I hadn't heard this angle before. It's particularly shameful. From a first person account.

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We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched pasted the convention center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Some people feel safer believing the president is a good guy, you know? It's easier to cope if he's not the one that fucked up.

Oy. I finally got to hand off info I've been chasing for at least a month. I swear, my job doesn't require knowing anything other than a) who has the info b) how to best cajole it out of them and c) how to spin it for the people that need it.

That's not what I went to school for.

There are just a number of people that stick to the party line no matter what.

I can honestly say I've never met a single person who thinks Bush is a good leader. Honestly. Or else they just kept very quiet about it. But then, I'm from a very far away place.

If it makes you feel better, there was a rather contentious political issue over here a while back, and a friend of my parents was spouting some rather right-wing rhetoric about it at a dinner party. I finally snapped and told her exactly why I thought she was wrong and she stormed out. And hasn't spoken to my parents since. We don't mention it. So if you're still talking to your family, you're doing better than I am.

Holy fucking shit, Hec. That's sickening.

Re Betsy's link: If I'd only had a bottle of Scotch in my desk drawer at work, I could've played the WH Press Briefing Drinking Game, downing a shot every time McClellan said "blame game," and I'd've been shitfaced by three paragraphs in.

I can honestly say I've never met a single person who thinks Bush is a good leader. Honestly. Or else they just kept very quiet about it. But then, I'm from a very far away place.

I'm related to a good many that do. Not just my dad, but his mother and sister and his aunt and uncle and their immediate families. And it goes on.

Mom has become more liberal as she gets older. We were talking over the phone right after Katrina hit and Bush's total lack of response was evident and she said "I HATE THAT MAN!" with such venom and fury. She voted for him the first time, and almost didn't vote last election because she didn't want to vote for him and wasn't sure she could vote for Kerry. She voted for Kerry anyway. She hates the adminstration and what the Republican party has turned into. I don't think she'll ever be a Democrat and that's fine but she sees Bush for what he is.

This weekend is a birthday party for Grandma E. I don't want to cut myself off from my family and I do a pretty good job with staying away from politics and social issues (even if I have to bite my tongue or walk away), but I'm not sure I can handle all of them this weekend.

Holy fucking shit, Hec. That's sickening.

I have heard a fair number of corroborating reports (from the BBC and first hand) which indicate that the authorities (such as they were) treated everybody as suspicious and dangerous. So, while I do think there were armed gangs, I think the overwhelmed NOPD and National Guardsmen who were there were also treating the victims as criminals. Which is one reason they just let the Convention Center descend into anarchy.

I don't want to cut myself off from my family and I do a pretty good job with staying away from politics and social issues (even if I have to bite my tongue or walk away), but I'm not sure I can handle all of them this weekend.

My new coping mechanism for family gatherings is to constantly text bitchy messages about them to like-mided friends. Instant therapy.

My BF helped me with this. His BiL (and BiL's whole extended family) is very conservative. When we go there for holidays, the room is filled with loud, blustery neocons. BF said to me--you know what they believe is short-sighted, you know you only see them once or twice a year, and you know you won't change their minds. They aren't worth one second of your energy. When they start talking, don't listen. Just look at them and think "you're all idiots" and go find someone to talk to about something which will be positive for the both of you. It really helps me get through those evenings.

Fortunately, my nuclear family (mom, bro, stepdad, and, to some extent, dad) are all just as rabidly yellow-dog democrats as I am. So if we get sucked into a political discussion by my dipshit facist neo-con uncle, we just roll our eyes at each other and back each other up.

Our cue to dissolve into hysterical laughter is the first time any one of the extended family uses the phrase "trickle-down."