The Blue State

2 Years Later and New Orleans is Still a Mess. Tomorrow Will be the 2 Year Anniversary of Katrina

Two years after hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, there are still so manypeople without homes. Robert Greenwald has a new video and message  abouthurricane Katrina, and what you can do to help.

Below is quoted from an email sent by Jamiah Adams and Paris Marron of BraveNew Foundation

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and still thereare tens of thousands of families without homes. 30,000 families are scatteredacross the country in FEMA apartments, 13,000 are in trailers, and hardly any ofthe 77,000 rental units destroyed in New Orleans have been rebuilt. To sharesome of these people?s stories, we have put together a short film, "Whenthe Saints Go Marching In."

During the making of this video, we heard the heartbreaking stories of goodpeople unable to return home. We have heard the story of the Aguilar family wholost their home to the storm and only received $4,000 in payments from theirinsurance company. We have met Mr. Washington, an 87-year-old man and formercarpenter, who owned three homes prior to the storm. He is still living in aFEMA trailer today. And we've met Julie, who could have returned to her job andnormal life, if the government had opened up the public housing units that shehad lived in prior to the storm

When the Saints go Marching in.org is a site dedicated to helping the victims of Katrina.

'Two years after Katrina and thousands are still w/o homes'

 

I don't understand how some of our politicians sleep at night, knowing theconditions others are in...and not only in New Orleans, but throughout Our Country.

You can sign a petition HERE for Senator Dodd.

We, the undersigned, urge the United States Senate to pass Senator Dodd's Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668) to assist the Gulf Coast region in rebuilding the infrastructure lost after the Katrina and Rita disasters.

Passage of this bill is an important step towards returning the Gulf Coast residents to their homes.

The signing of the petition consists of Name, email and Zip Code.

 

They Sold Iraq Out Just Like They Did America

Any Democrat would have handled Katrina better than any Republican.  When your party's philosophy is based on cutting government aid and selling it to the highest bidder, it should not surprise people when large projects become less manageable -- whether it be prevention, recovery or reconstruction.  Just as many companies profited off Katrina, the same thing has happened in Iraq.

One private consultant in Iraq spells out how so much has been privatized:

Iraq is a country awash with private security companies that haveblossomed in the chaos of the country's post-invasion era. It isestimated that around one half of all development dollars being pouredinto the country (currently in the billions) goes to private security.My organisation, a small NGO working to build the capacity of Iraq'scivil society, was no exception.

Approximately 40 percent of our $60 million budget went to protecting the 15 international staff.

If you can't win a war, at least make sure your friends profit off it.

There is an even larger problem about all this.  When you privatize half of such a huge reconstruction effort, there is less accountability -- especially if a lot of the companies signed on are your campaign contributors.  Who keeps them from overcharging taxpayers?  Who forces them to do the job right?  The link between contract awarding and campaign contributions was quite evident even in the first year of the war.

Contractors even out-number the amount of US troops now in Iraq.

Q: What Do You Call a Song Titled 'Let's Impeach The President'? A: A Good Start

I feel compelled to find and post the truth every time I hear Our GreatPresident open his mouth which has become synonymous with lying.Thanks again to "granny" for sending us the link for the video.

It didn't take the liberal bloggers and general long public to react and speak outagainst the dems for caving in on the funding bill. And it seems that theybetter grow a set quickly before we start shopping around. Think about this fora moment, you tell your spouse or significant other you are going shopping, butinstead go to a friends house...simple right? umm, NO!, you are confronted bythem and are told you lied. Maybe that's a simple minded analogy, but comparethat to The President of the United States lying on an ongoing basis, changingthe story and then his supporters actually lie further to support him. Wrong,just plain old everyday kindergartenly,  fundamentally, unacceptably wrong.

Well lets start this thing....

'Let's Impeach The President' Song by Neil Youg. Check out Neils page of Song Videos HERE.(check out the hompage)The Lyrics are HERE.

I do not like Andy Dick in just about everything I have ever seen himin...except this video

'Bush Idiot Speech'

Here is a huge list of anti-warsongs worth a peak. Listof Bush lies.

There is just so much more content which could be added to this post, but Ineed to move on from this "consumption" of me.

The Victims of Katrina are Still Waiting

We don't see very much about the state of New Orleans on the news, but if yousearch the video sites, or New Orleans, you'll find plenty of information thatwill make you sick. DemandVitter and Landrieu lead on HR 1227 "Help Katrina Survivors Come BackHome"

This is an email from Color of Change.

Today, Congress has the opportunity to help thousands of New Orleansresidents come back home. The Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007 wouldre-open desperately needed public housing units and make sure there is no lossof affordable public housing in New Orleans.

The bill quickly passed the House of Representatives, but the two people whoshould be leading the charge in the Senate—Louisiana Senators Landrieu andVitter—are stalling, and without their support, the bill will go nowhere.Please join us in demanding that Senators Landrieu and Vitter stop draggingtheir feet, and lead on this important legislation, now.

Preserving Affordable Housing in New Orleans

Since Hurricane Katrina hit, public housing residents have been fighting toreturn home. Unfortunately, HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) isplanning to demolish most of the available public housing units—apartmentsthat were minimally damaged by the storm—and replace them with far fewer unitsof affordable public housing.¹

In response to residents' protests, Congresswoman Maxine Waters held hearingsin New Orleans, giving residents a chance to voice their concerns to Congress.Around the same time, Governor Blanco met with Congressman Barney Frank—headof the committee that oversees HUD—to discuss the need to re-open housing notdamaged by the storm.² The result of these meetings was H.R. 1227,the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007³.

H.R. 1227 honors the right to return of all New Orleans public housingresidents and takes steps to preserve affordable housing in New Orleans. Itrequires the re-opening of at least 3,000 public housing units and ensures thatthere is no net loss of units available and affordable to public housingresidents. The bill swiftly passed the House of Representatives, but it won'tpass the Senate unless Louisiana senators take the lead.

Why haven't Senators Landrieu and Vitter stepped up?

Race and class seem to explain Landrieu and Vitter's refusal to step up. Somepeople have expressed a desire to see a "richer" and"Whiter" post-Katrina New Orleans, and many of them have a great dealof political influence. From what we can tell, Senator Vitter is playing tothose interests by ignoring this legislation– but as a senator for allLouisiana residents, it's his responsibility to ensure that everyone whowants to come home can—not the just the wealthy, privileged, and White.Insiders tell us that Senator Landrieu is being cautious for the same reason:that she doesn't want to offend "moderate" supporters who have asimilar vision for New Orleans.

The Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act is the last great hope forNew Orleans public housing residents who want to come home. By urging theSenate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to take up H.R. 1227,Senators Landrieu and Vitter can make it a reality. But if the senators fromLouisiana don't lead on this issue, others simply won't follow.

It's time to do what's right for New Orleans public housing residents andpass this bill in the Senate. Join us in demanding that Senators Landrieu andVitter support H.R. 1227.

Thank You and Peace,

-- James, Van, Clarissa, Gabriel, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
   April 23rd, 2007

1)New Orleans: HUD Policies Limiting Housing for Poor, Truthout, 12-29-06

2) Blanco: HUDshould reopen N.O. public housing projects

3) Text of H.R. 1227-GulfCoast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007

Katrina, FEMA & The Banks...oh, and the people

Living hundreds of miles away, and never seeing any stories on the news aboutit, it's almost as if all is ok in New Orleans. I mean this great government ofours wouldn't let it's citizens get screwed because of bureaucracy, greedy banksand do nothing politicians...would they? Yes, yes they would.

Reuters: "AidFlap is New Threat to New Orleans Rebuilding"

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - As homes in New Orleans' flood-stricken zones inchtoward habitability, a bureaucratic storm is brewing between state and federalrelief agencies that could derail the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

Officials from the state of Louisiana contend that a new federal requirementthat aid checks be issued jointly to homeowners and their mortgage lenders couldmean that money bypasses the owners -- many of whom lost their jobs as a resultof Katrina -- and goes straight to paying their defaulted mortgage payments.

So the banks are getting theirs, now you get your's. But FEMA (Federal EmergencyManagement Agency) must be watching out for the people right?, that's their job right,well...that's a "NO"

Johnson has been waiting for funds from the Federal Emergency ManagementAgency and the state-run, federally funded and roundly criticized Road Homeprogram since being rescued from her attic days after Katrina hit the U.S. GulfCoast.

The Road Home program has received more than 121,000 applications and has60,000 still to process, and has closed on fewer than 6,100 of them. Of $7.5billion in funding, some $4.7 billion has been allocated, but not necessarilypaid out.

"It doesn't make sense. Everywhere we been, we build other people's(countries) but when it come to ourselves it's completely different,"said Vernon Lawrence, 75, pointing to the cost of the Iraq war andreconstruction. "Here we are in this country suffering like hell."

The Washington Post: also reported on the current situation: "KatrinaAftermath Still Undercuts Special-Needs Housing"

And for anyone that thinks it was a big task and the governmenthas been working on this situation all along, On August 28, 2006 Amanda of ThinkProgress kept us posted with this story OneYear Later: The Real State Of New Orleans. There are great links in thisstory which are important, because there was some talk about how "greatthings were going" with the rebuilding. The rebuilding was being focused on thetourist areas.

I've been through a few hurricanes in my life, and when I think of how muchof a "disaster" and "inconvenience" it was to be withoutelectric for 2-3 days, I feel ashamed now. After these current stories, maybewe'll see McCain walk around the French Quarter and say how wonderful everythingis going.

Top Bush Adviser Dowd Jumps Ship

Mathew Dowd a top adviser and the chief campaign strategist in 2004 for Bush,lost faith in the president and jumped ship. Dowd was a democrat that became disappointedwith Clinton and in 1999 was drawn towards Bush's pledge to bring a spirit ofcooperation to Washington.

 

He remained loyal to Bush until he lost faith in his handling of the war inIraq, TheNew York Times has the complete story.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared senseof sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide tobuild consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believedthe president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable forthe abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approachedgoverning with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinkingcircle of trusted aides.

“I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed inthings,” he said. He added, “I think he’s become more, in my view,secluded and bubbled in.”

He was dumbfounded when Mr. Bush did not fire Defense Secretary Donald H.Rumsfeld after revelations that American soldiers had tortured prisoners at AbuGhraib.

He describes as further cause for doubt two events in the summer of 2005: theadministration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and the president’s refusal,around the same time that he was entertaining the bicyclist LanceArmstrong at his Crawford ranch, to meet with the war protester CindySheehan, whose son died in Iraq.

“I had finally come to the conclusion that maybe all these things along doadd up,” he said. “That it’s not the same, it’s not the person Ithought.”

TheNew York Times has a commentary video: Former Adviser Breaks With Bush

Dowd should be commended for his convictions and a show of being honest withhimself. It is this type of honesty that the Country deserves.

FYI - I just heard Pat Buchanan tell Tucker it was wrong for Dowd to saythat, he should have just moved on. That! is the problem, everyone wants peopleto keep their mouth's shut. Buchanan should keep his mouth shut

How Haley Barbour plans to run for president

By bashing Louisiana, of course.

Republican Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour is considering a run for the White House in 2008.  So if Barbour runs, what will be his theme?  Recently, we got a good preview:

Brag about how you handled the aftermath to hurricane Katrina, bash Louisiana and cuddle up to White House talking points that deflect blame away from the way the federal government handled it.

Photo: 2006 All-Star Political Lineup

What are the odds of finding a photo of Michael Brown, George W. Bush and Mark Foley -- all in a row?  Well, Wonkette did.

If swing voters are looking for a reason to vote blue less than five weeks from now, this is it.

Homeland Security means more than just preventing terrorism

The traditional media often has the tendency of using the phrase "homeland security" one-dimensionally to refer only to terrorist-related precautions.  But as most Americans would agree, homeland security is about a lot more than just preventing violent extremists from harming our civilians.  To have a truly secure homeland, we need crime-free neighborhoods, we need clean air so we can breathe easier, we need economic stability for the middle class and we also need an efficient emergency response system in place.  Last year, hurricane Katrina taught us that we have a long way to go in terms of preparing for natural disasters.

When it comes to emergency response immediately following disasters, a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) illustrated how we are too one-dimensional in our approach to homeland security.

GovExec.com outlines the new GAO report:

  One of the reports (GAO-06-618)called for greater cooperation among all levels of government when thenext disaster strikes, more thorough testing of operational strategies,and improved and continuous communication from federal entities down.

"Leadership in the form of legal authorities, roles andresponsibilities, and lines of authority at all levels of governmentmust be clearly defined, effectively communicated, and well understoodin order to facilitate rapid and effective decision-making," the reportnoted.

In other words, we need greater communication and transparency so that each agency knows exactly what its role is.  It goes on:

Comptroller General David M. Walker in a Wednesdayevent unveiling the reports criticized DHS' National Response Plan forhandling disasters. He said the guidelines used in the response toHurricane Katrina were geared more toward a terrorist attack than anatural disaster and left states and local entities ill-prepared tomeet their responsibilities. That plan has since been updated, but the changes remain untested, according to GAO's report.

Again, terrorism is not the only part of homeland security.  We need to be ready for natural disasters as well.

The GAO released yet another report -- this time on Katrina -- saying that taxpayer money going to rebuild the Gulf Coast must be accounted for:

  A second report (GAO-06-834)published Wednesday called for better disclosure of federalexpenditures from Katrina. "FEMA does not have a mechanism to report onthe financial activity of the agencies performing work on its behalf,"the report stated.

That report also recommended that theOffice of Management and Budget improve the transparency surroundinghurricane-related funds. GAO reported that $88 billion has beenappropriated to 23 different agencies for recovery efforts, but thereis no centralized database with information on how those funds havebeen spent.

In other words, we have a long way to go in terms of being fully prepared for the next disaster, whenever it happens.  Many Americans would like to see the same amount of energy that is currently being spent on politicizing 9/11 to go towards putting together a national task force of doctors, geologists, scientists and other disaster experts to advise our government how to fulfill its obligation of protecting its citizens when the unthinkable happens.

The USA Today also has an article about the GAO report in Thursday's newspaper.

(Video) Bush: "I've got an ekelectic reading list"

You'd better bookmark this blog entry -- this is one for the history books.  40 years from now we will show our grandchildren this interview and they will finally understand why things were so hard during our lifetime. 

During an interview with NBC News, from an objective standpoint, President Bush looked more on his toes, out of place and verbally inept than we have ever seen him before.  The stress of knowing that his war policy is a failure is finally getting to him.  Watch this clip, and pay close attention to Brian Williams' reaction at the end:

Click to watch video clip (YouTube)

--- Partial Transcript ---

BUSH: "I've got an ekelectic reading list...Lemme, Lemme, look.  The key for me is to keep expectations low."

WILLIAMS: "Is that what everyone doesn't get?"

BUSH: "I don't know, Brian, what they get or don't get.  Let, let, you know, my line here here --"

WILLIAMS: "We see all the talk."

BUSH: "Here's the thing.  I don't listen.  Here's the thing.  The great thing about the presidency is your're totally exposed, and people spend a lot of time, particularly if you're making decisions and hard decisions, people spend a lot of time, not only analyzing the decisions, they analyze the decision-maker.  And I understand that.  But a President must never let him get off let let that get him off track."

WILLIAMS: "Even if you're frustrated that we're getting something wrong?"

BUSH: "You have to do what you think is -- if we're getting something wrong, we change it."

WILLIAMS: "How have you been read wrong?"

BUSH: "Oh I don't know about (inaudible) wrong.  I frankly don't pay that much attention to it.  I don't wanna hurt people's feelings about it you (inaudible)."

WILLIAMS: "Still not watching television, huh?"

BUSH: "Ah, I watch some good baseball game."

WILLIAMS: "Mr. President, thank you very much."

BUSH: "Yes sir."

This transcript was the most accurate that I could possibly make it.  And yes, he did say ekelectic -- which probably meant eclectic.  Now my grammar is going to start unwinding for having listened to the clip.  Brian Williams' reaction at the very end was priceless. 

I just would like to say thanks a lot to the 54 million people throughout the country that voted for George W. Bush in 2004.  Thanks for having the short attention span to not think for yourself when the Swift Boat Vets smear group viciously attacked John Kerry.  Thanks for having the one-track mind to believe the notion seriously that we are fighting the terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to fight them here.  Thanks for giving us four more years with a Defense Secretary who spends more time scaring people than finding progressive ways to defend America.  This is what you voted for.  Enjoy the next two years.
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Other sites blogging about this story: Crooks and Liars, Digg, The Democratic Daily, The Bush Diaries, Nevada Thunder, OH-12, True Blue Liberal, The Constant American, Wonkette, Carefully Selected Garbage, Huffington Post, Integral Opinions Cafe, Plays Well with Others, The Peace Blog, The Pennsylvania Progressive, The DCeiver, This Much Left, St George Blog, Left-Over, Strategic Outlook Institute, No More Apples.