I fell asleep around 5 this evening. Alan woke me up around 7:30 with Tombstone pizza. I was happy he cooked it without bothering me. But! He brought me half of a pizza and said I had to eat it all. Um, I barely finished a one of the slices. He said I don't eat enough to live on. I'm sorry, but I stop eating when I get full.
Now for why the news is upsetting me. I actually watched 20/20 last night for the first time. People in New Orleans are complaining about the amount of time it's taking the rescuers to get to them. Well, the guard supposedly in place. (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20050903/43191fc0_3ca6_1552620050903250092423) IMO, they were in place. They were waiting for where it was THOUGHT that the storm would hit the worst. No one expected the levy to break down. THAT is where most of NO's problem came from. Also, when rescuers got to the Superdome, there were people shooting at them. Um, if the people I was trying to help started shooting in my direction, I would assume that they didn't want help. To make it worse, the president had to tour the other hit areas, as in Mississippi and Alabama. One reporter asked Bush why he was in Miss. instead of NO. Bush calmly replied that he had already toured NO and that it was his job to survey the other areas too. I may not be a huge Bush fan, but I have to admit that I think he is doing a good job considering the circumstances. I have absolutely no problem with him during this time. (I'm sure Kathy might disagree with me, but hey, it's America. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions.) But on 20/20, they showed some of the 'African-American' congress(wo)men. They are claiming that it's a racist thing since NO is 2/3 black. Um, it couldn't be that it simply takes time. It couldn't be that they had to find a way INTO NO. It couldn't be because it takes time to gather supplies. It couldn't be because there were other places that needed help so forces were split. It couldn't be because the rescue workers have to work from the easily accessible places first. It couldn't be because stupid people (of whatever color) were shooting at rescuers. It couldn't be because the problems in NO were totally unforeseen. Nope. It HAS to be a racist thing. (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20050903/43191fc0_3426_1335020050903-938583801)
You know, where I grew up, there was a lot of that. Racism. I can honestly say that I've never felt that way. I don't care what color people are. If someone was purple I'd probably like them as long as the were nice and decent. (Decent in my world is just nice, amiable, and so forth.) I hate when people make something out to be a racist thing. It just bugs the crap out of me. Some people are always looking for something to get mad about. But let me ask this. What about the NAACP? What about BET? IS this racism since they basically don't allow whites? Of course it isn't, because it's not whites doing it. Believe me, growing up in Bama, I've seen a lot of racism. I just tried to ignore it. If someone asked me point blank if I agreed, I'd say no and go on my merry way. You can't change people's minds. My main problem is that people assume things about other people. The first people to yell out "Racism" (no matter their color), IMO, are the ones with the problem. If anyone has opinions they'd like to share, please feel free.
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Amber
ReplyDeleteYou are preaching to the choir.
The actual hurricane hit Miss. There is nothing left all along the coast. New Orleans? It was missed by the hurricane. The damage there is mostly from the flooding.
I’m sorry, but I do not sympathize for the folks that chose to NOT leave, the folks who made the hurricane into a joke and did not heed the EVACUATION ORDER. I do feel sorry for the folks who had no transportation and had no choice but to ride it out.
The Superdome was a “safe place.” It survived the hurricane, but didn’t survive the humans that were in it. They were alive! The rescue efforts were concentrated on getting to the people trapped by the flood waters. Don’t forget. These brave people were being shot at.
I saw that they were complaining about the conditions at the Superdome. No one made the Superdome people trash the place. They did that on their own.
I’m sorry it took a while to evacuate the survivors. From what I could see, there were not that many highways and roads open. How the heck do you get folks out? (This isn’t Star Trek. And we don’t have any transporters.) The same applies to the problem of getting in supplies.
The President did tour New Orleans. He did so from the air. Why? Just where was he supposed to land? How was he supposed to travel once he was on land? And please, don’t forget the snipers that had been shooting. At one point they were shooting at the evacuation efforts of one of the hospitals.
Oh, and as far as the President sending help. I thought the governor of a state was supposed to ask for the federal government’s help. From the disasters we’ve had here in Arkansas, our governors have always had to ask the President to declare a Federal Disaster.
Finally, the race card being played angers me. Race has nothing to do with this. The fact that New Orleans is predominantly black is just that, a fact. How anyone can read racism into this is beyond me.
I will bring this up, since you didn’t.
The shooting, the killing, the beating, the rapes… it is unimaginable that HUMANS would do that to each other. The worst of mankind came out. One of the 6th grade English teachers said it best. “We got a brief look into what Hell’s going to be like.” I agreed with her, but I also think that the misery will be amplified.
The looting was disgraceful. Taking the food and diapers, I can understand. Taking televisions, loads of beer, cigarettes and other non food items is pure greedy. One thought on that. How the heck are they going to use any of the electronics? There is no electricity. AND, the flooded areas will be uninhabitable. What are they going to tell the National Guard troops when they get stopped and checked while attempting to leave the area?
Sorry for taking up so much space. I guess I’ve been watching the news too much. (Fox News does need to tell Geraldo to calm down some. He got a bit too emotional Friday night.)
Teresa
Sandy, I hope your son stays safe and helps many people. And you are right about the non-perfection of human beings.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I'm glad you brought all that up, and I must say that I gree with you 100%. Also, this stuff is the reason that I've been missing the coverage on purpose.
Oh! Alan told me what he saw today while I was asleep. A reporter was talking to a woman and asked if the woman blames anyone for the conditions she's in. According to Alan, the woman basically said that while it would be easy to blame someone, it wouldn't help get them aid any faster, so what was the point? Besides,All she wanted was help, not to cast blame. Don't you love it when reporters aren't as impartial as they should be? I guess they're going for their ratings. Oh! And the reporters were the ones who let the 'refugees (even though we won't use that word for Americans)' know what was being said by the congresspeople. Well, strife=bigger ratings I guess.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything both you and Teresa said. Mark and I had been having very similar discussions. Even the governor of Louisiana stated that she could understand people taking food and necessities, but not the other items. Oh,I know, the looter were just taking things for the store owner so they wouldn't get damaged by the flood waters, and were going to give it all back when things got cleaned up. Yeah, right!
And I don't know why so many are saying racism, etc., regarding helping those in NO. NO is all we're hearing about, very little is being reported about the devastation in Mississippi by comparison, if you ask me.
Anyway, I'm going to continue praying for all the vicitms down there, regardless of color, and for all the people that are/have gone down there to help in so many different ways.
Maybe that's Alan's way of saying he's worried about you, that he thinks you're lost too much weight, and he's afraid it will affect your health.
Lourese
One thing that seems really strange to me is that it's being reported over here that we are putting together an aid package but it's up to your Govt to approve it. We've offered to come and help right now but have been told no. Also we aren't allowed to go in and pick up our own people.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard any reports like that?
Take care
Lourese, I can understand the food and necessities as well. In fact, were I in the situation with the kids, you can bet I'd probably be trying to get them food and water. And we barely hear about Miss., and the crazy thing is that if anyone wants to bring racism into the equation, most of the people we see on the Miss. coverage (if we're lucky enough to catch that five minutes) are white. So what does that prove?
ReplyDeleteAnd Aunt Lourese? Last I checked, I was holding steady at 127 lbs. I don't think losing any more weight would be good for me.
Brilly, I haven't heard about any of that. I could understand if the govt. wanted to check it for anything that's not good, but they have to APPROVE it? And help has been offered? I did read on Jix when Susi posted that there were European countries that wanted to help, but I haven't heard about it from anywhere else. Sorry if this gets political (especially since I don't do political well) but what is the US's problem with accepting help? There's been nothing on the news about the US accepting Europe's help either that I've seen or heard. Alan was just asking me the other day where all the offers for help were because the US helps in most if not all of the other major disasters. I told him that I guessed the US was trying to be self-sufficient. Fat lot of good that's doing, IMO. (That was sarcastic, BTW.) I don't pretend to be up on current events or politics, but glub, glub. Something's fishy and I don't think it's just the ocean.
Hi again, I've just been reading around the internet and over 50 counties have offered monetary support. I think your Govt wants to see how to put the money to good use.
ReplyDeleteYour Govt has refused any help from 'specialist' teams from Aust which I can sort of understand but it's a bit of a slap in the face to our Govt. After all we are your allies.
The main problem for us is that your Govt won't let us come in and spend OUR money to rescue OUR citizens. Your Govt keeps telling us that they will rescue everyone themselves. They say there is no way in. At the moment Aussie journalists ( who ARE allowed in ) are helping Aussie citizens out of the area.
Straight after the tsunami we had TV appeals for clothing, blankets etc. With you guys there's been no talk of an appeal, no ads saying "Please drop clothing and blankets to this spot" Very strange.
As for the racist part. ALL we are seeing over here is poor BLACK people stranded without food or water. I'm sure there are poor white people too, but that isn't what the world is being shown. We're being shown the black woman with 4 kids who is saying that it's because of racism that they haven't been rescued. It may be untrue but that is what other parts of the world are seeing.
Take care
Lindsay, Somehow, I figured you might agree. ;) We seem to be a lot alike...strange. Glad you wouldn't leave us though! Love you!
ReplyDeleteBrilly, I did not know about other countries wanting to help until Susi posted and then you commented here. I don't know if I'm the only one in the dark or what. I think you are trying to understand more than I am. I see no reason to wait to accept help. And I know what the rest of the world is seeing because it's what we're seeing here. I'm not sure what's gonna happen after all of this, but I'm not sure it'll be good. Love you!