"Bush don't care about Black people" -- Kanye West, tonight on the NBC telethon broadcast

No shit, Kanye. No shit.

I didn't hear that line of Mr. West's impromptu speech when it aired here on the Left Coast. It was edited out. However, someone on the East Coast had the presence of mind to roll tape, then encode it to AVI with XviD compression. It perhaps was not the most articulate statement, coming right from the heart, but it was a REAL statement. West is usually quite articulate. He must have been really, really mad tonight.

Perhaps he knew about this?

(from the American Red Cross site, reprinting in its entirety to save it from the Memory Hole if the Bush Administration forces them to take it off)

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?

* Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

* The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

* The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

* The Red Cross shares the nation’s anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

* The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

* The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives.

* As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.

Jesus H. Christ on a stick!!! This is genocide!!!

Here's another view...apparently it was not the LA State Homeland Security Department...this order came down from the DHS Director, Chertoff.

I said it before, I'll say it again: The United States Of America IS a Failed State. Bush might have finally made it to the Gulf Coast and actually got out of his aircraft today. But he is still AWOL. And the people in his administration are making positively ghoulish decisions. Another forbidden analogy is Bush as Hitler. Well, I would call keeping the Red Cross out of New Orleans to "encourage people to leave" a Nazi-like decision. What about those who are too weak, too sick or too frail to leave? ARE THEY BEING LEFT TO DIE??? WTF is this shit?

This is either a Failed State, or this is villainy of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot proportions. Either way, it sucks. Bowie was right: This Is Not America. And he has every right to be afraid of Americans. I'm afraid of certain Americans right now.

Update 12:03am Sept. 3rd: Kanye West speech transcript is up at Crooks and Liars. I wish I could host the XviD file but I don't want to have to tangle with NBC/Universal and MPAA goons.