September 8, 2005 – Vol. 41, No. 4
 

Quotes from Katrina

“The nightmare in New Orleans has a lot to tell us about poverty: the desperate poverty of the city’s African American population, of course, but also the poverty of the political debate in the U.S. today. The crisis unfolding before us – dispossession, looting, people shooting at rescue workers, the president’s dim response, and now, people dying in front of our eyes outside the Superdome – rubs our noses in so much that’s wrong in our country, it’s excruciating to watch. But I’m especially struck by the inability of our existing political discourse to describe, let alone to solve, the intractable social problems that have come together in the flood whose proportions seem almost Biblical.

Joan Walsh, Salon editor-in-chief



“I believe that the recovery and relief operations will cost up to and exceed $150 billion. FEMA alone will likely require $100 billion in additional funding.”

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada



“It’s going to be awful and its going to wake the nation up again.”

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on the pending death toll



“Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area. And bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today.”

“So I’m asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don’t find me the same idiot.”

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, on CBS’ “The Early Show”


“I have been all over the world. I’ve been in a lot of Third World countries where people were better off than the people here are right now. We’ve got 28 miles of coastline here that’s absolutely destroyed, and the federal government, they’re not here.”

Retired Air Force Capt. William Bissell on Monday


“Mississippi is a part of the future of this country and part of that future is to help you get back up on your feet.”

President Bush to 200 local officials



“We’re most anxious to roll up our sleeves and get to work. It will take all of us working together to accomplish our goal. This job is too big for any one group.”

Former President George H. W. Bush



“I won’t be getting inside today unless I get some scuba gear.”

Jack Rabito, a 61-year-old bar owner whose one-story home had water lapping at the gutters.

 

 

Back to Top

Home
Editorial Roving CameraNews NotesNews DigestCommunity Calendar
Arts & EntertainmentAround TownBoston ScenesBillboard
Contact UsSubscribeLinksAdvertisingEditorial ArchivesStory Archives
Young ProfessionalsJOBS