Heartless mayor orders no water for N.O. remainders

Don't you just love alarmist headlines?!

Headline intentionally sensationalized just to prove a point that any idiot (even me, ha!) can come up with an alarmist, sensationalized headline that will cause a rash of people to feel that an intended target is the devil incarnate.

In this case, you need to know much more than what the headline says to really know what the story is. Yet, if I just left the headline there, I'm sure there would be a bunch of rumors flying around that would come from the original headline -- The mayor says there won't be water for people that stay in New Orleans. Oh my gawd! How dare he. That cruel sob. He's so mean and heartless. He must be a racist. He's doing it because the people that are left are poor. He hates poor people. And on would go the charges and rumors that all start with one headline found on the net, or in the news.

But read on and find out what was really said, and then perhaps it might make sense. Context means everything.

Many Still Refuse to Leave New Orleans

New Orleans police officers are moving through the Hurricane Katrina- devastated city and trying to get thousands of residents who have resisted moving to leave, a deputy police chief said Monday.
During a news conference, Deputy Superintendent Warren Riley said police were telling the remaining residents that there is no food, water or jobs and nothing to remain in New Orleans for.
"This city has been destroyed," Riley said.
Riley said police did have the authority to force evacuations, but did not spell out whether officers are taking that step. In an earlier interview on WWL radio, Mayor Ray Nagin said that authorities were going to try to persuade people to leave. Officers will no longer be handing out water to people who will not evacuate, the mayor said.
Riley estimated that fewer than 10,000 people were left in the city. He said some simply did not want to leave their homes _ while others were hanging back to engage in criminal activities, such as looting.
"We don't know how long this is going to last," he said.
Riley also said police were asking people not to return to the city for now. New Orleans is still without utilities and has collapsed power lines all over the city, Riley said.
Riley said that after nearly a week of most police efforts being aimed at rescue, the department, aided by the National Guard, was turning toward "more of a law enforcement mode now."
"We are targeting looters, we are targeting those who want to create mayhem in this city," Riley said.
However, the department is short-staffed: between 400 and 500 officers on the 1,600-member police force are unaccounted for, Riley said. Some lost their homes and some are looking for their families, Riley said.
"Some simply left because they said they could not deal with the catastrophe," Riley said.
Riley said police communications, especially with other agencies, is improving after a chaotic start.

... more at linked article

BTW, I could have used several alarmist headlines here, couldn't I have? How about one that was based around the "between 400 and 500 officers on the 1,600-member police force are unaccounted for"?? That might have translated into something like "N.O. police abandon city to lawlessness" or "N.O. police go AWOL after storm", but again, if you know the context, does it not make a huge difference?

Lots of Monday morning quarterbacking is going to go on from this storm and the responses of everyone involved. It's going to be the second coming of the 9/11 commission. And you know what, as I pointed out elsewhere in response to Myrrander and others -- much of the response, much of how the system current works (or doesn't) was a direct result of the 9/11 commission to begin with. People demanded change from the old FEMA system, and they got it. Now, after getting it, they still aren't happy, except there is a target to aim at -- "Brown", What can "Brown" do for you? He's an easy target. After all, he never had such an important job before, except, oh, by the way, even NBC in their half-assed attempt at a smear piece on him had to say that he was a deputy at FEMA during 9/11. I'm sure some of the rabid left will say yep, that was screw up number 1. Yup, to those never happy campers, probably so.

Anyway, the Mayor and the police that are still hard at work (along with many rescue workers and others) in New Orleans are still faced with people that just flat out refuse to leave. Cutting off food/water to those that stay may seem cruel, but again, we are talking about people that refused to honor mandatory evacuation orders, and still are doing so. There is no food in the area, except for what emergency responders are bringing in, and the same for water. So again, should the Mayor and all others involved be concerned about having to provide water to people that are still refusing to leave? The correct answer is simply: NO.

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Nice shot at alarmist healines... Personally I prefer to try to draw folks in with that funny headline... but that also can backfire.

What people need to realize (including the good mayor of New Orleans) is part of declaring a "mandatory evacuation" is deciding what services (if any) will be left intact in the disaster area. While I take every opportunity I can to mock Mayor Nagin for his completely innane and unauthorized "Martial Law" declaration, it is completely within his authority to decide what services to discontinue.

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Darwin lives.

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