NEW ORLEANIANS CALL FOR ACTION- PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY
Displaced New Orleans Community Demands Action,
Accountability and
Initiates A People's Hurricane Fund
Not until the fifth day of the federal government's
inept and inadequate emergency response to the New
Orleans' disaster did George Bush even acknowledge it
was 'unacceptable.' 'Unacceptable' doesn't begin to
describe the depth of the neglect, racism and classism
shown to the people of New Orleans. The government's
actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a
city whose population is almost 70% percent black, 40%
illiterate, and many are poor, was left day after day
to drown, to starve and to die of disease and thirst.
The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the
night, scattering across this country to become
homeless in countless other cities while federal relief
funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels,
chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New
Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden
District. We will not stand idly by while this disaster
is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with
newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New
Orleans.
Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the
progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, has
brought community members together for eight years to
discuss socio-economic issues. We have been
communicating with people from The Quality Education as
a Civil Right Campaign, the Algebra Project, the Young
People's Project and the Louisiana Research Institute
for Community Empowerment. We are preparing a press
release and framing document that will be out as a
draft later today for comments.
Here is what we are calling for:
* We are calling for all New Orleanians remaining in
the city to be evacuated immediately.
* We are calling for information about where every
evacuee was taken. We are calling for black and
progressive leadership to come together to meet in
Baton Rouge to initiate the formation of a Community
Oversight Committee of evacuees from all the sites.
This committee will demand to oversee FEMA, the Red
Cross and other organizations collecting resources on
behalf of our people.
* We are calling for volunteers to enter the shelters
where our people are and to assist parents with
housing, food, water, health care and access to aid.
* We are calling for teachers and educators to carve
out some time to come to evacuation sites and teach our
children.
* We are calling for city schools and universities near
evacuation sites to open their doors for our children
to go to school.
* We are calling for health care workers and mental
health workers to come to evacuation sites to
volunteer.
* We are calling for lawyers to investigate the
wrongful death of those who died, to protect the land
of the displaced, to investigate whether the levies
broke due to natural and other related matters.
* We are calling for evacuees from our community to
actively participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
* We are calling for the addresses of all the relevant
list serves and press contacts to send our information.
We are in the process of setting up a central command
post in Jackson, MS, where we will have phone lines,
fax, email and a web page to centralize information.
We will need volunteers to staff this office.
We have set up a People's Hurricane Fund that will be
directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees.
The Young People's Project, a 501(c)3 organization
formed by graduates of the Algebra Project, has agreed
to accept donations on behalf of this fund. Donations
can be mailed to:
The People's Hurricane Fund c/o The Young People's
Project 99 Bishop Allen Drive Cambridge, MA 02139
If you have comments of how to proceed or need more
information, please email them to Curtis Muhammad
(muhammadcurtis@bellsouth.net) and Becky Belcore
(bbelcore@hotmail.com).
Thank you.
Posted: Sun - September 4, 2005 at 11:47 PM
http://homepage.mac.com/kaaawa/iblog/C627146904/E20050904234704/
==================
Why New Orleans is in deep water
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep01,1,6491327.story
Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate
Published September 1, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself
taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner,
glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the
beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.
To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game
before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a
point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that
government policies have real consequences in people's lives.
This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is
about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about
their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for
those policies.
This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever
said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's
nothing I can do about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks anyway."
Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do
about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National
Rifle Association would argue, "Government policies don't kill people,
hurricanes kill people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies
kill people.
One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is
the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once
stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the
water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a
political party or a particular administration attached to it. No one
wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault."
Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's interference
with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root cause of the
problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the river's delta.
But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like
letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God,
there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the
Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a
fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies--ordering
federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.
Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report
showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to
drain thousands of acres of wetlands.
Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New
Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a
Category 3 or Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this
point, it is a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to
observe the First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).
Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a
while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush
administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the
attention span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to
remember longer than a year ago is like asking them what happened in
Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.
Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and
chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of
Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans
CityBusiness at the time, that meant "major hurricane and flood projects
will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to
determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has
been shelved for now."
The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately
instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.
Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of
Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as
"Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards
Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and
the Republican right, and gutted years ago.
In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy
on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices based
on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on flood
management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans--it seems to
consist of gutting the programs that do anything.
Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation
left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is
now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen.
Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are
afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more
short-handed.
The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water
vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad.
(I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?)
This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into Iraq
without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that mistake
and to rectify it by instituting a draft.
The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the
city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency
management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, "It appears
that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle
homeland security and the war in Iraq."
This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies,
not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about
our lives.
----------
Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Washington. E-mail:
info@creators.com
Displaced New Orleans Community Demands Action,
Accountability and
Initiates A People's Hurricane Fund
Not until the fifth day of the federal government's
inept and inadequate emergency response to the New
Orleans' disaster did George Bush even acknowledge it
was 'unacceptable.' 'Unacceptable' doesn't begin to
describe the depth of the neglect, racism and classism
shown to the people of New Orleans. The government's
actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a
city whose population is almost 70% percent black, 40%
illiterate, and many are poor, was left day after day
to drown, to starve and to die of disease and thirst.
The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the
night, scattering across this country to become
homeless in countless other cities while federal relief
funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels,
chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New
Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden
District. We will not stand idly by while this disaster
is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with
newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New
Orleans.
Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the
progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, has
brought community members together for eight years to
discuss socio-economic issues. We have been
communicating with people from The Quality Education as
a Civil Right Campaign, the Algebra Project, the Young
People's Project and the Louisiana Research Institute
for Community Empowerment. We are preparing a press
release and framing document that will be out as a
draft later today for comments.
Here is what we are calling for:
* We are calling for all New Orleanians remaining in
the city to be evacuated immediately.
* We are calling for information about where every
evacuee was taken. We are calling for black and
progressive leadership to come together to meet in
Baton Rouge to initiate the formation of a Community
Oversight Committee of evacuees from all the sites.
This committee will demand to oversee FEMA, the Red
Cross and other organizations collecting resources on
behalf of our people.
* We are calling for volunteers to enter the shelters
where our people are and to assist parents with
housing, food, water, health care and access to aid.
* We are calling for teachers and educators to carve
out some time to come to evacuation sites and teach our
children.
* We are calling for city schools and universities near
evacuation sites to open their doors for our children
to go to school.
* We are calling for health care workers and mental
health workers to come to evacuation sites to
volunteer.
* We are calling for lawyers to investigate the
wrongful death of those who died, to protect the land
of the displaced, to investigate whether the levies
broke due to natural and other related matters.
* We are calling for evacuees from our community to
actively participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
* We are calling for the addresses of all the relevant
list serves and press contacts to send our information.
We are in the process of setting up a central command
post in Jackson, MS, where we will have phone lines,
fax, email and a web page to centralize information.
We will need volunteers to staff this office.
We have set up a People's Hurricane Fund that will be
directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees.
The Young People's Project, a 501(c)3 organization
formed by graduates of the Algebra Project, has agreed
to accept donations on behalf of this fund. Donations
can be mailed to:
The People's Hurricane Fund c/o The Young People's
Project 99 Bishop Allen Drive Cambridge, MA 02139
If you have comments of how to proceed or need more
information, please email them to Curtis Muhammad
(muhammadcurtis@bellsouth.net) and Becky Belcore
(bbelcore@hotmail.com).
Thank you.
Posted: Sun - September 4, 2005 at 11:47 PM
http://homepage.mac.com/kaaawa/iblog/C627146904/E20050904234704/
==================
Why New Orleans is in deep water
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep01,1,6491327.story
Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate
Published September 1, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself
taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner,
glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the
beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.
To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game
before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a
point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that
government policies have real consequences in people's lives.
This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is
about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about
their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for
those policies.
This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever
said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's
nothing I can do about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks anyway."
Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do
about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National
Rifle Association would argue, "Government policies don't kill people,
hurricanes kill people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies
kill people.
One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is
the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once
stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the
water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a
political party or a particular administration attached to it. No one
wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault."
Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's interference
with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root cause of the
problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the river's delta.
But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like
letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God,
there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the
Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a
fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies--ordering
federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.
Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report
showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to
drain thousands of acres of wetlands.
Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New
Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a
Category 3 or Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this
point, it is a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to
observe the First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).
Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a
while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush
administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the
attention span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to
remember longer than a year ago is like asking them what happened in
Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.
Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and
chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of
Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans
CityBusiness at the time, that meant "major hurricane and flood projects
will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to
determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has
been shelved for now."
The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately
instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.
Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of
Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as
"Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards
Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and
the Republican right, and gutted years ago.
In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy
on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices based
on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on flood
management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans--it seems to
consist of gutting the programs that do anything.
Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation
left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is
now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen.
Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are
afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more
short-handed.
The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water
vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad.
(I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?)
This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into Iraq
without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that mistake
and to rectify it by instituting a draft.
The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the
city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency
management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, "It appears
that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle
homeland security and the war in Iraq."
This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies,
not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about
our lives.
----------
Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Washington. E-mail:
info@creators.com
- FEMA Blocked 500 Boats In Rescue Effort —John Ervin, Mon Sep 5 04:04
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