PM apologises to hurricane victims

[emad]

PM apologises to hurricane victims
5 September 2005
London Evening Standard

Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised to Britons caught up in Hurricane Katrina who complained of a lack of support from Foreign Office officials.

But the Prime Minister said diplomats had been working round the clock to try to help stranded UK citizens and some were now in New Orleans itself.

He promised they would do all they could to get any Britons still stranded to safety.

Mr Blair, speaking in a round of broadcast interviews in Beijing where he was holding trade talks, said: "It's been really tough for people, I know that, but it's been tough for our officials on the ground.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/PA_NEWA7845771125898604A0?source=PA%20Feed

[wake.up.america]

1. Do you think Bush will apogize? Does Bush lie?

[Mabus]

7. For what?

He didn't know this could happen. :sarcasm:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. And besides, if those people hadn't been so lazy

they wouldn't have been too poor to get out of town. :sarcasm:

[donco6]

2. Like this guy?

The group had called the British embassy in Washington from a mobile phone, Mr Trout added.

But embassy staff had told them to contact the British consulate in New Orleans

When they had pointed out it was "15ft under water", the embassy staff had simply repeated they should contact the consulate, Mr Trout told BBC News.

"That was obviously very difficult to take."



Posted on BBC.

[emad]

3. Didn't Nero do something smilar in that unfortunate arson incident

in Rome?

[NYC]

4. Shouldn't Blair be upset with the U.S. gov't. for not helping people

escape New Orleans? Blair doesn't have to care about American citizens, but shouldn't he be greatly concerned that his citizens were caught up in the Homeland Security Deparment's neglect of the hurricane victims?

[chomskysright]

5. Right here: again: the Repugs Achilles Heel: SHAME

I’ve come to the conclusion that SHAME is the PsyOps maneuver the Dems should and can use. Yes, you have to wait until ‘after the event’ but ‘after the event’ e.g., Iraq War, NOLA, are examples where SHAME can be utilized and it is the neocon Achilles heel if not that of the entire Republican party.

Think about SHAME for a moment. How does it feel to you to feel ashamed---of something you have done or not done. If you are in the place of shame, you have been thinking about something that has already occurred. It is already in your mind. Otherwise, you would not so obviously feel shame.

I gave out 2 diff pieces of paper: 1: ¾ page outline of what CAFTA is, how it affects us (using a public.citizen.org reference) and what Taylor’s non-vote had done. 2. Ms information re: the war: small piece of paper (I think people were more willing to take just a small piece of paper) and as I presented it, I said: “Sir would you like some information about the war” and if they reached to take it, I spoke loudly for others around them to hear, ‘over 1800 dead American soldiers’ and clearly the shame registered for about 75% of those people.

I’m reminded of the very exasperated questioner re: the McCarthy hearings, asking Joe McCarthy something to this effect: “Have you no SHAME sir?”

When I was in Hendersonville today, I mapped out my interactions with probably 200 people as I walked around with my very tall, homemade sign that stated on one side: “GOP = Death” and the other, “Ask Charles about CAFTA.” I stood across from the Republican Party shelter during the parade.

1. quite a few people do not know what GOP means.
2. quite a few people do not know what CAFTA means. The ones that do are perturbed with Taylor. Concommitantly, the sign which was purported to be there, which I did not see, “CAFTA got your tongue” would have, IMHO, pretty useless if useless is defined as lots of people don’t get it except for Mr. Taylor and the GOP regulars and people who knew about CAFTA and were already convinced that it was a bad thing. In other words, I believe it would have a minimal effect if by effect you want to change people’s votes.

So, as a psychologist who has developed questionnaires, the development of materials for distribution in order to educate people has to pay attention to what people know and it has to attend to what the purpose of the material is: to educate? To shame?; to bellow? .

So, let’s back up: what’s the sample of the population like in Hendersonville, NC? I don’t know the actual number but I do know that Hendersonville is a stronghold for Taylor. He strode down the street today, shaking hands with anyone who wanted to and when I asked him, as I popped to the front of the crowd: “Mr. Taylor: Can you tell us about your CAFTA vote”, he paused just very briefly, and he stated, “I did vote for CAFTA” which we know is either a lie or very close to a lie. In any case, his vote did ot register.

Here would be my suggestions for future such gatherings (that is, the population at large, and not as associated with rallies which are associated with preaching to the choir):

1. target the distribution according to the population: Hendersonville is rural in part, quite Republican. CAFTA means lost jobs to those in textiles and agriculture, as far as I can tell. Any documentation of its effects either now or in the future need to be fully exploited and advertised.

2. More, many more Dems, need to come out. I saw 4 older ladies at the Hendersonville Dem HQ and that was IT people save for one other woman I just ran into walking around and Mary Olson and her partner, Pete.

3. Fully exploit the human emotion of SHAME, which is present except in people who are without a superego and there is no reaching them in any case (but probably only 10% of the American population overall is in this category and probably less if you could really target something they are interested in).

And here is the Shame statement for the day: “HOW MANY SOLIDERS PER GALLON DOES YOUR SUV GET?” and frankly that could really be stated otherwise (and in this, we also shame ourselves which is not a bad thing): “HOW MANY SOLDIERS PER GALLON DOES YOUR CAR GET?”

[EST]

6. Nope.

The Achilles heel of this Achilles heel is ---They have no shame.