Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Notes From Inside New Orleans

This morning's post on Blog for America is a guest entry, Notes From Inside New Orleans written by Jordan Flaherty

In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near Causeway, thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor) stood and squatted in mud and trash behind metal barricades, under an unforgiving sun, with heavily armed soldiers standing guard over them. When a bus would come through, it would stop at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one of the barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no information given about where the bus was going. Once inside (we were told) evacuees would be told where the bus was taking them—Baton Rouge, Houston, Arkansas, Dallas, or other locations.

Click here
for the rest.

In one of my posts last night, I linked to Terri in Tokyo's Kos diary, Low-income/People of Color-led/Grassroots Katrina Relief and encouraged any Kos members here to recommend it. This morning, I see that she has crossposted the diary at MyDD, so if you're a member, please click and recommend.

The Sparkplug Foundation (which supports projects primarily in three areas of focus: music, education and grassroots organizing) has a Katrina Relief page, which lists where to donate to organizations who are:

* Organizing at the grassroots level in New Orleans, Biloxi, Houston and other affected areas
* Providing immediate disaster relief to poor people and people of color
* Directed by, or accountable to, poor people and people of color
* Fostering the democratic inclusion of poor people and people of color in the
rebuilding process

Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor

This story is originally from The Nation but appears in Yahoo news. It is my understanding that if you have a Yahoo account, you can help a story get to the front page by using the "rate this story" function, but also by emailing the story. You can always email the story to yourself if you don't want to clog someone else's email.

From Democratic Underground, We know what you did this summer by Nancy Greggs

In this past week of tragedy, anguish and death, Bush & Co. couldn't care less about the people who were living in hell. Well, that's no surprise to most of us. Been there, seen that. Just like they don't care about the soldiers they've sent to die in Iraq, or the innocent civilians there who have had their country turned upside down to the point of civil war. Just like they don't care about the millions of Americans they've forced into poverty, the people who have lost their jobs due to their policies.

So tell us something we didn't already know.

But this week, there was a more than obvious difference to their indifference. In a definite departure from the norm, they didn't even bother to fake it.


Click here for the rest.

CNN's Katrina Timeline Um, the title seems pretty self-explanatory. Just click.

Finally, I see that Corinne already beat me to the punch in posting about Bush's use of firefighters as props. It is just *so* typical of the photo-op president, and so appalling. I don't really have anything of substance to add as far as commentary, so I'll just leave you with this:

13 comments:

  1. Bush is the Potemkin President.

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  2. I was going to post this at BFA but Robert is thumping his chest over "the race card" so I decided against it.

    Could we please not use the word 'refugee' when referring to the residents who are being evacuated and relocated? They're US citizens displaced by a storm, not fleeing their country because of persecution. It's inaccurate and insensitive, IMO.

    BTW, Howard is supposed to be giving a press conference today. If I find out details, I'll post.

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  3. Corinne--I know, the word refugee makes me cringe. But it was a direct quote so I left it.

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  4. I remember watching newsreels as a child: whole townsful of people fleeing. The difference between those people and these, is that those people had possessions: bundles, donkeys' food.

    Nothing in my mind takes them in as any thing but refugees: people seeking refuge.

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  5. Oh, yikes, and lol! I had no idear the picture was a bloggers add-on when you posted elsewhere. Gotta go find a way to turn that off. . . .

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  6. dave,

    Pumping would have been useless until the levee breaks were fixed. Apparently two are now fixed, one of which was the worst.

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  7. Aww, puddle, now your picture is gone... ;-)

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  8. Does puddle want her picture back?

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  9. puddle, it's a fine photo. I just wish we could see your obverse side.

    I know the word 'refugee' is a direct quote but there's a column in today's Wall St. Journal that refers to them as "environmental refugees," equating them with the Okies and Arkies of the Great Depression. But even that phrase does little justice to what they experienced.

    Many of those in NO don't like the term because it's taken on a pejorative tone. Call them homeless, jobless, carless--those are accurate terms--but don't call them refugees.

    'Refugee: A Word of Trouble'

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  10. Don't need no steenking picture, lol! Thanks!

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  11. awwww...you're no fun! :-D

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