Hrdbll -- Barney Frank is fearless -"ethnic cleansing" in NOLA

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

is the result of the governments either active or passive inaction. I guess we'll just have to wait for the transcripts but I was mesmerized and amazed. No parsing, no making his statements palatable - Barney just let it out. He seemed to be elaborating on comments he had made earlier in another public forum. I just perused these boards and have not seen a single post about this. I guess that might prove that we actually HAVE sworn off Tweety - ironic that something of import finally happens on his show.

Anyway, Barney's point was that through their( the Admin, FEMA, etc.) inaction of rebuilding and bringing back the black population that an "ethnic cleansing" had occurred in Louisiana, and that it would come back as a smaller, whiter, more Republican state. He said something like "Rove does stuff like this" (my rephrasing- don't get hysterical, wait for transcript). Anyway, he flat out said what a lot of people think and don't say as clearly. They had on a Republican Senator from LA - have to check on name, who of course disagreed, but not as rabidly as you might have expected.

[rusty_parts2001]

1. Barney always succinctly nails the message

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Ok NOW I see that there is a thread about this - thank God! nevermind.

[Stephanie]

3. they want to gentrify it

typical real estate ploy

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Cuz ya see..... democratic nations don't engage in such activities,

they defend their citizens.... they don't posess nor desire to obtain weapons of mass destruction..... or some such piffle.

[rox63]

5. Barney's great

He's always had a way with words. BTW, the only current repuke senator from LA is Vitter, so that's probably who they had on the show. The other Senator is Mary Landrieu, who's sorta kinda a Dem.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

7. It was Vitter

And as I say, he was measured in is response. It made me think he secretly thought it might be true.

[Poppyseedman]

6. What is stopping the black population from coming back?

Personally, If I lived in N.O. I wouldn't come back either, until I know it was safe to rebuild.

Not to give anybody a break, but with the level of destruction, rebuilding is not going to happen real quick. Nobody in DC is holding back any money as far as I know.

This, I think is one issues partisan politics should be buried and both sides of the aisle get working to help N.O. get back on it's feet.

[Leopolds Ghost]

11. Do you rely on the govt to tell you when its safe? And yes,

They ARE holding back money as folks on DU have said 1,000 times.

As for "the level of destruction" perhaps you are unaware of what contractors typically do when they restore/gentrify an old house.

They strip it to the bone (bare wood). They install all new everything (except for the wood frame and the shingles).

Perhaps you don't think this is doable for poor people, or those whose house has been mysteriously declared "unsafe" due to "pollution".

NOLA has always been incredibly polluted. But for some reason it don't stop the white folks from getting permission to reuild. They are slopping out the ground floor of their houses even as we speak.

I have to admit, it is partly the poor and middle class people's fault. Adlai Stevenson was right, sometimes the American people ARE just too damn dumb to understand (in this case, that nobody is going to tell them when to come back, nobody is going to slop their houses out for them unless they choose to hire someone -- unless they are waiting for someone to steal their property; nobody is going to lose money buying out their mortgage for pennies on the dollar, so they'd better get gdamn concerned about it real quick; nobody is going to tell them whether or not the toxic mold and oil slick in their living room is toxic, so they might as well start gutting and refurbishing and worry about the toxic shit once it's outside; nobody is going to pay them if they choose to abandon their homes and neighborhoods, and they're likely as not to face a better job market if they move back than if they decide to live in buttf-- Arkansas and work at Wal Mart -- it is UP TO THEM -- and us.)

Waiting for a Republican gov't to allow or assist WE, THE PEOPLE
to rebuild New Orleans is an exercise in mental masturbation tantamount to witing for them to reform the electoral system, or declare world peace. Sometimes I think progressives, in their eagerness to see an expanded gov't role, ignore this fact entirely.

[Cocoa]

8. so soon after Coretta Scott King's funeral

shameless! :-)

[OneBlueSky]

9. a northeast liberal Democrat standing up for Katrina victims . . .

first time I've been proud to be a Dem since I don't know when . . .

[JCMach1]

10. He still fealt the need to 'clarify' his position... STOP doing that

Dems!!!!!

It makes you look weak!

STick to your guns and pound your point when you get on the talking head shows...

[Armstead]

14. Barney wasn't backtracking

There's a difference between backtracking and clarifying.

Clarifying is expanding on what was said, which is what Barney said.

And, sirprisingly, Chris Matthews was respectful and didn't try to browbeat him.

[xchrom]

12. barney is very cool.

[Leopolds Ghost]

13. Sounds like a bunch of WHINING to me...

Is he saying "WE WILL NOT ALLOW the ethnic cleansing of this city"?

No. He is merely AGREEING with David Vitter and Mary Landrieu, who
assert that the whitification of New Orleans and its transformation
into a solid red state with a Biloxi-style core is a foregone conclusion.

Does he intend to do anything about it?

No, because he says it has already happened. All those houses that were subject to flood damage have just magically disappeared. They are certainly not habitable or fixable -- except by white folks who just happen to have the money and just happen to have title to those nonexistent fixer-uppers!

This is what happens when our Democratic leaders sit on people's land and tell them "New Orleans as we know it is no more, do not return until our REPUBLICAN colleagues tell you it's safe to return, because the govt knows best, and CERTAINLY only the govt can protect black neighborhoods and poor people in general; just look at our track record!"

Same old story, just like urban renewal. They're doing it in other cities even as we speak, with Barney Frank's full or at least partial acquiescence.