A particularly offensive article was posted on CNN tonite.
If it's alright with you I'll quote the parts that I find particularly disgusting.
Black lawmakers angry about federal response to Katrina
At a news conference Friday, black members of Congress were critical of the relief effort for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black members of Congress expressed anger Friday at what they said was a slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
"It looks dysfunctional to me right now," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-California.
She and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with members of the Black Leadership Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban League and the NAACP, held a news conference and charged that the response was slow because those most affected are poor.
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois, said too much focus has been placed on the looting, taking away from what should be the priority: getting food, water and stability to the tens of thousands of displaced victims.
It's hard to know where to start.
It's pretty apparent at this point that the man responsible for most of the terrible things you have seen in the past few days is going to go unpunished. In fact, it appears that this man will go on to appear a victim in this tragedy. I've read countless blogs, some blaming the President for lack of concern, some blaming FEMA for lack of response, many blaming the rich for not caring for the poor. However, I've yet to see a single blog or media story call out the man who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians.
That man is NOT George Bush.
That man IS Ray Nagin.
A cat5 storm hit his town and Ray Nagin did
nothing. Looters began taking food that was not theirs to take, and Ray Nagin did
nothing. Looters began stealing guns, and Ray Nagin did
nothing. Looters began breaking into medical facilities and pharmacies to steal narcotics and Ray Nagin did
nothing. Looters turned to assailants, attacking rescuers attempting to airlift stranded individuals and Ray Nagin did
nothing. Assailants turned to sexual predators as men attacked, raped, and murdered women and children and Ray Nagin did
nothing. One particularly disturbing account of such activities reads as such:
Sitting with her daughter and other relatives, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered the cavernous convention center in recent nights raping and murdering children.
She said she found a dead 14-year old girl at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, four hours after the young girl went missing from her parents inside the convention center.
"She was raped for four hours until she was dead," Joseph said through tears. "Another child, a seven-year old boy was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night."
What could Ray Nagin have done? Well the easy answer to that is, of course,
something. He could have properly planned and trained his local law enforcement to handle a catastrophe such as this. He could have, once the hurricane hit and passed seized and secured the local grocery stores and used the food and supplies to feed the survivors. He could have seized and secured the local gun retailers to prevent them from falling into the hands of looters. He could have seized and secured the local pharmacies and hospitals so that they could be used to treat the wounded and sick. He could have taken serious steps to stop looting at the first signs to send a message to others that it would not be tolerated.
He could have preserved order.
Instead he promoted lawlessness and disorder. He sent thousands of refugees to the local convention center and did NOT alert FEMA. In fact, FEMA officials learned of this decision from watching CNN's coverage. The result was thousands of people packed into a small space with nobody in charge. No authority whatsoever. That's why you have men raping children to death in public. That's why people are starving to death.
And this man has the nerve to get on the air and blast the Feds for not doing enough to help. Yes, it's true that FEMA could have done more, but at least they did
something.
Tell me again how President Bush doesn't like black people.
Tell me again how FEMA's response is inadequate.
Tell me again how it's rich America's fault that poor people in New Orleans are dying.
Heck, even Mayor Nagin has some blame to pass around:
“I don’t know if it’s the governor’s problem [Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco] or if it’s the president’s problem but they need to get their asses on a plane and sit down the two of them and figure this out right now.”
Everyone's problem except yours, eh Mr. Nagin?
