What would have happened if Gov. Blanco turned LA over to Bush

[Tellurian]

as he demanded after hurricane Katrina struck?

Obviously, the Dubai deal of taking over management of the ports had already been struck.

Where would we all be if Bush had been able to seize power in LA, MI and Texas?

Three major ports under marshall law and federal domain?

We dodged a bullet there folks!

Thank You, Gov Blanco!

[Swamp Rat]

1. I would be dead

:(

[lpbk2713]

2. Everything would be bulldozed and

Halliburton would be awarded a no-bid contract to rebuild infrastructure and hundreds of high-rise condos. The city would be renamed East Crawford.

[proud patriot]

3. More pain and suffering would have happened

[ReverendDeuce]

4. I was in Baton Rouge recently... the tension is palpabale...

The tension is both economic and racial. I was there the day that most of the so-called "FEMA extensions" ran out. As security was busy hustling people out of the hotel, the dispair of some was so disturbing while others simply regretted the fact that they now had to go find jobs.

Honestly, some of what the hard-right people say is at least sort of accurate. There were people at the hotel that should have been working instead of sponging off of FEMA. Able-bodied men and women that could have gotten at least some form of employment.

At the same time, there were a lot of elderly people getting thrown out. Some on oxygen. All piled up in the lobby getting forcibly checked out of their rooms. It was very sad.

Along the same lines, the hotel itself -- otherwise a decent place -- was decimated by FEMA refugees. I refuse to call them Katrina victims, as they are FEMA refugees at this point. FEMA has fucked them over far worse than Katrina did.

The hotel looked like it used to be a decent place. But now, it's seen better days. The once finely adorned rooms are now rife with strange odors and damage. Damage that was recent. Typical usage would not account for the gashed in the wall, carvings in the bathroom tiles, ripped out electrical sockets, et cetera -- unless the hotel is in the slums. But no, this was what used to be a posh local hotel. A hotel run by locals that caters to well-to-do business travelers.

I am still conflicted about how I feel. I see the damage that Katrina wrought, the lives it destroyed, but at the same time I see the rampant neglect and abusiveness of many of the refugees. I don't know what to think other than: I don't ever want to go to Louisianna again.

[Tellurian]

6. The survivors in Louisiana and Mississippi are heroes

and new age martyrs. It isn't apparent yet. But what they have endured
has saved this country from and even more disastrous fate.

My heart goes out to all!

[rwheeler31]

9. Go

nt

[Mind_your_head]

11. Uh, how do you know that the rooms looked/smelled liked this?

Did you see that personally? And if so, why would you be able to go into all/so many rooms?

How would a 'casual visitor' see a gash in the wall, carvings in the bathroom tiles, and ripped out electrical sockets?

Do you work for the hotel chain? Or are you just guessing/making this up?

This is how propaganda about 'those people' starts, me thinks. And it continues if no one questions it.

[aquart]

16. Thank you.

[frustrated_lefty]

17. In ReverendDeuce's defense....

there was a weird polarity in individual responses in the aftermath of Katrina from day 1. The majority of the survivors seemed to take the experience as a 'wake-up call,' a second chance. It was oddly motivational in so many cases, and a lot of people found reservoirs of strength they might not have expected. A segment of the population...call it 5-10% as a guesstimate...continued with business as usual. Quite a few of the $2,000 debit cards were used up in a crackhouse which opened a few blocks from one of the shelters. Children were left to run wild by their parents.

I don't want to come down hard on anyone who went through that experience. Suffice it to say that many took it as a kick in the butt, a chance to re-examine their lives and priorities. And, for some, for whatever reason, the experience just added to their existing burdens and they weren't yet able to turn it into something constructive. Unfortunately, that did result in neglectful and destructive behavior in many instances.

What sucks is that the behavior of a small percentage of the population is going to be portrayed as typical of all of the survivors.

-fl

[Tellurian]

18. Agreed..

Six months later, billions spent, very little has been done to restore a modicum of normalcy
to an unparalleled catastrophe. It seems a little strange crack would be made available in any serious quantities rather than food and housing in light of of the circumstances. Red flagging an existing covert operation (government) programing people to failure and despair.

[Maddy McCall]

23. Um, I received one of those cards.

You couldn't even spend them on beer or cigs, much less crack--not that I tried.

I'm a Katrina survivor, by the way.

[Tellurian]

25. Hi Maddy-

I'm expecting you and merh to come up north here for a sweet vacation in July.

[Maddy McCall]

28. LOL

I would love to! :hi:

[Tellurian]

33. Can't wait to see both of you!

you deserve a rest from the unending consternation and chaos.
And look at beautiful things for a while.

Our coastline's beaches are gorgeous in summer.
It's free and easy livin' till Fall.

[frustrated_lefty]

29. You're confusing the two

The Bank of America debit card which came with $2,000 on it and could (and was) used at atms. The food cards (was the "LoneStar" card in Texas) could only be used on food.

My kids and I are Katrina survivors as well. What contribution I may be able to make to this or similar threads comes from the perspective of someone who resided in the Levis shelter until they booted us out.

[Maddy McCall]

34. You witnessed people spending FEMA money on crack?

Wow. Just wow.

How are you now? Where are you living?

[frustrated_lefty]

39. Hey Maddy

To clarify, no, I did not see with my own two eyes FEMA money being spent on crack. One older guy out of a group of roughly 25-30 volunteered to have his "old lady" watch my kids and invited me to go with some of them across the highway to purchase crack. In his own way, he was kinda a nice guy, concerned that I was going buggy trying to take care of the kids without my wife. He figured I "needed to unwind."

We're as ok as we can be. We lost everything, but I've got a new job finally (in Philadelphia), we've got food on the table and a roof over our heads. It's a lot to be grateful for. We were very, very fortunate, and a lot of people are far much worse off than us.

Are you ok? Maybe we should take this to pms, or the survivors board?

[merh]

43. If you need to chat with another survivor

just pmail me.

Like you, I am one of the very fortunate, I have work, I have a trailer and am able to work to rebuilding my life. That doesn't mean I am not scarred and don't have my issues, it means I am better able to deal with them than most.

Take care of yourself and pmail if you ever need to just chat. :hug:

[Maddy McCall]

22. Debit cards in a crack house?

I didn't know that crack dealers had the technology to process a debit card transaction.

:shrug:

[frustrated_lefty]

24. The debit cards came with PIN#s

and could be used at atms. I've still got mine in my pocket.

[Maddy McCall]

26. Yeah, but how does anyone know that Katrina's victims took that money...

and spent it in "crack houses?"

[frustrated_lefty]

30. Because I was invited? Any more sarcasm?

[Maddy McCall]

36. Sarcasm?

Why so touchy? I'm not being sarcastic. I just don't believe that you witnessed anyone buying crack with FEMA money. Not saying that it never happened, just that I doubt you can say for certain that it did.

[merh]

38. When I finally was able to find a Red Cross distribution center

and apply for the money they offered (It was not $2,000, it was a lot less than that) I sat for hours in a crowd of folks waiting for my name to be called so I could get my check. Because Katrina was an equal opportunity destroyer, the crowd was mixed and made up of all races and people from all economic sectors. The center was in poor section of town, so I suppose the Red Cross volunteer assumed that all of us there were from "that part of town". When my name was called and the man handed me the check, he said very smugly "Spend it well, this is the last you will get from us." I guess he was afraid I was going to go get my crack and my meth and my beer and I was going to sit on the side of the road in my drug induced stupor that the Red Cross paid for instead of buying things like food and clothing.

I'll say it again and again and again. Don't judge the folks that have survived the greatest catastrophe the nation has ever experienced unless you can walk a day in their shoes.

Come volunteer to help us, we need all the help and understanding we can get.

[frustrated_lefty]

45. Merh

First off, *hugs*, just cuz.

A point of clarification regarding the disbursement of funds, because there were different sources and we're all at different points in that process and it gets confusing as hell keeping track of who's talking about what:

1) FEMA provided a limited number of debit cards with $2,000 which could be used on anything. Not everyone received one. I think they were limited to survivors in the Houston and San Antonio shelters because some wingnuts threw a fit when they heard about it and called a halt to it.

2) Social services provided cards which could only be used to purchase food and the amount on the card was based on the number of people within the family. To the best of my knowledge, monthly allowances were placed on the cards for 3 months for all survivors.

3) The Red Cross made final disbursements which again were based on the number of people within the household. For a family of 5, that came out to just over $1,500. After that, the Red Cross washed their hands of us. Both national and branch offices I contacted between the months of October and January explained they would no longer provide financial assistance and were functioning primarily as a "referral service." As of January, the Red Cross said they were no longer even providing that service.

Any and all disbursements beyond those three have had to come through either the SBA or FEMA.

All of that said, I agree with much of what you're saying and find it hard sometimes to not go on an emotional rampage at what has happened and what is still happening. At the same time, I think it's not unreasonable to acknowledge that having lived through Katrina and continued to survive in the aftermath doesn't automatically grant anyone status as a pillar of virtue. There has been some abuse of the system. It's virtually insignificant when you look at the survivors as a whole. But, it is there and denying it looks like a knee-jerk response which brings an end to open discussion. Best to acknowledge it and then move on to more important matters like why the fuck Nagin is having to turn to foreign leaders for aid.

My heart goes out to you. Let me know if there's anything we can do for you.

-fl

[merh]

46. I never denied the abuses, go back and read again.

I simply said that if the poster never abused the system in his life, then he should let me know and I will give him the stone to throw. The system is abused daily by folks from every walk of life (Enron, Abramoff, et cetera). I seriously have little patience with folks that judge the survivors for abusing the system. Their needs are so great.

I am also trying to get folks to recognize the enormous emotional upheavals Katrina has caused tens of thousands of folks.

With all do respect, I do not need you to explain to me about the funding that was provided. Again, I am one of the survivors dealing with the craziness that is life after Katrina. In MS, we did not get the FEMA voucher cards because they didn't work. Checks were sent to us and/or the monies were deposited in our banking accounts.

I have friends that joke that their alcohol costs after Katrina have increased so much that they need grants just to pay for their liquor. I have watched folks age 10 years in 6 months, I see the walking wounded on a daily basis and I have attended more funerals in the last 6 months than I have in the last 2 years.

I am happy for you that you were able to find work in Philadelphia and have relocated. Some of us refuse to leave our communities and will stay to work and rebuild.

Your understanding and support is needed.

[KittyWampus]

37. After Katrina, I distinctly remember members of Black Caucus standing up

and speaking against use of trailers for Katrina/FEMA victims.

Because giving people a place to live where they have no personal stake in it leads to despair and slum conditions...

Making people live for a long period of time in a hotel they don't own with no prospects for their near of long term future would certainly lead to some destructive behavior.

And I OWN an Inn. People are generally slobs. And the longer any guests (especially with kids) stays in a room the more likely you get damage. And the harder it is to turn over the room when they vacate.

One winter we had a woman in one of our cottages who started a fire with her cigarette (rooms are non-smoking), put it out in the shower and we ended up having to replace the whole shower.

[Coastie for Truth]

12. That is not what I saw when I visited Katrina refugees

here locally in "temporary housing."

What I did notice was a lot of "hand-me-down" furniture from Goodwll and St Vincent de Paul. But nothing vandalized

[EFerrari]

15. It's not at all unusual for victims of trauma to act out that trauma

especially when they're frickin retraumatized over and over and over.

[Igel]

20. My apt. complex has two waves of Katrina-folk from LA.

The first wave was fine. We liked them.

The second wave was mostly fine. We mostly liked them.

We desperately want some from the second wave to move out, and take their trash-in-the-driveway and glass-on-the-sidewalk with them. Their vouchers will eventually expire, and they will move. Management hopes that they'll be able to maintain some sort of standards for the place. As it is, they've taken a financial hit: costs have increased, but they didn't dare raise rents, and in some cases lowered them to keep tenants.

There's no point trying to say all of the "evacuees" need to have their dignity preserved. Some--albeit a few--yielded their dignity long ago, and it's not something that can be given to them by others.

The RWers want to generalize all the "evacuees" as indigent do-nothings. The left wants to make them all virtuous heroes. Most of the people are neither, and myths each side has promulgated do little except obscure reality.

[frustrated_lefty]

31. well said.

[merh]

27. Excuse me, but do you even have a clue as to what emotional

toil Katrina has had on the Survivors (not refugees, not victims -- Survivors).

"Able-bodied men and women that could have gotten at least some form of employment." How the hell do you know? What, are you a god, able to see into their souls, able to know what their psyche's are like?

What may appear to you as able bodied men and women are probably folks suffering from extreme depression and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I know, I am dealing with emotional issues from Katrina and there are times I do not want to leave my trailer, let alone face a day of work with the stress that goes along with the job.

Folks like you who judge the survivors that are not living the struggles will one day realize that you haven't a clue as to what Katrina was on August 29th and what it has been for the survivors over the last 6 months.

Imagine if you can what it is like to be in calf high waters that suddenly rise to your waist and then to your chest and then you find yourself swimming. Imagine the fear and the frustrations of fleeing your home, to find safety while along knowing you will have no home to come back to. Imagine the chaos, the smells, the noises, the tastes of death, destruction and loss.

Then imagine living in anarchy for weeks, not seeing anything that even resembles the life you once knew. Imagine the surreal military state of your community as armed military units question your movements, as you live day to day accepting the kindness of strangers, as you stand in gas lines, water lines and ice lines. Imagine curfews and helicopters buzzing overhead, imagine the fear associated with going through the debris laden neighborhoods, not knowing if you will come across a dead body or a group of looters, or worse, some official dealing with someone they consider a looter.

Imagine returning to your home or where your home once stood to find everything covered in a mud that smells worse than anything you have ever smelled. Imagine having to go through the rubble that is left to find pieces of what was once your life. Imagine everything that you worked for all of your life being lost in a matter of hours and knowing that you will never have your old life back. Imagine the fear of the unknown, the fatigue associated with trying to stand up again, let alone rebuild.

Able bodied? I may look as healthy as an ox, but I am far from being a healthy person and I am one of the strong ones, I am one of the healthy ones.

How folks like you anger me! "Oh, I visited NOLA", did you do a damn thing to help? Did you stop to talk to any of the survivors? Did you offer an ear, a shoulder, a hand? I'm crying at the thought of the thousands of others that are still wounded and suffering from Katrina and the pain that folks like you cause by your judgments and your apathy.

Face it America, there are thousands of folks along the Gulf Coast area living with PTSD, we didn't ask for it, we don't like it, but it is what it is. We are the walking wounded and what we need is more than just money and trailers and time, we need understanding and we need hope. The NOLA coroner has begun a study of the deaths since Katrina compared to the death index over the last 5 years. He is convinced as I am, Katrina continues to claim victims, folks are giving up and dying, either from broken hearts and natural causes or by suicide, they just can't go on any longer.

What do we Katrina survivors need? We need to know that we are not forgotten and that the outrage and fear we feel is understood. We need volunteers here to help us with the cleanup, the rebuilding and to show concern. We need understanding. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of eating lunch with intheflow, a DUer that is in town volunteering. A few days before our lunch we had some bad weather, thunderstorms with high winds. After the initial introductions and "get to know you chit chat", intheflow looked at me and with a very caring and knowing voice asked me how I did through the night of bad weather. Those simple, yet very understanding words touched my heart more than you can know. She knew without me having to tell her that the bad weather was hard to deal with, that it triggers the fears, the angst, the panic that didn't exist in my life before Katrina.

What we need, the folks along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Texas and NOLA and her surrounding communities, is understanding and true concern, not some judgmental crap that comes from someone that visited the area.

Is there abuse of the system, yes, probably, but there is abuse of the system every day by non-Katrina survivors. Do you speed? Do you fudge on your taxes? Let me know when you are without sin and I will hand you that stone.

Walk just one day in our shoes, then you have the right to judge us. Live our nightmares, face our struggles and then you can sit back and judge us.

The system is broken and with attitudes like yours, it will never be fixed.

[Maddy McCall]

35. YOU. FUCKING. KICK. ASS.

Amen, sister. :yourock:

[merh]

40. I'm tired of being told to get over it.

I'm tired of folks expecting us to move on and be happy or get a life.

There is so much to being a survivor of this mess and the thing we need, the thing we need more than we needed the day after the storm, is understanding.

Do folks not think we want to be strong, we want to work, we want a normal life? I hate being a victim, I hate that my every waking thought involves how will I get my life back and what can I do today to get me just one step closer to rebuilding my life. June 1 is the beginning of hurricane season and I don't want to be a trailer.

Hell, that poster hasn't a clue about the paper work and bureaucracy we deal with constantly. The inept FEMA systems loses us, our applications, call us constantly asking the same questions over and over. Just last week FEMA called to arrange a time to deliver a trailer to me. When I explained I had a trailer, they argued with me.

Six months ago, if I stepped out of my house to a flat tire, I would have been pissed and it would have ruined my day. Today, I have an air tank in my car and a tire plug kit. I plug the tire, put air in it and go on. The stress levels have changed and we have learned to adapt to what is left of our communities, but that doesn't mean we don't miss what we had.

We drive our streets and we watch landmarks being plowed to the streets, buildings that stood for better than 80 or 180 years and were a part of our lives and that were reduced to rubble by Katrina are now piles on the street waiting on the trucks to remove them.

Six (6) months after Katrina and the only real difference for many of us is that our sense of normal has changed. We have adapted to what is, but we desperately miss what was. We haven't even been allowed the time to grieve because we are simply trying to survive.

[uppityperson]

41. good writing merh

kiss and hugs to you

[merh]

44. And it is thanks to folks like you, uppityperson, that I am able

to be heard. You have been a tremendous help to me and others.

Thanks so very much. :hug: :loveya:

[Brewman_Jax]

32. If that's all the compassion a self-named reverend can find

they probably don't need any of it. You may want to consider another line of work.

Sounds like the story of the trashed offices after Bush* took over, all hearsay with no supporting evidence.

[Canuckistanian]

5. NOLA would be condemned as a health hazard

And a brand new, shiny, WHITER version would be under construction right now.

[Tellurian]

7. Most likely..

and the leveys would be backed with oil drilling rigs
and political cronys buying up land for casino construction..

[pinto]

8. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Nothing.

Nothing, as in no change in NOLA's past situation? That it's to be built up as it was before?
or
Nothing as in nothing, not a thing done to restore any part of NOLA, just chaos and "market forces"

[Coastie for Truth]

13. Yankee Outside Agitators would have been kept out

CNN crews - Anderson Cooper and Aaron Brown and Kathleen Koch - out for sure. Bill O'Liely and Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin and Mann Coulter - would have been allowed in.

No Red Cross, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity.

Some Evangelical NGO's actually do some good (Southern Baptist Brotherhood) - they would have been kept out. Some Evangelical NGO's - like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson - would have been allowed in.

Law and Order - by Blackwater.

Mortuary Services - Service Corp International.

Reconstruction - Halliburton/KBR.

The American Nakba would have been managed strictly to swing the electoral outcome.

[951-Riverside]

14. Lets see under Blanco control

We saw people without food or water for DAYS, law enforcement taking shots at people trying to cross into neighboring counties, women carrying limp dehydrated children, etc but she was more concerned with looting than rescuing or helping these poor people, she did a very shiity job in a time of crisis but I can't begin to imagine the carnage that would have occurred under Bush's control.

[dryan]

19. Please let's have some compassion.....

these people have been through possibly the worst experience of their lives. The stress that they have been under I cannot fathom. I recently met a woman who lived in a very nice home in New Orleans (she showed me photos of botht he exterior and interior -- filled with heirlooms -- she was an administrator at a hospital and her husband had a small business. They were 'camped' out at the hospital she worked at -- no electricity, no food, water rising, people dying from lack of everything. Because help took so long to reach the city, vandals torched their house -- which was built in the 1840s and had survived the Civil War, plagues, and the last major hurricane.

[Maddy McCall]

21. MS = Mississippi.

FYI. MI = Michigan.

[merh]

42. Thanks Tellurian

:hug: :loveya: