Dead Letter Office (V): Escape from New Orleans
[from comment I left over at Bitch, Ph.D.'s place]
I have recent news from a friend of mine, now in Texas, who just escaped New Orleans. He's one of my best friends--about ten years ago, we roomed together in a loft in Chicago.
He, his wife, and dog, had found their way to the Hilton before the storm hit, and weathered the storm there. I spoke with them on Monday after all had concluded that Katrina had spared the city, and they were all right, but had had a harrowing night and morning; they had been asked to fill their bathtub with water in case they needed it, but the building swayed so much during the hurricane that half of it ended up on the bathroom floor. At this point I lost contact with them, but I found out the rest of the story tonight.
After the levies broke and the hotel started filling with water, they decided to go back to their home, which was on the other side of the Mississippi, and windblown but dry; they thought that they would just look after things until the National Gaurd arrived. No one came.
Word starting getting out that there were dry houses in my friend's neighborhood, and refugees began showing up and looting everything in sight; a gunfight broke out, killing one of his neighbors. Still, no National Gaurd.
As more looters and refugees entered the neighborhood, my friend and his wife feared for their lives, and went from house to house in the neighborhood looking for guns; he found a rifle for his wife, and kept a handgun and rifle for himself. Another night, and still, no National Gaurd.
More people continued to appear, and armed gangs started to form; they respected my friends and kept to a distance because they were armed, but they knew that if they were drawn into a gunfight they would die, as they would probably hesitate before shooting, where the others would not. More gunfights that night.
They left early, early in the morning in a car they were half certain would be car-jacked, as some pretty terrifying stories were circulating about people building obstacles in the street and then ambushing stopped cars, but they made it clear to everyone they met that they were armed, and they eventually got through.
It is unbelievable to me that some 48% of Americans believe that the federal government is doing a good job with this; no doubt, this is the same brain dead Fox-watching motherfuckers who voted the Bush Administration into office for a second term.
If we cannot take back the Congress and the Executive in the next year and three, then there is no viable oppositional party in this country, and we will have shown that we as a country have lost our ability to reason.
This is a national shame, and by God, if I hear anyone in a coffeeshop, bar, or restaurant trying to minimize what has happened in New Orleans or explain it away, I swear that I will knock their damned teeth out.
I have recent news from a friend of mine, now in Texas, who just escaped New Orleans. He's one of my best friends--about ten years ago, we roomed together in a loft in Chicago.
He, his wife, and dog, had found their way to the Hilton before the storm hit, and weathered the storm there. I spoke with them on Monday after all had concluded that Katrina had spared the city, and they were all right, but had had a harrowing night and morning; they had been asked to fill their bathtub with water in case they needed it, but the building swayed so much during the hurricane that half of it ended up on the bathroom floor. At this point I lost contact with them, but I found out the rest of the story tonight.
After the levies broke and the hotel started filling with water, they decided to go back to their home, which was on the other side of the Mississippi, and windblown but dry; they thought that they would just look after things until the National Gaurd arrived. No one came.
Word starting getting out that there were dry houses in my friend's neighborhood, and refugees began showing up and looting everything in sight; a gunfight broke out, killing one of his neighbors. Still, no National Gaurd.
As more looters and refugees entered the neighborhood, my friend and his wife feared for their lives, and went from house to house in the neighborhood looking for guns; he found a rifle for his wife, and kept a handgun and rifle for himself. Another night, and still, no National Gaurd.
More people continued to appear, and armed gangs started to form; they respected my friends and kept to a distance because they were armed, but they knew that if they were drawn into a gunfight they would die, as they would probably hesitate before shooting, where the others would not. More gunfights that night.
They left early, early in the morning in a car they were half certain would be car-jacked, as some pretty terrifying stories were circulating about people building obstacles in the street and then ambushing stopped cars, but they made it clear to everyone they met that they were armed, and they eventually got through.
It is unbelievable to me that some 48% of Americans believe that the federal government is doing a good job with this; no doubt, this is the same brain dead Fox-watching motherfuckers who voted the Bush Administration into office for a second term.
If we cannot take back the Congress and the Executive in the next year and three, then there is no viable oppositional party in this country, and we will have shown that we as a country have lost our ability to reason.
This is a national shame, and by God, if I hear anyone in a coffeeshop, bar, or restaurant trying to minimize what has happened in New Orleans or explain it away, I swear that I will knock their damned teeth out.
posted by melancholic at 1:03 AM
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