Kyra Phillips is once again making herself the centerpiece of the story she is covering.

[glarius]

I'm waiting to see her in a hard hat, alongside the firefighters, with a hose in her hand.
Right now she's in the community where she grew up and she's pointing out how prepared for helping they were. If you have been burned out of your home, there are yoga lessons, meditation, accupuncture....all sorts of things to distract you. Is it just me or does anyone else find the contrast with New Orlean... dead bodies lying in the flooded streets or propped in a wheel chair for days, a little unsettling?
I hope this doesn't sound petty, but to me the contrast is almost obscene.
By the way...thank God...it seems as if the fires are starting to be controlled.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Although I personally didn't see it, my SO said Kyra asked a Camp Pendleton Marine...

"So, how is this like your Iraq tour?":crazy:

[Botany]

15. You are kidding aren't you?

What a twit

[glarius]

16. I heard her say to the marine something to the effect that he was fighting for

his country in Iraq and now he was home in California fighting for his country.

[Cooley Hurd]

19. Like I said, I was going by what my SO said...

:shrug:

[glarius]

22. She probably said both things.

I wasn't listening to her all that carefully...:hi:

[Botany]

20. thanx

What a twit

[Subdivisions]

27. Earlier today she came right out and said that

the reason the services are so much better for evacuees in San Diego than for New Orleans was "the leadership is better. (Now paraphrasing) In New Orleans, no one knew who was doing what but here it's the leadership that has made this a much better experience."

And, oh yeah, she's been talking about her bilingual college professor daddy all day as well as mentioning her mother. She went to girl scouts there and camped out in those woods. Oh, and her journalism teacher from high school was evacuated or her house burned down or something.

[madeline_con]

32. But how is all this affecting Kyra?

That's what the world wants to know!

[Hieronymus]

2. I really dislike that woman.

[idgiehkt]

23. yep

the best footage of her whole career was Pelosi telling her that she should be on the Republican party payroll since she was defending them so much.

[Hieronymus]

42. God, I'm sorry I missed that. She certainly is a right winger or just stupid.

[idgiehkt]

43. it was during Katrina, here is the transcript

PELOSI: "... if you want to make a case for the White House, you should go on their payroll."
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/08/lol.03.html

you have to scroll about 2/3 of the way down. I saw it live and it was BRILLIANT. Phillips was completely flustered for the rest of the interview. :rofl:

this blog summed up the exchange nicely
http://blog.reidreport.com/2005/09/losing-it-cnns-kyra-philips-parts-with.html

[Hieronymus]

44. Thank you so much for these links. There is something wrong with

Kyra, like being a dyed in the wool con.

[TahitiNut]

3. The modern journalist mantra: "It's about ME!" "It's about ME!" "It's about ME!"

The spin is reprehensible.

Yes, Kyra is a nice looking person ... probably from an interesting family background.

But I'm awfully tired of her "It's about ME!" attitude ... on far more than just this story.

[flamin lib]

18. There are no modern journalists.

only media people. Journalism died in 1975 after Saigon fell and networks found out that "news" could make money if it entertained.

From someone with a master's degree in journalism . . .

[bbgrunt]

4. yes, the contrast is unsettling. It's certainly not clear

how much of the difference is a concerted bias by the media intent on showing how much better realaively comfortable mainly white folks "take care of themselves" unlike the incompetents in NOLA--in order to burnish the repuke image---or how much of the difference is due to the totally different nature of the disaster.

[Warpy]

8. What changed was the disaster manual

FEMA was under Chertoff's supervision, and DHS had rewritten a one size fits all disaster manual to reflect a biological attack. NO suffered so greatly because containment--not allowing anyone in or out of the city--was the disaster plan they were following. It's why truckloads of diesel fuel couldn't get to hospital generators and why private citizens couldn't bring truckloads of food, water and sanitary supplies to the Superdome.

What's changed is that Chertoff's disaster plan was thrown out. It should never have existed in the first place.

[flordehinojos]

24. am i mistaken? were not the black people in new orleans the ones who got not help,

were not allowed to leave NO, were the ones whose dead bodies floated up or down the streets?

is it not the 9th ward people the ones who still have received little or no help; promises of reconstruction to them have fallen flat on the face of bush, chertoff, fema and the homeland security.

is it not the people in the 9th ward the ones that blackwater mercenatires are trying to stop from moving into better neighborhoods? i may be confused or delusional. just that alone, if i am right makes a huge difference between the response to katrina and the response to the CA fires where there are a lot of white middle class people who have lost their homes in middle class neighborhoods, who have insurances that may cover those people's losses, and ... where they are receiving a lot of help from their fellow californians and organizations who are not prevented from helping them.

plese correct me if i am wrong.

[Mutineer]

9. I think it's that supplies can get to the stadium, so can the volunteers

That wasn't the case in NoLa. Although people wanted to bring aid in, they either couldn't reach it or weren't allowed to get there by the powers that be who clearly weren't in charge of the situation at the time. I also think they supplied up before the disaster and in NoLa, the supplies they had were clearly inadequate from the start. They also have power and water and all of that so inherently, it's an unfair comparison to try and compare NoLa to San Diego. Although it's hard not too.

Re the reporters: It's the "me" generation of reporting. Plus, some of the reporters are being severely limited by the fire officials as to where they can go as well they should be. The firefighters have enough to worry about without having to baby-sit the reporters too.

[rodeodance]

5. I have only read of how good things are going per the media. Maybe they are or

maybe they aren't.

[rodeodance]

6. Boxer got dissed by Fox yesterday for saying the CA National Guard is low because

of Iraq. so it begins

[TahitiNut]

7. 22 dead folks might take exception to that.

But they're not talking.

[w8liftinglady]

11. I found the spin on this an exercise in Psyops-happy,happy,joy,joy

no disaster here...move on.The endless one-sided coverage on CNN has gotten to me.No other news today.

[devilgrrl]

10. Today's news anchors are all the assholes you hated in Jr. & Sr. High School

I said it before and I'll say it again...

Look at me - I'm popular - everyone wants to be like me - why aren't you like us - we're great, you suck - your mother dresses you funny, etc....

[coalition_unwilling]

12. Thank you. I've been feeling this intense rage over the past few

days, as I watched the solicitude with which the presumptive victims of the SoCal fires have been treated and the quasi-heroic portrayals of them in the mass media and then contrast it with my memories of how the media treated the victims of Katrina (as looters, rapists and somehow sub-human).

I find it difficult to feel much pity for those who build and live in McMansions in brush-covered wilderness areas. Anyone who would like more specifics on this perspective should read Mike Davis' "Ecology of Fear". It's an awesome look at the cycle of man's encroachment on areas he was never intended to inhabit and the inevitable results of said encroachments.

Here is one really annoying specific: watching residents of Stephenson Ranch evacuate in their 75,000 SUVs (Cadillac Escalades, Mercedes Nazimobiles, etc). Only made me remember all the more the victims of Katrina, most too poor to avoid a vehicle or the gas to fill it with to evacuate New Orleans.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Damn it how many times do we have to tell you this

NOT EVERYBODY IN CALIFORNIA IS RICH!

Or is that your damn envy speaking?

[coalition_unwilling]

25. Maybe not rich, but affluent enough to afford escape vehicles and

dwellings in environs Mother Nature never intended for human habitation with high-voltage power lines.

BTW: Not every victim of Katrina was poor, but having money sure reduced the odds of being a victim, wouldn't you say?

[piesRsquare]

30. Yeah, and God forbid anyone actually have money n/t

[Rocinante]

40. Sorry my response was inappropriate

On edit what I meant to say was kiss my ass and call me Henry. Jerk.

[Poiuyt]

13. Earlier, she said the biggest difference in the way the two disasters were handled was leadership

on the local level. She said there were times that you didn't even know where the mayor of NO was.

Kyra is at her best when she goes into the rest room with her wireless mike still on.

[glarius]

14. She also keeps repeating what volunteer work her parents are doing..nt

[Bonobo]

21. Yes, it's not you. The contrast is intentional AND obscene.

[glarius]

26. I just saw on CNN little Kyra reporting....the victims were getting massages and shoe shines!

Katrina it AIN'T!

[in_cog_ni_to]

28. The contrast IS obscene.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is a class issue. NOLA was Racism in full throttle. The non-response to Katrina was deliberate and no one can ever say it wasn't.

I don't know, but I would be embarrassed to be receiving acupuncture, free Starbucks, Meditation and Yoga classes after seeing what Katrina victims went through. It's tacky actually......In your face classism.:( Shelter, food and water would suffice, don'tcha think?

I would never want more people to suffer like Katrina victims did, but honestly.....this stuff is going a bit far.

I wonder if this baby had a clown to cheer him/her up? How damn sad that NOLA black babies don't have the same value in this country. I hate it and it makes me sick.:(

[legaltender]

38. I don't know if the non-response was racist or not, but

the way the two disasters have been treated in the media sure is. It's almost like they "expect" African-American to act like thugs, rapists, robbers, etc., so they report it that way; but when it's whites and Hispanics, they "expect" them to behave the "right" way, so that's how it gets reported. Whether you like Bush or not, he hit on something with the "soft bigotry of lowered expectations."

[piesRsquare]

29. Federal help, my ass

SoCal has been burning since SATURDAY, 10/20, Ahnuld declared a state emergency on MONDAY, 10/22, and Bush declared it a federal disaster area on TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 10/23.

Over half a million people had been evacuated before Bush said he'd send help.

ALL of the food and supplies at the stadium in San Diego were DONATED. That's right--DONATED. Nothing there is from the federal government. As far as I'm aware (and I've been following this pretty much non-stop since Sunday afternoon), federal assistance has yet to arrive.

Among the evacuees are massage therapists, yoga instructors, acupuncturists, meditation specialists, counselors...they decided to keep busy by providing services to people who could REALLY USE those services right now. Musicians who saved their instruments decided to pull their instruments out and make some music. However, it seems that according to many people in the country--and here on DU--these people are supposed to be just sitting around worrying and fretting and being miserable, rather than doing anything productive.

Guess what? If I thought I were going to be evacuated, I'd make sure my sewing and craft supplies were in my car. And at the evacuation center, I'd gather up a group of anyone interested (kids, teens, adults, etc) and teach/do some crafting. Tissue paper flowers, ribbon flowers, geometric shapes, origami, math/line designs, crochet, pom-pom critters--you name it. Taking such actions would be good for my own mental health--and that of others.

Instead of griping about the contrast between San Diego now and NO in 2005, how about looking at what's going on in Qualcomm Stadium as a MODEL of what evacuation centers should look like? Why can't you be HAPPY that San Diegans AREN'T suffering the way those poor souls did in New Orleans two years ago?

Or have people in this country turned into a bunch of wretched, sour, green-with-envy curmudgeons?

[glarius]

31. Who says that I or the others who posted here aren't happy for the San Diegans?

What we are merely pointing out is the CONTRAST between this and Katrina. Of course I'm happy there is not the same misery here!

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. Corporate media whore! I loathe her and all the rest!

:puke:

[bridgit]

34. Kyra, "And there's where I went to school, and there's where I hung out with friends...

yada-yada-yada..." x(

[moondust]

36. Don't forget Girl Scout camp.

Yep. I heard it myself.

[bridgit]

37. aw yes, lest we forget = the girl scout camp...

Oy! x(

[idgiehkt]

39. It's always a Christ complex with these folks

"I am the great I am"... and all that b.s.

:hi:

[bridgit]

41. have a little line from a hubby book you might enjoy...

"For I Am, I Am, I Am Sam I Am, I Am Green Eggs And Ham Too." :rofl: :hi:

[tabasco]

35. She's awful.

I remember her editorializing from Iraq.