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Remembering Katrina

By TChris, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Sat Sep 02, 2006 at 06:20:24 PM EST
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by TChris

Ethel Freeman is more than a symbol of the Bush administration's incompetence.

[Ethel Freeman's son] began pushing her toward the Superdome. A passing police officer told them to head instead to the riverfront convention center, where buses were expected to arrive. There were medical supplies, food and water at the Superdome, but people who took refuge at the convention center had none.

"He told me, 'The buses are coming. Wait here so you can get your mom on first,'" Freeman said Friday outside the building where his mother died.

Her last words were a supplication: "She asked me if the buses were coming," Freeman said. "I said 'Yeah, they're coming. And then I said, 'Ma, I'm going to pray to God to help me. And you pray to God to help you," he said.

A few minutes later, he realized she had stopped talking.

At a memorial today, Ethel Freeman's son recalled her death.

A fleet of buses arrived four days after she died - and when they did, Freeman was not allowed to take his mother's body, forced to board the bus at gunpoint. "It was like cutting me open and adding salt in the wound," he said.

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    Remembering Katrina | 4 comments (4 topical)
    Re: Remembering Katrina (none / 0) (#1)
    by jarober on Sat Sep 02, 2006 at 06:55:58 PM EST
    Remind me again how Mayor Nagin authorized the use of schoolbuses to evacuate, and didn't leave them get flooded? Oh yeah, he did. As well, you might want to look into how the levees actually broke - Wizbang has an excellent rundown, and it seems that the Army Corps of Engineers has a lot of explaining (over the course of many years) to do. Bottom line: Blaming Bush might make you feel better, but that's all it does. The problems were elsewhere.

    Re: Remembering Katrina (none / 0) (#2)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sun Sep 03, 2006 at 12:23:45 AM EST
    JR you're doing a "heckuva job" shilling for Bush...the idiot that famously stated that "no one thought the levees would fail" after he was repeatedly told the levees could very well fail.

    Re: Remembering Katrina (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Sep 03, 2006 at 11:31:55 PM EST
    I guess you could also say that Ethel Freeman was a symbol of failures at the state and local level as well. Incompetent is a bit too harsh. To be fair to local officials, the infrastructure of their emergency systems was almost completely destroyed. The homes of many of the emergency workers in New Orleans were destroyed. Getting the logistics of the National Guard and Federal Agencies to get in was a monumental task, which quite honestly required the inclusion of active military which has extensive experience in this area.

    Re: Remembering Katrina (none / 0) (#4)
    by Aaron on Mon Sep 04, 2006 at 08:19:14 PM EST
    James Robertson I suggest you take that revisionist BS history and peddle it somewhere else. A simple reading through the archives of this blog makes mincemeat of your bottom line. Obviously you don't work in a profession that has balance sheets, otherwise you would've never used that term. Your bottom line is only valid in the realm of unreal numbers. Six years of George W. Bush and what do we have to show for? A giant hole in the heart of New York, the Gulf Coast and New Orleans devastated still, never-ending war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with absolutely no appreciable gain to show for any of it. Just a bunch of lip service from a feeble minded pseudo Christian farcical leader who has no business being the president of a homeowners association let alone the greatest nation in the history of the planet. Yes these are dark days we're living through my friends, dark indeed. But I believe that America can rise up again, and live out the true meaning of its creed "we hold these truths to be self evident..." Time to sweep aside those who can't see the future, those who would drag us back to the failures of the past and repeat them over and over in some kind of sadomasochistic self mutilation ritual. In the military they have a saying, paying for the same ground twice. That's exactly what we're doing in this country today, paying for the ground that others had already fought long and hard to achieve, and while we replay settled historical issues for the satisfaction of those who cannot except the realities of the future, the world is passing us by. That giant hole in Manhattan, the people of New Orleans, the people of the Gulf Coast and the additional million people who live in poverty today after six years of the Bush administration, are all examples of the progress we've let slip away in the United States. Before this administration, who would've thought that an American president would sit by and do nothing while Americans suffered and died. Who would've thought that a terrorist could perpetrate a massive attack on the United States that killed thousands, and six years later that terrorist would still be walking the earth a free man, with hardly a care in the world. Who'd have thought the United States would be fighting guerrilla war 101 and losing. Our country is headed by a man so bereft of any of true leadership qualities, that he just wasn't capable of stepping forward and getting things rolling after Katrina, not until the mayor of New Orleans made that publicly plea. George Bush is an empty suit, a windup doll with a key in his back, I think I actually saw the Key hole during the presidential debates. Or worse, George W. Bush was playing politics with the New Orleans situation, sitting back and hoping that this was going to be a Democratic disaster that he could capitalize on in these coming elections, I'd say that one backfired. Considering the people who are his handlers, such a scenario would not surprise me. Still hard to believe that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was shopping in New York at Ferragamos while people died in New Orleans. I remember her giving a speech shortly after she was caught on her little shopping spree. She was shaking and her voice was so unsteady she was hardly coherent, it was as if she knew she'd been busted, and she was just waiting for someone to step forward and relieve her of her duties, but unfortunately in this administration she is the most competent, the most competent and reliable official among this group of delusional nihilistic bozos, that's not saying much. Amazing, the GOP had it all, and the Bush administration tossed it all in the crapper, as if this country was an empty keg of beer after one of their coke sniffing, marijuana smoking, Lone Star drinking fraternity parties. The Bush administration has done more to stunt and dismantle the conservative revolution than anything the Democrat could've conceived in their wildest dreams. If the Democrats don't take back the House and the Senate in the coming elections, that's how you'll know beyond a shadow of the doubt that those elections are fixed, it will be the irrefutable proof. I urge everyone to see Spike Lee's documentary which is on HBO this month, I haven't been able to sit through the whole thing yet. The response to Katrina was the shame of every American, but George W. Bush is personally responsible for every one of those little babies who died, who died needlessly because of his ineptitude. George W. Bush is personally responsible for the death of every Iraqi child which will never grow up, because his warmongering buddies got him to initiate an illegal and completely unconstitutional war . I wonder if he grasps the depths of his own depravity, I wonder if he'll ever face the truth of of who he is, and what he's done. I imagine he's one of those people that it wouldn't even phase. "George W. Bush, the worst president in US history." Coming to a history book near you.

    Remembering Katrina | 4 comments (4 topical)