Katrina and NOLA flood Politics...

[MrMaelstrom]

So basically, Ted is the only one unaccounted for?

Shit, he would have said something already by now, one would think. What about the relatives he was trying to help? Do they have any other news from him since he and Don split up? Was Don the last reliable person to have seen him last?

Good Luck baby, the worst is over for now... and there's always hope.

I admit that so far into this tragedy, I wouldn't have thought you'd ever hear again from your folks, but, alas, fortunately, I was proven wrong.
There's probably a million reasons why he wouldn't be able to let know of his wherabouts, and possibly another million places where he might safely be, so keep breathing... We're with you on this, from Australia to Austria and Norway, we're with you...

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

So basically, Ted is the only one unaccounted for?

Shit, he would have said something already by now, one would think. What about the relatives he was trying to help? Do they have any other news from him since he and Don split up? Was Don the last reliable person to have seen him last?

Good Luck baby, the worst is over for now... and there's always hope.

I admit that so far into this tragedy, I wouldn't have thought you'd ever hear again from your folks, but, alas, fortunately, I was proven wrong.
There's probably a million reasons why he wouldn't be able to let know of his wherabouts, and possibly another million places where he might safely be, so keep breathing... We're with you on this, from Australia to Austria and Norway, we're with you...

Thanks man, I admit that I had lost almost all hope as well. So I am reminding myself that anything is in fact possible.

And yes, Don was the last reliable person to see him..They split right before the levee broke, as they were going door to door down their street, where they knew some of their more frail neighbors loved, making sure they had gotten out, and getting them out if they hadn't..

So many were abandoned in Charity and University hospital, which is where my Aunt and Uncle ended up. They had little or no way to communicate and it took over a week to get them out..

Al " Who would have thought it " Gore, PERSONALLY hired several planes and evacuated the patients and the staff from Charity, after he got a call from a surgeon stranded there in the hospital with all of the others. This doctor had saved his sons life after a car accident in the late nineties. When Gore heard what was happening there, he made some calls and had planes in the air to evacuate the patients and doctors and nurses from the hospital..

Pretty suprising, and again my grudging respect for that effort..

Sigh, I dont know.. It's just all such a incomprehensible mess..


time must have snapped back
just a little and then forward--
because that is what
happens when we cannot wrap our minds
around the moment.

~ qB

[MrMaelstrom]

As I belong to Michael Moore's mailing list, some of this might be relevant.

EPS, in the letter he says there's a lot of places still unvisited by relief orgs. Your cousin might very well be there.

"Friends,

Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way to get aid in there immediately.

I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.

I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.

Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.

Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has saved many, many lives.

A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our own government.

My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website (www.michaelmoore.com) along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it.

Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").

The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?

That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24: www.unitedforpeace.org.)

If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)
Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.
Bottled Water
Canned Goods
Hygiene Supplies
Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte
Sterile Gloves
Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.
Volunteers with trucks and cars
Self contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers

Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.

Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board: www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/.

Send supplies via UPS to:
Veterans for Peace
Omni Storage
74145 Hwy. 25
Covington LA

Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month."

[soggypicklemuncher]

Oh god...I remember watching a broadcast of Aaron Broussard last week on an episode of Democracy Now!'s news program. My stomach clenched up into a knot when he broke down into tears as he gave an account of his friend's mother drowning in her nursing home after waiting days for help.

I'm not trying to armchair quarterback, but I think it's important to examine why the government wasn't able to provide aid when it should have been. You can only dodge a bullet so many times, as Louisiana did, before you get hit. But the government was betting that we'd luck out again this time and all the news coverage of the approaching storm would look like an overreaction. Boy, did they lose that bet.

Part of the problem is the backdoor draft of National Guardsmen, who are supposed to be around to help with disasters on American soil. The U.S. government has actually hired mercenaries from the Blackwater agency, a firm that provides security in Iraq, to maintain order the disaster struck region. Doesn't it smack of mismanagement when instead of using our own National Guard troops, who exist, at least in part, to handle national emergencies, we have to hired men trained to work in a war zone (which by the way, National Guardsmen are not adequately trained to do)?

If the government had provided the 250 million more dollars needed to complete levy and pumping station projects in Louisiana the flooding might not have even happened, but because so much money was needed for our involvement in Iraq Bush actually reduced the funding for SELA, even though there had been increased hurricane activity in the region.

I reserve the right to rip on the complete clusterfuck that the federal government has become as much as I want to. But what I really hope is that after the initial shock and disgust of the American people have subsided a bit, we do something about the current poor state of the government and make sure that it is never possible for something like this to happen again.

[MrMaelstrom]

Sorry, mate, but we've heard that same message right after 9/11.

Before the replies rain down: I know it's different.

Let's see, in 9/11 there was a huge intelligence fuck up right before the tragedy, whereas NOLA was a fuck up before the tragedy, during the tragedy and after...

One of the portuguese families living in N.O. was comprised of a mother and two daughters. The mother sent the oldest daughter (a teen) to stay with relatives the night before the storm. She stayed with her youngest (11 yr old girl). As the water rose and they couldn't get out, they did what everybody did: they went up to the attic.

There was a gas leak in the house. Three days later, the 51 yr old mother died from gas inhalation. The 11 yr old girl survived because the mother found a tiny hole on the ceiling and told her daughter to stick her nose into it and never breathe the air in the attic. So there she was, alone, next to her mothers corpse, nose stuck to the attick ceiling trying to breathe...

I wonder how many died this way? I wonder if there are any still alive in that situation...

[soggypicklemuncher]

Wow, you're right. "Never again" is a pretty common response to atrocities, tragedies, and disasters, and is also used when speaking of the Holocaust.

About people trapped in houses:

I hope not, but it's possible and probable.

And I don't even want to think about how many dogs and cats are going to be found starved to death in flooded homes because their owners couldn't take them when they escaped. I hope that doesn't make me sound indifferent to or less affected by the human suffering, because I'm definitely not.

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

So there she was, alone, next to her mothers corpse, nose stuck to the attick ceiling trying to breathe...

I wonder how many died this way? I wonder if there are any still alive in that situation...

So do I..So do I..

I have talked to many refugees on the phone still stranded in their houses..

And those are the ones who still had phone service oocasionally, and were able to go to the first floor in their homes..

Now I am just so horror-stricken I cannot even watch the news anymore..

I emailed Tstone about an entire TOWN, that was STILL totally cut off from the outside world..

These poor people had not even seen FEMA or Red Cross or ANYONE!!

And that was TWO FRIGGIN WEEKS AFTER THE HURRICANE!!!!!

And of course I wonder if my cousin Ted is breathing precious air through a hole in the roof in an attic somewhere..

I lay down at night, and hope that I will wake up the next day, and realize this has all been a terrible, awful nightmare..

But it's not, it's real and the whole situation just keeps getting more shameful by the day..

[soggypicklemuncher]

Two owners of a nursing home outside New Orleans are being charged with manslaughter for the deaths of 34 residents. The victims drowned after Mable and Salvador Mangano refused an offer by local officials to remove the patients by bus. The couple didn't even call an ambulance as the water rose in the nursing home. They claim that it just wasn't feasible to move so many old, sick people, many of whom were dependent on oxygen and feeding tubes.

I think the charges were originally going to be murder, but were lessened to manslaughter. Still, 34 counts...I doubt they'll ever see the outside world again, except for maybe court appearances and appeals, once they enter prison.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4243966.stm

[MrMaelstrom]

Below is what I believe to be the most important bit of that story

"Political and bureaucratic disputes were said to have delayed rescue efforts soon after the hurricane struck, our correspondent notes, and it appears they are continuing."

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Google is asking everyone to set their homepage to the link below:

http://hurricanekatrinafund.tk/

Please make us your homepage. Everytime this page loads, 1-10 cents is raised off of benner ads on the bottom of the page. These ads are supplied by Google.com. So everytiome you visit our site, you're raising money towards those effected by Hurricane Katrina. All money raised goes to Red Cross. The sum of money raised off site visits is listed below, and updated once every 24 hours. Thank You! Please tell your friends to make http://HurricaneKatrinaFund.tk their homepage.

It's a small thing, but something..

Those two nursing home owners, are being charged with " Negligent Homicide ", its a real shame that they can't be tried for a stiffer charge.

They were offered transportation out of the area for all of the residents and themselves, and they REPEATEDLY refused the offers..

"The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not," said Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti. "They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169292,00.html

On Tuesday, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti Jr. charged Mable and Salvador Mangano Sr., both 65, with 34 counts of negligent homicide. (Watch the attorney general explain the charges -- 4:23)

Foti said the nursing home's patients should have been moved to a safer place.

"They did not die of natural causes; they drowned," Foti told reporters. "Thirty-four people drowned in a nursing home where they should have been evacuated."

The Manganos, who face up to five years on each count, surrendered Tuesday to Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigators in Baton Rouge and posted bail.

Jim Cobb, an attorney for the Manganos, told CNN that his clients said they were never told about the mandatory evacuation, and the couple were concerned that if they moved their patients, many would have died.

The owners stayed in the nursing home through the storm with their children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews, he said. (Watch video of the owners' attorney -- 5:10)

Tammy Daigle, a nurse at St. Rita's, agreed that the Manganos didn't want to risk losing any patients.

"Instead of endangering their lives, they [the Manganos] thought they could stay safely in the building with all of them," she told CNN.

But Foti said the owners had plenty of opportunity to move their charges out of the facility. The Manganos were asked if they wanted to evacuate the building and were offered buses; in addition, they had signed last April a contract with Acadian Ambulance Service to provide transportation in the event an evacuation was needed, Foti said, but "they were never called."

Dr. Bryan Bertucci, a coroner, said he called all five nursing homes in the parish as the storm was threatening the city, and all but St. Rita's said they were evacuating their patients.

By Sunday at 2 p.m., when the danger was imminent and a mandatory evacuation order had been issued, he called back and spoke with Mrs. Mangano.

"I told her I had two buses with two drivers that would take them wherever they want," Bertucci told CNN.

But he said he was told that five special needs patients could not be evacuated. "She said, 'I have five nurses, I have a generator, and I've spoken to the families and they said it was OK.' "

The Manganos had a spotless record for 20 years, and the home was well-regarded in the community, Cobb, their attorney, said. Eighty-five percent of the patients were from St. Bernard Parish, he said.

"At the end of the day the relatives of these people decided that it was best for their relatives to be there," he said.

Workers at the nursing home called each family, Cobb said, to tell them they were prepared with supplies and medicine and were staying at the home. Only six people came to get family members, he said.

Bertucci said the Manganos had provided good care before the storm, but he found fault with their decision not to evacuate. "I think they made a poor decision," he said.

Foti said it was unclear whether all 34 bodies were patients, family members or people who had sought refuge in the home.

Between 40 and 50 other people were rescued from the facility, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stevens has said. Cobb said the Manganos "saved 52 lives."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/09/13/ka...ome/index.html

Now my friggin question is that out of all of those poor people that were left behind, why the hell is it that only SIX of the elderly residents were picked up by family members??

I mean hello, how do you leave your defenseless elderly's safety and well-being in the hands of ANYONE but family during a crisis like this one??

And isn't it special that these two pathetic individuals LIVED, but 34 of the people in their care did not. From what I read they also had MANY of their own relatives staying there, I have not read a report that says any one of them died either.

How friggin sickening is that?

They make sure they live, and all of their family members live, and 34 of the defenseless people in their care, do not..

How convenient..




*Edit*

I just read on NOLA.com that 19 people also died in La Fon nursing home. The same story, they were left behind and drowned inside the nursing home. But for some reason these people have not been charged with any sort of a crime yet.

[soggypicklemuncher]

It is disgusting that the residents' families didn't come and get them. I'm sure there were reasons; maybe some of the residents needed medical equipment that the families couldn't move around, or the families trusted the nursing home staff to keep them safe, as they apparently had a good track record with the community.

But I know that if there were going to be a major disaster in the area where I live, my family wouldn't leave my grandmother to sit in a nursing home. Or at least we wouldn't leave her there alone. If the building was safe enough and had enough supplies I don't see why we couldn't all stay there with her.

It's pretty obvious that the families of the nursing home residents didn't think it was that great a place to weather the storm and flooding, since none of them stayed there, and yet they left their parents and grandparents there.

[Granny-like_the_apple]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

Everybody's saying "if they can't do anything regarding a Hurricane that was predicted 5 days in advance, how will they ever cope with another terrorist attack?", and I, for one, have no answer...

I mean, if the army can't be deployed on time to areas in dire need of assistance to cope with a known natural disaster, how long will they take to answer a call from a yet unknown attack?

I have an answer, but I'm about to pass out, so this is a reminder. To myself. In public because I'll probably forget.

[MrMaelstrom]

Oh, now I get it. It's not Bush's fault after all. Here's something so ridiculous I hope it will lighten things up a bit.

From Popbitch:


>> Pat The Twat <<
It was the lesbians what done it

Is George Bush's negligence at all to blame
for the Hurricane Katrina debacle? Not if
you ask one of Bush's richest religious
conservative backers, the Rev Pat Robertson.
According to Robertson, it's all the fault
of... lesbians.

"This is the second time in a row that God has
invoked a disaster shortly before lesbian
Ellen Degeneres hosted the Emmy Awards," said
Pat. "Is it any surprise that the Almighty
chose to strike at Miss Degeneres' hometown?
... God already allows one awards show to
promote the homosexual agenda. But clearly
He will not tolerate such sinful behavior to
spread beyond the Tonys."

The loon also claims that it's no coincidence
that the Iraq insurgency started in September
2003. It's because Ellen's TV talk show
started that month.

Robertson tried to get elected President
in 1988. He said he'd only stand against
George Bush Snr if three million people
signed up to back his bid. Rather
disturbingly, they did.

More insanity:
http://www.patrobertson.com/



What the fuck is wrong with these people? I'm talking not only about Pat, but those 3 million who signed....Jeeebus!!!!

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

More 'news' about the missing or dead..


The Coast Guard and other rescue teams kept up the search for bodies by boat and helicopter in areas that were still under several feet of water. A few homes in the area bore spray-painted marks indicating that bodies were inside. The death toll in Louisiana climbed to 474 on Wednesday, and it was expected to rise further as state and federal officials went about the monumental task of collecting the bloated and decayed corpses and identifying them through DNA. The total death toll across five states reached 710.

Identifying the dead is "going to take months, maybe years," said Dr. Louis Cataldi, the coroner for Baton Rouge Parish. "This is not going away."


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169425,00.html


Months, years.. What the hell?


Actually it shouldn't suprise me, because the forensic team analyzing pieces of flesh recovered at Ground Zero at the WTC, is STILL mailing bits of peoples family members back to them.


FOUR YEARS later..


But these bodies shouldn't be in itsy bitsy tiny pieces..


Fucking Sigh. What an unthinkable nightmare...

[MrMaelstrom]

I can't really think of a reason why it should take years.

Oh, the US doesn't have ID cards, so unless people have criminal records, is there no way to check fingerprints? There must be medical records of some sort, even for people without dental records...
And the DNA thingamabob?

I mean, like you say, it's not like they're in tiny little bits...

Regarding health hazards, shouldn't they just be buried? Because I think survivors will turn up anyway.

Of course that grieving families want to know where exactly their deceased are, but aren't all those cadavers lying around a huge health problem waiting to happen?

It's not like they're in the hot, dry desert sun... Humidity and moisture will decompose bodies very fast...and prone to bacterial growth...

Shit...

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

I can't really think of a reason why it should take years.

Oh, the US doesn't have ID cards, so unless people have criminal records, is there no way to check fingerprints? There must be medical records of some sort, even for people without dental records...
And the DNA thingamabob?

I mean, like you say, it's not like they're in tiny little bits...

Regarding health hazards, shouldn't they just be buried? Because I think survivors will turn up anyway.

Of course that grieving families want to know where exactly are their deceased, but aren't all these cadavers creating a huge health problem waiting to happen?
It's not like they're in the hot, dry desert sun... Humidity and moisture will decompose bodies very fast...

Shit...

Well there are many problems facing officials regarding the bodies of the people that died.

First of all, HUNDREDS have yet to be discovered, or if they have been discovered, they are still awaiting removal by the coroner's people..

So most of the dead are still sitting in these houses, either underwater or like you said, decomposing RAPIDLY in the high heat and humidity of summer.

Then you also have the problem that MOST of the medical records on these people were completely destroyed in the flood.

That is if and ONLY if they had ever been seen by a doctor in the first place.

Alot of these people had no insurance, and did not qualify for Medicaid.

So without records, once these bodies waiting to be retrieved, reach a certain stage of decomposition, there will be no way to visually identify them.

Period..

And without records, there will be no DNA or Dental identifying, either..

There is also the problem that NOLA buries all of their dead, above ground in Mausoleums, because the water table is so high there. They cannot bury them underground. Now most of the MAGNIFICENT old and beautiful cemetaries that NOLA is famous for, are still underwater, and no ones know yet, how the THOUSANDS of bodies buried there, old and new, fared during the flood.

New cemetaries I assume, will have to be appropriated or built.

All of these things take a painstakingly tedious amount of time, and yet the more time passes, the worse the sitution gets..

Its a huge Clusterfuck, If I may say so..

Sigh...




That is an aerial view of one of the largest cemetaries in Metairie, on the edge of NOLA.

Below, is a picture of a makeshift grave, built on the side of the road in the 9th ward in New Orleans.

The woman whose body is in the grave, lay on the side of the road for over TEN DAYS, before passers by decided to lay her to rest on their own, since none of the MANY officials that walked by her body, would take her to some sort of storage facility so she could later have a proper burial.

[MrMaelstrom]

Shit, I had completely forgot about N.O. burial peculiarities.

Do survivors keep turning up?
Are there still people being rescued?


And what does the LA in NOLA stand for? Levee Area? Pardon the ignorance...

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

Shit, I had completely forgot about N.O. burial peculiarities.

Do survivors keep turning up?
Are there still people being rescued?


And what does the LA in NOLA stand for? Levee Area? Pardon the ignorance...

Yes survivors are still turning up, and sadly people are still awaiting rescue, in many states, not just in Louisiana..

And the LA stands for Lousiana..

So NOLA = New Orleans, Lousiana

Just an acronym someone thought of eons ago I suppose..

[MrMaelstrom]

Originally Posted by Empty_Purple_Stars

So NOLA = New Orleans, Lousiana

You're kidding, right?

As opposed to New Orleans, Winsconsin???? or New Orleans, Alaska?????

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

You're kidding, right?

As opposed to New Orleans, Winsconsin???? or New Orleans, Alaska?????

Oh I get it...

[MrMaelstrom]

Indeed...not only my arse is cute, but smart as well. And it breaks like the wind....

Do they use the term "breaking wind" in the US to refer to farts?

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by MrMaelstrom

Do they use the term "breaking wind" in the US to refer to farts?

Only Southerners and the Elderly refer to it as such here..

And of course, there is you!!

[MrMaelstrom]

There's always me, baby, there's always me...
Like dogshit on ripple-soled shoes... I stick around

[AlKilyu]

Shame on you Granny!

[soggypicklemuncher]

That's just pathetic.

It's like speeding tickets; somebody else might be going faster than you, but if you're an easier target, the cop will nail you and not the guy who was speeding even more.