I don’t know about the accuracy of any of these posts, but the accounts are absolutely astounding.
DID YOU DONATE TO HURRICANE RELIEF?
I can call looters “sumbitches” on the premise that someone is maintaining order. But there won’t be any order for some time. I just saw an interview with a Pentagon official on American Morning who said, “It’s hard to believe, but we don’t have enough information on the ground to coordinate relief efforts.” […] WHAT? Maybe you people should get your butt down to Canal Street because there’s lots of trouble there. And how about a helicopter to get those people off that highway? This is a massive failure of FEMA and our federal government. Crap, man, Kellogg’s can get breakfast bars down to New Orleans, and our government can’t help people evacuate?
Lake New Orleans is Bush’s Fault & I Can Prove It
I am fucking outraged about this:
FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson …
Millions of Americans and people around the world have rushed to donate money to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which is shaping up to be one of the worst U.S. disasters in history, if not the worst.
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the lead federal agency in the rescue & recovery operation at work in New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast.
FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.
The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.
Class Revolt Brewing in Mississippi
Rightfully angry for being left behind–as were the poor of New Orleans–to fend for themselves against the beast Katrina turned out to be, the poorest of one of the poorest states are lashing out. The potential for civil unrest right now is at an alarming high.
A round-up of first-hand accounts from Jacqui, including a more than bizarre picture.
Gawker:
According to Drudge, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently enjoyed a little Broadway entertainment. And Page Six reports that she’s also working on her backhand with Monica Seles. So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief vacation in New York. We wish we were surprised.
What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.
Angry Lady, whoever you are, we love you. You are a true American, and we’ll go shoe shopping with you anytime.
New Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes
New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday, as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out and storm survivors battled for seats on the buses that would carry them away from the chaos. The tired and hungry seethed, saying they had been forsaken. “This is a desperate SOS,” mayor Ray Nagin said.
“We are out here like pure animals,” the Rev. Issac Clark said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where he and other evacuees had been waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead.
…An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.
“I don’t treat my dog like that,” 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair.
“You can do everything for other countries, but you can’t do nothing for your own people,” he added. “You can go overseas with the military, but you can’t get them down here.”
Some race and class data on New Orleans