Katrina News Links Update

[liz_marcs]

I fucking lied.

I. Am. Pissed.

The American Red Cross relief efforts. Choose "Hurricane 2005" relief on the donations page.

Second Harvest, the food bank network, relief efforts. To donate funds, go here.


via juliansinger:

The National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security will not let the Red Cross into NOLA.

The official release on the American Red Cross Website.

Here's why Homeland Security will not let the Red Cross in, according to the Red Cross:

The state Homeland Security Department had requested — and continues to request — that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

So, let me get this straight:

They won't let people leave NOLA. (see the rest of this post)

They're not getting aid to the people at the Convetion Center and other areas, which every 24-hour news network has been covering in detail. (see the rest of this post)

But to encourage people to leave (which they can't) and to prevent people from comming in to the city (can't do that either), Homeland Security will not let the Red Cross into the city. The National Guard has ordered the Red Cross to stay away.

What country am I living in right now? Because I don't remember living in this country last week.

People are not allowed to leave NOLA

via nemo_gravis:

nemo_gravis posted on this on his LJ earlier this evening. I wanted a link for proof because I couldn't believe this was true, but he didn't have one. It took some patience to wait for it to come up on the Web, but the indispensible Crooks and Liars finally has it.

Be patient for the video to load.

Watch it.

Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera lose their shit on the air over on FOXNews. They then proceed to shout down Sean Hannity who tries once or twice to head back to the White House talking points.

Refugees have now been at the NOLA Convention Center for six days. No food. No water. No help.

The Feds have locked them in the Convention Center.

There are dead bodies on the second floor.

People are dying.

There is a blockade around NOLA and troops on the ground are not letting people leave.

Watch this video right now.

Then we've got to start making some goddamn noise because this is fucking inhumane.

FEMA knows they're there. Troops on the ground know they're there.

This is what Mayor Nagin was yelling about.

No less than Paula Zahn and Ted Koppel told our loser of a FEMA director about it. On Thursday.

It gets better.

That whole, "We had no warning"? On August 28 the Governor of Louisianna sent this letter with a list of things the state figured they'd need when Katrina took aim at NOLA. That would be Saturday. Yet another bullet (one of many I've found in my half-assed Google-fu-ing) in the brain of this little "we didn't know" lie.

Oh, remember the Heroic Bus Thief? The one who saved 70 to 100 complete strangers by grabbing the bus and hauling ass out of town? The kid may be charged with a crime.(audio only)

CNN is calling on administration officials for lying to us.

Tim Russert smells a rat too and he says what I've been thinking all week.

AP notes that the administration's happy face on relief efforts is just one more lie on top of the tissue of whoopers we've heard from this administration for five years. Then it catalogs all of them. Think about it. AP. A-fucking-P, the newswire service that wouldn't say shit if its mouth was full of it, is calling bullshit.

Fuckers.

Heads should roll.

The incompetent rescue efforts ranging from NOLA to the people abandoned in Mississippi.

The Senate sure as hell isn't about to forget, it looks like.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Joseph Leiberman, D-Conn., are starting an inquiry next week when the full Senate is back in session.

Do not let this fall off the radar.

This isn't just incompetence. This is criminal incompetence.

I'm now officially too pissed to sleep.

Comments

[rachelmap.livejournal.com]

Good God almighty!

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

See why I needed proof? Because I couldn't imagine this was true.

I still can't.

Too many reporters on the ground in NOLA have lost it on air. Whatever little glimpses we're seeing? It must be a million times worse.

This get worse because I just found this out 30 seconds ago

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

The National Guard and Homeland Security will not let the Red Cross into NOLA.

From the Red Cross Web site. I just ETA'd my LJ post.

Re: This get worse because I just found this out 30 seconds ago

[rachelmap.livejournal.com]

The Red Cross doesn't seem to be complaining about it. That said... Well, I'm boggling.

Re: This get worse because I just found this out 30 seconds ago

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think it says oodles that they have this on their site.

The American Red Cross, just like any Red Cross or Red Cescent society operates (from what I understand) with the cooperation of the federal government. Ultimately, if a national authority says "No" to letting them in, the Inernational Red Cross can put up a stink, but they can't ultimately do anything about it.

The American Red Cross isn't complaining on CNN, no. But they've got this handy FAQ on their Web site spelling out in some very neutral language why they're not in NOLA.

[misagoddess.livejournal.com]

This is just heartbreaking. I managed to listnen to the interview with Mayor Nagin but I cannot get the video for Smith or Rivera. I'll have to try again later.

This news has me so upset I can't think straight. There's just no excuse for this, at all. NONE. And I feel helpless. The only thing I can do is send money/supplies. So that's what I'm going to do - the company I work for is taking donations from employees and will be making a mass donation next week.

Someone's got to fry over this - I just hope it will be the right people.

This gets worse:

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

The National Guard and Homeland Security will not let the Red Cross into NOLA.

From the Red Cross Web site. I just ETA'd my LJ post.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

You are awesome in your fury. I salute you.

WTF is up with the Red Cross? I mean wtff? Do they want to make sure noone gets in there but the Nat Guard or what? I do NOT understand this....

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaand, I've just the wall.

My fury has crashed and I need to go to bed.

But my resolution to stop posting news links lasted *checks watch* all of two hours.

Yup. That lasted really long.

I am still mightily pissed.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Ha, my dad used to say, once a reporter, always a reporter -- the ink gets in your blood and won't come out.

I don't blame you. At least you're turning your rage into something productive -- I had to just shut off the news for most of tonight, because I was feeling apoplectic to the point of worrying if my blood pressure would spike....

[(Anonymous)]

Liz,

Thank you for the video link. I can't believe how clusterfucked this relief effort is. What the hell is wrong with these people???
I hope people will keep asking questions but I'm afraid in a couple of months it will be swept under the rug - or worse, be seen as politics.

[gumboy.livejournal.com]

As much as reading your posts breaks my heart and faith in my government... They're like crack.

Thanks for all your hard work on this. Get some rest.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Jaysus. If we're getting freaking angry, I say it's rightfully so. Thanks for these links and the contextualization of the commentary.

Definitely get some rest. I absolutely appreciate all the groundwork you've done in gathering this information. But certainly take time to recharge. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help out, even though I doubt I have the same Googling skillz as you.

[physicsteach.livejournal.com]

Liz,

Thanks for your hard work. I'm always impressed by the diligence in your informative posts, and I've used your links quite a bit. To be honest though, I have seen a lot of the vids in real time. Watching Hannity get reamed by both Smith (who I liked before, and is now quickly approaching David Bloom-like status in my tele-stud pantheon) and Geraldo was a thing of art.What I liked best was Hannity trying to switch back and forth between the two hoping one of them would smile along with his Republican-Administration-isn't-fucking-up line, only to be shot down more and more gut-wrenchingly each time, finally shrinking into himself. You could literally watch and listen to him get weaker. You know it's bad when Fox can't make Bush look good. Hell, they can't even make him look competent.

Now, I'm not a left-winger. I'm not a guy who loathes Repulicans (though I do despise Bush, it's because of him, not his basic ideology), but the Administration fucked up. IMHO, Bush is done. He has no capital, no respect left. Over the next few months as we watch the Federal response get dissected, as the economy cumbles, as inflation spikes and the job gains of the last few years disappear, what Republicans will want to be associated with him?

The final irony is that this failure isn't political or ideological, but technical. I don't know that Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Bush 41, Regan, Carter, Ford or Nixon would have dealt with this any better. They've all put rich lawyers in techincally demanding jobs, and that's just the way patronage jobs work.

And lets not forget that certianly the local authorities in New Orleans and state authorities have some responsibility: why didn't the cops have communications? Extra batteries for radios, generator powered radio relay towers, that sort of thing. Why didn't they have a plan? NO knew this kind of flooding was possible, and while the city couldn't afford the billions of dollars of public works to protect itself, they could think the situation through and plan for police communications, water and sanitation at shelters of last resort, and so on. The state should have been ready, too, with state police and Guard troops, supplies, evacuation strategies, and so on.

Everyone failed: Democrats and Republicans, local, state, and Federal officials.

[szandara.livejournal.com]

This is true. There's plenty of blame to go around. They had two days warning that this storm was going to be bad. They couldn't have had buses to get some of the poor people out of town? Granted, some might have chosen to stay, but others would have left if they'd had an option. They couldn't have stockpiled food, water, porta-johns and other supplies to the Superdome and other shelters--just in case people had to be there longer than just overnight? At every level of government, both long before, immediately before, during and after the storm, there were monumentals screwups.

And like Abu Ghraib, I fear that only the people at the lowest level will be punished, while the rich and powerful at the top of the heap get away with it.

[nemo-gravis.livejournal.com]

It really seems as if some people have decided to jump on this terrible disaster as an opportunity for murder and nigh-genocide. What got to me was that they're killing these poor people slowly, apparently to really enjoy the experience like the sadistic bastards they are, and they don't seem to give a damn who sees them do it. Because no one is going to have the guts to call them on their behavior and if someone did, then they'd just get locked up.

Now why does all this remind me of certain totalitarian regimes throughout history...? Hmmm...

[iyalode.livejournal.com]

Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera lose their shit on the air over on FOXNews

They did indeed. Also, I caught a bit of O'Rielly and he got pretty much shafted by anyone he tried to manipulate/bully into toeing the FOX line.

I can't begin to imagine the desperation of parents in NOLA for the safety & health of their children. It breaks my heart. I've got two very sick kids on my hands at the moment but at least we can get everything we need to get them better and their safe and warm.

I do know this however, no parent is ever going to forget or forgive a govt that has put their children in danger such as this.

[szandara.livejournal.com]

Thank you for keeping me informed with your mad google-fu skillz and reporter's instinct. You are Da Bomb.

If you're not too madly busy this weekend, want to come to a cookout on Sunday? Call me.

*hugs*

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I'd love to, but my parents are coming in tomorrow. :-(

Well, actually :-) because I need a hug from mom; but :-( that I'll not be able to make it.

[aceliwen.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether to feel pleased that the Senate will hold hearings or despair because it'll be Lieberman in charge.

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Liz, thanks so much for all the effort you put into these posts. Ron and I spent the evening going through all the links and getting up to speed on much information we had missed from the paper and conventional news. Ron says he should start reading your LJ on a regular basis.

[midnightfae.livejournal.com]

Found you through jetpackmonkey... If its ok, I'm adding you as a friend and watching closely, hard as it is.

I have friends stranded down there in MS and while, thankfully, everyone is accounted for an alive, its still breaking my heart.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

Btw, just found this link : http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4837382 which might be of interest.