A bus of evacuees has flipped over on the interstate and armed gangs are shooting at firemen in St. Bernard’s parish and may have killed a few cops.
I am going drinking before I just start crying.
Reader Interactions
48Comments
Comments are closed.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.
Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.
Nothing worth doing is easy.
If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.
Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.
Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.
A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.
You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.
No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.
People are weird.
Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.
We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.
The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.
This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.
This blog will pay for itself.
We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.
The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.
There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.
People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.
Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.
The lights are all blinking red.
There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.
Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?
They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.
Vlad
Terrible news about the bus, but probably unavoidable, given the general levels of panic and confusion.
Those probably aren’t the first cops to get hit. I was listening to the police band yesterday, and in the afternoon there was a report from someone in a hotel that a group of cops a few streets over had been surrounded by armed civilians. There was no follow-up.
Katherine
here’s a little comic relief:
link. Look, West Virginia is the only state that’s habitable!
The Northeast gets fewer blizzards than the midwest and they’re not that scary. OTOH Boston’s overdue for an earthquake. They left out the wildfires & the fact that the western part of the country doesn’t necessarily have enough of an aquifer to sustain life, certainly not at this development rate.
NYC and Chicago suddenly don’t look so unsafe. Unless they nuke us of course, in which case it is now clear that millions will die of hunger and thirst even if only tens of thousands die in the blast. 6.5 million people in NYC and 2.5 million more in Nassau and Suffolk live on ISLANDS.
New Orleans was uniquely at risk I think, at least the parts below sea level. But there’s nowhere completely safe. Britain doesn’t get many natural disasters now, but if the gulf stream slows down they’re fucked.
Mr. Kahn
Mother Nature is powerful, but mankind is so much more destructive to itself than anything Nature has yet to come up with (well, except the Plague, but I think Stalin kind of showed the Plague who was the boss of killing)
Meanwhile a 1,000 or so Iraqi’s trampled themselves to death…
Vlad
“I am going drinking before I just start crying.”
If you’re going out drinking, make sure YOU don’t flip over on the way back. Disagreeing or not, we’d miss you.
M. Scott Eiland
Mother Nature is powerful, but mankind is so much more destructive to itself than anything Nature has yet to come up with (well, except the Plague, but I think Stalin kind of showed the Plague who was the boss of killing)
He gave it the old college try, but–particularly given the lower world population at the time–plagues are still at the head of the list.
stickler
Mr. Kahn, are you kidding?
well, except the Plague, but I think Stalin kind of showed the Plague who was the boss of killing
The Black Death killed up to a third of the entire population of Europe when it first appeared in 1346-1351. And it kept coming back about every 10-15 years. For a couple of centuries. The last outbreak was in Marseilles in the 1750s.
Stalin’s crimes were a drop in the bucket by comparison.
Just sticking with disease for a moment, you ought to seriously read up on the numbers of Native Americans who succumbed to smallpox, measles, influenza, and a hundred other diseases after 1492. The population of Mexico dropped by 90% between 1500 and 1650.
Mother Nature is a very big killer of humans.
capelza
I hope the cops getting shot is another rumour. “Lord of the Flies keeps popping in my head at this point. Haven’t heard about the bus :(
If we are looking for a bad ass dictator, I remember somewhere from college that Genghis Khan and his horde may have killed 25 million people across Central Asia. If that is remotely correct, I think per capita, he beats Stalin…
jobiuspublius
But, thats where we got the anti-Aids gene. Seriously, about 10% of europe is naturally immune to aids. This is not found anywhere else in the world, at least not in a noticable way. Dam that evolution is expensive.
jobiuspublius
Dear Leader and friends keep yammering about looting. This is often accompanied with talk of firearms and their usage. I have not seen a single scene of violence. I have seen peace in the midst of great need and danger, but, no violance. I saw a reporter at the N.O. convention center saying that there was no violance. Of course violance has happened. It is not helpfull to talk of violance, even through implication or loosely, while we see none of it and the danger we see is disease, starvation, and dehydration.
jobiuspublius
DAN RATHER IS BACK IN THE SADDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jobiuspublius
John, get back to your TV and cry for the right reason. The recovery seems to be ramping up. I can’t express how relieved I am. It’s awesome.
jobiuspublius
The local public TV station is replaying it’s documentary about N.O. swamps.
Vlad
“If we are looking for a bad ass dictator, I remember somewhere from college that Genghis Khan and his horde may have killed 25 million people across Central Asia.”
Say what you like about Genghis Khan, but the Mongols were among the best of conquerors at assimilating conquered populations. Captives who joined up often received better treatment than they’d gotten under the old social order.
over it
Speaking of Christ…..
“The Gideons International are sending 40,000 Personal Witnessing Testaments (New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs) to be distributed at the Astrodome and other relief centers in Houston.
My camp in Clear Lake is the focal point for organizing Gideon volunteers to help with the distribution. We are doing this in cooperation with the Salvation Army.
If you are a Gideon, or a minister, and would like to help the Salvation Army and Gideons minister to the people and distribute the New Testaments please freep mail me your name and phone number and either myself, the Salvation Army or a Gideon organizer will contact you.
At this time we are working with our own personal cell phones until we get a headquarters established. You may also contact the Gideons International HQ in Nashville, TN and they can forward your information. Telephone: (615)564-5000 or Email us at [email protected]
The scriptures are on a truck due to arrive Sunday by 10 a.m. and we are planning shifts to provide patoral care 24/7.
God is at work, and we are called by Him to Serve His Will. There was a purpose for Katrina, let us not fail to fulfill our duties.”
Can you imagine being handed a Bible down there? I mean, it is not even a whole Bible…just the New Testament.
I sure as hell hope they plan on handing out a good meal with each Good Book.
Good grief.
Profbacon
John… please give us a source for this. Yesterday there were reports of shootings and murders up and down the wazoo. Strange that with all of the coverage down there there aren’t any pics or videos of these pirates.
I’m not saying it’s not bad, and yes, due to hunger, thirst and stress some people are flipping out…But in a case like this, sources please.
Demdude
Check out FOX News. Shepard Smith & Geraldo are losing it.
TheocracyIsComing
I can’t believe Murdoch and Ailes let that through. Not even Hannity could spin that footage.
jobiuspublius
The talking heads are on the local public TV lead by some wall street pundit. I turned to NBC, to a special on the N.O., to real people with real problems, not some dam armchair non-sense.
Geoduck
That would imply that Geraldo once had it.
John S.
Speaking of the telethon on NBC, Kanye West blurted out (practically on the verge of tears) during his stint with Mike Myers:
George Bush hates black people.
I don’t agree with this statement at all. But, how does a President even allow this perception to culminate?
Thoughts?
TheocracyIsComing
Because he giggled about standing on Trent Lott’s future porch (a man who pined for a Thurmond presidency in ’48) while people are stuck in a hot stinky hell hole. Might have something to do with it.
Demdude
The FOX News is like a train wreck. I can’t stop watching.
In between reports on how things are getting better, is Shepard Smith putting Hannity and Colmes down anytime they try to get anything postive out.
Then there is Geraldo. He is crying on camera grabbing some poor kid from their mother’s arms saying hwo horrible it is.
This is amazing.
TheocracyIsComing
Ailes is going to be seriously ticked, he must have been on vacation. I’m sure the bat phone from Cheney’s cave to FNC has been ringing off the hook in the last few minutes.
Demdude
Check out this article:
The Rebellion of the Talking Heads
Here.
Caroline
It’s been going on for about forty years. If you don’t live in the south, you don’t hear about it. Or you don’t see it in action. Pandering to neoconfederates and white supemacists.
I don’t think that W. personally is racist but African Americans have been blamed by the GOP for all the ills in society. It’s not right but it has won them elections. W is getting the brunt of this perception because he has done some racial pandering and then this disaster in NO.
If you really want to drink a lot-listen to the Bush supporters here in SC. They make me want to down pitcher after pitcher of pina coladas.
John S.
I actually do live in the South (although South Florida may not qualify), but I certainly haven’t seen this in action.
Then again, I had a conversation with a very nice southern lady here yesterday at the gas station, and we got on the topic of education. She surmised that the public school system was a wreck because they taught kids facts, and not how to think about what they were being taught. I agreed.
Then, she said for example, it isn’t right that they only teach kids the viewpoint from Anne Frank’s side and not from Hitler’s side. And as I recoiled in horror (I am Jewsih) and backed away slowly, I can assure you that a pitcher of alcoholic beverage would have done me a world of good.
jobiuspublius
Don’t forget, Dear Leader went to Mississippi first. How Reaganesque.
The Emperor Speaketh on network TV, Fox news:
Dear Leader has been spying on me. He knows I have great things in store for the word “progress”, and those people in that part of the world.
TheocracyIsComing
It seems like the talking heads like Hannity, O’Reilly and others are focusing on the thugs in NO making this a story of bad people causing the problems, not a total clusterfuck by FEMA. When just about all the looters you see are of one skin color, this feeds a lot of racist stereotypes and completely changes the story on the ground.
TheocracyIsComing
This just makes you shake your head in disgust:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9178501/
What’s more, it appears that the federal government did not follow up on an exercise last year that mostly predicted what happened in New Orleans — devastating flooding and hundreds of thousands stranded.
The scenario was dubbed Hurricane Pam: 120 mph winds, a massive storm surge, 20 feet of water in the city, 80 percent of buildings damaged, refugees on rooftops, possibly gun violence that would slow the rescue.
“What bothers me the most is all the people who’ve died unnecessarily,” says Ivor Van Heerden, a hurricane researcher from Louisiana State University who ran the exercise.
Van Heerden says the federal government didn’t take it seriously.
“Those FEMA officials wouldn’t listen to me,” he says. “Those Corps of Engineers people giggled in the back of the room when we tried to present information.”
One recommendation from the exercise: Tent cities should be prepared for the homeless.
“Their response to me was: ‘Americans don’t live in tents,’ and that was about it,” recalls Van Heerden.
Darrell
God there are some idiots who post here. Make a baseless smear on someone, then put the burden of proof on the person being smeared
John S. has sexual relations with farm animals
“But John, how do allow such a perception of you to culminate?”
Stupid jackass
Caroline
John S,
Yes, that is a pretty typical view. South Fl does not qualify as the south. I guess you could say I’m speaking more in terms of the former confederate states of america.
Here in SC, they teach the kids that black people were better off in slavery. Yeah, I know it’s not in the book but the teacher shuts the book and tells you what you want to hear. On vacation this past summer, my 14 year old nephew told me that black people were to blame for all the ills in society. I corrected him but it probably didn’t do any good.
TheocracyIsComing
Great line from Craig Crawford:
http://crawfordslist.blogspot.com/2005/09/katrina-you-just-cant-spin-away-dead.html
“I’m sure it won’t be long before the politicians start blaming the media. Yeah right, we’re not covering the good news about this hurricane — like maybe how the French Quarter needed a good scrubbing anyway, and how already overweight Americans won’t be eating all that fattening food served by restaurants now under water.”
Darrell
Typical dishonest smear from the left, playing the race card per usual. Tell us Caroline, since you’re the one making the smear, err claim.. who in the GOP has blamed African Americans for “all the ills in society”? I live in the South and I see just the opposite. I see black people are much more likely than whites to spout racist and/or anti-semetic hatemongering with impunity, while whites are called out on any perception of racism, real or imagined. Hello, Cynthia McKinney! Jesse “hymietown” Jackson is still pretty prominent among Dems these days too last I checked. Al Sharpton, Dem Presidential candidate.. and the list goes on
Demdude
Southern Strategy.
Here.
John S.
Darrell, that is the most patently false analogies I think I have ever witnessed. You seriously want to compare a growing perception held by millions of Americans (that Bush just doesn’t care) about their President with what an iinsignificant opinion held by you about me? That’s rich.
But you are 100% correct. There are some idiots who post here.
Keep up the good work.
Caroline
Let’s see: Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms. Yeah, that’s the typical GOP response: But, but the Blacks are more racist than we are. Really smart, bucko. You are pretty much excusing racism with your statement. Lowest common denominator and all.
I guess you wouldn’t think that dragging around a confederate flag and screaming about states rights was wrong either.
PS. The head of the south carolina gop was a grand wizard in the KKK.
Darrell
No you lying jacksass, I clearly stated I was talking about this shit coming from you:
George Bush hates black people
Darrell
Robert KKK Byrd, blah, blah. Now tell us Caroline, when and where did these Repubs blaming “all the ills of society” on black people? Please be specific, because I know an ‘honorable’ person like you would never lie your ass off or anything
Katherine
Lots of people probably want a bible right now. Hell, I’d want any book I could get my hands on, and I’m fairly heathen. Though, if the Gideons gave one to me and opened it to their stupid little “Recommended Quotes for…Solace in Time of Disaster” section up front I might be momentarily tempted to punch them.
John S.
Don’t pop a vein there, Darrell. That didn’t come from me, it came form Kanye West on a live NBC broadcast. I just re-read the transcript on Crooks and Liars and he actually said:
So I apologize for misstating his statement, but I believe the intent is the same. So now what was your point exactly?
Oh, that’s right. You don’t have one.
Darrell
yes of course, because anyone who goes around advocating state’s rights is racist. Duh, everybody knows that
Darrell
You’re throwing out baseless smears of the worst sort, then saying “gee, I wonder why people have such perceptions?” you’re an idiot, plain and simple
Caroline
Well, lets remember the ad that Jesse Helms ran in his reelection campaign in NC. He basically told NCer’s that if you didn’t have a job that it was the fault of black people. There’s one. There’s probably others.
PS. W said he believed in “states rights” when he came to SC. And he also pandered to the racists at BJU. I guess this doesn’t count with you though because only words matter to the Republicans, not actions.
John S.
Learn how to read Darrell. Not just skim the words, but READ and understand what a person is saying.
I did not throw out ANY smear. I commented on something I heard, which people can see being said by KANYE WEST. I then clearly stated that I do NOT AGREE with KANYE WEST. However, I did wonder – and post the question here – WHY THIS FEELING PERVADES. Obviously, the sentiment is out there, and I am looking for a dialogue on WHY.
So don’t keep coming at me with your bullshit. I’m surprised you CAN even read with your head thrust so far into the sand.
Demdude
John S
Don’t you think the “Southern Strategy” is still in effect?
Even though Ken Mehlman has repudiated the strategy, it is still in the public’s mind. That would be not only the voters, but the candidates that trot it out when desperate.
I would think it would take a generation or two to erase it after it is not used.
My two cents.
Katherine
This is the fairest, most knowledgable view I have yet seen about whether the levee failure was preventable.
jobiuspublius
Hurricane Darrell holds court.
goonie bird
Where some marines to open fire on those gang thugs and send them to meet their maker