Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/01/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Excellent points, Lee. I'll go one step further - what else is new? The term "chocolate city" is hardly a new one; what is new is its use causing a furor. D.C. was/has long been referred to that way by various local black figures - without a burp from anyone in reaction. Clearly Nagin has made some mistakes as he's soldiered on through this mess. But all this hysteria over the black mayor of what was a predominantly poor black city whose poor black residents were flushed out by Katrina, leaving rich whites behind, saying that the city would once again be a chocolate city? Game a break. It's almost as ludicrous as all the hysteria over Hillary Clinton - who is at the bottom of my Democratic candidate wish list ;-) - calling the House of Representatives a "plantation." That's hardly the first time that term has been applied - it's just the first time there's been a firestorm over it. Unfortunately, we live in the age of intentional overreaction. On 1/26/06 11:25 AM, "Lee England" <Engl6914@cableone.net> wrote: > Normally a comment on how New Orleans would be chocolate again would blow > me > through the roof. But in Nagin's case I pardon him because I think he's > been the most effectual character in this whole drama--similar to Guliani > in > New York. Nagin is caught in an impossible position much like the mayor of > Stalingrad was in 1942. Think back to the shouted statements on CNN about > people getting off their asses and getting some help to New Orleans. It > took someone swearing at the top of his voice to finally get National Guard > into New Orleans. Nothing less was going to do it, and he did it. > When evaluating Nagin and Gov. Blanco one has to remember that state > and > city resources are entirely inadequate to deal with something like Katrina. > I learned yesterday Louisiana has lost 43% of its tax revenue base since > the > storm. Mississippi can't be much different. We might as well have taken a > nuclear strike down here. If there's someone to blame I'd look higher > toward George Bush. There's just not enough help coming down here, and > we're stuck with a president who thinks government is a superfluous waste. > It's incredible that the power company in New Orleans, Entergy, has had to > declare bankruptcy and then stay in it. They have no money to repair the > electrical grid in New Orleans. If the federal government would help > re-establish the power grid, telephone service, potable water, and then > declare that construction will start forthwith to build levees to withstand > the strongest storms, they wouldn't have to put any more money into the > situation. Private enterprise would take care of the rest. It blows me > away that people are living in tents down here when last week a $700 > million > space probe launched last week toward Pluto (or one of those planets). > > Lee England > Natchez, Mississippi > USA > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information