Daily Kos

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans

Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 03:26:22 PM PDT

Only in America would the citizenry watch thousands upon thousands of their countrymen die a slow agonizing death, some penned by armed gunmen in filthy enclaves with murderers and child rapists, and accept it as the will of their government.
Today I do not know if I am sadder about the massacre of New Orleans, the loss of the all the people, the city that was those people, or the fact that the public, even the reviled themselves, watched it live on TV and the streets of Washington are still free from hordes. As were the roads into the city. There were not that many soldiers. Nothing that could have held back millions, had they taken exception to the
decision.

Not even the reviled target groups marched in millions, to Washington, to New Orleans, to overpower the relatively small number of gunmen sent by (God Speaks Through) Bush to prevent rogue citizens from saving their brothers and sisters.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch, in impoverished pueblitos of Central America inaccessible to any vehicle, the people formed human chains to pass water and food, hand to hand down the gorges and up the mountains to the mothers and babies and grandfathers and uncles. They had little to pass, but all day and all night they stood in the mud and hefted buckets of rice, and beans and water, to the next pair of aching hands. Had any gunmen tried to stop them, God help those gunmen. And in those pueblitos, they did not have CNN, or Fox, or MSNBC to show them the dying children, the gasping elderly, the mothers falling from thirst.

Oh, America had its moments, when even the most patriotic of media figures shouted, "Let the people out!" and here and there there were some who felt an unfamiliar stirring of something as the media showed scenes of horror on one side of the screen, while officials on the other side explained that it was not so. Enough of a stirring, or perhaps simply enough time had elapsed, thought Washington, that most of this troublesome population, as Wolf Blitzer calls them, so poor, so black, would have perished and it would therefore be OK to magnanimously allow some lives to be spared.

And there have been tales of true generosity and heroism, even before permission was given. That old Miep Gies gene lives, and every heart in which it lives is precious.

In all fairness no one in Washington expected so many of them to still be not only alive, but ambulatory, by Thursday.

It was felt that the point had been made and on Friday the TV images began to show trucks coming in, soldiers. Naturally it took a while for them to get set up and get to work. The number of survivors continued to surprise. They had almost a week.

A week during which no million man marches were seen.

A week during which Americans who had long since learned not only to accept but to praise torturers and sexual predators as the divinely mandated manifestation of their will, of their destiny, now applied those skills to accepting the genocide of their own fellow taxpayers.

In any other country, it would have been necessary to bar the media from the scene. In any other country, there would have been to say the least "unrest."

But not in America. There is no nation on earth with a leader more beloved than George Bush, a government more revered.

Americans make the "good Germans" look positively rebellious.

From time to time it has been asked, "is there a limit?"

This week, the world got its answer. There is not.

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Permalink | 9 comments

  •  Very well said. (none / 0)

    He that chooses his own path needs no map. Queen Kristina of Sweden.

    by Boppy on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 03:26:41 PM PDT

  •  There won't be a next time (4.00 / 2)

    For decades we've believed in the government being there immediately. We've watched it year after year with other Hurricanes...

    I thought I had maxed as cynical after Vietnam and Nixon. This time we kept believing the government would be there. Until Wednesday it didn't occur to most of us that the government would fuck up as badly as they did.

    Never again will we trust the government in time of emergency.  

    "We the people" will respond - as we ultimately did here.

    Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire 1694-1778

    by SallyCat on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 03:42:53 PM PDT

  •  Never again (none / 0)

    Never again will we trust the government in time of emergency

    So we will not call upon them, we will not expect anything from them. Guess what..

    Reagan finally won...once the government serves no purpose.. you can make it same enough to drowned in a bathtub and no one will complain.

    PS good to see ya back DF

    •  Since I'm borderline Libertarian (none / 1)

      It works for me....

      Government should provide safety net services and social service but the list of things it should not do is huge.

      Corporate subsidies etc...come to mind

      Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire 1694-1778

      by SallyCat on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 04:58:28 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Extrapolate if you please (none / 0)

        where do you draw the lines?
        •  Background first (4.00 / 2)

          I've spent close to 25 years in accounting...the first 5 as a tax auditor and the next 10 beating the tax system. The next 10 in corporate finaqnce. There isn't a legal tax loophole that I haven't seen...or used.

          So - with that up front...

          -Corporate taxes - make them equitable and kill the loopholes for off-shore business, 'special' deductions, etc. Killing tax loopholes for insurance companies and big drug companies. They want market rate...let the state's determine market rate...not lobbyists.

          -Stop agricultural subsidies - like tobacco, etc. Re-insitute windfall profits taxes on oil companies, etc.

          -Subsidize mass transit

          -Adequately fund schools

          -Provide health insurance - such as HMO for all.

          -Provide low income housing support...not the housing itself

          -Keep the government out of church

          -Keep church out of politics

          The list goes on...I believe in giving people basic support and a helping hand...not hand outs. I also believe in trimming the corporate pork to nothing...and there is lots of it.

          -Keep the government out of health care decisions

          Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire 1694-1778

          by SallyCat on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 05:57:16 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

        •  Sorry - that got wordy.... (none / 0)

          sometimes I get wound up...

          ;^)

          Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire 1694-1778

          by SallyCat on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 05:57:51 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

  •  Are you kidding? (none / 1)

    Uh, the concentration is on saving lives, not marching on Washington. That isn't going to save any life now.

    It's ordinary people stepping up to the plate, feeding and housing people.

    You want a protest? Sure, let's make sure everyone from New Orleans has a home first.

Permalink | 9 comments