Pitt Still Shocked by Katrina Devastation

[Hissyspit]

http://my.earthlink.net/article/ent?guid=20060714/44b716c0_3ca6_15526200607141398852986

Pitt Still Shocked by Katrina Devastation
By STACEY PLAISANCE (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
July 14, 2006 11:01 PM EDT
NEW ORLEANS - After two days of getting his first up-close look at post-Katrina New Orleans, Brad Pitt said Friday he was shocked at the devastation that remains almost a year later.

"I was not prepared," the actor said, describing how he drove for miles and saw street after street of devastation.

Pitt was in New Orleans to give an update on a project he's promoting - a competition to choose ecologically sound designs for rebuilding neighborhoods.

MORE

[MaineDem]

1. Well, jeez, now I guess some work will get done

Brad Pitt has spoken!

Actually, this may be what some people need. If they only read PEOPLE and US WEEKLY they haven't gotten the word that NOLA is still in trouble. This may give them a clue.

Of course, others have been saying this for months.

[AngryOldDem]

31. Sadly, in this entertainment-driven society....

...nothing is noteworthy until it draws the attention of a celebrity.

But, in his defense, Pitt could be doing worse things with his time. He's drawing attention to the problem. Maybe one or two more people will take note.

[calimary]

68. Yes. He WILL reach some people who haven't yet been touched

by that tragedy in even the most minor way (maybe they were doing what bush told 'em to do after 9/11 - go shopping!). Yes, it's superficial. But so are some of them. And if this is what will reach them, and maybe inspire them to do something productive and charitable, then YAY Brad Pitt! I've always thought he's overrated as an actor, and he isn't my idea of a dream machine. But if he's spending a lot of his time, energy, and resources - and his own "political capital" if you will - on truly worthy causes like this one, then consider me a fan.

[peacefreak]

2. Maybe Angelina & Brad should look closer to home

to use their power & philanthropy. There's plenty of poverty & hunger & homelessness here.

[Maine-ah]

4. at this point

what ever it takes to get people to notice what is going on down there, I don't care who it is that gets the public's attention.

[peacefreak]

13. I agree.

The power of celebrity seems to be the only thing that catches people's attention. War in Iraq? Stolen election? WWIII? PPffft. Ok look, Britney dropped her kid. That makes it onto every news outlet in this country. Crazy world we're livin' in.

[Scairp]

32. I think they are doing something here

I agree however, that although I like Brad Pitt very much, his opinion on the situation in New Orleans isn't something I've been staying up nights waiting to hear. I think they think they can save the world, not an uncommon feeling in those whose really want to do something to help fix the sorry state our Earth has become, but they need to learn to focus on what is realistic. I have no problem with them going abroad to try to do something in poverty stricken Third World countries; it's their money after all, and they could just as easily choose to live shallow lives of excess instead. Give them credit for doing something with so much money.

[pitohui]

48. how dare you? louisiana IS home to plenty of people on this forum

how dare people resent pitt trying to help us, how dare they?

we are still one of the 50 united states

[uppityperson]

57. Seems like peacefreak is saying that too

closer to home meaning here in USA rather than Africa. Not sure who or what you are responding to, could you please look again or clarify? thanks.

[pitohui]

65. peacefreak is objecting to pitt helping us here louisiana

it is pretty durn clear what peacefreak said and what i'm responding to


there are a number of people in the thread who resent that pitt is helping new orleans w. this program

it seems there are a few in every crowd that resent any tiny effort made to help us rebuild

[uppityperson]

67. I read it this way, seems clear to me too. Peace and good luck rebuilding

"Maybe Angelina & Brad should look closer to home to use their power & philanthropy. There's plenty of poverty & hunger & homelessness here." Here in the USA, as opposed to Africa. Whatever someone does to continue to raise awareness that the gulf coast is not peachy fine yet is good as people, even those who have seen all the pictures and read the articles and talked with people, even those people still do not know what it is like and what is needed. How are you doing? (my memory has failed me in how you are doing, sorry, my problem with memory.)

[pitohui]

71. oh i'm doing well

my neighborhood is doing v. well, it was all wind damage rather than flood on my street, almost everyone now has their new roof

a v. different situation from many neighborhoods around new orleans and on the gulf coast

so many areas where almost nothing has been done or where people don't even really know where to start

[annabanana]

3. everyone is.

Whenever a new "notable" lands in the Gulf Coast or NO, the first press conference is always..

"I was not prepared".

Clearly, more help is needed.

[jobycom]

16. Yes, that is everyone's reaction, even people from NOLA

My parents grew up there, and I've taken them around the Ninth and Lower Ninth and Chalmette, and even around the Lake. It looks more like a landfill than a city in some places, and NOTHING is happening. The insurance companies are stiffing everyone, the state is completely broke after decades of being robbed by the US government, and the US government makes tons of promises they don't follow through on. There aren't even enough people in the area to fix things. Everywhere you go, even on the north shore of the Lake, you see signs saying stuff like "Due to severe labor shortage, we cannot keep regular hours," or even "We apologize in advance if our service is below par, due to the severe labor shortage."

[Kutjara]

5. Unfortunately, he didn't address the really important issues,

such as what designer clothes are best to wear to a disaster area; whether Angelina used the time-honored techniques of starving Namibians to get her figure back more quickly; or whether there really is any way to get over the supreme arrogance of being an overpayed, talentless fuckhead who thinks that everything is always about him.

[Divernan]

11. Feeling pea green w/ envy out in LA, aren't you?

You have some nerve, making cracks about starving Namibians, and generally dissing a man who has given MILLIONS in direct aid to African charities and is putting a tremendous amount of personal effort into social activism in Africa AND in the US. Seeing that you are based in LA, I wonder if you're a wannabe actor and hate Pitt out of envy for his success.

I got a laugh out of your calling Brad Pitt a "talentless fuckhead" when YOU are so poorly educated, you spell "overpaid" as "overpayed". Newsweek featured Brad Pitt as one of 15 people who make American great, and honored him with a Giveback Award. Speaking of his children, he said, pretty soon it will be their generation's world. "I've had the luxury of seeing these issues firsthand. If I don't share that, I'm complicit in the problem." Instead, he's making sure he's part of the solution. Brad Pitt deserves our admiration and respect.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13530551/site/newsweek
THE CELEBRITY
Brad Pitt
Los Angeles

He lured the paparazzi to Africa, where people really needed the attention.If it wasn't for Brad Pitt, most Americans would never have heard of Namibia. They might not know about AIDS orphans in South Africa, or the plight of children in Haiti, or what transpired at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Pitt, 42, has been a movie star for 15 years—and a paparazzi target for nearly as long. Celebrity mags have made millions reporting on his love life, and the obsession only intensified when he began romancing Angelina Jolie. So he started fighting back—but not by punching photographers. If paparazzi were going to follow the couple everywhere, Pitt figured they might as well drag them somewhere that desperately needed the world's attention. "It's the first time I've actually felt like we have some degree of control over it," says Pitt, from his home in Malibu. "I can't describe what an immense relief it is for me." The splashiest example of his new strategy unfolded just last month. He and Jolie, who, perhaps you've heard, recently gave birth to their daughter Shiloh Nouvel in Namibia, sold the coveted first baby photos to People magazine for a reported $4 million—and gave all the money to African charities. "Knowing that someone was going to hound us for that first photo—and was going to profit immensely for doing it—I just couldn't live with it," Pitt says. "We were able to turn that around and collect millions for people who are really going to need it."

If Pitt was simply using his star power to force the celebrity press to cover poverty and disease, that would be enough—heck, it's far more than most celebrities do. But Pitt has also been studying trade issues, diving into why much of Africa is so impoverished and how it can be turned around. "Industrialized nations cost Africa three times what we give it in aid," he says. "We buy their coffee beans, but we don't let them process the beans, which is where the real money is. So what we're doing is digging a hole for them that they can't get out of, and then throwing a little money in the hole. The odds are just stacked against them."

Fatherhood, he says, helped accelerate his activism. Not long before Shiloh was born, Pitt adopted Jolie's son, Maddox, whom she originally adopted from Cambodia, and her daughter Zahara, whom she adopted last summer from Ethiopia. "I look at and imagine what her life could have been," he says. "You want to grab as many of these kids in your arms as you can. They need our help, and we should be doing more."

He's doing more in America, too. A longtime student of architecture and an advocate of "green" design, Pitt saw an opportunity after Hurricane Katrina to help rebuild New Orleans in an innovative way. Joining forces with Global Green USA, an environmental advocacy group, Pitt put up $100,000 to help sponsor an architecture competition that requires contestants to create affordable, multifamily housing for the city that is ecofriendly and community focused. Global Green has already received more than 3,000 submissions. "We can't just consume ourselves into extinction," he says. "We have to find a new paradigm, a new way of thinking. Of course, the ultimate goal is to get the designs built. It's a bit of a quagmire down there now, so I see myself getting even more involved in the future."

[w4rma]

15. That is a very informative post, Divernan. Thanks! (nt)

[jobycom]

17. Thanks. I was going to defend Pitt, but you did it much better. nt

[Kutjara]

18. Sorry, but you're way off the mark.

I've never had ambitions in a Hollywood direction, and I'm pretty sure I never will. Not everyone here in Lalaland is obsessed with posing in front of cameras. Also, we're perhaps a little less starstruck than people in your neck of the woods. It may come as a shock, but the issues that Brangelina have recently 'discovered' were fairly urgent long before they hopped on the 'caring celebrity' bandwagon.

As someone who has spent a significant part of their adult life doing relief work in Africa, let me assure you that the involvement of celebrities is usually far more trouble than it's worth. Chucking a few million bucks into the pot certainly seems generous, until you realize how much it costs (in terms of time and resources, even if the stars pay their way) to escort, protect and accomodate these people and their entourages on their disaster grand tour photo ops. The publicity they bring is useful, but inevitably short-lived, and rarely translates into anything of lasting value to the people most in need. The article you cite says that, without Pitt, most Americans wouldn't have heard of Namibia, Haiti, Davos or the South African AIDs pandemic. I'd argue that, even with Pitt, most Americans still haven't heard of any of those things. All they know is that a celeb went on another brown baby-kissing vacation, and wonder where he/she bought those wicked sunglasses and 'ethnic' clothes.

Defend your favorite heartthrob star all you want, but please don't pretend that what they do is about much more than their own egos and need for personal fulfillment.

Incidentally, calling someone who makes a simple typo 'uneducated' is an insult to about half the posters on DU, where spelling, punctuation and syntax are not necessarily foremost in many posters' minds. You might want to give future ad hominem attacks a bit more thought.

[Divernan]

22. You call Pitt a "talentless fuckhead" & then whine about ad hominem attack

LOL! It was precisely because of your initial comment disparaging someone else's intelligence that I noted your poor spelling. Or, as a little kid would say, "You started it."

And then you proceed to another ad hominem attack by labeling me as "starstuck" and defending my "favorite heartthrob star". Hardly!Actually, I can recall seeing Pitt in only one film -something
about gladiators that my sig. other wanted to see. Although I do admit to a passion for the live theatre - just saw 3 excellent productions in Dublin - dramas - not touring musicals.

Seriously, why DID you attack Pitt with such obscene hostility? (If you're going to respond at, all,
please skip the obscenities and just answer that question.)You could easily, without attacking him,
have made a valid point about the disruption which touring celebrities cause at disaster sites, and raised a question whether on balance, it has value for them to draw attention to social issues/problems. I think there are 2 points of view on that topic - and it's worth considering - without the hostile attacks.

And your argument that they should donate their moneys to already existing programs falls apart, because that is what they have done with the $4 million from People magazine for photo rights to their new baby. I also think the UN was not forced to name Jolie as an ambassador, and believed her celebrity status brought valuable publicity to relief efforts. As I recall Audrey Hepburn was
also an "ambassador". And Princess Diana also used her celebrity quite effectively in regard to AIDS and banning of land mines.

[Kutjara]

24. No need to take my remarks about Brad personally...

...unless your related to Mr. Pitt, in which case I apologize for insulting a member of your family. Also, my initial comments actually related to my opinion of his talent, not his intelligence; the two are not always (or even necessarily) related. But that's incidental.

The reason why I 'attacked Pitt with such obscene hostility' is because I have become very tired of self-promoting celebs cruising through the world's disaster areas on voyages of personal discovery, showering money left and right, much of which ends up either inflating local economies or going straight into the pockets of those who are most responsible for the problems in the first place. These celebrities are amateurs, and rarely have more than a rudimentary understanding of the issues before they start dispensing their wisdom to anyone who'll listen. When you've seen a hospital empty of staff in five minutes, leaving the sick and the dying to fend for themselves, simply because some 'star' is doing a walkabout down the street, you develop a hearty contempt for the whole business.

Regarding celebrity ambassadors, I understand your point, but I'm not sure they're as effective as they appear. After all, the world is still abundantly supplied with land mines (new and old) and AIDS doesn't show any signs of disappearing, in spite of the best efforts of Princess Di. In fact, the only place where these 'ambassadors' seem to get coverage is in the pages of 'Hello!' magazine and the supermarket tabloids. Still, I'm sure they're relatively harmless as long as they stay away from the real work and stick to fundraising.

[fleabert]

34. ususally, when a star does the 'self-promoting' they have a movie or

somesuch to promote when they get vocal about the issue of the month. Pitt and Jolie seem to just be living their lives. Unusual lives, but lives nonetheless. No movie to show a clip of after they talk about Africa, nada. Just talk.

if no one asked them questions, they wouldn't have a platform. At least their answer to 'what have you been doing lately' has some substance beyond the typical Paris Hiltons of the celebrity world. They are DOING something. More than me, that's for sure. I applaud them. Jolie has been doing this work for years and she puts her money where her home is by adopting children- that's un-attackable IMO. Not nearly enough people who are able to get pregnant are adopting in this world, I respect that.

It's still not really clear why you are so angry about these two celebrities. Are there others you hate, or just them? Of all the famous faces I'd like to hear speak, Pitt and Jolie are among the few.

[w4rma]

36. Kutjara, don't be a hater. (nt)

[aquart]

37. Some overworked hospital staff take a few minutes to stargaze

And you throw a fit because they weren't selfless 24/7 LIKE YOU?

You seriously need The Talk: You can only do as much as you can do. If you do more, you become ineffective. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE NEED. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE THOSE DYING IN AGONY. ALWAYS. Do ONLY what you can and drop the guilt for not doing more. Or you will be destroyed.

[bpeale]

38. egos and personal fulfillment

<<Defend your favorite heartthrob star all you want, but please don't pretend that what they do is about much more than their own egos and need for personal fulfillment.>>

well now. can't the same be said of all of us. we ALL, without exception, do things that stroke our own egos and for our own personal fulfillment. after all, isn't that what charity is largely? otherwise why point out how you spent years in africa, yada yada yada ... comes off as sounding like bragging to me.

[Kutjara]

42. Well it depends on the fulfillment you seek.

There is certainly an argument to be made that real altruism doesn't exist, because we ultimately do everything for personal gratification in some shape or form, but there are degrees of selfishness. I'd say that someone who works in tireless obscurity so that other people may suffer a fraction less is probably a bit less selfish than someone who gets involved in the same work while ensuring the world's press know all about what wonderful people they are and how the misery and suffering of others has really changed THEIR view of the world and made THEM see things in a different light.

Before getting together with Angelina, I don't recall Brad making too many pronouncements about the issues that appear to consume him today. Now, of course, he's an 'expert' that we should all heed. I have more respect for Angelina, by the way, because it seems that at least some of her motivation for doing what she does stems from personal conviction. As for Brad, I'm sure being a caring new man was probably the quickest way to the lovely Ms. Jolie's heart. I wonder how long his commitment will last if they go their separate ways.

A broader analogy can be drawn between 'celebrity compassion' and 'eco-tourism.' Environmentally-friendly vacations seemed like a nice idea at one time, a way of making money from preserving habitats rather than destroying them, but the result is quite different. Hoards of First World tourists stomp all over fragile ecosystems, spray cash around local economies (thereby distorting them and damaging the environment in countless ways) and generally disrupt the very thing they're trying to preserve. Dolphin-petting may make the tourist feel at one with nature, but the dolphin is still a captive, so they may as well be at SeaWorld.

The cult of celebrity has similar effects. When they go on their little tours, or decide to bond with the locals, celebrities' presence is disruptive, they divert precious resources of manpower and time, they distort local economies, and they often create significant public order and corruption problems in places where peace and safety is a hard-won commodity. I worked at one camp where local gangsters were selling access to the area a celebrity was going to tour. People who couldn't afford to buy seeds for planting were pooling their money so that one or two of them could see the 'big star.' Another time, a human stampede was narrowly averted. These are not isolated occurrences, by the way. They're representative of the fantasy world we inhabit, where a glimpse of a moviestar is worth more than survival. If the 'stars' really cared as much as they say they do, they'd know that their presence in these places is often as toxic as a steak dinner would be to a starving man.

The example about hospital staff leaving their posts to meet a celebrity prompted the response that such people need a break from the unrelenting stress of their jobs. I agree absolutely, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. The problem is not that the hospital staff weren't dedicated (they were, far beyond the call of duty), but that the mere presence of celebrity made them instantly abandon their professionalism and run for the bright lights, as if they'd had any memory of what they supposed to be doing wiped clean away. This is the effect of celebrity in such places. If comparatively 'sophisticated' and jaded Westerners will wait for hours in the blazing sun or pouring rain for a glimpse of TomKat, imagine what people who have very limited entertainment options will do. One of the senior doctors at the hospital told me afterwards that he had no idea why he'd acted as he did, just that, at that moment, he 'had' to see his favorite star.

To deal with the obvious response, I'm not talking about myself in any of this. I mentioned my personal involvement in the issue merely to show that I'm arguing from a position of personal awareness, not armchair expertise. My intent was not to brag, merely to indicate that I offer an 'insider's' viewpoint on the problems caused by 'caring celebrity.' My purpose was illumination, not self promotion.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

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

[sueragingroz]

43. Did you see Fight Club?

He gave a brilliant performance in an equally brilliant movie.

I don't think that "talentless fuckhead" applies here.

Maybe you should move that post to a Ben Affleck thread where it belongs ;)

[Cha]

44. Hey, I like Ben..and

he's another Democrat that is no slouch in the activist dept.

[sueragingroz]

45. Ben

:rofl:

Proof that EVERYONE has at least one fan.

[Cha]

46. That's right...

I'm a fan! :)

[calimary]

69. Well, as long as you bring him up, I think he's overrated as an actor,

too, but he appears to be a very nice person. We saw him at a Blockbuster video store recently. My son liked him in "Daredevil." So I went over to him and asked if he would say "hi" to my boy. He was very kind and approachable, even having been interrupted while looking at the videos. He shook hands with my son, and talked with him for several minutes, answering his questions and being very respectful and friendly. That few minutes of his time made my son feel like a million bucks.

I covered entertainment (people, things, events, scandals) for a long time. I always found myself liking celebrities who were gracious and generous with their fans - especially in random public encounters situations where some might feel they weren't obligated to be. The ones who turn fans away who only ask for a simple autograph, or treat their fans rudely, forget that those fans are what got them to the lofty, cushy, enviable heights they've reached. Ben Affleck was really nice to my kid when he could have been a rude, arrogant butthead. So he's got brownie points in my book.

[pitohui]

52. 12 monkeys another terrific performance

not to mention thelma and louise

pitt doesn't always have to be "the star" -- he was more starlet than star in t&l and 12 monkeys, and yet even in a supporting role he steals the movie away

lots of talent there, no doubt abt it

[pitohui]

49. a kind man w. a kind heart trying to help better neighborhoods be designed

what's your issue w. brad pitt?

he is trying to help us, would you have these neighborhoods in ruins forever?

what the hell is wrong w. people that they resent him giving us a helping hand, how does it cost one penny out of your pocket for mr. pitt to help us out here?

[dysfunctional press]

6. "...ecologically sound designs for rebuilding neighborhoods."

ummm...how about rebuilding them as swamps and groves of mangroves? THAT would be ecologically sound.

[pitohui]

51. mangroves? how is that ecologically sound?

if you had at least given some impression that you had ever been in the area -- hint, they would be cypress groves -- OK

people who live here are well aware that some areas are higher than others, the true swamp such as in new orleans east certainly i would support the people being bought out and relocated to higher ground, but what's your objection to higher areas like the gentilly ridge?

or could it be that some people who spout off about ecology know zero abt it

[dysfunctional press]

64. my point/opinion is this-

any money poured into rebuilding new orleans on it's same location is money wasted. as sea levels rise, and hurricanes become hypercanes, the area will be uninhabitable- probably within the lifetimes of many of the people now living there.

and you're right, i meant to say cypress- i was thinking about the keys when i had a mental image of mangroves.

[tkmorris]

7. I don't believe the responses on this thread

Fer chrissake people, he could have sat in Hollywood and done a few lines before hitting the clubs. Why the hell are we trashing him? I think he deserves credit for visiting, and drawing whatever attention he can to the area. Ms. Jolie deserves credit as well, she is a true Liberal.

Of course it's stupid that the American public pays so much attention to pop culture icons. But blaming the icons is just backwards, especially when those people try to draw attention to the very same things we do. They are using their podium to do good things, give em a break.

[w4rma]

8. I agree. Lots of overly-critical responses about someone who is actually

doing something for folks, and trying to do something for folks in NOLA.

Some folks can't be pleased, it would appear.

[pitohui]

53. the old circular firing squad

why can't we leave crapping on good people to the darksiders?

[Cobalt Violet]

9. I',m with you.

It sounds like jealous arrogance to me.

[LostinVA]

20. Totally, totally agree

The attacks against JOlie and Pitt on DU are bizarre... especially since, unlike 99% of their colleagues, they are actually doing something with their time and money. Especially Jolie.

[City Lights]

25. Well said!

:applause: :toast:

Some people are unbelievable. :eyes:

[rodeodance]

26. yes, he deserves credit.

[pitohui]

50. i don't believe it either

have i stumbled into free republic by accident?

who among us, having pitt's wealth and power, would be content to sit down and shut up when we had a world stage to try to get our ideas out and to get some $$$ to people in desperate need

[aaronbees]

61. I'm astounded too....

It strikes me that liberal activists should be building common cause and action when stars like Pitt bring attention to issues that are important to us. This circular-firing-squad, progessive purity test BS is just plain defeatist and ignorant.

[Lorien]

72. Indeed. Any citizen- famous or not- who can bring back attention to

the terrible situation there deserves kudos, not petty condemnation. Pitt and Jolie have done more in their short lives for those in need than most of us can ever hope to. Yes, they can because they have the time and money-but how many who have the time and money DON'T? And what got them the time and money in the first place? If they don't attend to their careers they won't continue to have the power to help others. One can only demand so much of another human being.

[varkam]

10. What strikes me is that...

an individual who sees NOLA would say "I was not prepared" almost one year later. I realize that this was one of the greatest natural disasters ever visited upon us, but I have a feeling that the clean-up and reconstruction have not gone as well as they should have as evidenced by recent charges of graft, as well as the fact that people were still finding bodies as recently as a few months back.

[soothsayer]

12. My friend was just down there and said it looked like it happened

only yesterday. There are still cars upside down shoved under houses, and ruins and desolation EVERYWHERE. Oddly, Dominoe's Pizza is open and selling sushi (I kid you not) but she's wondering how on earth any businesses are going to survive. The city itself is fine, she says, but step just outside of it and it's a disaster. Same with the college---the campus is fine, but everywhere surrounding it is just devastated. There's a Christian group that is providing water and showers and stuff for folks, and who will bulldoze your house for free. So far they've done 440 of them. FEMA has done just over 600! WHAT IS THE EXCUSE FOR THIS???? WHERE IS THE MONEY???

Also, since it hasn't rained since Katrina, great big fissures are opening up in the levees (because they're made of dirt, and it needs a bit of moisture). The locals keep pointing these out, but nobody's fixing 'em.

This is just so embarassing. I'd love to compare the tsunami cleanup a year later, to the progress in N.O. Shame shame shame mr. bush!

[Halliburton]

40. where's the media?

they aren't covering this. figures.

[kestrel91316]

58. "Where is the money?" Well, you get one guess.........

and it ain't goin' for PEACE.

[UpInArms]

14. "I was not prepared" one year later - because

NOLA has fallen off the news - it is rarely covered, that news cycle is over. The news short attention span has allowed everything in the past six years to be forgotten. Remembering anything is so pre-911 thinking that we have been relegated to the memory hole.

The news showed how NOLA celebrated the Mardi Gras and made certain that pictures of devastation were missing and no one has shown a picture of it since then.

This is why people are "not prepared" now for the fact that the US has become a third world country, covering up the poverty, destruction and death (no pictures of those dead soldiers either).

[jobycom]

19. Everyone says that--Guiliani even said that.

Everyone who visits says the same thing. I've said the same thing. It's horrifying. There has been some rebuilding. Downtown is noticably active. I was in the French Quarters in May, and it was packed. There is more activity in the Ninth Ward and around the Lake now than there was around December. You can see more traffic. You can see them building roads and bridges and storm gates on the canals. You can see some businesses returning.

But the endless wreckage is stunning. I drove through the Lower Ninth Ward around Christmas, and it was like a silent graveyard-- you can't imagine the effectwithout being there, of seeing miles and miles of dark wreckage in pure silence--no cars, no children playing, no faint radio and television noise, no birds, no dogs. Now there is more noise. There is traffic. There are occasional signs of commerce. In May I saw a restaurant that had been wiped out with a family in front of it selling food off a table in front of it. I saw a lumber yard and a Dollar General (probably in Chalmette) open for business. It wasn't as silent in all places. But back off the main streets, it was still dead. A wreckage frozen in time.

Even the wealthier parts of town are barely moving now. Areas along the Lake and in the area flooded by the 17th Street Canal are still without power or any significant repairs. Some individual houses are being repaired, but in general nothing else is. It's the oddest thing, you can drive across the bridge over the 17th Street Canal on Veterans Highway, from Jefferson Parish into New Orleans. In Jefferson Parish you can shop, eat at restaurants, curse at rude motorists, and act normal in a city. The moment you cross the bridge into Orleans, life stops. No power. No electric lights (unless they've been restored lately). Total wasteland. There are individual homes in this area being repaired--it is not a poor section of town, so some people have the money--but the whole area is still just devastated.

Not every part of New Orleans is dead. The French Quarters is hopping. The antique/shopping district along Magazine Street to Audobon Park is thriving. Jefferson Parish, literally right across the 17th Street Canal form New Orleans, wasn't flooded much since the levees held on that side, and much of it looks like business as normal, though less business than before. Across the river in Algiers and Gretna (where the racist townspeople refused to let evacuees cross the river to find food and water) had only wind damage, and Katrina was only a Category 2 or 1 in this area (Algiers is part of NOLA, Gretna is a separate city).

But everything between the Lake and the Industrial Canal is dead, completely dead, with nothing that looks like rebuilding. Take I-10 from Slidell across the Pontchartrain, and there's just mile after mile of empty, damaged and collapsing, flooded out buildings--apartments, houses, supermarkets, small businesses. If you live in a city, just imagine it flooded and empty, and that's what it is.

You have to see it. You can't imagine it. And cudos to Bradd Pitt for doing his part to draw attention to it.

[LostinVA]

21. Several friends of mine just spent a week in NOLA at a convention

THey, too, were shocked by what it still looks like. Some did volunteer work at a school while there. One lived there for three years once, and was in tears almost the whole time she was there. One of them is someone who lived through one of the worst hurricanes ever to hit the US (Katrina technically wasn't that bad of a hurricane, remember), and SHE was literally shell shocked by what hasn't happened almost a year later... their photos were horrifying to me -- who also has survived one of the worst hurricanes to ever hit US soil.

[MountainLaurel]

41. I was there too

There were varying levels of destruction, but it was everywhere.

In the Quarter and the areas near the convention center, you had windows that were still boarded up, and restaurants only open three days a week. In other areas, there was a 5-foot-high pile of debris in front of every house and a 10-foot-high one on every corner. In other areas, the piles of debris were the houses themselves.

Being in the convention center was also excrutiatingly hard. Knowing what happened there, it felt so wrong for it to be all clean and shiny, with new carpet and memory of what happened there.

[pitohui]

54. katrina WAS technically that bad of a hurricane

you and your friend's heart are in the right place but to clarify, katrina is one of the worst atlantic hurricanes to strike the usa ever

while it was "only" a cat 4 at landfall -- the v. few cat 5s to have struck at that strength, andrew and camille, were a tiny fraction of the size of katrina

a storm the size COMBINED w. the power at landfall of katrina was unprecedented, altho rita abd wilma later that year would be in her class, unless your friend was in rita or wilma she was not prob. in a storm "worse" than katrina on the mainland usa

plaquemines parish, where katrina made landfall, is just destroyed, w. almost no progress, at the town of buras, the landfall site, the entire town was destroyed and when they tried to repair the levee a few weeks ago...it immediately "slumped"

if andrew had been the size of katrina, there would be no miami today

camille, the other cat 5, which made landfall on the mississippi gulf coast -- has the unique experience of having many survivors of camille also being survivors of katrina -- to a man or woman, they ALL say that katrina was much worse, as bad as camille was, katrina was worse -- AND larger

katrina was a cat 3 by the time it reached new orleans because, due to its location, hurricanes have to travel quite a distance over plaquemines, st. bernard or lower jefferson parish to reach new orleans, so a cat 4 or 5 hurricane wind speed would be unlikely to occur here

but don't be fooled, katrina was one of the largest, most powerful atlantic hurricanes of human history

[aaronbees]

62. I think it's one thing to theoretically know what's going on ....

and another to actually see it in person. Before I went down in February, I was pretty well versed in the state of things -- but driving through it was a whole other ballgame that hits a different emotional chord. So maybe that's what people mean when they say they're "not prepared." It was mile after mile, neighborhood after neighborhood of devastation with no hope of rebuilding in site -- just the rubble of thousands and thousands of lives ... open wounds for the world to see. Looks like it's much the same now. :(

[robcon]

23. Has Jen or Tom or Katie weighed in yet?

:)

[Seabiscuit]

35. Good point. If more Hollywood stars got involved like Brad and Angelina

and used their fame and fortune to promote good causes this would be a better world.

[shireen]

27. i wonder if the Bushies are deliberately witholding

meaningful restoration of NOLA so the next hurricane can finish the job that Katrina started. The levees are still not adequately fixed. There is no large-scale effort to restore wetlands. And so far, LA has only received pocket change from Congress.

It makes me sick that NOLA is still so vulnerable to flooding. All that money we've spent in Iraq in the past 3+ years is enough to have restored the entire Gulf coast several times over, and build state-of-the-art flood control infrastructure like they have in the Netherlands. And there would still be enough money left for more important efforts like education, social programs, international relief work and military peace-keeping -- all this after paying off our debts to China and Japan.

Our national priorities have become so f*cked up under this sick selfish destructive regime! I hate them ....:grr:

[Divernan]

28. Insightful comment.

Another hurricane without repaired/reinforced levees will finish NOLA off.

[calimary]

70. But they still have to spend that 100-thousand bucks a minute on their

damned war. As contradicta once put it, "we've GOT to have a war!" BASTARDS.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

29. For a sec I thought your title referred to Brad's better-looking bro

WILL Pitt. :evilgrin:

[AnnieBW]

39. Will Has More Talent!

Will has more talent in his little finger than Brad Pitt will ever have in his entire body!

[prole_for_peace]

33. a partner in the accounting firm that i work for went to NOLA

a few weeks ago. he said that when they went through the 9th ward it was unbelieveable. it looked like a bomb had gone off. he was really upset about all the devestation and the fact that it is still like that almost a year later.

[KamaAina]

47. Pitt: doing something for NOLA

Bush**, Heckuvajob Brownie, Babs "This is working out rather well for them" Antoinette, Denny "Should we even rebuild it?" Hastert et al.: doing NOTHING for NOLA.

I'll take Brad Pitt, thank you very much. Besides, remember him as the kid at the motel in Thelma & Louise? That absolutely rocked!

[pitohui]

55. seconded and recommended!

why all the diss against brad pitt for trying to do something?

[long_green]

56. I was hoping we could get Keanu down here

Imagine the stories.
"Keanu Reeves Tours Katrina Devastation. 'Whoa,' says Star of Matrix"

[RevolutionStartsNow]

59. LOL

"Whoa"

[LibDemAlways]

60. If it takes a celeb to bring media attention to

the ongoing devastation in NOLA, so be it. I know some non-political types who only pay attention to showbiz "news" and Hollywood gossip. It's pathetic, I know, but it's a sad reality. If Brad takes an interest and people become informed as a result, I see nothing wrong with that. They sure aren't going to see any exposes of the ongoing crisis on the evening news.

[OneMultnomahDem]

63. It is shameful how long this situation has languished

[barb162]

66. He must not be reading the newspapers, watching TV, googling

Nola, etc
I think this has been all over the news
Same story with Mississippi

[Lorien]

73. Seeing photos and film is nothing like being there

I didn't understand the sheer scale of devastation a hurricane can cause until I stepped outside of my own home after hurricane Charley hit it and took a walk around my once beautiful neighborhood. Seeing something on a screen or sheet of paper isn't experiencing it. I'm sure that if any of us toured NOLA today we would find ourselves making similar comments.

[SensibleAmerican]

74. Awww, isn't that sweet?

:puke: