Where do Blanco and Nagin think they are?

[RB TexLa]

National Guard back on the streets of New Orleans. People have been murdered in the "New" New Orleans, call out the guard! Have these two forgotten what state they live in? We've all heard the phrase "we are a poor country." This too applies to Louisiana but the foremost is "We are a violent country." It's Louisiana, this is what we do, we murder one another, it's part of the culture and way of life. The National Guard isn't going to stop this. If the National Guard is now going to be called out everytime five people are murdered we best get used to seeing them all over the place.

Spring time in Paris, get ready for the protests, no reason needed. Summer in Louisiana get the body bags ready, no reason needed.

[BOSSHOG]

1. They are walking a fine line of perception

There is a train of thought that the show of force will ease the minds of conventioneers whom they hope will return to the city, but the show might just have the opposite effect. I was watching New Orleans Channel 4 News last night (as I have done for 15 years) and its like groundhog day; summertime, murders are way up, Mayor asks state for assistance. Same story year after year after year. Last night there was a teaser - "How one town is fighting crime." I swear they have that story on every year.

[RB TexLa]

3. I remember the "jogging shuttle buses"

hotels used to run shuttle buses to carry people to residential neighborhoods for them to go jogging.

[LostinVA]

7. The ALA convention is going on there right now

The email I received this morning said it's very quiet in the tourist/convention center, and that the city has a sad air about it... she did NOT mention a large Guard or cop presence though, and she would have.

[BOSSHOG]

9. We are headed to the quarter on Sunday

The convention center is in a fairly safe location. And the quarter is not a bastion for crime but the areas are not far away at all. I hope the conventioneers have a happy and safe visit with plenty of opportunities to spend lots of money.

[LostinVA]

10. The ones I know who are there are!

[displacedtexan]

2. The same in Texas (I grew up in Ft. Worth.)

Every night, someone yelled somewhere in the city, "You took my woman!"

Bang!

Murders happen.

Note: The crime rate may have improved in Texas. I haven't lived there
in 30 years.

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. Will you be traveling there to protest?

:shrug:

[spag68]

5. protests

And where and by whom can these demonstrations be organized? I'm an old hippy and i'm ready again, but there seems to be no push for it.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. kick

[dogday]

8. Get use to it

They are getting us used to seeing our soldiers on the street.. Make no mistake about it.. Even dressing SS in Army gear now......

[sandnsea]

11. One of the nuttiest threads ever

Oh I know, can't say anything bad about the south.

It's murdering season? And that's just okay with y'all?? :crazy:

I'm glad they called in the national guard. It's too bad they don't point out that Bush cut funds for more cops on the street which was helping to reduce crime rates, and that obviously more cops would be needed to patrol the areas that are empty and funding should have been provided for that. It is not a ploy to put guard in cities all over the country, it's just common sense to try to keep the crime from coming back. Why anybody would prefer crime to increased policing is beyond me.

[RB TexLa]

14. I wasn't saying it was to put them all over the country

Just saying if we were to put the Guard in every community in Louisiana that has a drive-by this summer they would be all over the state. And it's not going to work anyway, this is a violent place.

[sandnsea]

15. I was responding to the thread

As a whole. Someone else suggested it was a trial run for NG in every city.

I know Louisiana is a violent state, my son actually witnessed 2 murders there and he only lived there for 6 months. It would seem to me this is a perfect opportunity to try to get a handle on that and turn it around, I can't understand why anybody would object.

[RB TexLa]

17. Not really objecting, they can put whatever they want on the streets

it's just not going to do much, and they know it which amounts to wasting money, but that is another Louisiana hobby.

[frustrated_lefty]

12. This has got to be the stupidest post I have seen in a while.

The people who survived Katrina get it, ok? We realize that the rest of the world has moved on, you've experienced "Katrina fatigue." By now, you've personally done what you can or are willing to do, and there is much more interesting news on the t.v. today. You may even catch Britney breast-feeding her child while driving with her knees on the wheel, one hand fondling herself and the other swigging back a fifth of bourbon! Yeeha, fun for everyone. A city which has been decimated is much less fun. I'm fucking sorry we take a moment from your enjoyable day by having news about what is having to be done to try and re-establish some semblance of society.

Even in New Orleans, at the height of its population, 5 murders in a single day was unheard of. There is a violent, criminal element in New Orleans. And, it's unchecked at the moment. The local police were commiting suicide due to the horrors they'd experienced.

Yes, it's time to bring in the Guard, if there are any not deployed in Iraq. Don't like it? Try protecting yourself, your family, and everything you own 24/7 for months on end and get back to me.

[RB TexLa]

13. Is this directed at me?

if so, you have no idea how much time I have spent in New Orleans protecting family and property, but no problem just continue to take your assumptions and accept them as facts.

And on a sidenote, just when in the last 300 years was the criminal element in New Orleans not "unchecked"?

[ribrepin]

16. Here's a hug

:hug:I can't know what you have been through--I will remember you and your family in my prayers.

[sandnsea]

18. No, we don't have "katrina fatigue"

I honestly have no idea what the disconnect is between your needs and the country's willingness to help, but it's definitely not fatigue. Everybody I know is upset about NOLA. The government won't do anything. Nobody will report on it. Groups go down there and we hear about them for 5 seconds and then they're gone. There's just no sense of taking on a cause/responsibility/project and seeing it through to completion. I do what I can, here and there, but I don't know whether the projects I gave money to are improving anything, or what. Then I hear 7500 teachers are fired, still no plan for huge areas of the city, what the hell. Is it the feds, is Nagin a dupe for trusting the feds, are other forces getting in the way, is Nagin getting in the way, I don't know what the hold-up is. It's like all the other crises in this country that you just sort of look at with your mouth agape, we're just stunned into disbelief at what's happening. But it is definitely not fatigue.