The Emperor Has No Clothes
- Thread starter BDawg
- Start date
CaptnKirk
Lifer
- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
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The WORLD can see it clearly, why can't OUR people ?
America in Black and White
<CLIP>
Most black Americans think race was a factor in the government?s botched response to Hurricane Katrina, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. And many observers in the international online media agree.
The Scotsman, a conservative newspaper in Scotland, described Michael Brown, the hapless horseman who just got fired as head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, as "The man who left poor blacks to their fate." Leigh Sales, North American correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, visited some of the most devastated areas and concluded ?if you are black, poor, old, sick or disabled, you are a second-class citizen in this country.? In the view of The Statesman in Delhi, India, ?unabashedly racist? policies ?enabled the US President to convert a natural calamity to a national disgrace.?
When asked to compare governmental responses to Katrina and the south Asia tsunami, Daniel Lak, a BBC correspondent who covered both, wrote ?In Sri Lanka, with 60-70 per cent of the coastline devastated, the government was powerless to meet everyone?s needs. But the international community stepped in to eventually get a decent relief effort going. Including psychological counseling for those who had lost loved ones. In America, I saw none of this for days. Instead I saw bureaucratic boondoggling, government rescue workers who rarely missed a meal or a coffee break, political leaders who?d rather point fingers of blame than roll up their sleeves and help out. I saw an impressive private and voluntary sector effort thwarted by government. I saw the poor, the black, the old, the obese, the sick neglected by the middle class and the rich who fled to higher ground and lived off their credit cards. Those without cars or amex platinum were left to fend for themselves. Many of them died from sheer neglect.
"If there?s a ray of hope," he wrote, "it?s in the growing disgust among many Americans with the state of their Union. There are now nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance, a third of US children living in poverty, more people losing jobs every year. Race and class are becoming issues again. One can only hope this wonderful place, this nation of so many great achievements alongside a few shameful episodes, will again set an example for all of us, instead of being the land we all loathe far too readily. If Katrina has a legacy, let it be this.?
America in Black and White
<CLIP>
Most black Americans think race was a factor in the government?s botched response to Hurricane Katrina, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. And many observers in the international online media agree.
The Scotsman, a conservative newspaper in Scotland, described Michael Brown, the hapless horseman who just got fired as head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, as "The man who left poor blacks to their fate." Leigh Sales, North American correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, visited some of the most devastated areas and concluded ?if you are black, poor, old, sick or disabled, you are a second-class citizen in this country.? In the view of The Statesman in Delhi, India, ?unabashedly racist? policies ?enabled the US President to convert a natural calamity to a national disgrace.?
When asked to compare governmental responses to Katrina and the south Asia tsunami, Daniel Lak, a BBC correspondent who covered both, wrote ?In Sri Lanka, with 60-70 per cent of the coastline devastated, the government was powerless to meet everyone?s needs. But the international community stepped in to eventually get a decent relief effort going. Including psychological counseling for those who had lost loved ones. In America, I saw none of this for days. Instead I saw bureaucratic boondoggling, government rescue workers who rarely missed a meal or a coffee break, political leaders who?d rather point fingers of blame than roll up their sleeves and help out. I saw an impressive private and voluntary sector effort thwarted by government. I saw the poor, the black, the old, the obese, the sick neglected by the middle class and the rich who fled to higher ground and lived off their credit cards. Those without cars or amex platinum were left to fend for themselves. Many of them died from sheer neglect.
"If there?s a ray of hope," he wrote, "it?s in the growing disgust among many Americans with the state of their Union. There are now nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance, a third of US children living in poverty, more people losing jobs every year. Race and class are becoming issues again. One can only hope this wonderful place, this nation of so many great achievements alongside a few shameful episodes, will again set an example for all of us, instead of being the land we all loathe far too readily. If Katrina has a legacy, let it be this.?
Sounds eerily like this article. The same site published an almost identical article before the 2nd term elections.
Bushes obscene tirades ...
Bushes obscene tirades ...
Just noticing how a main stream paper is reporting essentially the same behavior that a left-wing site was reporting less than a month and one year ago. Not saying it's credible.
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck ......
Dub is not competent to lead America. How can so many be so blind to what the world sees so clearly?
I wouldn't be surprised if a calvinist had such problems, Bush is already pretty werid, not in the good way either.
The large majority of people use welfare and social programs for help. IMHO, these tax cuts were greed.
CaptnKirk
Lifer
- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
- 0
- 71
From Last Night's Scarbourough Country
<EXCERPT>
Meanwhile, we?re finally getting a clearer picture of some of the horror stories that some of the first-responders had after the storm went through. We have heard from the New Orleans Fire Department, who talked about how, for the first five days, they could barely communicate with each others. Well, now we have heard from urban search-and-rescue crews out of California, who said that they were told by FEMA not to take an airplane to get here, but to take a bus, because 28 members of that team, that the government would not pay for their airfare, about $30,000.
In hindsight, that was a huge blunder, given that these were the teams that had the sort of search-and-rescue communications equipment. And, in fact, there you see pictures taken by the NBC crew of the California search-and-rescue teams loading a bus in California. They would then ride this bus for 2,000 miles. It took them two-and-a-half days to get here. And by the time they got here, the New Orleans Police Department was beleaguered. They had no communication.
They had boats that they had commandeered. But a very difficult rescue was under way. A lot of people asking, why was it that?the Fremont Fire Department and all the rest in California were ready to get on a plane. Why was it they were not allowed on a plane right from the beginning?
SCARBOROUGH: David?help me out here, David. Are you telling me tonight?and you?ve got this exclusively?are you telling me tonight that these people contacted FEMA and were ready to fly out the day after the storm and they were told, no thanks; we don?t need your help?
SHUSTER: That?s right. That?s exactly what we?re reporting, Joe.
They said, we know that there?s going to be a problem in New Orleans. We have got all of our equipment. We have got a military plane ready. Let us go. And FEMA said, no, we don?t think we need you right now. We haven?t heard from people in New Orleans. Therefore, we?re not going to authorize the trip. We are not going to pay for the airfare.
If you want to go, if you think there?s a problem, get on the bus. And by the time they got here, the New Orleans Police Department and their search-and-rescue totally beleaguered and, yet, you have these people on a bus with the kind of equipment, the kind of communications equipment, that was needed.
Remember, Joe, in the first couple of days, the New Orleans Police Department, they were using boats that they had commandeered. But they could not communicate. If a boat went to a house and rescued five people, because that?s all the room was, but there were 15 more people in that house, the New Orleans Police Department did not have the communications equipment to be able to radio back to other New Orleans Fire Department or Police and say, hey, there?s 15 more people on the boat.
That problem would have been solved if in fact they would have allowed these teams from California to fly out here immediately, because they had the kind of communications equipment that this catastrophe called for.
<EXCERPT>
Meanwhile, we?re finally getting a clearer picture of some of the horror stories that some of the first-responders had after the storm went through. We have heard from the New Orleans Fire Department, who talked about how, for the first five days, they could barely communicate with each others. Well, now we have heard from urban search-and-rescue crews out of California, who said that they were told by FEMA not to take an airplane to get here, but to take a bus, because 28 members of that team, that the government would not pay for their airfare, about $30,000.
In hindsight, that was a huge blunder, given that these were the teams that had the sort of search-and-rescue communications equipment. And, in fact, there you see pictures taken by the NBC crew of the California search-and-rescue teams loading a bus in California. They would then ride this bus for 2,000 miles. It took them two-and-a-half days to get here. And by the time they got here, the New Orleans Police Department was beleaguered. They had no communication.
They had boats that they had commandeered. But a very difficult rescue was under way. A lot of people asking, why was it that?the Fremont Fire Department and all the rest in California were ready to get on a plane. Why was it they were not allowed on a plane right from the beginning?
SCARBOROUGH: David?help me out here, David. Are you telling me tonight?and you?ve got this exclusively?are you telling me tonight that these people contacted FEMA and were ready to fly out the day after the storm and they were told, no thanks; we don?t need your help?
SHUSTER: That?s right. That?s exactly what we?re reporting, Joe.
They said, we know that there?s going to be a problem in New Orleans. We have got all of our equipment. We have got a military plane ready. Let us go. And FEMA said, no, we don?t think we need you right now. We haven?t heard from people in New Orleans. Therefore, we?re not going to authorize the trip. We are not going to pay for the airfare.
If you want to go, if you think there?s a problem, get on the bus. And by the time they got here, the New Orleans Police Department and their search-and-rescue totally beleaguered and, yet, you have these people on a bus with the kind of equipment, the kind of communications equipment, that was needed.
Remember, Joe, in the first couple of days, the New Orleans Police Department, they were using boats that they had commandeered. But they could not communicate. If a boat went to a house and rescued five people, because that?s all the room was, but there were 15 more people in that house, the New Orleans Police Department did not have the communications equipment to be able to radio back to other New Orleans Fire Department or Police and say, hey, there?s 15 more people on the boat.
That problem would have been solved if in fact they would have allowed these teams from California to fly out here immediately, because they had the kind of communications equipment that this catastrophe called for.
Wow the Australian ABC correspondents blog was hardcore.
Excerpt:
It was no Hilton: there were no sheets and no towels - but to us it was luxury. The air conditioning was broken and in the upstairs bedrooms, it was about 30 degrees Celsius. To add to the scene, a newly born litter of feral cats had also decided to call it home. When we arrived and saw the place, I lay down on the couch in despair. One kitten jumped on me and another one started batting my feet hanging over the edge. I realised how tired and close to hysteria I was because I started laughing uncontrollably and tears started spurting out my eyes. Between peels of laughter, I gasped to Jason: "The experience in this house just wouldn't have been complete without a litter of feral cats walking all over me."
So that's where I am now as I write this. I'm sitting on the carpet, because there is no desk and chair. Fleas keep jumping on me out of the carpet.
Despite the long hours and the desperate scenes around us, we're keeping our sense of humour.
Tim told Mark: "I think it's really unfair that you're bringing fleas in here, the cats might catch them."
But can I just say - having been reporting on this horrible story and talking to people who've lost everything, I love my life and this house is a mansion.
The story is devastating to cover. It seems impossible to escape the conclusion that if you are black, poor, old, sick or disabled, you are a second-class citizen in this country.
Excerpt:
It was no Hilton: there were no sheets and no towels - but to us it was luxury. The air conditioning was broken and in the upstairs bedrooms, it was about 30 degrees Celsius. To add to the scene, a newly born litter of feral cats had also decided to call it home. When we arrived and saw the place, I lay down on the couch in despair. One kitten jumped on me and another one started batting my feet hanging over the edge. I realised how tired and close to hysteria I was because I started laughing uncontrollably and tears started spurting out my eyes. Between peels of laughter, I gasped to Jason: "The experience in this house just wouldn't have been complete without a litter of feral cats walking all over me."
So that's where I am now as I write this. I'm sitting on the carpet, because there is no desk and chair. Fleas keep jumping on me out of the carpet.
Despite the long hours and the desperate scenes around us, we're keeping our sense of humour.
Tim told Mark: "I think it's really unfair that you're bringing fleas in here, the cats might catch them."
But can I just say - having been reporting on this horrible story and talking to people who've lost everything, I love my life and this house is a mansion.
The story is devastating to cover. It seems impossible to escape the conclusion that if you are black, poor, old, sick or disabled, you are a second-class citizen in this country.
Zebo
Elite Member
- Jul 29, 2001
- 39,398
- 19
- 81
Well Just imagine this for a sec. You're born into one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in America and therefore the world. You have everything, good looks, money, get into the "elitest" fraternity (Skull&Bone and Deeks) at arguably the most elite school in the US (Yale). Have access to unlimited capital Via family or wall street and private banking connections thoughout career. Naturally you're going to think you're above those Barbarians in the public or even the Barbarians serve you once you reached highest office in the land.
Zebo
Elite Member
- Jul 29, 2001
- 39,398
- 19
- 81
Something's afoot when the three Business mags I get recently ran stories on the growing concentration of wealth and income in the United States. Even in the WSJ I read the top 1% in America have doubled thier wealth since 1980 going from 27% to over 50% of nations wealth. Buffet Said something like: "class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."
TastesLikeChicken
Lifer
- Sep 12, 2004
- 16,852
- 59
- 86
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