I’m writing from the PINK House in Takoma Park MD. Flew from Tucson to Dulles today. I feel like I haven’t blogged in a really long time, but I think that will change very dramatically over the next few days. I will be in lots of actions, hopefully doing lots of interviews, and just observing (and being a part of) history in the making. I have thousands of notes for blogs to put up. It will take a while to catch up, but being on the east coast should change perspective enough to jump start regular writing again. So… in any case, I’m back!
Virtual March on Washington to Stop Global Warming
I am not as optomistic as the name of this site suggests others might be, but while I don’t believe we can stop global warming, I do believe we must have more and better methods of responding to and slowing the escalation of global warming. Making one helluva lot of noise so the leaders have to notice our collective voices is an easy first step.
Join the Virtual March on Washington!
A Report Back from Food Not Bombs on the Ground in Louisiana about Feeding the Displaced
This just in from a local Tucson activist I know:
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From: Walt Staton
Date: Sep 12, 2005 1:09 AM
Subject: In Baton Rouge
Well, I thought it was crazy enough the first time that I came to Louisiana a few years ago to live in Baton Rouge, and I figured I’d be back, but not in this capacity.
I made the decision a last week to travel to the south with some friends on an old school bus retrofitted with a small kitchen and packed with over a ton of food and supplies to bring some warm meals into communities that desperately need any kind of help. Our group is part of an organization called Food Not Bombs – which has been working for over 25 years to feed homeless and needy people in cities all over the world.
We first drove to Houston where we began to get some information as to where we could be the most useful. After weighing some decisions, we decided to head towards Baton Rogue, where I was able to call up a friend and secure a place to crash.
As it turns out, this friend is working at a small non-profit environmental organization and they had already been bringing supplies out into some far-fetched communities. They were grateful for us to arrive and let us use their office to being coordinating our own activities. The world is full of amazing people…
Today we were able to finally serve our first meals. We got word that over 100 truckers were basically just sitting around in an old Target parking lot, waiting for orders to take water and food into the areas that need it. The truckers, all contracted by FEMA, haven’t had food brought to them and are basically stranded with nothing but an Exxon across the street (the Target is closed, so no food there…) They were extremely grateful for our warm meal of beans, rice, chili, watermelon and apples. Many shared frustrations with they way things were being handled. They all knew people needed the water and food they had, but couldn’t do anything but sit there.
After spending a couple hours with them, we drove to the River Center, which is Baton Rouge’s convention center where a few thousand refugees are being sheltered. We arrived an hour before their 10:00 pm curfew, so we caught people as they trickled back to re-enter. The security line to get into the building was 2 hours long. The food they were receiving was mostly fast food and junk food – nothing healthy or fulfilling. Children didn’t have toys (we handed out some stuffed animals).
People were frustrated, but calm. We heard stories from a few people who lived in downtown New Orleans. We heard stories of people who spent time crammed in the Super Dome. People fought back tears telling us of their losses and the horrors they’ve been through. One man said that tonight was the first time he’s laughed in weeks.
The disaster in New Orleans is very real. The death and destruction is real. The rapes, shootings, murder – it all happened. But the hope that people are clinging to is also apparent. People want to return and rebuild. Especially the people of New Orleans – they are proud of their city and want to go back.
We have barely scratched the surface of the emotions here. On Monday, we will embark on the next leg of our trip. We head to an ad-hoc aid camp being set up by Veterans for Peace. Since there is so much red tape that all the official agencies must go through, it is only the small, grassroots groups that can really reach out the the people, especially in rural communities. The red cross can’t (or won’t) do what it takes to bring medical care to thousands – so it is up to us to do it. While truckers with over a million gallons of water wait, we will go out and cook food. While politicians fuss over who’s to blame, we will give children stuffed animals.
Three days into this journey, I already am feeling overwhelmed by the scope of what’s going on, but I’m also very energized and excited to be here.
I will have very limited computer access for the rest of our trip until I get back to Tucson next weekend, and cell phone coverage is still spotty out here. But I will be in touch again later with a re-cap of the trip when I get home.
For some photos and stories of what we’ve been up to so far, check out my posts on Arizona Indymedia:
http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/30474.php http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/30511.php http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2005/
The Blame Goes Deep and Wide
This from taking down words that references thishttp://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32144&printerfriendlyVers=1&
How much did (now Indiana) Gov. Daniels have to do with the underfunding of levee repair in New Orleans? This story from govexec.com explores that.
…a former chief of the Army Corps of Engineers disparaged senior White House officials for ‘not understanding’ that key elements of the region’s infrastructure needed repair and rebuilding.
“Mike Parker, the former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, was forced to resign in 2002 over budget disagreements with the White House. He clashed with Mitch Daniels, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, which sets the administration’s annual budget goals.
“Daniels, now governor of Indiana, did not respond to a request for comment.”
Leadership is more than a style — Brown vs. Honore
FEMA should not be a political appointment. How does Michael Brown become head of FEMA? Maureen Dowd describes him in her column as “the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA – a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association – admitted he didn’t know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.” The head of The International Arabian Horse Association?!?!
How about Lt. Russell Honere or someone like him to head up FEMA?
Lieutenant General Honore, commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, who has been shown on CNN commanding troops to point their weapons down — “Put those weapons down, Goddammit!” knows how to take charge and promote calm.
Tulane , slums, contraception and whining.
According to the temporary web site for Tulane “Nine of the leading higher education associations, which represent hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, have developed a plan to accept Tulane students, as well as those from other institutions adversely affected by the hurricane, for the fall semester only.” Educational bureaucracy is a massive lethargic monster — and they are moving more quickly than recovery efforts by response entities that are supposed to move quickly.
Planned Parenthood needs your help. 100% of donations to PP for Katrina relief will go to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. One of the aspects of disaster (including war, by the way) that is rarely given attention is the lack of access to contraception and reproductive health care. Because it is, in my estimation, a woman’s problem, and thus relegated to the back burner even though inattention in this area will create misfortune for generations. The burgeoning ranks of displaced, unemployed, homeless people may not be able to care for any new children for years. This is heart-breaking. But we must insure that no unwanted children come into the world accidentally to face a life of abuse and in about 15 years to dramatically raise the crime rate. (Stanford economics research has shown this to be the case. I will supplement with the complete reference soon.)
Chain-of-command requires effective top down leadership. Ultimately some orders that needed to be given were not issued until days into the disaster. Even a Junior Congressionional Member should be able to trace the chain-of-command to see what orders were issued when. The New Orleans Atrocity is what happens when you allow, at best, self-serving intersts, or, in the worst case, criminals, to take over a political system. Fedblog is a site by and for government employees, those people who are the ones likely to be blamed by their bureaucratic bosses for failure, and who are most often not to blame. Excellent set of Katrina resources.
Okay, now to address the Republican whining that has already begun to protest that people are being mean to them by saying, “Democrats will seek to politicize this.” Hell yes. It is a political issue. Their whining supports a madman who is a crude s.o.b.. The political system needs to cut off the heads of those elements of governance (not actual decapitation, folks!) that failed. Isn’t that the point of governance — to be able to throw the bums out and from time to time; to at least, change bums?
The analogy that I have heard that makes sense to me is: “This” is no different the slum lord who knowingly builds a sub-standard building that collapses killing its occupants. It is about time for the American people to realize we do not have the highest standard living in the world. People here face horrors in their daily lives that other affluent western countries would never tolerate. Katrina has brought this out in a way that cannot be ignored.