DIGITAL_DEVIL_DATABASE Community Forum

I can't believe a topic on this hasn't started. Though I can see why because what happened just plain out sucked. ;_; Does anyone have any family and friends in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida?

My mom's sister and her family live down in Mississippi(which I heard is completely wiped out). I'm hoping that her and her family are ok. My mom is just praying for a call or e-mail from the family. My dad gave the Navy their names hoping to find out if they're alright. :\ I have friends in Louisiana and Florida(heard it didn't get hit so bad) so I hoping they are doing alright as well.

Hopefully things over there will get better soon. Anyone planning to help? My family and I will be donating money. I hope people here help out as well.

Yeah, I'm doing my best to lend some help.  I don't have much in the way of money to give out ((and not nearly as much as during the Winter Tsunami disaster.  *sigh*)) but I'm still sending what I can to the relief funds.

From what I last heard, a mandatory evacuation for New Orleans and counties around it was issued about a day before the hurricane made landfall.  I hope that everyone's families got out when they heard that.
I've heard about some estimate of the damage, how bad the flooding is, and I've seen some webcam footage from a news copter.  At first I thought, "okay, it can't be too bad, can it?"  And right now, the only words that come to mind when I think of the amount of damage are too coarse to type out.
What scares me is that there have been reports and warnings about this sort of flooding disaster for years; the estimate that I heard from my old science class when I was a junior in high school almost mirrored the flood report.

Hmm, if anyone is interested:
There's this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/), if anyone wants to read.

Not sure how relevant you'll find that. Hope your friends and family are doing alright, Argilla. Let's positive thinking, huh?

My school is trying to get donations. I'll help donate. My mom's family is down in Louisana but not New Orleans.

I'm glad some people will be helping out. Naomi, I hope your mom's family is ok. Have you guys had any luck getting in contact with them?

Yea, I also heard that they tried to evacuate everyone before things got really serious. Though some chose to stay...I find that very ignorant. If you are told to go as far as to evacuate the city/state, then I think you should take that chance. A lot of things after Katrina has passed have been horrible to: the rapes, killings, people dying of starvation....and also the people who are trapped because of the water...

And yea, I think some already knew that something like this would happen to New Orleans. (The city was built under sea-level right?)

I heard about the rapes and other such things, I think it's horrible to do at a time like this.  Especially since a lot of people are already feeling the terrible effects of Katrina.

All my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone that are in those areas mentioned.  And Argilla and Naomi, I hope your family/friends are okay.

And yes the city is under the sea-level.

What I don't mind is the people taking the food from the stores(if I was starving, I sure as hell would). Everything else is just...it shouldn't be happening.

Thanks, we still haven't gotten in contact with them but I guess that's to be expected since what happened. *sighs*

But the problem with looting it that they could break into a cash register and steal the money. The police don't want that. But I agree with you Argilla. They can't just let the people starve to death. They though that the people would go to the astrodome( even since there isn't enough space now)but not now. I heard they are stopping some people from coming in. What are the people going to do now?

They (the government -- whatever) weren't (aren't?) handling the situation as they should. Instead, they were fucking around like morons -- resulting in probably more deaths and various other problems. I had more to say, but I don't think anyone really cares.

People are dead, and he's rambling about Lott's loss of his house? Oh man, you can always rely on Bush to say something so hilariously stupid and insensitive.

I hope these people realize that food is much more important then money at this time. D: I just talked to a friend and she has friends down in Louisiana...I'm just hoping for the best right now. *sighs*

I'm not even going to comment on Bush. Despite his speeches are sometimes a laugh...

Only 3 more years!

Good. I can't wait.

Actually, I live in Alabama. But neither my hometown nor the University were hit hard. We have evacuees here at the Rec Center.



Well, you have to understand that when everyone tries to leave, it causes a giant gridlock. Many people just weren't able to leave. Many people are under the impression of "Oh, we've been through hurricanes before, their strength is always exaggerated so we don't have much to worry about so we're going to stay and ride it out."



Indeed. The President staying on vacation during the hurricane and for like, 2 days after it hit, having all air traffic halted while he visited and delivered an "inspirational" speech (HEY GEE DUBYA PEOPLE NEED AIR LIFTS OUT AND NEED SUPPLIES DELIVERED SO THEY CAN, Y'KNOW, LIVE).

This interview (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/2/10464/35608) made me angry and sad.

Insane.  And not good news at all.   While I wanted to get some sort of information about the situation of the people left behind, and the various levels of action the government is taking, I can't say that I'm too happy about what I've found out after reading through that.

Also, thanks for the LJ link, Heat.

There's a lot of messed up things there thanks to government issues. For one, the levees haven't been properly fixed and mantained because funding for that purpose has been dramatically cut. That money went to the current war. It seems unlikely that they would have broken had they been kept up how they had been for years upon years before hand.

In addition to this, general hurricane funding for the area had been cut dramatically in a very short period of time. This occured despite the fact that meteorologists had been warning as early as 2001 could devestate that area (in fact, the US administration got a freaking memo on it that year). Plus, a lot of the necessary equipment and workforce is in Iraq.

Then, of course, we have a President who feels a need to take month long vacations knowing full well that we're in a war of his design with an upcoming, undoubtedly catastrophic event. Thank god he cut the vacation two days short!! Although part of that was spent giving speeches that spent 20 minutes comparing Iraq to WWII and about two on the hurricane. I don't know how many people heard how Homeland Security wouldn't let Canadian trucks down with aid. Lot of good that did.

Now he "cares". Now we're sending aid. Any other person with a few brain cells would have adequately prepared for this hurricane by sending the right things and money over. It didn't come out of freaking nowhere. The fact that so many people are making it seem like it did drives me crazy. We  acted far too late and it's been far worse than it had to be.

Did anyone watch O'Reilly Factor? (Omg, yes I watch his little show.) There was some lady saying the reason Bush didn't want to help was because he was racist or something? o_O;

Then there was something about it not being Bush's fault because the governor(I think it was someone...or maybe it could be the governor) of Louisiana didn't want help from anyone so she's pretty much responsible for all the people starving and dying in the city...

It has nothing to do with race -- Bush is just an idiot, and apparently, so is the person who said it involved race. When it comes right down to it, "race" is an excuse a lot of people use -- it's really stupid, and it's something people generally use as an argument when they can't come up with anything better.

And, I think I saw that clip where that person was whining about race. Also, another thing I read was Canada not being allowed to provide aid or something. I'd actually say something about that, but I really don't know the details...

To my knowledge, it's not just Canada.  The States has been refusing help from every nation that offers it; this includes Germany and France, who if they aren't buddy-buddy with the U.S, aren't doing this so they can say that the States "owes" them several years down the line.

BUT.  The U.S is refusing medical supplies, vehicles, food, water, or any type of help other then cash.  The government will always politely accept cash.
It rubs my skin the wrong way that a person who is holding an office that *should* reflect the decisions and choices of the U.S citizens is acting in such a...A manner that contradicts what a lot of people want.  Maybe places like Venezuela or the like, there is good reason for it.  But why turn down help from friendly nations like central Europe, and have more people die because of it?  I don't really understand the thought proccess behind such a decision.

I'm going to make a very cynical, and most certainly unpatriotic remark now.  If Bush is killed by an angry, unstable, grief stricken, vengeful, etc. hurricane survivor, I'm not going to be very surprised after the initial shock has worn off.  Presidents and government officers have been killed over much less.

This also common knowledge, but the mandatory evacuation has now become forced.  Here's to hoping there aren't any more critical screw ups, or they're kept to a minimum.

-EDIT-
Well, it looks like after roughly a week from the disaster, the State Department is finally asking for and accepting international aid, from select countries.  Whoopty-fucking-doo.

Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen. I think he's going to live a long life. Unless he chokes on another pretzel.

The Daily Show pointed out that they Federal Government can't just go in and take over unless its in a vegetative state (in reference to the whole Schiavo thing).



Well, it actually seems to be more about the people being poor, if any kind of bias is going on.

"When a wiseman dies he'll be missed and sorely needed. When an idiot is born they seemingly live forever."-me
 As far as 'katrina' is concerned I've donated through my the local grocery stores, my Mother's church and my school. The Lafayette branch of my school was hit so we're all doing what we can. Last thing. This would be funny though: If that damned battery on his little transceiver went out and he was left to look like the dumbass that we know him to be.

"When a wiseman dies he'll be missed and sorely needed. When an idiot is born they seemingly live forever."-me
 As far as 'katrina' is concerned I've donated through my the local grocery stores, my Mother's church and my school. The Lafayette branch of my school was hit so we're all doing what we can. Last thing. This would be funny though: If that damned battery on his little transceiver went out in the middle of one of his speeches and he was left to look like the dumbass that we know him to be.

I think the whole race thing has been overblown. A majority of the people in that area apparently were black, but I don't know that Bush would have acted any differently in any other situation. A lot of it, right now, stems from the fact that a good portion supporters of the man and his policies are going on and on about how the area deserved this hurricane thanks to all of its "sin" and so forth. I am sure a lot of it is racist.
 
For example, evacuees were told to cross this bridge into neighboring Gretna to escape the chaos. The Police Chief there told his deputees to keep black people out and anyone accompanied by them. They shot at them, kept them back, etc, all so these people couldn't taint their suburbs. There's several articles about it floating around, although for some reason it hasn't been talked about anywhere as much as it should be.
 
As for the Governor, there was actually word from the Administration that she never declared the state a disaster area, which was later proven to be a lie. I notice that they're very heavily trying to pin this inaction on other things rather than squarely where it belongs. Bush taking "responsibility" is meaningless right now when he just mouths the words, but then does nothing to rectify the situation. Sending money over wasn't thanks to anything he did; it was Congress. Meanwhile, the administration, again, is using no-bid contracts through FEMA while dealing with all of this... much like with Iraq and Halliburton, but not quite as major. More of his friends get the money and weird policies have been instituted to lower pay and other options for the actual workers.
 
It's all just really weird and really disgusting. Should the Governor have acted more? Sure. But there's a reason this guy is the damn President. Simple logic puts the President over the Governor. Everyone knew what was going to happen, the money for levees went to the war and any Class 3+ hurricane would have busted them, there were several days before it hit that everyone knew it was going to that area, etc. Instead the President fishes and bikes.
 
Going to Arizona and spending twenty minutes linking Iraq's purpose to that of World War II on the freaking day this is happening is just bizarre and disgusting. There's no link. There was an understanding back then that there should be a common sacrifice among the whole population for that war; more taxes, more work, more whatever. Today the only sacrifice is blood on the altar for a muddy cause: send the middle and lower classes to die for a muddy, vague cause that the administration keeps changing the purpose of (Bin Laden, Al Quida, Saddam, Terrorism... now it's some sort of protecting oil reserves thing). Taxes haven't been raised meaning people in my age bracket will be paying for it., little has been accomplished, the last draft of the constitution puts Islam at the front effectively making women a lower class, even the guy in charge of Iraq wants our troops to start leaving depite the fact that we're "helping" them, etc.
 
As for O'Rielly, I cannot watch that tripe. Him and Limbaugh need to go away. Limbaugh, for example, is convinced that Cindy Sheenan's story of her dead son has been made up by some sort of crazy anti-war movement and never happened. When will they look at a poll and see that something like 60%+ disapprove of what is going on?
 
Further polls show that around the same amount disapprove of the President's reaction to the hurricane and 70% want a probe. I'm glad most of this country isn't completely oblivious to reality.

Sorry to say Tony,
But depending on which side of the 'spectrum' you're born on race has a lot to do with it. But an even more insightful approach would be to rule out race and attribute his lackluster response to 'class'. Quoting Crhistopher Titus "Okay people, I'd just like to set the record straight. It didn't have any thing to do with Bush not liking black people ok. It had everything to do with him not liking POOR people."

Yeah, I can see that. I can't claim to have direct experience with racism against me... at least not to any big enough level to cause me real alarm. Still, that whole situation with Gretna is really sad and apparently more about it starting to break out as time goes on. I think that's one of the worst things I've read about direct reactions to it all.

I thought this might be of interest to some people: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12637172.htm (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12637172.htm)

It basically explains that the guy in charge of Homeland Security actively delayed federal response to the problem. He had the ability to send things in before the storm and seemingly just took his time. I don't really understand why. He didn't appoint Brown to be in charge of these things until two days after the disaster and even the Brown had limited abilities by comparison.

Sometimes we can't rely on the Government. The quote goes "We the people." and a lot of us need to realize that now more than ever.

Hurricane Rita at category 5...D:

And Rita is still expected to  make landfall between Galveston and Corpus Christi.  ((Around Saturday, I think?))

The gulf coast can't catch a break right now; to say nothing of all its citizens.