Evacuees Find Comfort and Encouragement in Speech

[applegrove]

Evacuees Find Comfort and Encouragement in Speech



By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: September 16, 2005

"HOUMA, La., Sept. 15 - Evacuees at a shelter here said they took comfort Thursday night from both the substance and the symbolism of the speech President Bush gave in the city many of them had fled.


YOUR STORY Share your experiences via e-mail or in this forum. When Mr. Bush talked about breaking the cycle of poverty and increasing the rate of home ownership on the Gulf Coast, one evacuee shouted, "Thank you! Thank you!" Others at the shelter, at the civic center in Houma, a small city southwest of New Orleans, nodded in approval at several points during the speech.

"I feel very encouraged because he's accepted responsibility, and in doing that, I feel that he has stepped up to the plate," said Evelyn Green, 58, a retired health care worker from the New Orleans area. "He touched me. I know now he's going to be there to help us rebuild our cities and towns. I take him at his word. I want to see everything he said tonight fulfilled."

Another evacuee, Muhammad Abdullah Ali, a 52-year-old security officer from New Orleans, said: "I feel that now he's going to take control and do the best he can. I felt good about the speech. It was a good speech. Now I want to see some action."

...SNIP"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/national/nationalspecial/16react.html

[applegrove]

1. Well - if the evacuees were encouraged - that is one good thing. I

hope they feel the same way in the months and years to come.

[Broken_Hero]

4. Yeah, no doubt.

[Voltaire99]

2. NY Times: Sun Shines Out Of Bush's Behind

And here are the people who say so!

[Erika]

5. Let's see how the GOP funds the effort.

They are already balking. Interesting.

[zippy890]

25. Very interesting -- GOP split developing

over spending

[marshall]

47. True--the proof will be in the pudding

[AtomicKitten]

3. Oh, you means the evacuees that survived, right?

Hard to believe ANYONE would believe a single word this faux president says. He'll no doubt do a bait and switch, let Halliburton squander the dough; he's already ix-nayed minimum wage.

I think this was a butt-smooching article. They seem to come at regular intervals from the NY Times lately.

[applegrove]

7. Yes. But those survivors really need to find hope. And if some found

hope and comfort and felt he was talking to them.. it matters to them. Otherwise - if they felt more isolated & less hopeful - it would be really bad for them - their recovery & their health.

I agree that questions have not been answered for other people in the U.S. - WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

But for the evacuees on the ground..that is one of thousands of questions they need answered. And if they got just a few answers - it is what they need.

[AtomicKitten]

9. agreed.

but I think their hope emanates from the big hug America gave them. Most of the rescues and relief efforts were private parties. FEMA and the Red Cross weren't seen for days. But they need sustained assistance and that's where junior better pony up.

[applegrove]

11. Red Cross & Fema were not the problem. Gutting them and then the Feds

ignoring the problems was what stopped the Red Cross and "the old FEMA" from doing their jobs.

[AtomicKitten]

33. duh.

[Coastie for Truth]

46. Correct

I was part of a Red Cross contingent that was stopped at the origin airport.

[Coastie for Truth]

45. "FEMA and the Red Cross weren't seen for days"

The Red Cross and the civilian FEMA volunteers (HAM Radio, individual docs and nurses, small town volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps etc) were barred from Orleans Parish by "Official Orders" from "Somebody" - the Mayor? the Governor? Brown? Chertoff? Rove? Cheney? Bush? I don't know who gave the orders - but on Wednesday 9/7 I was sitting at the airport with my "go kit" waiting to get on a plane -- and I never left because of "orders from FEMA."

I was anxious to go - I spent my Coast Guard time in New Orleans - and lived on St. Charles Ave between Sixth and Conery (around the corner from Commander's Palace)

[atreides1]

31. Thye need Hope, not False Hope that the Chimp spewed

What answers did they get, this same president promised 15 billion to help Africa with the AIDS problem, and then right after Colin sold his soul, it didn't happen.

He can promise them the moon, but it's a pipe dream at beast.

By the way, false hope is no hope at all, and that's all that the people personally affected by Katrina got last night, false hope from a false president.

[Theduckno2]

14. I think that was the prevailing wage, not the minimum wage.

By the way, this is the same Administration that was known to cut funding for Army Corps of Engineer's projects in NO area. He who giveth now can easily take away in the future under the auspices of "fiscal responibility". Remember that "fiscal responsibility" was the reason for the suspension of the prevailing wage.

[burrowowl]

6. MSM going back

to licking Bu$hie's ass!
Want to make a bet the interviewees were handpicked and scared shitless?

[applegrove]

8. Evacuees are on a different path than you & me. If they got something

out of it - "oh - I will be able to really, really, rebuild" - they need that.

The rest of us can work on the other stuff. For now - those families need security and hope and I hope they got it - I hope.

[burrowowl]

16. To paraphase the bard:

Hope springs eternal in the heart of a fool.
They aren't going to get anything. Bu$h has exed out minimum wage and do you think, if they get it, $5000 is going to retain them!

[applegrove]

18. They got some hope. Or they saw some hope. It is hope that is

the important thing for those families - right now. And security.

If they feel they got it - I am glad.

The rest of us - who were not traumatized can carry on with the questions - WHY?

[chalky]

23. Security? You think this gave them security?

Blowing smoke up their collective asses is NOT a kindness.

[applegrove]

26. For someone in the middle of psychological trauma - security & a

sense of hope - that the trauma is over - is EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD.

Then they can heal and grieve and in time return to a normal life. Of course not those that lost a loved one. For them - the world will be a different place. But they too need security & hope.

You cannot take that away from them. As i see it - the only real purpose of Bush speech should have been to accomplish this. I think he tried because he had to. At least this time, unlike 9/11, Bush isn't getting to exploit the trauma. This time - he was under the gun and had to try & heal fears. He is the last person on the planet who should be given that role. But he is the one Americans are stuck with - for now.

Having ignored the plight of the evacuees for a few days while they were drowning - it would have been a double unconscionable thing to ignore the psychological needs they have this week.
He named them a bit - not very much - he spoke to them a bit - not much - he gave them a future by painting one they could see - not much.

[niallmac]

10. Where does money come from anyway?

Do the 1% give it to us when they feel our pain? Does Iraq send it all back to us when they are done with it?

I've been so busy fighting gay marriage laws and supporting our troops from a distance and making sure my religious beliefs are put into law for everyone to follow and generally being filled with hate about stuff I am told to hate that I haven't had time to think. Gosh, with my piss poor public education and back breaking for nothing wages job I don't have time to think.

Hey, does someone not want me to think?

Maybe the money comes from my pay check!

[applegrove]

13. No silly. The money comes from going further into debt so your children

can pay for it!

[bluestateguy]

12. Operation Protect the Baby Bush continues...

protect the little baby! Protect the little child!

[progressivebydesign]

15. Thank you for a plot of Federal land... umm.. somewhere.

Cuz there isn't any federal land in the City of New Orleans to give away. Yah, and why not put them all in mobile homes, as Bush mentioned. That would be comforting for the next storm.

[Roy]

17. Oh I am so sure they found lots of comfort

Now all their dead relatives will all rise again, and they can all march back to their new government rehabbed homes, since their murderers pretend to except responsibility. They'll be so happy now and endorse a whitewash of an investigation because he promised that he will use some of their money to make their lives whole again.

Are people so stupid not see that this is PR for the weak minded from the Washington Times?

How difficult is it to find a couple of people out of a few hundred thousand to say (IF this is what they said, and IF this is the context in which they said it) something close enough to what you want to hear in order to pull off a poll raising PR stunt?

Anybody believe this horseshit is popular opinion among the victims of the criminal neglect perpetrated on these people should line up, Cause I just got in a new inventory of shiny new bridges for sale.

[applegrove]

20. I am not saying I believe lots of the propaganda. i am saying that

the victims need to for now..to get out of trauma. For those that lost family - the process has just started and finding out you have a chance at a home again in New Orleans helps them move along and perhaps out of shock.

That is what the victims need. They need to feel a part of something. Hope. I don't care what we need or what Bush needs (in that context). I truly hope many evacuees got what they needed - at least for now - so healing can begin.

On top of the above - there are question other Americans can ask and ask. Why? We don't have to heal. We can keep on with the discussion.

[Roy]

21. Not dumping on you...

Just replying in the thread to a BS piece from the NY Times.

There are many credible referenceable sources on which the same points can be made. Imo a NY Times obvious Bush poll building puff piece is a poor choice.

[applegrove]

27. I think it is the role of the NYTimes too to write up healing stories

& paint some hope.

We will still ask Why? But for 1 Million or more - they need to see 'where they are' reflected. And if it is a safer country than they are really in - that is fine. Politics and "fighting for the soul of the country" is not on their agenda for the next bit - unless they are hugely strong.

We need to listen to them.

We don't have to lesten to Bush.

[Roy]

36. Just like Kerry said hope (leadership) is not giving 1-800 number...

We will still ask why?
The time to ask why is now, otherwise the perpetrators will stay in position to allow these same events to not only reoccur, but circumvent the help, hope and comfort that you recognize these people so sorely need.

When people commit acts such as these, causing deaths of citizens they are charged with protecting, and then invent lies and conduct smear campaigns to shift their responsibility on to others.
Can we or should we take hope and comfort when they step forward with an obviously stage managed photo opportunity and spout a laundry list of promises? Just like all the other promises they have failed to keep for the last 5 years.
I say no call them on their bullshit as they commit their bullshit, let the sunshine cleanse them.
No, we don't have to listen Bush, but we should also not cover for him by pretending that anything he said in this speech had anything to do with offering hope and comfort to these these people.

[maddezmom]

19. another view AP;Viewers Skeptical Over Bush Speech

Two refugees had nothing but profanities to utter after President Bush's speech from New Orleans. A casino dealer said Congress was to blame for the slow response to the hurricane, not the president.

Americans watched Bush's speech Thursday with mixed expectations. Some were glad the president acknowledged again the government's failure in its initial response to Hurricane Katrina; others were angry, saying the speech was too little, too late.

"He had no intention of coming to help us," said Samuel Lewis, 31, an evacuee who watched the speech in a Houston shelter. "He should have been there 24 hours after. He is telling me he is going to rebuild my city. Still, when I go back home, you are going to rebuild my city, but what about all the stuff I lost? What about jobs?"

Speaking from New Orleans' French Quarter, Bush promised the government would pay most of the costs of rebuilding the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast in one of the largest reconstruction projects the world has ever seen.

"A day late and a dollar short," said 18-year-old Wayne State University student Rachel Aviles in Detroit. "I think he's more responding to the negative media than responding to fix the problem."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050916/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_america_reacts

[Sleepless In NY]

22. "They scoff at Bush's promises "

They scoff at
Bush's promises

By HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

BATON ROUGE, La. - As President Bush spoke from New Orleans last night, few of the thousands of residents of that evacuated city, lying on rows and rows of cots in the sprawling River Center shelter here, paid him much attention http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/347016p-296039c.html

[fasttense]

24. Thanks for the article Sleepless. It is a good counter point to the

original post. Both are worth reading.

[NeoConsSuck]

28. Is anyone in power thinking about

making the levees able to withstand a category 5 hurricane? Because, if not, this is just an expensive bandaid which will be repeated time and time again.

Does Halliburton know how to repair levees? </sarcasm>

[William Seger]

29. Mission Accomplished

"Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/politics/15bush.html

Rove told the speach writers what to write and coached Duh Prez on how to look all concerned and compassionate while he read it. Unfortunately, the "reconstruction effort" will have little to do with the reconstruction of NOLA.

[DemocracyInaction]

30. This a.m. there starting to point out the big hole in the speech

I posted on this earlier. The insurance companies are weazling out of paying (flood damage and all). AND Bush's 200 billion does not give money to rebuild individual homes. So rich or poor, they just get worthless rubble when it's over. The States' Att. Generals are suing the insurance companies but they are noting that Bush in his speech or elsewhere are not doing one goddamn thing to help pressure the insurance companies nor help with this. When these "individuals" find out there literally is NOTHING for them, they are going to realize what a con this man is.

[Javaman]

32. I think the people of NO should take a hard look at Iraq before saying...

that they find comfort and encouragement in morons* words, because that's all he* gives them, us and the rest of the world. Words supported by opposite actions.

colossal racist failure*.

[AnneD]

34. Say what????

here in Houston...the evacuees were openly booing and swearing at Bush during the speech. On the am news today. Hey, we been to the puppet show, we've seen the strings.
Guess those evacuees in the dome have such a good thing going that they don't want to leave.

[DiverDave]

35. Just more of the same old

bullshit.

Tell people what they want to hear, then do nothing.

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[struggle4progress]

38. Americans believe Bush's speech is too little, too late

<snip> Samuel Lewis, 31, questioned why Bush did not act faster and said the president's remarks were empty promises. "He is telling me he is going to rebuild my city ... but what about all the stuff I lost? What about jobs?" <snip>

"I've been in Third World countries where situations of this sort were handled better," said New Orleans resident J.J. Smith, 61, a retired communications specialist for telephone companies who watched the speech in a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hotel bar. <snip>

The speech left Kevin Melton, 54, a retired Marine from Biloxi, Mississippi, disgusted and disappointed. He lost his home and car in the storm and is now staying at a Red Cross shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi.

"I'm constantly seeing on TV that money is being allocated, and we're not seeing it," he said. "There's lots of talk, no action. It just seems to be a showcase now." http://www.eitb24.com/noticia_es.php?id=89711

[struggle4progress]

39. Area official optimistic, but evacuees skeptical (LA)

<snip> Aaron Broussard tells the C-B-S "Early Show" Bush did a "good job" at providing believable specifics of how the government will help flooded-out victims return and rebuild. <snip>

By contrast, evacuees say the president's speech amounted to "lots of talk, no action."

In Mississippi, retired Marine Kevin Melton complained that the storm has become "a showcase" for empty promises. Melton lost his home and car in Biloxi.

Another evacuee who watched the speech from a Houston shelter complained about the timing. Samuel Lewis said the president "should have been there 24 hours after" the storm. http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3859061

[struggle4progress]

40. Some Arizona evacuees skeptical of Bush's reconstruction plan

<snip> "It's a show," Felder said. "He didn't care in the beginning, when hundreds of thousands of people were in the water, why would he care now?"

A few evacuees scoffed at some of Bush's statements, especially when he praised the initial rescue efforts. Others wanted to believe what he said, despite their misgivings.

Seaniece Scott, 13, came to Phoenix with her entire family, but still doesn't know where some of her friends are. She doesn't have much faith in what Bush said.

"It really looked like he wasn't too worried about it," Scott said of his initial reaction to the disaster. "I hope everything he said, New Orleans comes back bigger and better than it did before, everything he promised, I hope it will be a success." <snip>

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3859489

[struggle4progress]

41. Some Local Evacuees Skeptical Of Bush's Plan (Chicago)

<snip> "I don't think everything is ever going to be like it was," Woods said <snip>

http://www.nbc5.com/news/4983150/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65192

[struggle4progress]

42. Viewers skeptical of Bush

Reaction to president's speech mixed
Friday, September 16, 2005; Posted: 11:44 a.m. EDT (15:44 GMT)

Two refugees had nothing but profanities to utter after President Bush's speech from New Orleans. A casino dealer said Congress was to blame for the slow response to the hurricane, not the president. <snip>

"He had no intention of coming to help us," said Samuel Lewis, 31, an evacuee who watched the speech in a Houston shelter. "He should have been there 24 hours after. He is telling me he is going to rebuild my city. Still, when I go back home, you are going to rebuild my city, but what about all the stuff I lost? What about jobs?" <snip>

"A day late and a dollar short," said 18-year-old Wayne State University student Rachel Aviles in Detroit. "I think he's more responding to the negative media than responding to fix the problem."

Jason Sawyer, 30, added his sarcasm as he watched at the Eastlake Zoo tavern in Seattle. When the president offered toll-free help numbers, Sawyer responded: "Oh yeah, pick up that cell phone that doesn't work and call FEMA." <snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/16/bush.americareacts.ap/

[rustydad]

43. If *

ever said anything truthful his jaw would stop sliding sideways. The guy simple cannot tell a truth. bob

[GayCanuck]

44. Watch your paycheck

dwindle to nothing and the top 2% pick up some prime contracts.