Marie,

I’m a novelist. Although I?m French (sorry for that?), I?m a die-hard reader of PeoplePolitical. Actually, some time ago, an American friend of mine (a good guy, a Republican) who has been living in Paris for twenty years or so
told me I should visit Peoplepolitical.org. I did so and, now, I?m a Marie Jon addict. I find your articles to be amazingly witty, judicious and gutsy.

?EXPLOITING HURRICANE KATRINA AND RACE? hit the bull?s eye, I wish I could have written it. Obviously, like you, Marie, this New Orleans tragedy took me aback. Speaking of it, I heard or read a lot of bad things about the
handling of this humanitarian crisis by the Feds, either on American networks or, surprise, surprise, on three of the main French networks like Le Monde, Lib?ration and Le Nouvel Observateur which this week headlines were, for instance, ?Titanic Bush?, ?Katrina : Bush de plus en plus critiqu??, ?Barbara Bush a peur des r?fugi?s?, ?Un nouveau scandale pour

Bush?, ?Popularit? : Bush est au plus bas?, you don?t need any translation, it?s just Bush bashing as usual. May I take the liberty to laugh, now? I?d like to laugh about the way French authorities would have coped with a
hurricane and a flood the size of Great-Britain or, to be fair and proportionate, the fifth of the size of Great-Britain (French population is the fifth of American population), say ten per cent of French territory, I bet the casualties wouldn?t have been ?only? hundreds of dead people, but much more and it?s a former French civil servant who?s speaking to you, you can believe him. So, you, lesson teachers from Le Monde, Lib?ration and Le Nouvel Observateur, please shut up, thank you? Anyhow, there is no question that the Feds share a responsibility in what went wrong in New Orleans (the three years old United States Department Of Homeland Security, which
includes the now famous FEMA, has to be fixed or thoroughly reformed or replaced or whatever WITHOUT DELAY before another Nine-Eleven or Katrina occurres in the USA and John Gibson agrees with me:

http://media2.foxnews.com/090605/views_gibson_090605_300.wmv). Nonetheless, on a Houston radio, I also heard some pretty disturbing things about the scandalous inability of Kathleen Babineaux-Blanco, the democrat governor of
Louisiana (see http://media2.foxnews.com/090705/sr_garrett_090705_300.wmv: hey, Bertrand, what do you expect from a woman who shaked hands with Mr Fidel Castro in Cuba in 2004?!…), and the incompetence and carelessness
(the big-easyness?) of Ray Nagin, the outspoken democrat New Orleans mayor who appears to try by any means to put the blame on the republican White House. Hey, Mister Nagin, don?t tell us that, would you have opened your big
mouth before the hurricane, POUNDING FIRMLY YOUR TWO FISTS on the CNN or CBS tables and asking OUT LOUD for buses and trains in order to IMMEDIATELY evacuate the population YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF, hundreds of lives wouldn?t have been saved, don?t tell us that (see ,
http://winmed.tvc.cbsig.net/cbsnews/2005/09/10/video832629.wmv,
http://media2.foxnews.com/091105/pol_kendall_091105_300.wmv).

Furthermore,Mister Nagin, I?ve got a scoop for ya: A PERSON WITH NO CAR CAN?T FLEE. And, please, Mister Nagin, don?t pretend this horrendous disaster wasn?t PREVENTABLE, or just have a look at this video from PBS aired last January, mms://video.pbs.org/general/windows/wgbh/nova/nsn-3204-02-220.wmv. When you?re a metropolis mayor (or a state governor), one of the first meetings you hold at the beginning of your tenure has to address the major SPECIFIC RISKS at which your city (or state) is put and the best ways to deal with them (and, chiefly, how to evacuate, shelter and feed your population in case of any kind of emergency, a fire, a volcanic eruption, an arthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami, a large-scale pollution, a nuclear or chemical attack or a massive UFO landing). Does it take a Yale diploma to roughly calculate how many buses, blankets, MREs and bottles of water you?ll need?! No, it
only takes some grams of guts and common sense. Your problem, Mister Nagin?

Like Mrs Babineaux-Blanco, you?re a ? small, midget, microscopic ? politician, you?re not a leader. Mister Bush isn?t only a politician, he?s also a leader. In lifethreatening trouble times, a leader is needed, not a Nagin, a Blair, not a Annan, a De Gaulle, not a Chirac. So, Mister Nagin, it?s one thing for you to be just and only a politician, it?s another thing for you to be a pretentious vocal prosecutor blaming everybody apart from you in the wake of the deaths of people YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF. Although time for fingerpointing hasn?t come yet, I?m convinced that, as a Nine- Eleven Commission truly showed who failed and who didn?t, a Katrina Commission will, the faster the better, show who truly failed and who didn?t in this matter. For the time being, let?s not polemize, let?s just help the survivors (as concerns the rapper Kanye West who tried ? with success ? to cash in on this tragedy by saying that ?Bush doesn?t care about black people? and that ?[Government authorities] have given them permission to go down and shoot us?, he qualifies for The Bitchiest Man Alive Of The Year and his mother can be a heck of an ashamed-of-her-son mother). No surprise: as always, Bill O?Reilly was right on in his comments on the Katrina crisis.
Please, watch these five videos:
http://media2.foxnews.com/090605/views_oreilly_090505_300.wmv,
http://media2.foxnews.com/090605/oreilly_ginsberg1_090505_300.wmv,
http://media2.foxnews.com/090705/views_oreilly_090705_300.wmv,
http://media2.foxnews.com/090705/orf_race_090705_300.wmv,
http://media2.foxnews.com/090805/views_oreilly_090805_300.wmv. Now listen to what I have to say: Bill O?Reilly is a genius when he claims that ?If your poor, you?re powerless. Not just in America, but everywhere. Danger will
find you if you don?t have enough money to protect yourself from it. If you don?t get educated and work hard, you?ll be poor and helpless. Don?t count on help arriving?. I think, like Bill O?Reilly, that, if there is a country somewhere where, absolutely or proportionately, THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE have the chance to have a chance, having effectively access to food, housing, education and healthcare (and entertainment!), no matter their religion, gender or skin color, it?s America. Of course, just like everywhere else, there are inequalities and iniquities in the USA, of
course, just like everywhere else, there are intolerance, sexism or racism in the USA, but LESS IN THE USA THAN EVERYWHERE ELSE. One more thing before I go: two weeks ago, six hundred thousand people ? including a former French Prime Minister ? attended La F?te De L?Humanit?, the French Communist Party annual feast, an all-time high: you see what I mean, don?t ya? God bless you, Dubya and the USA,
Americanly yours,

Bertrand Latour

Dear Marie,
What I have seen since Katrina:

The poor and the wealthy hurt by the storm. Black, white, Hispanic, Oriental and Indian all hurt by the storm.

Christian people giving, giving, giving. Churches going all out to minister in Jesus’ name. Neighbors going door to door helping one another. Thugs and hoodlums going door to door looking for someone vulnerable.

Ice and water being fought over as police tried to keep the peace. People coming up from New Orleans taking over empty houses because shelters are full. Out of town volunteers coming with food and staying for now a week still serving it. The Churches all over this part of the country doing what Christians do in a crisis.

The Red Cross doing a great job in the shelters. The Salvation Army doing a great job in the community.

Four Hundred crewman from everywhere bring back the power to our homes, churches and businesses.

Lines at service stations a block to a mile long. National Guardsman patrolling the streets of Mc Comb along with Kentucky policemen protecting us from the hoodlums and thugs of Mc Comb, Pike County and New Orleans (the most dangerous city in the world before Katrina.)

Drug dealers working outside shelters. Doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel working tirelessly, even sleeping in the hospital to do the job God called them to do.

WHAT I HAVE NOT SEEN; The ACLU setting up a feeding line. People for the American Way helping in the shelters. The NAACP doing any work whatsoever. The American Atheist organization serving meals in the shelters. Jesse Jackson directing traffic at the gas stations.

I could go on but you get my message. Its the Christian people with love and compassion who do the work.

The gripers in Congress should come on down and get in line to pass the water and the ice. Are you listening Hillary, Chuck, Teddy and all the sorry loafers we call Senators and Congressmen. They don’t have a clue as to what this life is all about here on the Gulf Coast.

Boy I feel better now.
Your friend Lowis

Dear Marie,

LET’S BE HONEST ABOUT KATRINA.
Is it just me, or do you wonder about the folk who seem to think President Bush whipped up hurricane Katrina & had it released into the atmosphere to kill Americans?

Is it just me Or does anyone wonder why the “celebrities” who are carping & criticizing the government don’t open their spacious mansions to some of these refugees, & open their multimillion dollar bank accounts & give out of their own pockets?

Is it just me Or does anyone else wonder why these celebrities, if they are so concerned, don’t get on the front lines & if nothing else start giving out water? The press seems to be carried away when some famous person is rescued from the rubble (Fats Domino) I’m sure their faces would inspire people.

Is it just me, or does anyone wonder why intelligent people would expect that our government could be Johnny-on-the spot so quickly, when this wasn’t a 10 mile-wide storm or a tornado, but rather a 200 mile wide demon That actually ripped steel doors down?

Is it just me, Or does anyone wonder why the good folk in New Orleans didn’t see this thing coming when it was all over the TV, & even the poor have TVs? As a wind-whipped & weary, lifetime resident of Florida, I understand that when one of these things is aiming at you, YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO-YOU BOARD UP & GET OUT OF TOWN.

Is it just me Or does anyone else wonder why the good Mayor of New Orleans hightailed it out of town & left his weather wearied constituents behind, knowing (I heard it 40 years ago) that his city was unsafe; a bowl that sat lower than the Sea around it, & likely to flood? In light of that, why wasn’t there a plan on the books to quickly bus at least some of the people out? I wonder If New Orleans might have been sitting on their own resources, waiting for Washington to foot the bill for them??

Is it me Or does anyone else wonder how & why the people didn’t understand that death was on the way when the Mayor left town? Again, even the poorest people have TVs. Part of the answer is stubbornness; having seen a foot of water occasionally, they refused to see there’s a difference in a foot of water that will quickly recede & eight feet of water that is filled with feces & dead bodies that’s not going to recede on its own.

Is it just Me or does anyone else wonder why it took Louisiana’s governor so long to declare Marshall-law after the other involved states did? How many lives would that have saved? Not to mention the rapes, & the general rape of the city?

Is it just me Or do you wonder why the Mayor has blamed everyone else for the catastrophe when with a little leadership he could have organized a BUS BRIGADE early on & started getting his people out? After all, he could get himself out. When & how did he know it was going to be necessary for him to leave?

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the folk hurt worst by this tragedy, who indeed have lost everything, haven’t blamed anyone, much less our leaders in Congress, & our President?

Is it just Me or do you marvel at how quickly the call for help was answered when you consider the magnitude of the devastation? It takes time to roll big guns Into position. I’ve watched consistently & I stand amazed at how the country has raised itself out of shock & responded like the great people we all know we are.

Death & destruction is “good TV” & some of the news folk have milked that part of the story way too much. I didn’t see one News anchorman who did a thing to try to help the needy people he talked to, when every news organization in this country is a multibillion dollar operation. Their only interest seemed to be to have the victims continually recite the horror they went through.

A news woman ask a refugee in Houston if “she felt she’d make it through all of this.” The refugee told the shocked & chagrined news woman, ( that you just knew wanted to hear her complain), “Praise God, I’ve already made it through,”

Is it me or do you sometimes think that when people criticize & blame the government, they forget that WE THE PEOPLE Are the government? Not only that, the part of that government that will do the most hurting to pay for this, & every disaster, are the middle class.

WE DON’T DRIVE FANCY $200,000.00 AUTOMOBILES.
WE DON’T LIVE IN THE LAP OF LUXURY.
WE ARE AT THIS WRITING PAYING CLOSE TO $3. OO A GALLON FOR GASOLINE.
WE LIVE FRUGALLY TO MAKE OUR BOOKS BALANCE.
WHEN WE WANT TO GIVE, & BELIEVE ME, WE DO, WE DON’T THROW A PARTY LIKE CELEBRITIES DO & MEET WITH OUR RICH FRIENDS TO MOAN, GROAN & GRIPE, WE JUST MAKE OUT A CHECK & GIVE IT.

If the celebrities, some of whom are calling our president a racist, are serious about helping in this long painful struggle, ( and some of them are) many could donate a house OR TWO to the homeless or at least sell one & donate the money. These folk have more money than the President will ever have, but instead of dipping into their pockets they have telethons, where they can cry & appear compassionate.

They say never criticize unless you can offer a plan, so here’s one;

I’d like to see the press start being more uplifting & do more stories that encourage the country. After all press, it’s your duty to report honestly & responsibly, not to try to report in such a way that a horrible situation will be made worse.

Before it’s over, every American will feel the sting of this tragedy, most already are. As Abraham Lincoln so aptly put it during his tenure, “if we don’t hang together, we’ll likely hang separately. “Lets be honest about Katrina!”
Your friend always,

John

Yarr.

it be drivin’ me nuts.

We had Katrina, and now Rita is bearing down on us. This isn’t funny, and has put blogs everywhere on serious relief alert.

We do need some light-hearted commentary to get the topical depressions down. But the news is so crummy that it’s so very, very hard to be amusing.

Do your funny dance, Nabakov. We do really need it, as much as we need the serious comments about our disastrous government.

So here’s a joke. A priest, a rabbi, and a golfer float into a New Orleans bar…. Oh, damn, that’s just sick. OK, let’s say it’s a bar in Houston…. Oh, shit.

Ummm. How ’bout those killer cats, huh? Yeah. And the Flying
Spaghetti Monster reminds you to donate to the Red Cross.

OK. Hand me another Steel Reserve. And let’s see if the trolls do any funny dances too.

um…that didn’t really help did it? Perhaps if I did a funny little dance instead?

Oh fuck it. Pass the Steel Reserve.

In the same time, MJ should be dared to show more. Have you read that Japanese viewed nape of a female neck to be exquisitely erotic?

There is an other reason I’m here. These guys are probably the best looking leftists that I never saw! I’m waiting for them to take my breath away by showing me their pictures. We are probably all within the same age bracket.

I always have believed that even though I’m from the right and they are on the left, opposites attract.

Jeebus! I see her nefarious plan now! She intends to ravish our S,N! boys and breed a race of super-mutant moderates! It’s just too horrible to contemplate! There’s only one thing to do in light of this insidious aggression, guys–vasectomies for all three of youse. Do it for your country. Plus, then you can wear “Former Breeder” tee shirts, causing sitcom-like misunderstandings everywhere you go–wackiness will ensue. Or, possibly, some Texans will drag you to death behind their pickup truck. But, fortunately for you, gas is expen$ive these days, and it ain’t getting cheaper. And pickup trucks get shitty milage.
Regarding the dropoff in comments, I admit I’ve been cutting back quite a bit, though where I’ve mostly been pulling back from are blogs other than S,N! and WO’C. And in my case, it’s been somewhat Katrina, but mostly personal stuff that has put me in a bad mood/humor-impaired status. And I’m damned physically tired. So I guess I shouldn’t have gone out drinking last night. ;-) But there have been times I was reticent to jump into a given thread–for instance, I was very reluctant to mix-it-up with Dr. BLT in that longish thread talking about what it meant to be gay (well, it didn’t start out on that subject matter, but it … evolved). I just knew that I was going to regret directing a comment at him, water off a duck’s back and all of that. And, in spite of what I would deem a bounty of ignorance in his reply to my post, I knew that responding to his response would accomplish about as much as smacking my cranium against a cinder-block wall. Fortunately, Bill S and others smacked the good doctor around for a while, so I didn’t have to. It still didn’t do any good though. *Sigh*
And Pinko–you’re saying that S,N! doesn’t have “boy stink?” But all the writers of this bog are… boys. Unless there’s something you know about Seb, Gavin, Brad, and/or jeff-perado that you’re not sharing with the rest of us. ‘Fess up.
Also, I want to reiterate the question, “What happened to ukko/tapio and wha?” At least I’m assuming that ukko morphed into tapio–the post wherein tapio introduced himself was somewhat vague, but hinted at this. Not that there’s any way for me to know if they’ve been posting under other screennames, but I am curious. I don’t recall anyone flat-out offending them. Strange.

I think you are right, Gavin. Its getting a bit towards normal now, but I haven’t been to S.Z.’s site in some time, and even when I go my heart is just not into it. (Sorry, S.Z., it ain’t personal).

Its just too crazy now, and too serious. Just after Katrina I couldn’t even click over there, and even now it just seems…trivial.