For those of you who said Katrina was no big deal in New Orleans,

[trumad]

thanks for the bad Karma. You have been made to be fools and I hope you feel pretty shitty about it.

[steve2470]

1. if this story is no big deal, I'd like to see a big deal

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/katrina.ssf?/hurricane/katrina/stories/083005catastrophic.html

[sniffa]

2. what about the Looters?

[NMDemDist2]

6. hubby says the 'looters' are taking stuff like food and diapers

that's not looting IMO, that's survival

[sniffa]

7. ..

;)

:hi:

[hlthe2b]

18. More compassionate conservatism? Punish the desperate,

rather than help them?

It seems the message of Victor Hugo is as timely today as ever (Les Miserables). Today, many believe, like Javert, that no mercy should be shown to criminals. Like Javer, we MUST apply the letter of the law to every lawbreaker, without exception. All the desperate Jean Valjeans of the world be damned?

Of course it is even easier for the RW to assume such a judgemental response to poor persons of color, isn't it?

[rodeodance]

3. well, gee, we kept hearing that NO bit the bullet.!!

[JI7]

4. why would anyone say it wasn't a big deal ?

[hlthe2b]

5. Wow--what did I miss? WHO said this? On DU?

I am desperate for news and none seems forthcoming anytime soon. TV is all fixated with gas prices and not on human life!

[salin]

8. I missed that, as well.

wow.

[Deja Q]

9. Don't forget

We're a "society" that promptly hawked overpriced, undervalued "memorabilia" pertaining to the WTC after the 9/11 attacks; namely coins and plaques and other worthless things.

Would you expect any less from our media?

They'll sell bits of metal from the ripped oil rigs next...

[expatriate]

10. There have been a number of people here

who have pooh-poohed the worst case scenarios that were discussed on the news. They have referred to people who were upset about the situation in New Orleans as "Chicken Littles" and insinuated that they were getting voyeuristic jollies from this disaster. One thread was dedicated to how the computer models of what could happen to New Orleans in the case of a Category Five hurricane directly hitting the city were wrong and overly dramatic.

Now the Lake Ponchartrain levee has been breached at the 17th Street Canal. I know New Orleans and its suburbs well, and I know what this means. Lake Ponchartrain is emptying into the city, and though engineers are trying to mend the breach, they can't get the heavy equipment moved in to do an effective repair. The lake is actually higher than most of the city, so a lot of water is going into New Orleans. It will undermine the buildings that haven't been destroyed, and the water is rising above the levels that drove people up into their attics.

Nothing has been said about the levees on the Mississippi River, but the river will rise as flood waters drain from places further north that are affected by Katrina. Normally, if the river rises high enough, engineers open the floodgates on the levee that allow some of the water in the Mississippi River to flow through Lake Ponchartrain, but that kind of relief on the levee system is impossible now that the Lake Ponchartrain levees have been breached.

Normally, water in the streets is pumped into Lake Ponchartrain - now that is impossible, until the breach in the levee is fixed - if it can be fixed.

So yes, the Chicken Littles were right - it just didn't happen all at once like a disaster movie (and few disasters do, it's the undermining of infrastructure that leads to the most damage and deaths, and takes several days in the case of hurricanes and other major storms). This is going to be horribly catastrophic. It could lead to the end of New Orleans as we know it, particularly if that levee breach cannot be mended.

I personally found such remarks horribly offensive. My son is in New Orleans. He might be in the Superdome - he might not. There are issues I don't want to go into, but he is a person who is not usually in his right mind, and he is an insulin dependent diabetic. I cannot make any sort of contact with anyone who might know where he is, or if he is even alive.

To read the smartass "so much for those computer models" and "Chicken Little" posts is really galling to me right now. But then, I knew what could happen in New Orleans, as I know it well, and I know how the pumping system has always been inadequate and how the pumps burn out easily, and that any levee breach could mean the end of the city as we know it. Obviously, those making the smug and superior posts about Chicken Littles and people getting off on the drama of it all did not.

People are dying. My son could be dying. The water is rising - and I consider it in horrific taste for anyone to make remarks to the effect that things are not so bad or that everything was blown out of proportion by the media. It only shows their ignorance of the deadly potential of this tragic situation.

[Mnemosyne]

13. I pray your son will be alright.

How terrible for you to have no way to find out if he is safe. My daughter was missing for 3 weeks at one time and it was complete hell. My heart goes out to you expatriate.:hug:

[hlthe2b]

14. I've scoured the NOLA Times Picayune websites (best updates)

tried to watch WDSU and WWLTV streaming videos and have hardly slept the past two days. I don't have tv, and a slow internet connection, but get CNN/MSNBC via XM satellite radio. So, I can tell how bad the MSM coverage is.

EXPAT, I'm so sorry to hear of your son and situation. I have friends working the hospitals I've been unable to reach, although I'm following what is happening with Tulane. Others health worker friends may have been sent to other hospitals (or even the SuperDome)from what I can tell.

Had it not been for a family issue, my sister would be there now.

I am angry at what has happened that could quite possibly have been prevented. My very first thought with the evacuation order was why they were talking sheltering at the Superdome, rather than getting C-1 military transports in there to take people OUT of NO. I mean how many people can load onto those transports for hops to Houston, to Shreveport, Texarkana, elsewhere? State and Federal officilas could have sent National Guard from throughout the region in there, commandeered city buses and gotten the poor to the airport. People roll their eyes at this premise, but they had at least 12 hours AFTER the evacuation order. Shouldn't they have had this worst case scenario plan in place? And to hear the thoughtless media pushing its assumptions that those who stayed were simply willful and foolish.... That, the loss of life was to be expected.... WTF? It seems that this is acceptable, because it is expedient. And, it is the poor, after all. They have no voice...


They crowded them into the Superdome, knowing full well, that the integrity of that structure could not be assured. But, it was expedient, and hey--they did SOMETHING, right?

And now these RW asses whose own multimillion $$ homes on the FLorida coasts have been saved from low cost flood insurance and other public "subsidies" have the nerve to question the aid to a city and people who live below sea level! It is becoming so difficult to accept what has happened to this country, its people, its humanity....

May God help those in NO and surrounding coastal areas.... May GOd forgive us for what has happened to a once compassionate nation...

[soup]

15. I wish a single post could be recommended as a 'must read'.

If I could, it would be yours. Thank you, expatriate.

I'm so sorry. I have no other words.

[hlthe2b]

20. well, let's at least get this thread nominated....

done...

[RevolutionStartsNow]

17. Expatriate...

I can't imagine what this might be like for you, my heart goes out to you.

DU is a large community, and especially in a dramatic situation we discover that there are plenty of uninformed and insensitive among us. It's frustrating, but there are so many more compassionate and intelligent people...

Sending good thoughts your way, and prayers for your son.

[PA Democrat]

19. I hope your son is safe, expatriate.

Sadly, too many people are able to trivialize a tragedy unless it hits them personally.

[rbjensen]

21. God protect your son and others in harm's way.

Anybody who has ever been on the wrong end of a hurricane knows it ain't over even when the sun comes back out. As the beast heads inland the streams flow into the rivers and the water keeps rising. I heard on the weather channel that most hurricane deaths are caused by fresh water rising.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Oh yes

You wouldn't believe some of the crap some DUers have been spewing about this storm. Good thing it's against the rules to mention names.

[TlalocW]

12. Oh, no... a non-existent mystical force named Karma

Made the situation worse! Wait! I'll power up my cold fusion device to power my special phoneline to Santa and the Easter Bunny! They'll be able to do something about this Karma!

TlalocW

[frictionlessO]

16. wow nice way to take a shit all over someones spiritual beliefs.

I take it you dont agree with the OP?

Fine... but why the utter nastyness? I guees its alright since Karma isn't a Christian theological design or wait... you're an atheist whose chip falls off the shoulder quite easily?

Without tact most arguments are useless if the goal is to achieve understanding and possible compromise with your targeted listeners. You did neither...

Sad....

[QC]

23. For fanatics, no event is so tragic that they don't view it

as yet another opportunity to grind their favorite axe.

[rbjensen]

22. You're scared.

I don't blame you. It's hard business. Hang in there.

[The Magistrate]

24. Locking

Flamebait.