7 Days

NBC's Meet the Press

Yesterday morning, I watched this man, Aaron Broussard, the President of Jefferson Parish- cry uncontrollaby on Meet The Press that "no one is coming to get us". Watch here how he tearfully describes the conditions in Louisiana and the lack of federal rescue and questionable behavior by FEMA who cut JP's emergency phone lines.

AMERICANS ARE STILL DYING
It's been 7 days of being a disgraced American watching New Orleans residents who are still stranded on rooftops, hospitals, nursing homes, left to die. This weekend, two N.O. Police Officers committed suicide this weekend out of sheer helplessness. More N.O. residents continue to die due to lack of medicine, food and medical care. It's funny, I don't ever recall seeing white Floridians being stranded without food, water and assistance after the many hurricanes that hit and flooded Florida.

HORSE BREEDER IS HEADING FEMA
Turns out the head of FEMA and a good friend of Dubya's, Michael Brown, has no experience in this type of job. Before Dubya paid him a favor (for what we may never know-rumor has it it's for scrubbing his National Guard record), Michael Brown for 10 years raised Arabian horses on a ranch. That's just plain disgusting. Especially after this country suffers the attack on 9/11, to put a buddy in charge of the national response, is beyond incompetent. That and the fact that N.O. residents are still waiting for food and rescue is proof that Bush just doesn't care and he never has cared about the American people, especially the middle class and below. He cares about the almighty dollar. Money is his Jesus. Chertoff and Brown appeared on the Sunday shows to express their 'lack of imagination' and 'shock' that the levees collapsed. Tim Russert on Meet the Press angrily pointed out to Chertoff that several studies were done and reported back to not only the department of Homeland Security but also to the White House. They're all a lying pack of thugs.It's revolting and nauseating to think that people died because Harry Connick Jr. and entire newscrews were the only first responders.

Enough of my ranting. Here is yesterday's open letter to Bush from the local N.O. paper:

THE TIMES-PICAYNE'S OPEN LETTER TO BUSH:
We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we're going to make it right." Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism. Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It's accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718. How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks. Despite the city's multiple points of entry, our nation's bureaucrats spent days after last week's hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city's stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city. Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning. Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame. Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don't know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city's death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren't they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn't suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn't have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially. In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn't known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day." Lies don't get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You're doing a heck of a job." That's unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too. We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We're no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn't be reached. Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again. When you do, we will be the first to applaud.