They should dangle in their own noose. posted by Richard Seymour

1.
US authorities have arrested and charged the owners of St Rita's Nursing Home, where 34 people drowned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, because:

"They did not follow the standard of care that a reasonable person would follow in similar circumstances," the state's attorney general said.

They will be charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide. The same state which is pressing these charges vocally and blatantly refused to assist those survivors of the hurricane who were not white and upper class. Not only that, they prevented residents from leaving the city when they were starving, without clean water and having to protest for assistance. What duty of care might a "reasonable person" in charge of publicly collected tax funds have for victims of a massive hurricane and flood, I wonder?

2.
The business elite, having already announced that they don't want working class African Americans to return have an alibi in redevelopers like Pres Kabacoff, one of those cash-grubbing scrotums who specialises in converting warehouses into "hipster condominiums" (rather like the exorbitantly priced Thameside conversions around Wapping, built for the nouveau riche). He and his confederates wish to convert "the city's most perpetually soggy neighborhoods -- most of which are predominantly African American" into green space to lure in those hipsters. The NAACP are already kicking up a stink about it along with many residents of the city, but since when did anyone ever listen to them? Further:

[P]ower players such as Bill Hines, managing partner of the mega-law firm Jones Walker, say the French Quarter and a large portion of the rest of the city, with the exception of the most flooded neighborhoods in the east, could open in a month or less. Just a few days ago, business leaders were predicting 90 days.

"You want to get the area from the French Quarter all through Uptown open as soon as possible," Hines said. "If that's done, it sends a great message."

That's right. Fix up the rich, touristy parts first, it'll send a great message. Never mind, however - the port has re-opened to transport those valuable and well-protected coffee-beans. Cargo flights from New Orleans were back in action on Saturday. God, when He is not holding monosyllabic conversations with President Bush, works in mysterious ways.