Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Somebody's Uncle
Photo by Bruce Chambers, Orange County (Calif.) Register Source:
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2005/09/14rescue.a1.jpg
by RobertInWisconsin
Wed Sep 14th, 2005 at 09:51:05 PDT
Today is Day 17. Two and a half weeks. Tomorrow President Bush will show up in New Orleans for another photo-op, this time to try to rescue his own sorry, lazy, incompetent, negligent ass with a televised address to the nation.
I don't care if he does a TV address every night live from New Orleans for the rest of his presidency.
It will NEVER -- NEVER -- change the fact that Mr Bush abdicated his sacred responsibility to the American people for five excruciatingly long days.
Yesterday Mr Bush said 'I take responsibility' for the abject failure of the federal government of the world's most powerful and wealthy nation.
Let's put a face to that failure. Please meet Edgar Hollingsworth, age 74, a resident of New Orleans.
BELOW THE JUMP . . .
First : What I will always call 'The Photo'
Second : My summary and my rant.
Finally : Some excerpts from the news story and a link to the source.
America, 2005
[ update ] Poster chachabowl calls it : "American Pieta"
"...whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."
Mr Hollingsworth was pulled unconscious and emaciated from his home in New Orleans by members of the California National Guard YESTERDAY - Day 16.
While Mr Hollingsworth lay on a couch in his home -- apparently alone, forgotten, without food or water, sinking into unconsciousness -- Mr Bush was doing the following :
- Golfing
- Licking cake frosting off his fingers
- Strumming a guitar
- Giving a propaganda speech in San Diego comparing Iraq to WWII and himself to FDR
- Flying 2,000 feet overhead
- Dragging his feet - sitting on his LAZY ASS - for FIVE LONG DAYS, while he and his gov't were in a state of PARALYSIS
- Telling that horse's ass, 'Brownie you're doing a heck of a job'
- Engaging in a pissing match with the Governor of Louisiana
- Playing the Blame Game to try to pin his own inaction and negligence on everyone else
- Finally - Taking full responsibility for the federal government failure to save people like Mr Hollingsworth ( Will Mr Bush receive consequences for his deadly inaction ? WILL HE ? )
Did Mr Hollingsworth honorably serve his country in the armed forces (like my father) (unlike Mr Bush) ? Did he serve a country in its time of need that failed to serve him in HIS time of need ?
Did Mr Hollingsworth live in the Deep South during the days of segregation, Jim Crow, lynchings, KKK ?
Will Mr Hollingsworth survive ? Or will he die ? ( My father died recently, which is probably one of the reasons why this story tears at me )
The photo alone outrages me. It's from the Orange County Register, and it's also on the front page of my area morning newspaper which gets more and more conservative every year.
In my area morning newspaper it's below the headline 'BUSH TAKES THE BLAME'.
It ought to outrage you.
The story ought to outrage you even more.
Mr Bush MUST resign or be impeached.
By KEITH SHARON
The Orange County Register
September 14, 2005
NEW ORLEANS - . . . A human foot arching at an odd angle was visible through the front window of a locked and dark home.
The National Guard team of searchers was about to call in a "DB," or dead body . . . in the Broadmoor district when Lt. Frederick Fell decided to investigate.
In the past few days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered searchers not to break into homes. They are supposed to look in through a window and knock on the door. If no one cries out for help, they are supposed to move on. If they see a body, they are supposed to log the address and move on.
<>
Fell broke the rules and ordered his men to bash open the door, launching a series of events that would save a man's life and revitalize California Task Force 5 from Orange County.
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. . . 16 days after Hurricane Katrina smacked this aging community in the face, an unconscious and emaciated man identified as Edgar Hollingsworth, 74, was rescued. The man is expected to survive.
<>
Medics from California Task Force 5, which had been searching in the same neighborhood, were eventually able to get intravenous fluids through a vein under the man's clavicle in an intricate curbside medical procedure that may have saved the man's life.
The man had been lying on the couch in his locked and sweltering home.
<>
They pulled him out of the house and laid him on the sidewalk. He looked as if he weighed less than 80 pounds.
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"They were surprised at the hospital that anyone in his condition would still be alive," Czuleger said. "In 24 hours, he would have been dead.
"I think the young Army guy that found him saved his life."
<>
Hollingsworth had been lying naked on his blue-green couch. It was unclear if he had eaten or drunk anything for several days. He was not surrounded by food or water containers. His house was still in disarray from the storm. A chair had landed on top of the kitchen table.
<>
A pit-bull puppy was also pulled from the house. It appeared to be healthy and was transported to the hospital along with Edgar Hollingsworth.
Earlier, they had been frustrated when FEMA delayed their deployment for four days, housing them in the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.
They were frustrated further when they were given the FEMA order that they weren't allowed to force their way into houses to search them.
<>
Thank you, California National Guard. Too bad that half the Louisiana National Guard -- and their equipment -- were halfway around the world fighting George W Bush's illegitimate war, instead of saving the lives of people like Edgar Hollingsworth.
For shame, Mr Bush. For shame. RESIGN NOW ! ! !
HERE'S THE FULL STORY, WITH THREE PHOTOS ( requires free registration; otherwise use the dailykos/dailykos username/password )
