"This is America? This is an outrage."- Page 9

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:10pm

"Christ, Matt. There isn't much that can be viewed in the US culture without the lens of race."

I agree, Namo. And that will always be true in the US. But race is not the catalyst for every dumb decision in this country, either.

"NONE of us on BWW know for a FACT what is up."

Bingo! For now, it is speculation and opinion. Mine, yours, and everyone else's.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:16pm

"Perhaps, it would have been more succinct to have said racism has been likely present. Would that make you happier?"

LOL YES! But I think racism may easily be present on both sides of the issue. It is a two-way street.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:17pm

The interview with survivor Shayonne Green on Larry King is heartbreaking.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:28pm

Nope. No Bingo. From the beginning of this lil debate, I have offered that I may be wrong. You, on the otherhand, still feel certain that racism is not a part of this (that it is naive to think so).

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:35pm

"WASHINGTON -- Black members of Congress expressed anger Friday at what they said was a slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

"It looks dysfunctional to me right now," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif.

She and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with members of the Black Leadership Forum, National Urban League and the NAACP, held a news conference and charged that the response was slow because those most affected are poor.

Many also are black, but the lawmakers held off on charging racism.

"The issue is not about race right now," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio."

This fascinated me, as this is somewhat atypical of this group's usual approach. It's a sign, to me, that things this time are different.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:47pm

Ok. Good information.

Because my concern about whether or not racism is involved was centered around whether or not the black community would feel this as one more huge slap.

I know that doesn't make things better for those who have suffered or died.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 9:54pm

OK, you got me. Nobody qualified how big a part the racism plays in the evacuation. .01%? 1%? 10%? 90%? I give in. I believe that there undoubtably was an unknown percentage of people involved who may have an unknown degree of racism. I also believe that racism "plays a part" of some unknowable degree in nearly every situation involving multiracial groups in this country as well as many others. (Go to Germany and see how they talk about the Turks sometime). But I do not think that refusing to believe racism was a major factor in the delay of response to rescue these people is "naive". The shelter at the Astrodome was well organized and set up with swiftly and the volunteer response was HUGE. That doesn't sound like racism to me (though I'm sure it was present to a degree somewhere in someone). That sounds like good organization and leadership.

Updated On: 9/2/05 at 09:54 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 10:15pm

One thing is for sure. Just when you think the Bush administration can't make this country look any worse, it does.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 10:17pm

Well, I know we can agree 100% on that!

[Plum]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 10:18pm

Bush is a uniter, not a divider.

Posted: 9/2/05 at 10:21pm

The Mayor of Los Angeles has announced that if any city workers want to volunteer to go help with the relief effort, the city will continue paying their salary while they're there.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 10:21pm

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Good one, Plum! He has certainly united a lack of support for his administration. And he did a great job of uniting 51% of the country. Just enough to get him in office.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/2/05 at 10:25pm

Wow DGrant! That's amazing! I hope it results in more volunteers. That's really wonderful.

Posted: 9/3/05 at 8:42am

Maureen Dowd sums things up:
United States of Shame.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 9:36am

Maureen Dowd once again hits the nail on the head.

Bush has once more embarrassed America.

Posted: 9/3/05 at 9:37am

The San Francisco Chronicle editorial:
A National Disgrace.

Posted: 9/3/05 at 10:02am

From the BBCNews (commentary by Matt Wells, a correspondant based in Los Angeles):

"It has been a profoundly shocking experience for many across this vast country who, for the large part, believe the home-spun myth about the invulnerability of the American Dream.

The party in power in Washington is always happy to convey the impression of 50 states moving forward together in social and economic harmony towards a bigger and better America.

That is what presidential campaigning is all about.

But what the devastating consequences of Katrina have shown - along with the response to it - is that for too long now, the fabric of this complex and overstretched country, especially in states like Louisiana and Mississippi, has been neglected and ignored."
. . . . . . . . . . . .

"The truth was simple and apparent to all. If journalists were there with cameras beaming the suffering live across America, where were the officers and troops?"
. . . . . . . . . . . .

"When President Bush told "Good Morning America" on Thursday morning that nobody could have "anticipated" the breach of the New Orleans levees, it pointed to not only a remote leader in denial, but a whole political class.

The uneasy paradox which so many live with in this country - of being first-and-foremost rugged individuals, out to plunder what they can and paying as little tax as they can get away with, while at the same time believing that America is a robust, model society - has reached a crisis point this week."

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 12:49pm

He was elected due to the values issues.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 12:50pm

He's failed that too, hasn't he.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 1:03pm

Well, gays are still denied civil liberties and stem cell research is still not going on so...

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 1:20pm

Well, gay marriage is still recognized in Massachusetts and it may soon be in California while the Consitutional gay marriage ban still hasn't passed. I believe stem cell research is still going on to some degree.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 2:38pm

It's interesting to see how many issues brought up by people in this thread are surfacing in the editorials that are coming up. I myself have really been thinking about the "terrorist" preparedness issue, OBVIOUSLY, people will be completely on their own if anything horrific happens and the government will just go into the "nobody saw THAT coming" mode again, and then move their Terrorism Stop Light (tip of the hat to Randi Rhodes for that) to red.

However, I would like to thank DGrant for the quotes, because NOTHING captures my feelings about this double disaster (hurricane, government) more succinctly than:

The uneasy paradox which so many live with in this country - of being first-and-foremost rugged individuals, out to plunder what they can and paying as little tax as they can get away with, while at the same time believing that America is a robust, model society - has reached a crisis point this week."

My question now is, what is going to be done now to distract the nation and numb everybody out? Or, will people still feel like using their critical thinking skills?

[Plum]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 2:46pm

Critical thinking hurts, Namo. If you're taught your whole life that the pursuit of profit is a virtue in and of itself, you don't want to think too hard about what happens when that value system is applied ad absurdum. So looting, price gouging, and other phenomenally selfish behavior is ascribed to "bad people." Not people like you.

I realize that New Orleans had higher-than-average rates of crime, corruption, and poverty before Katrina, but somehow I doubt that every person who charged $6 a gallon for gasoline or shot at doctors trying to evacuate babies from a hospital was a drug dealer or rapist before the storm. You can say "people are all the same" as a reassurance or as the ultimate statement of cynicism, but you can't deny it's true.

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 3:33pm

I'm not sure what you went through, Plum, but I do think maybe you've added a personal connotation to the term "refugee" that is not shared by the majority of the population.

And ANYONE who thinks that race and class have nothing to do with the swiftness of the government's response to this disaster is living in a white man's paradise.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/3/05 at 4:02pm

I've been repeating the Maureen Dowd question over and over. "Who are we if we can't take care of our own?"

A leaderless, rudderless mass of selfish people?

Nah, so many people I know work in the non-profit sector and work daily to make the world a better place.

But overall, in spite of the exceptions, maybe?