Your a fucking asshole.
I canNOT believe the person who injected negative racial comments into this blog! In the words from “Napoleon Dynamite” - IDIOT!
Mayor Ray Nagin emoted EXACTLY what anyone of us would feel if we were desperate, frustrated and felt that we were without the assistance and care from other authorities.
Let’s all do what we can by HELPING. I have personally committed to giving up my social drinks afterwork budget for 1 year and volunteered to open my home to whomever needs a place to stay long term.
The mayors heated comments were a signal of the frustration brought about by poor leadership. He pointed the finger at the federal government, but he was really bringing attention to the three fingers that point at himself. That was not his intent, however.
I have heard many comments about the US military being able to go to Iraq, etc…. but not being able to get to New Orleans. Apparently many have forgotten that it takes a US Navy ship 14+ days to get to the Persian Gulf from the US. The US Military does nothing “overnight”, it takes a long time for things to happen. There was NO US military support in the Indian Ocean within 3 days of the tsunami in December… Katrina cleared on Monday… and the USS Bataan was off the coast of Louisiana on WEDNESDAY…less than 48 hours after the seas calmed.
The fact that the New Orleans police cannot communicate is NOT a federal issue. Its a local issue. That is not the presidents fault, its the mayors fault. Clearly the City of New Orleans did not have disaster preparations ANYWHERE on its own agenda. If the Mayor would have called the President several weeks/months ago requesting a military presence, I am certain that the relief efforts would have been in full swing when they were needed. But Katrina did not make an appointment… she was a “walk-in”. In fact, noone knew exactly where she was heading exactly. Prestaging workers and supplies in a potential danger area is absolutely crazy. They must be kept at a safe location until it is safe for them to begin operations, less they become casualties and more debris. I am not talking about the dangers posed by human actions, but by the storm itself.
1 million soldiers/ aid workers on the ground in New Orleans last saturday would be one million more people in need of food, water, and evacuation today!
The Mayor, regardless of the intentions of his heart, was wrong. However, I understand his frustration. He knows he could have done more before the storm hit.
black people all over america are watching whats happening in the south…mass exodus to africa,divorce from america,Those in power will never see you as american brothers.They will never see us.Our pain is expendable at least for the time being…..”over there in that part of the world”
mayor nagin, gov blanco and sen. landrieu all looked like deer in the headlights. no wonder nothing was done for three days. with leaders like them the people of new orleans are gonna need a miracle
I guess it is all about politics and money in this country and under this administration. Louisiana is paying for electing a Democratic Governor and a Democratic mayor of New Orleans. Its payback time from the White House. Of course the religious right is having a great time that the city of sin is no more and the NRA should be happy that evryone has a gun now in the city. I am sorry it is deer hunt season in New Orleans
Our gulf coast leaders including Nagin, other parish leaders and Blanco effectively led about a million of us out of the city safely. In metro NOLA we did contraflow, all lanes of interstates headed out of town.
I wish there had been a better plan for the less fortunate, but think about it…I am sure it is difficult for those of you who a) don’t live here or b) never tried to evacuate from something like this. 50,000 - 100,000 people in buses? 50 at a time? did you skim that very long post about getting folks to walk
I for one can find common ground with both sides. I applaude Nagin for saying what needed to be said. If only more officials would/could talk without fear of being PC. I think his comments have been a catalyst in getting the weels rolling and have helped the situation not hurt it.
I can also find plenty of fault too. This storm has been predicted for years and there seems to have been a major case of ignorant bliss. So what if this was a 200-300 year storm. That doesn’t mean that the storm will hit 200 years from now. It could (and did) come any day and there seems to have been an incredible lack of pre-planning. Of course our fearless president took too long to spring to action, but does that really surprise anyone?
There is plenty of blame to go around. Pre-planning and post-action have both proven to be inadequate and too-late for a lot of people.
Boy it sure would be nice to have the half trillion dollars we spent in Iraq right about now. We could completely rebuilt NO and then some. Not to mention that the money could have been better utilized to beef up the levees that were only designed for a cat 3 hurricane because our president didn’t want to spend any money to actually protect our country. Instead, in his infinite wisdom, he decided to slash away at meaningful budgets so he could fund a war and play Cowboy to impress/avenge his daddy all the while creating a playground for more and more terrorists to hone their skills.
The mayor of New Orleans is the most incompetent mayor in the country. WHY DIDN’T HE EVACUATE people in the school buses that are now under water before the storm hit? Why did he not do anything to shore up the levee’s before the storm hit? I guess he was too busy running the corrupt southern goverment he heads!!!!
To Kris and Mary Ann,
Good for you to donate clothing etc…now roll up your sleeves, fly to Houston and help those that need help. Or better yet, join the National Guard and go to N.O. You go stand in putrid water. What? You cant? Why not? You expect the President to do it…then you can too. It doesnt matter what party he belongs to, if you have such hatred in your heart…then stand in his shoes before you tell him what to do. In this “instant gratification” society we live in, when things do not happen overnight, Americans get so nasty about what Big Brother should do or not do. Get real people.