Hurricane Katrina

[Andrew]

CNN reporting on main page:

Mayor: We are out of resources

# New Orleans mayor issues "desperate SOS"

# Hospital halts evacuation after sniper fire, doctor says

# Huge crowd stranded at New Orleans convention center

Wow, there are some crazy people in there.

EDIT

Pilot of the ferry/boat has been shot. :(

There are guards there, but dont know much else.

[Kiyouta]

looks like they are really fucked over there, hmm?

I'll never understand you americans... shooting at your own atmy and national guard who is helping... lol

don't bite the hand that feeds you, idiots.

what are they going to achieve? creating a wasteland which they can rule over forever? lol

I understand New Orleans was not a nice area anyway. Well at least it was very poor. The people there perhaps feel that they owe the US nothing. They certainly feel abandoned by the state because not enough help was scrambled earlier to the central areas. Still, no excuse. The USA is one fuked up place...

[Edric O]

With citizens like these, who needs terrorists?

[TMA_1]

dont blame all of the citizens. Most of those who were left behind, and they were, are pretty poor, and many of the poor happen to be black (I feel that there is a blanketed racism with the complete lack of aid). I just heard that a copter dropped in 43 military MRE's to a group of thousands in luisiana... way to start a riot... damn the state government is doing nothing and the federal government needs to get its ass in gear. We have a president that takes too many damn vacations who does nothing to aid the american people, and on top of that we are in a war that drains our government of money and the expenses for this disaster are going to be rediculous... this isnt good for our nation. many of the people that left the disaster area were those who could afford it, and they left behind the poor who are suffering from the creeps who are ravaging them. It is sad, a sad moment in our country.

[Andrew]

Most of those who were left behind, and they were, are pretty poor, and many of the poor

I heard they had buses go around to those communities to take those who wanted to evacuate away, but there were still lots of empty buses before katrina hit. I'm guessing most thought they could ride the storm out. As I don't see how the government could leave 40,000 people behind on a mandatory evacuation.

On CNN website they are showing images of dead people covered in blankets.

[Kiyouta]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4204304.stm

I'm just reading this article and it raises many of the points dicussed in this thread and more. Worth a read.

A former official in the Clinton administration, Sydney Blumenthal, has written in Der Spiegel: "In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the US, including a terrorist attack on New York City.

"But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war."

[Davidu]

I see Bush really likes to send the US military right about everywhere. I fear that is the only answer he knows.

Is the hurricane still raging? I haven't watched the latest news... The fact is that strong actions must be taken. Fast&furious.

We've had lots and lots of flooding this year... but every cog in the system turned as it should and we got off quite well. We did'nt have problems with looters... but there were people who refused to leave their houses. We are not used to move from town to town or be relocated.

What can I say about New Orleans? Sweep the whole area and try to contain the crime and evacuate those who have been left behind. Then rebuild.

[Andrew]

The hurricane is gone from north america.

People are dying everywhere, and yet bush says "help is on the way" It's been 5 days... it should have been there in 2. People can only last so long without food or water.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9160710/

Good video, requires IE.

[GUNWOUNDS]

Gas is $3.30 a gallon now in East Coast USA due to Katrina.

[jeff2429]

So now we have a major disaster on our hands and where is the rest of the world with their aid?  I have only heard that a few countries have offered to aid us. Yall sure as hell expect us to aid yall in anything and everything...  Even though we can take care of ourselves...

[Andrew]

Everyone is ready to give aid, it was just that the US did not ask for aid at the time. I think they have asked for it now.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1125597613680_121006813/?hub=TopStories

We are ready, US just have to give the word.

Although I remember seeing somewhere that Canada has sent down some electric(?) utility people.

EDIT

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/09/01/1197922-cp.html

EDIT-

According to this, no international support is allowed because its too chaotic.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/31/235829/261

Canadian agencies are saying that foreign aid is probably not being permitted into Louisiana and Mississippi because of "mass confusion" at the U.S. federal level in the wake of the storm.

[TMA_1]

we just were not prepared. We need more military presence in there in my opinion, it is just too chaotic, and that is one of the primary duties of the national guard to help with these kinds of matters. They are not used effectively though, in fact nothing is being used effectively right now. I just heard the directer of FEMA on television. He had the nerve to blame the people thata re stuck there with their problems, that they could have leftbefore the storm hit. Good grief.

[Andrew]

18 babies need medivac from superdome. Going to batonrouge hospital.

No flight over the city during darkness.

[GUNWOUNDS]

they halted all evac helicopters because of people shooting at them with handguns and shotguns..... what a bunch of freaking idiots.

[Megashrap]

Well, you cannot be prepared for what a hurricane will do, only what you can be prepared to do when one is on its way. And it's not like no one is bothering to help, or lack of either. 99% of the problem now is help cannot just roll up to people and ring a dinner bell due to most everything being flooded still.  I just can't get over the fact that so many think they can just sit in thier homes and watch it pass by. A mandatory evacuation does NOT mean 100,000 should still be around or in the area. Sorry but alot of the problems those that stayed to ride out the storm are due to stupidity rather than lack of help.

[Andrew]

they halted all evac helicopters because of people shooting at them with handguns and shotguns..... what a bunch of freaking idiots.

Or because it is night?

Dangerous to fly at night.

And the looters might try to take over a plane. :(

Watch this video!

http://demo.ripside.com/fark/Anderson-Cooper-Landrieu-Katrina.wmv

Video of Anderson Cooper giving hell to a political bitch.

"I'd like to thank bush and blah blah blah.

Superdome rapes.

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/012075.html

CBC news reporting that people are lining up at gas pumps in california because they expect gas to run out.

EDIT

SCANNER: armed subjects firing shots at energy trucks trying to restore power....

[exatreide]

Gas is $3.30 a gallon now in East Coast USA due to Katrina.

[Andrew]

http://wiki.nola-intel.org/index.php/Main_Page

Right now the baton rouge scanner is most active. multiple people talking.

http://ods.org:8003/fema

EDIT

rescuers running low on batteries and water??

EDIT

Still lots of people at a retirement home.

EDIT

Need troops now. where are they?

[ordos45]

Rumors flying that gas stations in my area are about to close due to shortages...

On Gunwounds FEMA statement, and the fact that they have declared FEMA to be operating in Urban Warfare Conditions...

I want to make clear, I do not support Martial Law...I never have. I don't relish the idea of sicking US military troops on US citizens. However, I weigh that belief against the lives of 50,000 to 100,000 innocents that will die if they can't be evacuated. It's the old question, is a life for many lives right?

My answer, regrettably, is yes. I would not lift my voice against an Operation in New Orleans with lethal force orders against anyone armed and firing. I would rather see the violent and wicked be cut down with the military scythe, than have tens of thousands of innocents starve, dehydrate, or be killed through violence. The lives of a few hundred to a few thousand are worth the trade for the lives of tens of thousands.

If I could say anything to President Bush right now, that would be it...I believe in peace, I believe in diplomacy, and in humanitarian solutions. Yet, eventually, there is a time we must forsake such things, and let loose the ravages of war upon our own..No...not our own, they gave that up the moment they began to fire on rescue workers and hospitals. They are enemy combatants, nothing more, an obstacle that must be overcome in order to save more innocent lives.

[EWS]

So how long is it going to be before some fanatcial muslim extremeists terrorists put out a video claiming that this was their just desserts for attacking Iraq and that Allah is cleansins the infidels?

That or some stupid christian crazy man (like the one we have in Stornoway who claimed that the Tsunami was god cleansing the non believers) saying that God is puniushing those who don't go to church and sin?

[ordos45]

Actually EWS two Christian groups have already claimed it's God's wrath...

New Orleans' Sin Brought Disaster  For the full article, click the link.

Now New Orleans is under water, bathing in sewage and devastation rather than providing downtown fountains for homosexual capers aplenty.

All of this has prompted Repent America to conclude that the biblical God had a heavy hand in the Katrina swing along. It

[alchemi2]

Refuse aid!

Play down the disaster!!

Shoot the people trying to help you!!!

ONLY IN USA could this be called sane. ::)

[Kiyouta]

Actually EWS two Christian groups have already claimed it's God's wrath...

Just God's wrath? Most of the world is pissed with the US. I reckon it was a collective effort. What goes around comes around, yet the wrong people were punished. :-

[Edric O]

So now we have a major disaster on our hands and where is the rest of the world with their aid?  I have only heard that a few countries have offered to aid us. Yall sure as hell expect us to aid yall in anything and everything...  Even though we can take care of ourselves...

That kind of arrogance will be America's downfall. No amount of military power can make new oil appear out of thin air, or stop a hurricane. This disaster may be a reality check for those who think themselves all-powerful.

Ironically, one of the first countries to offer aid was Venezuela. The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, is a radical leftist that has been under fire from the US government, media and CIA for years now - there was even a (failed) US-supported coup attempt against him.

If other countries are slow in sending aid, perhaps that should be a hint that giving the whole world the middle finger (as Bush did over and over again) is not a very wise thing to do.

I absolutely do not believe Hurricane Katrina had anything to do with God or any other supernatural force, but perhaps it should make people stop and think about the hypocrisy of "Christians" who spread hate and prejudice rather than love.

[ordos45]

No Edric, it is not that arrogance which will destroy my nation, it is the utter arrogance and stupidity of those in charge.  Really the only nations I've heard the U.S. media even mention as giving aid is Germany, France, Russia, and Sri Lanka.  It's been international media reporting the rest of the ones I've heard of...

Raise your hands if you knew the Red Cross, the world's largest relief organisation is being blocked from entering New Orleans?

Red Cross Banned From New Orleans

Ham radio is still the main method of communication in many destroyed counties in most of the states. 

The government shelters?  We don't treat animals this bad.

edit:  Even Geraldo Rivera, who I still think should be in jail for treason over his actions in Iraq (endangering US troops by giving away positions) was visibly in tears.  Even Fox News, the propaganda arm of the Republican Party is showing how much of a cluserf*** this situation is, and how badly the administration has handled it...