We finally have shore power back at the house, so I can set down a few thoughts here. It will be a bit disjointed, I'm afraid, as I'm just getting used to this magic typewriter and tubes again.
GF and I left New Orleans in the wee hours Saturday after watching Ray Nagin's "Mother of All Storms" speech. Hard to tell which was funnier and sadder about that one, Ray claiming there would be FEMA trailers "flying all over the city" or Bill Jefferson, dutifully showing up on camera to prove his concern while simultaneously hiding from the camera behind Jackie Clarkson.
Thought about taking 90 east to avoid freeway traffic, but the 10 looked pretty good, so we got on. And immediately ran into Haley Barbour's Welcome Program #1: the Mississippi State Police had routed all eastbound I-10 traffic onto I-59. The reason given was that I-10 was somehow reserved for Mississippi residents evacuating the Gulf Coast (the Mobile tunnel was said to be backing up).
This must also have been the case for all other Mississippi roads, as MSP patrolmen were re-routing traffic that had managed to escape the I-59 parking lot off of Highway 11 and back onto the 59.
Still, I suppose those of us headed northeast had it a little better than those going due north. On I-55, Barbour's boys actually closed every ramp, including the rest areas to traffic outbound from New Orleans. Add these anecdotes to the state-wide 10 pm curfew for out-of-state plates and the impression of an entire state declaring itself a Sundown Town is hard to shake.
I would like to relate the details of our stay in North Mississippi and the startling beliefs I encountered there, but I'm under some time constraints, so that will have to wait. I will pass on one response I gave to a person who, in all grave sincerity, tried to explain to me why she could not approve of a black president, no matter his qualifications:
"So, in other words, you'd buy a crappy car over one that ran well, based solely on the paint job?"
No, I have no time for those amusing stories if I'm going to say anything about the issue that matters most to Americans, the driving concern that overrides all else: football.
As you know, many thousands of New Orleanians were bused out of town before the storm and held in shelters out of town. Beginning yesterday, the city began "retuning" the "assisted evacuees." Out at dawn looking for milk and a paper, I swung down Loyola Ave past City Hall to drop some bills in the mail at the main post office. My way was blocked by cadres of National Guard, M-16s at the ready, who had shut down the area around the Union Passenger Terminal to all traffic to prepare for the return of our dangerous refugees.
So threatening are these people, in fact, that the city announced Thursday that they would be "processed" back into the city on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Why not Sunday? Well, you know, the Saints-Tampa Bay game will be going on in the Dome, just behind the depot. Don't want to disturb the sports fans, eh?
Apparently, we don't. Not only was the city of Baton Rouge, directly in the forecast path of Gustav, not evacuated or even adequately prepared for the storm's onslaught, but the governor refused to cancel Saturday's Tigers game. Just as tens of thousands were trying to make their way up out of coastal Terrebone and Lafourche Parishes through the chokepoint that is the capital city, other tens of thousands of half-drunk Geaux Tigers idiots were stumbling out of the stadium to their cars.
A friend of mine is a social services worker who was called to help at a special needs shelter near the stadium. By Saturday morning, the shelter had already admitted twenty people, with scores more expected within the hour. Then, they were given word that all admissions would be halted for three hours so as not to disrupt the game or inconvenience arriving or departing Tigers fans.
She stood at the shelter entrance and watched the marching band go by.
I'm sure much of this has been written about here before, but I have the advantage of having been utterly kos-blind, so I can honestly say "I didn't see your diary."
While attention was riveted on New Orleans, I urge you to pay attention to the growing humanitarian crisis in Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge. The people there are without power, FEMA food distribution is getting shaky and the Red Cross is running in deficit.
I know the Red Cross has earned a less than shiny reputation in crises like this, but they could use some help now. Hannah, Ike, and Hurricane Palin will surely make the situation in BR and Terrebone Parish vanish from national sight, and the people's pleas for help will be drowned in the self-congratulations of our officials.
If you can, please earmark a donation for victims of Gustav, which will not be over for a long time for a lot of people.