I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Brian Williams Reports
You decide:
Yep, that's why they use the tactic over and over.
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago they were angry that the response was slow. Last week they angry that they didn't have any power or utilities yet. This week they can still be angry that they only had 30 minutes of power. By next week they'll be back to having no excuses and just plain being angry (status quo).
ReplyDeleteIt's time to stop the blame-game and start reconstructing a free New Orleans -- suffering at the hands of a brutal (--------) Katrina as it has, for too long now. (What... three weeks?)
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure what you're getting at Last. Did the power go on then off? Is BW reporting the 'facts on the ground' or is it an impressionistic account? Would it matter if the power in fact went out, or is that somehow obviated by BW's cheap populism?
I'm guessing that this had something to do with security requirements; the Secret Service is probably not interested in driving down a 10 mile stretch of road with low visibility on either side. (10 miles is a guess.)
ReplyDeleteThe local utility likely did what it could and then switched priorities. Although I sympathize with those without power, I can't say this is a really huge deal. Of course, it looks bad. But it looks better than the Prez giving the speech from USS Bataan or the Oval Office.
The power goes off and on everywhere for many reasons. Restoring power to a system that has had this much damage means there will be failures as the system energizes. Brian needs to adjust his tin foil hat.
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