Lenin’s Tomb
(OT for lenin)
lenin, erm, sorry to ask this, but I was wondering when you were going to get around to sending me the email of invitation to join the Tomb? It's just that the other contributors have been signed up for a couple of weeks now but I still haven't received anything. Meanwhile I've got a whole stack of blogposts for the Tomb that I've been working on since I heard the news that only the regular posters that lenin likes and respects were going to get a spot here. They are really witty and observational posts; even funnier than I am in the comments every day. They are a bit political but not too serious - I'll leave the serious stuff to others. It's sort of Dave Brent meets Noam Chomsky meets Donald Rumsfeld. (Haha! Told you I was funny!) Not everybody gets my stuff the first time so some people may take a few posts to really get into it, but I'm sure I will add a whole different aspect to the Tomb's output that the public are really now ready for - it's the year 2005, people! Hello?
Okay, thanks.
Mmm. couldn't find Justin's weblog on the list, either. You've been airbrushed out, Big J! Don't hold it against the Party, though -- you just didn't suit the photograph . . .
Back on topic, isn't the whole exaggeration of the New Orleans situation a classic example of politicians spreading alarm and despondency for their own purposes? Frightening people so that, on one hand, one can say "see, it wasn't so bad", and on the other, "see, we take these things seriously, you know" without actually doing anything useful at all.
Rather like the West's response to the occasional bomb going off here and there. On one hand, "oh,come on, it's not the World Trade Centre, buck up", and on the other "HORROR, HORROR, INCARCERATE UNGODLY BROWN PEOPLE!!!"
Justin - of course, you are very welcome to join the Tomb's roster. I had thought that the Tomb's overblown demotic style would be vulgarising for a fine prose writer like yourself (not sarcasm), but I'll send the invite very shortly.
Er, more links will follow, btw.
Some people hate 'em. I love it...
One could imagine the US army helping people evacuate as it is all to eager to evacuate people out of their lives in other places around the world...
Hmmm...
...
Self-moderation: I have deleted my own comment. I am under strict warning that should I violate my own guidelines again, I will be banned.
???
!!!
Re: 'Vertical evacuation'
I feel you're rather over-egging the pudding here.
You do make it sound as though they were forcing pensioners to climb trees to get out of the floodwater - the full quote you link to actually reads
'If people can't get out of New Orleans, the mayor said, they should do a "vertical evacuation."
"Basically, go to hotels and high-rise buildings in the city."'
Well dying is sort of a vertical evacuation as well if you are more religious minded
Could it be that most of the La. National Guard is in Iraq? I dunno, but one of the purposes of the National Guard is to provide assistance in times of emergency: help in evacuations, etc. And I don't mean beating the shit out of looters, either.
ITN: perhaps fair. But I like my puddings very eggy.
Incidentally I see that there's shenanigans at C4 news, the possibility of moving from ITN to Sky. Should I be worried?
ITN: the point is that they've made fuck-all effort to provide for the poor, elderly, disabled, etc. Telling someone wheelchair bound or elderly or whatever that the official position is that they should find a tall building and climb loads of stairs, just doesn't help, and no amount of giving it a snazzy name like 'vertical evacuation' obscures the fact that it is not a strategy, nor a policy, nor any help at all: in fact it's precisely an admission that there is no strategy. All they're saying is 'Keep your head above the water'. Invaluable.
It's obvious that refuge for those who couldn't get out was a vague half-assed last-minute thought - they were still debating whether or not they were going to send people into the stadium only about two days ago, so they were hardly getting it ready. Which is why it's no surprise that the conditions inside are so atrocious, or that two people inside have died already.
And seriously - what's up at C4 news? I'm terrified at the thought of you-all going Murdoch on my ass... reassure me please.
Well, tonight C4 news reports that they're imposing martial law in Louisiana because of a gang of marauding looters who are sweeping through the city.
Looters? In fucking diving suits I hope...
China:
Fair enough - I like a rhetorical flourish as much as the next man.
Sky may do C4News? Should you be worried?
No, not really. The contract to supply news to C4 is up for renewal at the end of this year and actually expires at the end of next year. It's a standard request for tenders that's going on at the moment. Obviously Channel4 would be negligent if they didn't explore all the options, including using Sky, as the Guardian elaborated.
However, bear in mind that Channel 4 have repeatedly gone on record as saying they are very pleased with ITN's performance, and we do win lots of nice shiny prizes... Also we're just about to launch the More4 news service, fronted by Sarah Smith, in October, which you may want to watch out for. (More4 being an extra Channel4 FTA channel)
Having said that, it's always possible that we lose the contract - I have no inside knowledge. I hope not, though :-)
Disclaimer: I do not speak for or on behalf of ITN. My views and opinions are entirely my own.
China:
Point taken, they made very little provision for the poor/disadvantaged. The city authorities seem more concerned about looting than about the welfare of some of their citizens.
My brother was at Oxford with Felicity Spector, y'know.
you need to update this post....
they _thought_ NOLA came out okay, but that was before two major levees broke and the city began to flood.
Now it seems that the worst case scenario is coming true, albeit a bit slower than expected. Seeing the words "lucky" and New Orleans together in the same sentence now can't help but strike a tragically discordant note.
``Looters? In fucking diving suits I hope...''
Believe it or not, there are still parts of New Orleans that are above water, including, according to the NYT, the French Quarter. The only looting going on is in those above water areas.
thanks china,
some very good insights on the gulf coast catastrophe. And I hope people are aware that for the poor of Louisana and Mississippi it is an absolute catastrophe. An important issue to consider here is that the great panoply of petrochemical plants and oil rigs all along the gulf coast is creating a massive toxic sludge that has destroyed tens of thousands of families homes and created an environmental nightmare. I encourage all tomb readers to check out democracynow.org's coverage, which gets to the heart of the unnatural impacts of this natural disaster.
andrew
Oops! It seems I spoke too soon. Two levees broke and almost all of the Big Easy is now under water.
China's blog seems incredibly prescient now. The class divide is more and more evident in the coverage (obviously partly articulated through race). I love the way they are describing people trying to feed their children as 'looters'. The bitterness with which people are saying its about 'survival' not 'looting' suggests to me that this is not merely hopeful rhetoric from British Socialists. But will the Police or Military be instructed to use force?
I love the way they are describing people trying to feed their children as 'looters'.
To be fair, they were a little better than that this morning, showing a police officer allowing some leeway to people doing, as he put it, "what you have to do to survive".
But will the Police or Military be instructed to use force?
"Hotel managers told the paramedics that police and military are authorized to shoot to kill anyone they see on the streets of New Orleans."
Sorry -- source.
While the shoot-to-kill line is hard to corroborate from other sources (anyone?), martial law has definitely been declared in parts of NO -- it's all over Google News.
The protection of private property is obviously more important then feeding the poor. Come on people. These are New Times. Must we here this endless sentimental misleading nonsense. In the long run its good for them to be shot. Its important that the confidence of hoteliers and supermarket corporations are restored after this appalling disaster: otherwise these same people will be the FIRST to suffer...
etc, etc, etc. (On a Harry's Place blog sometime soon).
WSWS report here
About this looting...
black people "loot"
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/
0508...ladm10208301530
white people "find"
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/
0508...shxwaoma_photo1
Amazing.
That is incredible, cian.
Cian: holy fuck.
Looks like AFP has fixed the caption. Now it reads:
Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Good find though, cian.
OK, my ass/arse is Louisiana banjo.
I thought they reworded the caption but they haven't.
It's getting late where I'm at.
cheers
I am not at all suprised at this cluster fuck in N.O. and wonder why others are. If it happened in NYC or Chicago or Los Angeles it would be the same. This country just doesn't think in these terms. The collective belly of those of responsibility is just too full. They and their bank accounts can weather such. Just more of the mind set that has given us GWB and a bankrupt bound country at large while gwb, etal continue to feather... etc. etc.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Further research on IEM and related references brings up some more detail.
Madhu Beriwal's IEM gave similiar evacuation recomendations to to the NY Power Authority for the Indian Point nuclear power plant. (Witt Report) Considering the region's wealth and social integration it would be a push to call this racism. In my opinion, a better term would be corruption.
ldap
p.s. Would it be fair to give Madhu the title "Disaster Queen of New Orleans"?
Ref:
http://www.ieminc.com/Whats_New/
...ons_reprint.pdf
http://www.closeindianpoint.org/.../
nyt_102902.htm
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