Originally Posted by ratbastid

Two things to add to this thread:

First: George Bush appears to agree with you. Massive flooding in major US cities, people trapped and dying, and he's <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050830/480/capm10208301856">playing guitar with a country singer on a naval base</a>. Nice.

Second: This was posted on boingboing.net this morning, from an email attributed to a NOLA rescue worker:

<blockquote>The poorest 20% (you can argue with the number -- 10%? 18%? no one knows) of the city was left behind to drown. This was the plan. Forget the sanctimonious bullshit about the bullheaded people who wouldn't leave. The evacuation plan was strictly laissez-faire. It depended on privately owned vehicles, and on having ready cash to fund an evacuation. The planners knew full well that the poor, who in new orleans are overwhelmingly black, wouldn't be able to get out. The resources -- meaning, the political will -- weren't there to get them out.

White per capita income in Orleans parish, 2000 census: $31,971. Black per capita: $11,332. Median *household* income in B.W. Cooper (Calliope) Housing Projects, 2000: $13,263. </blockquote>