Katrina Blog

first of all i would like to send out my regards to those who lost there lives or those trying to regain theres in hurricane katrina after all it has been christmas and i wish them all a happy (if thats possible) new year.

this site was made to point out the faults in what seems to be a stable society that is only glossed over because the government doesnt want people to know whats going on, only to then complain when the worst happens.

i can only point this out through the disaster of hurricane katrina, its nearly half a year since the hurricane hit the bahamas and then went on to reap its way through parts of america and still people are trying to find loved ones and are struggling to rebuild there lives, why you ask because some people are more concerned with stopping tyrants thousands of miles away and fighting wars that have no meaning, than say helping communitys in its back garden.

what i really dont get though is how can a countrys government which claims to have some of the best technology in the world not moniter and pre-empt the course of a hurrican the day it formed. i mean it hit the bahamas first and it was widely noted there what its predicted course would be, where was the evacuations, where was the help, there was none.

it seems yeat again that we are failed by leaders who are so ego driven that they cannot see past their nose to the damage they've caused and show no sincerety in the remorse for the people involved.

our love goes out to those who were involved in katrina and we wish them a happier year than the last.

FEMA Closes Office in New Orleans

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 2, 2006; 9:37 PM

NEW ORLEANS -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is closing its long-term recovery office in New Orleans, claiming local officials failed to meet their planning obligations after Hurricane Katrina.

The office is responsible for helping the city devise a blueprint to rebuild destroyed houses, schools and neighborhoods.

"FEMA cannot drive the planning _ our mission is to support it. We can only do so much and then we look to the city to embrace and begin planning and managing," said FEMA's national spokesman Aaron Walker. "Once they begin planning, we can re-engage with them."

Of the 35 employees who initially worked in the long-term recovery office, only five remained Tuesday, and they were waiting to be reassigned. Those five may continue to work on long-term recovery in a different office, Walker said.

City officials were angered by the move, saying New Orleans is again being abandoned by the federal government. Deputy Mayor Greg Meffert said the FEMA office and the city worked in tandem initially, but had a falling out over funding earlier this spring.

"We have a city that has an enormous planning need and you need planners. To date, we haven't gotten any monetary support to bring in planners," Meffert said.

Several employees of the disbanded office agreed with Meffert, saying that at the beginning the office worked closely with city officials, helping implement their plans. The relationship soured after the mayor's rebuilding commission, a group of businessmen and community leaders asked to create plans for redevelopment, requested FEMA money this spring to help fund their planning effort.

Brad Gair, then-director of FEMA's long-term recovery office, made a verbal promise to city officials to fund the effort, Meffert said. Gair has since left the New Orleans office.

"It appears the mayor's office misunderstood the commitment made: While FEMA is committed to the long-term recovery of the Gulf Coast region, providing funding for planning does not fall under the federal guidelines of public assistance," Walker said.

Eight months after Katrina, rebuilding has barely begun. One major hold-up was the late release of FEMA's flood elevation advisories, which offer guidelines on how high homeowners should raise their homes to qualify for flood insurance. Many residents also have faced delays settling claims with insurance companies, and city and state officials say they've received only a fraction of the public assistance needed to overhaul the blighted city.

ARCADIA -- After Hurricane Charley devastated much of DeSoto County on Aug. 13, 2004, the Federal Emergency Management Agency moved in with housing and other assistance.

The deal was this:
FEMA would bring in mobile home units, set them up and provide 18 months of rent-free housing for displaced residents. During that time, the residents were to seek permanent housing. Not paying rent, FEMA said then, should help those in need save for new housing.
The 18 months ends a week from now.

And eviction notices are in the mail.

Almost half of the residents helped by FEMA remain in FEMA mobile homes, many in two parks on Fiveash Street but most in trailers outside homes still showing Charley's damage.
At peak need, there were 1,445 FEMA mobile homes and travel trailers housing DeSoto residents. Today, there are 591. The south FEMA park has 138 occupied units; the north side has 75.

DeSoto is unique in that the lands where the parks were constructed are leased from private owners. In Charlotte and Hardee counties, the FEMA parks are on county-owned land, for the most part. Extending a lease is not difficult if county officials agree on the need. That's not possible in DeSoto, since the county is not involved.

Complicating the situation in DeSoto is the fact that the owners of the north park property have put it up for sale for $7.5 million.

Denise Everhart, the FEMA public information officer for this area, knows the world is watching what happens a week from now. Some residents have not sought housing, she said, and those will be evicted because, she said, "they are in non-compliance with their lease." Some are trying to find an affordable home, and those still in need will be considered case-by-case, she said.
"This was never meant to be permanent housing," Jim Homstad of FEMA's Orlando office said.
Certainly, the Feb. 13 deadline to move out was always known. It is on every contract everyone receiving FEMA housing assistance signed.
That hasn't stopped the complaining, however.

"I've done my housing plan every month (as FEMA asked)," said Eula Stanka, a single mom living in a mobile home on the north side of Fiveash Street. "And now we're being evicted. You tell me where I can go, a place I can afford as a single mom. You tell me. I'll be more than happy to move."

Almost everyone does seem to agree on one point: DeSoto County does not have sufficient affordable housing.

Since Charley, neither the county nor the City of Arcadia has created public or affordable housing -- and Charley destroyed some of the little that existed in Arcadia. Because of escalating land values, rental prices have been going up the past 18 months.

Stanka said the understanding among FEMA park residents was that they had to continue to seek alternative housing, keeping FEMA aware of their searches, but that if they were unable to find such housing that FEMA would extend their stay on a month-by-month basis.
Homstad and Everhart both agree that FEMA residents had to search for housing and file reports, but the promise of extended housing was never made. Homstad said FEMA has no desire to kick anyone out, and eviction will be done only after each situation is reviewed.
But the lease was not open-ended, they note. FEMA trailers were not meant to be housing people from now until rental home prices come down or the county explodes in new affordable housing. The FEMA trailers were for a fixed time, known to everyone, they say. And that time is up.

"There's going to be a helluva fight," Stanka said.

Everhart knows the actions FEMA takes on Charley victims will set a precedent for actions yet to come. Charley was the first devastating hurricane of 2004, but it was only the start of a hard season. In short succession, Florida was hit by Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, each requiring FEMA parks for displaced residents. Those leases expire on the 18-month anniversary of each storm's disastrous landfall.

Then in 2005, Wilma and Katrina added woes for FEMA housing. More parks were created. Each has an 18-month deadline.

"Yes," Everhart agreed, "the eyes of the world will be on what we do about Charley housing."
Stanka can't understand why long-range planning wasn't done.
"Why didn't government -- I don't care which one -- step in and do low income housing?" Stanka asked. "They knew people were going to need housing. They've had all this time to do ... something."

Everhart knows only that FEMA did what it promised to do. It provided temporary, free housing for those in need. There is no provision in federal law to allow extending funding past the 18 months, she said. Who, then, would have to pay?

"There was a big meeting last week of DeSoto, Hardee and Charlotte officials on what we can do," Everhart said. "We put a bunch of options on the table, trying to figure out what to do."
Homstad said among those options for DeSoto is moving the mobile homes yet again. They could be moved to any of several private RV parks, he said, or onto land adjacent to the Turner Agri-Civic Center.

"If people are working toward finding permanent housing," Everhart said, "we're not going to yank the manufactured home out from under them." But if they have been found "in non-compliance of lease," and have received such a notice, then they have 10 days to leave after that notice is given, she said.
And if they don't?
"We give them an eviction notice and turn it over to law enforcement -- if we have to," she concluded. "Most leave on their own."

Everhart said there is no option to extend leases for the land where the DeSoto parks are located. "I don't think anyone anticipated there was going to be such a housing shortage," she said, "that at this point so many people still don't have a place to move."

You can e-mail Robert Bowden at bob@sun-herald.com. By ROBERT BOWDEN Staff Writer

Marcellus Andrews
February 07, 2006

Marcellus Andrews is a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C., and an economist in New York City. Today on Capitol Hill, an alliance of groups led by the Hip-Hop Caucus is gathering to urge action to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

This morning, a wide-ranging collection of citizens will gather at the Rayburn Office Building, under the auspices of members of U.S. Congress, to hammer out a strategy for a Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign. The plan is to chart a course of action in light of our government's malignant incompetence before, during and especially after the near-biblical destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. These good people include displaced men and women of the Gulf region, Congress members, activists from the Gulf region and beyond, artistic luminaries from every venue—stage, screen, music, theater and the literary world—public intellectuals, and other concerned citizens. They are united by their determination to force the government to do something about the plight of the hundreds of thousands of American citizens stranded without jobs, housing or hope by a nation that is somehow blind to their fate. By showing up on Capitol Hil todayl, they seek to make visible the imperative that an effective and just response to their plight remains at the top of the Congressional agenda.

This meeting—the Katrina Emergency Summit—asks for simple things that should be provided to all Americans aftera natural disaster, but have been withheld from the poor and disproportionately black victims of Katrina and her equally malign cousin, Rita: the right to a place to live; to return to one's home and neighborhood; to get medical care after the disaster; to have protection against financial ruin as a consequence of disaster; and to resume life as a member of the city, town or hamlet. This strategy session asks all governments involved—especially the federal government—to provide many of the goods and opportunities that Katrina's displaced had been denied by virtue of poverty and color: a decent education, housing, employment and equal voting rights. It would be a mistake to think that this gathering of citizens is using the suffering of Katrina's victims to press their own agenda, for the demands being made form the root-level demand that the nation provide equal protection for the lives, livelihood and property of all citizens without regard to race, wealth, region or position.
Life In The Face Of Disaster

There will be a tendency among many—including progressives—to see demands for an inclusive, democratic and egalitarian rebuilding process as a racial justice issue, as a response to the fact that black people are being evicted from the Gulf region by a free-market reconstruction process that makes protection from natural disasters dependent upon race and wealth. The would be a great mistake: The poor and working-class victims of Katrina, though disproportionately black, are suffering because the government of the United States has failed to provide equal protection for the lives and livelihoods of all citizens. This is a national security issue in the strict sense that the nation has permitted economic inequality to undermine the basic right to life and livelihood of all citizens in the face of natural disasters. Economic inequality—which has a profound racial component in the Gulf region and the nation—meant that hundreds of thousands of people were vulnerable to Katrina because they could not afford high ground, or could not afford a car, gasoline or a bus ride out of New Orleans, or were too poor to buy insurance for homes that they had inherited from their forbearers.
We all tend to interpret "national security" in military terms.Yet, a hurricane of the size and power of Katrina, just like a major earthquake or a tsunami, is a distinct threat to the national community because of the destabilizing scale of death and destruction. The lives of millions of citizens are at risk; the nation as a whole, through the federal government, is the only actor capable of responding to the crisis in a manner that treats all citizens as equally valuable. For rich and poor alike, the effects of the disaster reverberate throughout the nation through the economy, through family ties and through our federal system of taxation that redistributes monies from rich to poor regions. Major storms like Katrina, and, unfortunately, like the future monsters that will be born as a consequence of global climate change, are national security problems. If the citizens of this country to not have an equal right to protection of life and livelihood in the face of natural disasters, then there is little meaning to the idea of American citizenship or an American commonwealth.

Allowing the free market to allocate the risk of death and financial ruin in the face of natural disaster on the basis of race and class is a direct violation of the principle that all citizens' lives are of equal value in the eyes of the government. First, all citizens should have an equal right to be protected from death, injury and penury in the wake of disaster. Second, all citizens should have an equal right to be restored to at least their pre-disaster state when calamity destroys their lives and well-being.

A free-market rebuilding process like the one underway in the Gulf at this moment necessarily means that as a matter of public policy the lives of the poor, the black and the weak are deemed less valuable than those of the well-off, white and strong. It is not enough to say that the many victims of Katrina did not buy flood insurance, or enough homeowners' insurance, or did not pay attention to the warnings of potential disaster and the fact that they could not afford to take such big risks with their lives. No one deserves to die or become destitute because they cannot afford insurance, fail at school, make bad choices when young, or happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when disaster strikes. The right to recover livelihood after disasters should not be based on wealth or race. There is nothing radical about this idea, as it is simply an implication of the principle that governments need to protect their citizens equally, without regard to the size of their bank accounts or the color of their skin.

Beyond Failure
Unfortunately, the Katrina Emergency Summit will likely fail for two reasons. First, because the balance between markets and governments in this age of conservatism tilts in favor of property rights over citizens' rights. This need not be so: We can surely have a capitalist society where the government taxes well-off people in order to provide life and livelihood protection from natural calamities for everyone—if this kind of solidarity is valued by those who own politics. But in our current economy, freedom from taxation is in and sharing is definitely out.
Second, the summit will fail because the participants are without practical political power, because the Democratic Party has turned its collective back on the poor—especially poor black Americans.

The hard economics of the current predicament mean that the poor residents of the Gulf region are a completely replaceable labor force whose low wages and modest schooling make them too poor to serve as a reliable customer base. They are too dependent on government help in a region committed to the conservative program of low wages and low taxes. And they are too expensive compared to an immigrant labor force that will work for even less and make no demands on the public purse. The Democratic Party is an organization with no reason to help poor people who do not contribute money, do not vote and do not exert pressure through organized resistance to abusive employers, business elites and conservative governments. In fact, too many poor and black people in the Gulf region, like their brothers and sisters throughout the United States, have waited for the Democrats to represent their interests. But the party sees no benefit to protecting the lives and well-being of people who have little economic weight in the marketplace. It is time for poor people and black people to understand that we are seen as a dead weight on American society, both because our demands for justice are expensive and because we are despised.

Despite all this, a meeting in Washington dedicated to improving the well-being of Katrina's poor victims is encouraging, not least because it finally acknowledges the right of all people to literal and economic survival in the face of disasters. But meetings in Washington are of little value when global climate change promises more Katrinas in the future, and when our society has chosen to abandon poor people to the ravages of the free market rather than protect them. The summit will matter, however, if it is the birth of a new politics of equal protection—a politics of the right to life and livelihood in the face of disasters, and, perhaps, in the face of a whole spectrum of risks that are beyond the control of individuals or communities.
We need a new politics of equal protection if the poor and the weak are going to survive in the world of death and suffering that the conservatives have so deliberately constructed.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not
only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public."

President Theodore Roosevelt 1918 _________________________________________________
You must understand history to properly interpret the present.

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You would have to be an idiot to have not known... so he*is* technically qualified!
Sent by Brad dG: Here's an article I read three years ago in Scientific American that predicted exactly what happened. As I was watching Katrina on Saturday and Sunday bulls-eyeing its way toward NO, I said, "this is the one I read about that's going to sink New Orleans." Anyone in a position of responsibility who was surprised by the levees breaking is an idiot and should be fired. (We agree, Brad)
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Bush Disrespects Firefighters by Using them As Window Dressing
A group of 1,000 firefighters convened in Atlanta to volunteer with the Katrina relief efforts. Of those, a team of 50 were ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas. I certainly hope the FDNY and other firefighters of America won't stand for this. Like the press - they need to start asking hard questions.
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And I know, I know, he's no "Master" of anything... I just liked the ring of that

Mr. Bill Tells All
It would be funny if it were not all so bad. Apparently everyone in the southern elementary school systems, and even Mr. Bill knew this was going to happen! But George is not as smart as Mr. Bill, and certainly not as smart as school children, so I guess I see how he might have not known.
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Awesome chronicle of the facts about Katrina
From the good folks at ThinkProgress
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Timeline of FEMA dismantling leading UP to Katrina
More will be revealed.
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Five-Part Series published June 23-27, 2002
It's only a matter of time before South Louisiana takes a direct hit from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day.

Take it back,
take it back,
take it back 'yall!
Rage Against the Machine
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For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody
See the video of Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard as he was interviewed by Tim Russert on Meet the Press
We've been abandoned...
Read word for word.. its so hard to belive this man is groveling for help
Al Gore gets it done! Quietly and with dignity - no photo opps
Yeah him - the one that everybody said was too indecisive and a wussy.
Gutsy College Kids Do What it Takes
Three good kids take matters into their own hands. If they could get in that fast, and they knew what to do instincively... where was our government?
Good People Cling to Each Other, Cling to Life
"they saw, they left and they're there on their own. There's no police there's no authority..."

911 is a Joke! You better wake up and smell the real flavor, 'Cause 911 is a fake life saver!
Public Enemy
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Before we examine response time to Katrina -- do you remember how Bush responded to 9-11? Would you like to look back at how Bush reacted to the other greatest embarrasing tragedy of our nation, for which we were also unprepared?

Watch how on the morning of 9/11/01, "President" George W. Bush was scheduled to appear at a Florida elementary school to promote a reading program for third graders. It was at this event that Bush learned that the nation was under attack by terrorists...His response was to sit there and do nothing for another seven minutes...
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How Will Sexual Harassment Training Help Firefighters Save Drowning People? As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters (his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week) a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta. Many of the firefighters, assembled from throughout the United States by FEMA, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers. Instead, they are going to be community-relations officers, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to hand out flyers with a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA. On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
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Southern Comfort Slow to Arrive
Why was the USNS Comfort so late getting to New Orleans?
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Hey Lucy! You Got Some 'Splaining to Do!
Like: How come Cuba could evacuate 660,000 people in advance of Hurricane Dennis, a Cat 4 that hit them in July 2005; and only suffer ten fatalities? That’s because Cuba not only invests in disaster preparation and strong civil defense, but because there is a social committment to medical infrastructure, high literacy levels, and government support of community organizers.

Check out Condi Rice posing for pictures in her clean & crisp linen shirt & slacks, while thousands around her are in filthy, grieving agony. What kind of public professional is *so* out of touch that she doesn't realize the gaffe of wearing fresh white linen to a "roll up your sleves" disaster photo shoot? Didn't she have any navy blue military academy T-shirts to better play the "rescuer" role?

So here she is, pretending to help at a shelter; or more accurately, disrupting operations. Look at the unhappy expressions on the faces of the guys watching her, especially the two guys in the middle. See the guy with the sweaty grey t-shirt who looks like he's been working all day? That guy is you and me. We can't count on our government, on any level, to take good care of us, so we must take good care of each other. If you haven't volunteered before, the time to start is NOW!
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I want a girl with extensions in her hair; bamboo earrings, at least two pair A fendi bag and a bad attitude; that’s all I need to get me in a good mood. She can walk with a switch and talk with street slang I love it when a woman ain't scared to do her thing - LL CoolJ

There's somethin' wrong with the world today, I don't know what it is; something's wrong with our eyes
We're seeing things in a different way... We're livin' on the edge,
We're livin' on the edge, We're livin' on the edge
Aerosmith
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California's "Katrina" Just a Matter of Time
We always think it will be the big earthquake that does us in... but read this!

DONATE CASH:
We all want our pets to be happy and healthy. Esepcially if you have a cuddly friend at home, try to reach in your heart and wallet for a small cash donation.

DRIVE THERE AND HELP
Louisiana volunteers report that additional volunteers are urgently needed due to the high volume of animals there. If you can help, even for just a day, please go directly to the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, Louisiana (near Baton Rouge).

Two of the lost Dolphins rescued!
This is one very bright spot in all the sadness. Two of the eight dolphins washed out of their tanks have been rescued. _______________________________________
Zoo Had Their Act Together
Then they would not have lived like animals in the Superdome ______________________________________
I know I wouldn't leave *MY* Pets - no way
How could this have not planned for? Haven't people always insisted they stay behind for their pets?
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Pet Trainer Convention Comes to San Jose
I wonder where all those conventions will end up...and how many will ever go back? Can you imagine ever walking through Edward Morial again?
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The Marin Humane Society and other Bay Area shelters
Prepared to transport animals to California and may serve as the primary destination center for the West Coast

Sending money is great, and we strongly encourage you to *send all you can,* but we also ask each of you think outside of you own comfort zone; and to be really honest!

Honest about what? Homeowners need to be honest about that empty guest bedroom in your comfortable house. Think about your cozy basement with the TV, or your pull out couch.

Employers need to be honest that there is always room to squeeze in at least one more job, at least for the next few months.

The holidays are here, and there are hundreds of thousands of displaced people. While money is necessary, and unfortunately there won't be enough; it's also important to reach further than you have ever reached before. Imagine already living a modest lifestyle, and then watching half your family die as your whole infrastructure gets washed away: home, job, phones, clothes, ID, phone book, and a copy of your resume. Some things are gone forever: the Tinkerbell charm bracelet your Mom gave you, the first love letter you ever received, your high school year book signatures, and the only picture in existence of your great great grandfather. I know just how that feels, I've lived that. I've lost those things.

The despair of feeling alone is universal; so please get in touch with a time when you felt lost, and reach further than you ever have before. The best thing you can do is get on the internet, get on the phone, start asking people who know people and find an INDIVIDUAL you can help. Make one person or one family, "yours." In the next few days, I'll update here with some really good resources I’ve found that will help YOU break through the RED TAPE!

Meanwhile, volunteer your time at organizations in your home town that need to send their seasoned volunteers closer to the front lines. Sending money is always great! The following are links to several foundations that are highly recommended as organizations with a long-term track record of making a REAL difference:

Help With Housing
Habitat For Humanity
Tune Up Your Tech Skills
Quakers Won't Lie To You
NAACP disaster relief efforts
ACORN for low-income people
AFL-CIO Union Community Fund
Michael Moore for Cindy Sheehan
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sorrow;
But if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend,
I'll help you carry on...
For, it won't be long, 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride, if I have things you need to borrow;
For no one can fill those of your needs, that you don't let show
Lean on me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend,
I'll help you carry on...
For, it won't be long, 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear, that you can't carry,
I'm right up the road, I'll share your load, if you just call me
So just call on me brother, when you need a hand;
we all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'd understand,
we all need somebody to lean on
Bill Withers

Federal officials said Friday they have recovered approximately 50,000 barrels of an estimated 160,000 barrels of oil that spilled from six storage sites south of New Orleans as the result of Hurricane Katrina. The 160,000 barrels spilled is roughly half the amount that leaked from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989.

Tests started on Sept 16 to assess environmental damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina's monstrous storm surge and toxic floodwaters
Researchers hope to determine whether the hurricane caused any contamination from chemical spills, sewer overflows or other poisons that washed into the Gulf of Mexico.
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Vast amounts of toxic waste were maintained in the Louisiana area, including dioxin.
Dioxin is a very toxic chemical, and if it's released into the environment, it accumulates very quickly.
If only one percent of the stored amount is released and only one percent of that makes it into the Gulf of Mexico, that would be sufficient to contaminate 20 million fish - itself enough to trigger warnings not to eat the fish.

Barbara Blabs a Big Boo Boo
Hey Babs: If you squinch up your eyes and pretend, its kind of like one of those great, big, colorful family reunions, isn't it?
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Barbara's Beautiful Mind Bans Body Bags
So icky, so...irrelevant!

Now you can sing along when Republicans are interviewed!

Think Progress obtained the following talking points on President Bush's primetime speech on Katrina tonight that were distributed to right-wing pundits. The text is as follows:

President Katrina Speech Talkers:

* America and the Gulf Coast are recovering from one of the greatest natural disasters this country has ever faced.

* Tonight President Bush will talk about how there is some optimism that we can see as we move forward. We're going to build a better Gulf Coast, a better New Orleans and we'll work with local officials to make sure that happens.

* This will be a massive funding effort at every level of government. We shouldn't just look at government - we're seeing private charities, and the American people's enormous compassion.

* There were breakdowns of communication and planning at all levels of government - federal, state and local levels. It is very critical we learn why those breakdowns took place in the first place.

* Many parts of this will be chalked up to the fact it was one of the worst storms our country has ever faced. But there were things in a post-9/11 world that our government at all levels should be doing better and President Bush more than anybody else wants to find out why it took place and how it took place to make sure it doesn't happen again.

* Bottom line now is all levels of government must take responsibility. This President is taking responsibility and what we have to do now is look forward.

* Senator Frist and Speaker Hastert have indicated that Congress will conduct a thorough investigation modeled after some of the most serious investigations that Congress has ever undertaken: the 1973 Watergate Committee, the 1987 Iran Contra Committee, the 1994 and 1995 Whitewater Committees and the 1997 Campaign Finance investigation.

* Tonight President Bush will talk about specifically what we'll talk about to help these tens of thousands of people who are literally living with only the shirts of their backs spread out throughout the country. We have to have a strategy for education and heath care, and he'll spell those out.

* It's wrong to say it's either winning the war on terror or funding aftermath of Katrina. We have to do both that means we'll have to cut spending where else to make sure we are fiscally prudent with the taxpayer's dollars.

* There's always discussion about raising taxes but right when businesses and people are trying to get back on their feet in the gulf coast region, the worst thing we can do with these families is pop them with another tax.

* This is going to require difficult decisions in Washington. It's going to be important that we don't have the same ol' same ol' that we see in Washington. Tough choices will be to have made and President Bush is willing to do that.

From Michael Moore:

"Join with me in bypassing the colossally inept and incompetent Bush administration and get help DIRECTLY to the people of the New Orleans area -- right now. Many don't know who to trust. I have a way, though, for each and every one of us to do something that can affect people's lives TODAY. I've been working with a group that, I guarantee you, will get direct aid to the people who need it most.

Cindy Sheehan, the brave woman who dared to challenge Mr. Bush at his summer home has joined The Veterans for Peace set up camp in Covington, Louisiana, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. They are accepting materials and personally distributing them to those in need and are going to be delivering much-needed supplies." Needed now: paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper, baby diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, Pedialyte, baby items in general, powder, lotion, handy wipes, sterile gloves, electrolytes, LARGE cans of veggies, school supplies, and anything else to lift people's spirits. Visit VFPRoadTrips.org for instructions on shipping these things, or driving them there yourself.

From TruthOut.org

Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as 2 weeks ago.

What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal and Louisiana state governments.

Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation. Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as 2 weeks ago.

• American Friends Service Committee -- (888) 588-2372
• American Red Cross -- (800) 435-7669 / (800) HELP-NOW / (800) 257-7575 (Spanish)
• AmeriCares -- (800) 486-4357
• American Refugee Committee -- (612) 872-7060
• America's Second Harvest -- (877) 817-2307
• ASPCA -- (866) 275-3923
• BAPS Care International
• Brother's Brother Foundation -- (888) 323-1916
• Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
• Counterpart International, Inc. -- (888) 296-9676
• Direct Relief International -- (805) 962-3700
• Farm Share
• Feed the Children -- (800) 525-7575
• Florida Hurricane Relief Fund
• Food for the Hungry -- (877) 780-4261 ext 2506
• Gifts In Kind International
• Habitat for Humanity -- (866) 292-7892
• International Aid -- (800) 251-2502
• International Medical Corps -- (800) 481-4462
• International Relief and Development, Inc. -- (703) 248-0161
• International Relief Teams -- (619) 284-7979
• International Rescue Committee -- (877) 733-8433
• Life for Relief and Development -- (800) 827-3543
• Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
• National Organization for Victims Assistance -- (800) TRY-NOVA
• National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Network for Good
• Northwest Medical Teams -- (800) 959-4325
• Operation Get-in-Touch
• Operation USA -- (800) 678-7255
• Oxfam America -- (800) 77OXFAM
• Project HOPE
• Quarters From Kids
• Relief International -- (800) 573-3332
• Salvation Army -- (800) SAL-ARMY
• Samaritan’s Purse -- (800) 665-2843
• Save the Children -- (800) 728-3843
• The Children's Health Fund -- (800) 535-7448
• The Baton Rouge Area Foundation -- (877) 387-6126
• The US Coast Guard Foundation -- (860) 535-0786
• The United Way -- (800) 272-4630
• UNICEF USA -- (800) 4UNICEF
• U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) -- (202) 347-3507
• Water Missions International -- (843) 769-7395
• World Concern -- (800) 755-5022 ext. 0
• World Emergency Relief
• World Health Organization
• World Hope International -- (888) 466-4673
• World Relief -- (800) 535-5433
• World Vision -- (888) 56-CHILD

Does this all sound familiar? Halliburton enjoys some Katrina clean up through a long-standing contract and hires the former FEMA director!

Just about the only thing these crooks *didn't* do is create the hurricane!!

September 1, 2005 - The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronical reported today. The work assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary was part of a $500 million Navy contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Since 1989, governments worldwide have awarded $3 billion in contracts to KBR's Government and Infrastructure Division to clean up damage caused by natural and man-made disasters.

Earlier this year, the Navy awarded $350 million in contracts to KBR and three other companies to repair naval facilities in northwest Florida damaged by Hurricane Ivan, which struck in September 2004. The ongoing repair work involves aircraft support facilities, medium industrial buildings, marine construction, mechanical and electrical improvements, civil construction, and family housing renovation.

In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration.

Today, FEMA is widely criticized for its slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Allbaugh managed Bush's campaign for Texas governor in 1994, served as Gov. Bush's chief of staff and was the national campaign manager for the Bush campaign in 2000. Along with Karen Hughes and Karl Rove, Allbaugh was one of Bush's closest advisers. "This is a perfect example of someone cashing in on a cozy political relationship," said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington watchdog group. "Allbaugh's former placement as a senior government official and his new lobbying position with KBR strengthens the company's already tight ties to the administration, and I hope that contractor accountability is not lost as a result."

You hope? Have we learned *anything*?

MR. RUSSERT: And we are back.
Jefferson Parish President Broussard, let me start with you. You just heard the director of Homeland Security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.

It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. It needs to be a Cabinet-level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.

We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Broussard, let me ask--I want to ask--should...

MR. BROUSSARD: You know, just some quick examples...

MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...

MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

Drive Down To Help

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NAACP disaster relief efforts

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My Efforts to Give Back

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AFL-CIO Union Community Fund

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ACORN for low-income people

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Marin Humane Society

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Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

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Quakers Won't Lie to You

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Pet Dog Trainers Convention Heads for San Jose

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Zoo Animals Fared Better Than NO Residents

posted by ElizabethR at 9:13 PM 2 comments links to this post   

Beloved Pets are Also Helpless Victims

posted by ElizabethR at 5:33 PM 1 comments links to this post   

California's "Katrina" Just a Matter of Time

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A Sad Reflection On How Far Down We've Gone

posted by ElizabethR at 11:44 AM 1 comments links to this post   

When the Levee Breaks

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Bush's House of Cards in New Orleans

posted by ElizabethR at 7:00 AM 5 comments links to this post   

Help With Housing

posted by ElizabethR at 1:59 AM 0 comments links to this post   

Time to Tune Up Tech Skills

posted by ElizabethR at 1:34 AM 0 comments links to this post   

Slow to Offer Southern Comfort

posted by ElizabethR at 2:09 PM 1 comments links to this post   

Timeline of FEMA deterioration under Bush administration

posted by ElizabethR at 1:30 PM 5 comments links to this post   

Good thing CNN and College Kids Managed to Get In!

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So It's All Okay Then...

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