Browsing all posts in No, Really, This Happened.

Disrespecting the Dead

We are moving more and more toward intolerance and forced religion. Reported in Newsweek and on MSNBC:

In the most macabre mishap, the chief body collector nearly pulled out of New Orleans over a dispute with FEMA. Kenyon Worldwide Disaster Services dispatched a small team and a mobile morgue to New Orleans as Katrina hit. With the death toll rising, Kenyon offered more staff and morgues if FEMA could broker a deal with Louisiana. But FEMA and the company argued for two weeks until Kenyon finally gave the Feds an ultimatum: Work out a deal or find a new mortician. The Louisiana Health Department stepped in and hired Kenyon, which increased its staff in New Orleans 15-fold. An issue raised by the Feds that Kenyon found distasteful: an instruction that chaplains bless recovered bodies. A company source said the Feds are insisting on this, and the first chaplains are supposed to go out this week. Asked if that was mixing church and state, a FEMA spokeswoman responded: “A prayer is not necessarily religious. Everybody prays.”

Already those concerned about the implications in terms of religious freedom are voicing their objections.

Delay Denial

Tom Delay just told Anderson Cooper that the deficit is one of the lowest ever as a percent of GDP. He prefaced this with, “Without getting into economics.” Yeah, that’s another “science” of sorts. We don’t like that science stuff and all those “theories.” They really aren’t spending all that much money - anyone remember your first credit card when it seemed like magic money until the bill came due? When did congress become like a bunch of college students going nuts with their first Mastercard?

You Mean They Aren’t Going to Ask for a Tax Cut?

The difference between the newly rich and those who have been privileged for a loooong time.

Santorum Sanctimonious

In an interview Senator Santorum said: “I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.”

Maybe he should have continued with some ideas on how to penalize them: “For example, we could make them wait three or four days for life-sustaining supplies such as water and food. Let me tell you, when a person gets that thirsty and their babies start dying, next time around, they are going to think twice about not evacuating.”

FYI – many people who tried to leave NO by bus as soon as the evacuation orders were issued found the bus station CLOSED. Here is a quote from a tourist who ended up in the Superdome.

“On Sun. 8/28 I was awaiting word from the New Orleans Mayor to see if the city was to be evacuated. The moment he gave the order I hopped in a cab to go to Amtrak and Greyhound. The cabbie said it looks like they’re closed. I said no way and had him drop me off. Sure enough both were. (I later learned that both had closed on Saturday, 2 days before the hurricane. I also learned that people were flown in to the airport on Saturday but not informed that there would not be flights for them to leave after Saturday.) All rental cars were gone and no hotels or motels seemed to be open.”

Essentially, Escape from New Orleans was impossible unless you had a car.