New Orleans Was Robbed
Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 08:41:06 AM PDT
New Orleans has again been dealt yet another unfair blow on top of her having been rejected by the Netroots Nation 2008 convention--a topic I'm still not finished with, on which I'm planning to diary more extensively early next week because this new rebuff has made me even angrier.
She was rejected yesterday as the site for one of the Presidential debates to be held next year. Read Yatpundit's post for the details.
In my view, the New Orleanians quoted in the story and op-ed piece are being much too charitable to the site selection comission, for reasons I'll soon be going into. I feel that in light of both this and the Netroots Nation rebuffs, it's time for New Orleanians and Nolaphiles to stop letting ourselves be walked all over and loudly make our voices heard.
I am saddened and very upset that the site selection committee says New Orleans isn't recovered enough to be a debate site and here's why: The fact that New Orleans has almost never come up in presidential debates and that the mainstream media have been kowtowing to BushCo by maintaining a news blackout on her. Had she and Katrina recovery been regular topics in these debates and been regularly receiving news coverage, I could have dealt with New Orleans' rejection. (Last night, by the way, was the 55th newscast Brian Williams anchored since he last aired a full report out of New Orleans.) But I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of debates I've seen in which she came up as a topic. Even then, she was usually the topic of a "Lightning Round" question to one or another candidate--not a major topic.
It would be interesting to find out what exactly went into the site selection process, because New Orleans had lobbied so hard to be the site of such an event. Obviously BushCo is up to its old tricks--for all we know, BushCo had the Rethug members of the committee in its pocket and pressured them not to sign off on New Orleans as a debate site, then had them come up with a Big Lie to deceive people into thinking that New Orleans isn't really up to holding a presidential debate.
This is because BushCo will stop at nothing to punish Louisiana for having made BushCo look bad during Katrina by denying New Orleans the opportunity to host such a debate. And to make their Final Solution in Louisiana stick by putting a damper on anything that would show that New Orleans is open for business and would help her economically by injecting money into local businesses. And last but not least, look at one of the lucky states that has been selected to host a debate--Mississippi. Read Divide and Conquer: Bush's Gulf Strategy for more on how BushCo has consistently favored Mississippi, at the expense of Louisiana, which has always gotten the shaft. BushCo's fingerprints from the lump of coal they just handed Louisiana are all over this early Christmas gift to Haley Barbour.
But all is not lost. Perhaps a presidential debate, though not an "official" one, could take place in New Orleans, and here's how: New Orleans' officials who'd been working toward New Orleans as a debate site, NOLA Kossacks, and Nolaphiles, need to organize such a separate debate and find an ingenious way to persuade both the Republican and Democratic nominees to attend this debate that would be independent of the "official" debates. Such a debate could be organized in New Orleans and be on New Orleans' recovery and other Katrina-related issues.
It's time for New Orleanians and others who support that city's recovery to stand up, speak out, and make our voices heard--even if the only way we can do so, due to MSM censorship, is through blogging. But there is more that can be done.
Example: New Orleans activist groups could organize caravans of their members to Oxford, Mississippi and other debate sites when they're being held. These could consist of busloads of people who could demonstrate outside the debate site and also attend the debate. While there, they could loudly shout out questions on New Orleans and Katrina until the candidates answer these questions.
Reason being, as noted above, debate moderators will ignore these issues and the candidates probably won't bring them up themselves. I was sorely disappointed because in the latest debate Wolf Blitzed, et. al. asked all sorts of stupid questions except ones about Katrina and New Orleans. And none of the candidates--not even John Edwards--brought New Orleans up on their own volition. Maybe if New Orleanians in the audience shout out questions on these things, it will get the attention of the moderators and candidates.
Obviously, between this latest rebuff, and the one from Netroots Nation, sinister forces--people who just want New Orleans to go away and die-- are at work behind the scenes, working hard to deny New Orleans these valuable opportunities that would show that she's very much alive, attract more convention business her way, and boost the morale of her people. In the face of such determined, evil opposition, the time for New Orleanians and their supporters to be quiet and polite is over.
We--Nola Kossacks and Nolaphiles, can also play a part, because the MSM which is in BushCo's pocket will not do this. Because Louisiana and her beloved New Orleans have been the target of attack by a BushCo determined to throw all obstacles possible in her path to becoming whole, we need to fight back. We need to through our blogging loudly demand that the site selection committee reconsider its decision. Or, failing that, that an independent debate be held in New Orleans. We need to demand that those on the site selection committee who rejected her be exposed, called to account, and forced to resign. (I guess getting them to fess up to whatever inducements BushCo offered them to reject New Orleans would be too much to ask.) We need to spread the word that the site selection process was not fair--but a politically-influenced sham. And we need to spread the word that NEW ORLEANS WAS ROBBED!!!
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