DISQUS

The photos of the prisoners trapped in cells and chained together ona nearby flooded overpass were truly harrowing. Thanks for posting an account of at least one incident. Lord knows what other fates may have met the incarcerated who were abandoned.

I've been following this ordeal at least in part as a frontline community services counselor.



Three questions regarding those with pre-existing psychopathologies when disaster strikes:



Will the experience in New Orleans prompt Emergency Response Planning and Implementation to identify the the many issues relating to drug addiction that must be addressed in any disaster emergency?



Who will assume responsibility for public oversight of what is happening with disaster victims who have drug addictions? There's more to this story than the "thugs." How is the disaster relief dealing with drug addiction issues now? Why isn't anyone talking about it or reporting on it?



Will the US be taking a look at disaster management requirements for gunshops and drug and alcohol supplies? Do owners and public services have a responsibility to develop a different response than what we witnessed?: caches of weapons and ammunition left unattended and openly accessible and entire stocks of drugs and alcohol ready for the taking. A deadly cocktail that gets mixed long before the addicts imbibe during a disaster.

The City of New Orleans

by Steve Goodman



Riding on the City of New Orleans,

Illinois Central Monday morning rail

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,

Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.

All along the southbound odyssey

The train pulls out at Kankakee

Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.

Passin' trains that have no names,

Freight yards full of old black men

And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.



CHORUS:

Good morning America how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,

I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.



Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.

Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.

Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle

Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.

And the sons of pullman porters

And the sons of engineers

Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.

Mothers with their babes asleep,

Are rockin' to the gentle beat

And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.



CHORUS



Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,

Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.

Half way home, we'll be there by morning

Through the Mississippi darkness

Rolling down to the sea.

And all the towns and people seem

To fade into a bad dream

And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.

The conductor sings his song again,

The passengers will please refrain

This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.



Good night, America, how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,

I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.



©1970, 1971 EMI U Catalogue, Inc and Turnpike Tom Music (ASCAP)

P.S. Since we're talking about hymns, allow me to post the lyrics of Mourn & Organize, my own lament written within the traditon of music that Hungry Blues honors. Ms. Sheehan has certainly taken Joe Hill's words to heart.



MOURN & ORGANIZE

Are you blind to the people who march for our rights?

Are you deaf to the sound of our cries?

Are you haunted at all by a death in the night?

And we who mourn and organize

We Mourn and Organize



Votes can be taken and bills can be passed

You say it's a fair compromise

But everyday our future looks more like our past

So we mourn and organize

We Mourn and Organize



Did you sign the marching papers with blood as your ink?

Cross all of the T's, dot your I's

There's more to consider than you care to think

So we mourn and organize

We Mourn and Organize



We've watched as you've taken our children away

We've listened to all of your lies

We'll be here tomorrow as we were yesterday

To mourn and organize

We Mourn and Organize



written by Laurie Bell, Toronto, Canada

http://canadianlookingsouth.blogspot.com

Cindy Sheehan's stance gets more interesting the deeper you look at her position. Parents who do not support the war and lose their children to it have a complicated grieving process to withstand. That the US government and ideology (personified by the President) exerted more influence on her son's decision to enlist than she is a lonely mourning to endure for a parent. We expect her to have conflicting notions rather than polished messages on point. The right-wing will use her dirty little contradictions to every advantage and sounding the ant-semiticism alarm is a very effective reactionary tactic. Which is why I come here to Hungry Blues for thoughtful reflection in a time when inconsolable mothers of the dead are provoking thought, discussion and action.