President Bush Impressed Me

President George Bush has impressed me with his Address to the Nation today. I felt he truly wanted to fix the errors which resulted from Hurricane Katrina. I now believe he understands the complexity of the situation and willing to rectify any problems.

The most significant part of the speech is when President Bush said “Poverty that has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America.” He also said “…we have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.”

For the first time in this administration, they have acknowledged racial issues. And on top of that want to resolve them!

This is amazing, I am truly shocked. Bush may be pulling through.

I will just sit back and see if all his plans actually come to fruition.

Today, I say cheers to Bush, good speech man!

News... News... News...

Michael Brown resigned from director of FEMA.

Judge John G. Roberts Jr. confirmation hearing has begun.

Michael Brown Removed From Katrina Rescue

On Friday September 2nd I wrote Michael Brown is a Tool. I discussed how I thought Mr. Brown was incompetent and needed to be fired. Now Friday September 9th he was removed from leading the Katrina Relief efforts and sent back to Washington.

Mr. Brown was not fired, but just sent back to Washington to run the “big picture” of FEMA. I believe this was a great move by the Bush Administration. Perhaps I was too hasty to say fire him, which knowing the track record of Bush’s administration, he won’t be fired, but at least they took the correct steps to move this unskilled man to the side.

[ Links ]
Embattled Brown Taken Off Katrina Duty
Coast Guard chief takes over relief effort

[ Update ]
Mr. Brown doesn't know why he was removed from directing Katrina's Relief efforts but told the Associated Press, "I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep, and then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims."

Now how should we take these comments? Is this just a tried man speaking about a chance to get a quick vacation or a man who is insensitive to the whole situation?
Brown doesn't know why he was removed

Philadelphia - Project Brotherly Love

Philadelphia has agreed to help 1,000 families left homeless from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The Project is called “Project Brotherly Love”.

I have just signed up to volunteer in any manor they may need. Any other individuals in the Philadelphia area, if you have the time, please sign up to volunteer or donate ANYTHING.

If you do not have the money to donate, perhaps we can give a little of our time or at least a prayer.

Not the Time?

When reporters question politicians, “who is to blame for the delayed help for Hurricane Katrina”, they ALL say the same thing, “this isn’t the time to discuss who is to blame. There will come a time to place blame, but not now.”

Why can’t we ask the hard questions and continue to provide relief for everyone? If these politicians have time to sit for an interview, then they have time to answer hard questions.

Why do we have stop asking questions because YOU say it isn’t time? I implore reporters to continue to ask and call them on everything, it’s your job and we expect you to perform it well.

Hurricane Katrina Government Lies

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has repeatedly said they did not expect or know the levees would break in New Orleans. This contradicts the numerous documents which have depicted the exact scenario which took place. A New Orleans newspaper wrote a 5 part special report on what would take place if the levees broke in 2002. [ Read the 5-Part Special Report, 2002 ]

Scientists have also reported frequently about the devastation which can happen if a powerful 4 -5 scales Hurricane would hit the Gulf Coast. I am led to believe either, the government is lying and covering up their blunders or they are extremely incompetent. I honestly don’t know what is better? [ CNN Article - Chertoff: Katrina scenario did not exist ]

FEMA Director, Michael Brown has stated on several news interviews he did not know people are in the Convention Center in New Orleans and he was only aware of the individuals in the Superdome. He also states he only learned of the thousands of people in the Convention Center without food, water, electricity, bathroom facilities, and security Thursday September 1 at 8:00am.

Different news reports have questioned this fact because many news agencies have reported on the situation in the Convention Center and had reports stationed at this location as early as Wednesday. Mr. Brown continued to refuse give an answer to why they did not know of the thousands of individuals, even leaving CNN’s Soledad O’Brien to say “… could it be that our intelligence is better than the Homeland Security”.

With all the miscommunication, early congratulations, and the slow relief I can’t help but be disgusted. Our response to large scale disasters leaves me feeling vulnerable and confused. My confidence in the government to help the citizens in times of need has diminished. If a disasters happens in Philadelphia (where I am located), I know I must truly rely on myself for help and survival. I know I can not just wait for help, because it may come too late. In the future, I believe this will lack of confidence will cause more people to become looters and criminal acts will happen because help may or may not come in time.

I wonder how confident other Americans feel in the homeland security of our great country.

Kayne West Speech during A Concert for Hurricane Relief - George Bush doesn't care about Black People

I decided to TiVo the NBC Fundraising Show because I knew I wanted to watch it, but figured something better might be on at the time. Instead I didn’t change the channel; I surfed the internet while the show played on in the background.

All of the sudden I hear Kayne West and Mike Meyers and look up. Then without a second thought Kayne West begins to deviate from the teleprompter and speak from his heart. He discussed my exact sentiments in my post White People Find Things Black People Loot. How the media portrays black people negatively (as looters) and white people in a positive light (finding items). His voice was a little shaky like on verge of tears, some of his thoughts got a little mixed around, but his points were made. He ended by mentioning now they (US) have permission to kill us (the army is authorized to shoot looters). This went on for about 1 – 2 minutes and I’m watching with my mouth WIDE open. This brother is amazing. He actually had the guts to go on LIVE NATIONAL TELEVISION and speak from the heart. All the while, Mike Meyers is standing nervously next to him.

BUT…

Then he said the words that made my heart beat extremely fast, I started to shake, I could NOT believe what I heard, he stared into the camera and said “GEORGE BUSH DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE.” I felt proud, overwhelmed and smiling ear to ear because Kayne West just said what every/most Black People were thinking. Especially me.

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Transcribed by BlackGirl - Don't you love TiVo!

[Mike Meyers reading teleprompter]

“I hate the way they portrays us in the media. When you see a black family it says they are looting, when you see a white family it says they are looking for food. And you know it’s been 5 days because most of the people are black, and even for me to complain about, I would be a hypocrite because I tried to turn around from the TV b/c its too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping, even before I’ve given a donation. So now I’m calling my business manager, right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give. And just to imagine if I, if I was down there and those were my pp. down there. So anybody who out there that wants to do anything to help with the set-up, with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off, as slow as possible. I mean this is, the Red Cross is doing everything they can and we already realize a lot of the people who could help are at war right now. Fighting another way, and they’ve given permission for them to go down and shoot us."

[Mike Meyers reading teleprompter]

"George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

[ Cut to Chris Tucker ]

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LINKS

[ Video Clip of the Show ]

[ Fox News Article ]

White People Find Things, Black People Loot

I’ve been glued to the television watching the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and these items were brought to my attention. The way the media portrays different victims of the hurricane effects how the entire world views this tragedy.

In recent photos of victims of Hurricane Katrina, photo captions are different for white people and black people, even though it’s the same picture! This is just a reminder of how biased the media is in relation to white and black victims.

Real Photo Captions

Black Man – A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans
White Man – Two residents walk through chest deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store in New Orleans.

Here are links to the images (read the captions!):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/triciawang/38922728/

Salon.com Article

http://www.bairey.com/journal/katrina1.jpg
http://www.bairey.com/journal/katrina2.jpg
http://www.bairey.com/journal/katrina3.jpg

Just keep this in mind while you watch the news or read the papers. Yahoo! News has removed many of these images and has issued an apology (http://news.yahoo.com/page/photostatement).

Michael Brown is a Tool

Currently watching an interview with Soledad O’Brien and Michael Brown, Director of FEMA on CNN American Morning. How dare he say he thinks the relief efforts are going well! Is this guy fucking serious? He admitted he didn’t know people were in the Convention Center in New Orleans until yesterday morning 8:00am, yet they still have not received food or help! And 24 HOURS have PASSED! How long does it take to drop food! Food! I’m not talking about troops, but at least water and food.

This guy is fucking lying. There is no way I am going to believe they did not know thousands of people were there when CNN and all other news agencies have been reporting about the location and have reporters there.

I can NOT trust the government and the information it disseminates to us. They are lying! From now on, I will ONLY trust the reporters in New Orleans and the victims they interview. All these officials that give interview know nothing!

Soledad asked, “How many troops do you have on the ground?” He replied, “14,000”. Fuck you! Where are these 14,000 troops? I’m sure we would at least see that many people in New Orleans walking around in the videos.

This is ridiculous. All these people’s deaths are on their heads.

Maybe the new Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will change the constitution so New Orleans citizens can SUE the government for the death of their families.

This is fucking outrageous.

I doubt...

CNN just played a radio interview with the mayor of New Orleans C. Ray Nagin. This interview sent chills through my body. Seriously, my heart is beating fast now. He was speaking plainly, expressing his frustration and anger with the federal government, even throwing in a couple coarse words.

His frustration with the government helping the people of New Orleans should be played to all U.S. Senators and especially the President. The people of New Orleans are dying, and will continue to die until the government gives 110%. This is America, and we can’t commander 500 Grey Hound buses to take these people out of New Orleans!?

He also spoke of the phone calls they are receiving from elderly people STILL stuck in their attics, with water up to their necks, saying “they won’t be able to make it much longer”. What else needs to happen before the US takes ALL available helicopters into New Orleans?

I doubt I can ever forget this. I doubt I can ever forgive the US government for allowing all these people to die. I can not, no, I refuse to believe, they do not have the resources to take care of these people IMMEDIATELY!

How hard is it to drop food and water?
How hard is it to transport doctors into the New Orleans convention center or stadium?
How long does it take to deploy troops to New Orleans?

And don’t fucking tell me it’s too dangerous! It’s the fucking US ARMY! They can handle crack-head looters!

And I'm not even trying to be funny, but I'm positive most of the looters are addicted to drugs, seriously, who else trys to break INTO a hospital? They are looking for drugs.

I just don’t know what to do.

Is Race playing a part?

The majority of the people stuck in New Orleans without water, food, shelter and security (and dare I add hope) are Black. Yes, Black and on top of that POOR! 60% of population of New Orleans lives below the poverty line, where Blacks make about 70% of the entire population of New Orleans.

Of course, I can’t help but wonder if race/class is playing a part in this horrible situation. For some reason I can’t imagine rich white people in Beverly Hills sitting on roof tops for three days awaiting the federal government to help them. Seriously, can you picture that? If you say yes, you’re a damn liar.

I won’t go into all the issues, but I can’t help but think class and race is playing a significant part in the disaster. Now, I’m sure the 10 billion dollars congress just passed to contribute will eventually (I hope) go to these victims. But the pressure to immediately help these people is lacking and is a disgrace. I wonder why?

More thoughts on the news...

I’ve been glued to the television, which I usually am when horrific events happen. But I must say watching the 24 hour news channels is tough. Most of it is horrible reporting, I’m sorry to say (and I really like CNN).

But I feel like CNN and Fox news (I must mention O’Reilly is just freakin’ crazy) is like sitting around and hitting the refresh button on your web browser to see if a web page has made any updates. You keep waiting and waiting, even though you are seeing the same thing, hoping eventually they will update it.

While watching the traditional news programs (like ABC Nightly News, which I highly recommend), is like reading the newspaper. You get a full report and better perspective because they give you more angles and more in depth journalism (and reading makes you feel smart).

But the anticipation of breaking news is intoxicating and being the first to know what’s going on is cool, so I’m still glued to my chair watching the same thing over and over again on CNN, oh wait, gotta run breaking news… explosions reported in New Orleans… damn I’m a sucka for breaking news…

My heart is heavy... Never Leave a Man Behind

Occasionally there are events which change the nation forever. An easy example of this is September 11; we shall never look at plane hijacking the same. The latest example is Hurricane Katrina effects on New Orleans, which has destroyed an entire city. America will forever have to re-evaluate all plans for evacuating large cities.

My heart is heavy. The images of thousands of people walking through chest deep filthy water, children and the elderly standing on roof tops holding “Help Me” signs, dead bodies floating in the water, and babies dying of dehydration is breaking my heart.

As the people continue to die, forced to live in squalor, hospital patients die from inadequate health resources, I have to push my frustration and anger aside. It is time to hold those responsible accountable. The federal government has just let the country down, while the whole world watches in amazement. The great and wonder super powerful United States could not take of its own citizens. We can invade and take over a country but can’t evacuate one of their cities?

The hurricane ended Monday, today is Thursday and people are still trapped in their homes, without water and food. Individuals who were too poor to evacuate the city were left behind to fend for themselves. The city’s law force is none existent and people continue to die. There is a fear of cholera and typhoid, in the United States.

I guess by now, everyone should know of the horrifying situation. Right now we should look to our leaders, and ask why more isn’t being done. One CNN news commentator made the point that congress reconvened within 24 hours of hearing Terri Shavio’s feeding tube was being released, but they could not bring themselves to return from vacation to help an entire city! I am embarrassed.

The reporters and local politicians keep saying the worst in people are the looters, but I disagree, the worst is our political leaders as they stand by and watch thousands of people die. We can quickly deploy thousands of troops to the Middle East, but we can not deploy 20% of our armed forces to New Orleans?

President Bush returned two days early from vacation, nicely tanned and carrying his dog in one hand (dare, I say it truly looked like he was walking onto a yacht)? As CNN had a split screen of Air Force one landing in Andrews Air force base and hundreds of people walking through chest deep water I got that stick feeling in my stomach. Does he not realize hundreds of people are dying? Then again, should I have expected more? This is the same man who sat still for 10 minutes after being told two planes hit the World Trade Towers and America is under attack.

I don’t know what to do. I feel useless in this situation. I feel America has just let hundreds of people die. I can not accept they could (can) not have done more? We don’t have the technology or money to transport 30,000 people?

I must mention that I’ve noticed that ABC News has had the most comprehensive coverage of these tragic events. I must also thank Ted Koppel for his interview with the FEMA Director. He continued to grill him and hold him accountable for the inaction of the federal government. He would not relent when the director refused to give direct answers. I was so touched by CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s emotional reporting and Jack Cafferty for bring up the issue of race and class of the majority of the victims.

I guess, like most American’s I will just sit glued to the television watching new images of people suffering and dying.

The US Marines have a saying “Never leave a man behind”, I wish the federal government would take this saying to heart and say “Never leave a US citizen behind” especially on home soil.

Hurricane Katrina - Where do I begin?

It’s 5:17am (still awake and watching the news for the second day straight) and I’m finally ready to share a couple of my thoughts on New Orleans.

Sigh, this is so fucked up.

Where do I begin?

Anderson Cooper - Reporting with Emotion

I’ve been a fan of Anderson Cooper for a while now. It probably started with his looks, I mean, he’s an attractive man. Secondly, his on air appearance/persona is very chic and common-sense reporting is great.

Today, while watching the Katrina Hurricane news coverage (I can’t even bring myself to write about my melancholy emotions about this tragedy), Anderson almost started crying! I loved it because he showed his emotions which many journalist rarely do (I know, they are suppose to separate themselves from the story, but sometimes you just gotta say "shit, this is fucked up!"). His emotion was refreshing.

On top of that he interviewed some politician, who went on to congratulate other politicians “great efforts” to help the victims, when suddenly Anderson cut her off (in a louder tone of voice), saying (I’m paraphrasing), “How can you congratulate yourselves when there are thousands of people are in need, and there are dead bodies in the street, dead bodies which are being eaten by rats.” I almost clapped! Finally someone is saying what needs to be said. [ Full Transcript ]

Check out his interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has the funniest laugh! It sounds so fake, that it's funny! He also has this nervous tick thing, that every time he laughs he smoothes his tie out.