When the Levees Broke
 

We've been talking about documentaries here as of late, and I was curious to see how many of you watched Spike Lees new documentary concerning the Hurricane Katrina fiasco? Part one, or Act I and Act II were on HBO last night, and the second half is on tonight.

Obviously his political biases come into play a little bit, but it is basically narrated by everyday citizens in New Orleans. Some of the images are tough to see (stuff they would never show on network news), and the entire subject it tough to swallow. But I think its important to watch...

Anyone?

i seen that it was on last night. I only caught the credits

hm i dont get hbo. i rent the worthy dvds years after the fact (like my recent addiction to "the sopranos"). but the other day in a hotel i saw the commercial for this spike lee joint (ha), looked pretty good. so how is it?

Well, saying I 'enjoyed' isn't the correct way to digest this. Neither is saying it was good. Its effective.

kinda like farenheit 911 would you say? or bowling etc? (not exactly a faithful "documentary" but shit-stirring nevertheless?)

--
oh and so would you recommend it?

Yes, I recommend it to everyone. I think people need to see how shameful the aftermath was. Its not in the same category as Micheal Moore films though, I wouldn't say.

^ that picture is bringing me down, and is making me foam at the mouth. I can't believe our goverment let that many people die.

right, but can you believe it kills a lot of people on purpose as well?

i do...

(i know, i know it was a rhethorical statement you made... i'm just loopy today... and overly rhethorical too... please reader be kind on this madman)

with the guys you have in the whitehouse what did you expect?

That incident was a major fuckup. The world stood and watched as New Orleans washed away. A damn disgrace. I'd like to see that doc sometime.

Amazing, first world disaster. You would think this could only happen in Indonesia or Papua New Guinea, but no, the United States of America, the leader of Planet Earth, saviour of humanity; and bringer of democracy to where it is really needed.

America, Fuck yeah!!!

Toklosh, the documentary showed some footage of how the Dutch government protects its low lands, some incredible engineering there. Compared to concrete walls that were/are protecting New Orleans. Quite depressing what other countries can do, and what we are too lazy and too cheap to accomplish.

yep. especially (as i'll guess it's spike lee's point) when it concerns a majority-black population -- right?

Yeah, the dutch are pretty clued up, when it comes to water and how to deal with it. Ever heard about the little boy who put his finger in a dyke?... and I don't mean a lesbian. :D

Exactly. At one point in the film, a resident from the Lower 9th Ward pointed out (the obvious) at a town meeting, attended by mayor Ray Nagin that no matter what direction you go in New Orleans there is water, and I quote "you tell me who is at risk?".


Well, I know from fishing on the Missouri river that you never want your boat to go near a finger dyke. But no, I've never heard about this boy, and his dyke. I, for one, have never had my finger in a dyke.............

I haven't either :D , but that little boy saved a whole village from flooding and became a hero.

That just goes to show, foreplay is important.

The utmost.

Hey, I think I've got CivIV up and running. If you're still looking for takers on that offer.

Nah... Thanks for the offer, but I'm using an 'unlicensed' version... *wink* *wink* :)

For shame!

Haha... I know... Soon as I graduate, I'm going to buy everything I've ever downloaded... :P

I'm just hoping it works properly. I downloaded the patch, hopefully it will fix the frustrating glitches.

i'm just 45 minutes away from new orleans, and i know, firsthand what happened, post-hurricane, from volunteering at one of the designated areas in my city and from speaking with a very close friend who is a member of NOPD. the whole situation was a fuckup, and the blame should definitely be spread evenly, not just at the national government.

i WILL say, that local gov. admitted the fuck up and tried to fix things while the big boys played guitar and treated new orleans' black population like they were on quarantine.

they screened the documentary as i was riding into the city last week, actually. i'm a huge fan of spike lee and i would love to see it, but i don't have any sort of cable, so unless it gets on dvd soon or bittorrent, i'm shit out of luck.

im watching this right now

Comparing the Dutch's "levees" to New Orleans' isn't fair. When has a hurricane hit the Netherlands?



Yeah, Bush knows how to control the weather and all.

Never! That goes to show how good we deal with nature in general. We blow hurricanes away with our arsenal of windmills. :rolleyes:

a blast from the past
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registered: 11/1/2001 00:00
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well some of us have known for a long time that bush is a lying scumbag

now there is incontrovertible VIDEO evidence showing that he knew about katrina before it happened.

im not going to get into details as i'm too pissed off right now

here is the goddamn link

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/02/ap/national/mainD8G350406.shtml

fucking shit! they hypocrisy!!! fuckem!!!!!!


IMPEACH THE MOTHERFUCKER
posted: 3/1/2006 18:31Reply | PM | Edit | IPGoo14
registered: 7/30/2004 00:00
posts: 1180






... I did a keynote presentation on him for school. It was rather cool. I put in than one video of him flicking off the reporters. 'one finger salute'. I made him look like a complete dumbass. If YSI works on the school's computers I'll upload it for the helluvit.posted: 3/1/2006 18:37Reply | PM | Edit | IP


atari 2600

registered: 6/21/2002 00:00
posts: 9483






anyone with half a brain in nola should've known to evacuate in a post on the board i warned anyone in nola on the friday before the storm to get the hell out of town because i knew that (Katrina & a direct hit to New Orleans) was not to be trifled with...

i grew up in gulfport, ms from grades 1-9 & have experienced many hurricanes myself, so i've always been familiar with the common wisdom of the region that a direct hit to nola would be devastating

bush of course (per the usual) lied about the statement of how nola (too many "nola"s in this post) would be "rebuilt bigger & better" or whatever ... the admin. is too busy stealing billions from the iraq war effort to care about new orleans... seems to me that if the levee walls could be constructed properly then everything would be as safe there as humanly possible ... they should get the navy seabees to build it instead of some contractor...posted: 3/1/2006 19:43Reply | PM | Edit | IP

!@#$%!
registered: 11/1/2001 00:00
posts: 4936


question why was bush saying he knew nothing about the levees though?

another WMD-type fucking lie....posted: 3/1/2006 20:08Reply | PM | Edit | IPatari 2600
registered: 6/21/2002 00:00
posts: 9485


i'm not familiar with the remark is this something he said during the katrina hearings? wait, he's in india now

i guess it's plausible deniability at work

although to believe that bush would have been advised by no one to be able to know either shows gross incompetence or gross negligence or both

he's probably guilty of both, but again, katrina caused such devastation that not a whole lot of difference could have been made (in my mind) anyway...the levee walls were not up to speed because once again, the city officials had bilked & screwed the people of nola & the aid could have got there a day sooner maybe & that does make a difference to victims of a storm of this magnitude, but the whole thing was a major disaster, so its tough to say exactly...as much as i despise bush, i was very dismayed to hear black democrats in an uproar & michael moore blaming bush the way the did...it seemed weak to me & petty...it made me ashamed to be a democrat honestly when there is so much else that the man is truly guilty of & they pick this to harp on? it just serves to discredit more legitimate accusations...what's this need to "build a case" when the case is already fucking built & the president is guilty of treason & a myriad of other crimes? (the) fact is, bush's detractors are afraid & so they seized katrina as a "safe" way to criticize him...(it's) a sad state of affairs

hopefully this hurricane season won't slam the area again, but many scientists are warning that the oceans are getting hotter due to climate change & that this will not necessarily increase hurricane & major storm frequency, but it will tend to make the storms more powerful...scientists are saying now that global warming has reached a level of inertia now & that even if we ceased all activities that lead to warming that the process has already begun & there's little to do that can reverse it in a quick fix; although they do say that somehow minimizing our collective non-eco-friendly behavior is obviously still a very good idea

I missed the Spike Lee doc

Don't you understand? This is the point of it all. And hurricanes are not the only cause of floods, espcially in areas that are well below sea level, like much of Holland is. It isn't about the threat of a hurricane, its about the threat of flooding, PERIOD. Flood disasters are well documented online, take a look.

Its about Holland being prepared for something, and building the proper structures to protect your tax paying citizens from a disaster such as. I'm in no way an expert on this but from what I understand, the levees in New Orleans were only strong enough to hold a category one hurricane, let alone the category three that made land fall in Louisiana.




No one is suggesting that President Bush (or any world leader/government) can control the weather. But letting people in that city go without any kind of help for five days is what Bush is at fault of. He didn't even aknowledge what was going on for two days, and then gave a slap on the back to FEMA's response.

If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention.

Well, okay. I don't think the Dutch would have been prepared for Katrina. The storm was fantastic.


Why were people still there in the first place?

some didn't know the severity of the storm. some didn't think they had anywhere to go. some didn't have any way to get out of the city. it's not like you can hitch a ride with your neighbor from down the street, in the lower 9th ward...especially if he doesn't have a car, either.

not to mention that requests for funds to fix and reinforce the levee system had been denied for the past several years.

I am still mad about this. They could not fucking leave because they had no way out. They had buses but no one was driving them. They filled the stadium way over its max capacity. They have renewed only the richer part of New Orleans, while leaving the poor area as it was after Katrina hit. Many people have not gone home, most have seperated from their families. And contractors close to the Bush administration have gotten deals to fix New Orleans, which will push the New Orleans poor out of their city. Who mostly are black. If you are not mad about this and are an American, than you are no a real American.

this was a very interesting documentary.
shits fucked up... thats all im going to say.

No, I just see it differently. I think people should be able to take care of themselves.
Did you read Bytor Peltor's post? Blame the state of Louisiana or New Orleans before the federal government... if you feel the need to criticize. I don't see the point in criticizing - a fucking storm destroyed a city and it's sad. There shouldn't have been people there. Plenty of money has been sent to New Orleans; I'm not sure if it's being used efficiently.

when people are in no position to take care of themselves, it is the government's job to aid them, in some form. when the city and the state fail, it's the federal government's job to step up and provide aid, should a necessary situation arrive. yes, our politicians fucked up, but they at least TRIED to pick up the slack as soon as things had started to get out of hand, while our pres-o-dint chose to play guitar and kiss brown babies and have photos of himself taken while looking oh-so pensive in through the window of his plane. he displayed a nonchalant attitude about the entire situation while FEMA dicked people over with 'aid' left and right. and let's not talk about money being spent efficiently. if we weren't overseas fighting a bullshit war, maybe adequate funds could've been sent to new orleans by now...or maybe the funding would've actually been there when state representatives requested it to fix the levee system before something horrible happened. who the fuck are you to say how efficiently the money's being spent, anyway? have you been to the city to see what's being rebuilt and what has been rebuilt? i have, and although progress is slow, it's still there.

actually, at landfall, katrina was more powerful than rita by 20mph.

and you can't compare the damage done between lake charles and beaumont (by hurricane rita) to the damage the entire gulf coast took as a result of katrina. i've seen the entire gulf coast, post-katrina, and i've seen the path between lake charles and beaumont, and while both of the areas were severely damaged, the the areas hit by katrina are in far far worse condition than any of those hit by rita. but this isn't a dick measuring contest, so that doesn't matter. and it didn't matter whether the city officials had plans or not, either, because the city was going to get fucked, plans or not. it's a natural disaster, you can't exactly plan to dodge it.