"Katrina victims yet to be identified"
From CNN NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans' coroner expressed outrage Tuesday that the process of using DNA to identify more than 200 bodies left from Hurricane Katrina has not begun because the state of Louisiana has not signed contracts with firms that would do the testing.
"It's extremely frustrating," said Dr. Frank Minyard, given that so many dentists' offices were wiped out in the flood along with their dental records, which are commonly used in the identification process.
"We have to rely on DNA and it should have been done, at least started, a month ago," he said. more
posted by hysterical blackness @ 9:25 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Well,it's just one more slap in the face to the long-suffering citizens of New Orleans, isn't it? Reprehensible.
I was outraged and appalled by the Bush government's disregard for the safety and wellbeing of those citizens of New Orleans (overwhelmingly poor and African-American) left to fend for themselves in the days following hurricane Katrina. I wrote a song, called New Orleans 2005, that attempts to articulate some of that anger, as well as express some hope for change. I hope that you'll find the time to go to the link below and listen to the song, and download it (it's a free download) if you're so inclined.
http://www.polarityrecords.net
Samm Bennett
P.S. I hope that New Orleans 2005 will be heard, since it's a song and not a poem, but if for any reason you are unable to access the sound file from the link above, here are the lyrics:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
new orleans 2005
see the black man down in New Orleans
waist deep in the flood waters wading
gunfire crackles in the distance
the last glimmer of daylight is fading
he didn't have much to begin with
now his world has come all unglued
he's on his way to bust into a grocery store
to get his family some water and food
new orleans new orleans 2005
now see the president way up in his airplane
he says zero tolerance for looters
i tell you one thing this president really knows how to do
is to send in the guns and the shooters
but less bullets more boats beds and blankets
and a few hundred lives he might save
ah but blaming the victim is what we do best
here in the home of the brave
new orleans new orleans 2005
they say the president loves all americans
no matter the color or creed
but you decide for yourself where the real truth resides
is it found in the word or the deed
if you say you don't think that it's racist
maybe this'll cut through your dense mental haze
just try and imagine a whole stadium full of white people
left to fend for themselves for six days
i don't think it would've happened quite that way
new orleans new orleans 2005
now if there's good that can come from this tragedy
it's that maybe things'll get rearranged
lord knows over in washington d.c.
we're long overdue for regime change
one hundred eighty six million dollars they spend
on the war in iraq every day
with just a fraction of that
they could've shored up those levees
and kept the floodwaters at bay
new orleans new orleans 2005
Thanks Samm. It is reprehensible. Families are still separated, people returned to the ninth ward to find their loved ones dead and decomposing in their houses. Foodstamp cuts, no more hotel rooms after 12/15. How much is enough? How much is too much? What will it take?
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