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Hurricane K- this is not a black and white issue
This is an issue of lives and its value... I hear people argue over this as if it is an issue of black and white..(see other post on here) the value of life seems to have been forgotten. How can people make this into a black and white issue? It is not about you, it is not about me, it is not about race but about humanity. Instead of argueing or trying to prove your point right, do something about it. Save a life. Links to contribute to the cause and help save a life: https://www.redcross.org/donate/redir.a … D=09022005 If you want to argue... GO TO ANOTHER POST but if you want to add links and share information, clips etc. feel free. Need more people to share information not just oppinions. Everyone has their own oppinion so leave it to that... Yes racism still exists and there are many posts on that... don't bring it here. I want to see articles, clips, photos and links to organizations that are helping.. I want this to be a thread where people can come to get informed. If you find an article on HK that shows racism post it on here. If you find info on how help is given post it here. Yes we need to see it. Need info not just word of mouth. You have two ears, two eyes and one mouth.. listen, watch then speak!!! ________________an article I read. Things to consider. WEEKLY REVIEW In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the United States declared disasters in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Taken together, the 90,000-square-mile disaster area would be the twelfth largest state. Emergencies were declared in Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. Eighty percent of New Orleans was flooded after levees were breached by rising water. "I don't think," said President George W. Bush, "anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the disaster "exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight." The flooding had been anticipated by National Geographic magazine, Scientific American magazine, the Times-Picayune newspaper, FEMA, and Mr. Bill. Condoleezza Rice attended a musical in New York City, where she was booed. She also went shoe shopping. A fellow shopper was thrown out of the store after yelling "How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying or homeless?" Dick Cheney canceled a trip to the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, and Senator Bill Frist called for a permanent repeal to the estate tax. President Bush decided to end his month-long vacation two days early and return to Washington, D.C. During his trip, Air Force One flew low over New Orleans. "This was a natural disaster," said Bush. The situation in New Orleans quickly worsened, but little help appeared. Shelters set up at the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center became squalid, hot, and dangerous. The Louisiana National Guard patrolled the Superdome with machine guns as flood victims, locked behind metal barricades, shouted "we need more water." Cigarettes in the Superdome sold for $10 a pack, and a brisk market in anti-diuretics, which allowed people to avoid the overflowing bathrooms, developed. "We are like animals," said a woman. Shootings, carjackings, and looting were reported across New Orleans. Thousands of people, most of them poor, were stranded for several days; many died waiting for rescue. "Nobody's coming to get us," said Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson parish, weeping. "For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody." The effectiveness of FEMA head Mike Brown, who was fired from his previous job supervising the International Arabian Horse Association, was called into question after he repeatedly claimed not to have known the severity of the storm or the location of several thousand refugees. "There is way too many fricking . . . cooks in the kitchen," said New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin. "George Bush," said rapper Kanye West, "doesn't care about black people." About 57,000 troops, many assigned to combat operations, entered the New Orleans area. "This place is going to look like Little Somalia," said a brigadier general. The Superdome and Convention Center were finally evacuated, but evacuees were not allowed to take their pets with them. "Snowball!" cried a little boy after police took away his dog. "Snowball!" It was announced that it could take up to six months for New Orleans to be pumped out, and another three months for it to dry. Officials estimated that 10,000 people had been killed in the flood; about the same number of people remained in the city. Fifty-five countries offered aid to the United States. Cuba offered 1,100 doctors, Iran offered humanitarian aid, China offered $5 million, and Venezuela offered fuel at a reduced cost. The United States was performing a "needs assessment" to decide whose help to accept. Some Christian extremists declared that the hurricane was punishment by God. "New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence," said the pastor of the New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans, "and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion--it's free of all of those things now." Many other Christians simply prayed. In Iraq nearly 1,000 Shiite pilgrims were killed during a march across the Al-Aaimmah bridge when rumors of a suicide bomber in the crowd caused a stampede. Most of the victims were women and children who died from trampling or, after they fell or jumped into the Tigris River, from drowning. President Bush declared that U.S. troops needed to stay in Iraq to keep the country's oil out of the hands of terrorists. Federal prosecutors accused eight officials from KPMG and a lawyer of conspiracy for helping wealthy people evade at least $2.5 billion in taxes, and a man named Glenn Allen Powell pleaded guilty to taking as much as $1.25 million in kickbacks in Iraq while working for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root. Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist died, and President Bush nominated John G. Roberts, Jr. as a replacement. Scientists announced that they had created mice that could regrow amputated extremities, and a plane crash in Indonesia killed at least 147 people. The Bush Administration was working on a new set of pollution controls intended to make it harder to sue power plants. There was a condom shortage in Uganda; a U.N. representative attributed the shortage to restrictions placed on U.S.-provided HIV/AIDS-prevention funds. Susan Wood, chief of women's health at the FDA, resigned over the FDA's refusal to allow emergency contraception to be sold over the counter in spite of "scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended by the professional staff here." Up to twelve more tropical storms were expected through November. National Preparedness Month began. -- Paul Ford Links to contribute to the cause and help save a life: https://www.redcross.org/donate/redir.a … D=09022005 Sep 06 05 02:32 pm Link The blame game is definitely not black & white. There is also the issue of the system breaking down first at the local government level, all under the direction of the mayor (that guy that screams a lot). Check out the New Orleans hurricane preparedness, education and evacuation official policy and see that the education and evacuation steps were not followed according to their own policies: http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26 For anyone wanting to assist by spreading the word, put a banner on your website linking to the Red Cross. Go to www.redcross.org and in the right column under How You Can Help, Click the Get a Banner for your Website link. Simple istructions. Sep 06 05 02:50 pm Link The direct link http://www.redcross.org/psa/bannerorder/all/index.asp Sep 06 05 02:52 pm Link Jim Warren wrote: not here is it a blame game of black and white. Go to the other topics/post on here and you will see what I am talking about. I will get that stuff on my page soon as I get off work. I'm off to work now. Sep 06 05 02:54 pm Link Jim Warren wrote: Exactly - it's a game... And this is dead serious.. To all the finger pointers - take your remaining fingers - pick up a pen and write a check... It's quite obvious that the gorvernment has its hands tied and we don't have the luxury of waiting to see if they can sort it out... Sep 06 05 02:59 pm Link Yup, rather than only pointing out who is part of the problem, become part of the solution. I've made a substantial donation already, as well as putting a banner on my site. Every bit helps. Sep 06 05 03:07 pm Link Jim Warren wrote: Ahhh...well put. Now if more people did this in general...what a happier society we would be.... Sep 06 05 03:11 pm Link Jim Warren wrote: So true... I went shopping this weekend and every major store I was in allowed for donations at the register... Every club and bar I went to was taking donations as well... When I hear people pushing political agendas on this one it just makes me sick... There will be a time for truth and justice on this one - but isn't the time for it... It time to save lives... Sep 06 05 03:11 pm Link Sep 06 05 03:15 pm Link Monsante Bey wrote: I saw that before. The guy evaded the question about the responsibility due the mayor and governor. His tales of FEMA turning away aid, etc is one-sided and I'm betting there's much more to the story than his claims. Next thing you know, he'll be telling us about a model flaking out on him and blame it on Bush. j/k Sep 06 05 04:36 pm Link I read this originally posted article and shook my head. Blaming Ms. Rice for this is outrageous. In your Constitution, there are standard operating procedures which dictate that the decisions in terms of preparedness have come under the authority of the CITY and STATE levels. Now here are some facts that the Weekly Review and the author clearly failed to mention in a feeble attempt to point the finger (gee, no WAY they would try to politicize this tragedy) at the administration: *Hurricane Katrina was predicted to become a possible Category 5 hurricane as early as four days in advance of hitting the coast. Four days earlier, computer models predicted a direct hit on the port of New Orleans. Both the Governor and the Mayor were notified. *President Bush made the call to Governor Kathleen Blanco imploring her to call for an immediate and MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans and the surrounding areas from his ranch in Crawford Texas (where he has at his fingertips EVERYTHING needed to run this country....something again, the press fails to mention). *Kathleen Blanco (Democratic Governor of La.) called the mayor of New Orleans and he in turn ordered the evacuation, calling it mandatory but did not use ANY force to enforce that evacuation. This was an unprecidented evacuation of over 1.3 million civilians. *Kathleen Blanco did NOT call for the National Guard to go into New Orleans prior to the storm hitting. Opting instead to set up a command center in Slidell ACROSS the vulnerable Lake Ponchatrain Bridge. In her incompetence, she merely had 6000 national guardsment to enforce the law in a city where it was predicted over 300,000 civilians would not leave the city. Likely, the majority whom stayed were at poverty level income and unfortunately most of the accounted for and unaccounted for criminals would exist in that goup of 300,000. I am not saying that the 300,000 left behind were criminals, what I'm saying is that the percentage of criminals in the group whom stayed suddenly grew dramatically. This is my opinion, but it's hard to argue. If one uses common sense, a potential ticking time bomb was occuring amongst those who stayed. New Orleans has a THIRTY percent higher crime rate than any city of it's size in the country. *SOME buses were brought in to poverty stricken areas, but hardly any city buses were requistioned by the inept mayor. There is no overtime on record for city bus drivers during the days leading to the arrival of hurricane Katrina. *In the year 2000, contingency plans for the evacuation of New Orleans were given both to the mayor and the governor. A prior hurricane in the years following took a bead on the city but veered off luckily. There was another evacuation ordered at that time and the evacuation failed miserably. This again, was information given both to the Mayor and the Governor. With the causeway bridge knocked out, Blanco's tiny force was stuck in Slidell. The people whom were sent in to assess the damage could not get through. Others in the city were not issued satellite phones to communicate. Almost all communication was knocked out. *Kathleen Blanco did NOT sign the document asking for Federal Guard assistance until WEDNESDAY following the hurricane. She did, however, go on camera telling media outlets that she needed federal assistance, yet did not say what kind of federal assistance and how much. Blanco also failed to order FEMA in ahead of time (this directive comes at the state level in a disaster). *Bush, Blanco, and the mayor were told that the hurricane was a near miss. Intitially information given was that the city was very fortunate and that the levies had held. Bush still ordered relief by using assets from the federal guard, the armed forces, and FEMA. I could go on and on.....but the Governor of Lousiana and the Mayor of New Orleans have a tremendous amount of questions and accountability to answer to. I strongly feel they know this and are doing everything they can in terms of political damage control. *Currently, those cities in Louisiana supporting the many displaced Americans from New Orleans have still received NO direction from the incompetent governor as to what to do next in terms of housing. Obviously, the inept governor is still involved in finger pointing. *The inept governor, rather than put the Louisiana Guard under the jurisdiction of the Feds, instead has hired a former Clinton goon to head them up....um....what is THAT? I think the only mistake that the President made was to just flat out supercede both the governor and the mayor, knowing they were incompetent, get them out of the way, and take over. Of course, imagine the outcry from the left if he would have done that. I think history will prove that this was a collosal breakdown of leadership at the city and state level. Period. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, please make a donation, any donation, to the Red Cross or to the United Way c/o New Orleans Relief. Leave the complaining to the mayor and the governor. The rest of us as Americans should to anything we can do to help and forget about Blanco and the mayor as we know that they will not only not help, but just get in the way. Sep 06 05 06:57 pm Link http://media.putfile.com/Kanye79 Don't know if you guys saw Kanye West's speech...Watch the face of Mike Myers.... Sep 06 05 07:10 pm Link phoenixbun wrote: It is a race issue, IN A WAY. As I stated in another post about the EXACT same topic, Sep 06 05 07:50 pm Link jimblast wrote: I read that article from the Weekly Review and I would give the writer an "F". It reads like a 5th grader wrote it. Sorry. I don't know anything about the Weekly Review other than what was quoted here, I have no idea about it's agenda or anything. It's just poor writing. Sep 06 05 08:18 pm Link Bill Sylvester wrote: Sorry to be off topic.. You spelled both "because" and "inconvenient" wrong. Don't slam someone's writing when your own lacks as well. Sep 06 05 08:41 pm Link Jim Warren wrote: lol... daaaaaaaaamn hehe Sep 06 05 08:44 pm Link Jordan wrote: What a lot of people who live in their sheltered suburbs and racially diverse metropolitan areas don't realize is that racism is very much alive in the South. My next door neighbor is from the South, and has told me that the KKK is still active there. Martin Luther King was killed less than 40 years ago, and my boyfriend is 54. Who says racism is not still alive? There are people living today who were once treated as slaves/servants. Yes, race is an issue. Sep 06 05 08:54 pm Link I have been looking for this poem: September 11, 2002 by Emmanuel Ortiz Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me In a moment of silence In honour of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th. I would also like to ask you To offer up a moment of silence For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, For the victims in both Afghanistan and the US And if I could just add one more thing... A full day of silence For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of US-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation. Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year US embargo against the country. Before I begin this poem, Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa, Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country. Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin And the survivors went on as if alive. A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives' bones buried in it, their babies born of it. A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war .... ssssshhhhh.... Say nothing ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead. Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia, Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues. Before I begin this poem. An hour of silence for El Salvador ... An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua ... Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos ... None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years. 45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas 25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky. There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains. And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west... 100 years of silence... For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here, Whose land and lives were stolen, In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears. Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness ... So you want a moment of silence? And we are all left speechless Our tongues snatched from our mouths Our eyes stapled shut A moment of silence And the poets have all been laid to rest The drums disintegrating into dust. Before I begin this poem, You want a moment of silence You mourn now as if the world will never be the same And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be. Not like it always has been. Because this is not a 9/11 poem. This is a 9/10 poem, It is a 9/9 poem, A 9/8 poem, A 9/7 poem This is a 1492 poem. This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written. And if this is a 9/11 poem, then: This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971. This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977. This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971. This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992. This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored. This is a poem for interrupting this program. And still you want a moment of silence for your dead? We could give you lifetimes of empty: The unmarked graves The lost languages The uprooted trees and histories The dead stares on the faces of nameless children Before I start this poem we could be silent forever Or just long enough to hunger, For the dust to bury us And you would still ask us For more of our silence. If you want a moment of silence Then stop the oil pumps Turn off the engines and the televisions Sink the cruise ships Crash the stock markets Unplug the marquee lights, Delete the instant messages, Derail the trains, the light rail transit. If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell, And pay the workers for wages lost. Tear down the liquor stores, The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the Playboys. If you want a moment of silence, Then take it On Super Bowl Sunday, The Fourth of July During Dayton's 13 hour sale Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful people have gathered. You want a moment of silence Then take it NOW, Before this poem begins. Here, in the echo of my voice, In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand, In the space between bodies in embrace, Here is your silence. Take it. But take it all... Don't cut in line. Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime. But we, Tonight we will keep right on singing... For our dead. Sep 06 05 09:02 pm Link You live in a democracy. The government answers to you, the people. Demanding good government from those you have elected on local, state and federal levels is your right. It is not a game. It is not blame. It's called a democratic society. Feel-good feelings are not going to protect you or me from the next disaster, but by God, let us hope that we will be saved in time when the next disaster hits. And hit it will...sometime, somewhere. Do you want people like the New Orleans mayor, the Louisiana governor or the current heads of the federal agencies to be there for you when it hits? I don't think so... Oh, and please don't turn this into a partisan thread. My frustration is with inept Democrats and Republicans alike. Sep 06 05 09:19 pm Link DreamPretty? wrote: Have to give credit where credit is due. 'America the evil' - I think you did a very good job of explaining your worldview in one post. I live in the real world, though, not being indoctrinated by the ivory tower radicals who obviously influenced you so deeply when you were probably a freshman in college. Honestly, do you have an original thought of your own, or do have all of that's been fed to you memorized verbatim? I live in a world filled with varying shades of gray. You'll find the truth somewhere in between the radical talking points you've memorized and the equally ludicrous garbage spewed by neo-cons. God, how I long for the gridlock which existed during the Clinton administration. At least then, those that were reality challenged couldn't influence politics like the right is right now or the lunatic fringe you'd like to see running things. Sep 06 05 09:25 pm Link Dreampretty, It's a powerful poem, but it's too slanted to the victims of the right. The victims of the left suffered the same pain, the same agony and the same loss as the victims of the right. The real issue is about human rights. It's about abuse of power. It's about inane violence. It's about fanatism. To me, any kind of fanatism is wrong. It kills. It kills the weak first. And it does so irrespective of ideology. Ideology is just a tool to massage the masses. Always look at the actions (or lack thereof). Ignore the words... Sep 06 05 09:27 pm Link Boyd Hambleton wrote: Right. Whoever would suspect that this country was doing well when its main preoccupation was a presidential blowjob? Sep 06 05 09:32 pm Link DreamPretty? wrote: The KKK is alive here. Once again, I will quote myself from the other thread Sep 06 05 09:36 pm Link Very nice poem DreamPretty... let me add a moment of silence for the people of Korea... orphan children around the world as I am, and for all people suffering from poverty and war. Sadness... the poors will never be a priority whatever your heritage! Sep 06 05 09:39 pm Link JvR wrote: Gallows humor is better than the hysteria I've seen on these forums the last week. The difference being that during Clinton's two terms, I was ashamed about the presidency being devalued. Now I'm ashamed this entire country has been devalued. Whowouldathunkit. Sep 06 05 09:46 pm Link Boyd Hambleton wrote: Again, right. Clinton's blowjob made two people happy, at least for a little while, I suspect. And it didn't kill anybody. What happened since the current reformed party animal entered the White House, killed many people and made few, if any people, as happy as Bill and Monica were for those few seconds... Sep 06 05 09:54 pm Link Boyd Hambleton wrote: How good for you! So there is no such thing as racism in your world. You'll find the truth somewhere in between the radical talking points you've memorized and the equally ludicrous garbage spewed by neo-cons. I don't expect to find truth here. Perhaps I will find it if I look deep in my heart. Buddha-Nature resides within me. That is what I have been fed since I was a child. When I was a Freshman, on the other hand, I chose my classes according to my tastes. I live in the real world, though, not being indoctrinated by the ivory tower radicals who obviously influenced you so deeply when you were probably a freshman in college. I'm sorry to break it to you...but I wasn't a virgin. No, really! I was messed up long before that. I have a feeling my mother was taking psychedelic mushrooms when she was pregnant with me. Now that's evolution ;;D Sep 06 05 10:43 pm Link Kyung Jin wrote: I'm glad you like it. I find it very moving every time I read it. I don't think it is extreme at all. Sep 06 05 10:50 pm Link JvR wrote: Always the blowjob comparison. Yeah, well, it's not so much that he was receiving the blowjob, but more that he was so worried about using his power to get a blowjob whenever possible instead of worrying about the guys planning to attack our country and it's main center or world trade. That could be one reason it pissed off so many people. Sep 06 05 11:39 pm Link Ay yi yi. Peace everyone. Nanu nanu. It was a thread meant well created by one brave poster and it turned out to be another family Thanksgiving meal between the Hatfields and the McCoys.  Sep 06 05 11:46 pm Link Jim Warren wrote: Well poo. Sep 07 05 10:23 am Link jimblast wrote: I do not deny that the governor of Louisiana and Mayor of New Orleans is infact incompetent and I don't believe everything I read or hear one hundred percent. There were things that should have been done but were not. In a time like this, it is not right to argue over politics but we can not over look the little breaks in the system and say all is dandy. Negligence is the fault of many.. I won't name names and we need to address the issue. This is the United States, 10,000 people died, most waiting for help. Although the governor of Louisiana and Mayor of New Orleans is mostly at fault here, the system and its leaders are in part accountable for this tragic event as well, not to dismiss the good. There is a lot good in the works but never dismiss the little breaks. The little breaks will spread like fire. Sep 07 05 11:10 am Link DreamPretty? wrote: Dream......the KKK's second largest contingent believe it or not is in California. Racism is alive everywhere, not just in the South. Louisiana is very diverse. I lived there and believe me, living in NYC, Texas, and Boston, I saw a lot of racism in those areas as well. Racism goes both ways. Whites are now the minority in Texas. That being the case, as a white male, would affirmative action apply to me? Should the company I own be allowed 'minority contracts' to garner huge government or federal contracts? Sep 07 05 11:40 am Link Jordan wrote: I don't think the white man summoned a hurricane and I don't deny that racism still exists. It is sad that racism is a huge issue in Louisiana still in this time and age but it is not everywhere. The people that are trying to help are not racist. You speak of black and white and seperate yourself from the rest of the world. The poor always struggle... black, white, asian, jew... this is not a black and white issue, but an issue of the poor being left behind. During the Khmer Rouge, millions of Cambodians died while America went to war with Vietnam crossing through our land. We did not get help. My parents were refugees in a Thai camp for 10 years before we finally had the chance to come to the US. We were poor, we had no say and no one cared. But it is not a racist issue. It is an issue of humanity. Sep 07 05 11:44 am Link Bill Sylvester wrote: ha ha.. word. Sep 07 05 11:49 am Link Jim Warren wrote: yes there is breakage within the system and we should acknowledge that it is there when this is over do not forget but act on it. Sep 07 05 11:51 am Link Laura Merced wrote: OH my.. Sep 07 05 11:53 am Link flnative wrote: Amen to that!! Sep 07 05 11:54 am Link Bill Sylvester wrote: I really don't care about poor writing, I care about the facts. There is more truth than not in the article although it failed to mention the good things that were being done as supposed to not. Like I said before, there are breaks within the system and we all need to acknowledge it and work for the greater cause. The government has done many good for us but don't over look the little breaks. It is up to the us, the people to do something about it. Most will forget as soon as this is over and there will be few that will remember and do something about it. We look up to our leaders but they too are human and humans make mistakes, they lie, they cheat and they are honest and caring. Too many lash out with out first understanding. Sep 07 05 12:09 pm Link The Art of CIP wrote: it shouldn't be a game. Sep 07 05 12:11 pm Link |
