lickety jackblog

WELCOME TO HELL, PART ONE

hey everyone,

instead of constantly talking to people on the phone, i'm going to post a semi-regular "column" about some of the things going on around here as a result of the hurricane. and i'm doing so for a couple of reasons: 1. after talking to many of you, i've found out that a lot of the things being reported down here don't get up there. 2. hopefully, it will be somewhat therapeutic for me.

i guess the topic for this post is the current state of the State, which is complete and utter chaos in parts. it is becoming increasingly apparent that the State might have planned what to do up until disaster struck, but gave little consideration to what would happen after. i know many of you have wondered what would happen if people had to live without a governmental infrastucture looming over them. well, c'mon down and bring your kevlar vests with you. it is insanity in New Orelans. For those of you without a real background of what's going, i would recommend this article.

as many of you know, the entire city is without power and water. the mayor is holed up in the hyatt building downtown, (that's the black building which looks like its been bombed out), doing the best he can, but losing. as a result, people are literally fighting for survival. the looters have armed themselves. the cops are so outnumbered that they aren't stopping people walking down the streets with weapons, so long as those people aren't murdering anyone. the cops themselves have engaged in the looting, because they were so underprepared for the storm that they need food and water. one officer claimed that there has been no communication with the deputy chiefs and little with the chief of police. there are many reports that corpses with bulletholes are floating in the city. the looters attempted to storm the Ritz Carlton, because many well-to-do guests were still inside. they have also stormed the hospitals looking for drugs (these are hospitals that the State believed had been evacuated. oops!). resuce crews have reported being caught in the crossfire of gang fights which are occurring on rooftops. people have fired at the rescue choppers. there were gang-rapes and -beatings in the Superdome. one evacuee even claimed that children had been kidnapped and raped within the building. paraphrasing one officer, the cops aren't doing anything either, because 45 bullets doesn't mean shit when there are thousands of people around you.

and what is the State's response? Well, as regards the looters: kill 'em. the implication is rather clear from Blanco's statement in the above article. apparently 30 SWAT teams are being brought into Orleans, and a SEAL unit has been mobilized for when the Navy reaches the state. and hey, what better way to cover it up than with a giant flood. but on the other hand, the City does really need the rule of law restored. so martial law probably is a step up. As regards everything else: very slow. there is an overpass which some people have been able to wade to and which search and rescue teams have dropped people. One problem, though. Nobody's there to pick them up. people have died due to heat exhaustion on the overpass. One man killed himself by jumping off it. Baton Rouge and the State are fighting now. B.R. is pissed because the State hasn't given them enough resources to deal with the 100,000 new residents of the city.

additionally, the further east you go in the state, in some of the hardest hit parishes, nobody has shown up it. these citizens are doing the best they can, but with no relief groups, it is, to say, at least difficult. For example, in st. bernard parish, there is one person out there assessing the damage to the oil refineries.

Which leads me to my next question: Where in the FUCK is the Federal Government? can't get much done when the State which has the biggest disaster ever is left to totally pick up the pieces. all of these promises have been made, and Mayor Nagin is stating that none of it has been delivered yet, which is great considering more people get to die for it.

Oh, well. this real long now. One last thing: FUCK DENNIS HASTERT. HARD. NAGIN FOR PRES IN '08.

posted by ayatollah assahola @ 12:58 AM