The Hurricane - New Orleans is gone...many people dead..

[Goddesscomedia]

PLEASE READ! WARNING

Do you guys know what's been going on with the hurricane? Anybody got a satelite feed there?

Do you have any burners there from New Orleans, or Mississippi?

Dudes - pay attention- NEW ORLEANS IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't mean to bring you down while at BRC, but an ugly real world awaits you when you are done and I thought that maybe since we have a giving mindset - some of you might want to find a way to help when you leave Nevada.

You also might want to help fellow burners from the Hurricane region - because they have no place to go. Anyone from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Florida probably don't have any homes left and might have to face the loss of friends and family. This Hurricane was the worst in history. Aside from losing their homes, supplies are non-existant, and gas prices are jumping to $4, $5, and even $6 a gallon is some places.

New Orleans is not just under water along with the rest of Louisiana and Mississipi and Alabama - there are thousands stranded, dying, and dead. They are saying it's as bad as the Tsunami in Asia except help got to them quicker. Our own government seriously fucked up on this one and there are people dying on what is left of the streets of New Orleans and surrounding areas from dehydration, heat stroke, and lack of medical care. They've had no food or water since it hit (4 days?) and only SOME supplies have trickled thru today. Folks were told to go to the Dome in N.O. and a convention center for evactuation and care - but guess what? NOTHING WAS THERE!!!! over 30,000 people and No buses, no water, no food....and not enough facilities so there's human waste overfolwing the toilets along with the stench of dead bodies everywhere. There were no cops or authorities of any kind at either of the evac locations. Babies are dying and dead. Old people are dying and dead. They finally got some buses in today but it's not enough and not fast enough. It's like a freakin' third world country - but it's right here in the USA! The city is in chaos - there's been looting and crime in some areas but mostly just desparate people. There is no electricity, no potable water, sewage everywhere, no cell phone towers, no phone lines. They have no way to communicate with their loved ones - just the news cameras.

The few buses who have evactuated people are taking them to the Houston Astrodome where at least there is food and water and better facilities. Some are being brought to various other locations in Texas. They are calling them refugees.

Some people are still stranded on rooftops. Kids have been orphaned and are wandering alone - many families separated. One woman who was interviewed was handing her child up so they could get on one of the buses and someone kocked her down. The bus left - with her kid in there! She has no idea where he child is.

I've been watching the news and crying.

PLEASE MAKE DONATIONS TO THE RED CROSS! THEY ARE MAKING THEIR WAY THERE ALONG WITH FEMA. THEY ARE GOING TO NEED HELP FOR A LONG TIME (the predictions are ugly - years) so another option is to get involved with HABITAT FOR HUMANITY since they need housing for all these people.

It's another 911 but with higher gas prices and a much slower rescue effort - so prepare yourselves for when you leave BRC.

Please....take care of any burners from those states!


Just thought you would want to know and try to find a way to help. I know I am.

Peace and Prayers,

Goddess

[joel the ornery]

if you are wondering why there was a delay in sending federal troops to assist, just remember the Posse Comitatus Act.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a federal law of the United States (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed in 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, and was intended to prohibit Federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate states. It generally prohibits Federal military personnel and units of the United States National Guard under Federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The original act only referred to the Army, but the Air Force was added in 1956 and the Navy and Marine Corps have been included by a regulation of the Department of Defense. This law is mentioned whenever it appears that
the Department of Defense is interfering in domestic disturbances.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

[lurker]

Why do you keep posting this?

Talk to people on the ground on NO

Things are bad, but you're sounding like Mayor Nagin and his rant of despair--and the media, who've focused on all the absolute worst--if it bleeds it leads--and they seem to want NO to bleed a whole lot.

The Crescent City will survive this.

Laissez les bon temps roulent encore!

[cowboyangel]

https://give.redcross.org/?HomePageDonateButton


PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN. LET'S ALL HELP OUT

[jugglerman]

Some of what we are hearing from "the news" is not what is really happening...
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

Among other things people down there are saying:
Many of the rich neighborhoods have been secured for days. When people try to enter these neighborhoods they are chased away with guns.
People ARE firing at cops. They are saying "Come save us now!", and are willing to go to jail if it will save their families.
People are angry with police for throwing them out of shops and then looting them themselves...

7 mardi gras, the 9th ward, brass band jams at 3am inside a shotgun apartment. The city that care forgot. We always said it was like living in a third world country. Feel like my memories are under water too.

[diane o'thirst]

People ARE firing at cops. They are saying "Come save us now!", and are willing to go to jail if it will save their families.

Hands down, that's got to be the most IDIOTIC way of getting saved. You'd be more likely to DIE.

Point a gun at cops under the best of circumstances = your brain will get a nice sun tan.
Point a gun at cops who are shellshocked, stressed out, doing a slow-burn freak-out, in a seige mentality = they don't stop shooting until you're a grease stain on the tarmac.

[dust devil]

Do you guys know what's been going on with the hurricane? Anybody got a satelite feed there?

During Exodus, Burning Man Information Radio reported that a DPW team was flying to N'Orleans to build shelters.

I told a playa neighbor that people who annually build and operate a temporary city in a remote desert as an act of self-expression might have disaster response skills that rival or exceed those of the staff of emergency operations centers.

I read today that the head of FEMA was fired from a previous job overseeing Arabian horse shows. This would seem to confirm my theory.

dust devil

[diane o'thirst]

the head of FEMA was fired from a previous job overseeing Arabian horse shows.

YIKES!!
I don't know how many people on here are horse people but considering how fucked up that breed is, I'd consider that a job qualification of dubious-at-best merit.

For those who aren't familiar, inbreeding is still in regular practice in the Arabian horse breed. We're talking full siblings and parent-to-offspring. They should be named Cuzzin Aynus and Billy Bob Jimmy Joe instead of Hakim and Jafaar.

Oh, wait. The Quarter Horse breed has a lock on Cuzzin Aynus and Billy Bob Jimmy Joe...

[karine]

I was at the burn when the hurricane hit shore. I only knew that my children were safe (with their father) far way from New Orleans by the time the hurricane hit. That calmed me throughout the week, and I heard very little "national news" while at the burn (what I did hear was very accurate and complete- THANK YOU to all who helped). Now I am realizing the damage that has happened to Louisiana and surrounding areas, and contemplating how I may give myself to this crisis.

My own children have lost every friend and physical memory that they have ever had of their home in New Orleans. Most of New Orleans is gone, and won't ever be the same agian. So many people are relying on charities and new neighbors to help them restart their families lives in new and other parts of the United States. Please carry on the generosity and do whatever you can to support the recovery efforts.

PLEASE send your SUPPORT.

And most importantly, support these families after the media and hype wears off, SUPPORT THESE FAMILIES in the next upcoming months. If you can't drop everything and help now, do not forget this will take a long time to rebuild New Orleans it will take a long time to rebuild the lives of the thousands of people displaced.