$100 million for Haiti, and has put in a request for $700 billion for the defense budget, with $33 billion for the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is obscene.
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $ 33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of
a record $ 708 billion for the Defence Department next year, a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies.
The extra $ 33 billion in 2010 would mostly go toward the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.
Military officials have suggested that the 2011 request would top $ 700 billion for the first time, but the precise figure has not been made public.
With the highest homeless rate in the nation, and the ongoing crisis in the availability of affordable housing, me and my fellow New Orleanians watch with hurt and horror as this disaster plays out in Haiti. The federal government has not answered our cries for additional assistance. Is it any wonder many of us watch gloomily the somewhat tepid response, not only by the U.S., but worldwide, to Haiti. On the other hand, the private donations, I'm guessing, just like Katrina, will pour in. If it weren't for the private hands coming here to rebuild, we'd be even worse off. I suspect the same scenario will play out in Haiti.
How Many Are Homeless?
Nationwide, 3 million Americans - including 500,000 children - are homeless. Millions more live on the brink of homelessness. An M.I.T. study predicted that, if present trends continue, 18 million Americans will be homeless by the year 2003.
According to service providers' statistics, 17,000 to 19,000 men, women and children in the New Orleans area are homeless.
Facts About The Homeless
In New Orleans Approximately:
* 33% are families; most being women with children
* 30% have jobs: part time; seasonal; minimum wage
* 23% have a chronic mental illness
* 50% have substance abuse problems
* 85% are natives of Louisiana, 15% are non-natives
* Less than 10% of the homeless population is homeless by choice or "hard core" homeless.
Also this statement by Obama contradicts a report today of chaos at the airport, and the appearance that no one is coordinating relief there (emphasis in bold mine):
On Thursday, Obama said that the "first waves" of rescue and recovery personnel were on the ground in Haiti with more to come. He also noted that the U.S. military has secured the major airport there and has prepared it to receive heavy equipment needed for the cleanup and rescue.
and this report today:
Coordinating deliveries was also a problem, which is being tackled by U.N. and U.S. officials, Byrs said.
With the U.N. peacekeeping force in tatters, representatives of aid organizations say there does not appear to be anyone coordinating distribution of relief supplies at the airport in Port-au-Prince.
"It is difficult because folks at the Port-au-Prince airport are trying to get up to speed to run logistics," said Save the Children spokeswoman Kate Conradt from Haiti.
"Donations are coming in to the airport here, but some are coming without notice from very well-meaning groups," she said. "There is not yet a system to get it in."
No need for overly optimistic statements at this time. The vast majority of the population, on day three, haven't seen a lick of help.
I wonder if we'll see the usual parade of profit-driven corporations engaged in "relief" like we saw here in New Orleans: Blackwater (they guarded the FEMA office in Baton Rouge, next to the Convention Center Evacuee Camp, among other jobs), Fluor (saw their trucks everywhere), and Bechtel (ditto).