Somewhat overhyped though, IMO.

The media was looking for a hero, and he was in the right place at the right time. Not to say that he didn't do a good job, but was he really any better than any other competent mayor would have been?

Why does the media continually refer to the N.O people as REFUGEES..
How can you be a refugee in your own town?

Rudy was fantastic. He took charge without giving it a second thought. His leadership was just outstanding. He was the glue that held the people of this city together and I believe by his show of leadership, especially that very day, he conveyed to the people of New York that we would be ok. He himself almost died on 9/11 as he was trapped in one of the buildings and had to take another route to come out into the street. He walked in the streets as debris was falling and he never flinched.

And what many people do not know is that in the days following the attacks, he made it his business to be down there everyday to encourage the rescue workers and he made sure that he visited my place of business, the only building not to be damaged, to thank us and encourage us. He definately was an inspiration. And anyone who thinks that his leadership abilities were overplayed obviously did not experience his presence first hand.

I think that I posted earlier that I thought that this rescue effort needed a Rudy Giuliani to take charge.

The man knows how to take charge.

Don Cardi

Here's a scary thought....

I was just watching CNN, and someone made the point that the weak and untimely response of the federal government to the situation in New Orleans shows how we may be totally unprepared in the event of a terrorist attack.

They are called Refugees because thay have no place to live and in essence are seeking "REFUGE."

ref·u·gee : One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.One who flees, as from home, confinement, captivity, or justice.


Don Cardi

:( What else can go wrong here?

I also am hearing that some Fireman and their families are being held hostage somewhere in New Orleans.


Don Cardi

Was Rudy that impressive? Although I usually agree with PL, I've got to disagree with him BIG TIME on this. Rudy was amazing. He went without food, without sleep. He walked the streets, he held people's hands, he hugged mother's that had lost their sons. He twisted arms, he got the Family Resource Center up and running in a matter of 72 hours after the disaster so that the families had a central place to go, fill out paperwork, bring DNA samples, etc., and most of it was done with donations from corporations of computers, desks, copiers, etc., and staffed by many volunteers. He was an inspiration and a beacon of hope to so many. Another impressive thing? He and the governor worked side-by-side and never offered anything but a unified front to the world, something that seems to be lacking in New Orleans.

I pray for these poor victims. Each day seems to reveal some new horror instead of any relief. The helicopters are being shot at, and afraid to land to evacuate people and drop off supplies. The babies and elderly, vulnerable in any crisis, are the most pathetic and seem to be in mortal danger. I cannot believe that this is happening and it seems that I can't watch any more, and can't NOT watch any more.

DC - Wonderful of all of you!! We Americans can be loud and crude and pushy, but we know how to pony up and pitch in when we have to, don't we?

Some people are predicting the death toll in NO could reach 10,000. The more I see pics of dying babies and childrens I just want to shout out at the top of my lungs.

Why? Why? Why?

Wow, Wikipedia already made an article on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_katrina

The damaged areas add up to the size of Great Britain.

Agreed. Actually, my problem with the whole this is how long it is taking to get help to these people.

One of the interviewed survivors said something to the extent of: "We're able to drop food and supplied to Iraqis in Baghdad, but they haven't done anything for us. They can do it for the Iraqis, but can't do it for their own people?!?"

Glad to see the President has gone over there and surveyed the damage, and was also pleased that the huge convoy was heading over. I also see President Bush has put Clinton and his father in charge of relief efforts ala the Tsunami incident.

As far as all the sports teams and whatnot, it is slightly farcical. $5000 from every NFL player? Sure, I mean, there are some making the league minimum (around $350,000 I believe), but c'mon, people like Manning have contracts totaling the 90 million range, when you account bonuses and whatnot. Granted, any monetary gift is well received, but it just seems that they could do more.

Also pleased to see Mr. Steinbrenner is donating to the relief fund (for the hurricane, not his pitching squad, which also is practically a natural disaster at times).

That Kanye West hack is a freakin' idiot. How can he go onto live television -- during this Concert for Hurricane Relief -- and state that "George Bush doesn't like Black people"??!! Fucking moron. I'm glad they cut him off.

Yeah. Michael Myers looked like he was ready to deck him.

Aaron Neville is blowing me away. That song he did, "Louisiana" put a tear in my eye.

I just saw that, too, JG. It was handled quite well. I know that we may have disagreements with the way that the relief effort has been handled, but why try to politicize a charitable event? If you're there to try and help, then just do what you can and get on with it.

Michael Myers, from Halloween? Yeah, Mike Myers was like, "uh, what?"

I've always loved Aaron Neville's voice - and wondered how such an angelic voice could come out of that tough-lookin' mafugga!

He actually said that? Wow. Political preference aside, some just don't have any class... :rolleyes:

Gee, I'm glad I never bought one of his albums (but did download a song of his, so fuck off, I ripped you off, Kanye).

What an ass.

Other "remarkable" quotes:

Oops! Hey, it's about the same name. And I'm not even drinking.

It was a great show. More so that most of the performers were from Louisiana and Mississippi. I thought that was a very appropriate ending.

I guess he hadn't yet heard that the BLACK mayor of New Orleans has ordered tourists who've been stranded at hotels transported to the SuperDome area and bussed out to Texas AHEAD of his own citizens who have been waiting on line for days.

Apple

I'm not really going to say whether Kanye was right or wrong to say that, but either way, he's still a fantastic artist and probably one of the best rappers (lyrically) out there right now. I also can't blame him much for what he said. The majority of the people trapped in New Orleans are black. Everyone agreed on that, correct? While I do believe it does have a little bit to do with racism, this New Orleans mayor also should be criticized heavily for these artists. I actually liked the guy when they first talked to him a few days back, but now he's trying to turn everything onto the federal government. It's his fault that New Orleans wasn't properly evacuated.

However, one thing that does disgust me is this and this is why I feel there may have been some racism. Most of the people trapped in New Orleans right now are black and do live paycheck by paycheck. They could not afford to leave even if they wanted to. Why didn't the government, whether state or federal, help transport them OUT of New Orleans?

When the hurricanes hit in Florida last year, the death toll was pretty much nothing compared to this. To be honest with you, I wasn't expecting more than 15 people in the US dying from Katrina. It's hard to believe their wasn't some kind of huge malfunction with the government when I turn on the tv and see that thousands died in the city of New Orleans alone.

I'm sure though, if a white guy came out and said, "Damn, we'd be fine if there weren't so many black people down in New Orleans, we'd have less casualties!" it would be absolutely detestable.

Duh...though there are plenty of whites as well.

Please elaborate.

Granted, many of the people that could not evacuate were the poorest, but I fail to see how this implicates the US government of racism. It's a demographic issue, not racism. It's not like if the poor people were all white, the situation would be different.

What was the government going to do though? I mean, they had been warning people it was going to be bad, get out while you can, and whatnot? I think that this is going to end up being a model for future events (hopefully there never is a need) as to how not handle the emergency management.

To be honest with you, today was the first day I saw a video of white people in New Orleans. Ironically, these white people all had bottled water and said they were doing fine. As I remember, one lady was interviewed and said, "Everything is fine down here and we're ok. Don't worry about us." She had a big smile on her face. This was during a tape in which Fox allowed people to go on air and say they were alright, in hopes that their families from where ever would hear it.

Please read all of my post before responding.

The poorest were the black people in the urban sections of New Orleans. It either implicates the US government is racist, our Homeland Security officers failed their first true test of saving life since 9/11, or both.

So it's clearly racism and whatnot that one white lady had water, and that the government is hating on blacks?

Surprisingly, I always manage (however laboriously) to throughly read all of my opponents posts.

By your own admission, New Orleans is mostly black.

So when you say that the poorest are the black people, it's clearly not a racial issue, as I said, it's demographics of the region. If Boston got hit by a massive typhoon, would they say that the US is racist against affluent whites?

Mmm, I know they couldn't really "prevent" it, but it is looking more and more evident that we've been dragging our feet until late this afternoon, be it because of logistics, or some other excuse.

I do think (as aforementioned) that this will be a model to learn and grow upon so that events like this can be better managed and handled in the future, though, by that same token, Katrina is arguably one of the worst natural disasters in US history, not just some "ordinary, run of the mill" hurricane (certainly I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness or tragedy of any natural disaster, though).

It wasn't just one white lady, DJ. It was dozens of white people around her.

The urban sections, yes.

Depends how long it took the US to help these affluent whites.

Did they all have bottles of water? Or was it just the one lady?

Because clearly, if a photo op that shows white people with water, it means that Bush hates blacks and it's racism. Could it just be that maybe, just maybe, that particular person, who was white, happened to get some water before the storm, or managed to get ahold of some afterwards?

Nah, it's racism.

Am I then to understand that because the efforts are taking so long, it's because the US is racist?

This has got to be the most Jesse Jackson spin-like ideology I've ever heard, thank you Kanye West.

It doesn't matter if they're orange with purple polka dots. They are people in need, and somebody, somewhere along the chain, has failed them. I'm sure it's multiple someones. It's a horror, it's a tragedy, and I'm sure that is something that we can all agree on.

DJ, while I don't think the US government is being racist, it's not as if it couldn't be true. However, if anything, I think it's safe to say that the US government is prejudice against the lower class. It didn't take 3 days to get national guardsmen into those rich sections of Florida last year. Jeb and George were all over that.

And Florida wasn't submerged under 20 feet of water to the point it will take 80 days to pump all that water out. This is perhaps the greatest natural disaster that America has ever seen -- New Orleans as we knew it is probably lost forever -- you cannot compare them. Nor can you blame the government for "not responding fast enough" -- Congress is reconvening early to appropriate BILLIONS of dollars. There's nothing political about it -- NO ONE is happy that this has happened. And NO ONE is to blame for it, except "Muther" Nature.

Can we please keep the politics out of this thread?

I'd like to keep this thread for posterity and there are other threads in which the politicos here can bash each other's brains out.

Thank you.

Rich? Those were all trailer parks, not exactly the upper class.

Part,

While I am saddened to hear that that the three employees from New Orleans have lost everything, I am also glad to hear that they are all safe and accounted for!!!!!

You said that 3 of them are going to Baton Rouge to stay with family. What about the other 3 ?


Don Cardi