Just Some Silly Exaggerations, Ooops!

Well, now the truth comes out, about the Superdome and the Convention Center in New Orleans. It seems that all those reports of roving gangs, murders and rapes of children were simply rumors. Wow, how could that be? Oh, I know, it was a town full of black people, and we all know that black people, in that type of situation, just can't control themselves.

I was sickened by all the allegations of rapes and murders and such, especially when it became obvious to THIS astute viewer that the reporters could find NO ONE to corroborate these findings from personal experience. And now, when the workers finally come in to clean up the mess at the Superdome and the Convention Center, what do they find? Six dead bodies at the Superdome, but no dead babies and no rape victims. And how many bodies at the Convention Center? Just four.

That the nation's frontline emergency-management officials believed the body count would resemble that of a bloody battle in a war is but one of scores of examples of myths about the Dome and the Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the news media and even some of the city's top officials, including the mayor and police superintendent.

No Shit, Sherlock! The media just tried like the dickens to portray New Orleans as an angry, uncontrollable black peoples mob, where every white person should fear for their lives. And they say race had nothing to do with the slow response in New Orleans. My ass.

The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees —— mass murders, rapes and beatings —— have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law-enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.

Surprise, Surprise.

"I think 99 percent of it is [expletive]," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. "Don't get me wrong —— bad things happened. But I didn't see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything ... 99 percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved."

EXTREMELY well-behaved for a group of American citizens to be abandoned in such a fashion by the white folks afraid of the black boogeyman.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said authorities have only confirmed four murders in the entire city in the aftermath of Katrina —— making it a typical week in a city that anticipated more than 200 homicides this year.

"I had the impression that at least 40 or 50 murders had occurred at the two sites," he said. "It's unfortunate we saw these kinds of stories saying crime had taken place on a massive scale when that wasn't the case. And they [national media outlets] have done nothing to follow up on any of these cases; they just accepted what people [on the street] told them. ... It's not consistent with the highest standards of journalism."

NOT consistent with the highest standards of journalsim. There it is, in a nutshell. There ARE NO higest standards of jounalism anymore. Just bullshit reporters who outright lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie. AND, who get away with the lies, without any retribution or any punishment. Well, unless you consider NOT watching television any sort of punishment of the establishment.

In interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Compass reported rapes of "babies," and Mayor Ray Nagin spoke of "hundreds of armed gang members killing and raping people" inside the Dome. Other unidentified evacuees told of children stepping over so many bodies "we couldn't count."

The picture that emerged was one of the impoverished, overwhelmingly African-American masses of flood victims resorting to utter depravity, randomly attacking each other, as well as the police trying to protect them and the rescue workers trying to save them. The mayor told Winfrey the crowd has descended to an "almost animalistic state."

Four weeks after the storm, few of the widely reported atrocities have been backed with evidence. The piles of murdered bodies never materialized, and soldiers, police officers and rescue personnel on the front lines assert that, while anarchy reigned at times and people suffered indignities, most of the worst crimes reported at the time never happened.

But, did Oprah do anything to help clear up the misinformation? Hell no. She's about as black as Condi, but richer. So, guess whose base Oprah protected...her white ass base, that's for sure. She did zero to combat the viscious rumours, and played hostess to the perpetuation of the fucking lies.

The 400 to 500 soldiers in the Dome could have been easily overrun by increasingly agitated crowds in the Dome, but that never happened, said Col. James Knotts, a midlevel commander there. While the Convention Center saw plenty of mischief, including massive looting and isolated gunfire, and many inside cowered in fear, the hordes of evacuees for the most part did not resort to violence.

"Everything was embellished, everything was exaggerated," said Deputy Police Superintendent Warren Riley. "If one guy said he saw six bodies, then another guy the same six, and another guy saw them —— then that became 18."

Yeah, that's the truth, baby. Lies and exaggerations. Um, could it be because there were black people all holed up together in two untenable confined spaces? Yeah, that's the ticket.

Inside the Superdome, where National Guardsmen performed rigorous security checks before allowing anyone inside, only one shooting has been verified —— and even that shooting, injuring Louisiana Guardsman Chris Watt of the 527th Engineer Battalion, has been widely misreported, said Maj. David Baldwin, who led the team of soldiers who arrested the alleged assailant.

Watt had indeed been attacked inside one of the Dome's locker rooms, where he entered with another soldier. In the darkness, as they walked through about six inches of water, Watt's attacker hit him with a metal rod, a piece of a cot. But the bullet that penetrated Watt's leg came from his own gun —— he accidentally shot himself during the commotion. The attacker was sent to jail, Baldwin said.

Wow, and mainstream media reported this as ....? See, that's what I mean.

This is what got me so pissed off in the first place, and which resulted in my sabatical from blogging. This country is so fucking racist, and to watch what happened in New Orleans just sickened me to the core. And, on top of that, to watch mainstream media gloss over the race issue as if it just doesn't exist, or if it did, it was not in play with respect to New Orleans, just made me sick to my stomach.

Images of hundreds and thousands of people calmly evacuating New York city, crossing the bridges on foot, is a memory I have of 9/11. Images of hundreds of New Orleans residents attempting to leave on foot, only to be met by white men with guns, forcing them back into the city, is a memory I have of Hurrican Katrina.

And now, to complete the circle, this Administration wants to "round up the black people and put them in confined communities with trailers," which trailers, of course, will be supplied by one of the many subsidiaries of Haliburton. God forbid we actually give these displaced persons the Section 8 vouchers for real residential homes. That's not the ticket, no way! Let's keep track of them AND make money! Yeah, that's the white man's ticket. Always has been.

Anyone that thinks race did not play a role in this bad incident is just a fool, and stupid to boot.