Comments on: Survivor Stories from the Superdome

By: Paulie

Paulie — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 15:02:59 +0000

I think its Bloody sick what happened, people with sick criminal convictions should not have been allowed in the superdome. they should have been told to go play by the lake.

By: Greg Kuperberg

Greg Kuperberg — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 05:35:10 +0000

Bob Herbert expands on the point that I was trying to make. See also Nicholas Kristof.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 15:52:09 +0000

Greg. Perhaps you’re right. I don’t consider myself wise enough to say one way or another.

Cheers,

-cvj

By: Greg Kuperberg

Greg Kuperberg — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 13:42:40 +0000

Clifford: I’m not a firm believer in seeing the best in people. I’m a firm believer in seeing things as they really are, then considering how much better they could be. The question is not how far “we” are from chaos, the question is how far New Orleans was from chaos. The answer is that it had one foot in chaos even before the hurricane. It was one of the worst-run cities in the nation. In 2004, it had a homicide rate of 54 per 100,000. In New York City it was 7 per 100,000. The hurricane hit a region of America with problems that should shame the whole country. For now, at least, the country is ashamed. So now is a good time to take action.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 06:33:09 +0000

Guys. I agree that it was a nightmare that should never have happened. I wish I was as optimisitic as you that we’re all so terribly enlightened that our behaviour would never deteriorate under extreme circumstances. I wish it were true. I believe it to be true of several individuals – myself included, I hope- but I’m just not sure what would happen in the right circumstances in a group dynamic, when your life has been stripped away all of a sudden along with a lot of the structures which holds things in check. I’m a firm believer in seeing the best in people, but looking at the sort of behaviour everyday people can resort to with little provocation (road rage, drunken unruliness on a saturday night, fighting over the last supertoy in the store at christmastime…), I do wonder how far we are from chaos.

And I certainly don’t think the Americans are any more or less capable of bad behaviour than anyone else, Maynard, so there I firmly disagree.

Cheers,

-cvj

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 04:18:33 +0000

In 2005, the most atrocious thing anyone should ever have been expected to see in a football stadium is a Cincinatti Bengals game. I am not trying to make a sick joke here, I am actually being serious. This whole Superdome thing was totally horrendous. A complete nightmare that should simply never have happened in the US in 2005.

By: Maynard Handley

Maynard Handley — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 03:36:46 +0000

“reminded of how close we are to decending into chaos”
Who is “we”?
Yes, Americans are one step away from savagery, thanks to 25yrs of vicious Republicanism, and 300 yrs of racism, but I remain unconvinced that the descent into savagery would have happened as fast in many other nations, eg Sweden, Japan, probably Cuba.

By: Arun

Arun — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 15:44:53 +0000

From dslprime.com

Lafayette Fiber Team Gets Refugees Online
Although only 70 miles from New Orleans, Lafayette was spared the worst of the storm and now is caring for refugees. The team that organized the municipal fiber project has jumped in to help. “Lafayette Coming Together, (veterans of the recent referendum fight) repurposed some of the computers that had been collected for a planned digital divide effort to put in a computer center at the Cajundome refuge in Lafayette in less than 8 hours with a 100 meg connection and a wireless access point…by the next afternoon a VOIP system had been put in place, hours of operation settled and a week’s worth of volunteers had committed to man the facility…. The systems provide access to email, news about the old neighborhood or parish, housing opportunities, job searches, locating relatives, and locating transportation. The VOIP phones have proven invaluable. …To actually hear the voices of friends or to contact the world which mostly still exists offline is crucial.” From John St. Julien via Jim Baller. If you can help http://www.lafayettecomingtogether.org . http://www.techforall.org is doing similar in Houston.

By: Arun

Arun — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 00:28:25 +0000

From:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/scene.blog/index.html

Posted: 6:24 p.m. ET
CNN’s Drew Griffin in New Orleans, Louisiana

I am stunned by an interview I conducted with New Orleans Detective Lawrence Dupree. He told me they were trying to rescue people with a helicopter and the people were so poor they were afraid it would cost too much to get a ride and they had no money for a “ticket.” Dupree was shaken telling us the story. He just couldn’t believe these people were afraid they’d be charged for a rescue.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 23:11:43 +0000

Sponsor The Veterans For Peace Bus in Covington, LA

The Pine View Middle School
1115 West 28th Street Covington, LA.

We are using the school to support Veterans For Peace hurricane relief efforts from Covington, LA.

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http://www.petitiononline.com/10000008/petition.html

paypal donation to Chapter 116
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Have:
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(3) PC’s
(1) iBook.
(3) Digital still
(1) Video Camera.

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5KW – 10KW Generator
Commercial Ice Maker

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Cash donations are always needed and are Tax Decuctable!

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Veterans For Peace Chapter 116
28500 Sherwood Rd
Willits CA 95490
pjtate@sonic.net
Cell PH 707-536-3001