Official Hurricane Katrina Thread (all other threads will be merged to this one)

Which I dont agree with

I *have* to agree. I've seen this kind of stuff first hand. Typically the poorer you are, the less civilized you are when faced with a dramatic situation. Here's some things to think about:

99% of the time,

1) Is the crackhead that's arrested for beatin the hell out of some guy over (insert just about any item here) a businessman or a homeless guy?

2) Are the people with at least one arrest on their records more likely to be the woman or man who work in an office building or a fast food joint?

3) Are the prisons more filled with people from middle class or upper class families or low income families?

Also something to consider is that it's a vicious cycle. High crime areas tend to be stricken with poverty as well, due to the lack of businesses that are willing to be in the areas, etc.

Micheal Moore, still an asshole:

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st

http://media.putfile.com/Kanye79

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090300165.html

I really hate that fucker...

It's bullshit exactly like that which keeps the country stirred up and angry. To hell with Michael Moore and his relentless crusade to bash on people even if they are wrong. I don't like what he did with the whole Columbine thing and I SURE AS HELL don't like what he's doing with our government. The current administration was voted in, which means the people which agree with him are less than the people who either ignore or disagree with him. SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO EAT A TWINKIE YOU FAT FUCK!

For the record I have a couple things to say:

1) Yes, we were not as prepared and ready to assist as we should have been, screw it you live and learn. Yes, we should have had more resources standing by to assist when we saw that Katrina was ramping up heavily after it crossed Florida. But that's the past, it's over and now we have to deal with whats going on. People need to stop dwelling (politicians, media, heartbroken souls alike).

2) I'm sorry but while this whole thing is devistating, we've been through it before and we'll go through it again... it just so happens this time the hurricane happened to hit New Orleans which happens to be under sea level elevation which happens to have already been hit and flooded numerous times before. Can someone get a hint? This is by FAR not the deadliest hurricane nor the most devistating. The media needs to get over it and stop milking the nation for sympathy and concentrate more on getting the survivors out. Put down the camera and microphone, get a boat or your news chopper and go pick up people. Do something useful instead of depress the rest of us.

(for the record)
The deadliest hurricane on record, hit Galveston, Texas in 1900 and killed well over 8000 people. (current speculations count it could have been well over 10-12000. however only around 8000 were accounted for)

It takes a special kind of stupid to think that it won't happen in a place its prone to happen, I'm sorry but thats just life. You live in a hurricane zone, expect a hurricane. When it wipes out your house - rebuild or leave, but understand - if you rebuild - it may get blown down again.

3) Don't rebuild New Orleans, i'm sorry but this is natures way of reforming the land as it has for ages. Get everyone out, blow the levees and let nature have New Orleans. It's OVER, don't spend *MY* tax money and *MY* insurance money rebuilding something that is just going to get drowned again. it's *MY* money and I say use it to get the people out and just build a new city somewhere ELSE!

---

I'm really sorry if I offended anyone, but this is how I feel and I'm not going to change. This is huge clusterfuck and its partially the fault of the people who live there for being there and partially the fault of the federal government. Now, when I say the people who live there, I don't mean in particular those who are stranded and who are dying, but in particular I mean the government of that city. Had they had the friggin brains - they would have called in the National Guard and activated any local branches of reserves they have there and FORCED people out of the area. If they couldn't walk, or couldn't drive - load them on military trucks and get them to a safe distance. The mayor needs to stop blaming everyone else and take a good long look at his administration. So does the governor of LA. SHAME ON THEM! Also, I had a discussion the other day about this witha few friends... If I was there and couldnt afford to pack up a car and leave and all I had were my feet to take me out of there, you can bet your sweet ASS that i would strap my kid to my back and get the fuck out on foot. I'm not heartless, but I'm a realist. It kills me to see little children dying and to see them losing their parents, if I could, I'd go there myself and help get people out. Unfortunately I'm a single parent who has to work full time to provide for his daughter and can't afford to leave. If I could - you bet your ass I would.

-- end rant --

-- edit --
cleaned up the language a little, i'm really angry about this, but its not an excuse to blatantly overuse the F word. (michael moore comment stays tho)

Its too early to say that this hurricane is BY FAR not the most devastating....there are going to be very long term effects due to this, even if the death count isnt close to 6000.

And theres no way that youd be able to just abandon that city.......can you imagine just abandoning denver? Impossible.

Rape, murder, children being killed.....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050903/ts_nm/mayhem_dc_1

I would if it were that gone. New Orleans is supposed to be under water, the ground is sinking, the delta is already below sea level, it's over... If the same thing happened to Denver, you bet I'd look elsewhere.

*sigh*

Police shot and killed 5 or 6 people on the Danzinger Bridge today....there was a group of 8 people, all walking with guns, and they refused to put them down apparently, and started shooting at the police officers. 5 or 6 of the group was killed.

The Mayor of New Orleans did an interview with Solidad from CNN, and he flat out said that Bush isnt to blame here.....that the chain of command within the local and state level governments failed, and that Bush was given being given a line of BS in regards to exactly the scope of the damage.

He also said that he met with the governor of Louisiana and Bush on Air Force One....and Bush wanted to act immediately, but the governor needed 24 hours to make a decision on what needed to be done.

Its obvious that the local and state goverment failed here.....two days before the hurricane made landfall, the LOCAL and STATE governments were urging people to go to the SuperDome.....why wasnt there food and water waiting there? If you couldnt get supplied there locally, how do you expect the federal government to get supplies there?

I guarantee the governor is going to get the brunt of this in the next few days....keep an ear out for that. The White House wants to federalize the troops, and the governor is REFUSING. Basically, its a TURF Battle right now, and the governor needs to drop her pride and do whats right.

Well, when 100% of the PREPERATION for the hurricane falls on the local and state governmental levels, theres no reason to blame the president. The preperation for this hurricane failed, which set the ball rolling for them not being prepared for the aftermath. It was a domino effect, and to put the blame on the president is ridiculous.
Why not blame the mayors, and most definately, the governor of Louisiana, who dragged her feet when Bush offered federal help. Why not blame them for not flat out saying: " The levees are going to break. If dont evacuate, you will die." It was their responsiblity to not sugarcoat it.


It easy for anti Bush citizens to lay the blame on the president, especially after they hear someone say it on TV.

And Senator Hillary Clinton and Majority Leader Tom Delay are now saying exactly what I said above.

And I dont disagree with this.....but to say its all Bushs fault is showing that they dont know how government works.

It would have been more appropriate for Kanye to say "The governor of Louisiana does not like black people"

I dont agree with that 100%