Open Letter

[Cumberland]

The bottom line is that this is the worst national catastrophe ever. No one could have been adequately preapred for it.

It takes time for supplies to come in and time for the bureaucracy to filter its channels.

This country is obsessed with blame-everyone has to point fingers at everyone else. And I see why everyone wants to CYA- if you end up the odd man out, you lose everything and get sued for it in the process. Our country has taught us not to accept responsibility bc if we do we suffer extreme consequences.

[spotty_dog]

Here is a media interlude that was taped this weekend, I think September 3 or 4. Katrina's impact on Louisiana was anticipated on August 26 and the brunt of the storm hit LA throughout August 29.

http://michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/ ... ussard.mov

Enough already. These are innocent people, and they are dying. More than 10 days after the storm and they are dying every day, they are getting sicker by the minute and they are in desperate situations as we speak -- but CNN breaking news has moved on to bigger and better things, like reporting the passing of an elderly actor, so clearly it's behind us now. How inured are we to tragedy that this story is "old" and material to be re-hashed and evaluated academically while the disaster is ongoing?

Blame whomever you want. But now is not the time. As the author of this blog entry said, "Three hundred million American people are going to fix this, or else it isn't going to get fixed."

I felt pity but I didn't appreciate the magnitude of the problem until today. I'm not yet sure what I can do, but the first thing I'm going to do is donate blood. Then I'll scour my budget for money I can donate. I wasn't as ruthless as I could have been the last time I pared and sold my belongings; I also keep putting off the sale of my ancient laptop...hm.

BTW, how about the environmental effect of all that contaminated water that they are pumping OUT of NOLA...and IN to the local ecosystem?

[PrincessFiona]

BTW, how about the environmental effect of all that contaminated water that they are pumping OUT of NOLA...and IN to the local ecosystem?

I was thinking the exact same thing when I was watching a video clip of the water being pumped out. They said something about it being diluted and being 'harmless' by the time it would get to the ocean...but...I just can't imagine that! I think fluffhead may have to step in and edumacate us.

kris

[Rapunzel]

Interestingly enough I've been reading articles that state many of the evacuees are refusing to board evacuation planes when they hear where the planes are going (ie to other states). Here are three newsreports on Utah for example:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=102212

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=102219

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=102156

The military and rescuers have stopped telling people where they are being sent according to another message board I belong to which has spouses of men in the reserves who are currently in New Orleans and Mississippi! The people being evacuated are being sent to places where they will have food, clothing, and shelter. So, that's not the issue. My mom in Dallas was telling me that the news there is reporting that the evacuees are starting to complain about the Astrodome where some were sent (the Red Cross is set up there and the place was made ready with cots, food, clothing, medicine, etc).

I just thought it was a weird detail to all of this that I would share....

Jennifer

(Leanne, Card writes for a local paper where he lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, and occasionally the LDS emagazine, The Meridian, picks up his editorials. I found this at the Meridian which I occasionally read).

[PrincessFiona]

I think they've just been through so much that more change seems like too much. Texas is a southern state with similar traditions, etc...but....heck...I balked at the idea of coming to MN and it was our choice.

Have you seen those people stranded on the rooftops/porches of their homes that refuse to leave? WOW!

OH...I love that Utah is the "beehive" state!

I wonder if part of it is where they have family or know people? I'm sure it would be even harder to coordinate people going to locations where they could receive support from friends or family. I had heard that 1,000 people would be coming to Oregon and now it sounds like that has been put on hold.

[Rapunzel]

I posted those links because on the second page of this thread near the bottom there were posts saying that people wouldn't want to leave because they would not have food, shelter, and clothing where they could go. That's not true. There are a number of communities in the nation willing to take care of and, if need be, absorb these evacuees. Apparently, though, there are non-essential reasons many evacuees have for not leaving the wreckage of their city.

Jennifer

[Sheherezade]

We had some storm survivors coming here as well, but they refused to come. Of course, the local news here interpretted that as "no one wants to come to Cleveland!!" We have so much self esteem in this city...... I'm glad to hear that other places have been snubbed as well.

I also heard that the survivors don't want to be put up on the cruise ships that were commandeered for support. I can understand that some of them wouldn't want to be out on the water after the storm, but I bet it would be a lot more comfortable that most shelter situations.

I know in WI we had people coming as well, and it was put on hold just like others said. I've heard its because the evacuees don't want to be that far away from their residence/house/property so when the time comes they can go back easily. I can understand that, especially because from many states away, they wouldn't have the means to go back to their own homes on their own timeline. Wouldn't a lot of people have to wait around for transportation to be set up for a return? For the people who couldn't afford to get out, being sent off to somewhere like WI without a definite return date would be unnerving. At least it would be to me, especially after how slow help came in the first place. Its impossible to say what I would do in a situation like this.

Okay - I've been taken up by family visits for the past few days, so I haven't gotten to reply to what I posted.

Michael Moore IS a blustering, sometimes overly dramatic and negative man. I posted his letter here to start a dialogue (gee, that worked) George W. Bush is our commander-in-chief (choke down vomit here), and is most often overly simplistic ("It's hard work" repeated 700 times during the debates), or just plain blind to the obvious truths in front of him (ummm "Mission Accomplished"). Why is he blamed? Because he got the job - he fought for the job - and he appointed that nut to head FEMA.

FEMA's repsonse would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. If this kind of "relief" happened in a 3rd world country, the US would have had workers there faster than they were in New Orleans, all the while patting themselves on the back about "knowledge sharing". If this had happened in Martha's Vineyard, or Laguna Beach, the city would most likely already be dry and people would be getting back into their homes. We were able to help Tsunami victims faster than we've helped people in our own country.

Also, Bush's constant refusal to acknowlege ANYTHING hasn't gone as planned is infuriating to me. During the debates a woman asked him for one mistake he'd made, and he didn't have a one to offer. After 9/11 he stood behind the CIA and FBI - George Tennant eventually stepped down, maybe / maybe not at Bush's request. During the Valerie Plame thing, he swore the offender would be fired .... unless it was the guy who managed to get him elected twice, and now he's standing being Brown at FEMA. What would be so bad about saying "We're asking for his resignation?"

Well, after reading the many posts and not really having time to reply, I will put in my frazzled comments....take it or leave it....they are only an opinion.

Having been through three "major" hurricanes in less than a year, I can guarantee that it is hard to get to those in deperate need at "the critical hour". Do I feel that FEMA "screwed up"? I am not sure, do I think that it is not the best run organization, absolutely. The gov't/FEMA/the local government are still trying to get things restored from hurricane Ivan in our area. Add that to the other storms that have come around and you get a cluster**** of gov't officials chasing themselves in what needs to be done first. Did someone have their head up there keester about sending medical people back and forth across the ravaged areas before working them to sleep on their feet? You bet.
Personally, I think that the blame should work the other way. From the smaller functions up toward the bigger gov't organizations. It was posted, somewhere in here, that they were predicting this for at least a week before it hit, and then it didn't hit "worse case" until the outdated levees broke. So who's fault IS that? Do you think that the city of New Orleans runs inspections on those decades old levees? It is frustrating to hear people (read: mayor of NO, celebrities) say that 'if it was in a white area they would have been there when the last drop of rain hit the ground'. I live in an area where the general population is mostly white and I am calling bullshit on that. I can show you literally hundreds of families that are still without homes/electricity/basic necessities and that was from hurricane IVAN on Sept 15/16 2004. And the local governments here are decent through the state level....from an emergency standpoint.

[PrincessFiona]

I know in WI we had people coming as well, and it was put on hold just like others said. I've heard its because the evacuees don't want to be that far away from their residence/house/property so when the time comes they can go back easily.

We had >3000 coming here too and this has also been delayed. I guess it's not unusual to be afraid of moving somewhere basically site unseen after you have just lost everything that you own....and MN is pretty far away from NO. Imagine moving from NO to the tundra! MN has the highest rate of insured people though and a really awesome social net...resulting in some of the lowest healthcare costs in the country....but...it doesn't make up for the 6 months of frozen earth. :{

kris

As for the holdouts, most of them have probably never been out of New Orleans let alone out of the state in their entire lives. Could you imagine being shipped thousands of miles away with no job, no belongings, and possibly no friends or family and having no idea if/when you'll ever return home? Can you understand how frightening that might be? The only life they have known was completely destroyed a week ago. Many of them are probably still in shock. I really don't know how far we should go to evacuate them. Yes, they need to leave for their own safety, but it is just heartwrenching to see them leave their lives behind.

Did anyone catch Oprah yesterday? It really put a human face on the suffering.

[spotty_dog]

Did anyone catch Oprah yesterday? It really put a human face on the suffering.

Personally, I bawled my freakin' eyes out when I watched the clip that I posted in this thread. It took me some time to feel a personal impact about this tragedy, but my outrage has been growing and that short video broke open the floodgates, so to speak.

These are human beings. Frightened, abandoned, hopeless, helpless, resilient human beings trying to gain some purchase in an overwhelming life-decimating situation. They need help. OUR help. Worrying about how stupid they are not to accept being shipped off to Siberia after the disaster, let alone how stupid they are not to have trooped off to Siberia on their own dime at the first hint of an approaching storm, isn't doing a lick of good.

It is frustrating to hear people (read: mayor of NO, celebrities) say that 'if it was in a white area they would have been there when the last drop of rain hit the ground'. I live in an area where the general population is mostly white and I am calling bullshit on that. I can show you literally hundreds of families that are still without homes/electricity/basic necessities and that was from hurricane IVAN on Sept 15/16 2004.

I will defer to Matt on this one, he's BTDT. If he knows the opposite to be true, then I was mistaken.