I agree, Banquet Bear.
Curse words and all… I have never felt so much raw emotion from a public official. Completely fitting, and more passionate than any other speech (rant) i’ve heard. Most officials sound guided. Mayor Nagin sounded like he was spouting off, but it was much more enlightening than any prepared press package.
I’ve never heard a politician speak so frankly. I was quite impressed.
Any idea where I could get hold of a transcript or view it ?
(London’s mayor after the bombs in July made a similarly impressive showing.)
It isn’t up yet, but I’m quite sure it will be soon.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/12543574.htm
I expect that a full transcript will turn up somewhere in the next hour, but this is the best I could find at the moment. I think that CNN will replay the whole thing next hour. In contrast, the head of FEMA says this:
http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3798486
It was depressing watching Mike Brown speak immediately after Nagin… 
My Brother-In-Law called 3am last night. The happiest I’ve ever been to be awakened at 3am.
They and the rest of Charity Hospital were apparently air evac’d to a Lafayette Hospital.
They said the staff were all okay but they lost 2 critical patients.
My BIL said they are heading to Houston next. They plan to stay with a friend there and the fly either to Newark or Tampa from there.
Early news reports are saying there might finally be enough police/nat’l guard members to police the city.
I heard this interview. Nagin reduced the host (and me) to tears. We need to concentrate on the immediate issues for now, but man…there is going to be hell to pay on this one. The far-reaching effects of this clusterfuck are so daunting that when it is finally dissected, we will witness a shitstorm of mammoth proportions.
Great news, jrf.
Here’s an MP3 of Brown’s incredible speech on the radio:
http://www.atypical.net/mm/nagin.mp3 (MIGHT NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK - MODERATE CUSSING)
Here’s a little more text:
http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Post=529196&Board=louisiana
Many thanks Banquet Bear , I don’t have cable so won’t be able to watch the CNN report unless they put it up on the web. Never heard of Nagin beofre, no reason why I should have, but what you quoted is mighty powerful.
And thank you too ZipperJJ - now you’ve got me crying too. They showed a comparative map on the TV news here at lunchtime which really put things into perspective for me (my grasp of US geography is shakey). The area affected by Katrina is almost half the size of France!! For all that people are saying the ‘looters’ etc. are indicative of America’s depravity I’m not sure how any country could really deal with this scale of disaster.
Why the hell are all these politicians up on TV complementing each other about what a fine job they are doing in disaster work, when anybody with 2 eyes & a working TV can see it ain’t fine at all?
:mad:
On our national news last night (www.ctv.ca --they put the vid of it up on the website at about 23:45 each night after the broadcast ends) they were saying that the affected area was about 115,000 square kilometres, about the size of Great Britain. Is that true?
Googling ‘size of Great Britain’ yields values of around 230,000 square kilometres…
They are complementing each other on what great a job they are doing for coming late… :dubious:
There was a great :rolleyes: moment on TV when the president (paraphrased) said to the politicians and rescue managers: “You are doing a heck of a job”
Because TODAY, earlier, Bush said otherwise:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.impact/index.html
That’s the current leadership: to teach others great maneuvers on how to avoid responsibility.
Here’s Nagin’s speech on CNN with transcript: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/nagin.transcript/index.html
I meant NAGIN. It’s Mayor Nagin, my bad.
I’m starting to get really pissed off seeing pictures of the helicopters still trying to fix the levees. It is time to abandon that futile project and get those helicopters bringing food, water and medicine in, and carrying people out. Why are they wasting time and fuel dropping sand bags into a seemingly bottomless pit? What the hell is going on down there? It’s obvious we need a massive military presence and a massive effort to get people out of what’s left of that city. Why the dawdling? Can’t the authorities see that this is a truly desperate and dangerous situation?
I heard that thugs have literally taken over one of the larger shelters in the city, and that they actually drove off the National Guard. How in the hell is that possible? Our trained National Guardsmen are outgunned by starving thugs?
HELLO MR BUSH! IT IS TIME TO TAKE ACTION! AMERICANS ARE DYING!
Watching CNN yesterday and today…yesterday a woman, a tourist from Baltimore, called CNN to let them know that there were about 300 people stranded at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans. She said they had food and water but the situation was starting to get uncomfortable. She was very calm, not demanding that they be rescued. She just wanted to let someone know that people were there, while understanding that they were not a priority. I was very impressed with her.
She just called back into CNN and told Blitzer that she and her husband were back home in Baltimore. He asked her for details and she said that shortly after her phone call to CNN helicopters started showing up, buzzing above the hotel. A couple of hours later everyone was called to the ballroom where the hotel manager told people they would have to walk 4 blocks to the Marriott because busses couldn’t get to the Ritz. FEMA would have busses there waiting for them. She said there were doctors with them and they “were able to commandeer” some antibiotics from a Walgreens across the street, and gave doses of antibiotics to everyone. Armed guards accompanied the group to the Marriott. They expected 8 busses to be waiting for them, but at midnight 18 busses showed up, along with more armed guards, police escorts, and helicopters with searchlights. They were transported to Baton Rouge, greeted at the hotel there with food and showers. They then took flights to Houston, then a flight back home to Baltimore.
She did send her thoughts and prayers for the people who had to stay in the city. She didn’t sound smug. I think she was very aware of how lucky she and the other people were to be white folks with money.
[QUOTE=Equipoise]
She said there were doctors with them and they “were able to commandeer” some antibiotics from a Walgreens across the street, and gave doses of antibiotics to everyone. [/QUOTE
So, is part of the plan now to breed antibiotic resistant superbugs? What in the hell did they do this for?
Now they’re reporting that the Superdome is mostly evacuated, and the Convention Center has been secured and the people are being fed. They also say that armed MP’s are in the city, so hopefully the armed looters will be taken out of the picture soon.
It looks like things are finally starting to come together.