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G.W.B. ,,, our president still is on da watch. respect him.
generals? that is something else to our concerns.
just remember the real reason why this happened to our displaced americans in n.o.
it is oil and natural gas.
the blame game continues even as of tonight.
hi teapee, good morning.
i don't think he did as much as congress did to all of them
hi rj, been a few since we got some here. thanx for comimg.
there were many rains causing many areas to suffer with mud etc. destructions.
the desert was very hot this summer.
been a little better this year for these situations.
hawaii has 6.5 earthquake today
this is interesting.
Heirs Defy History of Blacks Losing Land
Sunday October 15, 1:29 pm ET
By Bruce Smith, Associated Press Writer
Heirs of Former Slave Form Limited Liability Corporation to Keep Land in South Carolina
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- The land is beautiful, and valuable: 21 acres on Hilton Head Island, along a creek with vistas of sunsets and docks where shrimp boats tie up.
Matthew Jones paid $225 for this parcel -- a pittance now, but a fortune for a former slave in the 1880s. And through the years, through the generations, the land only grew in value, until Jones' descendants were sitting on a gold mine.
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But would they be able to keep it? Or would divisions in the family force them to sell, perhaps for less than they might earn otherwise?
Many black families have lost their land under similar circumstances, through partition sales ordered by courts. In a 2001 series "Torn From the Land," The Associated Press documented scores of land takings in 13 Southern and border states over the past 160 years.
But it appears this will not happen to the Jones parcel. With the help of a South Carolina corporation, Matthew Jones' 180 heirs have formed a limited liability corporation to develop their property on this upscale resort island. Gateway Development plans to help them build a 26-unit condominium complex with tennis courts on the land their forefather bought.
The Hilton Head property, if sold outright, could fetch $4.5 million.
"By developing it, the income would be $16 million, and they will retain the heritage of the land," said Adolph "A.D." Brown, a developer who is Jones' great-great-grandson. He is president of Gateway and the Jones Family LLC.
The Jones parcel is heirs' property -- land that has passed down through a family for years without a will. After generations, dozens or scores of descendants may have a claim to it.
With no clear title, any heir can seek his or her share of the value of the property. Since the land can't be split into dozens of pieces, judges often order the sale of the entire parcel and split the proceeds. Sometimes third parties such as developers buy an interest from a single heir and then take the others to court to force such a sale.
Blacks have been especially victimized by the process, because they have been less likely to file wills. And as blacks migrated, many lost ties to the land and to family they left behind, and were willing to collect a few dollars for tracts they'd never seen.
Several states -- Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia, among them -- have instituted laws to protect heirs from losing their land. South Carolina has passed a new law that gives family members the right of first refusal to buy out their relatives' interests if they are pressing to sell. The land is appraised, and they are given 45 days to pay fair market value.
Gateway is promoting another solution -- limited liability companies. Family members form corporations that own the land, and become shareholders; any relative who wants to sell must do so to another family member or to the company itself.
That's the path chosen by the heirs of Matthew Jones.
Adolph Brown was born and raised in New York, but his mother is from South Carolina. He recalls how, many years ago, another parcel of family land on Hilton Head Island -- handed down through his grandmother's side of the family -- sold at a partition sale for pennies on the dollar. Then, he heard that the Jones' land was in peril.
"I got word that some of the heirs were restless and wanted to sell," Brown said. "But I said, 'I'm not going to let happen to this piece what happened to the last piece.'"
Some of the family members had approached attorney Horace Jones to help them clear title to the property so it could be sold. Brown suggested that instead of selling, the family consolidate the title and form a limited liability corporation to develop the tract.
The effort involved tracking down descendants across the country.
"The good thing is the family was large but they kept in touch with each other" through reunions, said Jones.
Brown knew this was probably the last chance for the Jones heirs to come together and keep their property. In the future, he said, there would be too many descendants to agree.
"If we miss this shot, I estimate in the next generation there will be 500 people, and it will never fly," he said. "It was unbelievable at 180 people. If we miss this chance and it goes to the next generation, it will end up sold on the courthouse steps."
Gateway was formed as a result of Brown's discussions with Jones regarding the family land, with Jones becoming the company's vice president for business and legal affairs. The company works largely with blacks on development projects.
While other owners of heirs' property have formed limited liability corporations, Jennie Stephens, executive director of the Center for Heirs' Property Preservation, says she knows of no other development firms working with heirs as does Gateway.
The company has helped create similar corporations for about eight other heirs' families, Jones said. Among the developments that have resulted are a 36-unit condo complex on Hilton Head and a planned 49-unit single-family subdivision in nearby Bluffton.
Many heirs think "let's do nothing and we'll hold onto the property," Brown said.
But as coastal real estate becomes more valuable, the likelihood of a partition sale grows as people want to pull their money out of the land. Not only will the Jones family retain their land, they expect to have an ongoing income from the development of the property.
And Brown said the development model to preserve heirs' property along the South Carolina coast might also help New Orleans recover from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.
"A lot of those people have set up their lives somewhere else," said Brown. "This guy's house is washed away and he has no insurance and he's in Minneapolis and not coming back."
If property owners formed limited liability corporations encompassing, say, a city block in New Orleans, there would be more incentive for developers to get involved in the massive work of rebuilding, he said.
"It helps the city recovery and those who are displaced know they will get a check" for their property which, if it can't be rebuilt, would likely be lost at tax sales, he said.
On the Net: http://www.gatewaydevelopment.net
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they did a lot of policy holders in.
hi teapee, good afternoon to all.
Since Bush Abandoned Katrina victims, South Louisiana residents look to high school football for hope. "People want to move back. They say it’s going to take three months for a FEMA trailer. They’re losing hope. I’ve seen them crying. They don’t certify the levees. Businesses don’t open up. We win this game, this is going to give hope to people. This is for the hope of south Plaquemines."
How Can the Mainstream Press Give This Nitwit an Ounce of Credibility? "Bush says Katrina recovery just starting." Can You Believe That He Said That a Year After He Goofed the Whole Thing Up and Asked "Heck of a Job" Brownie to Lie for Him and Take the Rap?
DISASTERS
by DAVID DENBY
When the Levees Broke
Issue of 2006-09-04
Posted 2006-08-28
In the course of Spike Lees enormous documentary about Hurricane Katrina and the city of New Orleans, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, the director shows us a curious funeral on the citys streets. In broad daylight, in the midst of smashed homes, a group of men dressed in formal black-and-white accompany a horse-drawn hearse that bears a casket marked Katrina. Walking in front of the hearse, musicians from the Hot 8 Brass Band play a traditional hymn. They play it slowly, howeverso slowly that the funeral is as much an act of derision as of mourning. At the end of the film, Lee returns to the procession, but by this time, in adherence to New Orleans custom, the men are playing the hymn up-tempo, with a defiant swing; the Katrina casket has been rudely placed on the street, and the men shimmy around it. I would like to interpret the fast tempo and the shimmy as a sign of renewal, but who knows? Throughout the movie, the people of New Orleans come off as complicated and witty beyond easy measure. They will keep New Orleans alive, but, as the movie makes clear, they will keep it alive with whatever ironies of grief and mockery please their taste and their humor.
Viewers seeking detailed information about the economy and the politics of New Orleans will have to go elsewhere. But anyone hoping to reclaim Katrina emotionallyto experience what the city went through in all its phases of loss, anger, and contemptneeds to see Lees movie, which is surely the most magnificent and large-souled record of a great American tragedy ever put on film. (When the Levees Broke will be aired in its entirety on HBO on August 29th and September 1st, 7th, 10th, 11th, 16th, and 28th; it will also be available from HBOs on-demand service until September 27th.) After the storm, HBO commissioned a two-hour picture, but Lee visited the city nine times and wound up doubling the length. Its a complicated story he has to tell, encompassing the storm, the flood, the evacuation to the Superdome, the looting, waiting for the Feds, more waiting for the Feds, analysis of the broken levees, and attempts at rebuilding. My guess is that Lee didnt have the heart to cut down the terrifying footage he had gathered or the mostly remarkable interviews that constitute the main body of the movie. Keeping his own voice largely absent and his presence invisible, he finds the citys tattered survivors. He also consults a variety of lawyers and local politicians, and such luminaries as Harry Belafonte and Al Sharpton; the musicians and New Orleans natives Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard (the latter wrote much of the beautiful music for the film); the historian Douglas Brinkley, who makes impassioned critiques of Bush Administration officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and the Mississippi man (a doctor) who publicly advised the Vice-President, when he visited
the area long after the storm, to go fuck himself.
Lee draws on stock, news, and amateur footage, and also on still photographs, some of which capture, with the devastating power of the greatest poetry or painting, the charnel house on water that New Orleans had become. In the four hours, there are repetitive passages but nothing that isnt arresting or moving, and, for all its length, When the Levees Broke is essentially a lyric worka kind of blues documentary, saturated in New Orleanss foundational music and warmed with the traditions of cadenced outrage and lament heard in the Lower Ninth Ward and other abused neighborhoods. When I seen the water, I knew we had to get out, a man recalls. He says he told his mother that they had to leave: And she say, Why we have to go? And I explain it to her that the water was comin up, risin upan exchange that sounds like lines from a Delta-blues classic. The co-producer of the film, Sam Pollard, was also the chief editor, and, with his editing team (Geeta Gandbhir and Nancy Novack), he shifts among the interviews, hurricane footage, and stills with an almost tidal alternation of emotional intensity and rest. In a video montage, grouped shots of corpses floating in the water or sprawled on a car roof are held long enough for us to register the horror of abandonment but not so long that the shots draw attention to themselves as spectacle. The movie is heroic in the delicacy of its craftsmanship.
After the storm, with the government gone, their houses wrecked or displaced, and both official and private papers destroyed in the flood, the residents of such places as the Lower Ninth lack elementary validation. Stubbornly, they cling to their lots, virtual squatters on their own property. Spike Lee finds them there, planted amid stray boards and rotted couches. In his feature films, Lee has always possessed a gift for tirade, but this time he doesnt have to write anything; he has only to release the flow. A few of his subjects are sombre and stunned, but others scorch the camera with the ferocity of their invective, especially a forty-two-year-old African-American woman named Phyllis Montana LeBlanc. Hell hath no fury like a black woman scorned by her government, and LeBlanc is blessed with a special skill: as her temper rises, she gets funnier and funnier, and Lee brings her back repeatedly as she re-creates the stages of official bungling in the aftermath of the stormthe delays, the incomprehensible orders, the simple failure on the part of people allegedly trained to handle emergency to understand how emergency works. The movie has a surprising amount of joking and New Orleans mischief and orneriness. Theres one element that seems unredeemablethe dead citizens lying all over the city, bloated and discolored. Its the primal curse of the Greek myths: the unburied corpse, an offense against the gods and against civilization, too. Thats why the mock funeral at the end of the movie, whatever its precise meaning, is the most eloquent of gestures. Society may have collapsed, but a proper burial is still fitting. The citizens of New Orleans graciously grant to the storm the courtesy that the storm, in its rage, could not grant to them.
HURRICANE EXPERT THREATENED FOR PRE-KATRINA WARNINGS
A Greg Palast special investigation for Democracy Now!
Monday, August 28. From New Orleans.
DON'T blame the Lady. Katrina killed no one in this town. In fact, Katrina missed the city completely, going wide to the east.
It wasn't the hurricane that drowned, suffocated, de-hydrated and starved 1,500 people that week. The killing was done by a deadly duo: a failed emergency evacuation plan combined with faulty levees. Behind these twin failures lies a tale of cronyism, profiteering and willful incompetence that takes us right to the steps of the White House.
Here's the story you haven't been told. And the man who revealed it to me, Dr. Ivor van Heerden, is putting his job on the line to tell it.
Van Heerden isn't the typical whistleblower I usually deal with. This is no minor player. He's the Deputy Director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center. He's the top banana in the field -- no one knew more about how to save New Orleans from a hurricane's devastation. And no one was a bigger target of an official and corporate campaign to bury the information.
Here's what happened. Right after Katrina swamped the city, I called Washington to get a copy of the evacuation plan.
Funny thing about the murderously failed plan for the evacuation of New Orleans: no one can find it. That's right. It's missing. Maybe it got wet and sank in the flood. Whatever: no one can find it.
That's real bad. Here's the key thing about a successful emergency evacuation plan: you have to have copies of it. Lots of copies -- in fire houses and in hospitals and in the hands of every first responder. Secret evacuation plans don't work.
I know, I worked on the hurricane evacuation plan for Long Island New York, an elaborate multi-volume dossier.
Specifically, I'm talking about the plan that was written, or supposed to have been written two years ago by a company called, "Innovative Emergency Management."
Weird thing about IEM, their founder Madhu Beriwal, had no known experience in hurricane evacuations. She did, however, have a lot of experience in donating to Republicans.
IEM and FEMA did begin a draft of a plan. The plan was that, when a hurricane hit, everyone in the Crescent City would simply get the hell out in their cars. Apparently, the IEM/FEMA crew didn't know that 127,000 people in the city didn't have cars. But Dr. van Heerden knew that. It was his calculation. LSU knew where these no-car people were -- they mapped it -- and how to get them out.
Dr. van Heerden offered this life-saving info to FEMA. They wouldn't touch it. Then, a state official told him to shut up, back off or there would be consequences for van Heerden's position. This official now works for IEM.
So I asked him what happened as a result of making no plans for those without wheels, a lot of them elderly and most of them poor.
"Fifteen-hundred of them drowned. That's the bottom line." The professor, who'd been talking to me in technicalities, changed to a somber tone. "They're still finding corpses."
Van Heerden is supposed to keep his mouth shut. He won't. The deaths weigh on him. "I wasn't going to listen to those sort of threats, to let them shut me down."
Van Heerden had other disturbing news. The Hurricane Center's computer models showed the federal government had built the levees around the city a foot-and-a-half too short.
After Katrina, the Hurricane Center analyzed the flooding and found that, had the levees had just that extra 18 inches, they would have been "overtopped" for only an hour and a half, not four hours. In that case, the levees would have held, and the city would have been saved.
He had taken the warning about the levees all the way to George Bush's doorstep. "I myself briefed senior officials including somebody from the White House." The response: the university's trustees threatened his job.
While in Baton Rouge, I dropped in on the headquarters of IEM, the evacuation contractors. The assistant to the CEO insisted they had "a lot of experience with evacuation" -- but couldn't name a single city they'd planned for when they got the Big Easy contract. And still, they couldn't produce the plan.
An IEM press release in June 2004 boasted legendary expert James Lee Witt as a member of their team. That was impressive. It was also a lie. In fact, Witt had nothing to do with it. When I asked IEM point blank if Witt's name was used as a fraudulent hook to get the contract, their spokeswoman said, weirdly, "We'll get back to you on that."
Back at LSU, van Heerden astonished me with the most serious charge of all. While showing me huge maps of the flooding, he told me the White House had withheld the information that, in fact, the levees were about to burst and by Tuesday at dawn the city, and more than a thousand people, would drown.
Van Heerden said, "FEMA knew on Monday at 11 o'clock that the levees had breached… They took video. By midnight on Monday the White House knew. But none of us knew ...I was at the State Emergency Operations Center." Because the hurricane had missed the city that Monday night, evacuation effectively stopped, assuming the city had survived.
It's been a full year now, and 73,000 New Orleanians remain in FEMA trailers and another 200,000, more than half the city's former residents, remain in temporary refuges. "The City That Care Forgot" -- that's their official slogan -- lost a higher percentage of homes than Berlin lost in World War II. It would be more accurate to call it, "The City That Bush Forgot."
Should they come home? Rebuild? Is it safe? Team Bush assures them there's nothing to worry about: FEMA won't respond to van Heerden's revelations. However, the Bush Administration has hired a consulting firm to fix the failed evacuation plan. The contractor? A Baton Rouge company named "Innovative Emergency Management." IEM.
******
Watch this special investigative report about Katrina on Democracy Now! this morning or hear it on your local Pacifica or NPR station. You can also download it at DemocracyNow.org.
And catch the one-hour special report, "Who Drowned New Orleans?" on LinkTV, with Greg Palast in New Orleans plus an exclusive interview with Amy Goodman. (Get it on Direct TV channel 375 and Dish TV channel 9410. Or check your cable listing at LinkTV.com.)
And for more on IEM and Katrina, read Greg Palast's new NYT bestseller, "Armed Madhouse" (Penguin 2006).
"On this day in 1900, the devastating Galveston hurricane took place. Over $50 million in damages. Don't worry, though. FEMA is on the way." -- David Letterman
hmmm...imagine that...an insurance company doing SOMETHING unethical!! I am NOT suprised at all...RJ
Bush Team Approaches Katrina Trip With Care
By James Gerstenzang, Times Staff Writer
August 26, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush26aug26,1,776423.story?track=rss&ctrack...
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — As Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast a year ago this weekend, President Bush already was beset by growing negative impressions of his presidency. Now, as the first anniversary of the storm arrives, he faces a new challenge: how to mark that moment without reinvigorating the questions it raised about his competency.
Bush is planning to spend much of Monday and Tuesday in Mississippi and Louisiana, visiting regions that were devastated by the winds and floods that accompanied the storm.
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His goal, said White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino, is to "reflect on the many people who died," as well as on those who rescued others. He will examine "how America opened up its arms and wallets" to care for the survivors.
But in the view of administration officials, their advisors and others, the question of how Bush should approach the anniversary is a difficult one. Speechwriters must craft presidential remarks that recognize devastation and recovery, but that also show an awareness of government failures in responding. Staffers must find locations for his visit that demonstrate progress but do not minimize problems and mistakes.
The White House has begun sounding the themes of Bush's Gulf visit, emphasizing that progress has been made, but that perseverance is necessary because rebuilding will take years to complete. The president delivered such a message last week when he met in the Oval Office with Rockey Vacarella, whose home in Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish was destroyed by the storm. Bush's weekly radio address this morning is likely to echo those themes.
Through multiple events, Bush plans to raise the lessons learned in the aftermath of the storm and the federal response, and the continuing challenges, Perino said. She said he would express appreciation for the resolve demonstrated by local residents and a commitment to continue the federal effort as long as required.
But a danger for Bush is that the more he focuses publicly on the storm and its aftermath, the more he risks reminding voters that the delay in the federal response began to solidify the negative impressions of his presidency that had been forming earlier in 2005.
In the storm's wake, two-thirds of those surveyed by the Washington-based Pew Research Center said Bush could have acted more quickly. A month later, his personal favorability rating — a measurement separate from his job approval — dropped below 50% for the first time.
"What Katrina did was shed a very negative light on him at a time when people had developed a lot of doubt about his competence, and he still carries the negative legacy of that," said the center's director, Andrew Kohut.
Now, Kohut said in a telephone interview, the administration faces "a public relations moment."
"But I wouldn't expect it will change attitudes about Bush, no matter what they do," Kohut said. "It revives a low point for him, not a strong point for him."
Drawing on findings such as those highlighted by the Pew surveys, the Democratic National Committee said Friday that the White House was embarking on "a public relations offensive designed to paper over" its Katrina shortcomings.
But Donna Brazile, who grew up in New Orleans and ran Al Gore's presidential campaign against Bush in 2000, has consulted with the White House over the past year about the recovery in New Orleans. She said the president "has chosen the most respectful way to communicate this anniversary," turning it into "a moment of reflection, a moment of remembrance."
Preliminary White House plans have Bush delivering a speech Monday in Mississippi and Tuesday in New Orleans.
In addition, he will take part in an ecumenical worship service Tuesday morning, when bells are to peal across the city to mark the breaching of the levees. Bush will speak at a roundtable on recovery later Tuesday and is likely to make a number of stops without announcement, much as he did on earlier visits, to speak informally with those who lived through the storm.
The trip opens four days of travel on Bush's schedule next week. He also is scheduled to visit Arkansas, Tennessee and Utah, and spend a night at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. This weekend, he is in the midst of a four-day holiday at his parents' summer home, making up a visit that he canceled after Katrina.
Bush has made 11 trips to the stricken Gulf Coast in the last year.
"He'll see signs of progress and signs of despair," Brazile said. "They're not just focusing on the positive or trying to toot their horn and focus on the money they have committed."
She said the White House was considering at least three sites for Bush to visit, including at least one in New Orleans' devastated Lower 9th Ward.
Bush challenge: How do I commemorate Katrina without reminding everyone I blew it?
"Broken Promises: The Republican Response to Katrina."
Key findings include:
-- Thousands of families are still waiting for FEMA trailers
-- An estimated 11 percent of the $19 billion that has been spent by FEMA -- or $2 billion -- has been waste, fraud and abuse
-- 80 percent of Gulf Coast businesses with approved SBA disaster loans are still waiting to get their loans
-- The Republican Congress didn't enact needed housing money for homeowners in Louisiana until June, 10 months after Katrina - - and the money has still failed to reach these homeowners
-- Only three of the 10 acute-care hospitals in New Orleans have re-opened; the only public hospital, Charity, has still not re-opened
-- Only 56 of 128 public schools in New Orleans are enrolling students this fall
"One year ago, Katrina and Rita taught the American people the terrible lesson that their government was not prepared to protect them," said Reid. "Unfortunately, one year after the hurricanes and five years after 9/11, Bush Republicans in Washington still have not taken that lesson to heart. After so much incompetence and failure that put too many Americans at risk, it is time for a new direction. Across the Gulf Coast, we need a real change from the failed promises of the last year to a new spirit of hope and recovery that will finally rebuild this vital region. Across America, we need a real change that will create the tough AND smart policies that will give the American people the real security they expect and deserve."
"In our Gulf Coast, the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors are still engaged in an unparalleled struggle to rebuild their lives," said Pelosi. "Meanwhile, back in Washington, President Bush is holding a public relations blitz that the survivors of Katrina can ill afford. The response to Hurricane Katrina was disastrous -- the Bush Administration failed to keep Americans safe. Chaos, confusion, and utter incompetence cannot continue. It is time for a new direction, where despair and destruction are replaced by hope and renewal."... Hezbollah is doing better ....
http://www.usnewswire.com/
Whistleblowers Say State Farm Cheated Katrina Victims 8/26
State Farm shredded docs to avoid payout
Firm demanded damage reports destroyed to skip paying Katrina claims.
Newt Gingrich: "It Was Katrina That Broke The Sense That The Republicans Could Govern Well''...
brownie sez....
"There are no unfed darkies in the Astrodome!"
"There is no crime in New Orleans."
"Our initial assessment is that the levees are holding."
"I blame CNN - they are showing fake footage!"
"Be assured. New Orleans is safe and protected."
"I'm doing a heckuva job!"
The Bush government awarded 70 percent of its contracts for Hurricane Katrina work without full competition, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, says a House study released Thursday by Democrats.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_go_co/katrina_contracts
Yes, This Headline is From August 23, 2006. "Bush: Katrina recovery will take time."
"I think the day is coming. I think eventually we're going to have a very
powerful hurricane in a major metropolitan area worse than what we saw
in Katrina and it's going to be a mega-disaster. With lots of lost lives."
-- Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center
With the anniversary of the Katrina disaster quickly approaching, the White House is scrambling to put the president in a positive light, presenting Bush as someone who has followed through on the crisis, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
With this in mind, the Bush gang arranged a WH photo-op this morning with a gentleman named Rockey Vaccarella, whom the president said "caught his attention" because he came to DC to speak with officials about the ongoing need for aid along the Gulf Coast. Bush said Vaccarella is "the kind of fellow I feel comfortable talking to." Vaccarella apparently feels the same way.
"You know, it's really amazing when a small man like me from St. Bernard Parish can meet the President of the United States. The President is a people person. I knew that from the beginning. I was confident that I could meet President Bush.
"And my mission was very simple. I wanted to thank President Bush for the millions of FEMA trailers that were brought down there. They gave roofs over people's head. People had the chance to have baths, air condition. We have TV, we have toiletry, we have things that are necessities that we can live upon. […]
"I just wish the President could have another term in Washington. You know, I wish you had another four years, man. If we had this President for another four years, I think we'd be great."
Now, to hear the Bush gang tell it, this was just a regular guy who happened to be in town in his FEMA trailer, stopped by the White House, and told the president about the ongoing crisis along the Gulf Coast.
As you might have guessed, there's a little more to it than that.
As Will Bunch explained, Vaccarella just so happens to have a background in GOP politics.
Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella — a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry — is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999. […]
And in fact, Vaccarella seemed very confident that he would be meeting with Bush when he left home, to the point where he had a date scheduled and everything: Dinner with the President is planned for the evening of August 22nd. […]
Shouldn't the media be a tad more skeptical about events like these? And isn't the fact that Vaccarella was once a Republican candidate for office a relevant fact that should be mentioned, to help viewers place his effusive, nationally televised praise in context?
Yes, the media should be more skeptical about such an obviously manufactured photo-op; and yes, Vaccarella's partisan background is completely relevant.
CNN's Rick Sanchez expressed some surprise at Vaccarella's amazing progress today, telling viewers Vaccarella has "actually been invited inside. He wanted to go and met with the president. Well, guess what, the president has decided to meet with him." Viewers are led to believe this was all rather spontaneous.
Unfortunately, it's all-too-typical. The media buys into the Kabuki Theater as if it were real, while the White House pretends to be genuinely interested in meeting with a person who can represent everyone who's suffered along the Gulf Coast, but instead arranges a photo-op with a GOP activist who tells the nation how great it would be if Bush had a third term.
Raise your hand if you're surprised.
Spike Lee's HBO doc about Hurricane Katrina is a haunting and expertly told story that shows how little our government truly cares about many of its citizens.
IT MAYBE A WILD ONE YET. NICE AND CALM FOR NOW.
Experts: Worst of hurricane season yet to come
Lower June, July activity does not indicate below-average hurricane season
By Steve Veres
Reporter
MSNBC
Updated: 9:21 p.m. ET Aug 2, 2006
As Tropical Storm Chris threatens to strengthen into a hurricane and strike Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast later this week, residents of a town Hurricane Katrina devastated last August pray for a better year.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14157852/
this is a good storm brewing for the states.
Tropical Storm Chris could become hurricane Tue Aug 1, 6:14 PM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Chris could become a minimal hurricane in 72 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday as it increased the expected intensity of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season's third cyclone.
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The Miami-based center said in a special discussion bulletin posted on its Web site that Chris's maximum sustained winds could reach 65 knots by Friday, just over the 64-knot, or 74 miles per hour (119 km per hour) threshold at which tropical storms are classified as hurricanes.
CHRIS headed to Florida
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT03/refresh/AL0306W5_sm2+gif/115550W_sm.gif
yes, and many glad so far.
thank goodness
me again. no storms yet.
NOAA FORECASTS LARGER THAN NORMAL "DEAD ZONE" FOR GULF THIS SUMMER
http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.noaanews.noaa.gov%2Fstories2006%2Fs2669.htm
makes me go hmmmmmm???
i wonder how this got by the elite congress.
$1.4 billion in bogus hurricane aid paid
GAO concludes 16% of aid for Hurricane Katrina, Rita victims was unwarranted.
i think they are predicting about 8 big ones this year.
hi teapee, it should have never happened but it did. immigration is doing better than the displaced americans.
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express or implied, is created between the owner/operator of this site and the public. Every reasonable effort has been made to provide
accurate information; however, the information in this site is not warranted or guaranteed in any way. The owner/operator of this site shall
in no way be deemed responsible for any injury suffered, either directly or indirectly, from the use of this site, or the information contained herein.
OUR THEME:
WE ARE OPEN TO DISCUSSION FOR THE GOOD , THE BAD AND THE UGLY.
http://www.katrina.com
HURRICANE RITA ,,, 9/20/2005
New Phone
Numbers for Help:
Louisiana
State Police
for Emergency Calls
225-922-0325 - 225-922-0332 - 225-922-0333 - 225-922-0334 - 225-922-0335 - 225-922-0340 - 225-922-0341
Mississippi
Emergency Management - 601-352-9100
Louisiana Volunteer
Equipment & Donations
State
225-925-7377
Office of
Emergency
Preparedness
225-925-7500
***NEW INFO ON OFFERING YOUR HELP***
(posted 09.02.05
(2:00 pm ET)
If you are willing to offer your personal vehicles to transport victims, please do not head to disaster locations.
Please contact your local RED CROSS office. They are training and scheduling volunteers.
There is no fuel or power in the hit areas, and not enough parking spaces available. There are trucks trying to enter to
distribute food, water and supplies and they can not even get in to help. Thank you for your wanting to help - but PLEASE
CONTACT THE RED CROSS TO COORDINATE THE EFFORT.
Looking for relatives?
Looking for help?
Share your thoughts and messages here ... Feel free to post your comments here ... please see special note on
MISSING PERSONS link to the right! Thank you!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
May God's richest blessings be upon each of you for your willingness to help those in need.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you. ~Katrina
----------------------------------------------------------------
Below are some links that may interest you.
Governmental Websites for Up-to-date Information
U.S. White House - President Bush has signed disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama to allow
federal agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and local officials. read more.
Alabama Homeland Security
Louisiana Homeland Security
Mississippi Homeland Security
Assistance for Storm Victims
FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency
Here's how to get help and what areas are disaster stricken
FEMA Disaster Assistance 1-800-621-3362 / 1-800-462-7585 (TTY)
Charitable organizations recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund - (800) 435-7669
Catholic Charities, USA - (800) 919-9338
Salvation Army - (800) 725-2769
United Methodist Committee On Relief - (800) 554-8583
Other charitable agencies recommended by FEMA
Additional Websites for Missing Persons
http://www.pleasenotifyme.org/ - The National Next Of Kin Registry (NOKR) is a new high-speed solution to locating your Next Of Kin
in urgent situations. NOKR is designed as an emergency contact system to help if you or your family member is missing, injured or
deceased. NOKR is a free service to the public as well as the Local and State agencies using the search service.
http://www.NOLA.com - New Orleans On-line
Weather Tools
National Hurricane Center
The Weather Channel - Hurricane Katrina update
Road Closure Index
Parish Contact Information
Katrina Satellite Imagery - LSU's Earthscan Labs
Shelter Information
Red Cross- 1(866)-GET-INFO (438-4636) - http://www.redcross.org
Special Needs Shelter Information
Triage Phone Numbers:
Alexandria: 800-841-5778 Shreveport: 800-841-5776
Baton Rouge: 800-349-1372 Monroe: 866-280-7287
Houma/Thibodaux: 800-228-9409 Slidell/Hammond: 866-280-7724
Lafayette: 800-901-3210 Lake Charles: 866-280-2711
Equine Shelter/Evacuation Site Information
Locations for Animal Evacuation:
Alexandria - Large & Small 318-442-4222 (all vet clinics will accept)
Lamar Dixon - Gonzales - Large Animals
Shreveport - LSU-S (pets only, no livestock)
West Monroe - Ike Hamilton Coliseum
Louisiana Hotel Information 1-800-99-GUMBO
Special News Releases
Louisiana Governor issues statement to EVACUATE NOW! - August 31, 2005
Community Links and Assistance
www.Cleanupjobs.com
http://www.nhba.com/ - This website is for National Home Buyers Assistance (NHBA) is building financial independence one home at a time
HTTP://www.cajun.ca - Dedicated to some of our Cajun friends ... from way up in Canada
--------------------------------------------------------------
this chart is from teapee where strategic areas are concerned.
http://www.pannexresearch.com/katrina/LAOil.gif
--------------------------------------------------------------
from easymoney101 ,,, 9/23/2005
http://gom.rigzone.com/rita.asp
OUR THEME:
WE ARE OPEN TO DISCUSSION FOR THE GOOD , THE BAD AND THE UGLY.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS FOR OPEN COMMENTS...#msg-7607379
link from Deann: before and after KATRINA.
http://earth.google.com/katrina.html
http://earth.google.com/
links from Id_Jit , help from canada.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gordonsinclair.htm
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp
pictures from the katrina disaster area.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=1756
by RUliquid,
To offer housing: http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
missing people page >> http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/laf/
Finding loved ones:
http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Hurricane_Katrina_Recovery.shtml
http://www.shareyourhome.org/
http://katrinashelter.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=5d292f709e5762799861a5ed201426f8
http://www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org
by 2MAR$, hurricane updates stuff.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2484.htm
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/
by: Susie924,http://www.nola.com/
AMR PLANS ,For complete details and assistance with changing your travel plans, contact our Reservations personnel 1-800-433-7300
or AAdvantage Reservations at 1-800-882-8880 within the United States or Canada.
by peoria
trying for wording replacement for victims of KATRINA.
"Displaced Americans"..?? peoria
by teapee,Here's a link to a fantastic non profit organization that I donated $$$ to for hurricane help
http://www.convoyofhope.org/
Katrina info map http://www.scipionus.com/
latest for KATRINA NEWS , ETC. http://news.yahoo.com/
a political committee that will shape new emergency views/plans.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/political_wrap/july-dec05/bop_9-2.html
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
http://fbc.binghamton.edu/commentr.htm
by RUliquid
MS river control.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc/fop/
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/new-orleans-imagery.htm
by Burpzilla,
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/locator/locator_search.asp
for images and maps,,,#msg-7615173
by apilgrim2 for the good, the bad, the ugly reads.#msg-7618084
THIS IS FROM CCN , In Katrina’s path: Reported safe
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/hurricanes/list/
FROM FOX TV FOR HELP.
TITLED , U.S. Department of Labor IN THE 21ST. CENTURY.
http://www.dol.gov/
here it is mick BY dbleagl ,,, this is networking
1-866-4-USA-DOL
TTY: 1-877-889-5627
Contact Us
THIS IS A LATE SPECIAL FROM TEAPEE.
Updated Monday, September 05, 2005. 406 front pages from 41 countries presented alphabetically.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
By kinger13
Link to list of 28 Hurricane Relief Fund’s: http://relieffundlinks.blogspot.com/
FOR PERSONS THAT ARE EXPERIENCING SOME TRAUMA FROM KATRINA.
SEE #842...#msg-7630405
9/7/2005 ,,, this is from teapee for total help from yahoo.
see #916
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=NEWS
9/7/2005 FROM LG 9/6/2005 ,,, TELLS SOME STORIES.
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2005_08_28.html
9/7/2005 from lobogotti "another hero of mine"
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/3334317
9/9/2005 from Merci ,,, see #1072 , #1068 , #1083
now it's inevitable but I wish they (the politicians) would NOT turn this into another political side show..
~ is all about saying the things people want to hear so they don't loose a vote...#msg-7678992
http://investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7678772
ANSWER FOR BULLDOZER MAN ON TV DOING HELP FOR REPAIRS.
yep... he told us no one would get on it they were afraid because of the hole being so deep ... that was him..
#msg-7679579
from teapee 9/9/2005 ,MISSING PERSONS DATABASE@ 25,000 PLUS -
http://www.nola.com/forums/searching/index.ssf?initial=true
from Biowatch 9/10/2005 , Gulf Coast Scammers Prey on Storm Victims Law Enforcement Braces for More Fraud ,,, #msg-7688942
FROM easymoney101 9/13/2005 WORKING TO FIND THE TRUTH FOR ALL.
#msg-7719939
http://www.tvnewslies.org/
AIDS REVIEWS FOR THOSE OR A FRIEND WITH AIDS.
#msg-7784679 ,,, #message-7784729 ,11/07/2005-#msg-8389146
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ ,,,
vaccinations? http://www.informedchoice.info/index.php#sp9
11/01/2005 ,,,
CENSUS IMFORMATION FOR ALL FROM EASYMONEY101 , VERY IMPORTANT.
#msg-8327400
FROM BOREALIS see #1391
Hurricane Katrina: The Essential Time Line Willie Drye
for National Geographic News
September 14, 2005 ,,, #msg-7742795
Nov. 18, 2005 ,,,,,,,,Katrina Cost...#msg-8549057
9/7/2005 by The Original dpb5!
Results of the Jerry Lewis Telethon...
http://startribune.com/stories/484/5598067.html
An even nicer article about his efforts here...
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4931
FROM The Original dpb5!...9/19/2005..excellent info for the DPA's
http://www.dhs.gov ...Department Of Homeland Security and
http://www.fema.gov ...Federal Emergency Management Association
http://www.firstgov.gov/
FROM SARALS ... 9/19/2005 DONATION TO OPRAHS FUND FOR DPA
Katrina Homes Oprah's Angel Network...
http://www2.oprah.com/uyl/katrina/homes/homes_main.jhtml
FROM RULIQUID ,,, TROPICAL STORM WATCH: it is called RITA
see #1564........9/18/2005 ,,, #msg-7788020
FROM MERCI ,,, persons escaping routes. 9/22/2005
RITA - traffic/houston.. 100 yards per hour.. people are running out of gas on the interstate.. man that's so sad ,,,#msg-7847938
FROM BOREALIS ,,, 10/09/2005 --- http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/
FROM RIMINI ,,, 9/29/2005 , weather updates
http://www.weather.com/maps/news/septnonactive/atlanticoceansatellite_large.html [other views there too] *08/01/2007 ATLANTIC,ETC.
U.S.A. WEATHER: 08/01/2007
ATLANTIC WEATHER / STORM WATCH FOR HURRICANES: 08/01/2007
TROPICA STORM/HURRICANE ORIGIN/SEPT.21-30[1886-2005]119 YRS./100 STORMS
These Are Rush Da Man Radio Stations State by State.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/rush.guest.html
LIST ALL RUSH STATIONS NATIONWIDE, OR CLICK ON A STATE BELOW
CODEX , possibly a future experiment with a dreams of changing the human race http://www.thebyteshow.com/Library.html ,,,1/15/06
******************************************************************************************************************************************************
"HURRICANE IKE HITS GULF COAST FRIDAY --- 09/12/2008"
FROM MARKETEDGE---
Red Cross to help the disaster victims in U.S.
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_subsrc=RCO_DonateButton&s_src=F7ZWGR00
Disaster Services & Emergency Assistance
To find a shelter, obtain emergency food, water and other disaster relief, contact your local Red Cross chapter.
Find and contact your local Red Cross chapter
Or call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or 1-800-257-7575 (Español)
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