Mediachannel’s new director of outreach Christopher Robin Cox shares his take on New Orleans on his Mad Optimist Blog.

“I have a personal attachment to this catastrophe, for I lived in New Orleans for a little more than a year, back in the late 90’s. It is, or was, a truly distinctive city, whose character can only be understood if one lives there. Its history is steeped in the tragedy of slavery and the beautiful music that came to the world as a result of that savagery - jazz. New Orleans and her great people have always been able to make something beautiful out of something hideous and cruel. But I don’t know if she is going to get through this one.

“To this very day, 67 percent of the population of New Orleans is Black, and only 28 percent is White, and the vast majority of the city’s residents make less than $50,000 per year, with most below $30,000 . When I lived there I was still a jazz musician, making my living that way. I lived in a house with five other people, and so did almost every musician I knew - the ones that actually had a house to live in anyway. Who knows where those souls are now. I just hope they all got out, and if they didn’t? Well, I hope they are in a good place. Without live jazz and blues, all-night bars, spicy food by the pound and Benets with chicory coffee, New Orleans ceases to exist.

“What does all of this have to do with the demographics of the place? Everything. New Orleans is a city that exists on the backs of the underpaid, underprivileged and underappreciated people who draw millions to the place on a daily basis: musicians, bartenders, waitresses, strippers and cooks. I could go on forever about what makes the world of New Orleans go round, but it is pointless, because New Orleans is essentially no more. The people of New Orleans are all simultaneously homeless, except for the privileged few who may have had a place to go and enough money put away to live on for a while.

“The people who didn’t have any place to go, or money to go with are precisely the people who are “looting” the businesses of New Orleans. Most of those people are Black, as one could easily assume when we consider the demographics I mentioned above. Guess what CNN’s video coverage of the “looting” looks like. That’s right, black faces running in and out of local stores with everything they can get their hands on.

What the hell would you do? Anyone who has ever lived in that city knows that the most deep-down primal concern - whether voiced or not - is that someday the levees would break and New Orleans would become a huge festering swamp. In some sense, we could say that the ‘we’ll sleep when we die’ mentality of life in New Orleans is rooted in that fact that the whole place was essentially doomed from the get-go. Everybody knows that a city built below sea level, in between a giant lake and a giant river, each held off by a levee, is going to loose the battle someday. That day has come, and everybody in New Orleans knows it. That’s why it is futile to even try to prevent people from looting, or going stark-raving mad for that matter. Even policemen in New Orleans have been caught looting for themselves.

“In some cases the police are participating in the looting under the pretense of providing for the sick. As Guy Gugliotta and Peter Whorisky of the Washington Post reported: “In many cases the looting took place in plain view of police and National Guardsmen charged with controlling it. At one Canal Street pharmacy just outside the French Quarter, the AP reported, two police officers stood guard as workers loaded large laundry bins full of medications, snack foods and bottled water.” The officer standing outside said, “This is for the sick. We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law.” Humm, very interesting. If the situation in New Orleans is so bad that the police department is allowing for looting on behalf of the sick, should we really speak of the citizens that are potentially doing the same as “looters”.

“I challenge the notion that those who are taking whatever they can get their hands on from any retail establishment in their path are simply “looters”, akin to those who looted during the Rodney King riots, for example. This is, without any doubt, a completely different situation. For CNN or FOX or anybody else to show film footage consisting solely of Black men and women running in and out of retail stores with armloads of products, in an apparent attempt to provide evidence of just how bad things are down there, is ludicrous. They would be much more factual if they showed footage of those very same people explaining why they are “looting”. In other words, represent them for who they are: survivalists. That is, they are doing what is natural in a situation like this; they are taking everything they can get their hands on, because anything may be of benefit to them in the near future when they are trying to figure out how they are going to survive, to feed their kids, to eat, to sleep and to drink. It may help to take another look at that CNN footage.

THE OIL EFFECT

Eugene Duran who has been lobbying me to wake up to the peak oil crisis writes:

Danny, I’ve been warning about gas prices due to Peak Oil and now there will be Katrina to blame. Katrina could mask the Peak Oil problem for a while and justify higher oil prices, But we’ve been shutting down refineries for a decade now, and if the damage to our oil infrastructure is as bad as is indicated, Welcome to the thin ice of modern life. It would have only taken a small glitch to start an economic tumble. Is Katrina it? Stay tuned.

Tom Wieliczka writes to CNN:

“Why Haven’t These Bush Budget Cuts Been Reported?

“Bush goes out West, plays golf, gives a VJ-Day Speech and WAITS well pastthe hurricane hitting the Gulf States, when he could have had “all his duckslined-up in a row”, ready for the aftermath of the hurricane. They could have been “ready to go”, immediately after the storm passed.

“Instead of building up the levees, Bush cuts the budget for them, so he can do his tax cuts and spend money on a needless war in Iraq. The war should be in Afghanistan against Bin Laden.

“Like the saying goes: You Can Pay Me Now Or You Can Pay Me Later and Bush Picks TO Pays Tons More - Later!!?

FOREIGN AID NEEDED?

Carol from Illinois asks:

“Are we getting any of the help we lavish on others? I don’t begrudge it–ever–but I haven’t heard anything about reciprocation. I would think Russia, at least, would send some subs to house our people in…what do you think?

A CALL TO ALL BLOGGERS TO HELP

“This is Chris Bowers of MyDD. I just watned to let everyone know that within the next twelve or fourteen hours, we will begin a coordinated effort to help Katrina victims. The effort will include a free blogad that people can put up for a little while, and will allow liberal and progressive bloggers to track the total amount of donations they and their readers are making to the Red Cross (where all of our donations are going). I will have more information shortly.

“I just wanted to let everyone know. Spread the word, especially to progressive bloggers who are neither in Philadelphia nor on Blogads. Tomorrow, we rise together to support those in need.”

Bill D writes from Barcelona:

“Missed perhaps by many of those following the natural disaster in New Orleans was the bombing of two houses by US forces in Iraq, with the resultant death of about 50 civilians.
When asked to explain their action, the military said that they had killed a known terrorist, “Abu Islam”.

According to Aljazeera however, “Abu Islam is an alias used by several fighters.” In other words, US forces killed somebody. But they didn’t know that he wasn’t just one person.”

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/26914D3F-489D-449B-9D66-4F1E59ECB34C.htm),

MEDIA SHOCK

Adam Mcconnel who contributes reports to us from Istanbul, has been visiting his family in Seattle. He describes his reimmersion in the US media:

“we’ve been in Seattle for the past month and are heading out Friday; I’ve gotten the chance to watch a little C-SPAN (both 1 and 2) while here and was amused to see that they both run a HEAVY diet of right-wing speaker and conferences. My news has come solely from Canadian TV and Jon Stewart
while here.. .

WILD BLUE YONDER

Ken Chevis writres from Toronto:

“Danny, about the time wee Georgie was on the stump trying to justfy hissquandering of life and limb in Iraq, I finished reading an “”Inside Job” by Jim Marrs and “The New Pearl Harbor” by David Ray Griffin. I am also part way through “The 9/11 Commission Report, Ommissions and Distortions” by the same author. Because I am an ex-Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, I concentrated on the 9/11 catastrophe in the context of the United States Air Force response. Along with information gleaned from the books, I also didsome Internet research, specifically time-line.

“I came to the conclusion that on that particular morning in September, the vaunted USAF could not find its’ ass with either hand. Using the performance specifications of my 50 year old Canadian CF100 which I flew in the early 50’s, I can safely say that on my worst day, I could have effectively outperformed both the F15’s and F18’s dispatched to intercept the hijacked airliners. To this day, no one in the USAF or NORAD chain of command has ever been held accountable for their bizarre behavior. Isn’t it about time?”

“IT WASN’T JUST BUSH”

Susan writes:

“It wasn’t just Bush who was pushing to get that Iraqi constitution done. I sat in on a US Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on June 23, 2005. I heard Senators Levin (Democrat) and Collins (Republican) both state that the Iraqis had to get that constitution written on time, or else there should be “consequences.” They both expressed the sentiment that not having it done would harm US troops via increasing the insurgency.

“Here’s what I wrote about that in an op-ed in the local paper:
Sen. Levin pointed out that not meeting timetables in Iraq’s political processes could have negative repercussions for U.S. troops. He suggested that consequences be lined up for the Iraqis for not getting things done on time. I hope those Iraqis realize that they not only have to “do” democracy the way the senator wants, they had better be prompt about it too”

CREDIT WOES: STORIES WANTED

NOTE: If you have a story to tell about your experience with credit companies and banks or worked for one, please get in touch to share your experience. I am doing a film on the subject. I have been getting letters like this:

“Yesterday I had to call MBNA about my account. I was told that as of December of 2005, everyone will have to pay a minimum of 5% of their balance, there will be no longer a tiny minimum. I have been trying to get mine down at $100.00 a month (receive only less than $2,000.00 a month two pensions and SS) and I will have to pay probably $121.00 a month or they will come after me. This for unsecured loans. Again something this administration has pushed through. People are not going to get notice of this (all though it passed some time ago) until November. I think this should be out there now, so people stop charging so much. It is also harder to go bankrupt–what will the people do, with winter coming and the need for oil, at $400.00 or more to fill the furnace tank?. We are in a terrible mess, a lot of it due to this horrible unnecessary war. “

CHALLENGING THE NEWS

Sarah Meyer writes from England on an experience of challenging a newspaper article she considerd biased:

“Last week, Ms. Malia Zimmerman, editor of Hawaii Reporter, ran a column attacking Cindy Sheehan entitled “The Collapsing Universe of a Dark Star Mother” by Andrew Walden, editor of the Hawaii Free Press.

Search Home/News: “Dark Star Mother”
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/

I objected to the attack on Mrs. Sheehan (and others) and wrote the paper (which did not publish my letter) but instead forwarded my letter to Walden for his reply. (After protesting, my letter was published today:)

Search “Defending Cindy Sheehan”
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/list.aspx?Letters+to+the+Editor

Mr. Walden replied to my letter of complaint by shifting the subject and without referring to Cindy at all. Instead, he claimed that the Downing Street Memo (sic) showed that the US/UK overnments “genuinely believed that Saddam had WMDs before the war and “told the truth about what their intel reported. ” That, ergo, “the anti-war brigade is lying every time they say Bush and or Blair lied.”

“My letter focused on Mrs. Sheehan, but I also challenged his distortions citing five sources.

“Mr. Walden’s next e-mail slithered further sideways. “If the public was aware that your kind think it is all a Jewish (oops I mean Israeli) conspiracy to build an oil pipeline thruAfghanistan, you would be toast.”

“Did I say that?” I asked in my next email. “What is ‘my kind?” I
queried. I asked for an apology.

An Apology? “Nope.” Instead, using an ICH article on my website,
indexresearch.blogspot.com, he made this stunning accusation: ‘Scratch a Downing Street Memo cultist and find an anti-Semite.” He went on, “stop wasting my valuable time. I do not regard your kind as worthy of my attention … conversation terminated.”

“Mr. Walden did not know that my beloved mother-in-law was from Byalistock. Her name was Narefsky.”

Sarah was gutsy to challenge that racist mediaspeak but her experience shows how hard it is to get the Bush believers to even hear evidence that challenges their belief systems and for that matter to get media outlets to open their columns to dissenting views. And yet, her persistance and willingness to write resulted in her letter finally getting in the paper.

EVENTS: YOU ARE INVITED

Next week , on Tuesday September 6, Mediachannel readers in the NY area are invited to take part in a SPEAK OUT FOR THE FIRST AMENDEMENT as we consider the case of New York Times reporter Judith Miller. I will be moderating a panel at the Laugh Factory (42nd and 8th at 6 PM)….Come hear Vanity Fair’s Michael Wolff, the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Donna Lieberman, Mark Green and others. It’s Free. Have your say! As club owner Jamie Masada puts it on the marquee: “The First Amendment ..no laughing matter.”

Please tell your friends……

Keep your letters coming and be as generous as you can to help the people whose lives have been disrupted by the catastrophe on the Gulf Coast.

Comemts: write: Dissector@mediachannel.org

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