I'm watching "When the Levees Broke" tonight (Katrina)

[flvegan]

And George W. Bush, you are the biggest fucking failure in the history of this country. You're the most worthless fucking waste of space to ever be spawned by some slag with your last name.

I've been typing this out for almost an hour. I just don't have the words that won't get deleted or have the Secret Service on my doorstep tomorrow.

Jesus fucking Christ. Most "powerful country" in the world? Fuck you, W, even Top Gear mocks us you stupid fucking shitbag.

Sorry, I'm watching this and it's really pissing me off.

[jonnyblitz]

1. ooh, thanks for reminding to find a copy of that. i need to add it

to my collection. I saw it when it came out a few years back. oh, and I completely understand your reaction.

[flvegan]

3. You know me, jonny.

Shit burns me, and I don't let it ride. If you can't snag a copy, I'll burn one for you.

[jonnyblitz]

10. I found it but thanks for the offer.

that was kind of you. :hi:

[BlooInBloo]

2. Sometimes having a post deleted isn't the worst thing. ...

Yup, to all you said.

[flvegan]

4. Thanks, Bloo.

But, I've never had anything deleted here. What should I expect?

:rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

6. Weeellll.... You've gotcherself a right expert on that, sonny....

:rofl:

It's not a big deal. Many deleted in a short period of time is a big deal, though.

[LeftyMom]

5. .

:hug:

[EFerrari]

7. . . .

[PunkinPi]

8. What LeftyMom said. Indeed! nt

[Suich]

9. I bought it when it first came out.

It took me a couple of days to watch it the first time because it made me so angry.

Hang in there.

:hug:

[flvegan]

11. How did we let this happen?

While we watched it happen, no less?

[LeftyMom]

12. We labored under the delusion that we still had a functioning government.

By the time we figured out otherwise, people were dead. No other organization had the means to take up even a fraction of the roles that government is supposed to play in an emergency and the immediate aftermath.

That, love, is the short and ugly answer. The harder question is how to keep it from happening again.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. Three and a half years later....

...and the city of New Orleans still suffers and teeters on the edge. I am sure the other towns and cities affected are experiencing the same thing. Of course, Gustav and Ike also set us back. I sat in a jury pool last week for a civil trial. The case? Plaintiff was suing the insurance company for issues from Katrina!

[EFerrari]

14. When I first went to El Salvador, there was a camp of earthquake survivors

where we'd go buy our fresh stuff every day. The camp had been there ten years and hundreds of people were still literally living in tents. I couldn't believe it at the time.

We're not very far from that right now.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. We still have those living in tents.

The number has increased since FEMA has started pulling the death traps, also known as trailers.

[flvegan]

16. I am so ashamed.

Most powerful, richest country in the world, and here we are. We leave our own to rot, suffer and die. Not only IN the moment, but during the aftermath for years and years.

[Helga Scow Stern]

24. You're right.....

and I like your new user name.

[Hello_Kitty]

17. It is unbelievable.isn't it?

Oh yeah, "most powerful country", my ass. :grr:

I saw the dead bodies in the water and I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS WAS HAPPENING IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!

Every, and I mean every, person in this country should be forced to watch this film.

[Suich]

18. I'm sorry you went through that, Kitty.

My son has been doing volunteer work in St. Bernard for a little over two years and has heard a lot of stories that make me weep. I think the majority of people were aware of what was going on, but they didn't know what to do to help. I remember a couple of guys from Duke, who loaded up their car with cases of bottled water and drove to the Convention Center, after seeing the chaos on TV.

[flvegan]

19. Yet...we just couldn't seem to summon the ability

to Impeach that son of a fucking bitch.

[Hello_Kitty]

20. Kick! And this needs to be at the top of the Greatest page.

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/

Let's get it there.

[Skittles]

21. any mention of Katrina makes me want to blubber

I'll never forget watching those horrific scenes on the big screens at work :cry:

[Hekate]

22. The drowning of New Orleans was the most godawful thing I have ever witnessed in real time on TV

The State National Guard was in Iraq. The so-called president was nowhere to be seen. FEMA had been gutted and cronies installed. Blackwater drove through the streets waving their guns. The cops drove people back when they tried to walk out of the flooded city. Newspeople I had never thought much of performed valiantly as eyewitness reporters and showed their humanity by pleading for help for the people there. New Orleanian DUers were reporting here about their horrific experiences as the hours and days went by.

We became a Third World nation in that moment -- our government unwilling and unable to help our own people. George W. Bush Should Rot in Hell.

DU had a fundraiser. Al Gore showed up. Church and college groups go down there to this day. The Vets for Peace took all the extra food, bottled water, and other supplies from Camp Casey and bussed it down to the Gulf region. My local chapter of VFP took up a hefty collection, including $200 from Mr. H and me, and helped outfit the peace bus White Rose with supplies and a satellite-connected laptop for communications with the outside world. The three vets who went with the bus included a paramedic. They set up a kitchen in Covington, LA, and did what they could to help the refugees that came through.

I don't believe for a moment that "nobody" cares or remembers. We the People have tried to help as best we can, then and now. But our individual and small group efforts are not enough -- it takes the collective power and money of the federal government to do the job, and regulate rebuilding so that scam artists don't rob citizens and Halliburton doesn't enslave illegal immigrants and embezzle the money.

I didn't get to watch Spike Lee's film because I don't get HBO. I asked around to various friends to see if someone could tape it for me, and none of them get HBO either. Now that you've reminded me, I've put a sticky note on my computer to ask the public library if they have a copy I can check out.

Oh yeah, there's this: George W. Bush Should Rot in Hell.

Hekate

[malaise]

23. I bought two copies when it was released

and pissed off is a kind word.

[cobalt1999]

25. A book you might enjoy..."The good pirates of the forgotten bayous"

It's the stories of the shrimpers, Cajuns, & Acadians who lived in the bayous of Louisiana. Their towns and camps were completely wiped out, totally ignored by the government and media, these folks would have been grateful for a fraction of the help that New Orleans got.

[waiting for hope]

26. My post after we were there

eight months after Katrina:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/waiting%20for%20hope/9

The links to the pictures has changed - but here are the ones I took:

http://flickr.com/photos/39453333@N00/sets/72157604453932668/

Pissed? For my family, pissed doesn't even come close to how we feel about it. Good rant, BTW, more people should be pissed.