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McCain voted against all Katrina aid in 2005
As the Democratic minority tried throughout the fall of 2005 to get help for people in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Republicans wanted no part of it and despite his post-Katrina pledge to “do all that is necessary to fund essential relief and recovery efforts and help those in need,” John McCain was right there to shoot down every initiative that would have helped, including the following Democratic-sponsored bills. (see above)
So when John McCain makes his grand exploitation trip to Louisiana later this week — and especially if he follows that stunt by making his convention speech from there — keep in mind that no matter what words of resolve or sympathy he throws at the latest hurricane victims, he voted down every chance he had to actually provide help and oversight the last time this happened.
The best McCain can hope voters assume is that he simply didn’t care. The worst — and probably closer to the truth — is that he was just doing what he was told. As the Democratic minority tried throughout the fall of 2005 to get help for people in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Republicans want... more -
Banksy Bombing New Orleans
To commemorate the third anniversary of the devastating hurricane Katrina, internationally known graffiti artist Banksy spent some time in New Orleans. His work in New Orleans is largely a response the post Katrina city and the progress of the clean up. While Banksy was there, he also took the opportunity to fight back against Fred Radtke known as the Gray Ghost in the urban art scene. The Gray Ghost is the president of Louisiana's anti-graffiti Operation: Clean Sweep, Inc. Graffiti has been disappearing from both public and private property all over New Orleans, covered in the exact same shade of gray since 1997.
"I came to New Orleans to do battle with the Gray Ghost, a notorious vigilante who's been systematically painting over any graffiti he can find with the same shade of grey paint since 1997. Consequently he's done more damage to the culture of the city than any section five hurricane could ever hope to achieve." - Banksy
"Three years after Katrina I wanted to highlight the state of the clean-up operation. Only later did it dawn on me that if you choose to do this by drawing all over their stuff, you're actually only slowing down that clean-up operation." - Banksy To commemorate the third anniversary of the devastating hurricane Katrina, internationally known graffiti artist Banksy spent some tim... more -
L'uragano Gustav arriverà lunedì sulla costa Usa. E la città si svuota
Reportage da new Orleans città fantasma su cui sta per abbattersi l'uragano Gustav che sembra sarà peggiore di Katrina. Katrina era un uragano classificato come categoria 3, mentre Gustav è già di categoria 4 anche se passando sopra il Golfo del Messico potrebbe passare a categoria 5. A differenza di tre anni però, il sindaco ha dato ordine di sgomberare la città il giorno prima del previsto arrivo dell'uragano, perchè nessuno sa se gli argini rinforzati dopo Katrina, reggeranno a Gustav. Reportage da new Orleans città fantasma su cui sta per abbattersi l'uragano Gustav che sembra sarà peggiore di Katrina. Katrina e... more
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Hurricane Katrina: After the Levees Broke
Confronted with the approach of Hurricane Gustav, by Sunday afternoon a historic evacuation of Louisiana's Gulf Coast, the largest evacuation in state history, had been completed. Two million people had joined in an exodus that left New Orleans standing in near silence, quiet as a ghost town. Policemen and National Guardsmen were carrying guns as they stood watching over the city's empty streets, while the nation anticipated that Hurricane Gustav could rival Hurricane Katrina in its destructive power.
This article presents a number of stunning photographs that show the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and a video showing New Orleans as a “ghost town” after the flooding. In addition, it includes a deeply moving, memorable photo-gallery that documents Katrina's shattering aftermath, which is accompanied by music audio. Confronted with the approach of Hurricane Gustav, by Sunday afternoon a historic evacuation of Louisiana's Gulf Coast, the larges... more -
Hospitals use lessons from Katrina to prep for Gustav
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Three years after Hurricane Katrina taught New Orleans' medical community some painful lessons, hospitals here are trying to learn from past mistakes.
At Tulane Medical Center, evacuations began early Sunday as a long line of ambulances took patients to the airport. From there, they were flown to hospitals outside the zone threatened by Gustav. Only the sickest patients will remain at the hospital.
During Katrina, 1,600 people sheltered at the Tulane hospital. This time, only 450 patients, staff and family members are expected to remain. Patients are allowed one family member to stay with them.
"The lesson learned last time is, don't have lot of patients in your hospital unless it is absolutely necessary, and don't have too many staff," said Bob Lynch, the hospital's CEO.
A lot of planning, a lot of coordination has gone into the preparation for hurricanes after Katrina," Lynch said. "People really understand the need for being prepared down here."
Lynch says his hospital prepared by bringing in a lot of supplies.
During Katrina, generators at some New Orleans hospitals were flooded after levees broke. Many hospitals didn't have enough fuel to run for more than a few days.
Video at link... NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Three years after Hurricane Katrina taught New Orleans' medical community some painful lessons, h... more -
GOP sees potential redemption in Gustav
Republican officials say their radically curtailed convention offers a big political opportunity for the party to redeem itself on the competence issue — and for John McCain to step out of President Bush’s shadow once and for all.
There's no doubt it's a bit morbid to think about (and write about) the politics of a potential natural disaster and the thoughts — and prayers — of those gathering here are keenly focused on the Americans who face potential peril in Gustav’s path. That’s true for Republicans, Democrats and members of the media alike. Republican officials say their radically curtailed convention offers a big political opportunity for the party to redeem itself on the... more -
The Katrina Myth; the truth about a thoroughly unnatural disaster
Few people understand what really happened in New Orleans or what caused it. Fewer still realize that they too may be living under a similar or an even greater threat. This video exposes the key myths and misunderstandings about the New Orleans flood.
http://www.levees.org Few people understand what really happened in New Orleans or what caused it. Fewer still realize that they too may be living under a s... more -
Dopo caterina arriva gustavo e succede il finimondo
il fratello di Katrina, Gustav, ha deciso di completare l'opera della sorella intrapresa tre anni fa in quel che resta di new orleans il fratello di Katrina, Gustav, ha deciso di completare l'opera della sorella intrapresa tre anni fa in quel che resta di new orl... more
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Save Our Levees
Its not everyday that a story literally shows up on your front doorsteps. Check out what's happening with New Orlean's Infrastructure nearly three years after Katrina.
How can you tell if the infrastructure in New Orleans is sound? Should what the Army Corps of Engineers does be taken as final fact and truth? Should they be critiqued? Ever?
See how New Orleans residents are feeling about their relationship with the government agency responsible for keeping them safe. Its not everyday that a story literally shows up on your front doorsteps. Check out what's happening with New Orlean's Infra... more -
Banksy does New Orleans, Katrina aniversary special?
Apparently Banksy's in town, well, if you live in New Orleans anyway.
There's been a bit of commotion on graffiti blogs and in the news lately about a series of graffiti pieces that have shown up around New Orleans, with many claiming that they're the works of infamous graf-artist, Banksy.
Flickr/ Anthony Turducken's stream:
http://tinyurl.com/5obqeu
Sky News Gallery:
http://tinyurl.com/68ndvt Apparently Banksy's in town, well, if you live in New Orleans anyway. ... more -
Three years after Katrina, Gulf ports at risk
PORT FOURCHON, Louisiana (Reuters) - The drive south from New Orleans toward the Gulf of Mexico is a study in coastal vulnerability.
As the road winds through marshes and skirts bayous, dry land grows sparser by the mile.
Soon, water dominates the landscape, and the danger that a storm surge from a hurricane coming ashore would pose becomes clear.
At the far edge of this web of wetlands, roughly 60 miles south of New Orleans, lies one of the most strategically important ports in the United States.
Nearly three years to the day after hurricane Katrina plowed into the Louisiana coast on August 29, 2005, Port Fourchon is still a glaring Achilles heel in the vulnerable U.S. energy supply chain.
Now Port Fourchon and coastal cities like New Orleans are staring down the barrel of Tropical Storm Gustav, which could come ashore next week as the worst hurricane since 2005.
The 1,600-acre (647-hectare) complex is the support nerve center for over half of all offshore drilling operations, and serves 90 percent of the Gulf's deepwater oil installations.
Hundreds of large workboats chug between Port Fourchon and the rigs every day, carrying workers, heavy equipment and necessities that range from pipe, drilling mud and diesel fuel to groceries and drinking water.
Story continued at link... PORT FOURCHON, Louisiana (Reuters) - The drive south from New Orleans toward the Gulf of Mexico is a study in coastal vulnerability. ... more -
New Orleans considers evacuation as Gustav looms
Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents on Wednesday again confronted the prospect of an evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav loomed.
Not since Katrina struck on August 29, 2005, have residents faced a forced departure from their homes and businesses as many still struggle to rebuild their lives in a city famed for its jazz clubs and Mardi Gras festival. Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents on Wednesday again confronted the prospect... more -
United States Gulf Coast prepares for tropical storm Gustav
Gustav swirled toward Cuba on Wednesday after triggering flooding and landslides that killed at least 11 people in the Caribbean. Its track pointed toward the U.S. Gulf coast, including Louisana where Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc three years ago.
"We know it's going to head into the Gulf. After that, we're not sure where it's heading," said Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. "For that reason, everyone in Gulf needs to be monitoring the storm. At that point, we're expecting it to be a Category 3 hurricane." Gustav swirled toward Cuba on Wednesday after triggering flooding and landslides that killed at least 11 people in the Caribbean. Its ... more -
Three years after Katrina: 'Little progress'
As President Bush begins another visit to a region devastated not only by a tremendous hurricane but an excruciatingly slow recovery process, the international humanitarian agency Oxfam America called on both presidential candidates to renew the federal government's commitment to rebuilding the region.
President Bush's visit to Mississippi and Louisiana, days before the third anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, comes as a new report from Oxfam America reveals how little progress has been made and what still remains to be done to restore the region and repair the communities affected three years ago.
"If the history of the Katrina recovery were written today, it would be a tragedy. Far too little progress has been made despite the remarkable effort and ingenuity of the people of the region who are fighting to restore their homes and their lives," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Much of the progress has come at the hands of Gulf Coast residents - in spite of significant hurdles placed in front of them by the federal government. The next administration must act quickly to remove those hurdles so Gulf Coast residents can truly and finally recover from the storms."
Oxfam's report, Mirror on America, which will be released Tuesday, reveals just how much work remains to be done, and provides recommendations to speed an equitable recovery, including:
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More than 35,000 individuals still living in FEMA trailers in the Gulf Coast
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Only 12 percent of African-American evacuees who returned to New Orleans after the hurricanes were able to find work, compared with 45 percent of white evacuees;
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In Louisiana 82,000 apartments were damaged or destroyed by Katrina and Rita, but the highest official estimate proposes to replace only about 25,000 affordable units;
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In Mississippi, federal money that was mandated for use in rebuilding low income housing was, instead, diverted to improving the shipyards in Biloxi;
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Compliance with federal labor laws has been ignored, leaving workers coaxed to the region on promises of high salaries and free housing, found neither and have since been abandoned.
President Bush rightly commended many who have worked hard to rebuild their homes and their lives. Unfortunately, so many have done so on their own, with less help than they could have used from the federal government.
Rebuilding the region has proved to be difficult. Many living along the Gulf Coast have been hit by a double injustice. On one hand they can't afford the rising costs of rent, housing, insurance and utilities. On the other, they can't find the kind of jobs they need to offset those increased expenses. It is not too late, however, for the many thousands who still need help.
"A new administration will face the challenge of correcting the mistakes of its predecessor and a critical opportunity to rebuild the Gulf Coast better and stronger," said Rhonda Jackson, Louisiana State Policy Specialist for Oxfam America. "The time is now to renew our promise and commit to a full Gulf Coast recovery." As President Bush begins another visit to a region devastated not only by a tremendous hurricane but an excruciatingly slow recovery p... more -
LA National Guard still patrol in New Orleans Neighborhoods three years after Katr...
On the seventh-floor parking garage of a Holiday Inn that calls itself the “jazziest hotel in New Orleans,” soldiers dressed for combat wait for the evening’s call to fall in. They chat, smoke and gaze out upon an American city still in need of their armed presence.
At a sergeant’s bark, these two dozen men and women, all members of the Louisiana National Guard, stand at attention for their nightly pep talk. The sergeant instructs them to drive carefully, to be alert, to keep an eye out for a hyperactive band of armed robbers and to remember: “We’re not here to make friends.”
They slap clips into their 9-millimeter pistols and climb into decade-old white sedans no longer of use to the state police. Then out they go, on patrol, their flashlight beams skimming like the nation’s eye across shotgun houses achingly abandoned and beautifully restored, down streets named St. Maurice, and Piety, and Elysian Fields.
On this night the shift supervisor is Sgt. Robert Barthelemy, 28, a brawny sawmill worker from Natchitoches, more than 200 miles to the northwest. But he has earned his street stripes, first as an Army tank commander in Baghdad and for the last 18 months as a soldier in New Orleans. He wants to be a police officer someday; maybe here.
His driver is Specialist Rocky Sylvia, 24, wiry, Newport-smoking, from Alexandria, just south of Natchitoches. Not long ago he was doing warehouse work for the Army in Baghdad and for a Sam’s Club back home; now he is a uniformed global positioning system, gunning along city streets in a Crown Victoria with 168,000 miles, no discernible shock absorbers and a cracked windshield. He does not want to be a police officer someday.
The crazed New Orleans swirl pulls them in as soon as they pull out. Their sedan bounces along Elysian Fields Avenue to where a resident on Spain Street says a man pointing a gun keeps driving by his house. The resident tells a tale unnerving to him, mundane to them: “When he pulled out the gun, that’s when, that’s when — you know what I’m saying?”
The soldiers promise to keep an eye out and continue on toward a street called Humanity, this first routine call of the night reflecting a stunning reality: Three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans still needs the military to help keep some semblance of order in certain neighborhoods.
Violent crime has often overshadowed the city’s baby steps toward recovery. This year alone, New Orleans has had at least 127 murders, a stunning statistic given that roughly a third of the city’s population — 454,000 before the hurricane — has so far not returned.
Crime was so rampant by June 2006 that Mayor C. Ray Nagin asked Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to send in the troops. She obliged: soon more than 300 National Guard members in Humvees were patrolling the city’s more damaged, less populated streets as backup for a depleted police force.
More than two years later, 300 soldiers remain, with the Louisiana National Guard still operating its command post from the Dixieland conference room in a downtown Holiday Inn. The plan, officers say, is to end the mission by the new year, giving the police department more time to replenish its ranks. On the seventh-floor parking garage of a Holiday Inn that calls itself the “jazziest hotel in New Orleans,” soldiers dressed for comba... more -
US government aims to tame storms with 'hurricane modification'
With winds that rip apart buildings and can produce more power than a nuclear bomb, it would seem humans can do little against the devastating force of a hurricane.
The United States government, however, has other ideas and is now attempting to pit some of the world's best minds against these indomitable forces of nature, the Telegraph reports.
Critics say attempts to tinker with such powerful weather systems could have unintended consequences for the climate
The Department of Homeland Security has asked scientists to draw up new plans on how hurricanes and other tropical storms can be weakened before they hit land.
Three years after Hurricane Katrina caused more than $50bn of damage and killed 1,800 people when it blasted through New Orleans, American government officials have asked for a new programme into hurricane modification.
Scientists believe they can weaken the strength of tropical storms and steer them off course using a range of methods that include spraying fine particles into hurricanes or cooling the sea water in areas where they form.
But attempts to tinker with such powerful weather systems will alarm critics who believe modifying hurricanes could have unintended consequences to the climate, and could leave governments open to lawsuits if they fail to prevent storms with the new technology.
William Laska, programme manager of science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, said it was essential if future loss of life and destruction was to be avoided.
He said: "We do not want to stop hurricanes completely as this could cause other unintended consequences. Hurricanes are part of the world's natural balance and provide a vital source of rainfall for many areas.
"But if we can decrease the intensity of a hurricane from a level five to a level four, then the amount of damage can be dramatically reduced."
The project has been given an estimated price tag of around $64m (£32m) over six years. Scientists will first conduct tests using models and small scale experiments before the most promising idea is developed for large scale testing.
Among the plans is a scheme to seed hurricanes with microscopic particles of salt that have been released into a storm from an aircraft. Research has shown that such seeding can cause hurricanes to dump large quantities of rain over the sea before it reaches land. The rainfall also carries away the heat that powers the hurricane, weakening it.
Other schemes aim to weaken or prevent hurricanes by cooling the sea temperature.
Other scientists have suggested using thousands of floating buoys in the ocean, which would harness wave power to pump warm surface water down and draw cold water from 650 feet below the surface to the top, or spreading a thin film of oil on the surface of the ocean in front of developing storms. This, scienctists believe, would reduce evaporation from the sea's surface and decrease the amount of heat drawn from the sea by the hurricane.
What do you think? Should we just leave this devastating and powerful act of nature to its own devices? Is this a fairly typical 'we're more powerful even than nature!'-type approach from the US government, or a genuinely helpful attempt to protect it's people? With winds that rip apart buildings and can produce more power than a nuclear bomb, it would seem humans can do little against the dev... more -
Casino regulators received items meant for Katrina victims
The agency that regulates Mississippi's casinos got pillows, stoves, dinnerware and other items meant for Hurricane Katrina victims.
The Mississippi Gaming Commission was among 11 state agencies that received the household items from the state's surplus agency.
A breakdown of what each agency received shows the commission took a coffee maker, a case of pillows, wash kits, two dual-burner stoves, plates and utensils, two cases of hand sanitizers and 20 five-gallon containers.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections also got 20 coffee makers, 15 tents, four cases of pillows, five cases of men's underwear and other supplies.
Sixteen states, including storm-ravaged Mississippi, took the items. The agency that regulates Mississippi's casinos got pillows, stoves, dinnerware and other items meant for Hurricane Katrina victi... more -
Making Old Bikes New for Post-Katrina New Orleans | Hugg 2.0
Great little blurb about RUBARB, a bike reclamation outfit in New Orleans. They're doing some great things with nothing, for nothing.
The TreeHugger.com article links here: http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/06/27/making-old-bikes-new...
Rubarb's website is here: http://www.rubarbike.org/index.html Great little blurb about RUBARB, a bike reclamation outfit in New Orleans. They're doing some great things with nothing, for not... more -
Shake The Devil Off
New Orleans contro l'Arcidiocesi. La colorata battaglia di una comunità, per difendere la parrocchia che li ha salvati dall'uragano Katrina New Orleans contro l'Arcidiocesi. La colorata battaglia di una comunità, per difendere la parrocchia che li ha salvati dall'... more
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Weather Weapon Katrina?
Assertions of the use of weather control technology. Some individuals have gone beyond the suggestion that human activity had an unintended influence on the weather, and have asserted that a country or hostile organization intentionally used weather control technology to intensify and/or direct the path of Hurricane Katrina.
The alleged intent was to impact the United States' ability to produce petroleum and natural gas, thereby causing a severe adverse economic impact. Others have claimed that the U.S. government itself used such technology such as HAARP to strengthen and direct Hurricane Katrina, for any number of reasons, including:
* To create a disaster that could be used to increase the power of the federal government.
* To distract Americans from other situations such as the Iraq war and the Plame affair.
* To raise oil prices.
* To award lucrative rebuilding contracts to favored corporations.
* To allow favored parties to acquire damaged - but still valuable - coastal properties in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Some sources of these theories include:
* Was Katrina a Man Made Storm for Profits?
http://www.rense.com/general67/waskatrinaamanmade.htm
* FEMA, Katrina, Halliburton & HAARP
http://www.spiritcaller.net/KatrinaFEMAHalliburtonHAARP...
* HAARP and Katrina
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread166343/pg1
* Scott Stevens: The Tsunami that was Katrina
Not Found.The requested URL /Katrina.htm was not found on this server.
* Richard C. Hoagland: "Hyperdimensional" Katrina ...?
http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/2005/08/hyperdi...
* Richard C. Hoagland: More Support for An "Undeclared Global Weather War?"
http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/2005/09/more-su...
* Hurricane Katrina STEERED for New Orleans?
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/08/323753.shtml Assertions of the use of weather control technology. Some individuals have gone beyond the suggestion that human activity had an unint... more
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Katrina
