Katrina's aftermath

expo

Did you hear about the man in Queens who had his gas station torn down by the head company because he refused to raise prices? He said it was nonsense and that there was no reason to raise prices because gas was still the same price. Within 2 weeks, officials came to Queens and took his gas station apart!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/31/0836/62623

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

The stories are coming in a rush and nearly all of them are miserable.

At least one person is comparing the evacuation of New Orleans to the situation in Gaza.

Meanwhile:

Searching for Jesus' finger

Wednesday, 2:10 p.m.

In the garden behind St. Louis Cathedral on Royal Street lies an
incredible tangle of zig-zagging broken tree trunks and branches, mixed with
smashed wrought iron fences.

But right in the middle, a statue of Jesus is still standing, unscathed by the storm, save for the left thumb and index finger, which are missing.

The missing digits immediately set off speculation of divine intervention.

New Orleans has a long history praying to saints for guidance and protection in times of great peril. In fact it was Our Lady of Prompt Succor who was said to be responsible for saving the Ursulines Convent in the French Quarter from a raging fire that consumed the rest of the city centuries ago.

Since then, New Orlenians have prayed to the saint for protection from natural disasters. On Saturday, Archbishop Alfred Hughes read a prayer over the radio asking for Our Lady's intervention to spare the city a direct hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Many in the Quarter are now saying it was the hand of Jesus, the missing digits to be precise, that flicked the hurricane east just a little to keep the city from suffering a direct blow.

And the search is one for those missing fingers.

Shortly after Katrina passed, several men went to Robert Buras, who owns the Royal Street Grocery and told him they know who has the finger. Buras said he'd give them all the water and beer they need if they bring him the finger.

They told him they'd find it and asked to be paid upfront. But Buras told them he wouldn't take it on credit

"I'm going to find Jesus' finger,'' Buras said. ''I've got a lead on it.''

it's in a grilled cheese sandwich.

It would have been easy to miss, Milo, but Blount upthread posted an article (linked to the words "aw shit" or something like that) which stated that the petro lines that go to Atlanta would be directly affected by the rigs affected by Katrina. So, it's a special case there, much to the misery of driving Atlantans' wallets.

I'm glad his pace his picking up.

Platoons of Christian soldiers were dispatched to the city's remaining Wendy's.

well it's not like they'd send him in the middle of the damn thing. not that i'd mind, but...

Otherwise, we just wasted a lot of fuel for some doof to go "Man, I guess that IS bad, huh?"

And don't get me started about how the first image of Bush coming back to Washington as thousands have died in a tragedy was him walking down the stairs of Air Force One with Barney tucked under his arm…

Just as I figured. Is there any reason this tradition exists? Ok.. granted, there are a gazillion dumb symbolism traditions in every country I suppose. I'm just pissed because we're dealing with a major tragedy where time's of the essence, and to have our president go into the air, and waste fuel, just so he can nod and go "yeah, shit be bad down there" just seems so incredibly fucking stupid.

Also, as tempting as it is to mock the feeble minded nutjobs, can we stop talking about what idiots like Falwell have to say? Or just leave any Christian talk out of this in general? Religion is obviously not figuring into the mess happening right now in Orleans.

Looting: The police are looting. This has been confirmed by several independent sources. Some of the looting might be "legitimate" in as much as that word has any meaning in this context. They have broken into ATMs and safes: confirmed. We have eyewitnesses to this. They have taken dozens of SUVs from dealerships ostensibly for official use. They have also looted gun stores and pawn shops for all the small arms, supposedly to prevent "criminals" from doing so. But who knows their true intentions. We have an inside source in the NOPD who says that command and control is in chaos. He reports that command lapses more than 24 hours between check-ins, and that most of the force are "like deer in the headlights." NOPD already had a reputation for corruption, but I am telling you now that the people we've been talking to say they are not recognizing the NOPD as a legitimate authority anymore, since cops have been seen looting in Walmarts and forcing people out of stores so they could back up SUVs and loot them. Don't shoot the messenger....

"The FUCK you lookin' at, man? This is as close as i'm gettin' that shit!"

xpost -- er, yes Kingfish...I linked to that edition and various nola.com stories throughout the day.

Yes, Baton Rouge. They evacuated there early yesterday.

say, anybody remember hearing two years ago about how, due to the shortage of armor, U.S. troops in Iraq were being allowed to "modify" humvees? i read rumors about how some of them took the opportunity to do full-on Mad Max jobs, but I never saw any photos of the results(assuming they'd ever get published).

"I can't wait to see the S. Korean Army on the streets of New Orleans keeping the peace."

"I for one think the Bush family and the Saudis should come help. After all, they have our Rent-A-Army over there..."

Now, this says to me that the viewers are very cynical. It also suggests that these are the only e-mails CNN has to run, which means that much of the country is a negative nancy when it comes to the Bush admin. and the prospect of foreign help...

Official Search and Rescue Center at the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness

[...]

Cell phone communication is extremely limited, but Text messaging on Verizon, Cingular and Sprint networks appear to be working.

Huh, guess where I have plans to be this weekend?