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09/12/2005:

"Mike Brown Advises 'Take the Scenic Route in Life'"

by Judith Moriarty
Take Boss - Hog, Police Chief, Arthur Lawson; of the City of Gretna that is across the bridge from New Orleans and remained dry. When citizens tried to escape to some semblance of normalcy, this bozo had the audacious gall (not surprising down there) to close the bridge to foot traffic. Two paramedics, the Bradshaw couple, visiting New Orleans, joined a group of people who had been turned out by the hotels they were staying at. When they tried to reach the Superdome they were turned back by National Guards.

Ms. Bradshaw stated that she asked, "What's our alternative?" The guards told her that was their problem and that no, they did not have extra water to give them. As they made their way to the bridge in order to leave the city, armed Gretna (bedroom community to New Orleans) police formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Ms. Bradshaw stated on MSNBC Sept 10-05, that they began firing their weapons over their heads. When they asked police why they couldn't cross the bridge, they said that the West Bank wasn't going to become New Orleans. The Bradshaw's said that there was no doubt in their minds, that because there were few whites in their group, with the majority being Black, that's why they were refused help. When the Bradshaw's then set up a camp for the some 90 people, the police came and took their food and water. This Hog - Boss Police Chief, Lawson, said on MSNBC, that Grenta, had no food or places for people to stay; that they were keeping people from crossing for their own protection! If you visit the website of Gretna; you'll note that there are numerous schools, churches, and hotels. The police were allowing cars to pass. This is probably very alien to those who've never lived in the South or in a large city. When I lived in CT, there were these bedroom communities outside the large city where I lived. There were no Blacks, unless they were the maids or groundskeepers. When a veteran I knew, went back to visit the exclusive town, where he grew up, he told me a police cruiser followed him every bit of the way. Back from war and bedraggled and ill, there was no longer the pretense of flags - ribbons - or supporting the troops.

New Orleans will come back, but it will be absent the multitudes of poor folks and Black residents. They'll have themselves a Mardi Gras theme town, complete with hotels and corporate businesses and we'll be picking up the tab. It'll be Disney World Times Square. We'll be made to pick up the tab for decades of ineptness and incompetence; from the derelict levee system, to the barrier islands and marshes - all destroyed from years of oil and gas drilling, and 8000 miles of canals, dug through wetlands, by the Army Corps of Engineers. This disaster was made and created by man and allowed to happen - much like the Everglades, that we're now being billed billions to restore. Hey, but Representative Baker of Baton Rouge was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Yep - good old God, decided to flood ONLY the poor sections of New Orleans, and protect the French Quarter - and exclusive/business parts of town. It's just like these hypocritical - self -righteous prigs, to shrug and tell the folks, "Obviously you were the sinners in town - the ner' do wells, and God kicked you all to the curb. Got problems go to Him about it."

The Wall Street Journal reports, Sept 8 -05, that "The mostly African - American neighborhoods of New Orleans are largely underwater, and the people who lived there are scattered across the country. But in many of the predominantly white (isn't God good - JM) and more affluent areas streets are dry and passable. Gracious homes are mostly intact and powered by generators."
Full: rense.com

Mercenaries guard homes of the rich in New Orleans
Hundreds of mercenaries have descended on New Orleans to guard the property of the city's millionaires from looters.
The heavily armed men, employed by private military companies including Blackwater and ISI, are part of the militarisation of a city which had a reputation for being one of the most relaxed and easy-going in America.

After scenes of looting and lawlessness in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck, New Orleans has turned into an armed camp, patrolled by thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement officers, as well as 70,000 national guard troops and active-duty soldiers now based in the region.

Blackwater, one of the fastest-growing private security firms in the world, which achieved global prominence last year when four of its men were killed and their bodies mutilated in the Iraqi city of Falluja, has set up camp in the back garden of a vast mansion in the wealthy Uptown district of the city.

..."relaxed and easy-going..."? For who?