Louisiana Fishermen: “How Are We Going to Live?”

[kpete]

Run time: 04:04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4cjAYOBTmg   Posted on YouTube: May 28, 2010 By YouTube Member: firedoglake Views on YouTube: 44   Posted on DU: May 28, 2010 By DU Member: kpete Views on DU: 976

 
I spent a heartbreaking three hours with Louisiana fishermen Jim and Angel. They work and live on a mid-size shrimping boat docked on Grand Isle, Louisiana. They’ve been through Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav, and Ike. They’ve been through more hardships than many of us can imagine. Each time, they’ve got through because they had the one thing on which they could always count: the water and its bounty. And now it’s gone.

Watch Jim and Angel describe how the oil disaster affects them. This is just four minutes of much more footage, including some time on their boat to come tomorrow. Their story is heartbreaking, and truly representative of the pain many feel here in Grand Isle and across Louisiana and the Gulf.

Where do they go from here? No one knows.
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/51405

[havocmom]

1. global corporations have been about making independent people paupers all over the world

They want Americans starving and desperate. That is how they will succeed in getting any vestiges of worker and environmental protections overturned. They will have impoverished workers in America BEGGING for the repeals of such laws/regulations for them, just so workers can scrape some crumbs to feed families.

[jberryhill]

7. Were these fisherman making their own fuel until now?

Or do fishing boats run on pixie dust?

In what sense were they "independent" of the oil industry before last month?

[havocmom]

8. No, but I bet they THOUGHT the regulators in government were serving the people

and not the corporations. The lack of proper oversight and regulation was NOT the fault of fishermen who use petro.

[jberryhill]

9. Very good point

The weird thing is that it's these "independent businessmen" like the fishermen who are always getting on the "we don't need no regulation" wagon.

[kestrel91316]

2. Here's how:

1) Get a job!!!!!
2) Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, dammit!!!
3) Quit whining, you lazy slacker.


:sarcasm:

[YouGotRondod]

3. Sad sad day

when will it ever end?

[bdamomma]

10. sad very sad for the people there and the wildlife

and then we have officials from BP saying things like "there are other places that have shrimp" damn.

[sasquuatch55]

11. The common man is no longer a consideration,unless it's for fodder for war, sucking us dry, ...

..or corporate slavery!

[HudsonValley]

4. LA fishermen

Heartbreaking. Thank you for your post.

[florida08]

5. this is awful

people working hard taking care of themselves living through Katrina only to have BP take away what little they had left.
Can't we do a Farm Aid type fund raiser for these guys. I know Harry Connick Jr would.

[demwing]

6. Its OK. It's just the free market eliminating an excess avenue of supply

which will spike demand, and drive up revenue due to increased per unit pricing.

Doen't that make everyone feel better? Thank god for the free market.

[Bitwit1234]

12. I feel so sorry for those people BUT

they put republicans in office. AND since republicans are going out of their way to cater to the rich and corporations what do they expect. Look at those in office now they want to cap what BP pays at this low cost, they don't want to raise oil companies responsibility and pass it on the the US taxpayer. These people in LA< Ala and Miss are getting socked two ways.

And the can now join the line of the unemployed whose jobs were sent overseas by these same republican members of congress.

[JoeyT]

14. Yeah.

Shame on these disgusting people for living in a red state, even if they've never voted Republican in their lives. They should have long since moved out of it, even if they've got family to take care of or own a house. Or just like the area and don't want to leave.

Jesus Christ, can it get any lower than delighting in the misery of a group of people because of their location?

Had right wingers said "Yeah, I feel sorry for those people in NY, but they kind of deserve it for living in a liberal state because Democrats coddle terrorists." people here would have thrown a fucking wobbler and rightly so.

[Aviation Pro]

13. You will live off the royalties of BP......

...take every last dollar away from these motherfuckers. Every....last....one.

[Bert]

15. Hope this doesent seem too cold

But it is statistically probable that they are republicans, whether they give it a moment's thought or not, Louisiana is a solid republican state, much like Texas with the exception of New Orleans. They always cry for deregulation except for when the effects of deregulation hit them, then they cry out for big government. Not saying I know it about this particular pair of fisher people but when red states consistently suffer the problems brought on by republicans they should look up and say, 'Oh, maybe governemnt regulation is a good thing and maybe we should stop buying into republican bullshit, what with Katrina, this new disaster and what not.' Doubt it will happen though, but I do feel sorry for the saner ones.