The Violence Worker!

The Big Uneasy

New Orleans is a mess.  No one disputes that.  What is in dispute is how to fix it.  The liberals just say throw money at it.  Give us billions upon billions of dollars and we'll rebuild it.  And sure, given enough money, anything can be rebuilt, but at what point does common sense kick in and we take a hard look at what we are building?  At what point do we ask some hard questions. 

We need to ask what parts are really worth saving (if any) and what parts really aren't worth the effort and expense to rebuild.  Obviously, new Orleans has a rich and varied history and there are a lot of historic buildings and areas within the city.  One need only mention Mardi Gras and the French Quarter to remind us of the history of the area.

But much of New Orleans isn't steeped in the romance of the French Quarter.  Most of it is modern and some of it now resembles a third world craphole.

I've been focusing on the rampant crime and murder rate of new Orleans of late and this entry is no different. While much of the crime is in the poorer sections, it occasionally spills over into the neighboring, more affluent, areas.  In New Orleans, this means it sometimes overflows from the poorer black areas into the mostly white neighborhoods.   New Orleans is a city very much divided by race and class.  It's a situation that is as much a part of New Orleans as Mardi Gras. 

Speaking of Mardi Gras, tonight is the big night  and there is a recent article out, once again chronicling the free reign violent criminals enjoy in the city's bilge.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans, the "Big Easy" city famous for its good times and relaxed attitude, has become the Big Uneasy in recent weeks as its murder count has soared and anger grown at local leaders unable to stop the violence.

Annual Mardi Gras celebrations unfolded without incident this weekend, but fear of the rampant blood-spilling and its threat to the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina are constant topics of conversation.

The homicide total for a still-young 2007 climbed to 27 on Saturday with the dead(sic) of a man shot at a nightclub on Friday.

That's a tad over one murder every two days so far this year.  Tulane University criminal justice instructor Ronnie Jones said a mouthful when he said:

"If they don't get crime under control, if they can't convince people it's safe to be here, it doesn't matter how much money they get from the federal government, nobody's going to stay,"

Nobody that is, but criminals and those who can't afford to move.  I've already wrote about the cops blaming the DA and the DA blaming the cops for the quagmire that is New Orleans.  Some wags are calling it the American Baghdad!  Meanwhile, the blame game goes on and nothing is being done.  Lip service and ignorant excuses abound.

And the prize for the most ignorant excuse of the day goes to Police Superintendent Warren Riley.  The article quotes him as uttering this inane statement:

"For us to correct this, we have to look at the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our education system."

Does this idiot honestly believe this?  I won't go so far as to say that the education system is free from culpability, but the education system is a small bit player at best.  It's not what they learn from a school teacher, it's what they are NOT learning at home and in their families and neighborhoods.  Dare I say, it's also what they are not learning from their churches and moral leaders.  I'm sure that the Church leaders are trying their best, but the families in these neighborhoods are irreparably broken.  Society cannot sustain  a culture in which the family is not raising the children.  I'm sure there are good parents, but a two parent family is not the norm.  It isn't so much the education system, it's the moral breakdown of the family. 

What is broken in New Orleans isn't just some flooded buildings.  What is really broken in New Orleans cannot be fixed with a bag full of money.  I doubt we'll ever fix New Orleans. You can't fix this kind of dysfunction.

VW

The Final Word.

Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated is written by a guy from southwestern Louisiana and actually lived in a FEMA trailer for several months.  He has a great blog and I try to check in at least once a day.  He has a post up titled:  "Final word on New Orleans and Katrina".

In a passionate and coherent rant, Mostly Cajun lays out who dropped the ball in Louisiana.

The fact is this: New Orleans is mostly a disaster because of decades of neglect. It isn’t a lack of money. Enough money has gone through New Orleans to encapsulate the city, but after being siphoned off by corruption and being diluted by silly spending on frivolities meant to buy votes, the money wasn’t spent on levees, and instead of intelligence in city planning, construction was allowed on ever lower “land”, land kept dry only by the forces of man. and with Katrina, man’s forces failed.

Read it all.  It's not long, but well worth your time.  And while you are there, check out the rest of his stuff.  You'll have him bookmarked before you're done.

VW

I Drove My Chevy To The Levee and the Levee was Breeched.

I’m so tired of the George Bush fiddled while New Orleans drowned song, I could puke.  And if you have half a freakin brain, you should be tired of it too. 

First of all, it’s a lie.  The MSM keeps repeating the lie like good little sheep.  The fear was for the levees to be overtopped by storm surges, not completely washed out.  One could argue semantics I suppose, but the fact remains, the levees were expected to stand.

Second is the idea that it was the burden of the feds to save everybody.  It’s ridiculous on its face.

Third, why do Nagin and Blanco get a complete pass? 

I’m not saying Brown and company didn’t screw things up royally, but so did the local and state authorities. 

Nagin never even put in place the local evacuation plan.  Hundreds of millions of dollars of transit buses and school buses that could have been used to evacuate people sat idle and were consequently ruined because the local and state authorities were incompetent.  Now, of course, you and I are replacing all those buses for them.  The New Orleans Police Department was useless.

Blanco hemmed and hawed and worried about sending in Federal troops, delaying needed aid.  No one seems to care about that.

And they don’t.  Never mind that Blanco is an incompetent boob and Nagin isn’t much better.  The MSM has it in for Bush so it’s his entire fault.

Never mind that it just wasn’t New Orleans.  At least New Orleans is mostly still there. Many towns a little further east are gone.  It just wasn’t New Orleans.  An area roughly the size of Minnesota was devastated.   The size of Minnesota, for God’s sake! 

I’ve said this before and I will say it until people start to get it.  If you think the federal government is going to save your worthless hide in a natural disaster, you are stupid.  I don’t care who the president is, you are stupid if you think they will be there to pull you and your family out of the mud.  You might get lucky.  You might win the lottery too.  If anyone comes at all in the first 72 hours or so, it will most likely be local or state authorities.  If you rely on them, your chances might be better, but keep in mind, if you got beat up in the disaster, chances are a big part of their resources did as well – especially local. 

I primarily blame Nagon and Blanco.  They completely ignored their own damn plans.  But I also blame many of the people of New Orleans. First of all, they know they live in hurricane alley.  If you live in a hurricane prone area and you are not prepared and you have a job, then you get what you deserve.  Sorry, but that’s the way it is. 

I live in an earthquake and volcano prone area.  Mount Rainier dominates the eastern sky of Pierce County.  It is still considered to be an active volcano.   If that thing blows, it’s going to take out half the county as it heads for the tide flats of Tacoma via the Puyallup River.  Orting, Puyallup, Fife and several other communities will be gone.  Tacoma will be completely cut off from the north and east.  Five years ago, we had a large quake. Had it been a little closer to the surface, it could have caused a lot more damage.  Instead of a few injuries, there could have been several hundred dead. 

It’s up to me to prepare for that, not Bush, not Queen Chrissy the First, not Mayor Baarsma.  ME! 

I’m tired of people whining George Bush didn’t save them.  Shut up and figure out your own life.

Thanks to Beth at Blue Star Chronicles for Open Track Backs

VW

NOPD Continues Its Melt down

I have a lot of respect for cops.  My dad was a cop for a long time back in Pontiac, MI including a short stint in Baldwin Park, CA back in the late 1950s.  The vast majority of them are hard working guys and gals who willingly put their lives on the line every day.  They have families and kids and participate in the community as much or more than most folks.  It’s always hard to see reports of cops who go bad.  It’s even more so when it appears that a large portion of a department appears to be tainted with the smell of corruption.

And so it appears with the New Orleans Police Department.  Maybe some of the stories are not exaggerated or even false, but there are enough of them that it all can’t be lies.  First we hear that a sizable portion of the force quit, left, whatever.  Then the chief of police quits amid reports that about a third of the force may not actually be ON the force.

And now this:  New Orleans Police Beating Caught on Tape

NEW ORLEANS - Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.

And this:  Authorities look into claims New Orleans cops cleaned out Cadillac dealer

NEW ORLEANS Louisiana officials are looking into allegations that New Orleans police officers stole Cadillacs from a dealer as Hurricane Katrina closed in.

At first, the city's police chief said officers were using the cars for patrols. He said that was not looting. Now the department will only say it is cooperating with the state investigation.

If the city of New Orleans is to rebuild again, they need to redo the police force from the ground up.  The leadership needs to be free of taint and corruption.  The FBI should be a large part of the NOPD clean up.

Hat Tip:  Michelle Malkin

VW