Witmaster

I failed to mention... You know this plac pretty well. I could sure use you here. We are steadily learning this place but as theflood waters recede the maze gets bigger and bigger.

We jokingly refer to the French Quarter as the "Hollywood Zone". That is where the bulk of press are housed up. It's also where the best food and acomodations are (go figure).

We don't get too many luxuries out here on the front line.

NEVER write a check with your mouth that you can't cash with your ASS!!

I can run faster mad than you can scared

"All right brain... I don't like you and you don't like me. So let's just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer" ~ Homer Simpson

kbm8795

Yeah. . .and its an image this nation won't be able to live down for decades.

kbm8795

It's absolutely unthinkable that this happened in our country. Some of these things should have never happened. And some people who witnessed these things are going to remember them for the rest of their lives.

If they get a few things up and running, I'd think the locals will show you some hospitality. . .Ya'll are likely gonna get special privileges for Mardi Gras. . .

Witmaster

Oh they have done that. Several Hotel Owners are offering us penthouse accomodations. Some locals bring us pizza. They're very kind to us.

I look forward to returning here at a future date when the city is healed. These people seem very nice (with the exception of the thugs we arrest.)

NEVER write a check with your mouth that you can't cash with your ASS!!

I can run faster mad than you can scared

"All right brain... I don't like you and you don't like me. So let's just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer" ~ Homer Simpson

kbm8795

If I know the hospitality of New Orleanians, they'll be wanting all of you to come back to have fun - and they'll roll out the red carpet. The local population is very grateful that you are there, Wit. . .all of you.

I've read about how the Tennessee Guard assigned to Grand Isle are just amazed at how the local population has embraced them. . .but...of course the locals would - you are saving Americans. I guess the people down in that town are cooking dinner for them all the time, bringing them desserts. . .the ladies in the town are gathering the soldiers' laundry and doing it. . .and this all started when one store clerk saw a soldier buying a small can of ham. She told him that that wasn't the kind of meal a soldier in southeastern Louisiana should have to eat, made a few calls and. . .

I don't know how long they expect to keep ya'll there, or if you'll be rotating out - but there are very good people in that city and they are grateful for every one of you.

By the way, this hasn't been updated since Thursday, so I don't know if its any help, but. . . check this out. . .

http://www.wwl.com/goout.asp?u=http:...cctechnol.com/

You can type in an address and they have the flood depth. . .well, at least as of that date. Of course, ya'll probably have more updated information. You can click on some satellite images and zoom in fairly well. . .not perfect (gets blurry when it gets down to a three or four block area). Just click on Katrina and you'll see landmarks like the Superdome. . .and if you click on the Katrina map on any location, they'll post maximum flooding and the latest depth they have recorded.

Chain Link

Louisiana is not an inner American city... I think Ive been insulted as it seems you didnt bother to read my post
I was refering to the entire state.. Which didnt have too many .. Inner American Cities. New York state had a murder rate of 5 per 100,000 while Louisiana had 12.9 per 100,000..(same statistics sheet) and I think NY has more Inner American City.

hehe I didnt mean to make a statement here(about the blame game). What I meant to say was that in the case of the levies there were signs that action needed to be taken pre-katrina(and about this the local officials, and the ACoE were vocal and active.. It was also in part the ACoE reputation that cast doubt as to how much money they would really need, which took part in the under-funding for the levy updates.)
To not fund the needed updates was gambling that such a scenario would not happen. My intention was to show the cause and effect relationship between the levies, the failure to update them, and the breaching of the levies is synonymous to the relationship between the crime in La, the failure to control it, and the post disaster anarchy.
There we obviously many signs that the crime was out of control in that area, failure to properly handle the crime pre-katrina was the reason all hell broke loose in the absence of law enforcement. I strongly doubt that a state like Utah, with a 1.9 per 100,000 murder rate would burst into anarchy and looting in a post-katrina like area(there would probably be some lawlessness, but minimal)

But you're right, They are two different issues, I only brought it up for analogical purposes. On a side note I agree with pretty much everything you said there

We dont need governement. Just look at how well New Orleans did in just its few days without government.
The SCOTUS actually declared long ago the police(therefore the government) arent responsible for protecting civilians from crime.
Thats just a useless piece of trivia though. While most people should be expected to get themselves out of harms way, the goverment should certainly have evacuation assistance ready for those who were incapable of getting themselves out.. They government certainly lacked there.. completely.



I left my quote above this post because in my previous post I never once refered to New Orleans Only La as a whole, as I didnt have a crime statistics to refer to NO individually. As for Mississippi.. The Looting wasnt as bad there to my understanding? Coincidentially, their murder rate(as of the last date I know) was 9 per 100,000.. Still over 150% of the US natn average, and over 400% higher than many other US States. I think its reasonable to say theres a connection between the level of lawlessness under normal circumstances, and the level in a post disaster situation(esp due to lack of law enforcement)


Unfortunetly.. Yes. Its as you said, politicians are too busy in their power struggle to worry about managing this country. IThe problem is it takes a large voice to get their attention; a large amount of people.. And even if 12% of the US joined this group, and it became named,"Goddamit you useless !@#$heads stop fighting for power and do the job you're supposed to" It would just become another factor in their fight. Everyone would be jumping up and down to say,"look, Im not corrupt!"
And while the politicians are whoring for votes from yet one more group, another hurricane will get ignored.

Honestly, I dont know how a regular citizen can do much at this point.. even if you become a politician yourself.. You then become so busy trying to keep yourself in office so you can do something that you dont do anything. I dont intend to become a politician to find out..

For me, Ill just stand by my belief that you should not expect anything, dont rely on anybody unless absolutely you have too(then you dont have a choice anyways), or unless they have a very good reputation.. because when you rely on someone, such as the govt, and they fall through.. You're screwed. But generally if you just plan ahead to have no support and you get support, then its a plus, and you'll be OK w/o it.

Lets make LAM Board Certified!

Witmaster

You know, once they let civillians back into our AO i am certain we will see the same thing. I'll just be grateful to see civillians again. It's just not right to see an American City inhabited almost entirely by a military force. Shit I'd be happy to see a fat chick standing in line at KFC. I miss seing people!

Yea that's a pretty neat site. It is a bit outdated though. The water line has dropped WAY down from what they are showing. One of our daily missions is to conduct mounted patrols out along the waterline. Currently the water is resessed past our sectors and steadily dropping at an encouraging rate.

I've thrown together a rough map showing our Area of Operation (red line). There is no water save for a few small standing pools that have towhere to drain off.

Attached Images

sectors1.jpg (97.2 KB, 9 views)

NEVER write a check with your mouth that you can't cash with your ASS!!

I can run faster mad than you can scared

"All right brain... I don't like you and you don't like me. So let's just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer" ~ Homer Simpson