insanehippie wrote:It is now the one year anniversary of the most glorified avoidable natural disaster in recent history.
Not much has changed except that Kanye West has kept his mouth shut for quite a few months, and he's overdue for putting his foot in his mouth.
In other related news, somehow New Orleans Mayor Ray "Flooded School Bus" Nagin is still mayor, as is Governor Kathleen Blanco. Crime has gone up to pre-Katrina levels with less population. Crime in Houston has gone up due to the derelicts of New Orleans.
Nagin won because the govt. allowed all of the displaced blacks to vote for him, even though the vast majority of them will never return.
Crime is up in New Orleans parish, because we have a diminished police force, and there are very few people, if any, in the neighborhoods to report crimes. Most crimes aren't happened upon by the police, they're called in during, or after the fact by concerned citizens.
insanehippie wrote:Some morons are still blaming President Bush while giving a Free Pass to School Bus Nagin and Guv'nor Blanco. New Orleans will always be a deadening backwater town until it can sweep out the corrupt morons and elect less corrupt ones (I don't expect anyone near-honest to run for office in NOLA).
New Orleans has always been corrupt, and you're right I don't see it as being any less corrupt...ever.
However, I think that allowing Nagin to be re-elected showed America what a bunch of dumb-ass hicks we all are down here. We lived up to our 007 portrayal of Louisiana in the old Sean Connery / Robert Moore versions of those movies.
That said, every side of Govt. gets a share of the blame. Nagin reacted badly, Blanko's still a fucking moron, and Bush is an asshole (in this regard). I still remember seeing New Orleans under water, knowing my wife was working in the hospital, hearing from her that armed people had over-run medocrest (a hospital nearby) for food / drugs, and then seeing Bush on National TV clapping Brown on the shoulder telling him what a bang up job he was doing, and laughing and smiling. Bullshit. I honestly think Nagin's a dumb ass, but at least he wasn't sugar coating shit, and telling everyone what a great job they were doing. He was saying "look guys, I don't know what to do here, help a brother out!" Blanko was too busy looking like a deer in headlights and Bush was too busy glad-handing and telling everyone how great a job they were doing. Just shit all around.
insanehippie wrote:And things are getting better in Mississippi and Alabama. But you most likely don't know that, because there isn't racial black vs white tensions like there is in the "Utopia" of New Orleans, Louisiana.
I don't have firsthand knowledge on the ground. How do you see is Chris/Cwew?
-Jesse
New Orleans had about 80% of the city in ruins, and probably still has about 40-50% of the city in ruins. Most of the other areas hit by katrina didn't have as much damage. Sure they had a lot of damage, but we had all that damage, + water + rebuilding of substandard levees. There's no point in rebuilding a city that will just flood again with the next heavy rain (which it has done a few times now, just not the same extent)
I'm not saying that we shouldn't be further along, but to compare our damage and recovery time to that of Al. or Ms. is really comparing apples to cucumbers.
Also (and this isn't an excuse per say, but it's the truth) 70% of New Orleans pre-katrina was welfare, and unlike most of the country with welfare reform we didn't require our welfare families to prove they were activly looking for a job, and we didn't require them to get off of welfare after a certain amount of time....So, that created a welfare dependancy (again, our own faults) so these bastards that are now elsewhere thank god, really had no idea before how to do for themselves. The vast majority of the people that were on welfare, and WANT to come back, want to do so for the free ride they're used to other than because they want to come back to their homes. Those that are happier with the places they live now, are happier because the tools given to them there, aren't permanent, and they allow for growth (usually). So most of new orleans low-income housing won't be rebuild by their owners, which means the city has to deal with them, and the city is BROKE! Our tax base lives in another parish now, because the army corps of eng. is going too slow fixing the canals (of course they have to go slow, because fuck if they're going to get it wrong again) but until they decide how they're going to completely fix the canals there's no point in moving back into your flood prone home, if you live on the actual canal you may be bought out by the govt so your home can be part of a new levee, so why rebuild...but without the tax base rebuilding new orleans can't tax anyone and they're so deep in the hole that what the hell can they do.
New Orleans is also losing business left and right, because Nagin's a dumb ass when it comes to appeasing the people he needs to keep the city alive. He went out and shook hands with the welfare babies, and that's why he has a job still, but damn buddy you can work in a dead city? So New Orleans has a HUGE potential to go flop within the next 5 years. HUGE potential to be another Raceland (where's that???--Exactly) Or Boutte (damn..where's that?-right)
New Orleans is an economic sinking boat, but instead of all the rats jumping ship they're coming back, and all the real passengers are saying "see ya boat.." glug glug glug.
So..that's my take, and I could go on and on, but this post is already huge.