I'm not able to continue this series further and do it justice at this time due to severe time constraints, I hope to come back to it as soon as possible, my apologies for the delay.
Please refer to Part I (linked above) to see how it came about. (Just a note: this series is apolitical in the respect that I generally have not included diaries or links from political candidates or groups pushing a political candidate. I haven't exempted though, diaries which question, or expose political candidates and their agendas.)
[The Updates Part VI: diary and link updates which pre-date 11/30/05 have boldfaced diarist names, and article dates, respectively...I'm working on updating the article links as soon as possible, had some computer problems]
For anyone, following this series, please note I'll no longer be posting in diaries that I'm linking them here, it's too time consuming, and I've never felt comfortable with it.
Other Links:
Race, Poverty and Katrina [audio], (Craig E. Colten, professor of geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University, says race played a role in the New Orleans' level of preparedness for Hurricane Katrina.) Morning Edition/NPR, 09/02/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Katrina Pushes Issues of Race and Poverty at Bush, (Angry about how an affiliate of the NAACP portrayed him in a 2000 political ad, Bush has rejected invitations to speak at the organization's past five conventions, making him the first sitting president in more than 80 years not to address the group. NAACP...), By Michael A. Fletcher,The Washington Post, 09/12/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Let Katrina revive the war on poverty, (Most of the poor are working - not idle, notes Mr. Zweig. . . . . "We can't let things go the way they are," Zweig says. "There is too much suffering."), By David R. Francis, The Christian Science Monitor, 09/12/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
The Profiteers of Disaster - No Shame, No Shame at All (Well, yesterday the President declared that "to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong." . . . Only the previous Monday, Bush had denied that the federal efforts had been too slow, that African-Americans had been disadvantaged, or that there had been any Iraq-related shortage of troops or National Guard. . . So since the President may not be aware of the full extent of what he is taking responsibility for, I thought I might set the record straight: . . .), By Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club, 09/14/05, courtesy of pico
The Other America An Enduring Shame: Katrina reminded us, but the problem is not new. Why a rising tide of people live in poverty, who they are--and what we can do about it. (It takes a hurricane. It takes a catastrophe like Katrina to strip away the old evasions, hypocrisies and not-so-benign neglect. It takes the sight of the United States with a big black eye--visible around the world--to help the rest of us begin to see again. For the moment, at least, Americans are ready to fix their restless gaze on enduring problems of poverty, race and class that have escaped their attention. Does this mean a new war on poverty? No, especially with Katrina's gargantuan price tag. But this disaster may offer a chance to start a skirmish, or at least make Washington think harder about why part of the richest country on earth looks like the Third World.), By Jonathan Alter, Newsweek via MSNBC 09/19/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Katrina Exposes American Poverty - Winds of Katrina Swept Away Cloak That Hides Deep Poverty That America Has Failed to Solve, (Ordinarily the faces of America's poor are as hidden as their stories. But Hurricane Katrina has spotlighted the deep poverty that this country has failed to solve, a world of people who live without Social Security numbers and without running water, people who are too poor to shop at Wal-Mart and whose children go hungry. . . . [HUNGRY CHILDREN, SHAME].... 45.8 million people don't have health insurance; 25 percent of American's blacks (and 44 percent of Houston's) live in poverty; 36 million Americans are hungry or at risk of hunger. ), By Martha Mendoza, AP via ABC News 09/24/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Let's Have an Antipoverty Caucus - Katrina and Rita offer a chance to rethink societal strategies, By Joe Klein, Time Magazine, 09/25/05
Poverty: The Crisis Katrina Revealed, (The storm brought a brutal reminder of America's big class divide -- and the Bush Administration's policies are only deepening the rift. . . . The car, that icon of the American Dream, is now a symbol of something much different -- class divide in America. In New Orleans, 35% of black households didn't own a car, vs. 15% of white households.), By Christopher Farrell, BusinessWeek, 09/27/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Ending Concentrated Poverty: New Directions After Hurricane Katrina [pdf], By F. Barton Harvey, Chairman and CEO, The Enterprise Foundation, 10/12/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
That Was a Short War on Poverty, (It has long been said that Americans have short attention spans, but this is ridiculous: Our bold, urgent, far-reaching, post-Katrina war on poverty lasted maybe a month.), By E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post 10/14/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Rift showing between Blanco and black lawmakers (A noticeable public rift has developed between Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Louisiana's black lawmakers at a critical time for a state struggling to recover from back-to-back hurricanes....Disagreements have emerged over the types of hurricane recovery items that Blanco included in the special legislative session to deal with the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the items that she didn't put up for debate....But the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus called attention to its displeasure this week when the group filed a lawsuit against Blanco, saying the governor didn't have the legal authority to slash $431 million in state spending by executive order. The caucus asked a judge to reverse those deep budget cuts that Blanco handed down Saturday.) By Melinda Deslatte, AP via Louisiana Weekly, 11/14/05, courtesy of blksista
Could there be a Wilson/Landrieu runoff for mayor? - Coincidence or calculated individual maneuvers? (In the same week, Peggy Wilson formally hires the hottest campaign consultant in Louisiana, while Mitch Landrieu chastises both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin before a high profile event on how to rebuild after Katrina. By their actions, could these two well-known politicians established themselves as frontrunners to be the next Mayor of New Orleans?), By Christopher Tidmore, The Louisiana Weekly, 11/14/05, courtesy of blksista
US House passes $49.9 billion in spending cuts ( The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday narrowly voted to trim social programs for the poor along with farm subsidies, student loans and other federal benefits as part of a $49.9-billion package of spending cuts. . . . Unlike the Senate bill, the House measure would repeal a U.S. trade law deemed illegal by the World Trade Organization. The so-called Byrd amendment allows the federal government to distribute money collected from punitive duties on foreign goods to U.S. companies involved in trade disputes. ), By Richard Cowan Reuters, 11/18/05, courtesy of therightlies
A divided GOP cuts programs for the poor - The Star's view: Cuts to programs for the poor cannot match the budget deficit. Congress would do well to look at ending tax cuts that benefit mostly the wealthy, (The House budget bill's negotiations exposed deep divisions among Republican moderates and hard-liners. The bill passed in the House by a narrow 217-215 vote after weeks in which moderates and conservatives batted about major portions. . . . Congressional Republicans pulled their divided caucus together and passed a budget through the House on Friday. It's now in the hands of the Senate, and the upper chamber needs to take a serious look at retaining beneficial assistance programs while bringing deficit spending under control. ), Opinion - Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon,AZ), 11/21/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
Anatomy of a disaster, (...The reality is even more dire than that. Louisiana State University forensic engineers working with Attorney General Charles Foti's office began taking sonar readings recently near the breach along the 17th Street Canal, and the results are disturbing: The sheet pilings extend only 10 feet below sea level -- 7 feet shorter than the corps claimed they did. At that depth, the 17th Street Canal floodwall is likely anchored in peat, a moist, mucky, organic soil that is unstable even by the standards of swampy South Louisiana. One engineer compared building a floodwall on such a foundation to "putting bricks on Jell-O."... These revelations don't just damage the corps' credibility; they call into question the integrity of the entire flood-protection system, which is only as strong as its weakest link. Our system has mile after mile of floodwalls, and it is far more vulnerable than anyone outside the corps imagined.), The Times Picayune (New Orleans, LA), 11/21/05, courtesy of pico
Dems, GOP Fight Over Federal Spending for the Poor (...It's not how much the federal government spends on the poor, says Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Rather, it's how little the states spend. . . . In Louisiana, for example, parents qualify for Medicaid coverage only if they earn less than $174 dollars a month -- which is far below where the federal government draws the poverty line. . . . "What we had in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were the weakest safety nets in the United States," Greenstein says. "One of the reasons those people were so poor was because governmental assistance was so extraordinarily limited in those states." ), By Julie Rovner, Morning Edition/NPR, 11/22/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
New Orleans Vote Near, but Who Will Go? (Were things different, Mayor C. Ray Nagin would be barnstorming for another term these days through Gentilly and Lakeview and the Lower Ninth Ward, neighborhoods that instead form an archipelago of desolation.), By Clifford J. Levy, The New York Times, 11/27/05, courtesy of blksista
Post-Katrina Poll Finds Americans Prioritizing Poverty over Terrorism, (Those who considered tackling poverty to be the country's number one priority included 58 percent of Blacks, 43 percent of Hispanics, 38 percent of Asians and 36 percent of non-Hispanic Whites, according to the poll results.), By Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US via Yahoo! News, 11/24/05, courtesy of John Campanelli
FEMA'S CONTRACTING DISASTER - A little-noticed internal report reveals that over a year ago, the Department of Homeland Security knew FEMA contracting was a scandal (But auditors' conclusions were jaw-dropping. . . . In short, they found there was no way to know whether the people charged with buying millions of dollars worth of goods and services in normal times (and a whole lot more after a disaster) had a clue. To use the report's phrasing: "It was impossible to determine whether the acquisition personnel met training, education and experience requirements." Record-keeping was so slipshod that auditors were "unable to assess the qualifications of the workforce." ),  By Sean Reilly, Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch/Institute for Southern Studies., 11/28/05, courtesy of ProgressiveSouth
In coastal Mississippi, recovery is stagnant in post-Katrina towns (This is the other land laid low by Katrina's fury. Like New Orleans to the west, hundreds of square miles of Mississippi coastland look little better than they did in early September, and many people here harbor anger that the federal government has fallen short and that the nation's attention has turned away. At least 200,000 Mississippians remain displaced, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is short at least 13,000 trailers to house them. . . . Fifty thousand homeowners lack federal flood insurance and cannot rebuild. The casinos, which employed 17,000 people, won't begin to reopen until next year, and the unemployment rate has quadrupled, now topping 23 percent in the coastal counties.),   The Washington Post via The Daily News (Longview, WA), 11/26/05, courtesy of maw150, 11/28/05
New Orleans Nagin: Great Mileage, Weak Leadership (New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin certainly has racked up some frequent flyer miles since Katrina hit his city. The Mayor set his family up in Dallas after the storm and has been commuting on weekends to see his wife and children. Quite frequently, he has traveled to Washington D.C. to testify on Capitol Hill. He has also been barnstorming around the area meeting with displaced constituents in Baton Rouge, Houston and other cities. He also squeezed in time for a vacation and spent Thanksgiving in Jamaica with other American tourists. Some questioned whether Nagin should be lounging on a beach in a ritzy resort while many of his constituents don't even have a trailer to lounge in, but this Mayor has never been concerned about public relations.) By Jeff Crouere, Bayou Buzz, 11/28/05, courtesy of blksista
Questions loom large in Big Easy's recovery (In a city where the most ravaged neighborhoods are primarily black, equity is a powerful issue. . . . For that reason, Nagin has pledged to "rebuild the entire city of New Orleans," meaning the Lower Ninth Ward as well as the exclusive Garden District. . . . But after three months, Congress has allocated only a small portion of the $250 billion in federal aid some Louisiana lawmakers want, partly out of wariness of the city's legendary history of corruption. . . [I thought DC had that copyright?]. . . . Topping the "must do" list is repairing the levees. Unless residents believe they will hold and history won't repeat itself, banks won't write mortgages, the government won't provide flood insurance, developers won't invest, and companies won't expand.) By David Dillon, Knight Ridder via The State (SC), 11/29/05
Riley sworn in as NOPD chief By Michael Perlstein, The Times-Picayune, 11/29/05, courtesy of blksista
Crippled Crescent City - Touring the quasi-museum that was New Orleans. (...Examples of wind damage dot the drive into town. Several McDonald's have had their Golden Arches shredded. The neon sign on the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Metairie now reads " our oints." Impressive for now, this disarray is virtually subliminal beside the incredible destruction ahead) By Deroy Murdock, National Review Online (NRO), 11/30/05
Large swath of Lower Ninth Ward opens [opens for 'closure'] on Dec. 1 (NEW ORLEANS A large swath of one of the most impoverished and heavily damaged areas of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina likely will reopen to residents on December first....The Lower Ninth Ward, which was reduced to ruins by the storm and flooding is the only section of the city that is still restricted [SHAME, SHAME, SHAME...]. Most residents must view damaged homes from a bus....Mayor Ray Nagin says all residents of the area will be allowed to examine their property, but will not be allowed to live there.) AP via 10 KLFY (Arcadiana, LA ), 11/30/05
Far from home, a gifted young musician starts over after Katrina
(But now, at 19, much has changed for Johnson, just as it has for the thousands of displaced Louisianans who are starting over in unfamiliar cities, from Houston to New York, Los Angeles to Chicago, living lives that will be forever divided into two parts _ before and after Hurricane Katrina. . . . Determined to start over, Johnson bounced from city to city, landing finally in Portland in October, just as the rainy season was setting in, though there'll be no hurricanes here. There are days when he walks for blocks and doesn't see another black person, and already he's had to buy, by his count, four jackets, three blazers and "a couple of hats" just to stay warm.) AP ( AP writer, Bryan Brumley, contributed to this report.) via KATC 3 (Acadiana, LA), 11/30/05
New Orleans debuts Free WiFi (wireless internet), jaunted.com, 11/30/05, courtesy of blksista
WEBSITES and REMINDERS (see Parts I-V also):
Actions:
An Evening at Mardi Gras with Harry Shearer [Los Angeles] (Join actor/satirist/musician and Carnival aficionado Harry Shearer to celebrate the enduring legacy of New Orleans and Mardi Gras. Harry and friends pay tribute to the citizens and culture of this beloved city. This event is a benefit for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Suggested donation at the door of $25 per person, cash or check only.), December 1st, 2005, courtesy of musing graze, 11/25/05
Emergency Communities - Dec. 9th Benefit concert/slideshow (Emergency Communities is opening a kitchen and community center in St. Bernard's Parish on December 2nd. The Parish is located right outside of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, one of the most devastated areas of the disaster zone. We NEED your help to start this kitchen! Come to a Benefit concert/slideshow at San Marcos Restaurant and Bar in lower Manhattan (12 St. Mark's Place, between 2nd and 3rd Ave) on Friday, December 9th at 8pm. There will be live music, great food, and a slideshow/video presentation and lecture of what we are doing on the Gulf. . . . The suggested minimum donation is $25 for adults, and $10 for students or recent students. Please RSVP and come help make a difference.)courtesy of maw150, 11/28/05
From Charm City to the Crescent City [Baltimore, MD] (a Mardi Gras themed benefit for the Tipitina's Foundation Artist Relief Fund, featuring the Radiators.), December 2nd and 3rd, 2005, courtesy of musing graze, 11/25/05
Class Action lawsuit is filed against FEMA (Katrina victims who are interested in joining the class should call 888.299.5227 or 415.288.8717.),   The Louisiana Weekly, (New Orleans, LA), 11/14/05, courtesy of tejassaluki
Arlo Guthrie - Benefit Tour
Tour Route
Mon. Dec. 5 The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, Ill. 7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 7 Lincoln Cultural Center, 240 S. Warren Ave., Kankakee, Ill. 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 10 Canopy Club, 708 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana/Champaign, Ill. 4 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 11 Keller Convention Center., 1202 N. Keller Dr., Effingham, Ill. 4 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 12 Copper Dragon, 700 E. Grand Ave., Carbondale, Ill. 7 p.m.
Tues. Dec. 13 The New Daisy, 330 Beale St., Memphis, Tenn. 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 17 Tipitina's, 233 N. Peters St., New Orleans, La. 8 p.m.
[courtesy of musing graze 11/30/05]
Holding court, courting votes (...Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who has taken to holding weekly "town hall" meetings where suffering constituents mired in the post-hurricane bureaucracy of this beleaguered city are invited to come and ask directly for help....Gatherings for displaced New Orleanians are scheduled for Houston and Atlanta in coming weeks.) By Howard Witt Chicago Tribune via The State (Columbia, SC), 11/16/05
"KATRINAMAS" (To friends, family and other peripheral entities, we will not be "doing Christmas" this year. We will not be exchanging presents, doing lavish decorations (not that we ever have done lavish unless you call a couple of strands of lights in the trees lavish) or sending out paper Christmas cards. Any money and effort for the holiday season will be spent on the Hurricane Katrina refugees who will STILL be needing our assistance when the holiday season rolls around. Their crisis will be an ongoing one and we cannot forget them. THECULTUREGHOST blog, courtesy of jillian, 11/17/05
[courtesy of NOdiaspora, 11/21/05, PLEASE visit here also]
But if you can make only ONE call or send ONE email, then please make it the White House.
White House (202) 456-1111 (comments)
president@whitehouse.gov
vice_president@whitehouse.gov
comments@whitehouse.gov
We must make it loud and clear that Americans will not stand idly by while they purposely choke off Louisiana, by waiting us out on the levee and coastal restoration issue --waiting us out until after mortgage lenders and insurers deem our land to be too risky (and, thus, "worthless"), so that the federal govt can then take our land (H.R. 4100) and then flip it to Cheney's oil and gas cabal for pennies on the dollar.
RELIEF FOR VICTIMS OF KATRINA Building a Pyramid/Boris Epstein, courtesy of borepstein, 11/25/05
News:
It's Getting Hot In Here ( Dispatches from the U.N. Conference on Climate Change, Montreal 2005), courtesy of Japhet 11/29/05
Organizations:
International Humanities Center (The International Humanities Center's mission is to work with other independent nonprofit organizations and sponsored projects that are devoted to a vision of ecological and humanitarian stewardship that benefits all of creation. We seek to reverse the current situation of pollution, disease, and disconnection by focusing efforts on creating a civilization that is centered upon love, peace, and natural harmony.), courtesy of maw150, 11/28/05
Emergency Communities (Emergency Communities is a grassroots organization designed to provide rapid response to natural disasters based upon an emergency community model. An emergency community will involve both victims and volunteers in a joint effort to effectively recover from a disaster. Borne from the horrific Hurricane Katrina disaster, Emergency Communities will create dynamic disaster responses that involve people from both within the stricken community and without.) courtesy of maw150, 11/28/05
Downloads, Images, Music:
Significant Floods in the United States During the 20th Century - USGS Measures a Century of Floods, U.S. Geological Survey, March 2000, courtesy of pico, 11/22/05
Other related Diaries (thank goodness for Jotter):
November 22nd, 2005 Added here because it was posted late on Part V
..by - pico, Rebuilding New Orleans: Yay or Nay?
November 27th, 2005
..by - MFL, IN guard arrested innocent businessman during Katrina
November 28th 2005
..by - ProgressiveSouth, New documents: Bush admin knew about FEMA a year ago
..by - maw150, Emergency! Please help us Kossacks!
..by - mcgruderist, New Orleans Kitchen Opening in One Week! Help!
November 29th 2005
..by - usftony, Katrina & Fiscal Responsibility
..by - Japhet, Montreal Sticking it to Bush?
..by - therightlies, Don't Step in the Leadership.(TM)
..by - John Campanelli, Time Person of the Year Candidate: The Poor
November 30th, 2005
..by - tvb, 'Costliest engineering mistake in history'
..by - CocoaLove, An Angel gets her wings
..by - Liberal Thinking, CNN & New Orleans WiFi (with Poll)
..by - blksista, LA 02/06 Election: Nagin and Blanco in big trouble
December 1st, 2005
..by - harrier, Great company, great New Orleans story
..by - Drezden, If you thought Hurricane Katrina was bad, just wait.....
..by - state29, Katrina play to premiere
..by - The Fat Lady Sings, Are You Racist?
..by - BobcatJH, Racism: America's disgraceful legacy
..by - heiwaboke, Paramedics Stranded after Hurricane Katrina Make Appeal to Common Humanity
December 2nd, 2005
..by - maw150, FEMA kicking people out! Please help!
..by - Munnin, Stirling's CD goes LIVE!
..by - mrblifil, 'Project Bitchslap'-Bush Economic Advisor Hubbard Joins Scottie at Today's Briefing
December 3rd, 2005
..by - kevin22262, Progressives rebuild New Orleans...
..by - blksista, LA: N.O. 02/04/06 municipal elections postponed--and an ominous note About Those Levees
..by - JR, FEMA fails again: New Orleans Doesn't Get to Vote
December 4th, 2005
..by - quaoar, Uppity woman senator (Landrieu) told to be quiet
..by - inetresearch, Gov. Blanco Releases Katrina Papers
..by - luckydog, Great press. Thanks. Side order of results?
..by - gobacktotexas, MUST READ: FEMA Cuts and Runs in New Orleans
..by - weirdscenes, Largest civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States
..by - nyceve, Survival Sunday: Dancing With Death in the Age of Bush
..by - lambertstrether, Bush lied about NOLA reconstruction
December 5th, 2005
..by - The Termite, Twas the Night Before Katrina
..by - eaglecries, Enough is enough
..by - sterno, Time to Boycott Bell South?
..by - Munnin, Stirling's CD goes LIVE!
..by - laviolet, Limbaugh, Hannity Return to New Orleans Airwaves, Franken and Schultz Still Missing
..by - maw150, Thank you Kossacks!
..by - herdsire, BellSouth rescinds its Katrina aid
..by - hannah, Shop NOLA
* Further updates after reviewing jotter's: 'High Impact Diaries' diary.
For detail on environmental issues that're missed here, see:
jillian's daily diaries.
Some Google searches regarding the missing:
To search the news: Katrina Missing - News Search
To search the web: Katrina Missing - Web Search
For Google Bombers:
Go into your "User Preferences", on your "My Profile" tab, and add the following (or any other truth baring html link you find to SCI/Kenyon) to your "comments signature":
<a href="http://www.hereinreality.com/funeralgate.htm">SCI/Kenyon</>
Track back to
The Missing and the Dead...[Part I]
The Missing and the Dead Part II
The Missing and the Dead Part III
The Missing and the Dead Part IV
The Missing and the Dead Part V
Photo by Alan Chin
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
For 13 days in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the body of Alcede Jackson lay on a porch at 4732 Laurel St., wrapped in a plastic bag and covered in a blanket beneath a sign quoting the evangelist John and commending Jackson to "the loving arms of Jesus." --Michelle Krupa, The Times-Picayune, September 13, 2005
(Yes, I know the picture link isn't working; but it seems apropos to leave that little red x there.)
The wheels of justice grind slow, but smooth...
Permalink | 24 comments