This past weekend I was able to make a trip to Slidell, Louisiana to take supplies to Slidell High School and to some local residents who Barbara had worked with during her time there.  The diaries that Barbara posted about her experiences there struck me deeply and I wanted to be able to do something for some of the people who have been most impacted by the hurricane and its aftermath.  

I understand now, after returning from the trip, just how devastating the hurricane was and how inadequate the response.  Slidell is making great strides to recover, but there are many people there who will need a great deal of help to recover.  Perhaps this diary, along with the excellent work that Barbara has done, can help us figure out how to continue to help.  It is still desperately needed.

This is a long diary, and I hope you'll take the time to read it.  This is a topic we can't let slip away.  There's still far too much suffering happening and we can help lessen it through our efforts.

[There are some of Barbara's photos of Katrina's aftermath posted in comments - take a look]

After reading Barbara's diaries about the needs of folks in Slidell LA I've decided to make a run down there this weekend with a truck load of supplies.  I'll be bringing school supplies, cleaning supplies, bedding, some packaged food and water.  

I need some help from Kossacks to make this happen, though.  If you're interested please take a look below the fold.

According to am New York (Warning: slow to load PDF), one of our local free morning papers, a crackdown on a gun smuggling operation in Brooklyn has highlighted a long-running problem for law enforcement here in NYC: the smuggling of illegal weapons into New York from southern states with lax gun laws.

From the local ABC affiliate: Gun-Running Ring Busted

New York City is trying to combat this problem, but Republicans are thwarting efforts to control the problem, essentially aiding those who are smuggling illegal weapons into the City.

From NYT, everyone's favorite Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, is getting the support of a radical Christian group, the Ohio Restoration Project.  The OHP is trying to organize 2000 radical Christian leaders (referred to as Patriot Pastors) to take over the Ohip Republican party and then the government of the state itself.

Movement In The Pews Tries To Jolt Ohio

There are so many ways that this is just wrong, I don't even know where to begin.  We could start with the nearly transparent effort to use radical churches for political organizing.  Then we could move on to the political payback for Ken Blackwell's dirty work in '04.  Toss in some incendiary commentary about gay marriage and abortion and we're really cooking!

David Brooks, a pundit of mediocre ability and questionable judgement in my opinion, has just penned an honest to goodness "speak truth to power" column.  He takes on the K street and the Republican class of 1995 referring to them as "sleazo-cons," a term I'll be happy to see added to the lexicon.

Lt. Col. Lori Noyes of the Civil Air Patrol, Ramstein Cadet Squadron, has been organizing a donation drive of clothing and other essentials for wounded troops from Iraq and Afghanistan sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.  Last autumn she sent a request for clothing and monetary donations to assist these troops who often arrived at Landstuhl with nothing but a medical gown.  The response was very generous and she received over ninety packages of clothing and over $2000.

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished.

Because she had these packages and donations sent to her personal military postal address or to her squadron's address she is technically in violation of regulations for use of a military postal address.  In fact an IG complaint has been filed against her.  The email I received from her is below the fold.

A recent diary posted a request from Lt. Col. Lori Noyes of the Civil Air Patrol for assistance for our wounded service members at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.  Lt. Col. Noyes reported that wounded troops arrived there without clothing aside from medical gowns and were unable to get to the Rammstein base exchange to buy any.  She had requested that folks send clothing and had an entire laundry list in her email.

I emailed Lt. Col. Noyes to find out what the situation was and whether any additional assistance is still required.  I received her response today (below the fold).

The folks at Operation Truth are trying to raise $200,000 by December 31 to complete the feature length version of the film The Ground Truth: The Human Cost Of War, a documentary looking at the lives of soldiers returning from the war in Iraq.

The folks at Operation Truth are trying to raise $200,000 by December 31 to complete the feature length version of the film The Ground Truth: The Human Cost Of War, a documentary looking at the lives of soldiers returning from the war in Iraq.

What happened to up2date's diary on the purge of "disloyal" CIA operatives.  I noticed that it had been promoted to the home page, but when I went to take a look at the comments it just diappeared.  "I'm sorry, I can't find that diary".

Huh?  What's up?  I just want to see what folks here think of this.  I'm hoping this was just some hiccup in Scoop.  Anyone know what's going on?

Check out Dave Neiwert's post Back To The Roots.  He's looking at how the Dems have basically abandoned rural voters and how that has hurt us in the last few elections.  In 2000 and in 2004 both Gore and Kerry had good programs outlined for addressing the problems that rural America faces, but neither one pursued those programs in a way that engaged rural voters.

My family lives in a very rural area of Michigan and I was back in early October.  The place was NOT wall-to-wall Bush/Cheney.  There are Democrats there.  And if we can figure out how to get the message across to them in an honest and sincere way, we can get more of them.

Here in Allentown PA we've had tremendous GOTV turnout.  The canvassing coverage has been really extensive, with our KE04 canvassers and the ACT and MoveOn folks.

After our polls closed here in Lehigh and Northampton counties we got word from KE national HQ that they wanted our volunteers to phone bank some western states.  We started them phoning voters in Nevada.  When they got through the list they insisted on getting more numbers to call and THEY told US to get them numbers for Hawaii because they didn't want it going R!

My thanks to all of you out there who are hitting the phones and the pavement for Kerry/Edwards and all the other Dem campaigns.  You're winning this one!

I'm volunteering with PA Victory 2004, the Kerry/Edwards campaign in Pennsylvania at the Allentown PA office.  The Voter Protection group here needs lawyers to help with their efforts on election day.  They are particularly in need of Spanish speaking lawyers.  If you can help out please phone me at 917/620-4394 and I'll get you through to Voter Protection.  I won't be able to check in here too often so PLEASE phone me.  Thanks!

Kuma Games is releasing a video game based on the February 28, 1969 battle in which John Kerry won his Silver Star.

Quoting the Associated Press article:

"The level of rancor has been such that few of us know what is supposed to have occurred in anyone's version of the story," Kuma Reality chief executive Keith Harper said. "Kuma Games is in a unique position to bring clarity to ordinary people's understanding of Swift boats, of the men who served in them, and of the events in question by letting you, as Lt. John Kerry, join Swift boat PCF-94 during these important events."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1963&e=12&u=/ap/20040924/ap_on_hi_te/ke rry_videogame