some other bits and pieces.

[smokedamage]

According to CNN there are 37 million living below the poverty line in the USA

Comments

[the_paco]

They prod them to make them jump. It makes for good 'news' when it's edited down and shows only the crazy jumpy black man. We do that a lot.

[divaflip]

I can't comment on the racial aspects, I have no real information other than the sources you have provided.

However, from an economic rebuilding point of view, isn't New Orleans a major tourist destination, and one of the most internationally identifiable places in the US? Sure, not in the same scale of New York or LA or Vegas. But I know a lot of people (yeah sure, theatrical types) who have gone to New Orleans for Mardi Gras or the Jazz Festival etc. In a couple of cases gone to the US just for that and not really travelled anywhere else.

I would have thought that looking long term, beyond the immediate crisis of saving lives and preventing disease outbreaks, the quicker New Orleans is cleaned up the sooner the people who live there will be back on their feet. I would have thought that to be a longer term goal of the respective governments, surely the longer they take to get moving the more it will cost them long term?

[smokedamage]

They are talking 60 days just to pump the water out and repair the levees. Yes it's a tourist spot and oddly enough the French Quarter seems to have survived the storm and only suffered human damage.

All my data came from CNN and roughly cross checked with Fox & NBC (they were easy).

I really have no idea what the Federal govt's goal is.

[divaflip]

isn't there real jurisdiction issues between state and federal in the US? moreso than here I mean? not that this should be an excuse in a crisis.

[smokedamage]

They were standing about and blaming each other until they met up. The State Govenor requested troops a couple of days ago, and was very upfront about the damage. Two days ago she was fearing that there would be no saving the place.

[cobraclutch]

"I have heard snippets of a radio interview from last night, from the Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagim, where he blasted the Federal government, absolutely Blasted them. It was the best thing i have heard from an American politician in years."

Agree with this. He was completely passionate. In this disaster I can't help but notice that whenever a politician is on television the first thing they do is thank another politician for something that hasn't happened, and they do it in an ass-clenched taciturn manner. The fact that this man, the Mayor of New Orleans, was practically screaming, and had to be censored for the sake of the sensitive listeners, tells me that he RIGHTFULLY feels strongly about being fucked over by the federal government. The fact that he did not hold in his passion and his rage and let it known how pissed off he was earned my respect. Salute that man.

[smokedamage]

I have all respect for him. All respect.

[i_heart_dworkin]

FOX news is even worse re: antagonizing blacks. I watched for about 30 minutes today where there were seriously just sending out a guy with a microphone who PASSED BY a white man on the street so that he could accost an old black man and berate him for not evacuating the city. This was repeated several times. They'd cut to the (mostly) white S&R teams who would talk about how difficult it was to get people out, then cut to their "reporter" asking a black person how it was that they could justify their selfishness in remaining behind.

But, the mayor just signed a forced evacuation order, so... that's fun.

[smokedamage]

I expect that from FOX, i mean that's why i watch it, but i thought CNN still tried to be even handed. Silly me.