THE STORY SO FAR: For the last three years, I've co-edited a blog called
The Situation Room. Now that CNN has
looted found taken that name for Wolf Blitzer's new show, CNN viewers are sending e-mail feedback apparently meant for him to our blog by mistake. (See
my previous diary for further details.)
In the last 48 hours, the volume of e-mail has gone up -- and it's getting more and more angry. Samples below:
Tue, August 30, 2005 5:40 pm
[...]I live in south Alabama and am seeing hundreds of La. and Miss. vehicles headed south on I 65 and West on I 10. Gas stations are jammed with vehicles trying to return to La and Miss. No news networks are reporting that I 10 and Hwy 90 Westbound are closed at the Ala. Miss line to La.
Tue, August 30, 2005 6:29 pm
Thanks for asking if Bush was still on vacation.
Has he ever not been on vacation?
Have another pretzel George.
Tue, August 30, 2005 9:40 pm
Thanks, Jack. Yes, where is the President - the President who doesn't believe in global warming, who is unwilling to raise taxes to prepare to a
disaster like Katrina, who has sent our National Guard to Iraq? Dear God, when will America wake up?
Wed, August 31, 2005 8:49 am
It turns my stomack every time I look at these people in the misery that they are. Our goverment knew that they had no resources to face a huracane of this proportions. Why not air lift the residents before the catastrophy. Why wait until lives were lost. We had the means to get them out before the storm. We have navy
vessels and the air force. Couldn't we have gotten them out before and taken them out to our military bases or to shelters in Texas for example before the storm hit.
Now is kind of too late for hundreds of people that couldn't make it. Why did we not put them in public transit and got them away from the storm harm?
Wed, August 31, 2005 2:09 pm
Had I been president after 9-11, I would have asked the U.S. as a nation to take a new tack and join together in agreeing to higher CAFE standards, thus progressively reducing our dependence on foreign oil, as well as to
simultaneously asking the NASA complex to seek new means of alternative energy sourcing....--essentiall a "Manhattan Energy Project".....
Were I president TODAY, I would, as Commander-in-Chief, order 4-5 aircraft carriers to offload most of their planes to military airbases, and send the ships send to Louisiana, where their hanger decks could be used as living quarters for victims of the NO flood (transported there by Swift boats equally easy to mobilize)....
But then both of these kinds of actions require both ingenuity and an IQ in excess of 100....
Wed, August 31, 2005 3:29 pm
My idea is, take the refugees from La. & put them on Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas since he may be gone for awhile & they can clear his brush. Regarding looters, shoot them, now so they can't reproduce.
Wed, August 31, 2005 4:15 pm
Where are the Mega Churches during times like these when New Orleans and other locations need help? It is very easy to pass the hat, but when someone needs help it becomes a different story. Talk is cheap and little is accomplished.
I find it interesting that churches (all denominations) across American are constantly asking for money, but when a situation like the hurricane in New Orleans happens, these groups do little. Prayer does change things, but let's put some feet on our faith and help our fellow citizens when they need it most. Let's put our
hands to the plow and put our money where our faith is during this time of pain and suffering.
Wed, August 31, 2005 4:13 pm
[...]Where is the footage of the helcopters and C130's airdropping water to the Superdome. Where is the footage of the C130's,C-17's,C-5's landing at the airport. Are we truly going to treat this City and State as if it's their problem and not the country's problem. This is not a third world country this is in the continental US. Where is the Urgency!! The president and and staff should have been there the first day. Air Guard Units are ready on a moments notice, where is the order.This makes me
physically sick. Get people down there to turn the water off don't watch it run.
Wed, August 31, 2005 6:41 pm
while its sad that people find a need to steal in such times, from a very practical standpoint - so what?
if you are a merchant and you have an insurance claim, the insurance will write off all the inventory - it ends up in a landfill.
If you don't have a claim, you will pay out of your pocket to dispose of it.
Either way what is being stolen has no monetary valve because it cannot be reused, resold or recovered so what difference does a can of beans make?
Thu, September 1, 2005 1:35 am
I just hope that we treat our displaced Americans as well as we do our illegal aliens.
Free food ,free housing,no taxes and jobs without questions. I also hope all the people that got together to help,Africa India, Somali(
the music people) do the same for their music fans here.
I included that last ignorant right-wing message because it was literally the only one of its kind. The messages are running 95% anti-Bush.
That selection doesn't include e-mail received today. I'll post some of those later...