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A Request
Posted on 2005.09.12 at 14:25
My son Ian just called me and sent me this email. I know this has been all over LJ recently, but he's decided to host the video on our website. He's requested I post this on LJ. Ian is very upset about this. He's a good kid, I know there are many more out there like him. Our future isn't set in stone.
Quick rundown,
The parish the gentleman in the video is in charge of had emergency communications set up to communicate with the outside world in general. FEMA ordered the lines cut, and the sheriff repaired them and had to post guards to keep it from happening again.
Wal-Mart sent trucks of water to the city and they were turned back.
An oil tanker docked to give fuel to those workers that needed it. His workers were not allowed to get any, let alone what they needed.
Finally, the man breaks down telling his story of a lady in a nursing home that was abandoned by her son - the one managing FEMAs operations in NO.
http://www.thedreamingplace.com/FEMA/MT
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Thank you spawn_of_apathy of IGN's Current Events Board for the link. Original Thread (I believe you need to be an IGN Insider to view this)(http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?t
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TRANSCRIPT OF ORIGINAL THREAD (LINKED TO ABOVE)
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I have a request for some of you, especially those who think FEMA dropped the ball, and not enough was done fast enough in the gulf coast region.
Watch this, and circulate this movie. Even rehost it if you can. Get as many to do it as well. Make this become one of those big internet things. MSNBC aired it originally, but since then have edited out every bit of this talking about how FEMA has almost sabotaged some areas. Help me to keep this from getting burried by the press, who no longer likes to actuall report, and ask the hard hitting questions. This needs to be answered for when all this is over, not forgotten.
Already officials are trying to discredit him, and the media is playing along. Anything he's done doesn't excuse Jefferson Parish not getting support, or FEMA's innept actions.
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ARTICLE/TRANSCRIPT (Think Progress):
The president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard, just issued an emotional appeal on NBCs Meet the Press. By the end, he was completely broken down, sobbing uncontrollably:
(Crooks and Liars, as always, has the video.)
RUSSERT: You just heard the director of homeland security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?
BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast. But the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership. It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.
Broussard then discussed the difficulties local authorities had with FEMA, including one case where they actually posted armed guards to keep FEMA from cutting their communications lines:
Three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA, we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. When we got there with our trucks, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards and said no one is getting near these lines.
Finally, Broussard told the tragic personal story of a colleague, and broke down:
I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, Emergency Management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?, and he said, Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday - and she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night! [Sobbing] Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.
----------------------------------------
Post this on livejournal or something, I have the video hosted at the link on the top-
http://www.thedreamingplace.com/FEMA/MT
Quick rundown,
The parish the gentleman in the video is in charge of had emergency communications set up to communicate with the outside world in general. FEMA ordered the lines cut, and the sheriff repaired them and had to post guards to keep it from happening again.
Wal-Mart sent trucks of water to the city and they were turned back.
An oil tanker docked to give fuel to those workers that needed it. His workers were not allowed to get any, let alone what they needed.
Finally, the man breaks down telling his story of a lady in a nursing home that was abandoned by her son - the one managing FEMAs operations in NO.
http://www.thedreamingplace.com/FEMA/MT
----------------------------------------
Thank you spawn_of_apathy of IGN's Current Events Board for the link. Original Thread (I believe you need to be an IGN Insider to view this)(http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?t
----------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT OF ORIGINAL THREAD (LINKED TO ABOVE)
----------------------------------------
I have a request for some of you, especially those who think FEMA dropped the ball, and not enough was done fast enough in the gulf coast region.
Watch this, and circulate this movie. Even rehost it if you can. Get as many to do it as well. Make this become one of those big internet things. MSNBC aired it originally, but since then have edited out every bit of this talking about how FEMA has almost sabotaged some areas. Help me to keep this from getting burried by the press, who no longer likes to actuall report, and ask the hard hitting questions. This needs to be answered for when all this is over, not forgotten.
Already officials are trying to discredit him, and the media is playing along. Anything he's done doesn't excuse Jefferson Parish not getting support, or FEMA's innept actions.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
ARTICLE/TRANSCRIPT (Think Progress):
The president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard, just issued an emotional appeal on NBCs Meet the Press. By the end, he was completely broken down, sobbing uncontrollably:
(Crooks and Liars, as always, has the video.)
RUSSERT: You just heard the director of homeland security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?
BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast. But the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership. It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.
Broussard then discussed the difficulties local authorities had with FEMA, including one case where they actually posted armed guards to keep FEMA from cutting their communications lines:
Three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA, we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. When we got there with our trucks, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards and said no one is getting near these lines.
Finally, Broussard told the tragic personal story of a colleague, and broke down:
I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, Emergency Management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?, and he said, Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday - and she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night! [Sobbing] Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.
----------------------------------------
Post this on livejournal or something, I have the video hosted at the link on the top-
http://www.thedreamingplace.com/FEMA/MT