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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 10:27:43 AM | Lets face it. You Bush bashers are so pathologically focused on him that you have lost your abilities to see anything else! In the world of psychology, thats called co'dependency.,.. its a disorder!
When I saw the images of the aftermath of New Orleans, I didn't see welfare...or black people...or even poor people.
I just saw people.
People that needed help badly. Old and young people that were dying. People trapped in a Biblical type flood situation (at least locally), people in extreme heat, and without anyone being seen as coming to assist them in anyway for days. Human beings who were not being considered important enough to save with every one of the many resources your great country is famous for.
WHY they were in the situation does not override the fact THAT they were in that situation.
It was the greatest natural disaster in modern times in the USA, and Bush supporters are more willing to blame those in the greatest need - while looking the other way at the actions of their leaders.
In the world of humanity, that's called having no heart or compassion whatsoever.
There is NO WAY any government can be ready for a hurricane of this magnitude in 24 hours...or 24 days! MG is a very smart man and I agree with alot of the guys posts...but he is way off on this one.
In one sentence you say no one can be ready for something of this magnitude, even with 24 hours/day notice.
The City and state could have had measures in place, MRE`S...water....but no...
So, the small local government CAN be prepared and ready ?
Spot the gap in the argument for ten bonus forum points.
Even if they had everything in place, they did not have the structure and resources available after the winds died down, and the waters rose. Most of their National Guard troops and related resources (like Mississisipi's) were stationed in the Middle East.
That storm, and it's after-effects, would have decimated any municipality.
Before the storm, in that letter from Blanco, the state plainly states it sees the strong likelyhood of it's capacity to react being overwhelmed. Multiple times in phone conversations Blanco stated "we need everything you got".
According to the governor's account, Blanco notified President Bush two days before the storm hit that federal assistance would be needed. And she said she told Bush on August 29, "We need your help. We need everything you've got."
The state sought firefighting support, military vehicles, generators, medical supplies and personnel.
On August 30, after the failures of three levees left most of New Orleans and its surrounding parishes under water, Blanco told Bush that "the situation is extremely grave."
Five days after one request from the governor for federal help, a presidential aide told Blanco in a memo that Bush never got her letter.
The aide told Blanco, "We found it on the governor's Web site, but we need 'an original' for our staff secretary to formally process the requests."
Sunday evening, Blanco's aides told CNN that the governor personally handed the same letter to the president when he visited New Orleans on September 2.
A White House spokeswoman said she was not in a position to comment about what might have happened between the governor and the president that day, but that a number of reviews are under way to determine exactly what happened that week.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/04/blanco.papers/
"We need everything you've got," Blanco is quoted in a memo as telling President Bush on Aug. 29, the day Katrina made landfall. But despite assurances from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that 500 buses were "standing by," Blanco's aides were compelled to take action when the FEMA buses failed to materialize, documents show.
In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.
Two days later, on Sept. 2, Blanco complained to the White House that FEMA had still failed to fulfill its promises of aid. While cloaked in customary political courtesies, Blanco noted that she had already requested 40,000 more troops; ice, water and food; buses, base camps, staging areas, amphibious vehicles, mobile morgues, rescue teams, housing, airlift and communications systems, according to a press office e-mail of the text of her letter to Bush.
Tensions between state leaders and the White House seemed at times near the boiling point. At 3:49 p.m. on Sept. 2, after spending three hours to appear with Bush at a Mississippi news conference, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote Blanco's staff, "I am returning home to baron[sic] rouge in hoping I can accomplish something for the people I represent other than being occupied with PR."
He added that Bush's "entire effort on behalf of the federal government has been reflected in his and his people's nonchalant attitude to the people of LA. You may give him this to read."
Overnight the crisis deepened. Although FEMA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel in New Orleans reported witnessing a massive break hundreds of feet long in the 17th Street Canal levee that afternoon -- effectively dooming the city -- the first report of the collapse in the state police log came at 3 a.m. the next day, Aug. 30.
The night of Aug. 30 , police recorded a cry for help every 25 seconds, or 900 calls between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. By 11 a.m. Aug. 31, the police log shows, National Guard units abandoned air rescues, changing over to dropping food and water.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/03/AR2005120301480.html
Blanco's official response to Congress :
http://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=1523
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to- be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.
Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.
A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.
"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.
Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:
_Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588067/posts
There's your smoking gun right there, when coupled with that letter and the Stafford Act's powers. You have clear, and undeniable proof that SIX days before troops arrived in the flood ravaged city - top government officials had been FULLY briefed, in detail as to the potential of mass devastation...and yet they waited.
As an analogy, it's Katrina's version of the Zapruder film - and there is no "magic bullet" to explain the trajectory of this administration's lack of massive response.
Even AFTER the disaster, the same pattern emerges :
WWL-TV introduced us to Korean War veteran Paul Morris, 74, and his wife Yvonne, 66. They have been sleeping in their 2 door sedan since January. They have been waiting that long for FEMA contractors to unlock the 240 square foot trailer in their yard and connect the power so they can sleep inside it in front of their devastated home.
This tale of lunacy does not begin to stop there.
Their 240 square foot trailer may well cost more than their house. While FEMA flat out refuses to say how much the government is paying for trailers, reliable estimates by the New York Times and others place the cost at over $60,000 each.
How could these tiny FEMA trailers cost so much?
Follow the money.
Circle B Enterprises of Georgia was awarded $287 million in contracts by FEMA for temporary housing. At the time, that was the seventh highest award of Katrina money in the country. According to the Washington Post, Circle B was not even being licensed
to build homes in its own state of Georgia and filed for bankruptcy in 2003. The company does not even have a website.
Here is how it works. The original contractor takes their cut and subcontracts out the work of constructing the trailer to other companies. Once it is built, they subcontract out the transporting the trailers to yet other companies which pay drivers, gas, insurance and mileage. They then subcontract out the hookups of the trailers to other companies and keep taking cuts for their services. Usually none of the people who make the money are local workers.
With $60,000 many people could adequately repair their homes.
Why not just give the $60,000 directly to the elderly couple and let them fix up their home? Ask Congress. FEMA is not allowed to give grants of that much. Money for fixing up homes comes from somewhere else and people are still waiting for that to arrive.
While many corporations are making big money offof Katrina, Mr. and Mrs. Morris wait in their car.
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/node/115
The country didn't have to wait for him when the Korean War was being fought, yet he waits for his country now when he has nothing. While he waits, rich people get richer.
Is this any way for a war vet to be treated ? Maybe we can all find a way to blame HIM, as well.
Here's a 71 page report on worker abuse, post Katrina :
According to a powerful new report released today by the Advancement Project, the National Immigration Law Center and the New Orleans Workers Justice Coalition, black and Latino workers in post-Katrina New Orleans have faced a shocking catalog of abuses, including wage theft, widespread and massive health and safety violations, racism and discrimination, law enforcement violence, and more.
Through firsthand accounts, the report paints a detailed and dramatic picture of declining workers' rights in the city. Despite a huge need for labor to restore the city and billions of dollars spent on rebuilding, black and Latino workers have been pitted against each other in a race to the bottom, while well-placed businesses and contractors have gorged on huge profits. With housing still unavailable for many, profiteering and displacement has been the rule.
Its not just poor black and Latino workers that have been exploited in New Orleans -- the black middle class has also been devastated. The United Teachers of New Orleans –- UTNO, the teachers' union -- was the largest union in the city, and a majority of those represented were black workers. The School Board voted in the fall to lay off all but 61 of the 7,000 employees, and last week let the teachers' union contract expire with little comment and no fanfare. "Elites of the city may prefer the teachers don't come back," Jacques Morial, community advocate and brother of former mayor Marc Morial, said at a recent forum, "because they represent an educated class of black New Orleans, with steady income, seniority and job protection."
Rosana Cruz, Gulf Coast field coordinator for the National Immigration Law Center, is sympathetic to the apprehension from the black community. "There are anxieties that are incredibly valid about a cultural genocide of this city," she tells me. "This is a city that was built on racism. The organizing we're doing is a counter to the racism dividing immigrants and African-Americans against each other."
http://www.advancementproject.org/reports/workersreport.pdf
See a pattern here, America ?
This President loves to refer to Jesus constantly, but forgets Jesus would not have started to accept the possibility of people dying when help could be sent.
"In case some one of your brothers becomes poor among you in one of your cities, in your land that Jehovah your God is giving you, you must not harden your heart or be closefisted toward your poor brother. For you should generously open your hand to him and by all means lend him on pledge as much as he needs, which he is in want of... You should by all means give to him, and your heart should not be stingy in your giving to him, because on this account Jehovah your God will bless you in every deed of yours and in every undertaking of yours. For someone poor will never cease to be in the midst of the land. That is why I am commanding you, saying, 'You should generously open up your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land." (Deut 15:7-11).
"My brothers, what use is it for a man to say he has faith when he does nothing to show it? Can that faith save him? Suppose a brother or a sister is in rags with not enough food for the day, and one of you says, 'Good luck to you, keep yourselves warm, and have plenty to eat', but does nothing to supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is in itself a lifeless thing." (James 2:14-17).
The Lord "has no favourites at the poor man's expense, but listens to his prayer when he is wronged." (Eccus 35:13).
"So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is in itself a lifeless thing."
Amen. | |
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myoid
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Joined: 7/22/2006
Msg: 52 | |
| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 12:15:25 PM | ***You SERIOUSLY think that it's important to this discussion to know where a SnoWizard factory or Ruth's steak house is???? I never said I was an expert at New Orleans landmarks ............ ***
Yes indeed I do. It's my city. Some smarta** white girl from Oregon thinks she can spend 2 weeks as a tourist and tell me what went wrong in my city. She can't even find the best steakhouse and get a snowball for dessert. She don't know squat. I was in the water when it was happening. I was there when it mattered. Don't try to tell me what went wrong from your little perch in Oregon.
***As for your *not* volunteering because you say the time is "over" for that? Would you PLEASE tell that to my two nephews, and most of their friends, who just got back from a two week stay in New Orleans, flying their by spending their OWN money, and HELPING PEOPLE TO REBUILD as volunteers? Gee ...... they used their vacation time to actually HELP there, instead of going somewhere else for some R&R ..... not much fun I'm sure, and an expensive trip for them, but they got a whole lot of "psychic income".***
And they wasted their time and caused a lot of damage. There is even a derogatory name for them -- we call them VOLUNTOURISTS. If you would read the newspapers on the scene, most notably the Times Picayune, you would find that the era for the volunteers is over. The cost that they are imposing on the system exceeds the value they are providing. The Picayune runs articles on the subject quite often, complete with economic analysis. Worse yet, by being here they are in effect providing a cover for the wrongdoers, the people hijacking the true recovery effort. When questioned about the lack of progress in areas such as housing, it is too easy to point to the volunteers and begin a cheerleading session about how wonderful they are. In fact they are horribly detrimental to the effort. So in case they don't understand, listen carefully -- so called volunteers, Please stay away! You are being used! And by the way, little miss all about me, we're not really that interested in what "psychic income" your nephews may have received. Because this really ain't about them.
***Getting facts straight doesn't seem to be your strong suit***
Let's see what Spike has to say. He opened in New Orleans last night to rave reviews. He's on Monday and Tuesday night. One of the great film makers of our era is going to tell his tale. Let's see what tale he tells -- the one I saw, or the one you saw. The last time I talked with Spike it was shortly before Malcolm X came out. He was on campus at Tulane. I wonder what city that was in? Spike knows my city too. I'm willing to bet he saw what I saw. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 12:40:22 PM |
Some smarta** white girl from Oregon
Who's a racist?????
And they wasted their time and caused a lot of damage. There is even a derogatory name for them -- we call them VOLUNTOURISTS. If you would read the newspapers on the scene, most notably the Times Picayune, you would find that the era for the volunteers is over. The cost that they are imposing on the system exceeds the value they are providing. The Picayune runs articles on the subject quite often, complete with economic analysis. Worse yet, by being here they are in effect providing a cover for the wrongdoers, the people hijacking the true recovery effort. When questioned about the lack of progress in areas such as housing, it is too easy to point to the volunteers and begin a cheerleading session about how wonderful they are. In fact they are horribly detrimental to the effort. So in case they don't understand, listen carefully -- so called volunteers, Please stay away!
Are you out of your mind? Are you that selfish that you would say something like that to people who are trying to help you. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The last time I talked with Spike it was shortly before Malcolm X came out. He was on campus at Tulane. I wonder what city that was in? Spike knows my city too. I'm willing to bet he saw what I saw.
So what us white people say is irrelevent. Spike will know 'cause Spike is black and that's all the creditial anyone needs, huh? | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 1:30:46 PM | | TOON,ALL YOUR POSTS ARE WONDERFUL AND RIGHT ON.I WATCHED IN PAIN AND HORROR,THE SUFFERING AT THE SUPERDOME,NO EXPLANATION WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE,FOR PEOPLE CROWDED TOGETHER FOR DAYS WITH NO FOOD OR WATER. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 1:36:22 PM | | How about this explanation: there was a big hurricane. (Sorry for the smart ass comment. Couldn't help myself, lol.) But really, if that was the only hurricane shelter that the local goverment had established, they should have had supplies there prior to the hurricane. If they knew they were taking people there and had sent a letter to the White House saying that they were expecting massive damage, why didn't they have water and non-perishable food items on hand at their shelter? | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 2:39:23 PM | You know,it's folks like this who I would love to break my foot off in their asses! I've got news for you "pinebreeze"........sounds pretty gay  ,there are more young white,poor females on public assistance than any other race/gender in the United States. You need to get your facts straight. I agree with Toon. The only thing you drew from the hurricane aftermath was so called "3rd generation Black welfare mothers" begging the government for assistance. I believe you saw what you wanted to see in order to feed your own racist attitude toward African Americans in general. You should change you photo.........you're not wearing your Klan mask. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 3:43:15 PM | I know it won't do any good to argue with you, but I live in the N.O. area. What you probably know about it you are more than likely getting from the media, which we all know, or should know, may or may not be the whole truth. Many of those people who did not evacuate, but could have, had cars sitting in their yards that ended up under water after the hurricane had passed. Warnings to evacuate were put out for at least two days before the storm hit. You can't put a gun to someone's head to make them evacuate. I agree that there were many who couldn't, but many who could have refused to leave. Also, there was a post about Para-Military in this forum.......there was no para-military to my knowledge, but there were hundreds of crimminals and outlaws, mostly drug dealers, etc. that were looting businesses and homes and actually shooting at rescue personnel, many who were volunteer civilians, using their boats to help rescue people. What kind of idiot would shoot at Coast Guard Helicopters?
Part of the problem can be laid squarely on the shoulders of the Corps of Engineers(we kind of hate them down here). The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was built by these brilliant people who are educated beyond their intelligence. The Mr. Go, as it is known here, has been responsible for the devastation of thousands & thousands of acres of pristine marshland due to salt water intrusion. This marshland was a buffer from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. People have for years tried to get the Corps to close this waterway, which during Katrina, acted as a huge funnel to let water come rushing out of the Gulf. It looks like they are now ready to close this "gate" after the "horses" are out.
As for the Spike Lee "documentary"......about 7,000 people attended the showing at the N.O. arena last night according to the Times-Picayune this morning, not 10,000. I too believe that while Spike Lee is a talented movie maker, he is also biased and a racist. As for the local Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies refusing to allow a mob of thousands of people to cross the bridge......this happened several days after the hurricane, not before or during. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the real truth about this is. Our governor and the racist "Chocolate City" mayor(his words, not mine). let everyone down as did the Federal government and FEMA. The waste that has gone on is unbelievable. I know people who received FEMA checks that hadn't applied for them. A clean-up contract was given to a company that didn't own one single piece of equipment and who sub-contracted everything out to others, who sub-contracted out to others, each raking off a portion for themselves untill it finally got down to the guy with the equipment to do the job. This was from FEMA, not from our corrupt state and N.O. officials.
Now, if you want to see real destruction and ruin, go to the Mississippi coast. I drove over there about a month after Katrina hit and it made this grown man cry. For miles and miles along the Mississippi coast there is nothing but slabs and foundations from the coast all the way back to Interstate 10....I mean, everything is gone. The news media has almost ignored these victims of the storm. Here, almost a year after, some people are still living in tents.
Also ignored by the media are the people of southwest Louisiana, who were completely devastated by Hurricane Rita a month after Katrina. The majority of these people are poor Cajuns making their living fishing, shrimping, or crabbing, and generally living off of the land, but they are also self-reliant and don't have the attitude of what the government can do for them.
Sorry to have rambled on and on, but a lot of people in this country aren't getting the whole truth about what is going on down here. By the way, in 1965, a hurricane named Betsy hit N.O. Guess what part of N.O. got flooded. Yep, New Orleans East. There were people who drowned in their attics because the water got over the peaks of their roofs. This time, the people in charge were telling people to put an axe in their attics so they could chop their way out in case the water got that high. That water was also from the Gulf and came up the Mr. Go.
Regardless, this was a very sad and costly storm. I am thankful that I live on high ground north of New Orleans. I had several relatives that had water up to the eaves of their houses and they weren't poor black people. Lets get the record straight, this storm was not racist. It affected averybody down here.  | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 4:49:32 PM | SKYDAD ........ Thank you SO MUCH for sharing with us from your own, personal experience. I could only report what I heard from a few who lived through it ......... you were able to report from what you've seen of the many with your own eyes, and heard with your own ears. What I "saw" was complete devastation in an area much larger than I had ever previously imagined, and it was so, sooooooo sad. The news certainly did not do the scope of the damage justice at all.
Perhaps your post will finally set things to rights. Thank you for taking the time to so articulately put us all straight ............. it was really appreciated! I"m sure I'm in agreement with everyone else when I say I hope your city comes back better than ever and thrives once again. I know my trip there was amazing ...... there is so much history, and I learned so much. Thank you, again, for sharing! 
FWIW, the business I own, as well as many of my professional associations, helped in the only way "we" knew how, and sent volunteers, food, kennels, personell, and other assistance for the animals that had been displaced or abandoned to be rescued as well. All were volunteers or donations, and all were appreciated (in spite of what MYOID said about volunteers being unwanted). We were even able to get the airlines to donate cargo fees and find space available on flights to get the 1000's of animals to new and safe destinations, and many people helped to reunite owners with their missing "friends" after the fact. Boarding kennels were full ..... for "free". Stables took in large animals ..... "gratis". Volunteers drove miles in trucks ...... "at their own expense". All to help in the only ways we could. For people like some of our other, more cynical, POF'ers here who seem to wish to complain about us "Americans" not doing the "right thing", they should first do some research and learn about the MANY who have tried, and still are trying, to help. Rebuilding from a disaster of that magnitude will take years, if not decades. Nothing rebounds quickly from that sort of devastation. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 4:59:26 PM | MYOID SAYS:
"Yes indeed I do. It's my city. Some smarta** white girl from Oregon thinks she can spend 2 weeks as a tourist and tell me what went wrong in my city. She can't even find the best steakhouse and get a snowball for dessert. She don't know squat. I was in the water when it was happening. I was there when it mattered. Don't try to tell me what went wrong from your little perch in Oregon."
MYOID ............ I thought you said you ummmmmm lived in Alabama????? Hmmmm .......... Louisiana ......... Alabama ............. you were in the water "when it mattered" (whatever that means) ........ sounds like a long SWIM to me! As for food, I had some of the best food EVER, at some of the oldest, most fabulous restaurants around. (Yes, even good STEAKS.) And truthfully, I couldn't say that one of them was better than they other ....... they were all WONDERFUL!
As for your vision of "volunteers", call them what you will, and denigrate them however you may, but the fact remains that WITHOUT THEM, your city wouldn't be moving forward at all in any way. A psychologist friend of mine flew down from MD to spend time with the displaced after the event ......... trying to help people like YOU who were, obviously, having difficulty handling the situation, sort through the mindbending realities of what had happened. He spent 3 weeks there, without pay ........ without a place to stay ......... with very little food and water........ and with way too much to do, and never enough hours in the day. He went home exhausted ....... but glad to have been "of service" to his fellow Americans. He's just one example of how many AMERICANS have helped in so very many ways to assist people like yourself and your sister through this tragedy, no matter how unappreciative you seem to be. How unfortunate that you are so very unable to acknowledge the wisdom, scope, and compassion of their generosity. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 5:46:45 PM | | MYOID, I have to totally disagree with you about the Volunteers. I hate to say this, but you don't know what the H*LL you are talking about when you state that they are a detriment. In my town, north of Lake Ponchartrain, there are a couple of hundred volunteers still staying every night at our church. They come in for a week or two at a time. I bet you won't find anyone that has been helped by these volunteers saying they are a detriment. During the day, they go to places like south Slidell, St. Bernard Parish(County), and the Lower Ninth Ward in N.O. and work in stifling heat indexes of 110 dergrees plus and high humidity stripping the insides of flooded homes.(Yep, i can see where that is a lot of fun all right). If you think they are tourists and doing it for the fun of it, you need to be at my church at 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon when they come in, sweat soaked, dirty, and so tired they can hardly stand up. They aren't voluntourists like you called them. Incidently, that is the first time I have ever heard that word and I read the T-P every day and I have not seen anything in the Picayune about the volunteers hijacking the recovery effort. They are from California, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Montana, Washington State, Georgia, and even from Canada, plus I know I missed a few states. A lot of these are College kids taking a week or two off to help their fellow man. Here on the northshore, we weren't flooded(unless you lived close to the lake), but the devastation caused by downed trees was everywhere. Thank goodness I only had three trees on my roof. They had businessmen that came in with chain saws and bobcats and cleared trees for residents that couldn't afford to pay someone to do it. Nobody asked for anything in return. For weeks after the storm, I went to the National Guard distribution center and hauled hundreds of bags of ice in my truck to devastated areas of south Slidell, which though a smaller area than east N.O., had tremendous flooding and wind damage. I also made hauls of ice, baby food, and diapers several times to "forgotten" Washington Parish, which took a tremendous hit from tornados and straight line winds. Nobody seemed to know that they needed help. They were a long way from any areas that flooded. Someone told us that these people were desperate as they had no electricity, food, water, or anything. Washington Parish, like New Orleans East has a majority poor black population. By the way, what part of Alabama are you from? | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 6:32:30 PM | in my opinion spike lee is a racist. that's my 2cents.
now i have a neighbor that spent 11 months in new orleans rebuilding houses after the hurricane. when he came back he told me and i quote "you would not beleive how lazy they are down there". he kept going on how all the locals refused to work. all they wanted was there fema checks.he said he could not get 1 local person to help him even at $20 an hour. he even told me about this one guy that got a trailer from fema and was having problems with the heater. so they came out to fix the heater and said where is the trailer and he said oh it's at my hunting cabin. mind you he is still living in his house which only had 2 spare rooms damaged from the hurricane. he put the trailer at his hunting cabin because he had not finished building his cabin before the hurricane hit.all i can say is if you can't help yourself(because of injury's or something of the sort) that's one thing but if you can get your butt up to go get a check or work on your hunting cabin then you damn well better get off your butt and get a friggin job,help your neighbor,volunteer or whatever you can. and stop putting the blame on everbody else. just incase anyone's wondering no i did not go down there because i've had 3 hip replacement surgery's in the past 3 years but i did help send supply's down from one of our local animal hospital's. ok my rant is over. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 6:54:22 PM | Speaking of FEMA Trailers........ They just found out that thousands(literally) of the FEMA trailers have the same lock on them, so anybody's key will fit anybody else's trailer. They are now in the process of re-keying locks. Looks like they did the same thing with contracting to have the trailers built as they did with the cleanup. As for paying $60,000 per trailer, what do you expect from someone who pays $100 for a $10 hammer or $250 for a $20 toilet seat. The people that award these contracts and the crooks that get them should be hung. If a person can watch Spike Lee's documentary and just realize that just maybe it may be a little biased, then maybe the real truth will be revealed. I heard a lot of it was very touching and that a lot of folks needed Kleenex. By the way, There are plenty of folks to lay blame on and it won't do any good......its in the past now. Lets just hope it doesn't happen again.
As for the levees, there is a levee board in N.O. that is supposed to inspect the levees. This board, I believe is appointed by the governor. There was an article in the Times-Picayune where it was stated that most of the inspections were really done over glasses of "beverages" in one of the local bars. Some of the residents living close to the levees complained of leakage in places, however, the levee board never seemed to find them. Thank goodness the legislature passed a bill, which the voters will hopefully approve this fall, that will change the make-up of these levee boards and combine them.
Mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin was re-elected because his opponent, Mitch Landrieu is seen as very anti-business whereas Nagin was seen as more pro-business. I don't want to come across as racist, but in a majority black city, a black tends to be elected over a white. I Know, I know, a lot of the black citizens hadn't returned home, but many of them came home to vote, and thousands of absentee ballots were sent to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and yes, even Alaska so these displaced citizens could vote. Perrsonally, I'm glad Nagin won.
As for our governor.....all I can say is the wrong person won that election. I bet she doesn't get re-elected.
Guess some of us, including me, have gotten away from whether Spike Lee is a biased racist. | |
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| Spike Lee's a Biased Racist
Posted: 8/17/2006 7:03:42 PM | | Fourwheels, you hit the nail on the head about getting anybody to work. Heck, when Burger King has to offer $12 an hour plus a sign-on bonus of $6000 to get anybody to work you know its bad. There are still "Help Wanted" signs all over my town and they say they can't get anybody to work. Wal-Mart has a big distribution center about 20 miles west of me and they are paying $12 to $18 an hour plus benefits and have been advertising for weeks for help. You can set your own hours, work week days, week ends, part time, full time, etc. and they still need workers. That pay may not sound like much if you live in California or N.Y. City, but that is real good pay for laborers here in Louisiana. As for the guy with the hunting camp........the FEMA contractor had to deliver the trailer there and hook it up. This guy couldn't have put the trailer there himself. | |
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/17/2006 7:08:08 PM | | SPIKE LEE IS DEFINITELY A RACIST. JUST WATCH HIS MOVIES. IF HE WERE WHITE, HE WOULD BE UNEMPLOYED. I WENT TO A MOST BLACK HIGH SCHOOL, AND I BELIEVE BLACK PEOPLE ARE MORE RACIST THAN WHITE. I WAS A GOOD ATHLETE, SO THAT SEEMED TO BRIDGE THE COLOR LIKE. BUT I SAW A LOT OF BAD STUFF GO ON WITH OTHER WHITE STUDENTS. | |
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Top It
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Joined: 5/26/2006
Msg: 65 | |
| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/17/2006 7:31:17 PM | Absolutely needs to be told. Shows how unprepared, and racist the Bush admin really is.
NO country, let alone even ours, shouold ever leave ANY person on the street to die for at least three days!!!!!
Bush jr. flying around overhead and OUR national guard over in IRAQ!!!!!! The national Guard is made for us to protect OUR country with, NOBODY elses. Our government can't even deliver MRE's to it's own citizens in drastic times of need?!?!?!?
Why do we have leaders that are Fraternity president bonghit leaders, and convicted DUI's? | |
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dmotz
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Joined: 7/25/2006
Msg: 66 | |
| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/17/2006 7:37:05 PM | Rememberme...Skydad...fourwheel....
God I love you guys! Thanks for telling the truth. Our more liberal tree hugger...feel your pain...blame the Bush Admin for EVERYTHING crowd has fallen silent! Great work...Now all they are going to do is attack us....the truth shall set you free!!!! | |
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bobby7
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Joined: 3/22/2006
Msg: 67 | |
| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/17/2006 11:44:31 PM | "the truth shall set you free!!!!"
I live in Canada, so I had to rely on the "media" to witness Katrina..
I saw your countrymen and women abandoned by the 'administration'.
I saw your countrymen and women dying due to the incompetence of your 'administration'.
Apparently your 'administration' is only good for:
1> Passing the buck (literally as well as figuratively)
2>Starting 'wars' by lying to the population
3> Increasing their net worth at the expense of the poor and middle class
4>Talking to God (and getting answers)
and.
5> Stealing elections.. ***The Truth Shall Set You Free.***.
TELL BUSH THAT!!! | |
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 12:33:52 AM | BOBBY7 ......
I believe that the truth on this issue, thanks to some of our more enlightened posters generosity in sharing their REAL TIME information, HAS set us free ............. free from the misguided information people such as yourself, who have no idea of what really happened, and nothing but erroneous information to share, are trying desperately to purport. You're sitting up in Canada, bllissfully unaware of the reality of the situation, and relying on the MEDIA to "set you free". OMG, what a joke (you and your ideation). You say you got all of your information from the MEDIA???????? And you BELIEVE everything the "media" tells you? Now how naive is THAT?!!
Why are you so full of opinions on how we Americans should run our government, econony, and country's affairs anyway ......... if you were more concerned with your own politics, you may be able to change some of the horrid tax structures and unbelieveable infringements on your personal freedoms that we Yanks are privy to enjoy! (He saw it on the "MEDIA" ........... what a joke!!!!!! ROTFLMAOOOOOOOOOO ................ | |
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 12:40:20 AM | P.S. ........... I think BOBBY7 reads the "National Inquirer" and the "Star" too .............. and I'm ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN he believes everything that the "media" prints in there too! After all, if it's in writing, or in the "news" it MUST be "true", right???? ROTFLMAOOOOOO!
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 12:46:18 AM | For those of you reacting negatively....and even feeling it necessary to make some colourful personal remarks about me personally.. to my post: Thank you for essentially validating everything I said. Spike Lee is a brilliant Opportunist who has risen to fame and wealth on the wave of "white guilt".
And Liberals actually think they are "free thinkers" Sheesh. Thank you God for having liberated me from such bondage.
Hell, If Bush himself had driven in there in the first of an army of big trucks full of potato chips, hot dogs and pepsi..... the insatiable bleeding hearts would have bashed him for not bringing steaks!!! And Dr. Pepper! | |
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 1:05:23 AM | When the towers came down Bush sat there for a couple of minutes. Four days for hurricaine Katrina.
To make this about spike lee and race is crazy. If you can't look beyond race and see the real problem look in the mirror.
Montreal Guy, toon and a few others God Bless you.
If Tripdave,brass,rememberme,spade63,rightwinggoodguy,pinebreeze were stuck on a roof top for days with nothing. And spike lee came by in a rescue boat, what would he be then.
Your mother freakin hero.
This country spends billions and billions of dollars on everything and anything except for it's people. There are people in N.O and Mississippi who are still smarting from this event. Like Spike Lee said this aint a third world country this is America. The greatest nation on earth.
Montreal Guy 
Pine breeeze you are the last part of the chicken over the fence. All those people wanted was help. People in Mississippi were mad at spike. Why? Because he didn't highlight there agony.
God bless us all. Did you see his documentary Four Little Girls. | |
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bobby7
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Joined: 3/22/2006
Msg: 72 | |
| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 1:09:09 AM | "I think BOBBY7 reads the "National Inquirer" and the "Star"
Lady, and I use the term loosely, you don't know me or what I read..
If you did, you still wouldn't care...Much too busy trying
to breathe with your head in the sand.
I had members of my family get to NO long before Bush got help there.
I watched, and saw them, and many others, dodging bullets, long before Bush,
and his 'help' got there.
What I read or don't read doesn't matter.. What should matter is the intelligence
you get from whatever sources.. ..
Of course, there are sponges that absorb all kinds of junk, (Ding Dong), and then
there are people who actually believe what they see..
Sorry...You flunked the sponge test...Next! | |
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 2:11:33 AM | We don't have the luxury of seeing people as black, white, or yellow anymore. That perhaps made some sort of illogical sense at one point in our history, but today's world no longer has a place for such thinking.
Calling Spike Lee a racist, because of his films, is silly. He's seeing his world, and trying to show it to us...at least to those who will listen. A filmmaker's job is to show us our world through their eyes, essentially. In doing that, we can begin to understand each other, and perhaps think in different ways. Labelling someone as a racist, for doing that, is wrong.
In a film like "Do The Right Thing" , which I thought was brilliant, he showed us that antiquated view of two groups of people seeing a very different reality. I didn't see the whites in that movie as being racist, in the sense of being bad people. They were living in a far different reality than the black people were, and their differing visions ( and ignorance of that fact) created an increasing friction. The basis of racism is ignorance and fear, and removing those things makes us all better. It makes our society better, and it makes our future together better.
Blacks can be racist, certainly. No group of human beings, no matter what their race, religion, or history is exempt from stupidity and fear. Unfortunately, it's far easier for humans to hate than it is for them to love one another. There is a tribal nature at work, deep in our hearts and in our brains, which causes us to look for differences first - and to overlook the overwhelming similarities we all have as human beings. That defect in our souls is the source of our misfortune many times.
If we are to survive together, it will only because we all see every person first and foremost AS people - and as individuals.
If you see a black man walking towards you, a stranger, and you see him any differently than any other man walking towards you - then you are part of the problem.
If you are a black man, and do the same, then you are equally guilty.
It's like what's happening now with people of Arab heritage. If you see him first as an Arab, and then secondly as one of your countrymen - again, you are part of the problem.
Jon Stewart said it best, on that return back after 9/11 in his opening remarks.
After 9/11, temporarily at least, something remarkable happened in America. For that brief moment, concepts like black and white didn't matter anymore. People worked together, and the only thing that counted were people's actions - not who or what they were.
In the reflected light of those still burning fires at Ground Zero, race wasn't visible...nor important anymore. The people who were digging through that overwhelming smoldering mountain of rubble using their bare hands and buckets didn't care about the colour of the people's skin they were looking for.
They were looking for Americans that needed help badly, and they were willing to risk their lives (no matter what their colour) to do it.
They say heros are a rare thing, but that time proved that in any population there are many thousands of them that are walking around just waiting for an opportunity to help out.
The only thing of sadness is that it sometimes takes such a horrific moment to break through the walls that separate us all from one another in our normal lives.
If we owe anything to those lost on 9/11, perhaps that legacy would be the best way of remembering their loss and sacrifice. | |
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dmotz
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Joined: 7/25/2006
Msg: 74 | |
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| Spike Lee's documentary - When The Levees Broke
Posted: 8/18/2006 12:19:34 PM | Bobby 7 as an outsider looking in you have no allegiance to either political party in the U.S.
So your opinion is greatly appreciated by me.
This is the mighty U.S.A. and pictures don't lie. You saw what you saw and it wasn't right. Those shot's from katrina were sad. It looked like one of those save the children commercials.
My fellow americans we have just sent 23 million dollars to aid Lebanon. One of the saddest things i saw was 1 bulldozer trying to put sand bags at the broken levee.
Sad but true.
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