[Dynagroove] Too electric not to post

[BadIYE at aol.com]

sorry. this is not about any parties going on this weekend or anything like  
that.  I just felt it was too important not to share.  Here's the full  
transcript of CNN interviewing Mayor Nagin of New Orleans.  (there is an  audio clip 
of the interview on Washingtonpost.com) Also the transcript of what  CNN's 
Anderson Cooper said on Larry King.  Anyone that can donate something  anything, 
I hope you do.  Thanks.
 
imad
housesaladla.com
 
Nagin's Nightmare: Full Transcript 
CNN just sent out the full  transcript of the New Orleans Mayor's emotional 
and (understandably)  expletive-laden interview on local radio yesterday: 
"excuse my French everybody  in America, but I am pissed."

CNN airs WWL Radio interview with New  Orleans Mayor Ray ;

This is a rush transcript and may not be in its final  format.

RAY NAGIN, MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: I told him we had an incredible  crisis here 
and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice.  And that I 
have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we  are not 
able to marshal resources and we're out-manned in just about every  respect.

You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because  we had most 
of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck  in 
attics, man, old ladies. When you pull off the doggone ventilator vent and  you look 
down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking  necks.

And they don't have a clue what's going on down here. They flew  down here 
one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP  
reporters, all kind of goddamn -- excuse my French everybody in America, but I  am 
pissed.

GARLAND ROBINETTE, WWL CORRESPONDENT: Did you say to the  president of the 
United States, "I need the military in here"?

NAGIN: I  said, "I need everything."

Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the  president some credit on this -- 
he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can  get some stuff done, and his 
name is General Honore.

And he came off the  doggone chopper and he started cussing and people 
started moving. And he's  getting some stuff done.

They ought to give that guy -- if they don't  want to give it to me, give him 
full authority to get the job done, and we can  save some people.

ROBINETTE: What do you need right now to get control of  this situation?

NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need  500 buses, man. We 
ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had,  they were 
talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and  bus people 
out here.

I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a  national disaster. Get every 
doggone Greyhound busline in the country and get  their asses moving to New 
Orleans."

That's -- they're thinking small,  man. And this is a major, major, major 
deal. And I can't emphasize it enough,  man. This is crazy.

I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the  convention center. It's 
bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines  Parish. They're air-vacing 
people over here in New Orleans. We don't have  anything and we're sharing with 
our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.

It's  awful down here, man.

ROBINETTE: Do you believe that the president is  seeing this, holding a news 
conference on it but can't do anything until  Kathleen Blanco requested him to 
do it? And do you know whether or not she has  made that request?

NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing. But I will  tell you this: You 
know, God is looking down on all this and if they are not  doing everything in 
their power to save people they are going to pay the price.  Because every day 
that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the  hundreds, I'm willing 
to bet you.

We're getting reports and calls that  are breaking my heart, from people 
saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take  it anymore. The water is up to my 
neck. I don't think I can hold out." And  that's happening as we speak.

You know what really upsets me, Garland? We  told everybody the importance of 
the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, "Please,  please take care of this. We 
don't care what you do. Figure it  out."

ROBINETTE: Who'd you say that to?

NAGIN: Everybody: the  governor, Homeland Security, FEMA. You name it, we 
said it.

And they  allowed that pumping station next to Pumping Station 6 to go under 
water. Our  sewage and water board people -- Marcia St. Martin (ph) -- stayed 
there and  endangered their lives.

And what happened when that pumping station went  down, the water started 
flowing again in the city and it starting getting to  levels that probably killed 
more people. In addition to that, we had water  flowing through the pipes in 
the city. That's a power station over there. So  there's no water flowing 
anywhere on the east bank of Orleans Parish. So our  critical water supply was 
destroyed because of lack of  
action.

ROBINETTE: Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or  the containers 
that they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat  that just 
couldn't be done?

NAGIN: They said it was some pulleys that  they had to manufacture. But, you 
know, in a state of emergency, man, you are  creative, you figure out ways to 
get stuff done.

Then they told me that  they went overnight and they built 17 concrete 
structures and they had the  pulleys on them and they were going to drop them.

I flew over that thing  yesterday and it's in the same shape that it was 
after the storm hit. There is  nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a 
line of bull and they're  spinning, and people are dying down here.

ROBINETTE: If some of the  public called and they're right, that

there's a law that the president,  that the federal government can't do 
anything without local or state requests,  would you request martial law?

NAGIN: I've already called for martial law  in the city of New Orleans. We 
did that a few days ago.

ROBINETTE: Did  the governor do that, too?

NAGIN: I don't know. I don't think  so.

But we called for martial law when we realized that the looting was  getting 
out of control. And we redirected all of our police officers back to  
patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people but they worked  all 
night because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night.  
And so we redirected all of our resources and we hold it under check.

I'm  not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.

And  I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people 
looting  and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but people 
are  desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the majority of  them.

Now, you got some knuckle heads out there and they are taking  advantage of 
this lawless -- this situation where, you know, we can't really  control it, 
and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small  majority of the 
people. Most people are looking to try and survive.

And  one of the things people -- nobody's talked about this. Drugs flowed in 
and out  of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was 
scary to  me, and that's why we were having the escalation in murders. People 
don't want  to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.

You have drug addicts  that are now walking around this city looking for a 
fix, and that's that reason  why they were breaking in hospitals and drug 
stores. They're looking for  something to take the edge off of their jones, if you 
will.

And right  now, they don't have anything to take the edge off. And they've 
probably found  guns. So what you're seeing is drug- starving crazy addicts, 
drug addicts, that  are wrecking havoc. And we don't have the manpower to 
adequately deal with it.  We can only target certain sections of the city and form a 
perimeter around them  and hope to God that we're not overrun.

ROBINETTE: Well, you and I must  be in the minority. Because apparently 
there's a section of our citizenry out  there that thinks because of a law that 
says the federal government can't come  in unless requested by the proper people, 
that everything that's going on to  this point has been done as good as it 
can possibly be.

NAGIN:  Really?

ROBINETTE: I know you don't feel that way.

NAGIN: Well,  did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal 
process to  request?

You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did  they ask us 
to go in there?

What is more important?

And I'll tell  you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble. 
I'm probably going  to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You 
probably won't even want to  deal with me after this interview is over.

ROBINETTE: You and I will be  in the funny place together.

NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to  Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, 
we gave the president unprecedented powers  lickety-quick to take care of New 
York and other places.

Now, you mean to  tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming 
through, a place that is  so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around 
the world, everybody's  eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where 
you probably have  thousands of people that have died and thousands more that 
are dying every day,  that we can't figure out a way to authorize the 
resources that we need? Come on,  man.

You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very  clearly.

And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's  the 
governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but  somebody 
need to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and  figure 
this out right now.

ROBINETTE: What can we do here?

NAGIN:  Keep talking about it.

ROBINETTE: We'll do that. What else can we  do?

NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their  congressmen, 
to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with  requests 
to do something.

This is ridiculous.

I don't want to see  anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a 
moratorium on press  conferences. Don't do another press conference until the 
resources are in this  city. And then come down to this city and stand with us 
when there are military  trucks and troops that we can't even count.

Don't tell me 40,000 people  are coming here. They're not here. It's too 
doggone late.

Now get off  your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn 
crisis in the  history of this country.

ROBINETTE: I'll say it right now, you're the  only politician that's called 
and called for arms like this. And if -- whatever  it takes, the governor, 
president -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever  it takes, I bet that the 
people listening to you are on your side.

NAGIN:  Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just -- I'm at the point now where it 
don't  matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. 
The city  of New Orleans will never be the same in this time.

ROBINETTE: We're both  pretty speechless here.

NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say.

I  got to go.

ROBINETTE: OK. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.

READ MORE:  CNN , katrina , ray nagin , top 
Change in WH Sked? 
CNN is reporting that  Bush will meet with Mayor Nagin today. If he could 
bring some troops and money  with him that would be nice.

READ MORE: george w. bush , katrina , ray  nagin , top 
Ray Nagin for President, Anderson Cooper for Secretary of Take  No Shit 
Anderson Cooper shows what happens when take away a man's Kiehl's  for a 
week: He skin gets dry but the scales fall from his eyes.

KING:  Anderson Cooper in Biloxi, Mississippi and you were an angry man 
today, Anderson  at what?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wouldn't say I'm angry,  you know. I 
think I'm tired of hearing the politicians say that, you know, they  understand 
the frustration of people down here. To me, you know, it's not  frustration. 
It's not that people are frustrated.

It's that people are  dying. I mean there are people dying. They're drowning 
to death and they drown  in their living rooms and their bodies are rotting 
where they drowned and there  are corpses in the street being eaten by rats and 
this is the United States of  America.

In a similar vein, N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin gave indignation an  elegant if 
slightly blue gloss yesterday on local radio: 
"After 9/11 we gave  the president unprecented powers to take care of New 
York and those other  places.... you mean to tell me that a place where thousands 
of people and  thousands more people are dying, we can't figure out [how to 
get them help]. . .  Somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down 
and sit down the two  them figure this out."
And he offers a fine suggestion: 
"I don't want to  see anybody to anymore more goddamn press conferences. Put 
a moratorium on press  conferences. Don't do another press conference until 
the resources are in this  city."

The President will be speaking at the New Orleans airport at  2:50PM.

Nagin Audio [atypical]
Hurricane Katrina [CNN]

READ  MORE: anderson cooper , george w. bush , katrina , ray nagin ,  top