"The city of New Orleans is in a state of devastation. We probably have 80 percent of our city underwater. With some sections of our city, the water is as deep as 20 feet."
' New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, in an interview on WWL as waters began rising in New Orleans, Tuesday, Aug. 30
"The ones who have resigned indicated that they have lost everything and didn't feel it was worth going back to take fire from looters. Violence is bad. We need more help."
' Louisiana Superintendent of State Police Col. Henry Whitehorn on Sept. 2, after reports that New Orleans police officers were turning in their badges amid chaotic violence in the city
"First of all your heart goes out to the people, the loss of their homes, but there are some real tough questions to ask about how you go about rebuilding this city. That is certainly the decision the people of New Orleans are going to make. But I think federal insurance and everything goes along with it, and we ought to take a second look at it. It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed. But you know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness."
' Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert in an interview with Arlington Heights, Ill.'s Daily Herald on Wednesday, Sept. 1.
"I'm afraid I would have assaulted him."
' Former President Bill Clinton, telling The Washington Post how he may have reacted had he been in the same room as House Speaker Dennis Hastert when Hastert questioned the rebuilding of New Orleans
"They tore that dome apart. They tore it down. They're taking everything out of there they can take. I don't want to go to no Astrodome. I've been domed almost to death."
' Janice Singleton, a worker at the Superdome, on WWL. Singleton was stuck in the stadium when the storm hit and said she was robbed of everything she had with her, including her shoes.
"We have been trying to call the mayor's office, we have been trying to call the governor's office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us. There is no food in Charity Hospital. They're eating fruit bowl punch, and that's all they've got to eat. There's minimal water."
' Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital in a call to the Associated Press Thursday morning, Sept. 2
"The great city of New Orleans will be rebuilt. Out of this tragedy will come a great Gulf Coast."
' President George W. Bush, WWL, New Orleans
"You want to help? Send buses and gas, buses and gas. I don't need $10 million right now ' send buses and gas!"
' State Rep. Karen Carter, WWL
"I am announcing that Jefferson Parish has now seceded from the United States and is now the country of Jeffersonia. Now I know we will receive the aid a foreign country receives."
' Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, WWL
"I do think the nation would be responding differently if they were white elderly and white babies actually dying on the street and being covered with newspapers and shrouds and being left there."
' David Billings of the People's Institute, a New Orleans-based organization focused on ending racism, WWL
"If we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?"
' Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on WWL that same day
"I thank the President for his visit today, but it was more show than substance. Frankly, we needed action days ago. Louisianans are starving, dying and fearing for their safety. Police personnel are tired, getting sick and they need tetanus shots. Outside of New Orleans, the influx of military troops is not being felt. When I am able to find food and get it to other areas, there are unnecessary road blocks and bureaucracy every step of the way. How many more lives will be lost before people understand that there are problems here the TV cameras can't see? When the President's travel details stop us from putting the helicopters in the air that will deliver help, we've got problems. When, after an hour and a half of waiting at the instructed location without information to greet the President today in New Orleans, logistical and communications problems prevented me from reaching the meeting ' we've got problems. The poor communication here is indicative of the larger communication problems that are hindering all of the life saving efforts."
' Congressman Charlie Melancon, who represents Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes, two of the hardest areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, responding to the federal government's relief efforts on Friday, Sept. 2.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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