Spin and Human Suffering

[joemurphy]

The following came from the personal blog of Mark Rosenfelder, which has commentary that I highly recommend reading:

<http://www.zompist.com/rants05.html>

This from the Times-Picayune -- Ads for missing persons:

I'm looking for Julia — and Izma —. I was told that they were airlifted by the National Guard from LaFon to the New Orleans airport. Julia is 82 years old, confined to the bed and can't speak.

THERE ARE ABOUT 40 ELDERLY & MENTALLY DISABLED CITIZENS TRAPPED IN AN APT COMPLEX AT 1226 S. CARROLLTON AVE. ..NO FOOD OR WATER & THEIR CAREGIVES LEFT THEM PRIOR TO STORM...THEY MAY NOT HAVE ENOUGH INSIGHT TO MAKE THEMSELVES NOTICEABLE TO RESCUERS...

Please go to 2110 Royal St. apt 719 and rescue my 81 year old mother, Rosalie — who is trapped in the building with many other elderly people in need of medication, food, and water. I beg for your help before they dehydrate.

Lisa — is looking for Flora —. Flora is on medication for high b/p and blood sugar and may need medical attention. The last time I spoke to her she was stranded in her house on the 2nd floor. Age: 70

What were these people supposed to do? Oh, right, obey the mandatory evacuation order. Which was issued on Sunday, when Greyhound had already shut down, when Amtrak had already shut down, when the last airlines were shutting down.

CNN has a devastating page on the jaw-dropping disconnect between federal bureaucrats and observers on the ground:

<http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.response/index.html>


FEMA Head Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It's gruesome. I guess that is the best word for it. If you think about a hospital, for example, the morgue is in the basement, and the basement is completely flooded. So you can just imagine the scene down there. But when patients die in the hospital, there is no place to put them, so they're in the stairwells. It is one of the most unbelievable situations I've seen as a doctor, certainly as a journalist as well. There is no electricity. There is no water. There's over 200 patients still here remaining. ...We found our way in through a chopper and had to land at a landing strip and then take a boat. And it is exactly ... where the boat was traveling where the snipers opened fire yesterday, halting all the evacuations.

FEMA Head Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.

CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street.

FEMA Head Brown: I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face.

DHS Chier Michael Chertoff: In addition to local law enforcement, we have 2,800 National Guard in New Orleans as we speak today. One thousand four hundred additional National Guard military police trained soldiers will be arriving every day: 1,400 today, 1,400 tomorrow and 1,400 the next day.

New Orleans Mayor Nagin: I continue to hear that troops are on the way, but we are still protecting the city with only 1,500 New Orleans police officers, an additional 300 law enforcement personnel, 250 National Guard troops, and other military personnel who are primarily focused on evacuation.

CNN Chris Lawrence: The police are very, very tense right now. They're literally riding around,full assault weapons, full tactical gear, in pickup trucks. Five, six, seven, eight officers. It is a very tense situation here

[wli]

1. probably trying to keep FEMA from cutting their phone lines

And probably not concerned in the least about "looters."