DUers post the thing about post Katrina that shocked you the most

[malaise]

There were two for me - the shooting of citizens on that bridge and the separating of men from their families when they were moving people out of NOLA.

[boston bean]

1. taking days to deliver water to the superdome. That enraged me! nt

[malaise]

5. That did outrage me but I wasn't shocked

I never expected that slaughter on the bridge or the separation of men from their families - that latter one really shocked me.

[virtualobserver]

154. beyond the horror of that event

the not so shocking thing is that this kind of cover-up feels like standard police procedure.

I knew that family members had lost contact, but I'm not familiar with a deliberate separation of men from their families.

[dixiegrrrrl]

170. the separation of men from their families -

Every film I ever saw about oppressive countries flashed in my head when that happened.

I knew teh common problem of trying to aid to people 24 hours after a storm.
But watching FEMA become invisible, watching the National Guard point their guns at desperate victims really floored me.

and then POST Katrina, when people who had left the poor neighborhoods came back to find the city had destroyed their houses "by mistake"
and boarded up perfectly good public housing so people could not return to them, THAT is when I knew this country was under new management.
And it has not changed since.

[malaise]

171. Indeed - the Shock Doctrine had taken over with shades of racism

and we wonder why we need BlackLivesMatter

[yeoman6987]

90. All tjose buses just sitting in water sand not picking up

residence to get them out of the city. Biggest screw up ever.

[DashOneBravo]

176. +1

[Liberal_in_LA]

148. yep!

[Arugula Latte]

210. I remember calling Republican congressmembers' staffs and pleading with them to

tell the person they worked for to tell Bush to get off his fucking ass and give the commands to bring water in. I mean, wtf? They KNEW the problem and did NOTHING.

[gopiscrap]

2. Fucking Barbara Bush's attitude

and comments towards and about those at the Astrodome

[malaise]

8. She pissed me off

but she did not shock me - that was typical Barbara 'the 1% racist crap'.

[randys1]

152. I can see you expected much of that treatment, but slaughtering those people even surprised you.

My favorite part of the whole thing was

[malaise]

155. Yep I loved that

I also liked Dr. Ben Marble who told Cheney to go fuck himself

[randys1]

156. OMG, first time I heard that too LOL

Jesus that poor excuse for a man is a disgusting piece of shit.

[yuiyoshida]

110. Yes on this one

Because she is so superior, ya know..

[madamesilverspurs]

3. The indifference at the top.

Until they were called on it.

[malaise]

4. Hope you saw Rachel's exposure of Heck of a job Brownie in

a JebusenoughBush campaign ad about his hurricane success in Florida.
Jeb has Brown with him - WTFF!!!

[Hekate]

73. Yeb! seems to be recycling an awful lot of his brother's associates and ideas....

I hope Rachel keeps up the exposure of this really scary habit of !Jeb's!

[malaise]

108. Same here

What a brazen family

[randys1]

153. Wait, BROWNIE made an appearance with Jeb, RECENTLY, proclaiming his proficiency with Katrina?

Please tell me no.

But if yes, it makes purrfect sense to me.

He did exactly what a group of racists would want to do, kill Brown people.

I mean Brown people died because of his disregard, right? I dont recall what happened when, but I thought so.

[questionseverything]

181. i was disappointed rachel did not mention the murders on the bridge

in her recap

the bridge was the most shocking to me in retrospect

but at the time i was shocked that the water and supplies central illinois sent were refused by the feds....back then cnn did a great job reporting now i am afraid that would not be the case

[rurallib]

10. I was going to say incompetence, but could be indifference

either way people suffered needlessly

[Hoyt]

6. Racists in Gretna sending police to turn desperate people trying to find help back across bridge.

[Generic Other]

137. That was pretty awful to me

The authorities were supposed to be there to serve and protect survivors. The lack of government response was coldhearted and deliberate IMO.

[Warpy]

7. Civilians who came with their boats and started rescuing people

who were stopped by the National Guard, who then did nothing to replace their efforts.

The National Guard having orders to stop people going in or out of the city, like people were infectious instead of starving, dehydrated, and dying of exposure.

Chertoff had rewritten the disaster manual to reflect biological warfare and had thrown out the bits that told the Guard what to do about a natural disaster.

So we had the spectacle of truckloads of bottled water being turned away, along with the diesel fuel for hospital generators.

The sheer, staggering incompetence engendered by a bunch of narrow ideologuues is what I find most memorable about the whole thing.

[malaise]

11. Excellent ones

Those were shocking

[Hekate]

79. One of the boatmen was a DUer, iirc, who kept posting here for the duration....

It just added to the sense of horror -- he said people showed up with their private fishing boats, but fuel cost hundreds of dollars, which they didn't have, and no one at the fuel depot would bloody well authorize the distribution of fuel SO THEY COULD GO RESCUE PEOPLE.

GOD DAMN BUSH/CHENEY.

[reflection]

157. That was Swamp Rat, wasn't it?

Either way, I miss his posts.

[Hekate]

186. Could've been Swampy. I miss him. nt

[malaise]

199. Miss him big time

[CTyankee]

136. my outrage, too. you expressed it better than I could...I'd just be ranting in a rage...

but we could add the nasty shit over "state and local" government vs. federal government...

[nadine_mn]

9. The nursing home deaths

and the bravery of nurses and staff in trying to keep patients (in hospitals too) alive

[malaise]

13. Yes those nursing home deaths

were shocking

[NOLALady]

93. My Sister's FIL

was left to die in a VA hospital.

[nadine_mn]

109. oh how awful. I am so sorry

I cannot imagine how terrifying that must have been

[peace13]

12. I was told by a National Guard member..

..that the only difference between Iraq and NOLA was that in Nola they took the ID's off of the dead bodies before they piled them up. I don't think he was referring to drowning victims either. It was very sad and shocking!

[malaise]

15. Wow!

That is shocking

[peace13]

220. My son was in college at the time.

It was one of his classmates speaking. Very sad to hear from such a young person.

[malaise]

221. The young don't lie about suck shocking details

[tularetom]

14. They were very poor so this is the best thing that could happen for them

Or whatever the fuck it was that the the old bush crone said about the crowds of people crammed into the Superdome.

Channeling the spirit of Marie Antoinette.

[ms liberty]

16. I don't think I can do it...

There wasn't any one thing for me, I remember it as one long rolling horror.

[Hekate]

74. I remember it that way too. I could enumerate, but it would go on and on and on....nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. So many things!

1. Not sending the National Guard in with supplies because of rumors of "snipers shooting at rescue workers." Hello, the National Guard? The rumors turned out to be false--the shooters were signalling for help.

2. The righties who blamed the stranded residents of New Orleans for breaking into stores for food and water (which was going to spoil anyway). I remember seeing footage of a young mother giving her baby a drink from a bottle of orange juice. What was she supposed to do, let her baby die of dehydration?

3. Turning down offers of help from Cuba and other countries

4. The faked footage of Bush visiting the stricken areas--the supposed Mississippi girls who were actually flown in for the photo opp. Some African-American DUers spotted something a white person wouldn't have noticed, that the girls had hairstyles that required hot water for styling, when the news reports were telling us that there was no water or electric power or any other kind of utilities available.

5. What I believe to have been green screen footage of Bush supposedly visiting an evacuation center. Now some of you may remember that when Oprah Winfrey walked into one of the evacuation centers, the whole place erupted in cheers.

Now the footage I saw had Bush and a couple of official looking types supposedly standing in a school gym that was being used as a refuge. People are walking back and forth nonchalantly in the background.

Uh, what? The pResident is in the building and you just walk around like nothing in particular is going on? You'd think that the people would react SOMEHOW, cheers from some, jeers from others.

Green screen, I'm pretty sure.

[malaise]

20. You are 100% correct

There were so many shocking things. I picked two of the extremes but everything that happened to those poor people was extreme and shocking.

[Hekate]

86. Jesus. I didn't remember 4 and 5

[Lydia Leftcoast]

205. And more on #4

A German news crew was there filming, and they reported that the "supply distribution" was just for show and was packed up and put away after the filming was over.

[a kennedy]

18. that still 10 years later some of the worst hit black neighborhoods ARE STILL NOT BACK......

[malaise]

25. But that can't be shocking

Can it??? It's despicable but is it shocking???

[a kennedy]

53. you're right, it's just sickening, and disgusting......

[Ace Rothstein]

58. I like to think that those who left those neighborhoods found better lives elsewhere.

[mnhtnbb]

60. Gee, is that you, Babs?

[malaise]

120. Perfect

Ouch!!!

[Hekate]

89. Lower Ninth Ward was a true community with interlocking families forever...

...part of the historically black culture of New Orleans.

NOLA is lessened.

[NOLALady]

92. Maybe some of them.

But that's not what I hear.

[840high]

80. ...^ that

infuriates me

[Dont call me Shirley]

19. The conditions in the Superdome. Separating children from their parents when being evacuated

from Superdome.

The presence of Blackwater.

The delaying of emergency supplies trying to enter NO.

The utter lack of compassion on the part of bush and co.

[malaise]

26. NO shock with their lack of compassion

Yes the Superdome was shocking but that began before the hurricane, The presence of Blackwater was shocking and so was delaying the emergency supplies

[mnhtnbb]

21. The utter incompetence--just unbelievable incompetence--

at moving supplies (water, food, diapers, medicines, clothes) in and organizing
ways for families to get connected and evacuated together.

[Starry Messenger]

22. That the government didn't swing into action right away.

And apparently had no intention of doing anything until there was a public outcry. Every other disaster in the years preceding, you could count on the calvary running in and helping. But for Katrina, nothing? It's still shameful.

We can never let the Republicans near the White House again. Anyone who says there is no difference between the two parties should watch "When the Levees Broke" on repeat.

[mythology]

23. That Republicans would be so overt in their callousness

That and the self-serving load of bullshit article Michael Brown wrote for Politico.com where he says his biggest mistakes were not getting good press optics on rescues and letting his reputation get tarnished with "lies".

[applegrove]

24. The fact that the Bush White House wanted to use it as a teachable momment of "those people

were told to leave town" "we should ignore them" and all. And Condi went shoe shopping in New York, Bush flew to eat cake with McCain. And they were expecting the American people to follow their social engineering on personal responsibility. And acted like the big shock of Katrina was that americans didn't follow their lead.

[Gloria]

27. The blocking of the bridge to the next town to prevent

Blacks from escaping to safety...

[hrmjustin]

28. My father at the time was an over the road truck driver and his company along with others

were bringing in free supplies but were stopped on the way in to NO. My father and others had to wait too many days before they were allowed to unload their supplies. He was pissed.

[X_Digger]

29. The smell in the superdome.

A friend of a friend of mine was in the superdome with his son, and I went down to pick them up with my friend.

It took forever- there were no signs or barricades on many back roads, you'd just pop around a corner and part of the road would be underwater. You'd have to back up, turn around, and try another road. When we got past the worst part, I remember sharing our map with scribbled X's with a guy and his family heading the other way.

When we finally made it to within a couple miles of the superdome, we had to park and walk. Trash and the funk started about 1/3 mile from the superdome itself. At 5-6 blocks, the people heading to the dome started getting thick. Took almost 3 hours to go that last 1/3 mile. Natl guard folks seemed to mean well, but really the left hand had no clue what the right was doing.

God damn, that smell. Rotten baby shit, dead fish, a chemical / electrical burnt smell (I was told later that was due to water getting into the electrical substations), and general body funk. Knock-you-down-puking strong.

We got the hell out of there as quickly as possible. They ended up staying with us for almost 7 months. They're living up near Denton now, and don't plan on moving back. (They got a partial settlement from their insurance company a couple years ago, they used it for a down payment on a place here.)

[bullwinkle428]

35. I recall people at DU speculating that the Superdome would have

to actually be razed, as the Katrina experience just damaged it beyond repair.

[X_Digger]

39. I can't imagine that smell ever completely going away.

I've had the sense memory of it triggered a few times since then, and it almost makes me ill, just thinking about it.

[DinahMoeHum]

30. While the levees broke in New Orleans and the Mississippi coast was devastated. . .

the POTUS was in Phoenix, AZ:

[malaise]

34. That shocked you - these are the men who lied a country into a war

nothing those goons did ever shocked me - not after the theft of the 2000 elections and the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

[DinahMoeHum]

42. The sheer indifference on Bush's part while part of the nation. . .

. . .was reeling from natural disaster went way beyond the pale, even after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.

BTW, back in 2000, I had a terrible argument with my brother about Bush vs Gore. I made the following remark indicating that Bush's background didn't give him the gravitas to be POTUS which still kinda haunts me to this day. . .

that Bush as a president would fail us as a nation in a time of real crisis

Unfortunately, I was proven right, not once, but several times.

[malaise]

48. You were right from 2000

I never thought I would ever see that display of indifference and neglect anywhere in America.
Most of us who live in other countries were in a state of stunned incredulity.

[freshwest]

95. TRIGGER WARNING: DO NOT WATCH IF FROM NOLA:

Linkin Park - The Little Things Give You Away (Katrina Tribute)

From 1SBM replying to me:

"The levy system in N.O. was designed to flood one ward ... the 9th ward ... to save the rest of N.O. The 9th ward, also, was the only section of N.O. proper that Black folks could purchase on home (in the 50s, 60s and into the 70s), and later, was where the 'Projects' were built ... So yes, the deaths in the 9th ward had a racist component."

BLM mentioned in Seattle, they were being driven out of town by gentrification. The area they speak of, the Central District, IIRC was the only place in WA state blacks could legally live.

Only since 2004 Governor Gregoire signed a law to prohibit housing bias, not in 1968 when it became illegal as the law of the land, the Central has been the center of the black community.

It is now being gentrified and black people are losing their homes again. This process is a lengthy one where services are denied and an area is termed as 'blighted' and ready for renovation. By removing the residents in various ways.

My first reply ot 1SBM:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11874904#post5

Background to the death toll of Katrina. This was discussed a lot afterward:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11874904#post7

Some words to the song:

Hope decays

Generations disappear

Washed away

As a nation simply stares

Don't want to reach for me, do you?

I mean nothing to you

The little things give you away...

History shows a pattern. This was intentional and a crime against humanity. Call me crazy, but I know what I have seen and read.

Am I off topic?

[malaise]

107. No - excellent post

So we should not have been shocked at all. They hate us.

[freshwest]

139. I grew up in the South in the shadow of WW2. Nothing shocks me. All I felt was grief and outrage.

I have seen many crimes done to the vulnerable, the weak, the unpopular. I have heard their screams of terror and wiped their tears and gone the journey with them to get help. I've been asked before if I was paid for this, but I never was. At times there have been strangers who just walked up to me and let it all out. At other times they have crossed my path through others I know.

I remind them in various ways through my actions that they are human beings and not animals. Although an animal is nothing but a spirit whose fate is to dwell among us with four feet and fur and feels the same.

These people's lives were stolen from them, as if they didn't exist to begin with. Those who believe each of us is equal as a spirit or soul hate these crimes.

[KingCharlemagne]

217. I think I've just encountered the

Ghost of William Blake.

My sincerest compliments!

[Dont call me Shirley]

135. It was intentional. No surprise the bushes commit crimes against humanity, that's who they are.

During the Katrina hearings in Congress a stately elderly black woman who was wearing a purple dress said that she heard an explosion by the levee then shortly the water followed. The R legislator then spoke to her in such demeaning tones and words. I think it may have been on cspan. I was horrified watching this. I've googled it, but can't find the video.

Jerry Springer used to have a radio show on AirAmerica. He had Ray Nagin, the mayor of NO, on the phone from NO. He was in shock about what was going on there. No supplies, armed guards, people being left in the sweltering sun on their rooftops, the superdome, people not allowed to leave. It was like listening to a horror show. It was so sad.

Then turn to FOX and they were practically bragging about the coast guard ships not letting boats or helicopters in to rescue people, while showing aerial footage of all the people trapped on their roofs.

[TubbersUK]

100. +1000000

[catrose]

31. Refusing help from other countries

While forbidding rescuers & supplies to get in: shutting the city in to die.

[bullwinkle428]

32. "Brownie's" bald-faced admission that they didn't have a fucking clue

as to what was going on, and was learning it just as he was being shown the televised reports that had been broadcasting for days.

[malaise]

41. But we knew they didn't have a fucking clue in any sphere

It was shocking that before and after Katrina, they gave us so much more proof with such tasteless haste

[valerief]

33. The shooting and neglect, as already mentioned, were the most shocking, but

the media could have easily NOT said people "went for supplies" when they were white and were "looting" when they were black. Institutionalized racism at work.

[malaise]

46. I will never forget that racist coverage of hungry people looking for food

Very little has changed

[GusBob]

36. Not to sound crass but nothing shocked me

I had a bad bad feeling going in that it was going to be a bloody balls up mess. I used to live in NO before the storm.

I had a family member living there I begged them to get out. I watched his business burn on CNN. They survived but it was a bad scene with sick infant twins. They moved now to the North shore.

I knew they were not doing enough to evacuate the city. I knew the super dome was a super bad idea. I knew the levees would not hold. I knew Bush would not help. I knew the aftermath would be a horror show.

It was like watching a nightmare unfold where you knew the ending

[malaise]

57. Wow

Prescient is the word for you

[GusBob]

62. It was a very bad time for our family

Watching our family members business burn on national TV, not knowing if they were alive or what. They was no communication at that time.

I remember being so angry and terrified . Screaming at the TV I told you to leave! I told you to get out!

How stupid was Bush? He thought Al Queda was in the city after the storm. Like anyone would go there during that.

There's a great book about it, called Zeitoun(sp?)

[malaise]

162. I'll check for the book next month next month when I'm in the US

Bush is an idiot and it appears to be genetic.

[Aerows]

179. The Army Corps of Engineers

(oddly, very loosely affiliated with the Army itself) stated in the fifties that the levees wouldn't hold if a hurricane came up the mouth of the Mississippi into Lake Pontchartrain. That is not a secret in NO, that is a fact that everyone on the Lakefront knew.

Two things, however, made it worse. 1. They didn't efficiently evacuate people 2. They waited until the last minute to start logistics (evacuation, housing, food, medicine, child care).

Nothing like being in the street clearing debris and an asshole in a Red Cross truck comes by two and a half weeks later asking "Have ya'll got water?"

We'd be dead at that point if we hadn't done everything under the sun to refrigerate medicines for neighbors, keep ice chests full, have water available for kids and busting our asses in 90+ weather only to go home to a hot house and have work to do there, too.

Damn displaced snakes, wild pigs and other feral crap that was running around, too.

[catnhatnh]

37. The death toll discrepency...

...and the lack of any true final accounting. The fact there could be more missing from a two day storm than from America's longest war (Vietnam).

[malaise]

51. I never believed the numbers we were given

Even now I don't believe the numbers.

[NOLALady]

96. No one that I know believes those numbers.

Those numbers are a joke.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

206. When I was in Mississippi, people were saying that they had friends who were missing

and assumed that they'd been swept out to sea in the storm surge. They thought the official death toll was too low.

[NOLALady]

211. Exactly.

I live in a Louisiana city located maybe 15 miles from Mississippi.

I heard the exact story from the Mississippi people. They told me stories about entire neighborhoods that were swept out to sea.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

214. One of the saddest experiences occurred when I was working in the medical tent

at Camp Coast Care in Long Beach, MS.

Thirteen of us from my church spent a week on the Gulf Coast. I was prepared to join the crews that were clearing rubble, but I had a bad cold, so the camp directors told me to stay there and distribute supplies. After a day in clothing and a day in food, I settled into the medical tent, where my job was to distribute over-the-counter meds and first aid supplies. (The tent was staffed by whichever doctors and nurses happened to be there.)

Anyway, a very sad looking man in his 50s or 60s came up to my table and asked if I had needles for insulin injections. I told him that this had to be authorized by one of the nurses, and in any case, we wouldn't have any new needles to till the next day.

He looked as if he were going to burst into tears and said, "I won't be here tomorrow."

This alarmed me. I thought, "Is he planning to commit suicide?" I wondered if I should send for the clinical psychologist who was married to one of the doctors. So I asked, "What do you mean?"

He sighed and said, "My family has lived in this area since 1835, and there's nothing here for us anymore. We're leaving, but we don't know where we'll end up."

Heartbreaking. What could I do but wish him luck?

[Dont call me Shirley]

138. 30,000 people, bush said on his way out of office, that they pulled 30,000 people out. What he

meant by that who knows, but perhaps he was bragging about the death toll. His buds in the funeral industry who got rich off Katrina sure know, bush paid them well.

[Hekate]

188. What lies we were told. nt

[Thinkingabout]

38. A couple of things, people was put on an overpass, the temperature was 103, in the hot sun, no water

Or bathroom facilities, begging for help and those who made fun of the poor people begging. For everyone who made fun should have been placed in the same conditions for at least one hour and then who worked ld have been begging.

The second most ridiculous statement was by a proclaimed emergency worker from Fargo, SD who claimed to have handled many blizzards, people helped neighbors, made sure they had food, shoveled snow, etc without outside help. A response to this person, "Have you ever tried shoveling water?".

Until you have survived a hurricane you do not know about what you are talking.

[footinmouth]

40. Petty, but forcing people to abandon their pets

for some, those pets were all they had. Many chose to stay behind with them, rather than leave them alone to drown. I would never have left my beloved golden behind.

[LiberalElite]

65. YES - I don't think it's petty at all - especially that little boy who had to leave his dog

They wouldn't let him take it on the bus. If they don't care about the dog, how about letting it on for the sake of the kid???????? That haunted me for weeks. I have cats and I wouldn't leave them either.

However, the aftermath of that heartache involving pet owners has resulted in TPTB taking steps to ensure people's pets are cared for in at least some emergency shelters.

In general though, I can't stand to watch anything Katrina-related. Too painful. The whole thing was SUCH a fucking travesty. Outrageous. In the richest country in the world, to have to watch people desperately waving for help from their fucking roofs like this was fucking Bangladesh.

[SammyWinstonJack]

166. I was going to post the same. I would not have left my Yorkies behind.

[uppityperson]

43. The juxtaposition of what was said and what was shown on the news, convention center

Those in power were saying all was well at the superdome and media was showing the convention center with all those people without food or water, and those in power had no clue about it. They didn't know people were there. They thought that since the superdome had been evacuated, all was well. "It's under control" by those in power while a couple media people were at the convention center showing those people who were forgotten, unnoticed.

This was only 1 thing, but no one has mentioned it yet that I saw.

The biggest shock for me was how out of control everything was, how fast everything went out of control and for how long. The multitude of people going to help for so long was the reason control was regained.

Not the gvt with their black helicopters flying bodies to the ship, not the national guard suffering in the humid heat trying to do anything they could, not FEMA, not the government reporting but the people who were just involved in saving lives, feeding others, trying to keep them healthy, feeding the pets that were forced to be left behind, cleaning moldy houses, listening to stories stories stories.

The young men hired by Walmart to stay in the MS Walmart when the storm surge came in at 30 feet and all that was left of the building was the frame and roof. The one whose friend was found drowned with a lifevest on in Chalmette who must've gotten his pants leg hooked on something. The couple living in their car with their infant, unable to contact outside family for help to leave and how do you get money there to leave with and how do you leave anyway? The water purification truck from Germany. The special ops man and doctors who talked us into New Orleans to treat someone with carbon monoxide poisoning because there was no power to cook with or boil water with. The bodies. "Here lies Vera." 'The water is rising, please help."

Big red X's on the houses. Beaches raked deep by tractors.

[Crunchy Frog]

44. The absolute callous and depraved disregard for human life

and the sense that TPTB actually wanted thousands of people, defined as "undesirable", to die.

[tanyev]

45. What took so fricking long to get food and water to people in the Superdome?

What took so fricking long for them to even TRY to get food and water to people in the Superdome???

[uppityperson]

49. And then when they were evacuated, hey! how about those at the convention center?

huh? what people at the convention center.

[adigal]

194. Yes, that's where the people were outside in the heat

Begging for water for their kids, one babu was semi-conscious.

I've never looked at our country the same way again.,

[uppityperson]

204. I live in WA and called Bill Gates as the richest person I knew and begged him to get involved

that he could afford to hire a helicopter, fill it with water and throw it to the people there.

I never heard back but that was a turning point for me getting involved. The juxtaposition on the news of "everything is ok" and "help!" was eye opening foro many I think, taking it beyond "oh those people should've evacuated" to "wtf? does no one know what is going on?"

[kelliekat44]

47. Everything shocked me at the time. But none of it shocks me now. I listened to the DR show

today. All of it makes me sad. America's own policy of "no return."

One thing is for sure: America will not be able to sustain itself as the economic or democratic leader of the free world if housing (both rental and ownership) continues to be unaffordable for so many. The one thing that drove this economy for the last 70 or so years has been HOUSEHOLDS. All types of households from every sector of the nation regardless of ethnicity or economic level. People have always worked to pay their mortgage or rent. The nation thrived when the highest number of citizens could be members of households earning living wages. Families and singles bought goods and services for their HOUSEHOLDS. Now people are working for food and medicine, losing homes, squeezed in multiple family dwelling arrangements and shelters or living on the streets Except for the upper 10%. Rent is too damn high!! That candidate last time around was absolutely correct and people laughed at him but he was right. New Orleans is making a comeback but it will be unsustainable without the workers that are needed to keep it going. And few can afford to work there so schools and public services will begin to deteriorate.

NO has already lost its cultural character which made it popular with so many across the globe. The blacks who were a large part of that culture were purposely pushed out and most cannot return. Low income housing that was virtually untouched or in good shape were still bulldozed and never rebuilt. It was all part of the sinister plan of a governor and developers who made a killing using taxpayer money to hurt fellow citizens.

[lonestarnot]

50. Good gawd. I can't pick out just one fucking thing. Ain't happening.

[dflprincess]

52. Everytime I thought it couldn't get worse

it did.

[dsc]

54. That Hoover

before he became President, did a better job at hurricane relief in that region then we could manage over 70 years later.

[Art_from_Ark]

55. And then there were the contaminated FEMA trailers used to house evacuees

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=4293398

[malaise]

56. Thanks for that one

I forgot that mess

[davidpdx]

59. I would say the closing of the Crescent City Connection

and the police standing there with their weapons drawn. I just read this article about it this morning. I'm not sure if that is the same bridge where the people got shot.

Compared with this story about a hotel manager who saved 300 people and didn't charge them for rooms for two weeks.

Two very contrasting situations that took place during Katrina.

[NOLALady]

97. Yep. Two different bridges.

[davidpdx]

106. I thought so

But I'm not familiar with the area.

[Ace Rothstein]

61. Just reading through this thread is depressing.

What a bad situation that the Bush Administration made ten times worse.

[Hydra]

63. I didn't get to see all of it

Probably better that I didn't, based on upthread...but I did see the pictures of Blackwater patrolling the streets, and the door to door sweep for people's guns.



Why was that a priority, rather than getting people out?!?!

It's like it wasn't a human disaster to the Bush Admin- it was a chance to do a dry run on civilian pacification.

[notadmblnd]

64. When a fire broke out in the stadium and the nat guard told fire chief

that they could not enter to put it out because they were going to pull the plug on the operation. The fire chef refused to leave.

[NanceGreggs]

66. ALL of it.

The sheer magnitude of ALL of it - the incompetence, the indifference, the excuse-making, the "heck-of-a-job" back-slapping - the fact that ALL of it happened at once, one outrage on top of the other, while Dubya was still being praised, Brownie was still being applauded, and the MSM was, for the most part, complicit in making an unprecedented national tragedy look like no big shit.

I remember thinking, as it all played out, that Dubya & The Repubs were politically doomed - that NO ONE could or would attempt to make excuses for the utter disaster that the aftermath turned into on their watch, and due to their own indifference.

But I was wrong. Bush & Co. sailed through the entire event without a political scratch - and THAT, to this day, still shocks me.

I am far from being politically naive, but I honestly believed that THIS would lead to at least some small awakening among BushCo supporters. But that awakening never happened.

[malaise]

113. Very well said

JebusenoughBushes is attempting to recycle his brother's goons.

[blue neen]

67. Shocking at the time, but true and necessary....

Kanye West saying during the telethon "George Bush doesn't care about black people".

[vanlassie]

68. I read a non fiction book about Katrina that was astounding.

Called Zeitoun, by Dave Eggars. The thing that I could not get over was a strange operation that locked a bunch of people on a rooftop. Apparently not regular law enforcement.

[malaise]

69. We bought Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke

I cried like a baby watching it.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

70. All of the above and Condi Rice shopping for shoes in NYC.

[Hekate]

71. The utter abandonment of US citizens by our government. Callous. Heartless.

ALL OF IT. THEY WERE LEFT TO DIE.

While it was still going on, I took a flight across the country to visit my sis in Massachusetts. I had a completely random conversation with some woman while waiting in line at LAX. She had something to say about it -- both of us could hardly get the words out. But that woman said what I had been thinking: Would a city have been left to die if all those folks were white? Would they?

Then our paths diverged... So there you have it: two white women facing horror.

GOD DAMN BUSH/CHENEY TO THE DEPTHS OF THE HELL THEY CLAIM TO BELIEVE IN.

[GoCubsGo]

72. I'm only shocked that I wasn't really shocked by it.

After 6 years of of lies and incompetence, including 9/11 and the two wars, and watching the economy deteriorating year after year, nothing really could shock or surprise me at that point. That's not to say I wasn't, and still am not horrified and disgusted by the whole thing, including the callous victim-bashing that still goes on today.

[maryellen99]

75. And they only victim shame the poor black people that couldn't afford to leave

You never hear people victim shame the white people that rode it out in Mississippi either.

[lpbk2713]

76. Our country's leadership looked the other way when they were needed the most.

I found that disgusting and despicable then as I still do now.

[truebluegreen]

77. All of it. ALL of it

and how does Dimson Bush even dare, even dream of going back there for a 10-year memorial? If he had the brains Dog gave a rock, he's stay on his little ol' jet airplane and peek out the window and pretend to look concerned, like he did last time. I sure wouldn't want to see his fatuous mug anywhere around there.

[XemaSab]

78. The fact that it went from a major American city to Mogadishu almost literally overnight

Every major American city could be minutes, hours, or days away from anarchy and you can't trust the government AT ALL to help you with rescue, food, water, or cleanup.

If you don't have an evacuation plan and a week's worth of food and water, you're naive.

Hell, I bought my car thinking "How much car do I need to take two people and three big dogs a long, long ways in an emergency?"

Those people were left there to die, and there's no reason why that can't be you.

[XemaSab]

101. Which isn't to deny the human tragedy, but point out "There but for the grace of God..."

[KT2000]

81. so many things were awful

one thing that still haunts me is when they quit entering homes to see if there were dead or survivors. I believe the number of dead is much higher than the official number because in effect, they quit counting.

They turned away help from Canada who were the first to arrive. Were they waiting for the contractors and afraid they would violate contracts?
The Superdome and its darkness. The lies told about the crimes taking place there.
The hospital nightmare when it flooded.
People begging for water and ice and it was not coming.
Celine Dion on Larry King after having donated a million dollars scolded America for being able to send war jets anywhere in seconds and the inability to save the people of NOLA - because they were black. I loved her anger - the only one who was openly expressing disgust with the response.
People swimming to reach dry ground.

No one admitted incompetence or errors that resulted in this tragedy.

[beltanefauve]

82. Not necessarily the thing that shocked me the most

but something I remember: GWB at the airport trying to be charming and folksy, telling stories of his weekend college trips to NOLA, and all the fond memories of partying there. ( If he can even remember anything at all; maybe it was yet another lie) While he was talking, coffins were going by on the conveyor belt behind him. I wasn't shocked, but I couldn't have been more revolted.

[SammyWinstonJack]

168. I remember watching that. Couldn't believe what I was seeing.

[Nay]

83. I was vacationing in Canada at the time, and I was totally shocked (and the

Canadian newspapers were shocked) when Canadian planefuls of first aid workers and trucks, etc., were TURNED AWAY. One plane continued on to Mississippi, where they were welcomed like the saviours they were. The Canadian newspapers were all WTF????

New Orleans was DELIBERATELY DROWNED by forcing aid workers to go away.

[H2O Man]

84. The coldness

of George W. Bush.

[malaise]

124. I knew about his coldness after Iraq

[Uncle Joe]

85. There were many bad things, the shootings, corpses floating in the water, but one good thing which

seemed surreal to me at the time, was hearing the news that Al Gore had chartered and flown aboard two passenger jets (American Airlines) to New Orleans to rescue 270 trapped doctors, nurses and patients at Charity Hospital.

I remember the quote "Al Gore is in New Orleans!" and I thought WTF! how that happen, Bush couldn't even make it.

Edit to add for the sarcasm impaired, Bush didn't want to make it.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/former_vp_al_gore_rescued_270_katrina_victims/

Thanks for the thread, malaise.

[3catwoman3]

87. "Heckuva" display...

...of the Bush administration's callous ineptness.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

91. Dead bodies floating in the water.

America looked like a third world country.

[NOLALady]

94. They separated young children

as well as elderly members from their families.

They were told that there was only room for the elderly and/or children. They were told that someone would return for the remaining family members. It didn't happen.

[egduj]

98. The depths to which society descended in the midst of a catastrophe.

[akbacchus_BC]

99. Niothing shocks me about the US or Canada anymore. Both countries

do not care about poor people, all they talk about is the middle class. I have nothing against the middle class but poor people need attention too!

Canada is the pitts with Harper, am just hoping Mulcair will gain some ground to get elected. I like Justin and will support him above Mulcair but I have been donating to the NDP like never before!

I want change, Harper has taken Canada in a different direction that we never thought he would go there.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

102. Most shocking to me was...

...our government's non-response in the immediate wake of Katrina coupled with their prompt mobilization to prevent and/or hamper others from moving in to help. Absolutely incredible. Absolutely CRIMINAL.

If we learned nothing else from that event, we should certainly have learned that when and if economic collapse followed by massive unrest occurs here, WE... ARE... ON... OUR... OWN!!!!

[whathehell]

103. An old woman in a wheelchair who died of thirst..

Dying of thirst in an American city?!

[malaise]

114. That was shocking indeed

Last edited Fri Aug 28, 2015, 10:15 AM - Edit history (1)

[whathehell]

115. Yes. Unimaginable.

[cpwm17]

104. I was in Iraq in the Air Force at the time

and I was much more aware of what was going on with Katrina than the President of the US, or at least I cared more than the President.

[malaise]

125. I believe you

[Contrary1]

105. My brother was a fireman and paramedic from Indiana who volunteered...

along with his co-workers, for search and rescue, at their own expense.

When they learned a few hours later that their "duties" would consist of handing out flyers, telling reporters where they should gather, they decided not to go.

Here were men and women trained in rescue, and life saving measures; and someone in charge decided that they could best serve by giving out flyers.

[malaise]

127. Unfuggingbelievable

Someone should document the madness of George and his goons.

[underpants]

128. I remember fire fighters (Atlanta?) who's duty was a photo op with W

A small thing but telling

[FLPanhandle]

111. Sadly, nothing surprised me.

I've lived through a few major & devastating hurricanes. Not only the power was out but entire electrical substations were wiped out.

No government help for food, water, fuel, housing afterward and this is for a relatively small cities / towns in the panhandle of Florida.

Because I've seen how useless and ineffective the US emergency response is after a major hurricane, I told my wife after the levies broke that those folks in New Orleans are on their own and totally screwed.

Bureaucrats following giant rule books and orders from folks far away instead of having people with the freedom to make on the ground logical decisions.

Nothing surprised me and that was depressing.

[Sunlei]

112. In Tx, people were stuck in traffic on highways, out of gas and Tx did nothing to help.

Was so hot and cars full of exhausted people were stuck all over the place, out of gas & low on money. Only regular citizens were out and about helping people, bringing people into their own homes.

After a couple days they did open the Astrodome as a shelter & that building worked well as a huge shelter /w Red Cross help.

[Octafish]

116. People drowning in their attics...

A fleet of buses went unused that could have evacuated thousands.

Doctors and nurses staying with their patients in hospital, some reportedly hastening the end of life.

[Rex]

117. This

And where was the WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY AT THE TIME?


Yucking it up for laughs.

[malaise]

159. Sickening indeed

Damn they should be in prison

[Rex]

161. They should! Every single last rotten one of them!

Rice, Cheney, Rummy, Bush...just for a start!

[Aerows]

118. Not having electricity for well over a month

and having no running water for nearly a month. It was like Christmas when they turned the water back on - flushing the toilet instead of having to dump buckets of water into it was amazing.

[malaise]

160. That's awfully inconvenient but it didn't shock me

We had worse problems with Gilbert but we knew where to find water - didn't have electricity for eight weeks.

[Aerows]

174. It's very hard without having running water

and working all day to clear debris in 90+ weather with massive humidity, while knowing you will go home to little better than the area you were working in.

Hot as hell, very little in the way of bathing beyond baby wipes, MREs are a feast, and going to the toilet is an exercise in water management.

I will never say that I endured conditions any worse than anybody else, but I will also invite anyone that was on the ground day in day out at ground zero to say there wasn't widespread suffering among the residents, first responders and folks in the field.

It was bad. Pulling bodies out of the Gulf bad.

Cleaning up areas where bodies were pulled out of bad. Then you go home to no water, no electricity and an MRE.

I didn't endure conditions any worse than anybody else, though, but I was there from start to finish.

[malaise]

175. We spent a lot of time at the beach

then we'd head for the Bob Marley statue near the stadium - fill up containers, hold a shower curtain for our group - shower and head home. We laugh at that now.

A friend had a generator and he always had two cold Red Stripe for us plus a gallon of cool water and a tray of ice.

[Aerows]

177. We were hit very hard

It was, plainly, a pile of devastation to rebuild in.

[deutsey]

119. The lack of response as people were stranded and dying

and the overt and vicious racism I heard from people around me and in the media.

It became crystal clear to me then that the country I still believed in up until that moment was long gone.

[KittyWampus]

121. The bridge. We learned about it after the fact. Still runs my blood cold.

Scary.

[seabeyond]

122. how third world we appeared. the utter inability to reach people to save them, for so long. nt

[Mc Mike]

123. The sweetheart contracts to 1)Innovative Emergency Management and 2)Service Corp Int'l.

1) Everyone knows that bush outsourced Homeland Security and FEMA to political hacks, where FEMA had been run by actual emergency managers before. A year before Katrina, they gave a private group called Innovative Emergency Management a half million dollar contract to write up a "catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for the city of New Orleans". Of course, after the disaster, FEMA was unable to verify that the document even existed, so bush's pig buddies just stole the money. It was pointed out that it wasn't much of a disaster relief evacuation plan if nobody could even locate the document, after the disaster occurred. IEM's sweetheart contract was actually just another example of corporate-welfare fraud by the ultra-rich nazi lame-o's that are so close to bush, and it endangered the public and led to deaths.

That's not hyperbole, it's a fact.

An interesting sub-plot is this: Greg Palast reported that IEM said in a press release (when they got the private contract a year before the flood), that they had "teamed" with renowned expert James Lee Witt, Clinton's FEMA head, to come up with a plan. But then Witt issued a statement saying that he wasn't involved with IEM at all. They just lied, made something up to make it seem like they had some kind of credentials to get a private contract for emergency management.

Interestingly, Al Frankin discussed 'lying about James Witt' in his book Lies... (on page 2) when he discussed pro-bush media bias. During the first pres. debate in 2000, bush lied and said that by far, the vast majority of his tax cuts were going to the people at the bottom, when in fact the bottom 60% got 14.7% of the money. The media said nothing. But in the same debate Gore said he visited a Texas fire disaster site with James Lee Witt. Actually he visited the site with Witt's deputy, he visited 17 other disaster sites with Witt. There were scores of stories written about how Gore lied during the debate about his involvement with Witt! It was obviously a much more important issue than bush's debate lie, or the subsequent lie of bush cronies that resulted in a 4 figure body count for US citizens.

2) And there is no final body count for the death toll. The '1800 dead' figure is artificially deflated. The private contractor that got the job of recovering bodies was SCI (Kenyon). There's a lot of good archived info on this site:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x443167
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4808758#4808770
(See post 11, by DU member Snot)

Mark C Miller's book Cruel and Unusual pointed out that the repugs hung their 'impeach Clinton' efforts on the idea that Clinton 'lied under oath'. But when l'il bush was governor, SCI was a big donor of his which engaged in a lot of illegal practices, including desecrating bodies in cutrate shoddy botched embalming procedures and death threats against Ms. Eliza May, the head of the TX Funeral Services Commission. On 7/20/99, in order to prevent a deposition in her wrongful termination suit, l'il bush submitted a sworn affidavit that said he had no conversations with TFSC, SCI, or his staff about this 'FuneralGate' controversy, he had no knowledge of any of the facts in this case, and he never asked anyone on his staff to improperly interfere in this case. The sworn affidavit was entirely false. L'il bush lied under oath. And our country's media outlets failed to report his lying under oath.

So when Katrina's body count was swelling toward 9/11-level bodycount numbers, l'il bush's admin gave a sweetheart no-bids contract to SCI to 'recover' the bodies. Its wholly owned subsidiary Kenyon spent $17 million dollars on a facility that 'handled' 900 bodies, failed to identify 10% of them, failed to inform the families of 12% of the identified dead, etc. Bodies kept turning up, months after the job was 'done'. And there was plenty of wiggle room for SCI to not identify or report dead victims of the hurricane, since so many of them were from the poorest part of our country's population, and the bush admin had made sure to scatter their refugee families all over the country in temporary housing.

Simply put, one hand washed the other here. L'il bush's team got to avoid the inevitable comparison to his 9/11 failures that a body count over 2700 would bring, got to avoid the inevitable conclusion that his handling of Katrina was another national security failure, and that massive climate-change-caused environmental catastrophes are national security issues. And he got to give big campaign donors a lot of our tax dollars. SCI got our money, performed their job incompetently as usual, and got to help out their crooked buddy with his propaganda efforts. The relationship between bush and SCI is one where they engaged in a ton of felonies together.

3) I can't write about the sweetheart contract Blackwater's mercenaries got to provide security 'military policing' in NO, because it would take years of typing to categorically cover l'il bush and the repugs' hateful crooked thieving evil Katrina 'efforts'. But Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill report excellent info on that issue in their books Shock Doctrine and Blackwater.

[freshwest]

134. Agreed, that's why I say it was planned genocide. Soon after, devastated areas along the coast were

in the hands of casino ships, it was like the third world where it's called an 'act of god' when it was just business as usual. The poor were exterminated and laughed at down there, as the rich made out like bandits.

They killed generations of people. But before that, they did their character assassination of NOLA. Old Blood Diamond Pat Robertson laid a curse on NOLA for having a gay pride parade and spoke of the debauchery of the city during Mardi Gras to smear the people there.

He wasn't the only one in on the conditioning meme, either. All to make people less sympathetic when the genocide began, run on Faux Noise.

Don't forget the no-fly zones to keep the media away, and Palast detailed the cover ups by BP on the Gulf later with more no fly zones enforced.

I took an interest in Palast from the coup of 2000 and he finds all the dirt. He used to come to my town to speak, don't know what he is doing now. He had to go abroad to have a job as he said too much, IIRC. He may have returned.

Regarding no-fly zones, they set them up again during Hurricane Ike in Galveston. Because they did not want people to see the bodies floating in the water on the mainland north of Bolivar Island. There was no organized planning to rebuild and the casino ships once again set up just off shore and some of the land was sold off to Saudis. When I first visited a year later, it was nothing like the area that I enjoyed visiting while growing up with an open spirit and cooperation.

The ferry from Galveston to Bolivar was ruled over by Blackwater types. I've seen this type in the state I live in now, as unidentified men and vehicles pull over over - for nothing but being native americans.

What goes around, comes around as the saying goes. It won't be stopping for a long time. This nation is no longer my home and I have no way to escape it.

There are some very good people in this country... but I don't see it continuing if the GOP gets in power again in 2016. Of course they aren't waiting, they are putting in their plan from the ground up already.

[Mc Mike]

196. When our people are in charge, and a disaster strikes a very red area,

our side says 'This happened to part of our country, these are our fellow citizens, we have to do something'.

When their people are in charge, and a disaster strikes a blue area, their side says 'How can we advance our power and agenda.' In NOLA's case, the first idea on their 'get more power' list was 'Let them die.'

One thing that struck me about Spike Lee's documentary on Katrina was that he showed low income whites suffering in the disaster, too. It made me feel better that he included poor non-blacks, too, that some attention was paid to their suffering, also.

I think that's the real key to genuine caring alliances. Frederick Douglass's statements about the horrible poverty conditions among catholics in Ireland, MLK's observations that some of the South's poor whites lived in conditions almost as bad as the blacks, Sitting Bull giving a lot of his Wild West tour earnings to the ragged street kids that were always magnetized to him, observing that 'The white man knows how to make everything. But he doesn't know how to distribute it'. The Southern Irish catholic co-worker of Richard Wright who gave his library card so Richard could teach himself about H L Mencken, the Black Sleeping Car Porters showing Native American activist Kamook Nichols that they were on her side when the FBI used a platoon of agents to transport and terrify her. Those are moments when people who are actively engaged in a struggle themselves see a boundary line where it isn't 'their struggle' anymore, then they cross that line to help someone else who is struggling, too. They're wins for our side, and make me feel good.

Palast is interesting. He's put out a lot of good reporting, and I have two of his books. Recently, he spoke in favor of bircher Alex Jones in one of Jones' stupid controversies. I hope that it is only because Palast is frozen out of most media venues, and was showing Jones gratitude for the times Jones covered Palast's work. But Jones is a nazi, and works for the bad guys, anyhow. I haven't seen anything Palast has written or investigated that pegs him as a bad guy, though.

I'm a white guy in Pittsburgh. When I see what they did and are doing to New Orleans, I see that Blacks were and are a majority of the victims. I don't feel bad for only the white victims, but just think that 'if we let that happen to NO, then NO isn't going to be around to help if something bad happens in Pittsburgh.' NOLA's one of the 50 biggest cities in the country, and had 1/3 of the entire state population. How can the country just let it go down the tubes? And I remember how l'il bush framed his reconstruction 'committment', by saying 'we're going to work for as long as it takes to rebuild New Orleans'. In other words, 'don't expect any speedy action on this'. And that lazy do nothing dithering he promised is exactly what he delivered. Unlike his lightning quick mobilization when he rushed to destroy and 'rebuild' another country's infrastructure. I remember the social engineering he and rove displayed when they denied the refugees the ability to vote by absentee ballots while overseas Americans could vote absentee, the selective shock doctrine disaster capital grants to his pals to rebuild, leaving everyone else to go begging, the turning of NO's school system into 100% charter schools.

It still is our country, fresh. If they had their nazi 10%, they'd have made their move already. Most people aren't on board with them and their freak ideas, and they know it.

It's nice talking to you. We haven't 'spoken' in quite a while, but I always enjoy reading your viewpoints.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

203. Case in point: The Cilnton administration's response to the Grand Forks ND floods

A very red area, but there was no hesitation in providing aid.

[Mc Mike]

218. And our side isn't unhappy to see red parts of America helped.

Their side is happy to see blue parts of America not helped.

[freshwest]

208. Thanks for expanding my knowledge. Sounds like 'fusion politics' or 'the 3rd Reconstruction':

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11029383

[annabanana]

145. 100% ^^^^^ EVERYONE READ THIS!. . .n/t

[malaise]

147. This should be an OP

Excellent post - thank you.

I read both books (Klein and Scahill).

[mountain grammy]

126. The complete incompetence of FEMA, which under Clinton

had been an award winning organization and the outright racism of Americans.

Kanye West said it and he was right, only he should have added "Bush and a lot of Americans don't care about Black people."

[Hekate]

165. Boggles the mind how a professionally run organization could be gutted in one Administration

BushCheney and their GOP ilk do not believe in government, and they set about destroying it. Brownie had no experience in the area -- he was someone's old college buddy. Other key professionals were also let go.

When someone came along later and interviewed old-time FEMA employees for a report, some of them actually wept at the damage done to their agency and the catastrophe that was the drowning of New Orleans.

Whatever the Obama administration has managed to accomplish in the way of rebuilding key governmental agencies since then (and mind you, the the face of implacable GOP resistance), his name should be praised forever.

But it will all be undone again by the next GOP president unless that party manages to finally collapse under its own perfidy. Which is why I hope The Donald decides to run on a third party ticket.

[mountain grammy]

185. My old college roommate worked under Witt during the Clinton years.

She testified at the Congressional hearings on Katrina. She had left FEMA shortly after 9/11, but was called as a witness before the committee. The changes at FEMA were heartbreaking for the loyal public servants who loved making a difference and solving the problems that plague disaster relief efforts. Of all the terrible things Bush did, decimating FEMA is certainly one of the worst. I would bet money that loss of life because of Katrina would have been much lower if the old FEMA had been in charge.

[malaise]

172. They politicized every 'social institution' ...FOR PROFIT

Remember when they wouldn't let water in because they had their own water. Racism is also about the money

[mountain grammy]

184. Yes, the money

Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" devotes several pages to the disaster capitalism that ran rampant in New Orleans in the aftermath. One big bungled mess from beginning to end (and it's still not ended.) I think I'm more pissed off about it now then I was when it all happened.

edited to add, but of course, you already knew that.. I've been reading all the posts, and you made several references to Klein's book.

This is a good thread. We must not forget what happened here, especially with another goddam Bush running for president.

[underpants]

129. Great posts above. How about that it was FOX NEWS who made it a story

i watched The Today show at the time and they were packing up ready to move out. It was Sheppard Smith who stayed and was almost literally screaming from the rooftops (balcony actually) WHAT IS GOING IN HERE?!??! And, oddly enough, Geraldo too. THEY made this into something the other networks had to cover.

[malaise]

163. I heard that but we dn't have Fox by choice so we never saw their coverage

Watched a lot of Anderson Cooper and NBC

[KMOD]

130. The disgusting display of open racism, especially the media reporting.

"animals" in the Superdome. Continued false reports of rapes and murders that did not occur.

Also the semi's loaded with bottled water that were prevented from getting to the Superdome because of red-tape crap.

Babies, needing diapers and formula, again red-tape crap.

Needed medicines, not delivered timely, red-tape crap.

I was overwhelmingly disgusted by most peoples attitudes. It was horrible.

[GoCubsGo]

169. And, don't forget how the media portrayed people taking things from stores in the aftermath.

Black people were labeled "looters." White people were just "getting supplies for their survival." The racism was so blatant.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

207. Case in point: The photos in one of the posts up-thread

A white couple bringing home beer and Red Bull on a homemade raft. They just "found" it.

[malaise]

189. But why was racism in the media shocking???

The media is racist and elitist. Their role is impression-management.

[KMOD]

192. I guess it was an eye-opening experience for me.

A big light bulb went off for me in that event. It was undeniable. I always knew it was there, but it was right there in my face during Katrina.

[malaise]

198. That's true for many folks

[RobinA]

131. This Country's

utter inability to handle the crisis. Even if it was worse than thought, even if mistakes were made. I think (thought) of this country as one that, in a crisis, could mobilize our vast resources and handle things. Even with incompetence, I expect us to be able to throw enough people, equipment, and just plain money at a problem like this to make it reasonably OK. Apparently not. It scares me still.

[hedgehog]

150. It wasn't an inability to handle the crisis - it was a (careless?) decision not

to handle the crisis. Katrina crossed Florida a few days before, but no one recalls that because the disaster relief ran smoothly in Florida. Funny how Gov. Jeb Bush had no problem coordination with FEMA.....

[malaise]

219. Precisely

The only plan from the Bush administration was appointing party hacks who would loot government

[Romulox]

132. How much people who claim to care about NO do *not* care about every other big city in the US.

[DonCoquixote]

133. The fact that many proudly proposed

The idea of NOT rebuilding one of our major cities, and our greatest port.

[ariesgem]

140. Watching Americans beg for rescue/food/water in a major city in front of our eyes on national TV

and our government prevented anyone to help them. I could not believe this was happening in my country. With ALL of this country's resources NO boats, planes, trucks, food & water until the damage was COMPLETE? Also, I cannot forget the dead bodies floating and laying in the streets - for days.

And lets not forget the the media's racist coverage of referring to black survivors as "refugees" like they were not American citizens, or when they referred to black folks as "looters" and white folks as "finders".

As an black woman watching this, the people there looked like MY sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, aunties & grannies.

Katrina, the government's response and the circumstances around it, has change my view of this country forever...

[Eleanors38]

141. A good thing happened, shocking I suppose...

Seeing game and fish commission boats and personnel from Southern states perform rescue and supply runs. I believe Texas, Florida and Mississippi agencies were involved. Others?

[loyalsister]

142. Hearing a first hand story

I talked with a guy who had his daughter with him at the bus station in MO in the fall of 2005.
He talked about standing on the roof of a building with water all around. At that moment, what he wanted most was a can opener to get at green beans he wanted to eat and feed his daughter. As he was worrying about that, his hopes were dashed over and over again as helicopters flew by and ignored them.
I mentioned my frustration at the "looting" language. He said "Of course we took food when we could. We were hungry!"

I vaguely knew those things happened, but hearing it first hand was very sobering and brought me to tears.

[malaise]

146. That is shocking

[Eleanors38]

143. There was power politics of the highest order during Katrina.

BushCo and his unitary presidency cadre were muscling LA authorities to submit to federal authority, and delays ensued. The aim, I believe, was to establish a precedent for federal top-down command in ANY emergency the feds chose to declare. For a short time immediately after Katrina, the Posse Comitatus Act was amended by Congress to allow the president to supersede state authorities in ANY emergency he deemed worthy of interventio (2007). This amendment would have made the unitary presidency philosophy a matter of law. Congress repealed the amendment shortly thereafter (2008). The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in the 1870s to ensure federal troops could not be used to prevent the forcible institutionalization of the Jim (large, raucous black bird) Era, so it has dubious beginnings. But it also keeps a check on an overreaching president and on dictatorial rule by authoritarians who pushed the notion of the "unitary presidency."

I realize this resonates with conspiracy theories, but the recent history of the Act and its near-gutting is required reading. See Wikipedia.

[KamaAina]

144. The lack of interest in rebuilding NOLA

on the part of, oh, just about everyone. Not just repukes.

[Tsiyu]

149. Two things for me as well

Last edited Sat Aug 29, 2015, 05:47 AM - Edit history (2)

The complete ineptness of the FEMA director, revealing to the world how unprepared the Bush administration was to take on the role of the responsible grownups in a major disaster.

The callous Republican disregard for human life exposed by the lack of timely response or relief. I could not believe that any humans could be that dangerous and disturbed and be put in charge of our government.

[hedgehog]

151. We here on DU knew it was going to be bad before the hurricane ever hit -

why didn't Bush know?

[malaise]

164. I remember the threads as if it were yesterday

and I remember when the Levees broke

[Hekate]

167. Same reason he didn't see 9-11 coming. He's a cold-blooded sociopath who cares not...

...who lives or dies.

"Watch this drive."

[frustrated_lefty]

158. The genuine heartfelt empathy of the folks at the shelter in San Antonio.

This thread highlights much of the ineptitude and inhumanity that surrounded Katrina. There's a lot to be said in that regard.

My family was in New Orleans when Katrina hit, and it was a week before we managed to make it to an evacuation site. Memories from that time can still be, and often are, a kick in the gut.

The generosity and empathy displayed by the people running the shelter in San Antonio was shocking in its unexpectedness, humbling upon reflection.

One example among many: a few days after arriving at the shelter, a burly giant of a construction foreman stopped by our cots, hat in hand, and hesitantly asked if he could talk with me for a moment. The hesitancy struck me, providing a stark contrast to the sheer size of the man. I was numb from the events of the previous week, tachycardic, dehydrated, and recovering from what doctors have since told me was probably heat stroke. He spoke quietly, saying he'd been watching me with my daughter who was the spitting image of his daughter. By the end of the first sentence, tears were running freely down his face and he appeared on the verge of breaking down into full-throated sobbing. He'd apparently spoken with his wife, showed her a photo he'd taken of my daughter to show the resemblance, and explained to me that they wanted, needed, to help us. He felt he had to do something because he couldn't imagine what they would do were their daughter in that situation. He placed a sealed envelope on the cot, thanked me for my time, and walked away, never seen by me again. I was in bad shape at the time, actually struggling to comprehend what he wanted from us. The envelope contained $2,000 in cash.

It's one story of many, but is one memory I still find humbling. This man and his wife experienced a genuine emotional anguish at seeing our suffering and they did what was within their power to help. It's important to remember the failings and ineptitude of that time so that we can try to prevent their recurrence. It's equally important to remember the individuals who rose above their self-interests and listened to their better angels, for lack of a better phrase. In those moments of clarity, we find the very best of humanity along with the worst.

[malaise]

173. Nice post but empathy never shocks me

It's what I expect from fellow human beings

[Lydia Leftcoast]

178. If the following timeline doesn't make you angry, you have a heart of stone

http://thinkprogress.org/report/katrina-timeline/

Friday, September 2

ROVE-LED CAMPAIGN TO BLAME LOCAL OFFICIALS BEGINS: “Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” President Bush’s comments from the Rose Garden Friday morning formed “the start of this campaign.” [New York Times, 9/5/05]

[malaise]

180. How are they not in prison for

dereliction of duty - great timeline.

[hatrack]

182. Not responding directly to your question but if you haven't seen Spike Lee's documentary . . .

You need to. If you're not boiling mad by the time it's over, you're already dead.

[malaise]

191. We bought that

Watched it several times - tears, anger - sadly we left it in the cardboard case and discovered that all four DVDs were damaged.

[alc]

183. the efforts of the people on police scanners

They were mostly first responders in the typical sense but some other volunteers. I was obsessed listening to the police scanners streaming online. Each stream had a different scanner channel on the left and right speaker and I had 3 computers running with 6 scanner channels.

I got obsessed and probably slept 1/2AM to 7AM and was listening almost all of the rest of the time (worked at home so didn't even miss for commute time)

I listened over 2 weeks and I got to recognize a lot of names and voices. I'd know who was still up when I went to bed and that most of them had been up when I got up and anyone sleeping now would be up before I get up. After the first 5/6 days they started getting more sleep but still did the same thing 15-20 hours a day.

From just "routine" helping people to having to find equipment/vehicles/fuel to even get to seeing if there were people. And the frustration when they couldn't get to an area they knew there were people (from helicopter reports) but had to move on or other areas. And the fear when they saw guns people getting shot (happened a few times) and later just from hearing what they thought were gunshots. And how almost all of them had to be told to sleep and even to eat - they just didn't want to take a break when someone else was waiting for them even when they knew they should and were being told to.

[locks]

187. I am never shocked

by anything FOX does but to see Michael Brown being interviewed on every channel and writing a long article in Politico "Don't keep blaming me for Katrina" makes me want to puke. Could anyone have more gall or stoop any lower? Yes, of course, his bosses W Bush and Dick Cheney.

[akbacchus_BC]

190. The refusal for help from Cuba was cruel to me. Cuba has a

history of dealing with natural disasters. Second is the way the Bush administration took their sweet time to send in help to the most vulnerable people who needed help.

Canadians were there to help though, if I recall correctly, they were there long before Fema entered.

[adigal]

193. People outside the Convention Center in the heat begging for water

One woman had her semi-conscious baby in her arms, begging for water. They had nothing.

I was irate. If that had been the white, wealthy part of town, they would have sent copters in to evacuate every single person. Disgusting.

[malaise]

202. It was sickening

[adigal]

195. Right at the beginning of this video it shows these people

And Shephard Smith actually reported on people being killed and babies dying of dehydration.

https://m.

[DawgHouse]

197. So many but people on the roofs waiting to be rescued.

Also people being forced to leave pets behind still makes me rage.

[Zorra]

200. Nothing. It was just "Business As Usual" for the PTB, and

nothing else should ever be expected from greedy low life scum who use human tragedy for profit.

[RKP5637]

201. Bush, Brownie and Nagin!

Everything else was bad enough, but IMO these guys were the root cause of a lot of the disasters and horrible recovery and lack of recovery.

[Bradical79]

209. That I was told well beforehand this was likely

I had a relative (now deceased) who's job had something to do with disaster preparedness. Sorry if my memory is fuzzy as I don't recall his job title and don't know who he directly reported to. Basically he'd told them they weren't prepared for a category 5 hurricane, and they had refused to put in place proper safeguards and wouldn't plan for evacuating people in the poor neighborhoods. Then they eliminated his job. He had talked about it the previous Christmas with us at the family get together after they'd moved from Louisiana. What struck me most was him saying "If New Orleans is hit by a category 5 hurricane, the city will end up underwater." A friend of his ended up in the Superdome and had some horror stories, though I don't recall him saying much around me. I know it really hurt him watching that unfold. My aunt and him really loved that city.

[NOLALady]

212. And Katrina was a Cat 3 when it hit NOLA.

That's partly why we didn't evacuate as we'd lived through many Cat 3 Hurricanes.

NOLA survived the storm. It didn't survive the broken levees.

[Syzygy321]

213. Zeitoun beating the crap out of his wife

and daughter. And the wife coming forward to say that he was an abusive fundamentalist control freak.

And no one talking about it because that would be racist, or something.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

215. That happened several years after Katrina

not during the time he and some friends were arrested and jailed for no reason.

[Syzygy321]

216. The OP asked for post-Katrina shockers.

And that is my number one. I know the timeline.