Too angry and too sad to snark... I was weeping at the end of this. As I type, I'm still tearing.
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Jefferson Parish President, Aaron Broussard, this morning on Meet The Press
MR. BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country... bureaucracy has commited murder in New Orleans...
[Snip]
MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn´t the mayor of New
Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn´t they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?
MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry´s coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry´s coming, the cavalry´s coming, the cavalry´s coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry´s still not here yet, but I´ve begun to hear the hoofs, and we´re almost a week out.
Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer 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. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "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 on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn´t be in this crisis.
[Snip]
And I want to give you one last story and I´llshut 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.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...
MR. BROUSSARD: 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 sakes, shut up and send us somebody.
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What in the name of holy hell is FEMA doing CUTTING phone lines? And TURNING BACK WATER TRUCKS!!
To the torches and pitchforks, people. To the torches and to the pitchforks.
[video links here ]