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The Salvation Army Needs Help, Now and Later
The Salvation Army is serving more than 1,200 Thanksgiving dinners in Jackson this week, and needs your help. Here's how to donate and volunteer.
Change the Room, Change the World
Many people think the only thing is takes to change the world is fire in the belly and a lot of action. Not so fast. Building a sustainable community takes good conversation and planning that lead to best practices and enduring smart actions.
White House Was Warned About Katrina's Potential
The Clarion-Ledger is reporting:
A Louisiania Journalist on Life After Katrina
Read a piece by our new friend, Scott Jordan, of the The Independent Weekly, the Lafayette, La., alternative newspaper and a new member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. And as you read this piece, please recall that this is one of the small, locally owned publications that the Gannett Corp. (owns Clarion-Ledger here) is targeting with its new Goliath distribution scheme. Read about Lafayette's Gannett battle here (and the story talks about our response here in Jackson). So, in effect, in two states where the economy has been so rocked by hurricanes and with people needing their livelihoods, the Gannett Corp.'s response within months is to go after the distribution channels of local businesses and make us pay them for the privilege of putting our papers out. Great timing, Goliath.
Gentrifying Diversity in New Orleans
Mother Jones reports:
In a recent email to Louisiana officials, FEMA curtly turned down the state's request for funding to notify displaced residents that they could cast absentee ballots in the city's crucial February mayoral election. FEMA also declined to share data with local authorities about the current addresses of evacuees.
Catholics Charities Present Crisis Response Training
[verbatim statement] Beginning on September 12, 2005, Catholic Charities' Trauma Recovery for Youth Project will host a week long training on Post Traumatic Stress Management by Dr. Robert Macy. Dr. Macy is the Director of Community Services for the Trauma Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He has 20 years experience doing clinical interventions and academic research in the field of behavioral health, crisis intervention, and traumatic incident management. Robert conducts dozens of trainings annually on youth suicide prevention, threat profiling, threat management and violence prevention, and School and Community Based Post Traumatic Stress Management.
Days After Disaster, Bush Sending Active-Duty Troops
The Associated Press is reporting:
Report: FEMA Has No Plan for Body Removal
From the Times-Picayune today:
1,500 Feared Dead in Phillipines Mudslide
A big day for prayers. AP is reporting:
Hastert: New Orleans ‘Could Be Bulldozed'
Here's a link to the now-infamous story about House Speaker Dennis Hastert's truly execrable remarks about the city of New Orleans. No KatrinaBlog would be complete without this story in its archives.
Remarks by Haley Barbour and Thad Cochran Today
Here are the transcribed remarks of Gov. Haley Barbour and Sen. Thad Cochran at today's MEMA press conference in Jackson. They only answered a few questions; Adam said an alarm went off, and they said he had to leave. No one could tell Adam what the alarm meant. The following comments are verbatim, and sent from the governor's office.
Bush ‘Not Looking Forward' to Coast Trip
But he's coming ... Clarion-Ledger is reporting:
AP: Census Shows Many Couldn't Afford to Evacuate
An Associated Press analysis of Census data shows that the residents in the
Here's one for the dumbasses who tried to blame the victims, saying they just should have evacuated like the other folks did. The Associated Press is reporting that an analysis of Census data show that, surprise!, many of the victims were simply too poor to evacuate. It seems—alert the media—that not everyone can afford a car, or even the fuel to run one.
Point That Finger Somewhere Else, Wouldya?
Watch this eight-minute compilation of clips showing how the spin cycle is working the phrases "blame game" and "finger-pointing." Very interesting.
Hark: Who Goes There?
Here's an account by two paramedics in New Orleans to attend a conference who were trapped during the hurricane. It rather debunks the excuse that the people stranded there could have just walked across the bridges to safety. The entire story is chilling, but here is the part about being blocked from crossing the bridges; this has also been reported in media reports:
So Far, So Good: Whew
It's 2:04 p.m. Monday, and Gustav didn't turn out to be the monster we feared. Thank God. It's raining here in Jackson, and we're keeping our eyes out for tornados. Our biggest challenge in the city is caring for evacuees in the shelters. There is early evidence that the shelter situation, and the contraflow from Louisiana, didn't go as smoothly as it could have. We'll be looking into that more.
TRUTHWATCH: Is E-mail About Bush Response to Katrina Factual?
Please click here to read a new JFP Truthwatch thread that presents unattributed "facts" about the White House's response to the Katrina disaster. You can also help factcheck the e-mail by clicking on the link to it in our Truthwatch Blog. Also, here's a second one culled from the Freeper site, claiming that the state of Louisiana refused assistance from the feds. Let's vet it, too.
FEMA To Cancel No-Bid Contracts
The front page of The Clarion-Ledger almost looked like a real newspaper today. The lead story is a combo wire/local effort about how FEMA is cancelling no-bid contracts. Of course, the Ledge doesn't mention that one of the debris-removal companies is an old client of Haley Barbour's, as reported by national media.
Salon: Report About Jackson, Hattiesburg
Stephen Elliott reports for Salon:
Voices in the Storm
The Nation has a collection of very telling quotes from the last two weeks: