Reports of anarchy at Superdome overstated

[Mabel]

Mabel, I don't know but maybe this is the report that you saw:

I personally saw probably 200 bodies," Taylor said. "I personally picked up 20
or so. They had different teams because we only had so many vehicles." ... -

www.commercialappeal.com/mca/ desoto/article/0,1426,MCA_451_4060194,00.html

Taylor was staged at a temporary morgue in a Gulfport, MS funeral home.

I get a "page not found" message. I saw the doctor who claimed to see 200 bodies interviewed on TV. He said he was treating people whenever possible but that he didn't have any supplies. He also talked about people being left to die in an area they had dedicated as a morgue - they were still alive but fading. He felt that water would have saved many of them.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

NEW ORLEANS — After five days managing near riots, medical horrors and unspeakable living conditions inside the Superdome, Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron prepared to hand over the dead to representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — Beron doesn't remember his name — came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.

"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalled the doctor saying.

The real total?

Six, Beron said.

Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the handoff of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nation

I don't believe the reports countering the reports. It's spin to try and keep people from being uncomfortable about the very real fact the state of Louisiana has now distributed some of its worst criminal sociopaths throughout the rest of the country. I've spoken to enough survivors from New Orleans that I know personally to believe that most of what was reported was, indeed, actually happening--but not just in the Superdome or convention center. Oh, and a word of warning: if you're a woman volunteering at one of the larger shelters, do NOT go to the bathroom by yourself.

 

[angelmom]

http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2005/09/27/230066.html

NEW ORLEANS - On Sept. 1, with desperate Hurricane Katrina evacuees crammed into the convention center, Police Chief Eddie Compass reported: "We have individuals who are getting raped; we have individuals who are getting beaten."

Five days later, he told Oprah Winfrey that babies were being raped. On the same show, Mayor Ray Nagin warned: "They have people standing out there, have been in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."

The ugliest reports _ children with slit throats, women dragged off and raped, corpses piling up in the basement _ soon became a searing image of post-Katrina New Orleans.

The stories were told by residents trapped inside the Superdome and convention center and were repeated by public officials. Many news organizations, including The Associated Press, carried the witness accounts and official pronouncements, and in some cases later repeated the claims as fact, without attribution.

But now, a month after the chaos subsided, police are re-examining the reports and finding that many of them have little or no basis in fact.

They have no official reports of rape and no eyewitnesses to sexual assault. The state Department of Health and Hospitals counted 10 dead at the Superdome and four at the convention center. Only two of those are believed to have been murdered.

One of those victims _ found at the Superdome _ appears to have been killed elsewhere before being brought to the stadium, said Bob Johannessen, the agency spokesman.

...A week after the floodwaters poured into the city, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans quoted an Arkansas National Guardsman as saying that soldiers had discovered 30 to 40 bodies inside a freezer in the convention center's food area. Guardsman Mikel Brooks told the newspaper that some of the dead appeared to have met violent ends, including "a 7-year-old with her throat cut."

When the convention center was swept, however, no such pile of bodies was found.

Lt. Col. John Edwards, the staff judge advocate for the 39th Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard, said Tuesday that Brooks told the Times-Picayune reporter only that he had heard rumors of bodies in the freezer, not that he had actually seen them.

"We have never found anybody who has any first-hand knowledge of dozens of bodies in the refrigerator," Edwards said. He said Brooks was unavailable for comment.... [more at link]

 

[IdahoMom]

Liberal? Sounded more like a conservative axe to me (those lousy, lazy welfare types - they go rioting and killing each other at the drop of a hat - it's their own fault they are poor - Fox news sure was having fun with it, and no one calls them liberal)... Actually, that's probably why the stories were so reported - they had an angle for everyone.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Some people have labels for everything.

That's funny!:dance:
'SOME PEOPLE' are careful to place IMO at the end of their posts, in an attempt to avoid being slapped down for having their own view, just as you have your's.

And to DETAILS-you said the "conservative press" was calling people lousy welfare types and that it's their own damn fault they're poor- step on up and provide some verifiable quotes please. I have a hard time believing the press would have the balls to say that!!

AND...Fox was over the top, IMO, with their reporting- some reporters were crying and practically hysterical.

IMO...IMO...IMO

 

[Details]

That's funny!:dance:
'SOME PEOPLE' are careful to place IMO at the end of their posts, in an attempt to avoid being slapped down for having their own view, just as you have your's.

And to DETAILS-you said the "conservative press" was calling people lousy welfare types and that it's their damn fault they're poor- step on up and provide some verifiable quotes please. I have a hard time believing the press would have the balls to say that!!

AND...Fox was over the top, IMO, with their reporting- some reporters were crying and practically hysterical.

IMO...IMO...IMO

IMO doesn't change what a person says - it's not some mystical panacea. And I didn't say what the conservative press was saying - just that this was a perfect story for a conservative angle. But now that you mention it.... Fox was all over this story, every conservative news media reported it like crazy - I think this kinda kills the idea you have that it's all the liberal media's fault - silly me thinking Fox is not liberal.

The conclusions about lazy thugish welfare types were pretty well implied, and plenty of conservatives were quite happy to post that conclusion on message boards, and similar stuff in editorials or columns about how this proves the failure of the welfare state, etc.

Just relax here - as I said, there were slants on this story to please everyone, conservative and liberal alike, and so it got reported like crazy, and everyone saw what they wanted to see in it.

 

[IdahoMom]

You're putting words in my mouth...it's not all the liberal media's fault. Did I not say that FOX was blubbering all over themselves, (many at Fox lost all objectivity)?
And now, it's conservative IMPLICATION on messages boards? Geesh. I thought we were talking MAINSTREAM PRESS! :waitasec:

This crud is the very reason I no longer post in the PP. Thanks and have a nice day.

IMO doesn't change what a person says - it's not some mystical panacea. And I didn't say what the conservative press was saying - just that this was a perfect story for a conservative angle. But now that you mention it.... Fox was all over this story, every conservative news media reported it like crazy - I think this kinda kills the idea you have that it's all the liberal media's fault - silly me thinking Fox is not liberal.

The conclusions about lazy thugish welfare types were pretty well implied, and plenty of conservatives were quite happy to post that conclusion on message boards, and similar stuff in editorials or columns about how this proves the failure of the welfare state, etc.

Just relax here - as I said, there were slants on this story to please everyone, conservative and liberal alike, and so it got reported like crazy, and everyone saw what they wanted to see in it.

 

[Casshew]

And to DETAILS-you said the "conservative press" was calling people lousy welfare types and that it's their own damn fault they're poor- step on up and provide some verifiable quotes please.

I don't recall seeing/hearing/reading anything of that kind...... IMO

 

[concernedperson]

All I know is not everything is being reported. Whether or not it is not veriafiable or uninteresting is beyond my scope.But I have spent a lot of time on local blogs and I am hearing tales. I also wonder really why is the police chief resigning?

 

[IdahoMom]

All I know is not everything is being reported. Whether or not it is not veriafiable or uninteresting is beyond my scope.But I have spent a lot of time on local blogs and I am hearing tales. I also wonder really why is the police chief resigning?

He was propogating the BS! He was front row, center pointing his finger, while he had policemen abandoning their posts left and right. Everyone was WAY too ready to cast blame while there was still plenty of work to be done!

 

[Details]

You're putting words in my mouth...it's not all the liberal media's fault. Did I not say that FOX was blubbering all over themselves, (many at Fox lost all objectivity)?
And now, it's conservative IMPLICATION on messages boards? Geesh. I thought we were talking MAINSTREAM PRESS! :waitasec:

This crud is the very reason I no longer post in the PP. Thanks and have a nice day.

<sigh> I can see why you don't post there - but I'd also prefer not to be misrepresented.

My point was and remained that there were slants on the news that fit the preconcieved notions of both liberal and conservative; and that the reporting went on on both sides.

However - your exact words said this was a liberal problem:

The media really add fuel to the fire down there, imo. How disgusting to do that at a time like that- and it was all because they had a liberal ax to grind.:slap: IMO

It wasn't all for a liberal axe - as we seem to agree - Fox news isn't liberal. Both sides added fuel to the fire, and conservative and liberal axes were ground away quite happily. [/i]

 

[IdahoMom]

Yep! I did say that Fox milked the damn story. And-duh- I DO know they have a conservative slant.

I am now finished beating this horse. Buh-bye. :blowkiss:

 

[concernedperson]

All I can say is I am hearing different reports. No one for instance, has reported that s. Terrebonne Parish had a levee breach that inundated 10,000 homes. This is Toby's territory. I know that south of I-10 in s.w. Louisiana most everything was under water.This isn't a partisan view this is a reality check. It sucks but there it is.

 

[IdahoMom]

All I can say is I am hearing different reports. No one for instance, has reported that s. Terrebonne Parish had a levee breach that inundated 10,000 homes. This is Toby's territory. I know that south of I-10 in s.w. Louisiana most everything was under water.This isn't a partisan view this is a reality check. It sucks but there it is.

And- CP- THAT is exactly how the news should have been reported- by EVERYONE.