The Blame Game

Wow. I'm quite amazed by Nagin. He's got quite the brass neck.

He's got all the good sound bites. He's got all the answers: its their fault. He blamed the Feds for not coughing up the dough that NOLA was promised by that blithering idiot in Jackson Square in Sept 2005. He blames the State for having a juicy surplus whilst things are still so very much broken in NOLA. But Nagin, aah Nagin!! He's cleaned up the French Quarter to the point that eating the vomit on Bourbon Street doesn't sound so unappetizing... :)

I always feel with Nagin that he wants to be the cool kid that everyone likes. He wants to be on our side. He wants to forget that he is on the side of local government whether he likes it or not and that with that comes the responsibility to actually do something about our problems not complain about them and blame everyone else. In my humble opinion if he blames Bush and Bianco for the lack of cash and (therefore) progress in New Orleans he should have been banging down their doors, screaming blue murder in the halls of Congress and running naked across the White House lawn to get their attention.

Had he done all that then I wouldn't mind hearing him bitch....

The end of his speech I found very interesting and if anyone can help on any of this please do:

In closing, as I stated earlier we as a city are determined to have a full recovery.

[Great!!]

We have the vision.

[What is it?]

We have the plan.

[I don't know it]

We made the tough decisions to position us for a full recovery.

[They were...?]

We have chosen life over death.

[well some of us have been able to.....]

We will rebuild.

[with or without your help....]

One New Orleans, one Louisiana.

[who's he kidding? the rest of Louisiana is so unbelievable redneck that when I get too far along I-10 I want to do a screeching U-turn and head home ASAP]

Post-Traumatic-Stress in Post-Katrina New Orleans

A very good friend of mine from the BBC sent me an email this morning. In it is details of a paper “Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Hurricane Katrina” by Lisa D. Mills MD and Trevor J. Mills MD. This paper will be presented at the 2007 SAEM ( Society for Academic Emergency Medicine) Annual Meeting, May 16-19, 2007, Chicago, IL on Friday, May 18th, in the Psychiatry poster session beginning at 9:00 AM in the River Exhibition Hall A & B of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

This paper is to report that Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is ten times the national average in New Orleans. 38% of people who have visited the Emergency rooms in New Orleans exhibit signs of PTSD compared with 3.6% for the national average. Dr. Peter DeBlieux, MD,
Director of Emergency Services at Louisiana State University in New Orleans was asked about this study and commented:
“The incidence of PTSD in our population post-Katrina reported in this research study is noteworthy and worth following as recovery efforts move forward. The prevalence cited in this study is not alarming to those professionals caring for patients who have been traumatized by the storm and challenged by the recovery efforts.”

This should come as "news" to no one. Katrina turned this city into a war zone and most people involved in war suffer PTSD. Big parts of this city still look like a war zone. I drive up Louisiana Avenue to Clairborne to get onto I-10 and every time I do I look at the huge housing project on the right hand side. It is empty and abandoned after Katrina. The windows are cracked, the roof starting to crumble and it is quite eerie. It always reminds me of photos of war torn Germany during the 1940s. That's what Katrina did. She left big swathes of this city war torn.

I don't know if this paper will include this - although I hope it does - but I look at that housing project and the size of it and its emptiness and I wonder where all those people ended up. The PTSD in this city is 38% but what about all those other souls spread throughout the US? They surely also have PTSD. But being the poorest in society are they getting adequate care? Being the poorest in society they were the ones who didn't leave. They are the ones that really experienced the war zone and all its wrath.

The magnitude of loss here is staggering. It is present on a continuum from the smallest possession to loss of a loved one. As part of the story in my friend's email stated:
"The magnitude and duration of even a single mental health care diagnosis after this disaster demonstrates the need for long term, coordinated mental health response as part of disaster relief. Interim or temporary mental health response is not adequate for this population."

The scars from this disaster run deep. The rate of suicide is up. The number of people who are dying from stress is up. This city needs to be rebuilt but not just physically. Souls are hurt and they should be cared for and helped to heal as best they can.

Flood Damage - current

I am planning on doing a big Katrina post - especially as Dza and I just watched the National Geographic film on Katrina - my blood was boiling and eyes a rollin - but I want to watch it again and take notes and write something with some substance, with some semblance of communicating to others what happened here.

Until then I urge you to go to these photos of school that were taken a week ago- only a week ago!! Here are Scout's from First Draft and here are Ray's.

Thanks to Jeffery at Library Chronicles for the links to these.

Moses you ain't - "They" know!

I have just read Chris Rose's recent article in the TP. I have also been reading a lot of NOLA bloggers posts on this issue. The issue is our wonderful, colourful major (yes, that's sarcasm).

He is famous for speaking his mind, only his mind is becoming something very few of us want to hear from. He is sounding completely nuts. He famously ranted during Katrina and woke up the Feds. He famously referred to this city as having always been a "chocolate city". He panders to the colour of the skin of his audience and says whatever inflammatory thing he thinks they wish to hear.

The latest Nagin saga has been his raving and ranting against "They". "They" want to divide this city up and remove the African Americans from the city. "They" see the aftermath of Katrina as a perfect opportunity to rid the city of the elements they dislike. "They" is a mass conspiracy. Mark at Wetbank blog puts it so well:

What's happening here is not happening to you in particular, or to the people you believe you represent. Listen, man: you're not Moses, the annointed leader of the Children of Isreal. The entire aftermath of the Federal Flood was not Pharoah out to get you and your people, and acting like that's the story line isn't going to bring about biblical miracles to restore the city to what it was. That's the PTSD and whatever else you have going on talking. Somebody who cares about you needs to take you aside and talk to you 'cause your messed up, and every time you open your mouth you mess us all up.

I have always been one (perhaps naively) who has thought that it should be the local leaders that would be those classed in the "They" category. After all if there was a conspiracy wouldn't the major be best placed to head it off, to provide the resources and structure to bring back the very people the so called conspiracy wishes to banish?

Major Nagin seems to be spending so much time these days looking for reasons to New Orleans problems that he's cross-eyed. Maybe its just my naive self but should he be looking for solutions to the problems instead of reasons.

I know Louisiana is famous for corrupt, inept politicians but really isn't Nagin too ridiculous for office? I know, I know, I'm naive.

Pumps, Levees .... I'm curious

I found out recently that we are going to be here for a while - my contract with work now extends for another two years and may become tenured. We could very well end up being here for several years. This is great. Its good to have a job. I love this city. We have friends here. We are happy living here.

So I'm curious about what exactly has been done for the protection of this magnificent place should (or when) a hurricane should roll through again. I know that it was the levee failure that flooded the city and that Katrina didn't hit New Orleans head on. So a chancing blow from a hurricane was enough to overpower the levees and flood the city.

I was talking to a friend the other night and he said that he thought what New Orleans needs to feel more secure and to show the world that it is more secure, is for another hurricane to come through and for the city not to flood. I have to agree this would indeed show that this city is on the path of regeneration. (don't get me wrong here - I'd rather a hurricane never came this way again ever - but I know I'm asking the impossible)

My friend was telling me that they have done "so" much to the levees that he thinks this may be a real possibility. So I'm curious if this is indeed true. I've been reading a lot about the failure of levee pumps on da po blog and on blogging new orleans.

So I'm wondering if I can find out more. Now that it looks like we are going to be calling this wonderful place home for the future I really need to know (I was interested before - don't get me wrong - but its just that now the need for knowledge feels more urgent).

I'm hoping that some of the wonderful N'awlins bloggers might drop by and point me in some useful directions. Until then I'm going to keep my ears pricked for any news on securing our home.

Gentilly Girl has a brilliant and succinct post on the subject!!