News in that helicopters are not flying into NO now because of a report that someone on the ground shot at one. Okay...every time someone fires a gun into the air in Iraq or Afghanistan, we ground all the choppers and tell no one else to go in? We need some perspective here badly.
Where is the National Guard???
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I will repaste my thoughts on this from my post on the looting thread....
Crazy stuff but a snowball effect. All of sudden now they are say 50,000 National Guard on "in the region" and as many as 100,000 are on "stand by".
I wasn't "getting it" either for a day or two and I fancy myself a pretty quick minded person but then I wondered "where is the US Govt aka the National Guard...?"
A coincidence that they waited 3+ days to bring in personnel in large force to aid and secure the area? You decide for yourself if you can even fathom one of the answers. Think about it....seems like little or no supplies/necessities have been airlifted or dropped in. No a conspiracy theorist by nature but this gross neglect of aid after the strom has me scrathin my chin........my head has been hurting all day not to mention my chin.
I am not drawing any conclusions and am not suggesting anything here....just pondering some inner conflict that has me rattled. Make your own decision on why or how this crisis was allowed to get out of hand. All we individually can do is find a way to help anyone in need and then collectively we will help some get thru this. And in parallel kiss/hug our kids and significant other, appreciate our families and friends more today than yesterday, and thank god that at least we have the future. That is more than alot of the people looting and breaking the law feel that they have to look forward to right now.
Unbelieveable.
Crazy stuff but a snowball effect. All of sudden now they are say 50,000 National Guard on "in the region" and as many as 100,000 are on "stand by".
I wasn't "getting it" either for a day or two and I fancy myself a pretty quick minded person but then I wondered "where is the US Govt aka the National Guard...?"
A coincidence that they waited 3+ days to bring in personnel in large force to aid and secure the area? You decide for yourself if you can even fathom one of the answers. Think about it....seems like little or no supplies/necessities have been airlifted or dropped in. No a conspiracy theorist by nature but this gross neglect of aid after the strom has me scrathin my chin........my head has been hurting all day not to mention my chin.
I am not drawing any conclusions and am not suggesting anything here....just pondering some inner conflict that has me rattled. Make your own decision on why or how this crisis was allowed to get out of hand. All we individually can do is find a way to help anyone in need and then collectively we will help some get thru this. And in parallel kiss/hug our kids and significant other, appreciate our families and friends more today than yesterday, and thank god that at least we have the future. That is more than alot of the people looting and breaking the law feel that they have to look forward to right now.
Unbelieveable.
SlowMovin said:
I have just now taken time to read the blog from this website. Everyone should read it--absolutely horrifying. The guy is pleading for active duty military presence immediately as the only hope. I felt like I was reading a Stephen King novel.
RiverOtter
got any pics?
Donna said:
The choppers that were grounded were not military. They were rescue. The thugs also fired at civilians in their boats trying to rescue people. It is a shame that the govt has to go in with weapons drawn to rescue people and deliver supplies.
Just my .02
River<---no fan of the govt but don't think its their fault--->Otter
By Lolis Eric Elie
Columnist
Years ago, a young South African scholar told me about his trip to America, to Boston, specifically.
I don't know who was in charge of his trip, but either they failed to give him his script or he failed to memorize his lines.
He was supposed to tell me about how wonderful our country is. He was supposed to have been impressed with the vast wealth of this place and with the quality and quantity of the latest technology here.
He was supposed to envy our First World status.
He didn't.
What he remembered from his trip was not our wealth, but our poverty. He was shocked by the slums of Boston.
He wondered about American aid to poor countries. How can you send aid to these places, he asked, when you need such aid in your own poor communities?
What we are watching in New Orleans now is an indictment of our nation.
I can understand why we see refugees in Liberia walking miles in the hope of finding sustenance or safety; often there is little of either in that country. But why are we seeing these same images here?
Do we lack the trains, planes and automobiles to move our people to safety?
I can understand why it takes so much time to get aid halfway across the world, but why does it take so long to get aid to our own Gulf states?
I can understand why lawlessness rules the streets of many poor countries in crisis, but we have a huge standing army. Do we lack the soldiers to police American streets?
I am used to seeing images of desperate people hindering the very relief efforts aimed at saving them. I have seen news reports of refugees looting food shipments. I've even heard of warlords in some countries looting the shipments and then trying to sell food to those so desperate and poor as to be scarcely able to afford it.
But why are we seeing these images and hearing these reports of wanton looting ? by at least one police officer, no less ?in an American city?
I make no excuses for the looters.
What may have started out as a legitimate attempt to secure the most basic of necessities has quickly turned into a nightmarish free-for-all.
But we shouldn't be surprised that the criminal element that terrorizes New Orleans and just about every other major American city, declined to alter its behavior in the midst of this crisis.
I am surprised, however, that our leaders have failed to provide a more adequate and timely response to all of this.
I am surprised that, in light of the current crisis in New Orleans, that the United States of America can be seen to have so much in common with the poorest and most wretched places on earth.
Columnist
Years ago, a young South African scholar told me about his trip to America, to Boston, specifically.
I don't know who was in charge of his trip, but either they failed to give him his script or he failed to memorize his lines.
He was supposed to tell me about how wonderful our country is. He was supposed to have been impressed with the vast wealth of this place and with the quality and quantity of the latest technology here.
He was supposed to envy our First World status.
He didn't.
What he remembered from his trip was not our wealth, but our poverty. He was shocked by the slums of Boston.
He wondered about American aid to poor countries. How can you send aid to these places, he asked, when you need such aid in your own poor communities?
What we are watching in New Orleans now is an indictment of our nation.
I can understand why we see refugees in Liberia walking miles in the hope of finding sustenance or safety; often there is little of either in that country. But why are we seeing these same images here?
Do we lack the trains, planes and automobiles to move our people to safety?
I can understand why it takes so much time to get aid halfway across the world, but why does it take so long to get aid to our own Gulf states?
I can understand why lawlessness rules the streets of many poor countries in crisis, but we have a huge standing army. Do we lack the soldiers to police American streets?
I am used to seeing images of desperate people hindering the very relief efforts aimed at saving them. I have seen news reports of refugees looting food shipments. I've even heard of warlords in some countries looting the shipments and then trying to sell food to those so desperate and poor as to be scarcely able to afford it.
But why are we seeing these images and hearing these reports of wanton looting ? by at least one police officer, no less ?in an American city?
I make no excuses for the looters.
What may have started out as a legitimate attempt to secure the most basic of necessities has quickly turned into a nightmarish free-for-all.
But we shouldn't be surprised that the criminal element that terrorizes New Orleans and just about every other major American city, declined to alter its behavior in the midst of this crisis.
I am surprised, however, that our leaders have failed to provide a more adequate and timely response to all of this.
I am surprised that, in light of the current crisis in New Orleans, that the United States of America can be seen to have so much in common with the poorest and most wretched places on earth.