From the Bahrain Gulf Daily News

Gulf people are the ones who care...
 

I have been in Bahrain for two weeks and I am quite happy to report that as a New Orleanian, I feel vindicated.

I travel around the world, and people ask where I am from. I do not say, "America", I say "New Orleans". After the complete and utter abandonment of the city and people of New Orleans by the American government, I do not feel like an "American" anymore.

Being in the Arabian Gulf has made me realise that most people here understand the feeling. They know that the hurricane didn't destroy New Orleans, the government's failure did. They know that half a trillion dollars has poured into the US government's debacle in Iraq, yet thousands perished on the US Gulf coast, some simply because they had no drinking water. They know the US government simply does not care about New Orleans or her people, and has, for the first time, abandoned an American city.

The people of the Gulf do care about New Orleans. Saudi Arabia had contributed $250 million (BD93m) for relief, and Qatar $100m (BD37.5m). A friend of mine is proud to say that his child's schoolroom has a plaque on the front that states, "This classroom was donated by the people of Saudi Arabia". The people of the Gulf of Mexico are extremely thankful to the people of the Arabian Gulf.

I am enjoying my time in the Gulf, and a large part of that has to do with the Arabic hospitality, and the fact that the people here know that New Orleans is still not OK. In New Orleans, some of us have borrowed a Gaelic phrase, "Sinn Fein", meaning "We Ourselves" or "Ourselves Alone".

This is because we realise the US government is not going to help New Orleans, as they do not care and we must help ourselves. However, when I talk to the people here, and when I see the generosity they have exhibited, I realise that we are not alone. For that, I thank you all.

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Update:

Here's what I actually submitted.  Note the editing by the newspaper.  It's fine that they changed "Persian Gulf" to "Arabian Gulf".  It's fine that they changed the Americanized spelling of realize to the British spelling.  It's not fine that they removed the part about the levee failure.

Thank you from a New Orleanian.

Greetings,

I have been in the Kingdom of Bahrain for two weeks now, and I am quite happy to report that as a New Orleanian, I feel vindicated. 

I travel around the world, and people ask where I am from.  I do not say “America”, I say “New Orleans”.  After the complete and utter abandonment of the city and people of New Orleans by the American government, I do not really feel like an “American” any more. 

Being in the Persian Gulf has let me know that most people here understand that.  They know that the hurricane didn’t destroy New Orleans, the criminal failure of the levees did.  They know that half a trillion dollars has poured in to the US government’s debacle in Iraq, yet thousands perished on the US Gulf coast, some simply because they had no drinking water.  They know that the US government simply does not care about New Orleans or her people, and has, for the first time, abandoned an American city.

The people of the Persian Gulf do care about New Orleans.  Saudi Arabia has contributed almost $250M for relief, and Qatar over $100M.  A friend of mine is proud to say that his child’s school room has a plaque on the front that states “This classroom was donated by the people of Saudi Arabia”.  The people of the Gulf of Mexico are extremely thankful for the people of the Gulf of Persia.

I am enjoying my time in the Persian Gulf, and a large part of that has to do with the Arabic hospitality, and the fact that the people here know that New Orleans is still not OK.  In New Orleans, some of us have borrowed a Gaelic phrase: “Sinn Fein”, meaning “We Ourselves” or “Ourselves Alone”. 

This is because we realize that the US government is not going to help New Orleans, because they simply do not care; we must help ourselves.  However, when I talk to the people here, and when I see the generosity they have exhibited, I realize that we are not alone.  For that, I thank you all.

Prof. Ashley Morris, Ph.D.

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[Bebe]

Hey, Caroline, hope you have a great weekend. Me and mine will be in Montreal Late Tuesday (12) tgrouhh till late Wednesday. My girl has a meeting, so I'm tagging along for a break. I love bus rides.

[Laura]

I am against evreything your asking about.no war with Iran. there doing nothing at all wrong except expressing themselves.Israel has nukes. if they wont them let them, have them. if they attack we have over 5000 of them to pay them back.there would be NOTHING left of there country if they attack.if they attacked Israel, they have over 100 nukes to wipe out every city in there country for Gods sake, you don't just attack people for nothing.you just don't attack a country for the hell of it.no draft. no more half the taxes going for the military. God all mighty we could do so much for the people with that money. that's what its for you know. we seem to forget that.this country should not be doing the bidding of the Jews.Theres evil people in our government to attack countrys for no good reason.

[Kim]

I can vividly imngiae the making of this Director: ok lets do it again, this time try to be less condescending and Melanie, if you could arch your eyebrow higher that would be fantastic. Roll tape ACTION!

[Marian]

Most of the hotels in the city ctener are in historic buildings and the rooms tend to be the size of hotel rooms in Europe. That includes he Ritz Carlton and Waldorf-Astoria.However, there are a number of hotels built since the 1970s and they have normal American-size rooms with two beds. Examples are the Westin Canal Place, the Marriott Hotel in the 500 block of Canal Street, Sheraton on Canal Street, JW Marriott on Canal Street, Intercontinental on Saint Charles, the Hilton on Poydras, and the W hotel on Poydras Street. Another answer mentions the Hilton Homewood Suites on Poydras. There are also an Embassy Suites hotel and Marriott Residence Inn downtown. All of them have websites.

[Jeffrey]

If you intend on vinisitg the Quarter, you'd be better off staying IN the Quarter. As mentioned earlier, Provincial Bourbon Orleans are safe clean. Heck, you're less than a handful of blocks from the iconic St. Louis Cathedral with those 2 hotels. Just the same, _always_ exercise caution especially at night. The Quarter is relatively safe but most crime happens when you don't pay attention to your surroundings, regardless of what city you're in.

[Dhruti]

i LOL'd for real when i read years of practice at the Jazzfest, French Quarter Fest and Trombone Shorty shows . that's the truth! our whole crew is well veserd in getting to the front AND holding addtl spots down lol. the vibe of NO is what makes it so unique and unable to be duplicated. and for that reason home will always be home. p.s.- i LOVE seeing that little boy everytime i run across that vid

[Psiko]

cut the social pgmorars for the deadbeats in this country for starters.We don't need a draft to deal with terrorists. The only way we would need a draft is if we were to be in a military conflict with china.I hope the carrier sends f-18 s loaded with tactical nukes.The bill should be paid by Iraq since it's their freedom.No more taxes. We're taxed enough already.Injured soldiers ARE being taken care of.We'll survive.