I'm so freaking distraught. And I wasn't even there.
Chris found something disgusting--an article about how New Orleans is the city of debauchery and is probably not Christian, and it deserved what it got. Like God decided to have it whacked.
What a load of crap. New Orleans is deeply Catholic for one thing and for another thing, God doesn't put out hits on people, and for crying out loud, that kind of thinking makes me want to throw up. Thanks for the article, Chris, but I couldn't even read the title without getting nauseus--literally. It was too much for me.
I haven't slept much in days. That may sound silly, because I don't live there anymore, but it's really difficult to watch your home transform (in a bad way) overnight.
Sweet New Orleans. I have so many memories of you. I wish I could have seen you one last time. If Ray Nagin ran for President I would vote for him on the basis of this one interview alone. It's transcribed, but if you have broadband, or patience, download it and listen to it instead. I fully believe if Nagin hadn't gone on Clearchannel and said all this Thursday night, nothing would have happened Friday. Or today. Bless that man. And fuck the other one with a chainsaw. Not gently. You know who I mean.
Baton Rouge. You were my home for ages. I love you and the LSU campus dearly. I have always said that one day I want to go back and live on University Avenue, and tailgate for all the home games. I know you are forever changed now. Next time I visit, everything will be different. Like the mayor said, Houston and Galveston were the same size until a storm wiped out Galveston. The change will be permanent. You're the new New Orleans.
Alexandria. My home city. You've doubled, too. Get ready: you're the new Baton Rouge. Remember when it used to be a joke to say that you went to A? (A is a college there.) It won't be a joke anymore. A is about to explode. My dad's VA Hospital? Now THE VA hospital in the state? It's overflowing.
In fact, let's talk about that. My own reports from the ground, if you will.
There's a stretch of Airline Highway that connects Gonzales and Baton Rouge that is, oh, ten miles of fields and the FairGrounds is out there. The Fairgrounds has a lot of water spigots. The haggard refugees dropped off in Gonzales have begun to establish a shanty city along that stretch. God watch them. Poor people. I can't find pictures on this freaking dial-up connection, but I don't even know if there are any up on the net, so, whatever.
Despite reports to the contrary, Big Charity in New Orleans is not fully evacuated. I'd like to see what the President has to say about the dead doctors and nurses they will find inside if it is delayed much longer. Oh, nevermind, I know what he'll say: what great patriots they were to give their lives to this country. But we all know that's not what happened; they will have endangered their lives rather than leave people who were sure to die alone. It's different. God help the medics. Keep them alive.
My dad has been working with pickup from the Alexandria airport. Nobody has their stories straight; they'll be notified that a plane, choppers, or a huge military truck-thing is coming in with 50 ambulatory people from New Orleans. Without fail, when the people arrive at the airport, the soldiers carry them out on stretchers, unable to ambulate on their own. He doesn't know if it's that the people cease to be ambulatory on the way, or just never were. He thinks it's that they never were, but words can be intercepted...so better to fib when relaying the info. Better PR. That may be the cynic in him. Or not.
He also says that there are dozens of dead bodies on the Mississippi beaches. Haley Barbour (the governor) has been too busy licking Bush's feet to stop to think, I guess, that although search and rescue is important, when people return to the area they shouldn't have to see their loved ones rotting on the beach. This is sentiment expressed to my dad by someone who he transported yesterday.
He wants President Bush to address the 10-year old girl who was raped in the Convention Center a few nights ago. He wants to see President Bush standing in the Superdome, in excrement up to his ankles, smelling the smells and hearing the sounds of the several thousand people still there. I said that even if Bush agreed, the people would tear him to pieces. I believe that. They'd tear his body apart.
What a load of crap. New Orleans is deeply Catholic for one thing and for another thing, God doesn't put out hits on people, and for crying out loud, that kind of thinking makes me want to throw up. Thanks for the article, Chris, but I couldn't even read the title without getting nauseus--literally. It was too much for me.
I haven't slept much in days. That may sound silly, because I don't live there anymore, but it's really difficult to watch your home transform (in a bad way) overnight.
Sweet New Orleans. I have so many memories of you. I wish I could have seen you one last time. If Ray Nagin ran for President I would vote for him on the basis of this one interview alone. It's transcribed, but if you have broadband, or patience, download it and listen to it instead. I fully believe if Nagin hadn't gone on Clearchannel and said all this Thursday night, nothing would have happened Friday. Or today. Bless that man. And fuck the other one with a chainsaw. Not gently. You know who I mean.
Baton Rouge. You were my home for ages. I love you and the LSU campus dearly. I have always said that one day I want to go back and live on University Avenue, and tailgate for all the home games. I know you are forever changed now. Next time I visit, everything will be different. Like the mayor said, Houston and Galveston were the same size until a storm wiped out Galveston. The change will be permanent. You're the new New Orleans.
Alexandria. My home city. You've doubled, too. Get ready: you're the new Baton Rouge. Remember when it used to be a joke to say that you went to A? (A is a college there.) It won't be a joke anymore. A is about to explode. My dad's VA Hospital? Now THE VA hospital in the state? It's overflowing.
In fact, let's talk about that. My own reports from the ground, if you will.
There's a stretch of Airline Highway that connects Gonzales and Baton Rouge that is, oh, ten miles of fields and the FairGrounds is out there. The Fairgrounds has a lot of water spigots. The haggard refugees dropped off in Gonzales have begun to establish a shanty city along that stretch. God watch them. Poor people. I can't find pictures on this freaking dial-up connection, but I don't even know if there are any up on the net, so, whatever.
Despite reports to the contrary, Big Charity in New Orleans is not fully evacuated. I'd like to see what the President has to say about the dead doctors and nurses they will find inside if it is delayed much longer. Oh, nevermind, I know what he'll say: what great patriots they were to give their lives to this country. But we all know that's not what happened; they will have endangered their lives rather than leave people who were sure to die alone. It's different. God help the medics. Keep them alive.
My dad has been working with pickup from the Alexandria airport. Nobody has their stories straight; they'll be notified that a plane, choppers, or a huge military truck-thing is coming in with 50 ambulatory people from New Orleans. Without fail, when the people arrive at the airport, the soldiers carry them out on stretchers, unable to ambulate on their own. He doesn't know if it's that the people cease to be ambulatory on the way, or just never were. He thinks it's that they never were, but words can be intercepted...so better to fib when relaying the info. Better PR. That may be the cynic in him. Or not.
He also says that there are dozens of dead bodies on the Mississippi beaches. Haley Barbour (the governor) has been too busy licking Bush's feet to stop to think, I guess, that although search and rescue is important, when people return to the area they shouldn't have to see their loved ones rotting on the beach. This is sentiment expressed to my dad by someone who he transported yesterday.
He wants President Bush to address the 10-year old girl who was raped in the Convention Center a few nights ago. He wants to see President Bush standing in the Superdome, in excrement up to his ankles, smelling the smells and hearing the sounds of the several thousand people still there. I said that even if Bush agreed, the people would tear him to pieces. I believe that. They'd tear his body apart.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home