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Power on for Bush. Goes out After
Bush
NBC Blog
Brian Willians
Sept. 16, 2005
I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district
last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the
curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power
came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the
live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The
mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light,
including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the
district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through.
And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the
lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to
audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it...
jump to certain conclusions.
It is impossible to over-emphasize the extent to which this area is under
government occupation, and portions of it under government-enforced lockdown.
Police cars rule the streets. They (along with Humvees, ambulances, fire
apparatus, FEMA trucks and all official-looking SUVs) are generally not stopped
at checkpoints and roadblocks. All other vehicles are subject to long lines and
snap judgments and must PROVE they have vital business inside the vast
roped-off regions here. If we did not have the services of an off-duty law
enforcement officer, we could not do our jobs in the course of a work day and
get back in time to put together the broadcast and get on the air. As we are
about to do.
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