New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and the day the American Psyche changed

Bruce Springsteen has a new album coming out and his new song hints at New Orleans and Katrina again. A clear change in tone appeared to happen in Springsteen following what he saw in New Orleans and it was certainly understandable. It was the first time that government appeared to not care what happened to its own citizens. Even the networks seemed surprised when their own anchors couldn't ignore the bodies floating by them. Of course much of the national guard wasn't available because for some reason they were in Iraq instead trying to rebuild that country instead of their own back yards. For a time Blackwater, or America's rent a soldier, had to come in and bring law and order. There was some question whether if they shot anybody in New Orleans whether that person could be found guilty under American law as the federal government was contracting out their responsibility.

"Them who's got got out of town

And them who ain't got left to drown"
--Springsteen How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Time and Live

Black or White: the common denominator was poor and the American government had very little compassion for its own citizens.

Spike's Lee documentary that showed the general indifference of our leaders when it came to Americans

Pretty hard for the helicopters to miss the message. The first on the scene was actually people from Cuba, Venezuela and Canada just disgraceful. Not only could the US government not do enough but it even prevented other from helping its own people.

Venezuala - An offer of aid from the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, which included two mobile hospital units, 120 rescue and first aid experts and 50 tonnes of food, has been rejected, according to the civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson.

Mr Jackson said the offer from the Venezuelan leader, whom he recently met, included 10 water purification plants, 18 power generation plants and 20 tonnes of bottled water.

The offer was made in a letter from the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez, to the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco.

It was one of many from governments and aid organisations across the world, despite allegations by many conservative commentators and bloggers that the US is being ignored by countries it has helped during crises.

Mr Jackson said the rejection of the offer from one of Mr Bush's most outspoken political foes was a sign the federal government was incapable of handling the crisis properly. "This may be Mr Bush's worst hour of leadership," said Mr Jackson.

Full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/07/venezuela.hurricanekatrina

Cuba - On several instances, Cuba has offered to send free doctors and medical supplies to the United States, and the US has turned them down. Is this right? Cuban doctors are known around the world for the excellent medical care they provide in underserved and recent-disaster areas, absolutely free of charge. Why should we turn them down?

Full Story: http://sustainablemedicine.org/2009/03/cubans-offer-free-doctors-us-refuses/

From all over they came to the super dome unfortunately food and water didn't so they sat out in the sun and baked. And they waited for somebody to care enough to do something.

In Springsteen's new song "We Care For Our Own" the Super dome is again mentioned. It's almost as if Springsteen can't get these terrible images out of his mind.

President Bystander looks down

With that, he launched into a song titled "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" and dedicated the song to "President Bystander." Its lyrics included the lines: "There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to hell ... them who's got out of town, and them who ain't got left to drown, tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?"

Real Story: http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/1/113726.shtml

He says, "Me and my old school pals had some might high times 'round here

And what happened to you poor black folks, well it just ain't fair"
He took a look around, gave a little pep talk, said, "I'm with you" then he took a little walk
-- Springsteen "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Time and Live."

The lines are almost actual quotes from Bush about New Orleans whose experiences seemed to have gone no further than getting drunk and yelling "Show me your tits."

For awhile boat was the leading mode of transportation

The American media did everything to ignore the story but even they couldn't miss the bodies floating past them and at least for a day or two so-called objective journalism went out the window. I guess next time they'll have to cover the flood from a different city so their hearts don't get in the way.

New Orleans again showed how much we take care of our own when they sold of the school system whole sale, got rid of people's housing,  and celebrated the fact they had made people homeless. Even homes that were in decent enough shape had to be torn down so the politicians friends could rebuild in and skim off the top. As Louisiana Congressman Richard Baker (R-LA) said, after the hurricane, "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."