Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

If they'd gotten the funding they should have over the past three years, it wouldn't have broken.

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/atty...es/002331.html

This is criminal negligence on the part of the Bush budgeters.

Oh wait, they did fund disaster planning. They privatized it. Boy, wasn't that effective?

[Linkmeister]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Who left? Who stayed?

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wic...sh/582898.html

[1stwahine]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Thanks Miulang. I might not have much...but I will make a donation and ask others in my family to do the same. It could be "us" someday. The devastation continues and whatever we can give to ease their sufferings is all that matters. God bless all America, as we stand together. To once again, help our fellow brothers and sisters in need.

Auntie Lynn

[kimo55]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Who left? Who stayed?

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wic...sh/582898.html

mahalos for that. interesting perspective.

[Ailina]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

We barely missed it here in Lafayette. We were just outside the storm bands.

Lafayette's feeling it, though. The traffic has been so bad. Making long distance calls is nearly impossible. The hotels are full. Churches are pulling together to provide shelter and hot meals for all the people here from N.O.

It's awful, awful.

Mark (significant other) works offshore, and a lot of the people he works with are from coastal cities and Mississippi. His coworker got off his hitch to find his house was wrecked, so Mark is going back out early in his place.

My son was supposed to fly out of N.O. airport today. The airlines are rearranging the schedules for people to fly out of Baton Rouge.

I think most people down here are still in shock and disbelief. We all say to each other "We can't go to New Orleans," but it hasn't quite sunken in, the full meaning of that. "New Orleans" isn't there anymore. It's a ghost town. I see the footage on TV, hear about the looting, recovering the dead, $X billions of dollars damage, X years it will take to recover....

It's traumatic. Unbelievable.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

A‘ilina, good to hear from you. Glad you and your family are OK.

I ran across this Katrina Information Map that someone put together -- it's a smart use of the Google Maps interface to allow people to post information about local conditions. Wow, maybe all this technology can actually help people sometimes.

[1stwahine]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

So glad you're ok!


Just heard the Prez on the tv. 78,000 displaced
America will come stronger because of this...we always do!

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

As I was watching the pictures of the devastation wrought by the hurricane and the looting that was going on there, this conundrum kept coming into my head: given how poor most of the people who live in the areas devastated by the hurricane are and how politically and socially oppressed they have been for so many years, is it really wrong for them to want to take advantage of the situation by looting abandoned shops? I've been through the poorest and the richest neighborhoods surrounding NO. The difference between the two communities is striking. If my whole world was wrapped up in my house and the things inside, would I want to leave that house and any beloved animals behind, even when told by the government to leave? If I didn't have a car or if I did have a car but had no money for gas or a hotel or food, would I want to leave my world? I don't think I would, even if it meant dying in my house.

If I wasn't so afraid of getting shot in the back, and if I wore the shoes of the poor in the South, would I be looting those businesses and taking "my fair share"? You bet your bippy I would. There's a lot of pent up anger and resentment toward upwardly mobile people there (the "ruling class"). I doubt, however, that any sane person would choose to be poor (except maybe for Mahatma Ghandi, and he's dead). Looting is a property crime. Looting will probably result in all of our insurance premiums going up. But looting isn't the Watts riots, either, where people were killed because of the pent up rage.

I hope some sociologist takes a look at what's going on in NO and Mobile and Biloxi and Gulfport and documents what happens to poor people in disasters (gee, they react just like poor people everywhere) and that the government tries to give those people their "fair share" before physical violence breaks out.

The Republican Party has a heart after all. Here's an email I got from the RNC asking me to donate to the American Red Cross to help assist victims of the hurricane. Don't ask me how I got onto their mailing list...I am now a mole!

"...Hurricane Katrina has passed and now the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama must begin the process of rebuilding. Our thoughts are with those who were affected by this powerful storm. During times like these, there is no room for politics and partisanship. This is a time when we all come together to help our neighbors.

Due to the size of this storm and the area of impact, the cost for recovery will be staggering. For that reason, we are asking you, our supporters, to make a donation to hurricane relief efforts. The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army provide shelter, food, water, blankets and clothing to those who have lost everything.

We appreciate your willingness to help these groups. Your generosity will help the people impacted by the storm begin the process of rising up and recovering from this disaster.

Thanks for all you do.

Sincerely,
Ken Mehlman
Chairman, RNC "

Hui Ailina:
I'm glad Lafayette didn't have to bear the brunt of the hurricane. When your SO comes home again, give him one big honihoni from me for helping out his coworker by going back to work early. These small acts of kindness are what make America a great place to live.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Linkmeister published the following blog entry with eye witness accounts of what was happening in downtown NO today. The picture isn't pretty. The writer asks where is the National Guard to help put down the violence that's occurring in the streets, where the looters all are armed and the security people are so few in number that they cannot control the crowds. Well, in the state of LA, more than 3,000 of its citizen soldiers are stuck in the middle of Iraq. Most of the national guard troops and active military troops being sent in are coming from other states, if they can get through the water and the debris.

"...The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence...."


Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

If I wasn't so afraid of getting shot in the back, and if I wore the shoes of the poor in the South, would I be looting those businesses and taking "my fair share"? You bet your bippy I would.

Wow... so you're saying it's actually okay for these people to break the law and go looting from local businesses.

Your twisted sense of logic amazes me - and not in a good way.

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Wow... so you're saying it's actually okay for these people to break the law and go looting from local businesses.

Your twisted sense of logic amazes me - and not in a good way.

And I guess the good doctor who is quoted in the blog above is just as demented as I am, then.

"...Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. ..."

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

That still doesn't make it okay. Just because there's a homeless guy with no money and no healthcare who lives at the bus stop on Ala Moana Blvd., does that mean it's okay for him to walk into Longs at Ala Moana and take what he needs?

Looting might be a necessary evil, but it still ain't right.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Just my opinion. I believe there's a big difference in taking critical items like food, fresh water or medicines and stealing anything just because it's there.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

I was watching the NBC Nightly News Hurricane Katrina coverage yesterday, and viewed a clip of pallets of emergency food supplies being unloaded into a warehourse in the Biloxi area. I just happened to catch a glimpse of what one of large pallets consisted of..it was just a quick thing, happened to see it at the right time as it was being hauled off by a forklift..it was a pallet of Hawai'ian pineapple juice.

It made me think that farmers on Maui who grew this pineapple, and those who canned the juice, would have never dreamed that their food product was ultimately going to be instrumental in providing relief to survivors in this unparalled disaster.

[alohabear]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

And I guess the good doctor who is quoted in the blog above is just as demented as I am, then.

"...Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. ..."

If most is not malicious looting ,then why does the mainsteam media only show the malicious looting? I guess it makes a better story and adds to the drama.
BTW... I am humbled by the world's support. I guess once the "shock" made it's way around the planet, support will be rolling in.

If anything good comes out of this disaster, it should be a wake up call to ALL of us in Hawaii and around the world. I heard in news reports that a lot of people in New Orleans said that "storms always by pass us" so they stayed and nearly died. It scares me to think that if a BIG storm like Katrina was head to O'ahu , how many lives would it take. Our WHOLE State would shut down for months. Be Prepared! I am .