Looting

[Vanquisher]

In a time of national crisis like this, and that's what I believe this to be, the President should have held a prime-time news conference. He needed to reassure the public what is being done to help the people who are suffering, and the actions being taken to curtail a fuel shortage.

Sure, there are thousands of people being mobilized to help, but we keep seeing the images of people stading lin line for hours to get a couple bottles of water. People who are saying they haven't eaten since Sunday. There is help. I am just not sure that everyone is receiving it. And, just how do you communicate effectively with a city that is under water?

Across the country people are panicking because local news broadcasts (including my local news this morning) are warning that gas stations only have 8 hours of fueling left and many are already out of fuel. Gas prices have surged over the span of two days, and in many places consumers are being taken for upwards of $6 per gallon. If there is an immenent fuel problem that will make it so americans can not go to work, then the president needs to tell us!

He is an idiot, but don't look at me, I voted for the other guy, TWICE!

It is unimaginable to me what the victims of this hurricane are going through. Seeing the children just makes me cry....I cannot imagine not having diapers or food for my baby. As far as the looting....if I had no food or diapers and I had no idea when aid would be arriving, I would probably loot those items as well. We have to remember that these people really have no contact with the outside world and are most likely unaware of the rescue efforts. For all they know it could be weeks before food arrives. As far as looting nonessential items....there is just no justification for that in my opinion.

As for Bush....how often is that guy on vacation??? It seems like he is always cutting his vacation short and flying back from his Crawford ranch whenever anything major happens. I'm sorry I missed his speech. It sounds like it was a real doozy!

[fluffhead]

He does seem to always be on vacation - I seem to recall that his dad was always off in Maine, on his cigarette speedboat.
W. never came back from vacation for any national crisis. Then the one time he DID cut his vacation short, it was to lobby congress to force them to put the feeding tube back in a brain-dead Floridian.

I can't imagine what they're going through in NO. Do you think it's worthwhile to rebuild? They're all saying "we'll now rebuild with levees designed to withstand a cat. 5 hurricane" - can't we learn from our mistakes, and give the Mississippi River back to it's natural course?
If I were mayor, I think I'd just want to give it up.

There are reports that people are opening fire on Reserve helicopters and they had to halt the evacuation of the Superdome because one was actually hit, though not seriously damaged.
Seems that mob mentality added to sheer desperation is taking over.

I was thinking the same Fluff -- is there a way to...relocate the city that will ease some of the problems?

Last night, DH was wondering if Bourbon street will still reek of vomit, urine and spilled booze after being under water for that long. He doubts it....

[Sheherezade]

I have a family friend with a restaurant in the French Quarter. As of yesterday, he was in his property and there was no water. (Or so I've been told.) I found that very confusing given the news reports. I know the French Quarter is high ground - one of the last regions to flood. Still, it sounds like they are going to remove everyone from the city now. Do you think they will be doing it by force? This seems to be getting uglier and uglier.

[fluffhead]

Last night, DH was wondering if Bourbon street will still reek of vomit, urine and spilled booze after being under water for that long. He doubts it....

Well since the flood waters are all mixing with raw sewage, chances are the whole city will reek of many unpalatable substances for months to come. Massive decontamination will need to be done before anything is inhabitable.
It ain't gonna be pretty.

[DCJenn]

The last two days, REM's song "It's the End of the World As We Know it" keeps running through my mind. This as I'm walking through barriers while on camera to take my dog to pee on the Mall. As Rick and I spent 15 minutes on the Metro website figuring out the best way for him to get to his rotation at Children's this month. As I'm trying to figure out if I feel safe enough walking through a neighborhood southof mine to get to our new storage unit because I don't want to use my car unless I have to. As I have no AC on unless it's over 85 degrees.

Welcome to Global Warming, folks.

jenn

[Vanquisher]

We have a good friend who is a resident at LSU. We still haven't heard from him. We've left voicemails, but, you know...

I wonder what will happen with his residency program. He's in med-peds, but I can't help wonder what we would do in the same situation. There aren't open spots for Ortho around the country. I would want to leave if we could, but where? For all the people who have jobs that aren't specific to NO, I would highly consider relocating.

I can't help but thinking, it would be better if they just torched the whole place, planted some trees, and moved to a "new" New Orleans on higher ground.

[spotty_dog]

Welcome to Global Warming, folks.

Mmm, Peak Oil's playing her part too. Yay for our generation reaping the rewards of a hundred years of poor choices, and still not being arsed to do anything to reverse or even slow the damage.

A few months ago I made the "moral" decision to work toward making only 2 trips by car each month. Now it seems like that's the way everybody's going to have to go for the sake of self-preservation. Weird. I'm glad I bought my portable bike lock back then, and I am going to think hard about having DH install a nice rack on my commuter bike so I can fit big ol' panniers on it. I should be back on my bike next week, whoo!

[Auspicious]

A few months ago I made the "moral" decision to work toward making only 2 trips by car each month.

Hey, I haven't owned a car since 1998, does that mean I have some giant cache of good karma stored up that I didn't know about? Hmmm, I'm going to go think of evil ways to spend it. Maybe I will loot a flat-screen TV . . .

A few months ago I made the "moral" decision to work toward making only 2 trips by car each month.

Hey, I haven't owned a car since 1998, does that mean I have some giant cache of good karma stored up that I didn't know about? Hmmm, I'm going to go think of evil ways to spend it. Maybe I will loot a flat-screen TV . . .

Take two! You deserve it!

[spotty_dog]

Absolutely, you rock! Me, I couldn't even practice what I preached even after making the conscious decision to do so. But I'll be back on the bike next week I hope, so car-free errands here I come! (Not that I have a choice, DH and I agreed to leave the "good" car parked to save gas money, and I can't use the stick shift in our older car! Still not sure how I'll do my grocery shopping...)

Allison -- there was a woman who rode a bike with paniers in our old neighborhood and I was amazed at how much she could get in there. That would be a good deal for me (w/o baby) to only buy what I need! You could also check out getting a used Burley or something like that and using it to haul stuff.

[spotty_dog]

Thanks for the suggestions, Nellie.

Back on the original topic, this blog/journal entry blows me away. Says it all and then some:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wicked ... 82898.html

EDIT: Another blog. Pointed out to me as "If you do not read anything else about NOLA and the hurricane, read this."

http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/007432.php