Battle of Orleans

I used to shake my head in disgust and dismay while watching on CNN the senseless violence that occurs in Africa and Haiti and other third world countries and wonder, " What's wrong with these people? Who's in charge over there? Why isn't anybody helping the civilians? How can this be happening?" I never thought I'd be asking the same questions about New Orleans, U.S.A.

There's no better example of the complete disconnect between the needs of the America people and the response of the Federal and State governments.


In the words of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who completely lost it in a radio interview, "....I am pissed!" He said nobody's talking about it, but drug addicts are roaming the streets, armed to the teeth, looking for something to take the edge off of their jones. And they don't have the manpower to deal with it. "Someone needs to get their ass on a plane and figure this shit out RIGHT NOW," he said, referring to the Governor and The President just before breaking down into frustrated sobs.

Scary.

CNN keeps reporting that the people need food, water and police and military security. The National Guard officials keep saying they're doing everything they can, and that more and more guards are being deployed to help. However, I will say this about the media coverage, I don't think I've seen one picture on CNN of military troops being deployed to the area, though they claim there's thousands. CNN has been there for three days and they've only shown FEMA employees, who are basically just collecting bodies at this point. Is the breakdown in emergency response or CNN's coverage?

The New Orleans police department is holed up in their precinct and have snipers on the roof, protecting their own while simultaneously watching the city burn.

Where the fuck is the military? Oh yeah, they're "protecting our freedom" in Iraq. Well, damn good thing we have The Department of Homeland Security to make sure we're all safe. Thank God for that.

Unreal. Strange how this happens when most of the media images show black faces as the ones pleading for help as well as the ones looting and shooting. Would there be a lack of response if this happened in western Florida? Is it possible there's a subtext of racism? I'd really hate to believe that.