Ultimate Cynicism: The Political Exploitation of a Tragedy

[reeds]

"Civility is overrated.

<Edited by Kiki> off.

This is typical of you Reeds---nothing to contriubte to the discussion, just an attempt to antagonize with idiotic attempts to hijack the discussion.

You do in fact represent everything that is wrong with the Democratic party.

P.S. I will stand by my opinon of your mother"

AS I SAID- you and DRBIO are total class all the way...I thought it was high school kids that spoke about someones mother? Exactally...Are you a junior this year?

What is typical is when you and your boyfriend Drbio are wrong and the whole board knows it, you start talking crap..typical class all the way...boys will be BOYS

[chumdawg]

Originally posted by: MavKikiNYC

So how would you have done it?

How long should it have taken to know how many people were going to need to be evacuated? To this very hour, they don't know how many people are in attics or other buildings awaiting rescue, or any idea of how many are dead. Some of the people they find are refusing to come out, believing that the waters will recede in a couple of days and that they can begin to go about the process of recovery.

How should they have estimated how much relief in the form of water, food, medicine, diapers and other essentials were going to be needed, where it was going to be needed, how to get it to where it was going to be needed, how it was going to be distributed, who was going to distribute it and who was going to provide security for the distributors?

How long would it have taken to have sites in remote cities prepared to receive X-hundred thousand refugees? They're still figuring out what to do with all the people.

How long should it have taken to mobilize transportion and staff, get it into the areas where it was needed, and then get the refugees onto the buses/boats/planes?

How long should it take to disseminate information when there is no system for doing so?

How long should it have taken them to know that the levees weren't going to collapse further?

When should all of this have been mobilized? By what hour of what day should it have been done in advance so as to have minimized death, suffering, discomfort and even inconvenience? (Just assume for the sake of argument that they could ignore the law and bureaucratic regulations.)

They (magical, whoever They) should've been able to do all of this (and much, much more) by when?

We are NOT immune from disaster or suffering.

I take your point, but it was/is my impression that there were/are qualified people and capable systems in place to answer most of these questions. And that a great deal of taxpayer dollars are allocated expressly for this purpose.

I dunno, it just seems to me that for every one rescue helicopter there were three or four media helicopters there to film it. For every helicopter that brought supplies to folks at the Superdome or Convention Center, there were dozens of media members there to report on it.

Just seems to me that for all the troubles getting in an out of that place, it didn't stop all the media outlets from getting their on-camera darlings in there to stand knee-deep in putrid water. Something tells me that none of those media folk have missed a meal.

No, we aren't immune from suffering or disaster. But we are also not immune from criticism if our relief systems fail. I don't know if that's what happened, and I suspect it will take a long time to figure that out--if ever we do.

As for Bush, I will only say that he is in the unique position of being the person whose words and actions carry far more weight than anyone else's. I'll refrain at this time from passing any judgment on what he has (or has not) done, but I'm remaining aware that his pulpit is louder than anyone else's.

Evil, interesting pictures of those busses. They don't appear to be parked in water too deep to drive out of. Perhaps it is the surrounding roads that are too flooded to cross. It's conceivable that they could useless from their position on the inside.

[alby]

How about we all stop complaining and criticizing and actually do something?


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DONATION EVENTS
Note: The American Red Cross has asked that people NOT bring clothes, food or other items to Reunion Arena where the evacuees are being sheltered. The emergency shelter is designed to give equal treatment and donated items make that mission difficult.

Christian Community Action is organizing a community food drive to benefit victims of the hurricane Katrina. Non-perishable food donations and bottled water may be dropped off:
—From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day (except Sunday) at Resale by CCA-Business 121 Lewisville, 2202 Business 121, and Resale by CCA-The Colony, 5000 Main St., Suite 270.
—For other locations, visit CCA online at www.ccahelps.org.

First Baptist Church in Carrollton will be collecting new blankets, new pillows, bottled water and ready-to-eat canned foods on Labor Day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to assist in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The church is located at 2400 North Josey, Carrollton, TX 75006. For more information, call 972-242-6464, x222 or email disasterrelief@fbcc.org.

The Mesquite girls' No Fear soccer team will be hosting a food drop-off on Monday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the corner of Pioneer and Sierra in Mesquite. Non-perishable food items, clothing and toiletries will be accepted and given to Mesquite families who are caring for friends and family members from New Orleans.

Sachse First United Methodist Church, 1520 Blackburn Road, is collecting items to help the victims. Bring donations to the Family Life Center located directly behind the main building Tuesday through Friday of the week of Sept. 5. For more information, call 972-530-1005 or e-mail preacherruss@yahoo.com.

The fifth grade Gifted and Talented class Otis Brown Elementary school is heading up a food and change drive Tuesday, Sept. 6 through Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Sewell Elementary, 4400 Hudson Drive in Sachse will be collecting donations of items Sept. 6-12 in an effort to help those in need from the Hurricane Katrina disaster. All items will be delivered to local shelters housing victims and/or to the Red Cross. Volunteers will be in the school parking lot during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up to assist with collections.

The Dallas Park Central Residence Inn, 7642 LBJ Freeway, is having a free garage sale for victims staying at the hotel at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Please bring clothes, toys, food, blankets, pillows and other items from around the house to the hotel. Anyone attending the sale will have to present an out-of-state license. For information, call general manager Melissa Van Sickels at 972-503-1333.

New Vision Christian Academy will be accepting donations of clothing, toiletries, canned goods, non-perishable items and financial donations Sept. 6 - Sept. 16 from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. at 4710 West Illinois, Dallas.

Collin County will host a blood drive by Carter Blood Center to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Collin County Health Care Services office, 825 N. McDonald St. in McKinney. People from throughout the county are asked to participate. For those unable to give blood, cash and check donations will be accepted and delivered to the American Red Cross. Call 972-548-5532.

The Alliance Human Resources Group is collecting items from the the community in and around Alliance for the hurricane relief effort. Items can be brought to the trucks at the BridgestoneFirestone facility on 600 Gateway Parkway in Roanoke between daily between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. until Sept. 9. For more information call Alicia Sanchez or Alice Conner of BridgestoneFirestone at 682-831-2502.
Pharmacy Compounding Specialties: Donations of clothing, shoes and stuffed animals for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina are being accepted until Friday, Sept. 9 at 8061 Walnut Hill Lane in Dallas.

During the 2005 Freedom Run and Festival on Sept. 10, a portion of profits from Dallas' West End will be donated to hurricane relief. Contributions of goods and money will be collected on Market Street on the north side of Spaghetti Wharehouse. Additional details are available at www.freedomrun.com

The Columbus Dispatch is auctioning tickets for the Sept. 10 Texas-Ohio State football game, with proceeds going to hurricane relief. Click here for information.

Timarron Country Club will be collecting donations for Hurricane Katrina victims through Sept. 10 at 1400 Byron Nelson Parkway in Southlake. Monetary donations will be accepted in addition to: food, water, toiletries, diapers, wipes, baby formula, socks. All donations will go to the Salvation Army. Contact Aimee Gassmann at 817-481-7529 for more information. .

The City of Melissa is holding a disaster relief drive in cooperation with Ace Moving Company at Zadow Park, Sept. 10, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. If you would like to drop off your donations prior to that date, you may drop them off at the City of Melissa City Hall, Tues. through Fri., Sept. 6 through Sept. 9, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., and at the First National Bank of Trenton, Melissa Branch from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Dallas-area chapter of the Louisiana State University alumni association will collect cash and checks for the American Red Cross at its football season kickoff party at 6 p.m. Sept. 10 . The event will be at Ben's Half Yard House, 7102 Greenville Ave. For information, call chapter president Stacey Little at 972-437-0310.

All proceeds from Yoga, Inc. workshops on Sept. 17 & 18, Oct. 15 & 16, Nov. 12 & 13 will be donated to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. Find details and times at www.yogaincdallas.com

ONGOING DONATION OPPORTUNITIES

Allen Community Outreach: Accepting donations for flood victims who are in need of gas, food, clothing and shoes. The money will be used for basic needs as well as to provide emergency assistance (rent and utilities) for families relocating to Allen, Lucas or Fairview. Call the ACO office at 972-727-9131 or donate online at www.acocares.org with the designation "Hurricane/Flood Victim Relief." The ACO office, 301 W. Boyd, Ste. A, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Armhole -- a men's and women's clothing store at 1910 Abrams Pkwy -- will be collecting non-perishable food items for the North Texas Food Bank to help out the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Bring in at least 5 non-perishable food items and receive a $10 Armhole gift certificate through Sept. 17.

Basement Comics: 10% of all sales at 2414 E Highway 80, Suite 200 in Mesquite over the next 2 weeks will go to Katrina victims.

Bennigan's: Donations of essential personal articles, non-perishable food, monetary donations (please make checks payable to the American Red Cross), toys and clothing will be forwarded to local area hurricane relief efforts.

Best Friends Animal Society: Hurricane Katrina relief fund will help the animal rescue groups and shelters of Louisiana and Mississippi provide fresh water, food, shelter and ongoing veterinary care for all of the animal victims. All money donated will go directly to the groups helping the animals. To donate online, go to https://www.bestfriends.org/donate/index.cfm?.

Buckner Benevolences: Cash and in-kind donations, as well as volunteers, are need to provide emergency housing and humanitarian aid to Gulf region evacuees seeking refuge in North and East Texas. Monetary contributions may be made online and more information is available online at www.buckner.org.

Catholic Charities USA: A collection will be taken throughout the United States. Gifts should be sent to 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund, Catholic Charities USA , P.O. Box 25168, Alexandria, VA 22313-9788.

Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth: All Catholic schools of the diocese will accept evacuee students at no cost. Preference is to be given to those who were in Catholic schools in the hurricane-ravaged areas. If space for more students than those previously enrolled in Catholic schools is available, the schools have been directed to make Catholic education available to any students from these areas who need a school placement.

Christians in Cable: 100% of the proceeds going to cable company employees affected by Hurricane Katrina. Donors are invited to send their gifts to: Christians in Cable, Katrina Relief Fund, Attention: Bob Higley, 2823 West Irving Blvd. Irving, TX 75061

City Credit Union: Accepting monetary donations for the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund at nine branch locations. To find a branch nearest you, please visit www.citycu.org

Consumer Credit Counseling Service: Bring gently used or new clothing, shoes, socks, underwear, blankets, pillows, non-perishable food, water, personal care itemsor toys to the CCCS headquarters located at 901 North McDonald (Highway 5), Suite 600 in McKinney between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Cowboys Red River: Donations of canned goods, blankets, pillows, baby goods and money can be dropped off any time at the clubs in Dallas, Arlington or San Antonio. Call 214 352-1796 for locations.

Covenant Fellowship Church: Accepting donations Sundays 8 a.m.-1 p.m. and Wednesdays 7 p.m.- 8 p.m.

Dallas: The city has set up a hot line for those who wish to donate money and/or volunteer time. Call 214-670-4275.

Dallas Hurricane Aid: Find a place to donate or volunteer in the Dallas area. Agencies, charities, churches, and relief centers can post their needs so that the people who want to give know what to give.

Dining donations: Several restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are holding special events and donating portions of sales to hurricane relief efforts. Click for a basic list of locations holding specials; please call the restaurants for more details and to verify the information before dining.

Coppell Chamber of Commerce: Donate baby and children's supplies for about 700 hurricane victims newly arrived at the Hilton DFW in Grapevine. There is a need for diapers, disposable training pants, formula, cribs, playpens and toys. Items should be taken to Austin Ranch at 2009 Anderson Gibson Road in Grapevine (just north of the Hilton DFW). For more information, call Austin Ranch at 817-481-1536.

Council on American-Islamic Relations: has asked mosques and Islamic centers throughout the Untied States to hold special blood drives, prayers and fund-raising efforts for disaster relief. Muslim charities offering assistance to the victims include Islamic Relief and ICNA Relief.

Davis Mobility Co. at 1228 North Beltline Road, Irving is hosting local donations for North Texas Food Bank. Items being accepted from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

ERA Signature Real Estate – Wylie: Donations for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts may be delivered to 808 S. Ballard Avenue, Suite 180, Wylie. Monetary donations should be made payable to THE RED CROSS. Needed items: Toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, comb, feminine hygiene products, baby diapers and wipes, soap, antibacterial soap, waterless soap, insecticides, Band-aides, gauze, topical antibacterial crèmes, blankets, work gloves, duct tape, packing tape, Ready to eat meals (non-perishables), water. New clean underwear and new clean socks -- all sizes.

Flower Mound Humane Society If you would like to open your home, farm, or ranch to an animal evacuated from Louisiana to the D/FW area -- through adoption or temporary foster care, please call 972-691-7387 or complete the application at http://www.fmhs.org.

Girl Scouts in Service Unit 151 are collecting clothes, toiletry items and especially school supplies and backpacks for the evacuees. A list of the supplies needed is at www.booksyoucanclickwith.com.

In Time Management is seeking donations of furniture and air conditioning units to equip vacant homes in the Dallas area for hurricane victims. Call 972-572-3330 for information.

Jesuit College Preparatory School: Baby diapers and formulacan be brought to the AAA building of the Dallas campus.

Long Range Systems and Cub Scout Troop 52: Donate pens, pencils, paper, backpacks, notebooks, stuffed animals, and other new non-electronic toys, to help hurricane victims begin to rebuild their lives at LRS headquarters, located at 9855 Chartwell Drive in Dallas from Sept. 6-16.

Marble Slab Creamery: $3 for every large ice cream cake purchased and $2 for every small for the month of September will be donated to hurricane relief. If you don't want the cake now you may purchase a gift certificate for a cake and the donation will still be made. This is only valid at the McKinney store, 1681 N. Central Expressway, suite 800, McKinney.

Mardel Christian Stores: First Baptist Church Forney, First Baptist Church Heath and Mardel Christian Store in Mesquite are collecting Bibles and funds to purchase Bibles for evacuees of Katrina. Please make checks out to Mardel Christian Stores and deliver to 2308 N. Galloway, Mesquite, Texas, 75150; or First Baptist Church Heath,
224 Smirl Drive, Heath, Texas 75032.

Mesquite Championship Rodeo: For the next two weekends, the rodeo will donate $1 to the American Red Cross with every paid admission. For more information call 972-285-8777.

North Texas Food Bank: Collecting ready-to-eat meals and water for hurricane victims but says money is needed most. For more information call 214-330-1396.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: Contributions may be sent through normal mission-giving channels by designating gifts for one of the following accounts: U.S. hurricane response, DR000169; pastoral care, DR000161; church damage, DR000163. Gifts by credit card can be made by calling PresbyTel at 1-00-872-3283 or online.

Prestonwood Baptist Church: Make financial donations online or during weekend services. Prestonwood is also accepting donations of essential items such as toiletries, bottled water, baby food, diapers, canned food and bedding material (air mattresses). Donations can be dropped off at Prestonwood's City Missions Ministry building on International Parkway, just northwest of the main church building. Prestonwood is located at 6801 W. Park Blvd. in Plano. For more information, call 972-820-5216.

Red Cross: The Dallas area chapter also is seeking donations to help hurricane victims at 1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to the Dallas Area Chapter, 4800 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75235.

Resource One Credit Union is accepting donations at all nine of their Texas branches. All donations should be cash or check made out to The American Red Cross. All of these funds will be delivered to the local Red Cross offices weekly. Branch locations can be found on Resource One's Web site , which also includes a direct link for people wishing to donate directly to the Red Cross.

Salvation Army: Donations of money, industrial-sized cans of vegetables, diapers, hand sanitizers, personal toiletries, flashlights, socks, insect repellent, baby formula, work gloves and plastic gloves to help hurricane victims can be delivered to 9216 Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas. For more information, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769).

Sleep Experts: Donations of bottled water and non-perishable food will be accepted at any of the 19 North Texas locations through the end of September. Items most needed: bottled water, hand-held snack items such as granola, energy or breakfast bars and protein items such as beef jerky, peanut butter and canned meals. Sleep Experts will arrange delivery to victims staying in North Texas. Monetary donations to the American Red Cross are also welcomed at the Sleep Experts stores. Checks should be made payable to the Red Cross.

Southgate neighborhood of Grand Prairie: No donation is too small. Pick-up available. For more info and donation drop off sites e-mail commchair@southgatehoagptx.com.

Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy: Working jointly with WFAA-TV to raise funds for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. "Spirit of Texas Hurricane Relief Effort" scan cards are available in all North Texas Tom Thumb store locations. Donations can be made with the scan card.

Tranquillity Massage and Fitness: 25% of all spa and massage moneys will be donated to huuricane relief efforts. Tranquility is located at 2414 E. Highway 80, Suite 190 in Mesquite.

United Methodist churches: Collecting donations via offering plates, online or by telephone. The United Methodist Committee on Relief also needs flood buckets filled with cleaning supplies that people can use to clean their homes after floods and hurricanes. For information, call 1-800-554-8583.

Verizon Wireless: Donate to the American Red Cross through text messaging. Simply text the word "help" to the phone number 2HELP (24357), and $5 will be donated. You can do this for up to $25. The donations will appear on your next monthly bill, and the entire amount of each donation will be provided to the American Red Cross to be used for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

WFAA-TV and The Dallas Morning News: Community relief fund with Chase and Bank One to benefit victims in all affected states through the American Red Cross. Donations can be made at Chase or Bank One locations in Texas. Checks should be made payable to the "Spirit of Texas Hurricane Relief Fund," with Hurricane Katrina Relief 2005 in the memo line.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES


HOSTING
Several North Texans have contacted DallasNews.com about opening their homes to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Following is a list of Web sites that indicate they are matching hosts with evacuees. We cannot verify their legitimacy:

Craig's List: http://dallas.craigslist.org/roo/

Katrina Home: http://www.katrinahome.com/

Lending a Hand: http://www.lendinghand.org/
Meetup: http://hurricane.meetup.com/1/

MoveOn.org: www.hurricanehousing.org

Operation Share Your Home: http://shareyourhome.org

Shelter for Katrina: www.ShelterForKatrina.org

Also, if you can take someone in, please call Linda White at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 214-887-3921. She is taking names and contact information.

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please continue to pray for those who have been affected by katrina..

[MavKikiNYC]

Chum, I don't doubt that there are people whose job it is to plan for all aspects of disaster managament, and I agree that people should be accountable for their failures. But I think that this case could use a lot less criticism (as you are withholding yours) and a lot more thought about what could be reasonably accomplished in what time frame. If there is information as damning about FEMA as those pictures are are to Nagin, then it will be very difficult to defend them, and they will be rightfully held accountable.

I actually feel really badly for Nagin. He was caught in a terrible situation, without much experience, and with uneven resources. I think it would have been miraculous for him to've been able to get more people out than he was able to. Even after watching him publically disintegrate as a leader and start pointing his finger at any and everyone else, I still don't want to see him accused of being an incompetent, indifferent murderer of his constituents. Incredibly there are voices among the Democrats who are accusing Bush of murder.

The parasitic media presence down there has been a bit of a curiosity for me too. It does make you wonder how they were able to be down there functioning when municipal authorities reportedly had no communication capacity. But at the same time, common sense tells you that it's a helluva lot easier for the media to be down there to gawk and squawk without really being responsible for doing anything. It's another thing entirely to mobilize and coordinate a rescue and evacuation of this scale. The media weren't trying to move anything anywhere.

I was speaking to my sister last night who had heard from a friend of hers down in Metairie. The woman's husband had been in the hospital during the hurricane, and she took him out of the hospital, packed some belongings in a truck, and even though they have lived down there for years, she paid someone to guide her though back roads out of the city. Even for people who were familiar with the area, it was tough to find their way around.

[MavKikiNYC]

What is typical is when you and your boyfriend Drbio are wrong and the whole board knows it, you start talking crap..typical class all the way...boys will be BOYS

So are you trying to insult Doc by suggesting he's homosexual?

That's another problem with the Democrats--they'll sell out their constituents as soon as it's to their advantage.

[Evilmav2]

Speaking of the parasitic media in general, and the New York Times in particular, this is what the NYT had to say about about 'Pork' flood control funding earlier this year:

Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America's rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects -- this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences.

The Government Accountability Office and other watchdogs accuse the corps of routinely inflating the economic benefits of its projects. And environmentalists blame it for turning free-flowing rivers into lifeless canals and destroying millions of acres of wetlands -- usually in the name of flood control and navigation but mostly to satisfy Congress's appetite for pork.

This is a bad piece of legislation.

New York Times Editorial Board, April 2005

Now, I my horse-sense may be wrong here, but this editorial position doesn't seem to me to very closely match that expressed in their September 1st Bush-bashing editorial (posted by Kiki) that plaintively demands to know, "Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?"...

[mavsman55]

The fact is, what could have been done was done. It was a natural disaster. It's not like the US government was sitting back and relaxing while a state-wide crisis took place on American soil. Those of us criticizing the government for the time it took us to intervene may not know as much as they think. It's harder than it sounds to deliver supplies to hundreds of thousands of people trapped in a city that's submerged in flood water. However, rescue efforts were there immediately, and the we did what we could to help those people.

Oh yeah, and reeds, calling people names because they call other people names doesn't make you look very smart.

[Drbio]

Where is my pink polo when I need it most?

*yawn*

[MavKikiNYC]

Online News Hour: Covering Katrina--The Media on The Media

Wow.

An excellent report here from The News Hour about the failure of the mainstream media in reporting accurately about what was going on in New Orleans post-Katrina.

Utter devastation....to the reputations of journalists and media outlets. Katrina devastated the credibility of mainstream journalists as badly as she did the city of New Orleans.

The failure on the part of the media to provide accurate reporting, and instead to report wild, salacious. unfounded rumor, (and to KNOW that they were doing so); and the fact that they missed bigger, more important stories dealing with who was REALLY accountable for the disaster response, and the failure to report all that was done WELL....

all of this exposes an abject collapse of an important instiuton---The Media.

This country needs a new media....a New Media.....a different sort of newspaper...a different sort of approach to television news coverage......and I think that something new is developing.


Coda: BTW, interesting for anyone who saw that idiot coonass Aaron Broussard about 3 weeks ago with Tim Russert on Meet the Press, in which Broussard pretty much faked an emotional breakdown while recounting the story of some colleague's mother who "drownded", while the "calvary" (sic) wasn't coming.......the story of the poor old woman in a nursing home waiting for 3-4 days to be rescued, calling her son every day asking when someone from the Federal Government was coming to get her......

.......Broussard's story didn't happen. When the supposed colleague was found and questioned, other than the fact that the colleague's mother did die, the story happened nothing like Broussard recounted. 90% fiction, based on an admittedly tragic death, but twisted and reinvented into something entirely sensational designed to politically exploit the death of someone's mother.

And Russert, for whom I normally have a lot of respect, let it go basically unchallenged. Not once, but TWICE when he had Broussard back on his show to "confront" him with the discrepancies between his story and the facts.

Tim Russert got punked.

[LRB]

Thanks for the link to the article Kiki. I especially like this quote of Hugh Hewitt

they [the media] did not report an ordinary story; in fact they were reporting lies. The central part of this story, what went on at the convention center and the Superdome was wrong. American media threw everything they had at this story, all the bureaus, all the networks, all the newspapers, everything went to New Orleans, and yet they could not get inside the convention center, they could not get inside the Superdome to dispel the lurid, the hysterical, the salaciousness of the reporting.

I have in mind especially the throat-slashed seven-year-old girl who had been gang-raped at the convention center -- didn't happen. In fact, there were no rapes at the convention center or the Superdome that have yet been corroborated in any way.

There weren't stacks of bodies in the freezer. But America was riveted by this reporting, wholesale collapse of the media's own levees they let in all the rumors, and all the innuendo, all the first-person story because they were caught up in this own emotionalism. Exactly what Keith was praising I think led to one of the worst weeks of reporting in the history of American media, and it raises this question: If all of that amount of resources was given over to this story and they got it wrong, how can we trust American media in a place far away like Iraq where they don't speak the language, where there is an insurgency, and I think the question comes back we really can't.

I honestly don't see how we can ever trust the media again after they have blantantly told mass amounts of lies and even when the truth comes out, they still stand behind many of their lies and refuse to aknowledge the obvious. To the media it's not about facts, but rather what they can get the public to believe and take interest in. The media is no more truthful than the average politician, and a case can be made that they are much less truthful.

[dude1394]

Originally posted by: mavsman55

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. It is a depressing and unfortunate situation, but we all know that the media uses these depressing situations to make good news stories. There are, without a doubt, people who are probably pleased with rescue efforts and evacuations and such. But, we will never see any of these people on tv or in the news because the media focuses more on negative aspects of situations than positive.

And the media is famously, ridicuolously, unbelievably, lazy and WRONG!! Like they couldn't have corroborated a 10,000 dead statement by a politician who was politicking for more money. Like they couldn't have actually gone INTO the superdome to see the stacked and stacked number of bodies the horrific rapes occurring, etc.,etc.,etc.

Hell they'll risk life and limb to try and get a picture of a dead soldier or some iraqi with underwear on their heads because it tells the story they want. But when all they have to do is WALK INSIDE THE SUPERDOME, then somehow it's just too much trouble.

Make no mistake, these are not stupid people, they know what they are selling here and it ain't republican and it sure isn't conservative.

[dude1394]

Originally posted by: LRB
Thanks for the link to the article Kiki. I especially like this quote of Hugh Hewitt

I honestly don't see how we can ever trust the media again after they have blantantly told mass amounts of lies and even when the truth comes out, they still stand behind many of their lies and refuse to aknowledge the obvious. To the media it's not about facts, but rather what they can get the public to believe and take interest in. The media is no more truthful than the average politician, and a case can be made that they are much less truthful.

Hugh's very objective analysis of what the media comes up with when the news is in their backyard and they have every resource at their disposal there is absolutley devasting to their credibility.

[LRB]

I'm pretty sure that the media did go into the Superdome and see that there were stacked and stacked bodies and that rapes and murders weren't happening there left and right. However why use "facts" that aren't relevant to the point you're trying to make even if true, when it's so much easier to use "facts" that you have someone make up for you and custom fit to the point you're trying to make. The media has less credibilty than a politician stumping for an election. They have less credibility than a used car salesman trying to make his quota on the last day of the month. The media only reports what they want us to see, and if that's not there then they make it up out of whole cloth like Dan Rather and Marjie Maples. It's funny how Dan is still going around and telling any liberal fool who will listen how those memos were never proven false. The media never admits to getting it wrong with the same coverage that they got it wrong with. They are liars, hypocrits, and just flat out dishonest.

[dude1394]

Originally posted by: LRB
The media has less credibilty than a politician stumping for an election. They have less credibility than a used car salesman trying to make his quota on the last day of the month.

Not to reeds.

[LRB]

Reeds would believe that Bush has contracted Haliburton (sp?) to create a mechanism to direct hurricanes at poor blacks if the media and/or the democrats told him this was true. Some people will believe things because of their blind faith in political dogma regardless of what proof is presented to them. If Howard Dean said the moon was made of cheese, Reeds would ask what kind.

[Mavdog]

This is the correct summation IMO:
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CARL QUINTANILLA: Well, the lesson I think is that there is never going to be any end to Monday morning quarterbacking when it comes to the media. And that's a good thing. I think it's a good thing we're asking all these questions; I think it's a good thing we're being challenged like we're being challenged on this panel.

The bottom line, though, is that the media -- often television -- is about the flow of real-time information. We were getting information from figures of authority with their own estimates. We weren't making this up certainly. I think interestingly in Katrina we saw the entire rainbow of human emotion, of human behavior; we saw people doing heroic things and we saw people doing rather sinister things.

And I think you're going to find as broad a spectrum when it comes to the media, we saw people I think less careful with their facts than they could have been and we saw others very disciplined. So I'm sure it's very easy to generalize and talk broadly about what the media did right or wrong, but this is as messy and as complicated a system as hurricanes themselves.

And we can find plenty of argue arguments for things the media did right and what they did poorly.

[MavKikiNYC]

Qunitanilla was among the worst offenders from what I recall, and it sounds a little bit like he's attempting to pass the buck to the "figures of authority" whose information and motivations he and other journalists should have been questioning.

Ironic to hear him assert (now that the media is being confronted with its own failures) that the media did a lot right; well, so did disaster response officials. Where was the "real-time information flow" of everything the government(s)--municipal, state, federal--were doing right? Not from Carl Quintanilla.

Immutable truth revealed: NEVER trust the media.

[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: MavKikiNYC
Qunitanilla was among the worst offenders from what I recall, and it sounds a little bit like he's attempting to pass the buck to the "figures of authority" whose information and motivations he and other journalists should have been questioning.

Ironic to hear him assert (now that the media is being confronted with its own failures) that the media did a lot right; well, so did disaster response officials. Where was the "real-time information flow" of everything the government(s)--municipal, state, federal--were doing right? Not from Carl Quintanilla.

Immutable truth revealed: NEVER trust the media.

pictures of people being taken from their homes by boats? check

pictures of the superdome being evacuated? check

stories of evacuees finding safe havens? check

pictures and stories of the coast guard saving people off the roofs of their houses? check

pictures and stories of the levee repair? check

pictures and stories about the repair and quick import of pumps to get the water out of NOLA? check

seems there WAS those "real time information flow" of everything the government(s)--municipal, state, federal--were doing right", and from Quintanilla, too.

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: Mavdog

pictures of people being taken from their homes by boats? check

pictures of the superdome being evacuated? check

stories of evacuees finding safe havens? check

pictures and stories of the coast guard saving people off the roofs of their houses? check

pictures and stories of the levee repair? check

pictures and stories about the repair and quick import of pumps to get the water out of NOLA? check

seems there WAS those "real time information flow" of everything the government(s)--municipal, state, federal--were doing right", and from Quintanilla, too.

Yeah, all that AFTER decrying the Federal government for not basically averting a hurricane.

I remember in particular a report where Quintanilla and a little film crew were out driving about claiming that the roads were passable and why couldn't the federal government move in a disaster relief and evacuation force for the 25,000+ people needing to be evacuated from the Superdome and the Convention Center?

Stupidity.

[LRB]

We were getting information from figures of authority with their own estimates.

And the media was selectively taking information from some authority figures as the gospel without any verification, while other authority figures they never gave the benefit of the doubt. "Coincidentally", it was liberal democrat officials who were given the most credence and whose statements were given the least effort to independently verify; while it was conservative republican officials who were given the least credence and whose statment were put under the most extensive magnifying glass to verify. And still even when inspection would back up republican officials statements over conflicting democrat statements, the media would just take the democrat statements as fact and the republican ones as excuses. The media showed their true political colors during Katrina and for the most part ignored truth over sensationalism and political agenda.