Posted on 09/02/2005 6:20:49 PM PDT by HAL9000
NEW ORLEANS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - With the rotors of President George W. Bush's helicopter sounding overhead, New Orleans' poor and downtrodden recounted tales of murder, rape, death threats and near starvation since Hurricane Katrina wrecked this city.Ending days of abandonment since the hurricane struck on Monday, the U.S. National Guard handed out military rations and a bottle of water to thousands of evacuees -- the first proper meal most had eaten in days.
But as the masses lined up outside, herded by Army troops toting machine guns, inside the convention center where these people slept since Monday was the stench of death and decay.
Leroy Fouchea, 42, waited in the sweltering heat for an hour to get his ration -- his first proper food since Monday -- and immediately handed it over to a sickly friend.
He then offered to show reporters the dead bodies of a man in a wheelchair, a young man who he said he dragged inside just hours earlier, and the limp forms of two infants, one just four months old, the other six months old.
"They died right here, in America, waiting for food," Fouchea said as he walked toward Hall D, where the bodies were put to get them out of the searing heat.
He said people were let die and left without food simply because they were poor and that the evacuation effort earlier concentrated on the French Quarter of the city. "Because that's where the money is," he spat. A National Guardsman refused entry.
"It doesn't need to be seen, it's a make-shift morgue in there," he told a Reuters photographer. "We're not letting anyone in there anymore. If you want to take pictures of dead bodies, go to Iraq."
As rations were finally doled out here on the day President Bush visited the devastated city, an elderly white woman and her husband collapsed from the heat.
"I had to walk two blocks to get here and I have arthritis and three ruptured discs in my back," said Selma Valenti, 80, as her husband lay beside her, being revived by a policeman in riot gear. The two had eaten nothing since Wednesday.
Valenti and her husband, two of very few white people in the almost exclusively black refugee camp, said she and other whites were threatened with murder on Thursday.
"They hated us. Four young black men told us the buses were going to come last night and pick up the elderly so they were going to kill us," she said, sobbing. "They were plotting to murder us and then they sent the buses away because we would all be killed if the buses came -- that's what the people in charge told us this morning."
Other survivors recounted horrific cases of sexual assault and murder. Sitting with her daughter and other relatives, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered the cavernous convention center in recent nights raping and murdering children.
She said she found a dead 14-year old girl at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, four hours after the young girl went missing from her parents inside the convention center.
"She was raped for four hours until she was dead," Joseph said through tears. "Another child, a seven-year old boy was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night."
Several others interviewed by Reuters told similar stories of the abuse and murder of children, but they could not be independently verified. Many complained bitterly about why they received so little for so many days, and they had harsh words for Bush.
"I really don't know what to say about President Bush," said Richard Dunbar, 60, a Vietnam veteran. "He showed no lack of haste when he wanted to go to Iraq, but for his own people right here in Louisiana, we get only lip service."
One young man said he was not looking forward to another night in the convention center and wondered when conditions would improve. "It's been like a jail in there," he said. "We've got murderers, rapists, killers, thieves. We've got it all."
"It was just reported that some of the Superdome crowd is now at the Dallas Convention Center---and guns were confiscated. I passed the Convention Center and Reunion Arena on the way home and both are literally surrounded by police vehicles. At least Dallas cops won't wait to shoot if they need to."
Illustrates what I mean. Texans open up their hearts to those in need, but remain firm-minded enough to keep those that want to take advantage of their generousity on a real short leash. Texans will give you the shirt off their back if you need it, and the back of their hand if you need it, and know the difference between the two.
Yep. I'll go with that. Great state, that Texas.
Damn. I had not seen that yet.
Perhaps the governor and the NO mayor could salvage their conspicuous appearance of incompetence if they announced that their slow response to the disaster is part of a new initiative in the war on obesity. < /sarcasm >
The people making all the noise didn't need water. They just wanted to get out of there. You could see trays of bottled water in the video of the convention center.
I was using sarcasm.
The Guard was there on the second day after the hurricane, before the Dome got even close to full. They were handing out MREs even then. Not many maybe, but probably all they had.
And PROBABLY the reason so many DID NOT LEAVE is because they knew if they left their homes, their life's work, that the very thugs doing the terrorizing now, would have break into their homes and take whatever hit their fancy.
SO they banked on the storm not being a killer storm.
Even celebrities stayed...what is his name..'fats domino' or something. And others.
Not EVERYONE who stayed, stayed because they were to poor to leave.
They KNEW the criminal element only too well..the drug addicts, etc. And they feared for their property.
Gov. Perry (TX) has mobilized over 1000 TxNG to provide security. MeThinks more guns will be aimed in than out. I also suspect that's just the first increment. The AstroDome is already full, Reunion in Dallas will soon be, the first large increment has arrived at the former Kelly AFB in San Antonio. 5,000 have arrived in Austin, most will be put in the Convention Center,where they will have convenient access to the bars on 6th street.
It took a heck of a lot longer to get Congressional approval for use of force in Iraq along with the 8B$ first appropriation, than it took to push through the 12B$ relief appropriation. WOuldn't have taken that long if the Kennedy, Schummer and that ilk hadn't wasted time flapping their jaws railing against the President.
Yes. FOX was interviewing a guy from the Red Cross, and he said they were all civilian workers and wouldn't go in to help because of the criminal element. People who weren't military wouldn't go near the place, and no one can blame them.
Guardsmen are allowed to enforce the laws of the state, but only when acting under STATE orders and under the command of the Governor. If they are called to duty by the President, they are forbidden by the Posse Commitatus act (1870s IIRC) from doing so. Even when acting under state orders, they may be paid out of the federal budget, but not the same "pot" as when they are federalized.
It's all kinda complicated, and I once was an officer of the Air National Guard. Being a member of just the USAF Reserve was much simplier. :)
They won't find such easy pick'ns in Texas. My son in law, who lives in Austin, but is from NJ, asked me about requirements for having a gun in your home. Other that the federal hoops one must jump through if one buys the gun from a licensed dealer, there are none and the legislature just passed a law essentially allowing unlicensed persons to carry a handgun in their vehicle while traveling (which was the law before), but defining traveling as "going somewhere, while not committing a crime or being a person prohibited from owning a firearm).
I'm going to try to steer him towards a 12 ga shotgun. He's not yet experienced enough to want him handling a handgun or a rifle around MY granddaughter. :) Failing that, I may let him borrow my .30 Carbine, until he can get a pistol caliber carbine, such as a Hi Point; in .40 S&W or 9 mm, or a Ruger police carbine or a used Marlin "Camp Carbine" in 9mm or (preferably) .45 ACP.
I don't know what case you are referring to. The only ones I'm aware of concerned whether the feds could send guardsmen overseas for their 2 week annual tour. (To places the (usually 'Rat) Governor didn't want any US military sent. The Court ruled that during the annual tour the Guardsmen are wearing their federal hat, and the governor has no say in where or how that annual training is conducted.
But, as long as the Guard is not federalized, over which the governors have no say, they are under the command of the governor who is free to send them anywhere (within the state or outside with the permission of or at the request of the governor of the other state) she/he chooses.)
I am using the term humility here as "spiritual humility"...and of course that leaves me in exactly the state you suggest. As a person reaches for spiritual humility, one experiences an elevation...a suspension of the laws of gravity.
You have in fact touch upon the very essence of "the Way." The more a person seeks to be obedient to the Word, the more one rises upward. The humbler one become, the more sublime one becomes. The more one serves, the more one feels nobility.
That is what Jesus gives us. Royalty by giving.
Might it be something to do with them having been left in an area which is now at least 5 feet under water. Water does not do good things when it gets inside those parts which should only have air, air fuel mix or exhaust gases in them.
"Give the American people some credit. "
The thrust of my remark was toward the reporter.
There are ten's of millions like him in this country. The frustrated rage that these people are feeling isn't going to subside. It CANNOT. These self deluded, lying idiots have placed themselves at the center of the universe (not unlike a god) and not un like a god they are angry. You and I don't have to do anything. We can simply go on about our lives These people will eventually attempt to restore "order" in their universe. Check out in any history book how the left has ALWAYS done that.
Hey! Your don't need to tell me about Hurricane Agnes. I went through it in a very rural mountainous region and we took care of ourselves. These people have no way to take care of themselves. They are stuck in city where the mayor is completely incompetent.
BRAC wanted to shut down one of the PA air national guard units and close a base, and the court ruled that they couldn't do that without the approval of the governor.
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