3 Sufis 3

[A lot of this content is decidedly local in nature]

I’ve now been in New Orleans for 5 days, and there are some clear impressions about what’s going on here. It started it off by going to a Saints game in Baton Rouge — possibly the last Saints game ever to be played in Louisiana. It was one of the most pathetic sights I’ve ever seen in pro sports. Only about 15-20,000 fans in attendance (official tally was 30,000, but I don’t believe it), and a lot of really depressed fans wondering what would happen to their beloved team over the next year. Just in case it was their last game, I saved our ticket and went around hunting for programs after the game to hold onto for later E-Bay sales.

After that, it’s been several days of seeing friends, touring the city, and seeing how things are going. At first I was heavily depressed, because NO is like a limping old dog in an ICU unit. Never a wealthy town (at least in my lifetime), NO is now 70% empty, with miles upon miles of empty neighborhoods. However, while all I could do was mope the first couple of days, I had pointed out to me that a lot of good things are happening — and that the folks who’ve been back for the past couple of months are long since past depression. By the third day, I could see why — every day something or someone else comes back. For example, last week the streetcars started running again, for free until March. Tonight is the last night of the 2:00 AM curfew. This week is the end of temporary visiting rules for the entire city west of the Industrial Canal. Congress finally passed a significant Katrina reconstruction package — although it had better not be the last one. FEMA trailers are pouring into town by the trainload. At this rate, NO will be something of a sick old dog by summer — but no longer in ICU.

Yesterday, since I’d finally finished grading final exams, it was time for a big city tour. Pretty depressing on the whole, but with some bright spots. We started off going to West End Blvd, looking for the first levee breach at the 17th St Canal. It had become a pilgrimage site for visitors, as we were one of several cars coming in for pictures. That neighborhood, which had been a very comfortable middle class hood, was almost totally destroyed. Strangely, though, one house had already been completely renovated within 2 blocks of the breach. FEMA trailers were here and there, at about 1 per block — a clear sign that homeowners were planning to rebuild.

Then it was off towards Lakeview, and the striking thing to me there was that the damage is inconsistent. There are completely trashed houses and there are eminently repairable houses, usually because they were elevated or on a slightly higher block. Most of the debris had been carted off in all of these neighborhoods, which I think must’ve been the primary focus up to now. At least one could go down streets without passing mounds of garbage — meaning these parts of town are already looking better than they looked a few weeks ago.

Some islands of quick reconstruction or minimal damage popped up in the strangest places. The neighborhood bounded by City Park, Bayou St. John, Orleans, and Carrolton is coming back quickly. It has two bars already reopened, and most of the houses — wealthy and elevated — seem occupied and ready to go already. Lake Vista, a wealthy planned community right off Lake Pontchartrain, seems to have sustained absolutely minimal damage. This is bizarre, considering their location right off the lake. What I’d never realized until just now is that they are essentially an island, protected on all sides by levees. Both of these neighborhoods are quite wealthy, which is a pattern that holds quite frequently.

Mandino’s — a fantastic local family-owned neighborhood restaurant in Mid-City — had a banner announcing “We WILL be back!” Several such signs were hanging here and there, which is encouraging.

Then we noticed several pelicans on Lake Pontchartrain right off Lakefront Airport. There’s a poster going around the city urging people to consider the pelican their sign of rebirth, and the sight of several pelicans — nearly extinct 15 years ago and now fully on the comeback — was especially heartwarming.

Then up to NO East, a part of the city that is mostly African-American and stretches for miles and miles. Much of NO East is post-1960’s and architecturally not that interesting. A lot of people died in NO East, as it was especially hard hit by flood surge. What was intriguing to me was the signs of activity going on in NO East, at least by the lake. Their were blue tarps covering about 20% of the houses, which is a sign that someone’s looking over those houses. There were a lot of people going about started to work on houses.

Then Chalmette, which was devastated by floodwater. I saw a lot of signs of anger and defiance, scrawled on flooded out cars, houses, etc. There were hundreds of FEMA trailers at the parish government complex, and the place was bursting with activity. Chalmettans are a special breed, and they’re especially tightknit. With all that activity, I’m fairly confident they’ll be back — although not in those flooded out slab houses.

Then off to the Lower Ninth, which was the most devastated area — and by now the most famous. We saw the breach that destroyed the Lower Ninth, Arabi, and Chalmette. This was an unforgettable sight. There was a massive barge sitting half a block in from the breach, in the midst of a 10 square block area where not a single house remained on its foundations. They were all swept by the force of waters straight into the houses behind them. A total loss — nothing can be saved in that part of the Lower Ninth.

In Metairie, the French Quarter, Uptown, and Bywater, you might be forgiven for thinking a storm had never happened. Aside from a lot of blue tarping on roofs, things are much as they were before. Metairie is bursting at the seems, with seemingly more population than before the storm. A lot of restaurants are closed, because there aren’t enough restaurant workers in town to keep them up and running. Restaurants that are open are full of customers, though.
There are little placards, like election yard signs, all over town. They tend to announce roofers, house guttering, contractors, mold dryers, insurance lawyers, etc — the detritus of disaster.
Blue tarp is everywhere, and whenever you see it, you’re encouraged that someone’s determined to protect at least that house. What’s still depressing, though, is that there are thousands upon thousands of houses that aren’t being looked after. A house that’s not looked after over a couple of years gradually becomes beyond saving. This is why people have to come back now, not next year. Anything that pushes people to come back now should be encouraged. Anything that gets them comfortable elsewhere should be discouraged. While there is progress, there’s so much more that needs to be done.

As I’d mentioned earlier, the curfew is finally being lifted tomorrow. It’s been surreal having a curfew in one of the few places in the world where 24 hour bars are not at all unusual, and where staying out all night is routine and even a bedrock of the local economy. The police have been spotty enforcing the curfew, but in at least one case they’ve been way over enthusiastic in enforcement. A friend of mine, an educator, was stopped a couple of weeks ago on Magazine St at 2:15 for being out after the curfew. The officer then got her for DUI (she’d had 3-4 beers over the course of several hours at Tipitina’s), then for a lapsed brake tag, and then for something else. She spent the next 5 hours driving around NO in the back of the officer’s patrol car, and then a couple of hours in Central Lockup, until a well-placed phone call to the right contact in NOPD got her sprung from jail within a half hour of the workday starting. Now she’s going to have to spend several hundred dollars to clea
r her record, which is incumbent on educators who hope to continue working. No one is going to mind seeing the end of this curfew.
The education system has taken a huge hit, at all levels. At the university level, Tulane has gotten hit worse than most. They had flooding north of Freret on their main campus. Their downtown medical school facility was completely flooded out and will require millions to reopen. They laid off over 250 teaching staff, and are going to be hurting for years. Loyola got off with only 4-5 million USD in damage, but they’re deathly worried about the size of next year’s freshman class. 82% of current students have a paid their deposit to return in the spring, and they’re hoping a sizable freshman class will come in and get them back on their financial feet.
At the high school level, things are all over the map. Two Catholic boys schools, Brother Martin and Rummel, are sharing Rummel’s campus. Also sharing Rummel’s campus are three Catholic girls schools, Mt. Carmel, Dominican, and Ursuline. These three schools merged into one temporary basketball team, called the Rummel Transitional Team (which I guess sounds better than “Mt. Dominiline”). The team is winning, but will be disbanded in a couple of weeks, because each campus will reopen in January. Three Black Catholic schools have formed something called “MAX” — St. Mary, St. Augustine, and Xavier Prep — and they’re holding classes at Xavier I think. Several Orleans Parish schools are being converted into charter schools, and Lusher is planning to take over Fortier’s campus and expand into K-12 education. That one sounds a bit like a land grab, but we’ll see if it sticks. For locals, these are huge shakeups. I wonder what it will all mean in the long term.

Oh well, that’s enough for now. We’d all like to thank Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska for wrapping his ANWAR drilling bill into Katrina relief funding, which cost Louisiana several billion dollars of potential federal assistance when everyone opposed to ANWAR was forced to vote against the bill. That’s the same senator who refused to give back his bridge to nowhere to help finance Katrina relief assistance. Thanks Ted.

For previous postings, please see www.truthtalkziraq.blogspot.com

Tonight we drove into NO from VA. It was a rainy day, and there wasn’t much to see as the sun set on us at the LA-MS border. There was a palpable sense of excitement as the sign welcoming us to LA said “Welcome to Louisiana – Bienvenue en Louisiane”. And then, as if on cue, we switched to 99.5 WRNO, the “Rock of New Orleans,” an old classic rock station that only became classic rock in the mid-1980’s when its rather bizarre owner decided that all musical development ended with Styx. That station has always acted like a security blanked for us old NO natives returning home, especially as they always feature the old local bands’ “who’s behind the door?” song which the rest of the country has long since forgotten about.

Beyond the song, there was the rotten old highway, which has for years been behind the Mississippi roads that we had just left. And after we had been in WRNO’s range, they made a joke: “giving it to Katrina”, which somehow felt perfect at that moment.

After we had driven into LaPlace, which was normal enough, we ended up in Kenner, which for some unknown reason had a huge traffic jam. Once sorted through that, and the blown away hotel or two along the way, we went off to the West End exit, and circled back to the bonnabel exit that wasn’t so bad. Basically, West End was nothing but darkness, contracter pickups, contractor signs on the median advertising their wares along with newly re-opened businesses, and a couple of lonely pickup trucks heading to their contractor destinations. Then up to Bonnabel, which was flooded with such signs.

Then it was a sashay down I-610 to Franklin, where the whole city was done up in streetlights, but no house lights were on. And then, and this is the bizarre thing, I got into Marigny, and the Upper 9th, and all was fine again, at least at some level. I found some folks. I found the old bars, and all looked sorta normal. It’s bizrre, it’s unhinged, and it’s a goner. And there we are.

I’ve let Middle East topics on this blog go disturbingly dormant, but will try to pick it up again, even while mixing the Katrina stuff in as we go. I have lots of stuff backed up, but let’s just throw in the most recent stuff tonight.

1) Some truly horrific things must be going on inIraq, mostly unreported:

www.dailykos.com

“Trophy Video” of Civilian Shootings By ContractorsEmerges
by Hunter
Sun Nov 27, 2005 at 03:27:47 PM PDT

Oh, that’s just great. Just great. From the SundayTelegraph (UK):

A “trophy” video appearing to show security guards inBaghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparkedtwo investigations after it was posted on theinternet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private securitycompanies, which are not subject to any form ofregulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could beresponsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocentIraqis.

According to the Telegraph reporter, the video is evenset to music: “Mystery Train”, by Elvis Presley.
And so the circle — or spiral — continues. For thosewith short memories, it was the alleged misconduct ofarmed contractors in Iraq that led to the killing andpublic display of four of them, hanging from abridge… which led to two separate massiveretaliatory assaults against Fallujah… which led toa widespread backlash in Iraq… which led to, amongother things, a widened insurgency… whichcontributed to a situation in Iraq in which armedcontractors are necessary for protection of privateclients… which led to the alleged misconduct ofseveral of them…

Which leads to what, I wonder?

Oh, I remember. Now comes the part where reportingcivilian deaths is anti-American, because the Iraqisthemselves really can’t figure out that this crap isgoing on until they see it in British and Americannewspapers. Because they don’t know when their ownrelatives have been killed until some paragon ofAmerican soldierness posts trophy pictures of them inexchange for Internet porn, or some dumbass “securitycontractor” sets it to music and puts it on theirwebsite.

God help us. And I mean that literally.

Update [2005-11-27 17:54:48 by Hunter]: And see here,from the LA Times:

WASHINGTON — One hot, dusty day in June, Col. TedWesthusing was found dead in a trailer at a militarybase near the Baghdad airport, a single gunshot woundto the head.

The Army would conclude that he committed suicide withhis service pistol. At the time, he was thehighest-ranking officer to die in Iraq.

The Army closed its case. But the questionssurrounding Westhusing’s death continue.

Westhusing, 44, was no ordinary officer. He was one ofthe Army’s leading scholars of military ethics, a fullprofessor at West Point who volunteered to serve inIraq to be able to better teach his students. He had adoctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was anextended meditation on the meaning of honor.

It should be read in full…[below]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colonel27nov27,0,6096413,full.story

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQA Journey That Ended in AnguishCol. Ted Westhusing, a military ethicist whovolunteered to go to Iraq, was upset by what he saw.His apparent suicide raises questions.

By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer

“War is the hardest place to make moral judgments.”

Col. Ted Westhusing, Journal of Military Ethics

WASHINGTON — One hot, dusty day in June, Col. TedWesthusing was found dead in a trailer at a militarybase near the Baghdad airport, a single gunshot woundto the head.

The Army would conclude that he committed suicide withhis service pistol. At the time, he was thehighest-ranking officer to die in Iraq.

The Army closed its case. But the questionssurrounding Westhusing’s death continue.

Westhusing, 44, was no ordinary officer. He was one ofthe Army’s leading scholars of military ethics, a fullprofessor at West Point who volunteered to serve inIraq to be able to better teach his students. He had adoctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was anextended meditation on the meaning of honor.

So it was only natural that Westhusing acted when helearned of possible corruption by U.S. contractors inIraq. A few weeks before he died, Westhusing receivedan anonymous complaint that a private security companyhe oversaw had cheated the U.S. government andcommitted human rights violations.

Westhusingconfronted the contractor and reported the concerns tosuperiors, who launched an investigation.

In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especiallyupset by one conclusion he had reached:

thattraditional military values such as duty, honor andcountry had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq,where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractorsfor jobs once done by the military.

His death stunned all who knew him. Colleagues andcommanders wondered whether they had missed signs ofdepression. He had been losing weight and not sleepingwell. But only a day before his death, Westhusing wonpraise from a senior officer for his progress intraining Iraqi police.

His friends and family struggle with the idea thatWesthusing could have killed himself. He was a lovingfather and husband and a devout Catholic. He was anextraordinary intellect and had mastered ancient Greekand Italian. He had less than a month before hisreturn home. It seemed impossible that anything couldcrush the spirit of a man with such a powerful senseof right and wrong.

On the Internet and in conversations with one another,Westhusing’s family and friends have questioned themilitary investigation.

A note found in his trailer seemed to offer clues.Written in what the Army determined was hishandwriting, the colonel appeared to be strugglingwith a final question.

How is honor possible in a war like the one in Iraq?

Even at Jenks High School in suburban Tulsa, one ofthe biggest in Oklahoma, Westhusing stood out. He wasstarting point guard for the Trojans, a team that madea strong run for the state basketball championship hissenior year. He was a National Merit Scholarshipfinalist. He was an officer in a fellowship ofChristian athletes.

Joe Holladay, who coached Westhusing before going onto become assistant coach of the University of NorthCarolina Tarheels, recalled Westhusing showing up atthe gym at 7 a.m. to get in 100 extra practice shots.

“There was never a question of how hard he played orhow much effort he put into something,” Holladay said.”Whatever he did, he did well. He was the cream of thecrop.”

When Westhusing entered West Point in 1979, thetradition-bound institution was just emerging from acheating scandal that had shamed the Army. Restoringhonor to the nation’s preeminent incubator for Armyleadership was the focus of the day.

Cadets are taught to value duty, honor and country,and are drilled in West Point’s strict moral code: Acadet will not lie, cheat or steal — or tolerate thosewho do.

Westhusing embraced it. He was selected as honorcaptain for the entire academy his senior year. Col.Tim Trainor, a classmate and currently a West Pointprofessor, said Westhusing was strict but sympatheticto cadets’ problems. He remembered him as”introspective.”

Westhusing graduated third in his class in 1983 andbecame an infantry platoon leader. He received specialforces training, served in Italy, South Korea andHonduras, and eventually became division
operationsofficer for the 82nd Airborne, based at Ft. Bragg,N.C.

He loved commanding soldiers. But he remained drawn tointellectual pursuits.

In 2000, Westhusing enrolled in Emory University’sdoctoral philosophy program. The idea was t
o return toWest Point to teach future leaders.

He immediately stood out on the leafy Atlanta campus.Married with children, he was surrounded by young,single students. He was a deeply faithful Christian ina graduate program of professional skeptics.
Plunged into academia, Westhusing held fast to hismilitary ties. Students and professors recalled himjogging up steep hills in combat boots and camouflage,his rucksack full, to stay in shape. He wrote a paperchallenging an essay that questioned the morality ofpatriotism.

“He was as straight an arrow as you would possiblyfind,” said Aaron Fichtelberg, a fellow student andnow a professor at the University of Delaware. “Heseemed unshakable.”

In his 352-page dissertation, Westhusing discussed theethics of war, focusing on examples of military honorfrom Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to the Israeliarmy. It is a dense, searching and sometimes personaleffort to define what, exactly, constitutes virtuousconduct in the context of the modern U.S. military.

“Born to be a warrior, I desire these answers not justfor philosophical reasons, but for self-knowledge,” hewrote in the opening pages.

As planned, Westhusing returned to teach philosophyand English at West Point as a full professor with aguaranteed lifetime assignment. He settled into lifeon campus with his wife, Michelle, and their threeyoung children.

But amid the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he toldfriends that he felt experience in Iraq would help himin teaching cadets. In the fall of 2004, hevolunteered for duty.

“He wanted to serve, he wanted to use his skills,maybe he wanted some glory,” recalled Nick Fotion, hisadvisor at Emory. “He wanted to go.”

In January, Westhusing began work on what the Pentagonconsidered the most important mission in Iraq:training Iraqi forces to take over security dutiesfrom U.S. troops.

Westhusing’s task was to oversee a private securitycompany, Virginia-based USIS, which had contractsworth $79 million to train a corps of Iraqi police toconduct special operations.

In March, Gen. David Petraeus, commanding officer ofthe Iraqi training mission, praised Westhusing’sperformance, saying he had exceeded “loftyexpectations.”

“Thanks much, sir, but we can do much better andwill,” Westhusing wrote back, according to a copy ofthe Army investigation of his death that was obtainedby The Times.

In April, his mood seemed to have darkened. He worriedover delays in training one of the police battalions.
Then, in May, Westhusing received an anonymousfour-page letter that contained detailed allegationsof
wrongdoing by USIS.

The writer accused USIS of deliberately shorting thegovernment on the number of trainers to increase itsprofit margin. More seriously, the writer detailed twoincidents in which USIS contractors allegedly hadwitnessed or participated in the killing of Iraqis.

A USIS contractor accompanied Iraqi police traineesduring the assault on Fallouja last November and laterboasted about the number of insurgents he had killed,the letter says. Private security contractors are notallowed to conduct offensive operations.

In a second incident, the letter says, a USIS employeesaw Iraqi police trainees kill two innocent Iraqicivilians, then covered it up. A USIS manager “did notwant it reported because he thought it would put hiscontract at risk.”

Westhusing reported the allegations to his superiorsbut told one of them, Gen. Joseph Fil, that hebelieved USIS was complying with the terms of itscontract.

U.S. officials investigated and found “no contractualviolations,” an Army spokesman said. Bill Winter, aUSIS spokesman, said the investigation “found theseallegations to be unfounded.”

However, several U.S. officials said inquiries on USISwere ongoing. One U.S. military official, who, likeothers, requested anonymity because of the sensitivityof the case, said the inquiries had turned upproblems, but nothing to support the more seriouscharges of human rights violations.

“As is typical, there may be a wisp of truth in eachof the allegations,” the official said.

The letter shook Westhusing, who felt personallyimplicated by accusations that he was too friendlywith USIS management, according to an e-mail in thereport.

“This is a mess … dunno what I will do with this,” hewrote home to his family May 18.

The colonel began to complain to colleagues about “hisdislike of the contractors,” who, he said, “were paidtoo much money by the government,” according to onecaptain.

“The meetings [with contractors] were never easy andalways contentious. The contracts were in dispute andalways under discussion,” an Army Corps of Engineersofficial told investigators.

By June, some of Westhusing’s colleagues had begun toworry about his health. They later told investigatorsthat he had lost weight and begun fidgeting, sometimesstaring off into space. He seemed withdrawn, theysaid.

His family was also becoming worried. He describedfeeling alone and abandoned. He sent home brief,cryptic e-mails, including one that said, “[I] didn’tthink I’d make it last night.” He talked of resigninghis command.
Westhusing brushed aside entreaties for details,writing that he would say more when he returned home.The family responded with an outpouring of e-mailsexpressing love and support.

His wife recalled a phone conversation that chilledher two weeks before his death.

“I heard something in his voice,” she toldinvestigators, according to a transcript of theinterview. “In Ted’s voice, there was fear. He did notlike the nighttime and being alone.”

Westhusing’s father, Keith, said the family did notwant to comment for this article.

On June 4, Westhusing left his office in theU.S.-controlled Green Zone of Baghdad to view ademonstration of Iraqi police preparedness at CampDublin, the USIS headquarters at the airport. He gavea briefing that impressed Petraeus and a visitingscholar. He stayed overnight at the USIS camp.

That night in his office, a USIS secretary would latertell investigators, she watched Westhusing take outhis 9-millimeter pistol and “play” with it, repeatedlyunholstering the weapon.

At a meeting the next morning to discuss constructiondelays, he seemed agitated. He stewed over demands fortighter vetting of police candidates, worried that itwould slow the mission. He seemed upset over fundingshortfalls.

Uncharacteristically, he lashed out at the contractorsin attendance, according to the Army Corps official.In three months, the official had never seenWesthusing upset.

“He was sick of money-grubbing contractors,” theofficial recounted. Westhusing said that “he had notcome over to Iraq for this.”

The meeting broke up shortly before lunch. About 1p.m., a USIS manager went looking for Westhusingbecause he was scheduled for a ride back to the GreenZone. After getting no answer, the manager returnedabout 15 minutes later. Another USIS employee peekedthrough a window. He saw Westhusing lying on the floorin a pool of blood.

The manager rushed into the trailer and tried torevive Westhusing. The manager told investigators thathe picked up the pistol at Westhusing’s feet andtossed it onto the bed.

“I knew people would show up,” that manager said laterin attempting to explain why he had handled theweapon. “With 30 years from military and lawenforcement training, I did not want the weapon to getbumped and go off.”

After a three-month inquiry, investigators declaredWesthusing’s death a suicide. A test showed gunpowderresidue on his hands. A shell casing in the room boremarkings indicating it had been fired from his servicerevolver.

Then there was the note.

Investigators found it lying on Westhusing’s bed. Thehandwriting matched his.

The first part of the four-page letter lashes out atPetraeus and Fil. Both men later told investi
gatorsthat they had not criticized Westhusing or heardnegative comments from him. An Army review undertakenafter Westhusing’s death was complimentary of thecommand climate under the two men, a U.S. militaryofficial said.

Most of the letter is a wrenching account of astruggle for honor in a strange land.

“I cannot support a msn [mission] that leads tocorruption, human rights abuse and liars. I amsullied,” it says.

“I came to serve honorably and feeldishonored.

“Death before being dishonored any more.”

A psychologist reviewed Westhusing’s e-mails andinterviewed colleagues. She concluded that theanonymous letter had been the “most difficult andprobably most painful stressor.”

She said that Westhusing had placed too much pressureon himself to succeed and that he was unusually rigidin his thinking. Westhusing struggled with the ideathat monetary values could outweigh moral ones in war.This, she said, was a flaw.

“Despite his intelligence, his ability to grasp theidea that profit is an important goal for peopleworking in the private sector was surprisinglylimited,” wrote Lt. Col. Lisa Breitenbach. “He couldnot shift his mind-set from the military notion ofcompleting a mission irrespective of cost, nor couldhe change his belief that doing the right thingbecause it was the right thing to do should be thesole motivator for businesses.”

One military officer said he felt Westhusing hadtrouble reconciling his ideals with Iraq’s reality.Iraq “isn’t a black-and-white place,” the officersaid. “There’s a lot of gray.”

Fil and Petraeus, Westhusing’s commanding officers,declined to comment on the investigation, but theypraised him. He was “an extremely bright, highlycompetent, completely professional and exceedinglyhard-working officer. His death was truly tragic andwas a tremendous blow,” Petraeus said.

Westhusing’s family and friends are troubled that hedied at Camp Dublin, where he was without a bodyguard,surrounded by the same contractors he suspected ofwrongdoing. They wonder why the manager who discoveredWesthusing’s body and picked up his weapon was nottested for gunpowder residue.

Mostly, they wonder how Col. Ted Westhusing — father,husband, son and expert on doing right — could havefound himself in a place so dark that he saw no light.

“He’s the last person who would commit suicide,” saidFichtelberg, his graduate school colleague. “Hecouldn’t have done it. He’s just too damn stubborn.”

Westhusing’s body was flown back to Dover Air ForceBase in Delaware. Waiting to receive it were hisfamily and a close friend from West Point, alieutenant colonel.

In the military report, the unidentified colonel toldinvestigators that he had turned to Michelle,Westhusing’s wife, and asked what happened.

She answered:

“Iraq.”

2) If you believe the Darth Cheney administration was sincere about the intelligence connected to Iraq in 2002-2003, or that they don’t “do torture,” you’re simply haven’t been paying attention. If you don’t believe me, consult the encyclopaedic book “The Torture Papers”:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1653936,00.html

Cheney ‘may be guilty of war crime’

· Vice-president accused of backing torture · Claims on BBC by former insider add to Bush’s woes
Julian Borger in WashingtonWednesday November 30, 2005The Guardian

Vice-president Dick Cheney’s burden on the Bush administration grew heavier yesterday after a former senior US state department official said he could be guilty of a war crime over the abuse of prisoners.Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, singled out Mr Cheney in a wide-ranging political assault on the BBC’s Today programme.

Mr Wilkerson said that in an internal administration debate over whether to abide by the Geneva conventions in the treatment of detainees, Mr Cheney led the argument “that essentially wanted to do away with all restrictions”.

Asked whether the vice-president was guilty of a war crime, Mr Wilkerson replied: “Well, that’s an interesting question – it was certainly a domestic crime to advocate terror and I would suspect that it is … an international crime as well.” In the context of other remarks it appeared he was using the word “terror” to apply to the systematic abuse of prisoners.The Washington Post last month called Mr Cheney the “vice-president for torture” for his demand that the CIA be exempted from a ban on “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment of detainees.

Mr Wilkerson, a former army colonel, also said he had seen increasing evidence that the White House had manipulated pre-war intelligence on Iraq to make its case for the invasion. He said: “You begin to wonder was this intelligence spun? Was it politicised? Was it cherry-picked? Did, in fact, the American people get fooled? I am beginning to have my concerns.”

Mr Cheney has been under fire for his role in assembling evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Mr Wilkerson told the Associated Press that the vice-president must have sincerely believed Iraq could be a spawning ground for terrorism because “otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard”.

Such charges have kept the Bush administration on the defensive for several months. Mr Bush yesterday repeated his earlier assertion that the US “does not torture and that’s important for people around the world to realise”. He is also due to make the first of a series of speeches today, outlining his plan to defeat the insurgency and pave the way for US withdrawal. The White House will also publish a declassified version of its war plan.

But it has now emerged that two justice department memos listing permissible interrogation methods have been kept secret by the White House, even from the Senate intelligence committee. The New Yorker recently quoted a source who had seen a memo as calling it “breathtaking”.

“The document dismissed virtually all national and international laws regulating the treatment of prisoners, including war crimes and assault statutes, and it was radical in its view that in wartime the president can fight enemies by whatever means he sees fit,” the magazine reported.

One technique allegedly used by the CIA in questioning suspects is “waterboarding” (strapping a detainee to a board and submerging it until the prisoner believes he or she is drowning). The White House is accused of defining “torture” so narrowly as to exclude such methods. But James Ross, a legal expert at Human Rights Watch said such a narrow definition was at odds with international norms.

“Waterboarding is clearly a form of torture. It has been used since the Inquisition. It was a well-known torture technique in Latin America,” Mr Ross said.

Human Rights Watch this year called for a special counsel to investigate any US officials – no matter their rank or position – who took part in, “ordered, or had command responsibility for war crimes or torture, or other prohibited ill-treatment against detainees in US custody”.

The report focused on the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, for his alleged command responsibility for abuses at Abu Ghraib, but Mr Wilkerson argued Mr Cheney was ultimately responsible.

The US is a signatory to the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture, which bans inflicting “severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental”. Such practices are also a crime under US federal law.

3) A copy of Conclusions and Recommendations of 2nd International Symposium on Higher Education in Iraq, which took place at University of Westminster, London, 15-17 Sept 2005 can be found at:

www.wmin.ac.uk/iraq-he

4) The sectarian conflict’s getting dirtier:

Shiite Urges U.S. to Give Iraqis Leeway In Rebel FightAmericans Have Blocked Tougher Tactics, Cleric Says
By Ellen KnickmeyerWashington Post Foreign ServiceSunday, November 27, 2005; A01

BAGHDAD — The leader of Iraq’s most powerful political party has called on the United States to let Iraqi fighters take a more aggressive role against insurgents, saying his country will only be able to defeat the insurgency when the United States lets Iraqis get tough.

“The more freedom given to Iraqis, the more chance for further progress there would be, particularly in fighting terror,” said Abdul Aziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Shiite Muslim religious party that leads the transitional government and whose armed wing is the most feared of Iraq’s many factional forces.

Instead, Hakim asserted in a rare interview late last week, the United States is tying Iraq’s hands in the fight against insurgents. One of Iraq’s “biggest problems is the mistaken or wrong policies practiced by the Americans,” he said.

In more than an hour of conversation at his Baghdad home and office, Hakim denied accusations that the Shiite-led government’s security forces — with alleged involvement by his party’s armed wing — have operated torture centers and death squads targeting Sunni Arabs. He also renewed his call to merge half of Iraq’s 18 provinces into a federal region in the oil-rich, heavily Shiite south, and he played down Iran’s interests in Iraq, saying that the Shiite theocracy to the east wants only what the United States claims to want: a stable Iraq.

During much of the interview, Hakim was critical of U.S. policies toward Iraq, though he acknowledged that U.S. forces must remain in the country as a “guest” of the Iraqi government while it builds its security forces. The Americans are guilty of “major interference, and preventing the forces of the Interior or Defense ministries from carrying out tasks they are capable of doing, and also in the way they are dealing with the terrorists,” Hakim charged.

Hakim gave few details of what getting tough would entail, other than making clear it would require more weapons, with more firepower, than the United States is currently supplying. He also urged the United States to take a tougher stand against countries harboring insurgents and their supporters, and called for faster trials of insurgent suspects.

His repeated assertion that the United States was being too weak against Iraq’s insurgency, allowing attacks to mushroom, appeared to suggest that any future Iraqi government that included him would share his view. With Iraqis scheduled to vote Dec. 15 for the country’s first full-term government since the U.S. invasion in 2003, some analysts predict that Hakim will come from behind the scenes into direct political contention.

Until now, Hakim has opted not to hold office; the highest-ranking member of the Supreme Council in the current government is Adel Abdel-Mehdi, one of Iraq’s two vice presidents. But as head of the Supreme Council, which was founded by exiles in Iran as an armed Shiite opposition group to Saddam Hussein, Hakim commands the largest bloc of seats in Iraq’s transitional parliament.

In addition, Hakim oversees the party’s armed wing, formerly known as the Badr Brigade. Its fighters are widely feared for what even many Iraqi Shiites say are habits of torture and other ruthless tactics learned from Iranian intelligence and security forces. Now officially converted into a private security detail and political group, the renamed Badr Organization is widely alleged to control many command-level and the rank-and-file officers in the Interior Ministry — police, commandos, intelligence agencies and other branches.
The United States, at times openly distrustful of the Supreme Council’s Iranian links and of its armed wing, took the allegations of Badr involvement in a secret Interior Ministry prison that was discovered last week seriously enough to publicly warn the government against allowing factional militias to control Iraq’s security forces or ministries.

In the interview, Hakim, the son of an ayatollah, wore the black turban signifying descent from the prophet Muhammad and the long, close robes of a scholar of Islam. He spoke in a spare, formal marble-floored audience room in his Baghdad home, which until the U.S.-led invasion had been the Baghdad residence of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

Sitting straight and intently in a high-backed chair, Hakim repeatedly invoked the assassination of his brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir Hakim, who was killed by a car bomb in Najaf in August 2003. He evinced distrust of the Iraqi government’s principal ally, the United States, even more often.
In Iraq, “there are plans to confront terrorists, approved by security agencies, but the Americans reject that,” Hakim said. “Because of that mistaken policy, we have lost a lot. One of the victims was my brother Mohammad Bakir, because of American policies.”

“For instance, the ministries of Interior and Defense want to carry out some operations to clean out some areas” in Baghdad and around the country, including volatile Anbar province, in the west, he said.
“There were plans that should have been implemented months ago, but American officials and forces rejected them,” he said. “This has led to the expansion of terrorism.

“We have a capacity to move more quickly than currently,” he said.

The issue points to a key difference between U.S. officials and some of Iraq’s conservative Shiite leaders about what it will take to end the insurgency. Even the top U.S. generals say the ultimate solution is a political one, bringing minority Sunnis into a democracy that without them stands to be dominated permanently by the Shiite majority. But the leaders of many Shiite religious parties, reflecting their years in exile and their bitterness over the killing of relatives and supporters during Hussein’s dictatorship, say the endgame is a military one.

Hakim charged that the United States, evidently fearful of alienating Sunnis, was blocking the arrests of Sunni political leaders who had ties to insurgents. “The mixing of security and political issues” was just another U.S. mistake, he said. “Terrorists should know there would be no dealing with them.”

Indeed, some former members of Hussein’s Baath Party who initially took up arms against U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government have said they have abandoned the insurgency and sought a political role largely because of the effectiveness of what they alleged to be Shiite death squads rounding up and executing Sunni men since the Shiite-led government took office last spring.

Hakim said “the problem is not with the Sunnis, it is with the terrorists. There are Sunnis who have strong ties with us, who speak frankly and in pain, asking for help in getting rid of the terrorists.”

Yet suspicion of the Badr forces runs strong among Iraqis, especially since the discovery by the U.S. military this month of a secret prison in central Baghdad containing what Interior Minister Bayan Jabar, a Shiite, acknowledged were at least five to seven detainees who had been subjected to torture.

Hakim said charges of torture have long been drummed up by Hussein loyalists, and he asserted that the U.S. military is often present in Interior Ministry facilities. American troops, he said, had been in the building where the prison was discovered “four times a week.”

“These are all baseless allegations,” he said. “We say, bring us one single piece of evidence to prove these allegations.”

Hakim also made clear he wanted leaders elected in December to move forward toward creation of a massive federal region in the Shiite south, an idea he first broached in August before thousands of supporters in a ceremony in the Shiite holy city of Najaf marking the second anniversary of his brother’s assassination.
Some Americans and Ir
aqis have charged such a state would put much of Iraq, and its oil, under a Shiite-controlled theocracy heavily influenced by Iran. But Hakim noted that the Kurdish-populated north already has such a region, and he contended that Baghdad, with its mixed population, and the heavily Sunni west should form separate regions as well.

The draft constitution voted in this year “approved that Iraq should become regions,” he said. “While we want to form a region in the south, we strive to maintain the unity of Iraq.”

Hakim said the United States could find “many areas” of agreement with Iran on Iraq, if it wanted to. For example, he said, “from the Iranian point of view, it is in the Iranian interest that Iraq be stable. That is also supposed to be the American intent.”

Hakim made clear his own role would remain at the national level, rather than limited to any new Shiite region. Asked twice if he would seek political office directly, he said both times that he seeks only to be a servant of all Iraqis and showed one of his few, small smiles of the night.

Asked how different Iraq would look five years from now, Hakim said the answer depended on the actions of the United States. “For sure, the policies of America will have great influence on whether security and
reconstruction are present,” he said.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

5) Here’s an analysis of the new film “Syriana” and its political messages by Mark LeVine:

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/18700.html

Mark A. LeVine
Syriana and Iraq

Mr. LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture, and Islamic studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the forthcoming books: Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil; and Overthrowing Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine, 1880-1948. He is also a contributor, with Viggo Mortensen and Pilar Perez, to Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation. Click here to access his homepage.

Critics have been hailing “Syriana,” George Clooney’s latest film to take on the policies of the Bush Administration, as a cinematic tour de force that has “compelling real-world relevance” and is “unsettlingly close to the truth.” But what is the truth “Syriana” supposedly approaches? Put briefly, the plot describes the ramification of a bungled CIA-authorized assassination of a Middle Eastern leader who decided to sign a major oil deal with China instead of an American oil company with close ties to the US Government.

Given the increasing numbers of Americans who believe that the Bush administration deliberately misled the country to justify the Iraqi invasion, many film-goers will no doubt walk accept the film’s argument that Big Oil shapes American policies to its interests, even when they violate our core ideals. But is the movie really a case of art imitating life, or does “Syriana” veer towards the kind of hyperbole and exaggeration that marred Oliver Stone’s “JFK?”

The evidence would seem to speak for itself. It includes:

– Newly discovered documents, reported in the Washington Post, that reveal that as early as February 2001 senior executives of at least four of the country’s biggest oil companies, ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell and BP America, met with Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force.

– Documents from these meetings obtained by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch–including a map of Iraq and an accompanying list of “Iraq oil foreign suitors”–reveal Iraq, with perhaps the world’s second largest oil deposits, to have been a major topic of discussion. Indeed, the map erased all features of the country save the location of its main oil deposits. The list of suitors revealed that dozens of foreign companies were either in discussions over or in direct negotiations for rights to some of the best remaining oilfields on
earth.

– The meetings occurred at a moment when scientists and industry leaders began worrying that the “age of peak oil production” is approaching faster than previously assumed. Once it arrives, it will no longer be possible to extract enough oil from the earth to replace what we consume, thereby setting off a potentially explosive competition for the world’s remaining supplies.

– In such a scenario, insuring American access to, and where possible leverage or even control over, the world’s major oil deposits would be a natural concern for an Administration umbilically tied to Big Oil, particularly in the context of escalating competition with an aggressive, energy-hungry China.

– A 2002 report by Deutsche Bank explained the major US companies would lose if Saddam made a deal with the UN, whereas the Europeans, Russians and Chinese would come out ahead. But in a post-Saddam Iraq, the report argued, the US oil majors–specifically, according to the report, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco–could manage the country’s resources. No wonder the executives of those companies denied meeting with Cheney’s staff only weeks after George W. Bush’s inauguration.

– At the very moment the first Energy Task Force meetings with industry officials were held, in February 2001, the National Security Council issued a directive for staff to cooperate with the Energy Task Force in the “melding” of new “operational policies towards rogue states” with “actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields.” No place on earth was more amenable to such melding than Iraq.

– Two and a half yeas after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the Bush Administration continues to resist calls for a major troop withdrawal, despite the fact that most intelligence reports, and Iraq politicians, confirm our presence to be the main motivation for the insurgency.

With American losses and expenditures mounting daily, the threat of WMD disproved, the promise of peace
and democracy seeming increasingly pollyanish, the Bush Administration is running out of good reasons for the US to maintain a long-term presence in Iraq. Two that come to mind, however, are oil and military bases–subjects, needless to say, that remain largely unbroachable in polite discourse in Washington or Baghdad.
But it’s hard to think of anything else that would constitute the “core interests” both the Bush Administration and leading democrats (most recently Senator Joseph Biden) argue will be threatened by an American withdrawal from Iraq any time soon.

It took roughly fifty years for the CIA to admit that it organized the overthrow of Iranian President Mossadeqh when he dared to nationalize his country’s oil industry. Our government also helped organize coups that put the Baath Party in power in Iraq twice, in 1963 and 1968. There’s no doubt who was behind the toppling of Saddam. The question that remains, however, is: What was the real reason we invaded Iraq? On that score, “Syriana” hits closer to home than most politicians on either side of the aisle would care to admit.

Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 3:29 PM

6) The Congressional Research Service’s Middle East affairs specialist, Dr Kenneth Katzman, has written two reports for CRS in recent months summarising governance and democratic reforms being attempted in Iraq. They are both available online: ‘Iraq: Elections, Government and Constitution’, last updated 2 August, 2005, at: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/52733.pdf ;

and ‘Iraq: U.S. Regime Change Efforts and Post-Saddam Governance’, last updated 5 July, 2005, at: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/50172.pdf

7) Darth Cheney’s story:

http://hnn.us/articles/18668.html

The Long March of Dick Cheney
By Sidney Blumenthal

Mr. Blumenthal is a columnist for Salon.com and the Guardian. He is the author of The Clinton Wars. He served as Assistant to the President, 1997-2001.

The hallmark of the Dick Cheney administration is its illegitimacy. Its essential method is bypassing established lines of authority; its goal is the concentration of unaccountable presidential power. When it matters, the regular operations of the CIA, Defense Department and State Department have been sidelined.
Richard Nixon is the model, but with modifications. In the Nixon administration, the president was the prime mover, present at the creation of his own options, attentive to detail, and conscious of their consequences. In the Cheney administration, the president is volatile but passive, firm but malleable, presiding but absent. Once his complicity has been arranged, a closely held “cabal” — as Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, calls it — wields control….

8) Here’s another Iraq-interested blog:

http://malakandsky.blogspot.com/

9) Campus discussion:

Following is an article from JTA — The Global News Service of the Jewish People. For in-depth coverage of the latest developments affecting Jews all over the world, click: www.jta.org

Effort for review of anti-Semitism
on campus meeting new resistance By: Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (JTA) — The effort by some Jewish groups to establish a government review procedure to address claims of anti-Israel bias and anti-Semitism on university campuses appears to be under threat just as it’s making serious headway.

Buried in a massive budget bill passed recently by the Senate are two paragraphs with language stating that the U.S. Department of Education must not “mandate, direct, or control an institution of higher education’s specific instructional content, curriculum, or program of instruction.”

The inclusion suggests resistance among conservatives in Congress and elsewhere to reforms that Jewish groups say are needed to alleviate what they claim is a hostile environment toward Jewish students on some campuses.

The resistance came to the fore last Friday when three Jewish groups testified on the matter before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, encountering tough questions from the more conservative commissioners.
The Senate language, inserted in the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 and passed by the Senate on Nov. 3, would gut plans to make universities that receive federal funds accountable to the Education Department to the degree that some Jewish groups have sought.

“There should be something in there that requires a balance of viewpoints,” said Susan Tuchman, director of the Center of Law and Justice at the Zionist Organization of America, a group that has been lobbying hard for federal review of universities’ Middle Eastern studies. “It’s not enough to ensure that appropriate changes are made.”

The American Jewish Congress, also a leader in the effort, has been fighting hard to remove exactly the same language from another bill making headway in both houses, said Sarah Stern, the AJCongress’ director of governmental affairs.

Stern said the inclusion of the language in the deficit-reduction bill came “completely under the radar.” Three other Jewish groups involved in pressing for the legislation said they only learned of the language in recent days, some because of JTA’s questions.

At least one of the groups was still reviewing the legislation and wasn’t ready to condemn it outright.

The American Jewish Committee said other provisions in the bill might meet the standards it has been seeking by giving the secretary of education some limited powers of review.

“It has always been our contention that those reforms would not allow the secretary to interfere with academic freedom or autonomy of institutions,” said Richard Foltin, the AJCommittee’s legislative director.

A U.S. House of Representatives version of the deficit-reduction bill that scraped through last Friday does not include the language, and Jewish groups were hoping it might disappear in the version that emerges in the House-Senate conference before Christmas break.

It’s not clear which senator inserted the language during the lengthy process of composing a bill that deals mostly with budget cutting to offset the costs of war and hurricane recovery, but it would have had to pass Republican muster. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the chairman of the Senate’s Budget Committee, initiated the bill, and it passed 52-47, largely along party lines.

As Foltin noted, the bill does provide some redress. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings would be able to suspend federal funding for a university for 60 days if she deems a complaint serious enough, but after that she would be required to resume the funding whether or not the complaint has been resolved. She also would be authorized to take such complaints into account when renewing grants to universities.

Additionally, the bill suggests linking funding for universities to their success in creating a cadre of Middle East experts in government.

However, the language that keeps the education secretary from touching “specific instructional content, curriculum, or program of instruction” means that she wouldn’t be able to require a university’s Middle East studies department to balance a reliance on Arabists such as Edward Said with other historians with a more pro-Western tilt, such as Bernard Lewis.

Groups like AJCongress, ZOA and the Institute for Jewish and Community Research allege that anti-Western bias pervades American universities’s Mideast studies departments. Other groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the AJCommittee, agree that there is a problem but say progress is being made.
“Institutional anti-Semitism, discrimination and quotas against Jewish students are largely a thing of the past,” the ADL said in written testimony to the Commission on Civil Rights.

Should the language survive the House-Senate conference, another bill promoting much tougher measures could fall by the wayside, Jewish lobbyists said. Legislators could argue that a solution is already on the books, so they don’t need to pursue the matter further.

Jewish groups favor another bill that would establish an advisory committee to review complaints of bias, a measure that academic organizations say smacks of McCarthyism. That has passed a House committee but has yet to be considered by the full House, meaning the diluted version passed by the Senate on Nov. 3 is much further advanced.

Witnesses at the Civil Rights Commission hoped they would get a sympathetic ear for the proposed advisory committee. The commission has no enforcement powers, but its recommendations would have moral force in Washington.

Citing a litany of complaints from Jewish students across the country, Stern of the AJCongress, Tuchman of ZOA and Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, painted a picture of a pervasively hostile environment.

“Anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism are systemic ideologies in higher education,” Tobin said.
Instead of the sympathy they expected, the witnesses got a sometimes-testy exchange on the role of government in policing campuses.

Significantly, the toughest questions came from commissioners most closely associated with the Bush administration, which recently revamped the commission to more closely reflect its own conservative values.

“I am extremely nervous about administrative oversight on university campuses,” said Abigail Thernstrom, the commission’s vice chairwoman. “You do not want administrators waking into classrooms and deciding what a p
rofessor is teaching is acceptable or unacceptable.”

Stern said such worries were unfounded. By mitigating bias, a federal advisory panel that would review complaints would encourage debate, not inhibit it, she said.

“Any intellectually honest person with integrity would say, ‘Wait a minute, there is another side here,’ ” she said.

Tobin said the threat of withdrawing federal funding would be a last resort meant to spur universities into using tools already at their disposal — for instance, increasing the involvement of trustees in hiring and firing decisions.

“This truly is a nuclear option,” he said of the proposed legislation.

The witnesses got a more sympathetic hearing from the two Democrats on the eight-person commission.
“Simply because something happens in the arena of a university does not qualify it as untouchable,” said Michael Yaki, a San Francisco lawyer.

He also chided conservatives on the commission who suggested that only physical harassment was out of bounds, noting that the legal definition of sexual harassment includes its verbal forms.

The conservative commissioners were equally skeptical of a federal role in policing anti-Semitism on campus.

Thernstrom, who is Jewish, said posters that had appeared on campuses that depicted Israelis as baby-killers were appalling, but might be part of the necessary give-and-take of university life.

“I don’t want universities to be comfortable places for students,” she said.

1) Katrina relevant links definitely worthy of checking up:

This entire blog is devoted to Katrina and NO reconstruction:
http://worldclassneworleans.blogspot.com/

This is NYC for NOLA website, including an Onion takeoff:
http://nycnolahelp.org/creoletomato/

Here’s the most comprehensive Katrina info blog I’ve seen yet:
http://peoplegetready.blogspot.com/

Here’s a local website devoted to reconstruction (another appropriate destination for donations):
http://www.proudtocallithome.org/

Here’s a relief website devoted to local arts phenom “Blue Dog”:
http://www.bluedogrelief.com/

2) As I mentioned in a previous posting, last week I tried to argue MESA’s [Middle East Studies Association] holding it’s 2012 convention in NO. The results were mixed, with one of the staff asking what MESA would do if there were to be another hurricane in 2012. I mentioned that Miami, Orlando, SF, and LA all suffer from potential hurricanes or earthquakes, and that Katrina’s damage had never been seen in NO history. That was the negative point. On the positive point, she did say that the MESA powers-that-be are seriously considering NO for 2012. Let’s hope they decide to hold the convention in NO. For encouragement, let’s start by posting this article, stating that the DNC will hold its 2006 meeting in NO. Let’s hope the Dems’ 2008 convention will be in NO as well. As always, nag your local Dems:

http://bizneworleans.com/109+M5542bb32fcb.html

Democratic National Committee to meet in N.O.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Democratic National Committee will bring about 400 people to New Orleans for its first meeting of 2006 to help rebuild the Gulf area devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

DNC chairman Howard Dean says the three-day meeting will begin April 20, the weekend of the French Quarter Festival.

Dean say the group usually uses only union hotels, but got a special dispensation from labor officials to book the downtown Sheraton.

Dean says the Sheraton is the only full-service hotel that’ reserving rooms and can handle a convention.
The American Library Association, which has to book years in advance because it brings about 20,000 people to its midyear conference, confirmed early this month that it will keep its June 24-27 dates in New Orleans.

Dean says New Orleans is also among 33 cities invited to compete for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The April meeting is the major one before the midterm elections.

3) As another point pushing MESA to hold its 2012 convention in New Orleans, here’s an announcement by the APA, or American Psychological Association. I should point out that the APA will be holding its convention in NO during the height of hurricane season with what will be a weakened levee system. First of all, kudos to the APA. Secondly, let this be an example to MESA, whose conventionas are always in mid-late November, or long after hurricane season. Thirdly, NO had better not screw this one up — the APA will be a large convention and will be a test case for post-Katrina NO convention viability:

The American Psychological Association

The 2006 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association will be held in New Orleans, August 10 – 13, 2006, the APA Board of Directors announced today. The decision to keep the meeting in New Orleans was made by unanimous vote.

APA has been actively monitoring the New Orleans storm recovery,including a site visit on October 31. A number of factors went into the Board’s decision to keep the 2006 meeting in New Orleans, including:

* Parts of the city most critical to our meeting, the convention center area, our convention hotels, and the French Quarter, did not sustain any damage due to flooding and suffered much less serious storm damage than other parts of the city. These areas are well on their way to full recovery;
* Air quality tests conducted by federal, state, and private entities have shown that the air in New Orleans is safe;
* As of October 6, the Louisiana Office of Public Health announced that tap water is safe to drink in the convention center, downtown, and the French Quarter areas;
* In February New Orleans will host its annual Mardi Grascelebration. This spring and summer the city will also host a number of large conventions and society meetings. These events and others are expected to increase staffing and service levels across the city.

All indications are that New Orleans is on a strong trajectory ofrecovery and will be well prepared to host our meeting next summer. Our top priority in making the decision about New Orleans was the health and safety of meeting attendees and the city’s ability to provide the services necessary for a high-quality meeting. Based on health reports and our own site visit, we are pleased with the progress of the recovery effort. We look forward to a very successful meeting in New Orleans and to being part of the revival of the city.

For more information about convention planning, go towww.apa.org/convention and as a reminder, convention programsubmissions are due to divisions on December 2.

Hope to see you in New Orleans!

—————————————————————–
Norman B. Anderson, PhD, CEO
The American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-6020
Email: Conventionupdate@apa.org

4) This is a long auto-biographical diary detailing an absolutely outrageous story concerning the conjunction between Katrina, failed government relief efforts, and the war of terror:

http://www.nola.com/weblogs/bourbon/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_bstdiaries/archives/2005_11_24.html
Thursday, November 24, 2005

Rescue efforts lead to arrest nightmare for N.O. businessman

Abdulrahman Zeitoun of New Orleans writes about his experiences rescuing storm victims, and about his arrest and ordeal on suspicion of terrorism and looting:

My name is Abdulrahman Zeitoun. I am the owner of Zeitoun A. Painting Contractors LLC, and Zeitoun Rentals LLC. I have been in business in New Orleans for almost 12 years. I have a very good reputation through out the City of New Orleans, and I am listed with the Better Business Bureau.

I am originally from Syria, and I came to the United States in 1973. I started my life from scratch, and worked my way up to where I am now. I am married to Kathryn M. Richmond, I have 3 daughters and a son with her….

5) If you really want to help NO, forward this NOLA.com op-ed as far as you can, and urge everyone you know to contact the following Congressional members after the posting, especially if you are a constituent. Tell them that NO needs their commitment to levee strengthening, coastal restoration, and reconstruction:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/news/content/editorial112005.html

An Editorial: It’s time for a nation to return thefavor
Sunday, November 20, 2005

The federal government wrapped levees around greaterNew Orleans so that the rest of the country couldshare in our bounty.

Americans wanted the oil and gas that flow freely offour shores. They longed for th
e oysters and shrimp andflaky Gulf fish that live in abundance in our waters.They wanted to ship corn and soybeans and beets downthe Mississippi and through our ports. They wantedcoffee and steel to flow north through the mouth ofthe river and into the heartland.

They wanted more than that, though. They wanted toshare in our spirit. They wanted to sample the joyousbeauty of our jazz and our food. And we were happy tooblige them.

So the federal government built levees and convincedus that we were safe.

We weren’t.

The levees, we were told, could stand up to a Category3 hurricane.

They couldn’t.

By the time Katrina surged into New Orleans, it hadweakened to Category 3. Yet our levee system wasn’t asstrong as the Army Corps of Engineers said it was.Barely anchored in mushy soil, the floodwalls gaveway.

Our homes and businesses were swamped. Hundreds of ourneighbors died.

Now, this metro area is drying off and digging out.Life is going forward. Our heart is beating.
But we need the federal government — we need ourCongress — to fulfill the promises made to us in thepast. We need to be safe. We need to be able to goabout our business feeding and fueling the rest of thenation. We need better protection next hurricaneseason than we had this year. Going forward, we needprotection from the fiercest storms, the Category 5storms that are out there waiting to strike.

Some voices in Washington are arguing against us. Wewere foolish, they say. We settled in a place that islower than the sea. We should have expected to drown.

As if choosing to live in one of the nation’s greatcities amounted to a death wish. As if living in SanFrancisco or Miami or Boston is any more logical.

Great cities are made by their place and their people,their beauty and their risk. Water flows around andthrough most of them. And one of the greatest bodiesof water in the land flows through this one: theMississippi.

The federal government decided long ago to try to tamethe river and the swampy land spreading out from it.The country needed this waterlogged land of ours toprosper, so that the nation could prosper even more.
Some people in Washington don’t seem to remember that.They act as if we are a burden. They act as if we woreour skirts too short and invited trouble.

We can’t put up with that. We have to stand up forourselves. Whether you are back at home or still inexile waiting to return, let Congress know that thismetro area must be made safe from future storms. Calland write the leaders who are deciding our fate. Getyour family and friends in other states to do thesame. Start with members of the Environment and PublicWorks and Appropriations committees in the Senate, andTransportation and Appropriations in the House. Floodthem with mail the way we were flooded by Katrina.

Remind them that this is a singular American city andthat this nation still needs what we can give it.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER
Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; 509 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3344; Web site: www.frist.senate.gov .

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, chairman; 113 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-5054; e-mail address: senator@cochran.senate.gov .

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ranking member; 311 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3954; e-mail address: senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; 522 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3004; Web site: www.stevens.senate.gov

SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman; 393 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-3324; Web site: www.gregg.senate.gov

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., ranking member; 530 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-2043; Web site: www.conrad.senate.gov

SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman; 453 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-4721; Web site: www.inhofe.senate.gov

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., ranking member; 511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-2651; e-mail address: max@baucus.senate.gov

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; 235 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2976; Web site: www.house.gov/hastert

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; 217 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-6536; Web site: www.blunt.house.gov

HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman; 2112 Rayburn House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5861; Web site: www.house.gov/jerrylewis

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., ranking member; 2314 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-3365; Web site: www.obey.house.gov

HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE
Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, chairman; 303 Cannon House Office Building; Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-2911; e-mail: nussleia@mail.house.gov

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking member; 1401 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 225-5501; Web site: www.house.gov/spratt

6) Here’s another activist posting by Jordan Flaherty, concerning Katrina activism, reconstruction, and local politics:

Community and Resistance
by Jordan Flaherty
November 23, 2005

A couple months before New Orleans flooded, I remember walking through my neighborhood on a beautiful weekend afternoon and hearing music.

I followed the sound a couple blocks, to where about thirty people, all of them Black, followed a few musicians through the streets. They were mourning the death of a loved one, New Orleans-style. Most folks were wearing custom t-shirts with a picture of the deceased. Next to the photo were the words “sunrise” along with the date of his birth, and “sunset,” above the date of his (recent) death – he was 20. Also on the shirt were the words, “No More Drama.”

On the back, the shirts were individualized, with the relation of the wearer to the deceased. One woman’s shirt said “momma.” A few teenagers had shirts that said “cuz.” A small child’s shirt said “daddy.”

Despite their loss, they were dancing through the streets. When the band finished their final song, everyone danced their hearts out. I don’t know what else to say, except that’s how we do it in New Orleans, and the image of those people mourning through celebration sticks with me as I see New Orleans today, struggling with so much loss and tragedy.

Cornel West, who has visited New Orleans often, said shortly after the city was flooded, “New Orleans has always been a city that lived on the edge, with Elysian Fields and cemeteries and the quest for paradise. When you live so close to death, behind the levees, you live more intensely, sexually, gastronomically, psychologically. Louis Armstrong came out of that unbelievable cultural breakthrough unprecedented in the history of American civilization. The rural blues, the urban jazz. It is the tragicomic lyricism that gives you the courage to get through the darkest storm. Charlie Parker would have kill
ed somebody if he had not blown his horn. The history of black people in America is one of unbelievable resilience in the face of crushing white supremacist powers.”

More than anywhere else in the US, New Orleans is a city where people live in one neighborhood their whole lives, where generations live in the same community. According to a recent census, of all US cities, New Orleans ranked second in the percentage of its population born in the state, at 83 percent. (Santa Ana, Calif., was first; Las Vegas last.) 54 percent of the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward had been in their homes for 10 years or more, far above the national average.

All of this is to say that New Orleans is not just a tourist stop. New Orleans is a unique culture, one that is resilient, and with a history of community and resistance. And, despite everything, resistance continues.
The People’s Hurricane Fund has been doing direct outreach and organizing in cities across the US for their People’s Tribunal and March for Justice, scheduled for December 8-10 in Jackson, Mississippi and New Orleans. They have organized communication centers in Jackson and New Orleans with plans for centers in Houston, Baton Rouge and Atlanta.

On a national level, organizations such as colorofchange.org have mobilized thousands of people to pressure politicians, and the Congressional Black Congress has worked to keep this issue alive, both through legislation, and through joining protests, as Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney did by showing up for a march from New Orleans to Gretna a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, just days after DC organizers announced plans for a protest at FEMA headquarters, FEMA officials announced that they were pushing back the date after which they would stop paying for hotels for Gulf Coast evacuees from December 1 to December 15. Continued pressure from across the US caused them to move the date again, to January 7.

Here in New Orleans, volunteers with the Common Ground Collective have set up neighborhood distribution centers with food and supplies, have served hundreds of people in their free health clinic, setup a media center complete with a community radio station, and embarked on a project to rehabilitate houses in the Ninth Ward. This week, hundreds of volunteers have arrived to continue this work, most of them staying on mattresses on the floors of warehouses and houses, sometimes thirty or more to a room.

Any convergence of hundreds of mostly young and white activists in a overwhelmingly Black community is bound to bring skepticism and controversy, and Common Ground has received criticisms from some local organizers. However, Common Ground in many ways represents a big step forward for the global justice movement. Rather than coming in, leading a protest, and leaving, activists were invited by Malik Rahim, a longtime community organizer, and have followed through and done real work in communities. They have been true to their commitments, and have shown by example that people with a vision of radical change and social justice can put FEMA or Red Cross to shame.

Finally, yesterday saw a major legal victory in the struggle for housing.

According to the statement from the New Orleans Grassroots Legal Network, lawyers representing a range of organizations, “brought suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Orleans Parish, and Jefferson Parish on behalf of the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, UNITE-HERE Local 50-2, SEIU Local 21, ACORN New Orleans, and individual tenants being victimized by landlords post-Hurricane Katrina. Because of the immense pressure that has been placed on the government and the landlords by the people, Plaintiffs were able to achieve the following result from this lawsuit: (1) All evictions in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes are immediately stayed — meaning, all eviction proceedings in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes stop immediately against residents who are not in the area and whose whereabouts are unknown to landlords.
(2) Under the judge’s order, FEMA is required, upon request, to provide to the Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, current contact information for the tenants who landlords are seeking to evict. Upon this contact information being provided by FEMA, the Parishes have to provide written notice of eviction to the tenants at the tenants’ most current addresses. Tenants then have at least 45 days from the date of the mailing of the notice respond to the eviction action.

“This victory means that displaced people have an almost two-month reprieve from having to face loss of their personal property and their homes. This victory also means that for the first time FEMA has finally agreed to provide information to protect survivors. This is huge.

“But overall, this case is just another step that the Grassroots Legal Network has taken to bring recognition that people who have suffered the worst impact by the natural and government disaster of Hurricane Katrina have a right to return to their homes. This victory also provides an opportunity for political and social rights activists to organize with grassroots people to assert pressure on those in power to respect their humanity.”
All of this leaves me feeling, for the first time in a while, that all of this fighting really does mean something, and New Orleans lives on.

=====================================
Jordan Flaherty is a union organizer and an editor of Left Turn Magazine. This is his eleventh article from New Orleans. You can contact Jordan at NewOrleans@leftturn.org. Jordan’s previous articles from New Orleans are at http://www.leftturn.org/articles/SpecialCollections/katrina.aspx =====================================
Based on conversations with organizers and community members, Left Turn Magazine has compiled a list of grassroots New Orleans organizations focused on relief, recovery, social justice and cultural preservation that need your support. The list is online at http://www.leftturn.org/Articles/Viewer.aspx?id=689&type;=W =====================================

7) Here’s an article on Gulf Coast Zoning changes being considered right now. It goes without saying that
the local govts have to clean up what has been an abominably lax zoning system (which is itself a problem throughout the country, and is due to developers’ interests). I’ve been nagging here frequently about what the feds have to do, but this is something that the locals must do at the same time. People may not rebuild much until they know that their construction will match whatever new codes are enacted, as well as knowing that the Cat 5 annoucement is made…

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/051118code.asp

Gulf Coast States Consider Code and Zoning Change
November 18, 2005

While still picking through the debris from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Gulf Coast states have begun reexamining their building codes. The disasters have strengthened calls for areas without codes to adopt them, and for consistent codes within states.

“Every state should have a statewide minimum code,” says James Lee Witt, CEO of the International Code Council (ICC) and former FEMA director. “It’s critical. It’s a form of mitigation.”….

8) This from NO’s local Offbeat magazine, on the role that the music industry is poised to play in NO’s reconstruction:

RANDOM NOTES The Edge Commits to NOLA…Music Retailers Reopen…Music Coalition News
Reid Wick, saxophonist, publicity guru for Loyola University Music Business Program and recent MusiCares administrator tells OffBeat that he’s made a new friend: The Edge of U2. He
reports: “Yes, I spent the whole day with Edge. I took him to meet with musicians (Deacon John, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Brian “Breeze” Cayolle, and Joe Krown–he even had a jam session with Walter). I took him on a tour of much of the devastated areas, including the 17th Street Canal levee break, Lakeview, NO East and Chalmette. Later that night, we had dinner with Quint Davis [Jazz Fest producer] and Mitch Landrieu [Louisiana Lieutenant Governor] showed up for a little while. Rolling Stone magazine was in tow the entire day. An article should appear in next week’s issue. It all totally blew his mindl He called me on Friday evening to thank me for what he called ‘one of the most moving days of his life.’ I then got a call from [producer] Bob Ezrin, saying that Edge had called him earlier that morning and that I blew his mind with the great musicians he met and the first hand view of the city. Bob and I are working to find a time for him to visit the city.”

Obviously, Edge’s first-hand experience with New Orleans’ devastation has led to his conviction that (according to USA Today) “music is key to New Orleans’ survival. So The Edge is launching Music Rising, a campaign to replace instruments that were lost after hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck. He and producer Bob Ezrin have joined forces with VH1, MTV, Ticketmaster, SpinCo, MusiCares and others to provide up to 3,000 instruments for players, plus gear for churches, schools, repair shops and music academies. Lead partners Gibson Guitar and the Guitar Center are pledging $1 million and issuing a limited-edition guitar to benefit the program. ‘We can’t overdo this,’ says Edge, who spent Thursday in the Crescent City meeting musicians and surveying the devastation on the ground and by helicopter. ‘Anyone who has earned money from music owes a huge debt to New Orleans. It’s the birthplace of jazz, it has origins of rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s spawned some amazing hip-hop. The music culture is so rich and unique that it’s absolutely crucial to support it.’ Recalling the area’s vitality before Katrina, he says: ‘You’d see and hear things you’d get nowhere else. We all need New Orleans. We can’t let that culture vanish in the flood.'”

The Louisiana Music Factory opened with a bang on October 31 and is open and ready for business this Thanksgiving weekend. Ditto Tower Records at 408 N. Peters Street. “Nearly three months since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Tower Records is thrilled to bring music and spirit back to the city that we so love,” stated Kevin Cassidy, Executive Vice President of Retail for Tower Records. “The people of New Orleans, our customers and employees alike, have been through so much. Their perseverance and dedication to re-build is a great inspiration to us all. It therefore gives Tower Records great satisfaction to re-open our French Quarter store,” said Kevin Cassidy, Regional Tower manager.

The New Orleans Music Coalition is seeking information on where New Orleans musicians have relocated for the Louisiana Music Directory database. If you are a musician or music business, and haven’t posted your new contact information (including mailing address, cell phone, contact phone and email address), don’t wait. There are opportunities you may be missing. Tipitina’s has begun listing available housing at Come Home New Orleans

9) Another music industry article, this time from Biz New Orleans:

http://bizneworleans.com/109+M57bd8ab98b1.html

Music download leader compiles N.O. fundraiser

LOS ANGELES — Nugs.net, the leader in live music downloads, has assembled an all-star compilation of live tracks to raise money for several New Orleans charities benefiting local musicians. The music service provider’s artist partners donated the recordings for the compilation, including an exclusive release from Widespread Panic’s archives, hand-picked by Panic front man John Bell and an exclusive, never-before-released song, “Low,” from former Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and his new band 70 Volt Parade.
Nugs.net and the 17 artists featured on the benefit release organized the effort to provide continued support for this vital American music community. Other artists contributing to the benefit compilation include Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Jerry Garcia Band, David Grisman Quintet, The String Cheese Incident, Gov’t Mule, Yonder Mountain String Band, Mike Gordon and the Benevento/Russo Duo, Umphrey’s McGee, Tea Leaf Green, Particle, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Outformation, and local New Orleans legends The Radiators and Galactic.

Nugs.net and all the artists involved will donate 100 percent of the money raised from the sales of this hurricane benefit compilation to the following registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit charities: Tipitina’s Foundation, New Orleans Musician’s Clinic, New Orleans Musician’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Conscious Alliance.
“(W)e are empowered that so many people in our country recognize the importance of New Orleans’ own music heritage and its talented musicians,” said Bill Taylor, director of the Tipitina’s Foundation. “Monies raised from these efforts go immediately to help support displaced musicians as well as our greater mission to support the music and culture of New Orleans as we rebuild in the years to come.”

This two CD benefit compilation album will be available for $10.95 as MP3 downloads and $15.95 as CD-quality FLAC downloads. To purchase, go to nugs.net and help support nugs.net’s efforts to rebuild the New Orleans community of musicians.

Dave Malone of The New Orleans Radiators expressed his thanks and said: “Everybody knows that the swamp and river have popped out some pretty incredible musicians! Now is your chance to give back to some of those great musicians who are in need and get some ultra-cool music as well.”

Nugs.net offers high-quality, mastered soundboard recordings of all tracks in MP3 and lossless CD-quality FLAC formats. All download files are compatible with Windows, Mac and Unix, allowing for maximum flexibility and ease of use. Once downloaded, these files can be burned to CD an unlimited number of times, transferred to portable audio players such as Apple’s iPod, or played through a computer.

“UNION, JUSTICE & CONFIDENCE, A nugs.net NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS BENEFIT ALBUM” is available exclusively through nugs.net.

Music service provider nugs.net enterprises, LLC offers a turn-key solution for online music distribution. The nugs.network currently delivers music downloads for over 100 artists

10) Here’s another story about music revival efforts in NO:

Raising up a city through jazz

Irvin Mayfield’s rousing return brings down the cathedral

Saturday, November 19, 2005
By Keith Spera
Music writer

To stand on the steps of Christ Church Cathedral on Aug. 31 was to witness a city at its most desperate.
To return to the 2900 block of St. Charles Avenue 11 weeks later was to share in the same city’s rebirth.
On Aug. 31, that first terrible Wednesday after Hurricane Katrina, looters roamed at will as shell-shocked residents filed out of Central City, paused briefly on the Christ Church steps, then pressed on toward the unfolding crisis at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

On Thursday, an overflow crowd filled the 119-year-old sanctuary as trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra unveiled “All the Saints,” a triumphant new composition of grief and resolve. It was a defining moment for Mayfield, the orchestra and post-Katrina New Orleans.

11) Activist posting:

The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund & The Mississippi Distress Relief Coalition presents

FROM OUTRAGE TO ACTION

State of Emergency Survivor’s Conference Thursday & Friday – December 8 & 9, 2005 in Jackson, Mississippi& Saturday, December 10, 2005 – March & Rally in New Orlea
ns, LA
Conference Agenda:

State of Emergency People’s Conference – Youth Speak Out December 8, 2005 – 7:00 – 9:00pmJackson State University School of Business – 1300 Lynch Street

Survivor’s Assembly & ConferenceDecember 9, 2005 – 9am – 6pm at Anderson United Methodist Church6405 Hanging Moss Road
December 9, 2005 – 8pm – 11pmRally/Cultural Program featuring AMIRA BARAKA, SONYA SANCHEZ, DEAD PREZ, & Louisiana & Mississippi Artists

Survivor’s March For Self Determination & Right to ReturnDecember 10, 2005Gathering at Congo SquareNew Orleans, LAcall 1-888-310-7473

FROM OUTRAGE TO ACTION !!!
**********************************************
STATE OF EMERGENCY CONFERENCE AND SURVIVORSGENERAL ASSEMBLY, JACKSON, MSDECEMBER 8, 9, 2005
**************************
MARCH ON NEW ORLEANSDECEMBER 10, 2005″DEMAND THE RIGHT TO RETURN”
Remembering the horrors of Katrina and the history of racial and class oppression is not enough. The time has come to turn outrage to action.

On December 8, 2005 through December 10, 2005 scores of survivors and their supporters, people who believe in freedom and justice, will gather in Jackson, MS and New Orleans.

We will gather for the National State of Emergency Conference in Jackson on the 8th and 9th of December. Supporters and representatives and leaders from over 50 black organizations, and labor unions and their third world and anti-racists allies will meet in support and solidarity of the survivors initiate an action plan to rescue the black population and all oppressed populations from their dependency on racist and incompetent governments. Most important the Katrina Survivors will gather at the same place and time to form a General Assembly to speak for themselves and to exercise their rights to self determination.

Survivors have raised the demands are for immediate jobs, education, housing, clothing and food. Survivors have made the demand to place the control and direction of Gulf Coast reconstruction in their hands.

Survivors demand opportunity to exercise the right to return to the Gulf Coast with dignity and without poverty. Survivors have demanded a complete investigation into and prosecution of all government agencies for crimes against humanity and human rights violations.

OBJECTIVESThe Objectives of the December 8-10, 2005 Assembly/Conference and the Demonstration are as follows:

1. To build a Hurricane Katrina Survivors General Assembly which will speak for the Gulf Coast Survivors and which will demand and exercise the peoples right to self determination in New Orleans and other effected gulf coast areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

2. To demand the people’s right to return to New Orleans and to the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast with dignity and without poverty.

3. To demand reparations for the governments’ criminal indifference, negligence, and malicious actions towards the Victims and Survivors, before, during and after Katrina.

4. To demand, launch and/or continue investigations, law suits and prosecutions of governments, agencies and persons responsible for the human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed before, during and after Katrina.

5. To build a national united front in support and solidarity with the self determination and reparation demands of Katrina Survivors, and through this front to design and initiate a plan of action and institutions which will allow black people to fortify themselves and serve their own needs in the face of future disasters which are either natural or by human hands.

6. To link today’s demands for reparations and self determination to the historical and future struggle of black people and other oppressed populations for self determination and reparations.

CONTACT INFORMATIONFor further information call 1-888-310-PHRF(7473), or call 601-353-5566, or email outrage2action@yahoo.com.

12) This from LA Democrats list, which partially explains why I sometimes advocate a secession referendum for the Gulf Coast if Congress refuses to commit necessary reconstruction funds:

LOUISIANA GENERATES $5 BILLION PER YEAR IN OIL and gas revenues for the United States. When Louisiana is allowed to receive 50% of the oil and gas revenues it generates, like the other 49 states, our coastal wetland restoration and the levee systems needed for protection against Category 5 hurricanes will be adequately financed. Congressman Jindal and other Louisiana legislators may be finally taking up the call by Senator Landrieu and former-Senator Breaux to rectify this injustice. Join the spontaneous Louisiana-to-the-Nation letter-writing campaign to make our case to other Americans.

13) Here’s an initiative by a New York University PhD Candidate, Departments of Middle East Studies/History:

Hi Folks. Gobble gobble.

(I apologize for having massed you all together here. But it does raise the question: do the masses have a voice?)

I’m writing to you in the spirit of the holiday.

Many of you will know about the pending House bill that presumes to cut $50 billion from social service programs like food stamps and Medicaid, as well as slashing education and labor programs. According to the House Agriculture Committee, this would result in at least 220,000 Americans losing food assistance. These reductions were proposed to pay for the bulk of a $70 billion tax break for the wealthiest Americans, which will be considered after Thanksgiving.

All of you know about the suffering of hurricane survivors on the Gulf Coast. A lot of these people, in particular, now depend on the government programs currently on the chopping block.

I would like you to know about an effort some Princetonians and I have put together to address this cruel juxtaposition. We are asking Americans to give back their tax cuts in order to help lessen the vulnerabilities of the people on the Gulf Coast. Because our current government has disowned its responsibility to its citizens, our only real option is giving to private relief funds. But private charitable giving affirms the anti-government philosophy that allowed the tragedy in the first place. A dilemma, all right.

Our solution is to ask people to give in the context of an argument that government should accept its responsibility to act as a steward for the community. I am asking you to help us make this argument. Please visit www.mytaxcutforkatrina.org and make a donation — whatever you can — to one of the participating charities. We have three goals:

1. Start a new round of charitable giving. America has changed the channel on Katrina. Private relief efforts are drying up a lot faster than the needs created by the flood waters.
2. Provide the rhetorical platform those Congresspeople need, who are seeking to repeal the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. This is the way democracy works.
3. Encourage people to think differently than they do now about their relationship to federal govt, taxation, and spending. Taxes are a moral issue — how we pool our resources in order to purchase fundamental public goods — not just a question of individual financial savings.

I would also like to ask two other things of you.

First, please let your family, friends, and colleagues know about this initiative. When we worked on the filibuster last spring, we were successful because of grassroots word-of-mouth (www.filibusterfrist.com). The goal of this campaign is to impact public debate. It can be successful, too, if enough people articulate their individual support. (Here’s a sense of scale: if a Senator receives 2000 phone calls in a couple of weeks on an issue, that issue gets on her agenda. We can get to that number with y
our help, no question.)
Second, when you visit the website, view it critically. What does it do poorly, need to do better? Let me know by responding (Notate bene: NOT REPLY-ALL) to this email. If you have any other suggestions or contacts, please let me know. It is all very much a work in progress.

There are two other very important holidays this week. My brother’s birthday was yesterday and mine is Saturday. Consider the donation-making/word-spreading/improvement-suggesting a triple birthday present to us.

Thanks a lot.

With much affection,Peter (and brother Chris)
Peter Turner609 933 7544

14) Here’s an idea for the Creole Tomato, from a friend:

Another message from another displaced lawyer in Texas. I’m sorry you didn’t cotton to my idea for a story about building levees out of Mardi Gras beads, but I must say, Roman candy is probably a better substance and one you would only know about if a local. My new idea is below. Today Mary Landrieu said she would keep the Congress from going home unless they addressed flood protection. This brings to mind the classic movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and I think Mary should be compared to Jimmy Stewart!

The thing that would clinch the deal, straight off, would be Mary’s reading a confession by the Canal Street brothel madam of all the names in her little black book, which as I understand may contain some nationally prominent figures (rumored to be very prominent)!! That’s the way to get the funding!! The madam that saved a city! Make her the Queen of one the crews or something!! Why not have Mary bring the little black book to read out names during the filibuster (sic. if incorrect, lost the bound O.E.D. in the flood and spell check didn’t have the damn word), just like Jimmy did when he read great documents from American history? I personally think the little black book is a prominent document in American history, or why would the feds supress it? I hope you like this idea for a new story. Keep up the good work. I check in every other day and you lift my very low spirits!

15) Here’s a Thanksgiving rumination on Katrina:

I am a very lucky survivor of Hurricane Katrina and I have a lot to celebrate this Thanksgiving.

First, I am thankful for technology.

I am thankful for the computer models that surprised me Friday afternoon when they had moved from Pensacola to New Orleans since that morning. My co-workers and I thought maybe it was a glitch and said casual good-byes with chuckles about evacuating. I am thankful for the radio to which I listened while I filled my car with gas – just in case they were right. I am thankful for the self-serve checkouts so I didn’t have to stand in the long lines to get water.

I am thankful for the television that I turned on at 5am Saturday morning because I couldn’t sleep. I am thankful for the Internet on which I searched for a hotel room at 5:15am and for the ATMs that are open early Saturday mornings when banks are not. I am thankful for the car that carried me, a friend, pets, my family recipe book, some favorite pictures, and my address book away from Katrina. I am thankful for the cell phone on which I called my parents and some friends to let them know I was heading to Houston and not to worry.

I am thankful for all the gizmos that kept me in communication for the five weeks I was there. For the text messaging that worked when cell phone service did not. For cameras that showed the pictures. For webcast of local TV station WDSU that helped me to feel connected to my great city even through I was so far away.

Second, I am thankful for people.

Thankful for the woman in Houston who welcomed her son, me, my friend, and two birds into her two bedroom condo with two cats, two dogs, and a recuperating husband and said “stay as long as you need.” I am thankful for my parents who needed me to call every day to let them know that I was still “safe and well-fed in Houston.”

I am thankful for my friends from around the country who called, text-messaged, and emailed to see if I was okay and to offer me places to stay and to help me find a job.

I am thankful for the brave people who stole boats and busses to bring humans out of that terrible mess that my city had become.

I am thankful for a hot shower.

I am thankful for the Adventures in Birds store in Houston that gave me a bigger cage for my flock when we realized that we were going to be there a while and who allowed me to come in when I wanted and visit with all their noisy birds. I am thankful for a big green bird named Maddy who sings, “Glory, Glory, Halleluuuuuuuuujah” and made me laugh. I am thankful for the owner of the store and for all the Houston people who came for ten days to rescue hundreds birds from the snakes, alligators and other water creatures who were invading the birds’ homes.

Thankful for the people in Houston who gave me discounts… Wattaburger, Academy Sports, Fuddruckers. Thankful for the associate at Sam’s who gave me a hug when I burst into tears in the middle of the aisle for no real reason nearly three weeks after Katrina. Thankful for the people behind me in the checkout at the grocers who didn’t look at me funny when I screamed “I just want to go home!” two weeks after that.

I am thankful for the counselors who talked with the young doctors I know after they worked for nearly a week at flooded and powerless Charity Hospital in downtown New Orleans. For the people who put the electricity back on. People who cleared the streets. People who passed out water and food to my friends in Kenner when they went back early.

I am thankful for the people who invented all the technology and bleach, rubber gloves, back hoes, chain saws, fire hoses, dump truck covers, water bottles, and those 2000 pound sand bags that temporarily plugged the holes in the broken levees. I am thankful for the ships, trailers, and relatives who house roughly 85% of the New Orleanians that I know.

I am thankful that my apartment was undamaged and that I could call my Florida friends before hurricane Wilma and let them know that they had a place to stay. And thankful that they didn’t need it. Thankful that people finally realize that they needed to open shelters for people with pets.

I am thankful that I have a job- especially when they laid off the other four people who worked on my program and thankful that I don’t have to commute to Baton Rouge from New Orleans – a 75 mile trip that recently took me nearly three hours.

I am thankful for all the people who gave money to the Red Cross and to the Louisiana SPCA. I am thankful for the people who contributed to my Katrina Toy and Book Drive and sent over 1,000 items, many of them individually packaged with a note, and a SASE and pen to write back. Thankful for the strangers from whom packages “just arrived;” for the girl’s hockey team from Rochester, NY who spent their fundraising money on porcelain dolls; for the Trak Microwave folks in Tampa who put together an office drive; for the neighbors who put together boxes and sent them to me.

I am thankful for the thousands of people who left their homes and their families to come help us rebuild.
I am thankful for New Orleanian who spray-painted “Do not open. FEMA director inside” on the taped up refrigerator on the side of Carrolton Avenue. And for the people who created the T-shirts that say, “Make levees not war.” And for the person who put the scarecrow in their front yard holding a blue tarp in one hand and an MRE in the other.

I am thankful that some of the food and the culture that I love in New Orleans are slowly returning. For the Chicken Bon Femme that I had the other night at Tujaques on Decatur Street and for the café au lait and beignets at Café Du Monde afterward. Thankful that WWOZ is back webcasting all of our great NOLA music throughout the city and
throughout the world. Thankful that most of my favorite New Orleans musicians are safe Cowboy Mouth, Kermit Ruffins, Fats Domino…

Thankful that Mardi Gras parades will roll again – even if it is for six days instead of 12. Thankful for the history of the season and for the people making that possible.

I am thankful for the resilience, strength, and humor of the people of New Orleans. I am thankful that I live in one of the greatest cities in the world and that it will come back better and stronger than ever.
As we say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bon temps rouller” encour en Nouvelle New Orleans! (“Let the good times roll” again in New New Orleans!)

-XXX-

Gale Marie Abbass lives in New Orleans and is organizing the Black Iron Skillet Project to get seasoned, cast iron fry pans to the people who lost theirs in the hurricanes. This is the favorite kitchen tool of southern cooks and thousands of these that had been passed on for generations, were lost. How can you have a good fried chicken without a well-seasoned skillet? She can be reached at gabbass@juno.com.

16) Time Magazine on Katrina (and all the rest):

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,1101051128,00.html

17) Katrina dislocation costs Jesuit High School (my school) its first State Swimming Championship for nearly 20 years..We only had 12 swimmers. We usually have 60.

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-21/113247377975600.xml

18) Here’s a Katrina commentary by Chris Wiseman that aired over a week ago:

Comrades & Family,

Just found out via the web that my commentary ran today (Friday, November 18, 2005) on Marketplace’s evening show.

For what it’s worth, the link is here:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2005/11/18/PM200511188.html

Special thanks to my friend Deborah Clark for helping me get a little word out about the Gulf Coast. Very special thanks to my friends Armand St. Martin and Patty Lee for recording my bit in their recently flooded and now under-repair home.

Peace,
Chris Wiseman
New Orleans
http://worldclassneworleans.blogspot.com/

I have let this ball drop quite a bit in the past 6 weeks, and I’m afraid that postings will probably not rise above once a week until mid-December, when I return to New Orleans itself and should have a lot more to contribute. There’s a lot here, though, so I hope you give some of it a look.

In the past week, I have tried to do two little things to help New Orleans from afar, neither of which will amount to much I’m afraid. On Wednesday morning I addressed my local Rotary Club with a slide show about Katrina, appealing to the audience to write their Congressional representatives to get them to support a Federal statement stating that the US Govt is committed to improving NO’s levee system and coastal restoration efforts to the level of withstanding a Cat 5 storm. I told them that this would cost an estimated 20-30 billion USD over 20 years, and that without it NO would never recover. Let’s just say the reception was tepid, to say the least. When I contrasted (verbally, I wish I had the visuals that are lost in my inbox somewhere) Dutch, Italian, and British efforts against the sea, one attendee simply said “do they ever see Cat 5 storms?” I responded that Holland sees strong storms daily and that NO has been there since the 1720’s and has never saw anything like Katrina, so therefore the engineering should be within reach. She harrumphed. The rest of the audience was quiet, as they silently thought about their tax dollars slowly drained away to support a bunch of po folk in the swamps. I closed with the proposition of “which would you prefer, six more months in Iraq, or rebuilding NO?” They remained non-committal. Pathetic, and it got me thinking more and more about secession.

The second thing I tried to do was to get my professional association to commit to holding their next unscheduled convention in New Orleans. I did this by emailing our upcoming Association President. He said he’d mention it at the business meeting this next week. They came to NO in the 1980’s and everyone says a great time was had by all (imagine that). Unfortunately for NO, we’re a small convention (ca. 1000 attendees), and our conventions are committed up until 2011! So, even if we schedule NO for 2012, it’ll be after the upcoming 4-5 crucial years will have played out.

On to the clippings.

1) Here’s a posting by Chris Wiseman, fellow Blue Jay (local reference) and activist. I haven’t heard the commentary yet, but Chris says it relates to national responsibilities vis-a-vis NO reconstruction:

Comrades & Family,

Just found out via the web that my commentary ran today (Friday, November 18, 2005) on Marketplace’s evening show.

For what it’s worth, the link is here:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2005/11/18/PM200511188.html

Special thanks to my friend Deborah Clark for helping me get a little word out about the Gulf Coast. Very special thanks to my friends Armand St. Martin and Patty Lee for recording my bit in their recently flooded and now under-repair home.

Peace,Chris Wiseman
New Orleans

http://worldclassneworleans.blogspot.com/

2) And here is Chris’s original blog announcement. Give it a look, because he is there and I am here. He has been quite active since he set this up, and there’s a lot of great nuggets there:

To work out some of my thoughts and observations and experiences regarding these extraordinary times in New Orleans, I’ve joined the stampede to the blogosphere.

If you feel like checking it out (and even putting me in my place), here’s the address:

http://worldclassneworleans.blogspot.com/

Enjoy, ignore, or enjoy by ignoring.
Peace,
Chris Wiseman

3) This website is a New Orleans ripoff of The Onion, and it’s usufruckin fantastic. The jokes are extremely local, though, so treat it as a test of how local you are or have been in recent years. In intent, it’s wonderful. And for you NYC supporters of NO, here’s your platform:

http://nycnolahelp.org/creoletomato/

4) Allright, I know y’all have a short attention span, so I put this activist notice near the beginning of the post, in order to beg you to save NO through contacting your local Rep:

In 15 minutes, your friends and family can help make stronger levees for New Orleans a reality. Ask your friends and family who live OUTSIDE of Louisiana to send letters to their senators urging support for strengthening New Orleans levees to withstand a Cat 5 storm surge. Studies released daily show that the current levee system is antiquated and appropriate for farmland, not a major city. If the government sees the need to build a proper levee system, then New Orleans residents and businesses will return. Letters to non-Louisiana politicians are a powerful thing and can make a difference for you. Your family and friends can email their senators by typing: http://LASTNAME.senate.gov/

So Hillary Clinton’swebsite is http://Clinton.senate.gov/ Click on “contact” and follow the easy directions. They can also send a snail mail letter or call. One freshman representative who would be great to write is Rep.Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska who grew up in Baton Rouge; another is Rep. John Linder of Georgia, brother of Bill Linder of WH Linder and Associates in New Orleans. Those letters make a difference and also spread the word that the federal government’s incompetence caused hundreds of deaths and the destruction of thousands of peoples’ homes andlivelihoods.

Your levee champion,Sandy Rosenthal

5) Here’s another neat Katrina link, pertaining to St. Bernard Parish:

http://www.labucketbrigade.org/

6) Here’s some bathroom graffiti from Markey’s in Bywater (must be read with a Yat accent): “I once knew a girl named KatrinaI thought I’d be so happy to see herBut she came into town and blew me aroundAnd now I’m hangin out with Fema”

7) Here are some LA government docs concerning Katrina:

http://www.gov.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp;=archive&navID;=3&catID;=1&startIndex;=201&numPerPage;=251

8) Here’s another posting by Jordan:

FACING SOUTH: Who’s watching the Gulf?

FACING SOUTH A Progressive ReportNovember 14, 2005

Dear Friends,

Around much of the Gulf Coast coast, there’s an eerysilence. It’s been over two months since thehurricanes. The flood waters have receded, and the TVcameras are nearly all gone.

But for those living in the hurricane-ravaged South,the struggle for the region’s future has just begun.
While Gulf residents focus on picking up the pieces, ahandful of powerful interests — well-connectedcontractors, unscrupulous developers, ambitiouspoliticians — are cutting deals and hatching plans tocapitalize on the disaster.

But who’s watching them?

We are. Today, the Institute for Southern Studies andSouthern Exposure have launched an urgent new projectto watch-dog what’s happening in the Southern Gulf,and promote a more democratic and accountable future:Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch.

http://www.reconstructionwatch.org

And we need your help to make it a success.

We’re bringing together a talented team ofinvestigative reporters, community leaders, bloggers,and others to deliver coverage you
won’t find anywhereelse.

We are going to watch the power-brokers and follow themoney. We’ll tell you who stands to gain, who’s beingleft out, and what it means for the South and country.

We’ll also introduce you to ordinary people who aredoing extraordinary things to make their communitiesbetter.

Now we need you. Here’s how you can help:

1) Be a Gulf Watcher: Active readers like you can helpus find important news and leads. Send us an anonymoustip here:

http://www.reconstructionwatch.org/modules.php?name=Submit_News

2) Get Active: Reconstruction Watch will featureregular action steps you can take to support thoseworking for a just and accountable rebuilding in theGulf.

3) Support our Investigative Fund: Contributions fromreaders like you are what make our award-winninginvestigative reports and progressive voice possible.Your support today will help us expand our coverageand increase the impact of Reconstruction Watch.

We need to raise $20,000 to fully launchReconstruction Watch, and you can help us reach thatgoal. Please take a moment and make a tax-deductiblecontribution to our Investigative Fund today:

http://www.southernstudies.org/support.asp

Thank you for your support!
Chris KrommDirector, Institute for Southern Studies

P.S. — Your tax-deductible contribution of $35, $50or more today will help us expose what’s happening inthe Gulf and put Katrina back on the national agenda.Join us today!
magglass

GOAL: $20,000Quick Links…NEW! Gulf Coast Reconstruction WatchJoin or ContributeInstitute HomeFacing South Blog
Join our mailing list!email: chris@southernstudies.orgweb: http://www.southernstudies.org

9) Here’s an excellent article about architects’ ideas about what to do with the mess we’re left with:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5411827,00.html

Architects Envision New Orleans Rebuilding

Sunday November 13, 2005 11:16 AM

AP Photo LASS101
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Michael Willis has designed anairport terminal in San Francisco and a 750million-gallon water treatment plant in Los Angeles,but nothing on the architect’s resume gives him ablueprint for rebuilding New Orleans.

Not since the Nazi blitz of London or the bombing ofHiroshima have architects and urban planners seen aproject on par with resurrecting thishurricane-ravaged city, according to Willis.

“The scale of it overwhelms the normal city planningprocess,” he said Saturday during a break at theLouisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference, astate-sponsored event organized by the AmericanInstitute of Architects to discuss the city’s future.

Hundreds of civic and business leaders, electedofficials and planning experts have been weighing theoptions during the three-day conference that wrappedup Saturday. The goal: come up with written agenda tohelp guide the massive rebuilding effort.

“Before you can plan something like this, you have toget the fundamentals. You’ve got to work theprinciples out,” said Ron Faucheux, head ofgovernment affairs for the Washington-based AIA.

Several architects, including Willis, urged civicleaders to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
This is a unique opportunity to create “walkable,”densely populated neighborhoods with a rich texture ofdemographic and architectural diversity, said DavidDixon, a principal at the Boston-based Goody, Clancyarchitectural firm.

“New Orleans can go one of two directions: It can beLas Vegas, a city based on entertainment,” he said,“or it can be America’s greenest, most walkablecity.”

Preserving historic architecture must be a guidingprinciple for any approach, Willis said.

“At the end of the day, it’s got to look and feellike New Orleans,” he said.

For the audience, though, the cost of rebuilding was amajor concern, and Dixon’s suggestion that state andlocal officials share the financial burden with thefederal government didn’t go over well.

“We don’t have money. We have zero revenue at themoment,” said city Councilwoman Jacquelyn BrechtelClarkson, who represents the French Quarter.

The mayor already cut the city’s work force by half,the state is facing a nearly $1 billion deficit, andhundreds of businesses and homes that supported thecity’s tax base have been destroyed.

Tom Reese, who works at Tulane University and hasresearched contemporary architecture, said thearchitects were “selling dreams” when they urgedcity leaders to embrace planning concepts like “smartgrowth,” “green architecture” and mixed-usedevelopments.

“There is so little discussion about the economicrealities of this region,” he said. “If you don’tknow that, you can’t begin to create any kind ofsolution.”

10) Nola.com has been running an excellent series comparing Dutch and Louisiana flood protection. Here’s a recent installment:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/speced/ruinandrecovery/articles/dutch13.html

Dutch system of flood control an engineering marvelSunday, November 13 2005By John McQuaidStaff writer
TER HEIJDE, NETHERLANDS -The North Sea’s furiouswinters can kick up storm surges more than 13 feethigh – a lethal threat to a country where millionslive below sea level, some as much as 22 feet down.And the Dutch have devised a peerless system of flooddefenses – one of the world’s engineering marvels – tokeep that water out.
Giant barriers straddle ocean inlets, their gatespoised to slam shut to repel the invading sea. Massiveearthen dams run for miles, blocking off vast areasonce open to the North Sea, now converted tofreshwater lakes and new living space.
Those are among the master strokes. But the Dutchsystem is also noted for its subtlety. The only thinglying between the tiny red-roofed village of TerHeijde and the sea, a scant 200 yards away, is a bigpile of sand.
It’s no ordinary dune, however. Monitored andmaintained with obsessive care, it’s built to absorbpounding blows from ocean waves. It may erode,requiring repair, but it won’t fall down. It’sengineered to fail less than once every 10,000 years,making it 50 times safer than the New Orleans leveeswere supposed to be before Hurricane Katrinaoverwhelmed them.
But authorities aren’t complacent about those numbers.Concerned about projected sea level rise, thegovernment is studying how to further fortify thedune. “It’s adequate, but we do know we will need moreprotection for the future, ” said Ter Heijde nativeJacqueline Voois. “Growing up here, you learn youcan’t trust the sea. “
The Netherlands’ flood defenses – a sculpted landscapeof dunes, dikes, dams, barriers, sluices and pumpsdesigned to repel the twin threats of ocean stormsurges and river flooding – are light years ahead ofthe New Orleans area’s busted-up levee system.
As American policymakers and the Army Corps ofEngineers study how to rebuild the levees to protectagainst a Category 5 hurricane, Dutch engineers saythey can learn a lot from the Dutch model, where allelements – from structural engineering to long-termpolicymaking – fit seamlessly together.
“Your levee system doesn’t appear to have beendesigned as a system. It’s designed in a veryhaphazard way. One structure built one way, one builtanother, ” said Jurjen Battjes, a professor emeritusof engineering at the Technical University of Delftand a member of the American Society of CivilEngineers team investigating the New Orleans lev
ees.
“They can move vehicles on Mars. Why should yoursystem fail because of a wall collapsing or because anoperator left the pumping station? “
State to look closely
There was a time when New Orleans led the world inflood control and the Netherlands looked west forguidance, importing the huge screw pumps designed byAlbert Baldwin Wood that had drained low-lying areasand greatly expanded New Orleans’ habitable turf.Today, the Dutch system offers a trove of examples,from policy ideas to engineering fixes, that could beuseful to New Orleans. Indeed, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieunext month will lead a delegation of Louisianaofficials and congressional colleagues to theNetherlands to study them.
Like New Orleans, which built up its river leveesafter the 1927 flood and its hurricane levees afterBetsy in 1965, the Dutch system has been forged indisaster. But the Dutch have a lot more disasterexperience, and it shows.
For the past 1,000 years they have sculpted andresculpted their landscape to repel floods, only tosee it repeatedly inundated – most recently by a 1953North Sea storm surge that killed more than 1,800people. Each time, they have rebuilt bigger, betterand with greater sophistication. Flood protection isthe number one national priority, and that isreflected not only in dikes and barriers but inpolitics, budgets and the concerns of everydaycitizens.
Their philosophy, shaped by centuries of combatingfloods, is to fight water – but also to accommodate itrather than just containing it, preserving naturalflows where possible. “There’s one important lessonwe’ve learned as Dutch – we’re fighting a heroic fightagainst nature, the sea and the rivers, ” said TedSluijter, a spokesman for the giant Eastern Scheldestorm surge barrier. “But if you fight nature, natureis going to strike back. Water needs space. “
The Netherlands learned such lessons by trial anderror over the centuries. To a far greater extent thanin the United States, citizens’ lives depend on flooddefenses. Studies show that without its elaboratenetwork of flood control structures, 65 percent of thecountry would be underwater.
The Dutch Ministry of Water, Public Works andTransportation spends $1.5 billion a year on flooddefense and water management. If the United Statesspent that much on a per-citizen basis, it would costupward of $30 billion annually, seven or eight timesthe Corps of Engineers’ annual budget of $4 billion.
Sinking and sinking
The country’s most densely populated region is builton what used to be low-lying marshes. Three riversflow out to the North Sea through the Netherlands: theRhine, the Meuse and the Schelde. For millennia thewestern part of the country consisted of estuaries andpeat bogs repeatedly reshaped by floods and tides.
But somehow the forebears of today’s Dutch settledthese areas, leading a precarious existence on naturalor man-made ridges.
“There the ocean throws itself, two times a day, dailyand nightly, in a tremendous stream over a widecountry, so one doubts if the ground belongs to theland or to the sea, ” wrote Roman philosopher Plinythe Elder, who as a soldier in the first century A.D.helped construct a canal in what would become theNetherlands. “There lives a miserable people at thehighest known levels of the tide and here they havebuilt their huts, living like sailors when the watercovers their environment and as if shipwrecked whenthe water has gone. “
Around 1000 A.D., Europe’s population swelled andfarming expanded. The Dutch began to use limitedtechnologies and their own ingenuity to drain theswamps and keep them dry. Over the centuries, thetools grew more sophisticated and more and morepolders – drained areas ringed by dikes – werecreated.
But draining peat bogs has one major drawback: Theysink. Peat and clay soils contract when drained. Thelower they get, the more susceptible they become tofloods. The increased flooding in turn made people digtheir drainage ditches and canals ever deeper, avicious cycle that continues today. The problem,compounded by the loss of silting from rivers nowcontrolled by dikes, is similar to the subsidenceplaguing the New Orleans area.
Combined with gradually rising seas, the change isshocking. In 900, the Netherlands averaged more than12 feet above sea level. By 1500, it had dropped evenwith the sea. Today, it averages 8 feet below sealevel and is still dropping at the rate of a quarterinch each year.
Battles won by the sea
Holland’s struggle with the sea has shaped itshistory, and every six generations or so has beenmarked by a terrible defeat, a catastrophic flood thathas swept over swaths of the country, destroyingdikes, homes, property and human lives. The Dutchlandscape is dotted with reminders of past floods andthe measures taken to ensure such a disaster wouldnever happen again.
The only thing left of Koudekerke, a villageoverlooking an estuary of the Schelde, is the PlompeToren, a brick church tower that casts a lonelysilhouette over nearby farms. A 16th-century floodswept away 13 villages, Koudekerke among them. Thetower was all that remained. Later rebuilt, it wasleveled again during World War II and permanentlyabandoned. A recording in the tower tells the legendof a merman who cursed fishermen from the village forcatching his wife.
Visible to the east is a breached dike from the 1953flood that was never repaired – authorities insteadopted to rebuild farther back from the water. The areabehind the breach is now a marsh. Visible to the westis the enormous Eastern Schelde storm barrier thatblocks North Sea surges from the estuary.
Completed in 1986, as part of $14.7 billion inpost-1953 improvements, the Eastern Schelde barrier isa monument to the Netherlands’ innovative approach toflood control and includes features the corps islooking at for New Orleans.
Shortening the defenses
For centuries, the Dutch protected themselves byringing settled areas and farmland with dikes,essentially the same approach used in south Louisiana.But the 1953 flood revealed a big weakness in thatstrategy: Storm surge water could move far inlandthrough the estuaries, which were open to the sea.
This was also a key failing of the New Orleans system,Battjes and other Dutch engineers say: The region’slevee-lined canals were conduits for Katrina’s stormsurge to pour into the heart of the city. From theeast, water flowed into the Intracoastal Waterway andIndustrial Canal, where floodwalls were topped andthen collapsed, flooding the Lower 9th Ward, St.Bernard Parish and eastern New Orleans. From LakePontchartrain, it flowed into the 17th Street andLondon Avenue drainage canals, which were breached,flooding central New Orleans.
In the wake of the 1953 flood, engineers andpolicy-makers presented the Netherlands with a choice:They could build dikes higher and stronger as they hadalways done in the past. Or they could take adifferent, more ambitious approach, building largebarriers across estuaries and other open waterways.
The second option had one crucial advantage: It wouldeffectively shorten the country’s tortuously longcoastline by hundreds of miles. If the length of thecountry’s defensive barrier shrank, the thinking went,so would the chance that a dike might fail at someunnoticed weak point and lead to a larger catastrophe.Many miles of older dikes would become secondary,backup protections.
“It’s much more logical to shorten your line ofdefense, ” said Battjes, the retired engineeringprofessor, who advised the new system’s designers. “Tomake a military analogy, the water is the enemy. Youdon’t let the enemy, before the fight starts,penetrate your territory. “
Installing surge gates
American engineers have begun looking at how toaddress this problem in a Category 5 design. Onesolution would be to put floodgates on some canals.Another would be to retool New Orleans’generations-old stormwater drainage system and movepump stations from the middle of town to thelakefront.
On a more ambitious scale, some officials suggestupgrading an old proposal to build a large levee andfloodgate system acr
oss the marshes to block surgesfrom entering the Chef Menteur and Rigolets passesinto the lake. An early version of the plan wasabandoned after environmentalists raised questionsabout impacts on marshlands.
The Netherlands example provides a template for how togo about this. Early Delta Works plans called for damsto be constructed across all the region’s estuaries -just as the government had dammed off a 20-mileopening along the northern coastline in 1933, creatinga giant freshwater lake. But by the 1970s,environmentalists, commercial fishing organizationsand other groups were complaining that the completeddams were ruining the region’s ecology.
They sparked a national debate and eventually acompromise, one that balanced storm defenses againstharm to the environment.
The largest result of the change is the enormousEastern Schelde storm surge barrier, a massive seriesof 62 floodgates snaking across the water. The gates,which range from 19 to 29 feet high, depending ontheir position on the barrier, are left open most ofthe time to allow tidal flows in and out, preservingthe estuary behind it. When the high-water alarmsounds – as it has on average twice a year since itopened – the gates are shut until the danger passes.
Thinking big from start
As a reminder of why the barrier is there, the heightof the 1953 flood – about 13 feet – is marked by athick red line at a point along the barrier’s southernendpoint.
That reminder is also imbedded in the design DNA ofevery flood protection project in the country in theform of very high, legally mandated safety standards -something New Orleans most assuredly did not have.
The biggest flaw of New Orleans’ pre-Katrina leveesystem was that it provided a low level of safety: Itwas built only to withstand storm surges from some,but not all, Category 3 hurricanes and was virtuallyguaranteed to fail in a stronger storm. In retrospect,engineers say it didn’t even live up to its Category 3billing. In fact, no one knew precisely what level ofsafety it provided because of its many weak points,changes in the landscape over time and the corps’outdated assessments.
Such problems are inconceivable in the Netherlands.Urbanized areas of the country – such as the regionsurrounding Ter Heijde, which includes The Hague andRotterdam – are engineered to withstand the kind ofstorm surge that comes only once in 10,000 years. Moresparsely populated areas, such as those protected bythe Delta Works, are safe against a 1-in-4,000-yearflood. The lowest level of protection, found in ruralareas, is for a 1-in-1,250-year flood. All are manytimes safer than New Orleans ever was.
Feeling safer
Those numbers are more than risk calculations. In asense, they’re as much the bedrock of the nation’sflood security as any dike or barrier. Everybody knowsthose numbers. They reassure citizens, many of whomnow take sound flood protection for granted.
“We feel safe – nobody is afraid. Nobody’s thinking,when is the water coming? ” said Andre van der Beek, ahome care worker in Nieuw-Lekkerland, who paused fromriding his bike near a line of 200-year-old windmillsand two pumping stations, all built to keep waterlevels down. “There are a lot of believers here, andthey believe the story of Noah, that God promised inGenesis there would not be another flood. “
But the water is still rising, and the land issinking, and because of those changes in thelandscape, Dutch officials say that some dikes andother parts of the system no longer meet thestandards. So they are giving the whole thing atop-to-bottom review to identify emerging weaknesses.Vigilance, they say, must be eternal.
“We are not going to allow the level of protection todecrease, ” said Marion Smit, the Water andTransportation Ministry’s top water policy official.
Achieving that long-term resoluteness might prove tobe the single greatest challenge facing New Orleans.Flood control is a national religion in theNetherlands. In 49 U.S. states, it’s Louisiana’sproblem.
John McQuaid can be reached atjohn.mcquaid@newhouse.com or (202) 383-7889.

11) What’s troubling about this analysis is that it does make some sense. If SE Louisiana is slipping into the Gulf, what are we meant to do after all? I don’t agree with him, but his argument is devoid of stupidity and actually makes a formidable case. My answer would be that with sufficient commitment, wecould save SE LA with coastal restoration — in order to slowly correct the unfortunate engineering which has been the reason we’ve been sinking since they started putting levees in back in the 1920’s…While I think he makes some valid points, I also think that the process is reversible and that he’s a water engineer trying to pad his CV with the worst case scenario op-ed in a major newspaper (hell, we all do it) — and I don’t agree with his conclusion. We can beat this, which entailes zoning laws requiring houses on stilts from here on out, higher levees, and a major engineering initiative to restore the wetlands south of the city.
Unfortunately, outside of the Port of New Orleans itself, there isn’t an ironclad economic case for saving SE LA that would appeal to the good citizens of, say, Iowa. I suppose we could continue to retrench up the Mississip until it’s, er, St. Louis sitting on the coast instead of us — but maybe someone would do something before it gets that far. Hard to know for sure, in this particular insane asylum that is “These United States”:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/09/25/time_to_move_to_higher_ground
Time to move to higher groundBy Timothy M. Kusky September 25, 2005
New Orleans is one of America’s great historic cities, and our emotional response to the disaster is to rebuild it grander and greater than before. However this may not be the most rational or scientifically sound response and could lead to even greater human catastrophe and financial loss in the future.
New Orleans is located on a coastal delta basin up to 10 feet below sea level [ACTUALLY I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS ONLY 4 FT, BUT WHO’S COUNTING?] and still sinking as much as one inch per year. Much of the city could be 18 feet below sea level by the end of the century, or even more if sea level rise becomes significant.
The city has other problems of location. To protect communities along the Mississippi River, the Army Corps of Engineers built a 2,000 mile long system of levees [OF WHICH ONLY ABOUT 200 MILES ARE N.O.] that help prevent river flood waters surging from the channel and inundating low lying areas. However, the levees also channel sediments that normally get deposited on the flood plain and delta far out into the Gulf of Mexico, causing the land surface of the delta south of New Orleans to sink below sea level at an alarming rate. A total land area the size of Manhattan is disappearing every year, meaning that New Orleans will be right on the Gulf Coast by the end of the century.
The projected setting of the city in 2100 is in a hole up to 18 feet below sea level directly on the hurricane-prone coast. The city will look like a fish tank battered by coastal waves, surrounded by 50- to 100-foot-high seawalls that are barely able to protect it from hurricanes that are only as strong as Katrina. Such a city is untenable, and we as a nation need to face this reality.
The levees have an additional collateral effect that may doom the future of New Orleans. A river confined by levees builds its base higher than without levees. Catastrophic floods occur when the river base rises tens of feet above the flood plains, then breaks through the levees. The Chinese know this from their history of flooding along the Yellow River, known as the River of Sorrow after the millions of people who have died there, more than from any other natural disaster in the world. As we consider rebuilding New Orleans we need to remember China’s experience.

The Mississippi has over geological time altered its course, with its mouth migrating east and west by hundreds of miles. Each abandoned delta subsides below sea level after the river jumps to another location, as buried muds compact and the river no longer replenishes the delta with sediment. The lower Mississippi now follows a long and circuitous course from the Atchafalaya River junction, through New Orleans, to its mouth near Venice. The river is ready to switch its course to follow the Atchafalaya, offering it a shorter route to the gulf. When this occurs, perhaps triggered by catastrophic flooding and a drenching hurricane, it will be devastating to the lower delta, which will quickly subside. New Orleans will be rapidly inundated by waves and storms from the Gulf of Mexico. To mitigate this hazard the Army Corps maintains an extensive system of diversions, levees, and dams at the Mississippi/Atchafalaya junction, with the aim of keeping the Mississippi in its channel.
New Orleans is sinking further below sea level every year, and the shoreline is rapidly approaching the city. The river is rising, and more hurricanes and floods are certain to strike the region in the next 100 years. The decision whether to rebuild or relocate an historic city is a difficult one. Moving the bulk of the city would be more costly, at least at this stage before sinking increases and another disaster strikes. The costs of either decision will be enormous, but relocating makes more sense and will eventually be inevitable. Whether we cut our losses now and move or wait until a super-hurricane makes a direct hit and kills hundreds of thousands of people must be carefully considered.
One option would be to begin building newer, higher, stronger seawalls around the business and historic parts of the city, and declare other parts a national monument, in tribute to those who lost their lives to Katrina. The process of moving could be gradual, relocating refugees, destroyed businesses, port facilities, and other infrastructure to a new New Orleans.
Katrina (even before Rita) was a warning: New Orleans is sinking unbearably below sea level, and it’s time to move to higher ground.
Timothy M. Kusky is a professor of natural sciences at Saint Louis University.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

12) This analysis makes a lot more sense to me than the idea of just “cutting and running” on NO and moving to higher ground. This is where it’s at. Again, the T-P is rising above it’s lame past:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_11_18.html#094833
Friday, November 18, 2005 Consultants to city: Shrink livable areas
By Martha Carr Staff writer
In the most comprehensive recovery plan proposed todate, a panel of more than 50 specialists in urban andpost-disaster planning said New Orleans shouldconcentrate its rebuilding efforts on the sections ofthe city that occupy the high ground, while securinglower-lying areas for potential rebirth in thelong-term.
Tackling what is certain to be the most controversialaspect of any rebuilding plan, the contingent from theUrban Land Institute said Friday that the city shoulduse its original footprint, as well as lessons learnedfrom Hurricane Katrina, as a guide in determining whatareas are most logical for redevelopment.
Firing off a collection of bold ideas, the group alsoproposed creating a public development corporationthat would buy and sell property to speed the city’sredevelopment; establishing an oversight board withbroad powers over the city’s finances; and engineeringa secondary flood-control network inside the city thatwould use natural ridges, levees, water reservoirs,and green space to stop widespread flooding.
The panelists, many of whom helped rebuild cities likeNew York after 9/11 and Los Angeles after theNorthridge earthquake in 1994, said it’s not practicalto redevelop every acre of New Orleans in theshort-term, considering that 300,000 residents and160,000 jobs have been lost. It’s also not sociallyequitable to allow residents back into neighborhoodsthat do not have adequate levee protection and may betoxic.
“These areas are going to take more data gathering andmore time,” said Joseph Brown, president of EDAW, aSan Francisco-based architecture and environmentconsulting company. “Some collective action may beneeded here.”
The group went so far as to draft a color-coded map ofthe city showing three “investment zones” the city maywant to follow. The first zone included the high partsof the city, like Uptown and the French Quarter, whichpanelists say is ready for rehabilitation immediately.The second zone highlighted the mid-ground, which thepanel suggested is also ready for individualrehabilitation, with some opportunities to puttogether parcels of land for green space orredevelopment.
The last zone, which included some of the city’shardest hit neighborhoods, needs additional study, butcould have the potential for mass buyouts and futuregreen space, the panel said. Those areas include mostof New Orleans east, Gentilly and Desire; the northernpart of Lakeview; and parts of the Lower 9th Ward,Broadmoor, Mid-City and Hollygrove.
In those neighborhoods, the panel emphasized that allhomeowners should be compensated for their property atpre-Katrina values. They also stressed that if theworst-hit areas are allowed to redevelop in ascattershot way, homeowners will begin to rehab houseson partially abandoned streets, creating the shantytowns with little to no property value.
The panel’s map also included green areas runningalong natural ridges and between neighborhoods, wheremembers suggest creating a network of flood-protectionmeasures, from inner-city levees to new parks, toreduce the risk of flooding and stop waters fromblanketing the city.
While the proposal was immediately questioned by NewOrleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, whorepresents eastern New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward,others attending the panel’s presentation were morereceptive to the idea, but questioned whether thepolitical will exists to make it happen.
“This is going to take tremendous will on our part,”said New Orleans resident Jean Nathan. “I think we aregoing to need help on a sustained basis.”
The map wasn’t the panel’s only daring concept.
The group called for the creation of the Crescent CityRebuilding Authority, a non-profit developmentcorporation that would be in charge of all fundsfunneled into the city for the rebuilding effort.
The corporation, to be created by the statelegislature, would have the power to do land banking,buy homes and property, purchase and restructuremortgages, finance redevelopment projects, issuebonds, assist with neighborhood planning, and fosterthe creation of community development corporations.
While the city already has a redevelopmentauthority——NORA——ULI panelists said the agency is weakand not suitable for the monumental task of assemblingland and orchestrating mass rebuilding efforts.
Panelists also said their concept differs from theLouisiana Recovery Authority currently proposed byU.S. Congressman Richard Baker. That agency would betotally controlled by the federal government. The CCRAboard, on the other hand, would have appointees namedby the President, Governor, Mayor and City Council.Both entities may be able to work in concert if theconcepts are tweaked, panelists said.
Carl Weisbrod, president of Trinity Church RealEstate——one of New York City’s biggest commercialproperty owners——said that it only took 10 weeks after9/11 for that city’s leadership to band together andcreate the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,signaling to the federal government that everyone wason the same page. That group has served as the city’scentral rebuilding agency.
“We put our differences aside for a short period oftime to a
ddress the immediate challenges,” saidWeisbrod, who served on the LMDC’s board. “Because ofthat, we were able to get immediate federal aid.”
It’s too late for the CCRA idea to be taken up in thecurrent legislative session, which ends Tuesday. Butlegislators could consider the idea in January, whenthey are expected to convene a second special session.Weisbrod said ULI has not lobbied for the idea at thestate level. Members of Mayor Ray Nagin’s Bring NewOrleans Back Commission on Friday said they werehearing the proposal for the first time.
The Urban Land Institute was paired with Nagin’scommission shortly after Hurricane Katrina by localdeveloper Joe Cannizaro, who serves on the commissionand is also former chairman of the WashingtonD.C.-based think tank.
The group has spent the last several weeks workingpro-bono to advise the 17-member commission as itattempts to develop a comprehensive rebuildingstrategy by year’s end. All of the experts whoparticipated on the week-long panel, most of whom runmajor corporations or municipalities——like PittsburghMayor Tom Murphy and Manhattan burrow president C.Virginia Fields——volunteered their time to serve. Thegroup has also committed to long-term assistance inNew Orleans, as well as in Baton Rouge and WashingtonD.C.
Their final report is due next month.
“All of us who went through this process are hookedbecause you all became part of our team,” said ULIpresident Marilyn Taylor. “If you will have us, wewill be with you continuing to help.”
Ten members of the mayor’s commission were present forthe report at the Sheraton Hotel downtown. Nagin,however, was in Washington D.C.meeting with federallawmakers.
Other recommendations of the panel included creating atemporary financial oversight board to help the cityavoid bankruptcy; reforming the city’s tax code;creating an internal system of levees and canals thatwould serve as secondary protection and enhance greenspace; and consolidating fragmented agencies to take aregional approach to levee protection, transitservices, emergency response and economic development.
Murphy said the financial oversight board, which wouldbe created by the Legislature and run by appointeesfrom all levels of government, would oversee andapprove the city’s budget, approve major contracts,and recommend financing options for redevelopment. Inthe end, it would create a layer of accountabilitythat could alleviate the concerns of federal lawmakersthat money will be misspent. The panel alsorecommended that the city create an Inspector Generaland Board of Ethics as authorized in the City Charter.
“There are interests here who want the rules to stayas they are,” he said. “It won’t be pretty. You haveto be willing for some conflict.”
Murphy also said the tax structure, which was cobbledtogether over 200 years, must be changed to deal withthe absence of tax revenue in post-Katrina reality:especially when it comes to the city’s practice ofunder assessing property.
“Your tax structure stinks and you need to change it,”said Pittsburgh Mayor Murphy. “We are makingrecommendations for tough love here.”
On the economic development front, the panelrecommended focusing on the city’s traditionaleconomic sectors, like tourism and shipping, butplacing new emphasis on the music business and thehealth care and biosciences sector. Key to the city’sgrowth is bringing back musicians, finding them work,and getting them equipment. Same with the city’s keymedical researchers and institutions, they said.
As for the cityscape, the panel embraced the ideas setforth by the Louisiana Recovery and RebuildingConference last week, mainly the use of smart growthprincipals, including advocating for levee and wetlandimprovements, developing local and regionaltransportation systems that connect neighborhoods, andbuilding in areas that are safe and non-toxic. Thepanel advocated for rehabilitating historicproperties, building infill housing in existingneighborhoods, and increasing green spaces by buildingcorridors, bike paths and parks that connect areas.
Throughout their presentation, the experts emphasizedthe need to set short-term benchmarks for success, andto break the planning into three phases: the recoverystage, which should last through Aug. 2006; therebuilding stage, which should go from 2006 to 2010,and the growing stage, which would end in 2018, whenthe city celebrates it’s 300th anniversary.
Among the goals the panel set for the next few monthsis restoring electrical service to all neighborhoodsby January, creating benchmarks for toxicity levels byMarch, rebuilding levees to pre-Katrina levels andbuilding a protection system for pumps and watertreatment facilities by June, and stabilizing port andwater management facilities by August.
The group also urged urgent housing actions, includinggetting trailers to the area, repopulating suitablepublic housing, adopting a building code, askingfinancial institutions to extend mortgage forbearanceperiods, and creating centers where residents can gethelp rehabbing their homes.
“Your housing is now a public resource,” said TonySalazar, a developer with McCormack, Baron and Salazarin Los Angeles. “You can’t think of it as privateproperty any more.”
When the panel concluded its hour-long presentation,members of Nagin’s commission said they were extremelyimpressed by the detail of the draft report and thepanel’s wealth of ideas. While the ULI panel stoppedshort of advocating a merger of Nagin’s commission andGov. Blanco’s Louisiana Recovery Authority, it didstress that city and state leaders must craft a singlevision, and move more quickly in their rebuildingefforts.
“I appreciate your bluntness,” said commissionco-chair Barbara Major. “You have challenged us tomake more difficult and controversial choices. As myaunt used to say, ‘God can put a ram in a bush.’ Therehas to be some behavioral changes across the board. Ithink we just have to kick a little butt and do whatwe have to do.”
Before the panel submits a final report, it will holdtown hall meetings in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Houston,Dallas and Memphis. For more information, go towww.uli.org.
Martha Carr may be reached at mcarr@timespicayune.comor at (504) 826-3306.

13) Here’s another local eyewitness report, relating to the father of a bartender we know in the Quarter:
In case you missed it, this is the story on Chart Room Lisa’s Dad. http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-5/1132037896260250.xml

14) The Saints last week got another 2 year lease on life as a New Orleans franchise. I urge every New Orleanian to think of that timeframe as a game clock. We’ve got 2 years to hold on to all that’s precious psychologically (i.e. the Saints). Get to work pressing them palms:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_11_18.html#094833
‘Save the Saints’ stops in New Orleans
By Jeff Duncan Staff writer
The “Save the Saints” road show will make a stop inNew Orleans on Monday night after a disappointingdebut Thursday in Baton Rouge.
In an effort to rally support for the Saints in theaftermath of Hurricane Katrina, state officials planto invite New Orleans-area business leaders Monday toa meeting at the New Orleans Convention and VisitorsBureau on St. Charles Avenue. No time has been set.
The effort is being headed by Louisiana Stadium andExposition District leaders, Tim Coulon, the SuperdomeCommission chairman;, Doug Thornton, regional vicepresident of SMG;, and Larry Roedel, the LSED’s leadattorney.
Thornton said he expects some Saints executives toattend and hopes to lure an executive from the NFLoffice,
if possible.
“We’re committed to showing the league that we’regalvanized in our mission,” Thornton said.
Everyone involved is hoping for more support than wasshown in Baton Rouge, when a disappointing gatheringof about 30 business leaders from the area met withSaints and state officials to discuss ways they cansupport the team during the transition period. Stateofficials had invited around 200 business leaders tothe session.
Saints officials almost outnumbered the Baton Rougecontingent Thursday night. Owner-executive Rita BensonLeBlanc, Ggeneral Mmanager Mickey Loomis and chieffinancial officer Dennis Lauscha spoke to the groupand implored them for their support in the communityfor the final two games at Tiger Stadium.
“The turnout wasn’t as big as we expected, but it’s astart,” Roedel said.
Lauscha said the Saints (2-7) have sold less than30,000 tickets for their final two games at TigerStadium, against Tampa Bay on Dec. 4 and Carolina onDec. 18.
“It’s important to us an organization to show what wecan do,” he said.
LeBlanc said she understood the frustration fansexperienced in the first game at Baton Rouge againstMiami, when laborious ticket exchanges forced manyseason-ticket holders to miss parts of the game whilestanding in long lines.
She also defended her grandfather, owner Tom Benson,who, she said, has become “a punching bag” for fansand media this season and asked fans to move forwardand “prove that Louisiana can come together despiteemotional issues and differences.”
Former Gov. Charles “Buddy” Roemer, however, stole theshow. Speaking to the crowd after Saints and stateofficials had spoken, he delivered a heartfelt speechthat captured the room and challenged Saints officialsto keep the team in Louisiana.
“There is no excuse for the Saints to go anywhere,” hesaid. “I love the Saints, but I love the Saints fanseven more. They have stood by the Saints’ side for30-something years.”
Roemer asked LeBlanc to take a message to Benson.
“It’s time for your grandfather to say, ‘There’s noreason to go. I’m committed (to Louisiana),’¤” saidRoemer, who today develops retirement communitiesstatewide for a company in Baton Rouge. “The Saintsare our team. They’re not Tom Benson’s team.” 
Jeff Duncan can be reached atjduncan@timespicayune.com or (504)¤826-3405.

15) This is precious, out of the Guardian, and discussing an Irish mayor somewhere. I’m guessing he’s been to Bourbon St. in his day.:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hurricanes2005/story/0,16546,1646339,00.html
Katrina ‘sent by God to punish New Orleans gays’
Angelique ChrisafisSaturday November 19, 2005The Guardian
A Democratic Unionist councillor who said hurricaneKatrina was sent to the US by God to punish the NewOrleans gay community yesterday stood by his viewsdespite calls for his resignation.Maurice Mills, twice mayor of Ballymena, said NewOrleans was about to host an annual gay pride festivalwhen God intervened through Katrina.
It was a warning to nations “where such wickedness isincreasingly promoted and practised”. Northern Irelandgay rights campaigners said he should be sacked. Buthe said: “This is me as an individual taking a standfor God.”

16) Bob Marshall has been doing some of the best reporting about the mechanics of the levee breaches. I think he was doing hunting and fishing reporting before Katrina…:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_11_17.html#094537
Water in yards could have been clue to breach
By Bob MarshallStaff writer
A year ago Beth LeBlanc and her neighbors on BellaireDrive had a problem no one could seem to fix. Theiryards, which swept to the base of the 17th StreetCanal levee, kept filling with water. Then on Aug. 29,as Hurricane Katrina moved out of the area, that leveecollapsed and tumbled into their homes, allowing LakePontchartrain and a world of misery to pour into thecity.
Now the residents of Bellaire Drive have questions.
“We called Sewerage & Water Board, and one of theirguys tested the water and said it was coming from thecanal,” LeBlanc recalled. “They sent repair crews out.They tore up sidewalks and driveways. Things gotbetter, but it never got dry.
“So I keep wondering why no one ever came out to askabout it. No one from the Corps of Engineers. No onefrom the Levee Board. Sewerage & Water Board nevercame back.”
The corps wonders as well.
“If someone had told us there was lake water on theoutside of that levee — or any levee — it would havebeen a red flag to us, and we would have been outthere, without question,” said Jerry Colletti,operations manager for completed works at the corps’New Orleans office.
“We have nothing on that, nothing at all. That’ssomething we should have been told about.”
But investigators on forensic engineering teamsprobing the failures said they aren’t surprised thecorps didn’t know about that leak — or about numerousother leaks and problems with the levees thatresidents reported to them. That ignorance reflects aminefield of twisted bureaucratic jurisdictions, poorlevee maintenance, missed opportunities and suspectengineering they say likely contributed to thecostliest natural disaster in American history.
Interviews with Bellaire Drive residents; officials atthe corps, the Orleans Levee District and the Sewerage& Water Board; and engineers who investigated thebreaks paint a picture of a disaster that was bound tohappen.
“Certainly, that kind of leaking is a warning signthat should have raised alarms, that something waswrong with an important component of the hurricaneprotection in the city,” said J. David Rogers of theUniversity of Missouri, a noted forensic engineer witha specialty on levees and floodwalls who led aninspection of the levee failures.
“But, sad to say,” he said, “I’m not surprised if itwas missed.” He said most of those on the forensicteams investigating the levee failures “do not knowwho has responsibility for what in New Orleans. That’sjust the opposite for the rest of the country wherelevees and dams and such are concerned.
“The residents were right to be concerned.”….

17) There’s also a great flood system series of articlesin nola.com right now comparing Dutch and New Orleansflood control systems. Give it a read — and do theright thing.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_11_14.html#093820
Chafee: Government should consider high cost floodprotection
By Keith Darcé ûStaff writer û
The federal government should consider building anouter layer of flood protection structures beyond thetraditional levees around the New Orleans area, buthigh construction costs could block that from becominga reality, said U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a member ofa levee oversight committee who touredhurricane-devastated parts of the city Monday.
“That may be the route to go,” the Rhode IslandRepublican said while noting that an outer floodprotection system shielding the New Orleans area fromhurricane storm surges could cost $14 million for eachmile of structure.
“That’s expensive,” he said. “But then there is anenormous amount of revenue generated from the successof New Orleans. It’s a city that generates billionsand billions in revenue. That’s a factor.”
Chafee, who sits on the Senate Environment and PublicWorks Committee, which oversees levee construction,flew to New Orleans with Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La.,and David Vitter, R-La., on Monday morning. The grouptoured a home on Louis XIV Street in Lakeview and
tooka driving tour of the Lower 9th Ward, stopping at thelevee breach along the Industrial Canal.
Chafee was stunned by the level of destruction. “Youhave to see it,” he said.
The visit was the latest in a series of trips byranking members of Congress to areas of the city thatwere hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.
The long-term viability and success of the region aretied to the eventual construction of an outer floodprotection system, Vitter said after a news conferencethat ended Chafee’s visit.
“Taking that next step is vital,” Vitter said.
In a closed-door presentation to the senators, ArmyCorps of Engineers representatives discussed thepossibility of building outer flood protectionstructures that would serve as a front-line defenseagainst Gulf of Mexico storm surges, similar to theseries of high-tech gates and barriers built in recentdecades by the Dutch to protect the Netherlands fromNorth Sea flooding, Vitter said. Traditional levees,which for New Orleans are now the primary and the lastline of defense, would remain in place as a secondlayer of protection.
Some people have suggested imitating the Dutch, whospent 40 years and $14.7 billion building a network ofbarriers, gates and dams after a disastrous flood in1953.
“You can’t build levees high enough around (NewOrleans). You have to go out,” Vitter said.
He said the corps engineers described a “veryconceptual” vision of an outer flood protection systemwithout specifying whether it would comprise levees,dams, gates or a combination of those structures. “Thebasic idea is to have an outer level of protectionfurther out from the city, particularly to the southand east,” he said.
The Louisiana senators are pushing for Congress toapprove by the end of the year financing for the corpsto study and design such a system, Vitter said.
A visit to New Orleans in late November by theNetherlands’ ambassador to the United States willprovide another opportunity to explore using Dutchflood control technology in Louisiana, Landrieu said.
Dutch officials also have agreed to host members ofCongress who want to visit the Netherlands to seetheir gates and barriers at work, she said.
“Whether we design a system like theirs isn’timportant. What is important is the chance to seetheir designs and ideas,” Landrieu said.
Meanwhile, money already is available for the corps torebuild by June the region’s existing levee system towithstand a storm surge from a Category 3 hurricane,Landrieu said. The work will correct flaws in thelevees that are believed to have contributed toseveral major breaks during Katrina that flooded 80percent of the city. Corps officials have said aCategory 3 system by the start of the next hurricaneseason actually represents an improvement, becausesubsidence had lowered many New Orleans levees to lessthan that standard before Katrina hit.
In addition, some investigators reviewing the leveesystem in the wake of the storm say portions of thestructures did not meet original design standards.
Vitter said the upcoming work by the corps will fixthose problems.
“It’s not just plugging the holes. It’s doing a wholelot more than that to build true Category 3protection, which we didn’t have before Katrina,” hesaid.
Keith Darcé can be reached at kdarce@timespicayune.comor (504) 826-3491.

18) This is late by nearly a week, but still relevant. The source is Paulette:
According to sources who have seen this list, FEMA andEPA have determined that people should not be allowedto return to their homes in the following zip codesbecause homes there are seriously contaminated byhealth-threatening mold and/or petroleum problems. There is reportedly a much longer list of 200 pages orso that breaks these zip codes down further intoblocks – adding the 4 digit number after each zip codearea.
This list has been shared with our elected officialson the federal state and local level.
We must demand that this information be publiclydisclosed and the information that was used to createthis list must be publicly disclosed and debated.
Here are the zip codes:701127011370116701177011970122701247012570126701277012870129
7003270043700757008570092

19) Here’s another posting by Jordan, including a lot of important messages concerning the situation on the ground for some and more eyewitness reports:
Friends and Allies,
Below is an important message from Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC – www.fflic.org) – it speaks about the current situation of the people of New Orleans and Southern Louisiana better than I could.
Also, at the bottom of the message is a list of needs from FFLIC – they are an excellent organization, they still need your support and solidarity, as all of us here fighting for justice in Louisiana do.
For an excellent collection of articles, resources and organizations related to New Orleans (as well as great coverage of the current unrest in France, politics in Lebanon and Syria, organizing at the US-Mexico border, the nonprofit industrial complex, and much more) check out: http://www.leftturn.org/
Special New Orleans collection at: http://www.leftturn.org/articles/SpecialCollections/katrina.aspx
The struggle isn’t over.
in solidarity,
-jordan—————————————UPDATE FROM FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF LOUISIANA’S INCARCERATED CHILDREN
We know that this update is long overdue and appreciate your patience in our getting it out. First of all, we want to thank everyone again for all your support. We especially want to thank everyone who has sent love, clothes, and other donations to Flora, Marcy and others. We also want to give special thanks to those who donated computers, office supplies, fax and copy machines and furniture to help get our Lake Charles office off the ground. It has not been an easy month. Our staff and members continue to struggle with the aftermath of both Katrina and Rita — houses are destroyed, jobs are gone, offices are barely functional, loved ones need to be buried. Grieving and rage seem to be part of all of our daily realities as we try to fully comprehend what has happened and vision where we will go now that all has changed. Grief is both for our members and allies whose lives were lost, and for all of us whose homes are gone, whose lives as we knew them will never be the same. We also grieve for a nation who has already lost interest in our struggle, a country that had an opportunity to rise up and declare an undying committment to eradicating the racism and greed which nourished these disasters, but somehow just hasn’t. And we are rageful at a city and state who intend to rebuild the city of New Orleans without us and indeed exclusive of us. A city which continues to glorify the police and sheriffs despite proof that they left people to die in the city’s jail and plainly killed others who were trying to escape the flood waters. A city that approves of contractors who exploit migrant workers – hiring them to do dangerous and hazardous clean up and then refusing to pay the promised wage or anything at all for weeks at a time. A state that allows for thousands to be evicted everyday with no dispute because those being evicted neither know nor can attend the hearing from their new “evacuation location” – but will arrive back home eventually to find a new lock on the door and their belongings on the corner with the rest of the trash on the street. A city and state that imply over and over that the city will be a better place without the poor and the Black despite the truth that New Orleans was built by poor people of color and destroyed by greed and racism. We are not hopeless, we know our day will come. And we will still be here. We wont grieve and rage forever, but for now, our hearts are still heavy. One thing that
gives us hope is getting back on our feet. Our new southwest LA office is located at 188 Williamsburg Street, Lake Charles, LA, 70605. Thanks to everyone who helped us, it is a beautiful office space and has most of what we need to keep on! We still need some desks and chairs and phones, but we have what we need to keep doing the work. Come visit us! For those who are wondering about our central city office, we still have our office space in New Orleans and Gina is working from there half time as the city gets back to its feet. FFLIC was also finally able to meet as a staff and put together a new plan with priorities. We now have two main directives along with our ever-present organizing and juvenile justice reform work: 1) to locate every one of our members from the affected areas and as much as we can assist them with whatever their particular needs may be; and 2) work with other coalitions to document and bring attention to the stories and experiences of the survivors. This information and attention can be used to build demand for an independent investigation into the disasters and also ensure that the reconstruction of New Orleans not continue without the voices, desires and dreams of the people of New Orleans. We have located many folks already and have distributed thousands of dollars to those who needed it. We have gathered clothes and furniture donations for our members. We are hosting a workshop this week on Human Rights Documentation for those of our members interested in interviewing and documenting survivors’ experiences. We have travelled from DC to Los Angeles to Chicago to Atlanta and throughout Louisiana speaking and marching and talking and organizing in the hopes that that a unified coalition might evolve to lead us in this struggle and resistance. We have begun to work with a growing coalition of lawyers and organizers focused on ensuring that the reconstruction of New Orleans does *not* include a 7000 bed prison in its center, does *not* include a corrupt and brutal police force and does *not* include 2 dilapidated and dysfunctional juvenile detention centers. We could go on and on but know that folks have much to read and do. Below are reports from our staff for folks who are wanting more detail about what our days and nights are like. Please know that we appreciate each and every one of your all’s support and solidarity. We are still accepting donations: under the updates is a list of our and our members’ wants and needs. All donations can be sent to our new office address. Thank you and much peace, Gina, Grace, Kori & Xochitl, FFLIC Staff ***************************************************************** Grace, our Lake Charles organizer wrote the following update after a day of calls and searching for our members (*names have been changed): “Mary* is living in a little camping trailer, with a leaking roof, in her driveway. They have received their Fema, Red Cross and food stamps. She was very excited to hear about FFLIC opening it’s doors here next week. She told me Rhonda* and her family had to move and have gone to Philadelphia to start a new life. There apartment complex was next door to Vera’s* and is torn up. Ms. Dana’s* son, Steve* has run away twice in the last two weeks from Youth Challenge, been gone since Tues and she has no word on him. She has received her Fema and Red Cross but has yet to get her food stamps. I told her where to go and she is going to try next week. She is down mentally and struggling with Steve. She needs help financially and I will meet with her on Wed of next week. She is ready to get back to court and is very excited about the new office. She said Damon*, one of the boys she was working with when she was thrown out of court, was beaten badly by a guard that we know from JDC during the evacuation to Baton Rouge, in front of a van load of other kids being evacuated.
Miss Paula* is in very poor shape. Her son lost it 2 weeks ago. He was in a psychiatric hospital when he smashed his eyeball out with his hand and they have transferred him to a mental hospital in another parish. She is spending an enormous amount of money traveling all the way there to see him. She says he is completely out of it and the stress and fear I sensed from her end scared me. She seems close to losing it herself. I am meeting her tomorrow afternoon after she sees him to eat supper and see what support I can offer. I think we should also offer help financially for the cost of fuel and meals. What do you all think?
Carol* is at her breaking point after returning to find her newly remodeled house ready for the bulldozer. Her lodge that she rented out washed away and her mobile home she rented out with the roof gone.
All in Hackberry, one of our hardest hit areas near the coast. She says there is no way she could think of going to work now.
As I told all of you yesterday Vera* is ill and down mentally as well.
I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday morning but after that I am going back to work hard. Everyone’s need is just so great we must get things moving right away and I sense a place for all to come and support one another is a vital need at this time.
I was also thinking maybe we should hold a support group meeting and let folks just talk in the next two weeks and provide a good old FFLIC fried chicken dinner and plan for just for a couple of hours of sharing. Maybe Sat. the 29th in the early afternoon or the following Sun? This is what makes us FFLIC is coming together in the time of need and loving one another, plus it would give folks something to look forward to instead of just surviving day to day. Plus those that could help get things ready, it would give them a sense of purpose and things to do. How do your calendars look? I can handle all of the arrangements, alongside our members. Just need your time.
This has been an exhausting and heartbreaking day.
These are our people and their hurt is so real. I have finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and am seeing work much clearer than I have in a long time.
These folks have suffered so much. I found it hard to keep from breaking down and crying with them but God gave me the strength to offer them solace and support. This feeling I have now is similar to what I felt like coming home as the destruction I was seeing became worse and worse along the roads bringing us home. But now it is about our people and their hearts and their souls and I feel compelled to leave the whole mess I have here and go help others. This is the true damge of Rita and Katrina and there is no accounting for that in Bush’s tallying of damages to the Gulf Coast.There is no account for this pain and hardship. Our fund will not be able to help these folks with this but it can ease their other worries and bring some peace to them that maybe what pulls them through.
Gina, Kori and Xochitl I love you all and am thankful to all of you for the support and love I receive from each of you. More thankful than any of you may ever know. We must take what we have between us and share it within our circle quickly, as I know where some of these folks are and I have been there. I have no doubt in my heart that without the folks of the JJPL and FFLIC I would have never had been able to get through those hours of darkness in my life that I believe most of the folks I have mentioned in this email are facing tonight. This is the unwritten part of our mission, the giving of ourselves in the hard times, that will draw folks in and make us stronger.
It is this need and giving that has created the LC FFLIC group that has remained united for so long. My plea is that you will come quickly and as wholeheartedly as possible. “
Co-Director, Gina wrote the following when she returned home for the first time: “Ok, I’m writing this while I’m drinking the biggest daiquiri I could find on the westbank. It is with great sorrow and devestation Im writing this email. I just came from my house and well, I thought I would be prepared for what I would find. There is nothing that prepared me for what I would see there. I knew I had 5-6
ft of water but the level of crossness was completely overwhelming. As I drove into the deserted city, I was shocked at the level of devestation found there. Trees downed everywhere, electical pole and lines spewn through the streets and absolutely no one in the streets other than military personnel. Cars and boats thown everywhere. As I made it to my home, I expected to see my clothes and shoes all ruined, but as I approached my driveway I found my iron fence laying on the ground (mind you I could never open it cause I didnt have a key).
The water line was above my sister and my moms cars and my bedroom door had rotted so it had given way and was ajar. I walked into what was my newly painted room, by yours truly, to find the paint peeling, clothes and shoes everywhere and my mattress still dripping wet. I dont need to discuss the stench. In my den, my sofa, dining table and refrigerator were thrown all over the floor, my wine and the cabinet over sink completely thrown on the floor. all the books that I have collected over the years, ruined. Ok, you guys know Im generally a “whatever” kind of person and I had already seperated myself from the material things but when I realized just how many of my photo albums I left behind I just lost it. I cant believe all of the memories of my children and my older dearly departed family just gone. When you pick up the albums they just crumble in your hands. I thought they were up high enough but obviously I was wrong. My foyer walls are now decorated with mold and mildew. I cant even imagine this house to be livable again. I didnt want to bring Jessica with me, but its a good thing she came as she at least had the foresight to go and get the clothes out the dirty clothes hamper as all of my things and the boys things are lost. I guess I am homeless and clotheless. This is unbelieveable. I’m not sure how I will recover from this emotionally. It’s not even about the material things really, but knowing that each and every one of those items represented a moment in time that I will never get back, time shopping with a friend that I havent seen in years perhaps. Lord, I dont know how people will deal with this. I keep thinking about Ms. Collins* and other people whose entire house was under water. How will we ever rebuild this city..that is everywhere outside of the french quarter, garden district and downtown!!! To think as I look down my block and for miles on end that homes look this exact same way and hundreds of people will return to find the same thing. Those of you that pray and even those of you that dont please do so this time for me and my children and families all across the gulf coast.”******************************************************************************For those who would like to continue to support FFLIC in our work, please send all donations to 188 Williamsburg Street, Lake Charles, LA, 70607. We cant tell you how much we appreciate you! Needs:Clothes for Ms. Lecia, a member of the Lake Charles Chapter of FFLIC whose family lost everything:Woman size 26/28 and 11/12 shoe; man size 36 pants 17neck shirt or Large; 11 shoe; woman size 24 and 11/shoe; man size 48 pant and 3x or 19 1/2 neck shirt and 12 shoePlease send to: Hotel Ramanda Inn, 2700 Hwy 82E, Greenville, MS 38701 and send us an email to let us know
For other members: calling/phone cardsgift cards from places that sell furniture, clothes or gasFor our office: folding chairs for meetingsoffice chairspicture frames & other office decorationsa microwavea coffee pota vacuum cleanera tv/vcr combo for video showingstape recorders for use in documentationchildren’s books, toys and play area items
For the FFLIC Hurricane Relief Fund:cash and check donations that will be used to help our members rebuild their homes and their lives EMAIL CONTACT FOR FFLIC: Xochitl Bervera – xochitl@mediajumpstart.org
http://www.fflic.org/_______________________________________________From the Friends_of_fflic mailing listTo Subscribe Send email to: Friends_of_fflic-subscribe@lists.mayfirst.org Or visit:https://lists.mayfirst.org/cgi-bin/mailman/options/friends_of_fflic/anticapitalist%40hotmail.com

20) Some Levitation:
‘Twas the Night Before Katrina (cajun style)
‘Twas de night before Katrina, when all tru da state Not a gas pump was pumpin’, Not a store open late All da plywood was hung, on de windows wit care, Knowing dat a hurricane, Soon would be dere.
Da chilren were ready wit deir flashlight in hand While rain bands from da hurricane covered over our lan And Mom wit her Mag-lite, and me wit my cap Has jus filled da battub for flushing our crap..
When out on de lawn, there arose such a clatter I sprang from da closet to see what was de matter The trees on da terrace, and de neighbor’s roof torn, We feared we’d be dyin’ in dis terrible storm.
Wit a little wind gus, so lively and quick, I membered quite clearly our walls was not brick More rapid than Eagles, her courses they changed! And she whistled and wafted and surged all the same.
Off shingles! Off sidings! Off rooftops! Off power! Down trees! Down fences! Down trailers! Down towers! On da street of New Orleans, she continued to maul, Screaming Blow away! Blow away! Blow away all!
As da wind ripped and tossed da debris tru de sky, I peeked out the shutters at the cars floatin’ by. So go to the attic my family did do, With a portable radio and some batteries too.
And den in a twinkling, I heard on da set, The end was not coming for a few hours yet! As I calmed down da kids and was turning around Tru de window it came with a huge crashing sound
A tree branch it was all covered in soot De wind blew it smack-dab on top of my foot! A bundle of twigs now lay in a stack And my Livin’ Room looked like it was under attack.
De wind how it howled, de storm very scary, Myself and my family were all too unwary. Da dangers of hurricanes are serious ya know, Dey are taken for granted as Betsy did show.
Wit da winds dying down and da danger beneath, I noticed my tool shed was missing its sheath So I grabbed my last tarp, and nailed it on down, Den I got in my car and drove into town.
Da traffic was awful and stores had no ice, My 5-gallon cooler would have to suffice Generators was scarce, not one left in town, Dere was trees on the roads and power lines down.
FEMA was ready wit people to work, Electrical companies came in from New York. I sprang to da car, and gave my family a whistle, Den away we all went like a Tomahawk missile!
You could hear us exclaim as we drove out of sight, “The heck wit dis place, Texas seem just right!”
(Author unknown)

21) Here is another obituary attributed to Katrina, ultimately:
Msgr. John Lyle Newfield (1921-2005)
Msgr. John Lyle Newfield, the son of Paul C. Newfield Sr and Marie Louise Terrell, was born January 5, 1921 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and baptized at Sacred Heart Church (on St. Bernard Avenue) in New Orleans. During his formative years John Lyle served as an altar boy at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish, on St. Roch Avenue in New Orleans.
On December 22, 1945, Fr. John Lyle Newfield was ordained a Roman Catholic priest by New Orleans Archbishop, Joseph Francis Rummel, at which time the young priest inherited the chalice and paten that had belonged to his former pastor at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, the late Msgr. Joseph A. Levesque (1863-1940).
Msgr. John Lyle Newfield died Friday, November 11, 2005 in Thibodaux, Louisiana. He will be interred at __________ Cemetery, ___________, Louisiana. Details will be announced as they become available.
Parishes and Assignments:
~ 1. St. Agnes Parish, Metairie, Louisiana (1946-1950), Assistant Pastor
~ 2. Sacred Heart Parish, Bat
on Rouge, Louisiana (1950-1955)
~ 3 St. Henry, New Orleans (1955-1957)
~ 4 St. Anthony of Padua, Barataria (1957-1961, Pastor, with responsibilities for two mission churches: ** Sacred Heart, Lafitte, Louisiana ** St. Pius X, Crown Point, Louisiana
~ 5. St. Genevieve of Paris, Thibodaux, Louisiana (1961-1966), Founding Pastor
~ 6. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Westwego, Louisiana (1966-1971), Pastor
~ 7. St. Francis de Sales, Houma, Louisiana (1971-1987), Pastor
He was named Monsignor in 1977, shortly before the founding of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. With the creation of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in 1977, his new title became Rector of the Cathedral, and he continued to serve in that capacity until his retirement from active parochial duties in 1987.
~ 8 Chaplain at Metairie Manor Retirement Home, Metairie, Louisiana (1987-1989)
[Illness: During a brief period of illness, he resided with his brother and sister in Arabi, Louisiana.]
~ 9. Holy Savior, Lockport, Louisiana (1990-1991), in residence, [Fr. Brendan Foley, Pastor]
He retired to a private residence in Raceland, Louisiana, from whence he served as chaplain to the Dominican Missionary Sisters. In 1991 he moved to Chateau Notre Dame in New Orleans.
Msgr. Newfield served as a Canon Lawyer in the Tribunal of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, handling marriage cases. Even after his transfer to Houma, he continued to serve in that capacity. After the creation of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in 1977, he was appointed Chief Judge of that diocese’s Tribunal.
He was a member of the Knights of Columbus (4th Degree); a member of the Knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; and a member of the Canon Law Society of America.
Msgr. John Lyle Newfield attended Our Lady Star of the Sea Elementary School in New Orleans; Holy Cross High School (1933-1935); St. Joseph Seminary at St. Benedict Abbey (1935-1940); and finally Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana (1940-1945), where he earned degrees in Philosophy and Theology. On December 1945, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
He celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a priest in December 1995, with a festive reception at St. Francis de Sales in Houma.
He was the brother of the late Paul C. Newfield, Jr. of Mandeville, Louisiana; of Frank H. Newfield and Virginia Newfield (both presently residing in Thibodaux, Louisiana, but formerly of Arabi, Louisiana; and of Mrs. Guy M. (Marie Louise) Francis of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is also survived by a host of cousins, nieces and nephews. Funeral arrangements by Chauvin Funeral Home, Houma, Louisiana.
+ Requiescat in pace domini. +
[Photos attached.]

22) A Correction of the last post, put where any newspaper woulda put it…:
“Our state budget is $18 Billion in a normal year. We also had a 350 million dollar surplus due to oil royalties. It was balanced before the storm and the State also has a 450 million dollar “rainy day” fund. Say what you want about LA politicians, but we WERE one of only six states not in the red. 5 of them energy producing states.”

Today I heard on WWOZ internet broadcast that Mid-City Rock N Bowl will be reopening this Thursday night. For those who don’t know, Rock N Bowl is one of those amazing local sites that tourists rarely see — a bowling alley with live music, local food, and a dance floor. It’s in Mid-City, which was completely flooded. It’s on the second floor of an old strip mall, which is why it could reopen so soon. The fact that it’s reopening is a great sign in an otherwise devastated neighborhood.

1) Here are a series of photos of the Lower 9th Ward, taken by my brother. That’s one massive cleanup:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc;=d0f0jwl.9q7huyw5&Uy;=c6pv0n&Ux;=1

2) New Orleans needs a Category 5 declaration, pronto!:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1131262466233480.xml

Category 5Sunday, November 06, 2005

Greater New Orleans needs a levee system capable ofwithstanding a Category 5 hurricane. Our homes, ourjobs and our lives are at risk, and so are theeconomic interests of an entire nation.

Now that the floodwaters have receded and anightmarish hurricane season is ending, the metro areais out of imminent danger. But our efforts to recoverfrom Hurricane Katrina are caught in limbo. Owners offlooded houses can tear out carpets and pick throughmementos, but can they rebuild? Should they raisetheir homes on pilings? If so, how high?

The answers to these questions and many others willdepend on the strength of the levees protecting us.Which neighborhoods will remain viable? Will floodinsurance be offered at a decent price? Morefundamentally, how many people will feel safe enoughto resume their lives here? For residents who wererescued from their attics, for business owners whoseemployees and customers fled in the face of advancingfloodwaters, for people who have been cut off fromloved ones for weeks or months, peace of mind dependson the levees, too.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,President Bush vowed to “make the flood protectionsystem stronger than it has ever been.” But sincethen, the White House has been conspicuously silentabout how strong that might be. If the president andCongress withhold their support for a Category 5system, they will cripple this metro area for good.
. . . . . . .

The present levee system was designed to stand up to aCategory 3 hurricane. But three storms reachedCategory 5 in the Gulf of Mexico this year. HadKatrina tracked slightly to the west, and had thestorm not weakened somewhat as it approached theshore, the effect on the New Orleans area would havebeen even more catastrophic.

As it was, Katrina laid bare the weaknesses in thecurrent levee system. Whipped up by the storm, theGulf of Mexico surged across coastal marshes and intoLake Pontchartrain, rushed over earthen bermsprotecting St. Bernard Parish and pressed hard againstthe floodwalls along canals in New Orleans. When thosewalls gave way, water rushed out in a torrent. In someplaces, homes broke loose from their foundations. Inother neighborhoods, the inundation was a slowtorture; water crept down streets and bubbled upthrough storm drains and cracks in the pavement. Morethan 1,000 of our neighbors, friends and relativesdied.
But despite the outpouring of sympathy for Katrina’svictims, few members of Congress seem to understandwhy our levee system is their problem.

Here’s why it is: The federal government has longtaken responsibility for building flood-controlstructures along the vital Mississippi River. Indeed,the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed the currentlevee system.
The levees along the Mississippi have a significantdownside. Because they have cut off the flow ofsediment from the river, they contribute to thedeterioration of coastal marshland that used to shieldmetro New Orleans from hurricanes. (Energy explorationin Louisiana has benefited the entire nation butexacerbated the erosion problem.) To make mattersworse, during Katrina’s onslaught some parts of themetro area’s levee system, including the 17th Streetand London Avenue canals, appear to have failed underconditions they should have withstood.
. . . . . . .

Building a Category 5 levee system for SoutheastLouisiana will be an enormous undertaking, bothfinancially and as an engineering project, but it canbe broken into segments.

The highest priority should be the segment that wouldprotect the most people: a barrier extending from theMississippi River in St. Bernard Parish across themouth of Lake Pontchartrain and over to the PearlRiver basin near the Mississippi state line. The seagates into the lake would remain open most of thetime, to minimize disruptions to the environment, butcould be slammed shut when hurricanes approach. Thecost of this segment, perhaps $4 billion, is hardlypocket change — but it’s much less than the amount ofdamage Katrina caused.

A federal commitment to a stronger, smarter leveesystem wouldn’t relieve Louisiana of the obligation tohelp itself. The state will have to pinch pennies topay for more coastal restoration projects — even ifCongress starts pitching in more money — becauseletting more marshland give way to warm, open waterisn’t an acceptable option. Also, Louisianians shouldbe ready to abandon the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet,a waterway that offers conveniences to some businessesbut greatly increases the danger of flooding.

And Louisiana’s elected leaders will have to agree totreat flood protection as a key public interest,instead of using seats on levee boards as a prestigeposting for second-tier cronies. Gov. Kathleen Blancohas already floated the idea of consolidating thearea’s numerous levee boards into a statewide agency.In truth, the hydrology of metro New Orleans isdifferent from that of, say, Lake Charles, and puttingboth under the control of a new state agency makes nosense. But a regional levee board for SoutheastLouisiana would.
. . . . . . .

The New Orleans area is a national treasure, and thepossibility of future Katrinas represents a gravethreat to its survival. Now that the cameras are offand tearful evacuees are no longer begging for help ontheir knees in the street, it’s easy for PresidentBush and members of Congress to forget theircommitments to help us rebuild.

But the need for a Category 5 flood-protection systemis urgent. In this stricken region, the danger offlooding will never be yesterday’s news.

3) I couldn’t agree with this writer more:

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-20/1131262016233480.xml

Feds are treating Louisiana like enemy
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Bob Marshall

After Hurricane Katrina whacked New Orleans it wasfashionable for commentators to compare our losses tothe devastation wrought by the 9/11 atrocity.Initially, I didn’t like the analogy. Sept. 11 was anattack by a human enemy; Aug. 29 was a shot fromnature. But lately I’m finding myself warming to thatassociation, because I’m beginning to hear a hauntingquestion made famous after 9/11: Why do they hate us?
This time it isn’t directed at residents of anotherland. It’s aimed at Congress and the White House.

How else should a coastal Louisiana resident feelafter last week’s news that President Bush has askedCongress to spend $250 million on the state’sdesperately needed coastal restoration projects.Sounds like a big check, unless you know we need $14billion to do the job. Bush knows. And unless he wassleeping on all those tours of the disaster zone, healso knows what’s happened to our coastal wetlands andwhy they’re important to protecting
this city andregion from future storms.

No one would ever accuse this president of being anenvironmentalist, but he’s certainly made it clear hecares about security. So maybe he’ll review testimonygiven the Senate Homeland Security Committee lastWednesday in a hearing concerning the lack of securityprovided by the city’s hurricane protection system. Ifhe does, he’ll notice Ivor van Heerden, director ofthe LSU Hurricane Center, giving this answer to aquestion about the role wetlands play in stormprotection:

“It we had the wetlands today we had 100 years ago,the surge would have been dramatically less.”
Van Heerden goes on to explain that the marsh andswamps that once blanketed our coast provided enoughfriction to seriously — and rapidly — dampen thepower of a hurricane’s two main threats: tidal surgeand wind. Van Heerden used Hurricane Andrew — aCategory 3 storm as it came ashore at the mouth of theAtchafalaya Basin — as a prime example.

“Andrew made landfall in Louisiana in 1992, and itspath came up the central part of the coast where thereare still extremely healthy wetlands (marshes andswamps) and two emerging deltas. The surge at MorganCity — just 20 miles inland — was only seven feet.In terms of wind velocity, between the coast andMorgan City (Andrew) lost 50 percent of its energy.That’s an example of how valuable wetlands are inreducing hurricane impacts from wind and surge.”

That storm-killing potential has been lost for theportion of our coast surrounding New Orleans. Wetlandsthat once formed a 50-mile-wide security blanketbetween the city and the Gulf were sacrificed to along series of decisions their supporters claimed werein the national interest: levees to protect cities andagriculture from rivers; dredging to prevent deltasfrom being built; 30,000 miles of canals dug forenergy exploration and shipping.

And last week the U.S. Geological Survey announcedKatrina took another 100 square miles of our coastalwetlands.

None of this should have been news to those senatorsor to a president who claims to care about keepingAmericans safe. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,under the ultimate command of the president, spentmost of a decade helping Louisiana create a plan torestore those eroding wetlands. But when the commanderin chief and the Congress were told it would cost $14billion, Louisiana was told the nation couldn’t affordthe price.

That was before Katrina, at $200 billion (andcounting), the costliest natural disaster in thenation’s history. In the weeks after the full impactswere known, Louisiana, using corps data, askedCongress and the president to approve a Category 5hurricane protection system that could cost roughly$31 billion — $17 billion for levees and floodgates,$14 billion for the coastal restoration plan.

They were optimistic the plan finally would receive apositive hearing. After all, Katrina had provided thecost-benefit analysis.

“We told them for years what a bargain this would be,”said Sidney Coffee, Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s executiveassistant for coastal activities. “Now I think theycan see our plans were pretty darn cost-effectivecompared to what the costs are now.”

So far they haven’t. Congressmen have been critical,even insulting, about Louisiana’s needs for protectionand restoration. Last Wednesday, the president piledon.

The best summation may have come from King Milling,the banker who also chairs the governor’s
advisorycommission on the coast, when he told The AssociatedPress:

“I think it is grossly inadequate and reflects a lackof appreciation of the issues that we are facing inthis part of the country.

“Worst of all, if they do understand them (the facts),then it may be that they may have written us off.”
Which brings me back to that 9/11 question.
. . . . . . .

Bob Marshall can be reached at
rmarshall@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3539.

4) For those interested in FEMA’s Katrina response, here are the emails released by US Representative Melancon concerning Michael Brown. Melancon represents the district that was most completely devastated by the storm (St. Bernard to the coast), and his constituents are in no mood to forgive FEMA:

http://www.melancon.house.gov/news.asp?ARTICLE3337=4608

5) There’s some buzz about possibly holding the 2008 Democratic convention in New Orleans. I tried to stoke that buzz a bit myself with the following message to Daily Kos’ discussion board a couple of days ago:
As a native New Orleanian and a reader of Dailykossince 2003, I beg all of you to push for a New Orleansconvention in 2008. The infrastructure will be readyby then (the hotels suffered minimal damage, theairport is already back to normal, the showcaseneighborhoods are already returning to normal, and theSuperdome can be ready for normal operations byOctober 2006), and the city will desperately need toshowcase its return to prime time in conventionhosting. That’s why New Orleans needs to host theDems.

Why should the Dems choose NO? First of all, there isno better domestic location to showcase Bush’sfailures. Secondly, if the Republican-controlledCongress ends up declining to rebuild New Orleans(which is appearing more likely by the week), then theDems have a chance to pick up both Louisiana andpossibly Mississippi simply by announcing a promise tomake NO capable of withstanding a Cat 5 storm andsupport for a comprehensive coastal restorationinitiative (total cost: ca. 20 billion USD). Whenasked where the money should come from, simply ask whywe’re spending more on Persian Gulf warfare than onGulf Coast reconstruction. Finally, if such aconvention is remembered as a milestone on the path toreconstruction, then Louisiana might revert back to asolid Dem state well into the future.

6) Here’s an article about the buzz — anything readers can do to push this buzz into reality is appreciated. For that matter, anything any reader can do to get their associations to land a convention in New Orleans after January 2007 is welcome:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113152157542700.xml

Some Demos touting N.O. for 2008
Convention idea tied to renewal drive
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — A Maryland congressman is urging hisfellow Democrats to hold the party’s 2008 presidentialnominating convention in New Orleans as a signal ofnational support for the city after its devastatinglosses from Hurricane Katrina.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., made the suggestion afterparty officials announced that their 2008 conventionwill be held Aug. 25-28. Declaring New Orleans as thehost city for the party’s national convention,Cummings said, would demonstrate to its residents thatthe city “has not been forgotten.”
It would be reminiscent of when Republicans held their2004 party convention in New York City to show supportfor the area after the 2001 terrorist attacks killedmore than 2,600 people at the destroyed World TradeCenter.

The decision on a convention site will be made byDemocratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean andparty leaders, after reviewing bids from a dozen or socities with sufficient convention and hotelfacilities. The process will begin in January when theparty asks for bids. The choice will be announcedsometime after the 2006 midterm elections.

Democratic members of the Louisiana delegationimmediately embraced the idea, although partyofficials were noncommittal and no mention was madethat the convention is scheduled for the heart of thehurricane season and would end one day before theanniversary of the date that Hurricane Katrina madelandfall.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep.
William Jefferson,D-New Orleans, liked the idea.

“That would be wonderful,” Jefferson said. “It wouldkeep the rebuilding effort in the Gulf center stagefor all Americans.”

Landrieu called it “a fantastic idea. Hosting the 2008National Convention in New Orleans would demonstrateto the nation that despite unprecedented tragedy, theCrescent City’s spirit remains strong. It is thatspirit of Southern hospitality and national pride forwhich we’re still remembered after hosting the 1988Republican convention.”

The Democrats aren’t the only ones looking at theCrescent City.

Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, said he has alreadysuggested to Republican National Committee ChairmanKen Mehlman that the party hold its 2008 convention inNew Orleans.

“I think it would be a great signal that the city ofNew Orleans is open and ready for business,” Jindalsaid. It would be fantastic if the city could hostboth major party conventions, he said.

While New Orleans succeeded in getting the 1988 GOPconvention, which nominated George H.W. Bush and DanQuayle, the city has had no luck in attracting theDemocrats. One reason recently has been that theparty, with its close ties to organized labor, prefersmore hotels with union contracts than New Orleans canoffer.
Josh Earnest, a spokesman for Dean, said the partywould welcome a bid from New Orleans. “It is fair tosay that Governor Dean will be considering bids from anumber of American cities and he’d be pleased toconsider a bid from a revitalized and rebuilt NewOrleans,” Earnest said.
. . . . . . .

Bruce Alpert can be reached at
bruce.alpert@newhouse.com or (202) 383-7861.

7) Here’s another article by Jordan Flaherty, on post-Katrina NO. Note the extra internet sources at the end of his posting:

Changing New Orleans
by Jordan Flaherty
November 4, 2005

Its bittersweet being back in New Orleans. Although the architecture is the same, and its a relief to walk the streets and reunite with old friends, already this is a very different city from the one I love. Its a city where some areas are quickly rebuilding and other parts are being left far behind. A city where people who have lived here for generations are now unwelcome in a hundred different ways.

White New Orleans is steadily coming back, and Black New Orleans is moving out. A grassroots organizer with New Orleans Network tells me she has been speaking to people in every moving truck she sees. She reports that in every case, “they’re Black, they are renters, they’re moving out of New Orleans, and they say they would stay, if they had a choice.”

Inequality continues through the cleanup of New Orleans. Some areas have electricity, gas, and clean streets, and some areas are untouched. Medical volunteer Catherine Jones reports that driving the streets of New Orleans at night, “ I felt like I was in the middle of a checkerboard. The Quarter lit up like Disneyworld; poor black neighborhoods a few blocks over so dark I couldn’t even see the street in front of me.”

The Washington Post reports that although both the overwhelmingly White Lakeview neighborhood and Black Ninth Ward neighborhood were devastated by flooding, “It now appears that long-standing neighborhood differences in income and opportunity…are shaping the stalled repopulation of this mostly empty city.”
While Lower Ninth Ward residents are still being kept from returning to their homes, “Lakeview, where 66 percent of children go to private school and 49 percent of residents have a college degree, was pumped dry within three weeks of the storm. Memphis Street (in Lakeview) smells now of bleach, which kills mold, and resounds to the thwack of crowbars and the whine of chain saws. Insurance adjusters have begun making rounds.”

A similar story is unfolding in South Florida, where the Miami Workers Center reports, “Close to 24 hours after Wilma struck, power returned to Miami’s affluent and tourist districts such as South Beach, Downtown and the Brickell Financial District. In the past week, power has returned to most suburban communities. But power has been slowest returning to black, latino, and immigrant poor urban neighborhoods. Many of the 400,000 still in the dark have been told not to expect power until as late as November 22nd.”

Miami Workers center volunteer Terry Marshall reports, “this experience is showing…that it’s not a question of where the hurricane hits. It’s a question of where the resources are missed.”

New Orleans was, as more than one former resident has said, the African city in North America. It is a city steeped in a culture that is specifically African American – from Jazz to blues to bounce. It is the number one African American tourist destination in the US. The Bayou Classic and Essence Festival, two vital Black community events, bring tens of thousands of Black tourists to the city every year. Walking around town, its hard to imagine these tourists coming back to the new New Orleans – a city was once 70% Black and now feels unwelcome and hostile – or at least uncaring – to its own past.

Last Wednesday alone, 335 evictions were filed in New Orleans courts – the amount normally filed in a month. There have been countless reports of landlords throwing tenant’s property out on the street without any notice. New Orleans human rights lawyer Bill Quigley reports that “Fully armed National Guard troops refuse to allow over ten thousand people to even physically visit their property in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood. Despite the fact that people cannot come back, tens of thousands of people face eviction from their homes. A local judge told me that their court expects to process a thousand evictions a day for weeks.
Renters still in shelters or temporary homes across the country will never see the court notice taped to the door of their home. Because they will not show up for the eviction hearing that they do not know about, their possessions will be tossed out in the street. In the street their possessions will sit alongside an estimated 3 million truck loads of downed trees, piles of mud, fiberglass insulation, crushed sheetrock, abandoned cars, spoiled mattresses, wet rugs, and horrifyingly smelly refrigerators full of food from August.”

A recent poll from Gallup reports that, even adjusting for differences in income, White and Black New Orleanians have had deeply different experiences of this disaster. Blacks were more likely to fear for their lives (63% vs. 39%), to have been separated from family members for at least a day (55% vs. 45%), gone without food for at least a day (53% vs. 24%) and spent at least one night in an emergency shelter (34% vs. 13%).

The New York Times and other papers have reprinted former FEMA director Michael Brown’s emails from the time when our city was being flooded – stunning evidence of how little the agency cared about what was happening in New Orleans. “If you’ll look at my lovely FEMA attire you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion god,” reads a typical email from the day after the hurricane hit. Other emails showed Brown and his staffers to be more concerned with his dinner reservations in Baton Rouge and a dog sitter for his house than with anything happening in New Orleans.

The demographics of New Orleans have changed in gender as well as race. The thousands of contractors and laborers that have arrived from across the country – in addition to National Guard, police agencies, security guards, and other workers – are overwhelmingly male. Because most schools are closed, there are few kids below 17 or their families. Women I know who have returned report feeling uncomfortable and unsafe.

A large Latino immigrant population has come to work in the city’s reconstruction. These workers have been demonized by everyone from Mayor Nagin to local talk radio. Grassroots medical volunteers report that some
of the workers are forbidden by their employers from talking to anyone or even leaving their rooms at night. They are working in hazardous conditions, for low pay and little safety protection – already many have become ill, and they have no access to medical care, and face a hostile city.

There are still thousands of New Orleans residents who have not been convicted of any crime trapped in maximum security prisons and “no one in a position of power finds this pressing,” says Ursula Price, a staff researcher with A Fighting Chance, an indigent defense group. She estimates at least 2000 prisoners from Orleans Parish Prison remain in Angola, the notorious former slave plantation in rural Louisiana. These are people who were picked up for “misdemeanor offenses such as public drunkenness, traffic violations, soliciting a prostitute,” Price says. If convicted, at most they would have served less time than they have been in for. But, in Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish, courts have been closed for most of this time, and public defenders have been laid off. “The system is not working with us,” Price tells me. “I don’t understand why prosecutors are in there arguing against release of someone on a misdemeanor charge. We have women who have had miscarriages, mental heath problems, physical health problems, and no one in power seems to care.” The total population of Orleans Parish Prison at the time of hurricane Katrina was at least 7,000 people. In a city of just 500,000, that’s a significant population.

The people of New Orleans are not just physically displaced, but also disenfranchised from their city in other ways. According to the Wall Street Journal, when FEMA officials were asked by Louisiana state officials for access to the FEMA database so that they could inform New Orleans evacuees about their right to vote in upcoming municipal elections, the response was a terse email – “(FEMA) will not let you have a copy of the FEMA applicant list. Sorry!!!” What better way to let people know that the city is not theirs than to have an election to which they are not invited?

Many in New Orleans are struggling with an even more basic and vital concern – the recovery of their loved ones. Less than a quarter of the bodies so far reported discovered in New Orleans have been turned over to families. The rest are at the New Orleans coroners, currently relocated to St. Gabriel’s Parish. “Officials in coroner’s offices in several parishes reported that they sought to keep their victims from going to St. Gabriel,” reports today’s Times-Picayune, which describes one families long ordeal in recovering their mother’s body. Just one more area where people of New Orleans are left behind.

While this tragedy multiplies, while evictions mount and exploitation increases, the former residents of New Orleans have their choice of a dizzying array of forums, hearings, panels, tribunals, town halls, committees, subcommittees, commissions, meetings, marches and demonstrations, most of which are seeking the input of the people of new orleans.

In the space of two days last week, I went to a public meeting with a representative from the UN High Commission on extreme poverty. I went to a meeting of the housing subcommittee of the urban planning committee of the mayors blue ribbon commission on rebuilding New Orleans. I joined a rally at the State Capitol featuring Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, and various Government officials. At each event I saw hundreds of poor folks from New Orleans. I also met representatives of a community group for East New Orleans residents displaced to Baton Rouge – they report that 500 people come to their weekly meetings.

This Monday, I will march across the bridge from New Orleans to Gretna, to join in protests called by a wide array of national organizations against a crime Cynthia McKinney has said “might become the worst American civil rights episode of the 21st Century,” the blockade by Gretna police of the only exit out of New Orleans for thousands of evacuees. I also plan to join the People’s Assembly initiated by the People’s Hurricane Fund on December 8-10.

There are many outlets for action, as well as plenty of anger and energy, but also a deep skepticism. The people of New Orleans have a justified distrust of the people and institutions who have arrived with promises and resources. Hundreds of well-meaning volunteers have come in to town, and many have done vital work, but in some cases this has increased tensions. “Some people have come here with this attitude, ‘we’re bringing organizing to New Orleans.’ They don’t seem interested in what was here before,” reports one community organizer.

These divisions are not only concentrated on the grassroots – disagreements within the mayor’s commission on rebuilding New Orleans have become increasingly public, with some representatives complaining to the New York Times of not being invited to private breakfasts between the mayor and other commission members.

“The truth is,” said one longtime activist, “people have a lot of anger and grief, and they don’t where to direct it.” We are all tired, frustrated and sad, but the struggle for justice continues.
=====================================
Jordan Flaherty is a union organizer and an editor of Left Turn Magazine. This is his tenth article from New Orleans. You can contact Jordan at NewOrleans@leftturn.org.
Jordan’s previous articles from New Orleans are at http://www.leftturn.org/articles/SpecialCollections/katrina.aspx =====================================
Based on conversations with organizers and community members, Left Turn Magazine has compiled a list of grassroots New Orleans organizations focused on relief, recovery, social justice and cultural preservation that need your support. The list is online at
http://www.leftturn.org/Articles/Viewer.aspx?id=689&type;=W =====================================
A Fighting Chance needs donations and volunteers to help with their work providing defense for prisoners in New Orleans. If you have a phone line you can volunteer to help reunite family members from wherever you are located. Email ursula_price1978@hotmail.com.

More info on the March to Gretna this Monday: http://www.upfordemocracy.org/

Other Resources for information and action:
Catherine Jones’ Blog from New Orleans is at: http://floodlines.blogspot.com/
Abram Himmelstein’s Blog from New Orleans is at: http://blogs.chron.com/exile/
United Houma Nation – http://www.unitedhoumanation.org/
Saving Our Selves coalition – http://www.sosafterkatrina.org/
Miami Workers Center – http://www.theworkerscenter.org/

8) Here’s job information and an appeal posted by my blogger colleague, Paulette Swartzfager. It sounds grim. If you have any job news for educators, we’re all ears:

Hello all

While I am lucky enough to have an undamaged house, some adjuncts have lost everything and are trying to support a family and pay a mortgage.

As many of you know, quite a few of the adjuncts from Loyola will be laid off or have already been laid off. The same is true throughout the Katrina Impact area–UNO, Tulane, Xavier, Dillard, etc. The Chronicle of Higher Ed forum and other such forums are providing a good source of panic, but not much else. I have set up a blog for Loyola Adjuncts to share job links, resources, helpful info, etc. Though we may all have serious issues with
what is occurring throughout New Orleans, the really urgent need here is to get us all employed and taken care of.

I can’t and won’t reactivate APT (the Association for Part Timers) that I had lead years ago. Frankly, there may not be much any adjunct can do except expect fair payment through December (i.e. 1/2 the year long salary), and sufficient notice to be able to apply elsewhere and to apply for unemployment.

It would be really nice if Human Resources provided direct help in doing this and in filing for Cobra –extended health benefits–or as Orleans Parish Schools did-provide a reduced “catastrophic” health coverage for those who could not afford to continue Cobra coverage (where the insured has to pick up the university’s cost of the health insurance in order to keep the coverage).

So, I have the following listed on my Loyola home page:

I have started a blog for us to send these messages to each other. You can post a comment anonymously (though I am moderating the comment blog to prevent self-destructive flaming). The blog is called Loyola Adjunct Help and can be found at http://loyolaadjunct.blogspot.com/

If you just want a list of good job links– http://loyno.edu/~pswartz/jobsites.html

Thanks for any help you can provide to your colleagues.

paulette swartzfagerpswartz1@cox.net

http://www.truthtalkz.blogspot.com/

9) Another article about NO by a UNO prof:

http://hnn.us/articles/17756.html

What Needs to Be Done in New Orleans Now
By Günter Bischof

Mr. Bischof is a professor of history and director ofCenterAustria at the University of New Orleans; in thewake of Katrina he is a guest professor of history atLouisiana State University in Baton Rouge during thefall term of 2005.

Thinking about New Orleans these days always producesambivalent feelings and a jumble of emotions. Someparts of town (Uptown, French Quarter) begin to looknormal even though a lot of businesses are stillclosed and people not back. Other parts continue tolook totally blighted ( Lakeside, Gentilly, 9th Ward)and one does not know when and whether they’ll evercome back. While you see a growing number of peopleback in town going about their business, one can readstories every day about those people who died in thedisaster. It is hard not to get heartsick when youread how a mother in Chalmette drowned in the surgewave with her arms around her quadriplegic son – a sonthat she had taken care of for 30 years after anaccident – because the ambulance service did notevacuate “special needs” as it was supposed to.Imagining their final hours is hard to contemplate andthere are thousands of stories like that, though somewho suffered similar abandonment survived.

Remember conspiracy theories after 9/11 (thegovernment bombed the twin towers)? Disasters ofKatrina’s magnitude inevitably produce wild conspiracyhistory. Given the reality of the abandonment ofmostly poor black New Orleansians during the storm,conspiracy theories seem to find very fertile soilamong African Americans, including some of theirleaders. The Reverend Jesse Jackson seems to think NewOrleans does not want its African Americans back (andthere are actually white landlords that do make noisesin that direction). So he bussed a few hundred inhimself, only most of those he brought were apparentlyNOT from New Orleans but people looking for a job. TheReverend Louis Farrakan tops conspiracist thinkingwith the charge that the “U.S. military” was seen todrop charges to dynamite the levies and flood the cityand produce “mass murder” among citizens of NewOrleans. He puts the burden of proof on the federalgovernment that they were not mass murderers. Farrakaneven bests Oliver Stone when it comes to darkconspiracies of the “military industrial complex”against the American people.

Public finances are in shambles locally, regionallyand nationally. Mayor Nagin told the City Council thatthe city has money to pay the (much reduced) workforceuntil March 2006. The State of Louisiana has budgetshortfalls of 1.5 billion dollars and probably more.Health care and higher education are not protected bythe state constitution. So guess where the cuts willbe coming first? The President in Washington isfinally releasing 17 billion of the 60+ billionearmarked by Congress for post-Katrina relief butmainly to rebuild federal facilities and roads – stillno talk about bailing out the hard-struck health careand/or education systems. Senator Landrieu now openlynails President Bush with charges of being moregenerous to Iraq than to Louisiana. Clearly, the GulfCoast can’t be rebuilt in the long term withoutmassive federal relief. The triple punch of Katrina,Rita and Wilma has created such a need for federal aidin the entire Gulf Coast region that Washington isoverwhelmed (as if Iraq, “Plamegate”, and the failedMiers Supreme Court nomination were not enough tohandle at one time).

The politics of advisory panels is interesting toobserve and tells us a lot about the narrow-mindedapproach Louisiana politicians take to rebuilding. TheMayor and Governor have both appointed blue ribboncommittees to advise on the larger issues ofrebuilding. Predictably, these committees are anassortment of Nagin’s and Blanco’s friends (an obscureUniversity of Louisiana-Lafayette fundraiser), localdignitaries (the Archbishop of New Orleans),university presidents (Tulane’s Cowan on Nagin’scommission and Xavier’s Francis chairing Blanco’s),plenty of business people (the State’s panel is heavywith oilmen and the mayor’s thick with localdevelopers and financiers); both commissions are shorton nationally known figures (Walter Isaacson onBlanco’s) and leaders in the culture field (WyntonMarsalis on Nagin’s). Why not put some top-notchnational and international experts on such committees,like the best people from the big nationalphilanthropic organizations, engineering and cityplanning fields? What do the bonanza of oilmen and theabsence of cultural figures tell us about thepriorities of Blanco’s reconstruction authority?Governor Blanco clearly emerges as the Louisianan“professional politician” most overwhelmed by Katrina– even before the storm hit. A columnist in the localpaper suggested snatching former governor Edwards witha Coast Guard helicopter from federal prison to comeand relieve Blanco.

New Orleans will come back but no one knows how longit will take. Among the big issues of rebuilding thecity are: will there be federal funds rolling into thecity soon to begin building a levy system that willwithstand a category 5 hurricane? What parts of thecity may have to be abandoned because they can’t beprotected against floods? What elevations will homesthat are rebuilt require to get insurance protection?Which insurance companies will abandon the areabecause they no longer want to take the enormousrisks? Will businesses come back and which ones andwill they blackmail the state government to get taxbreaks before they come back? Will developers find aheyday in the city abandoning strict building codes inand around the historic French Quarter? Will theunique historic housing stock of New Orleans vanish asflood-stricken old houses are torn down and arerebuilt without historic preservation in mind?Property rights are sacrosanct in Louisiana aselsewhere in the U.S. So lawyers and legislators arecoming up with ideas about “usufruct rights” and“recovery corporations” for the government to acquiretens of thousands of blighted properties. No one daresto tell the people of Eastern New Orleans and theNinth Ward that probably big parts of those districtscan’t be salvaged and won’t be protected by levies inthe future.

All of us associated with the University of NewOrle
ans have been taking pride in our leadershipbringing back the university only six weeks afterKatrina – the only New Orleans area institution ofhigher learning up and running again. While the campusis still closed due to mold mitigation and cleaningup, UNO was relaunched from its Jefferson ParishCenter on October 10. 7,000 of 17,000 UNO students areenrolled in classes on line, while another 1,000students are taking regular classes in our satellitefacilities in Jefferson Parish and the North Shore.UNO and the universities obviously will play a crucialrole in the rebuilding of the city. Why not play amore prominent role “below radar” in the long-termplanning of the future of New Orleans too, while themayor’s and governor’s commissions jockey for thelimelight?

UNO’s partner institution, the University ofInnsbruck, had a “jazz brunch” fundraiser in Innsbrucka few weeks ago and raised enough money and more tohost eight UNO students for the fall term in Innsbruck– and this after the Tirol has been hit by terriblefloods just a week before Katrina. Now the Universityof Graz in Austria offers eight semesters free ofcharge for UNO students who want to come and study andthe University of Munich another five slots for NewOrleans students. Good things are happening everywhereto give people hope here too. As Randy Newman said ata recent New Orleans fundraiser at New York’s AveryFisher Hall, “human kindness is overflowing.”

10) I’ll never understand why people live in tornado alleys:

http://www.dailykos.com/

IN-08: Mr Hypocrisy strikes by kos
Mon Nov 07, 2005 at 06:03:33 PM PDT

I blogged earlier how Republican Rep. John Hostettler,whose district was decimated by a massive tornado afew days ago, was one of the few to vote againstKatrina reconstruction aid. Well, I didn’t realizethat he has just asked the feds to help rebuild hisdistrict.

When the House voted in early September for a $1.4billion relief bill for victims of Hurricane Katrina,Rep. John Hostettler (Ind.) was one of 11 Republicansto oppose it.

Yesterday, the congressman, who is facing a tight racenext year, and several other Indiana members askedPresident Bush for money to help victims of anothernatural disaster — the tornado that ripped throughmany areas in his 8th District […]

Jay Howser, the campaign manager for Democrat BradEllsworth, who is challenging Hostettler next year,said that the campaign had already raised Hostettler’sKatrina vote and that now is not the time to bring thetornado, which killed 22, into the conversation.

“I just don’t want to go there right now,” Howsersaid. “We’re less than 24 hours from this happening.”
Howser said Ellsworth, the sheriff of hard-hitVanderburgh County, spent yesterday assessing thedamage. The county encompasses Evansville, one of thetwo population hubs in the 8th District. Howser saidthe county includes 25 percent of the voters in thedistrict […]

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)declined to comment on the race. But privately,Democrats voiced disbelief and amusement withHostettler, saying the fifth-term congressman wouldrather help tsunami victims halfway around the worldand rebuild Iraq than aid poor Americans drenched byhurricanes.

One prominent Indiana Democratic source recalled:”It’s something that we were talking about when hemade the first vote. What happens if something likethis happens in our own back yard? And then it did.”
Interesting point at the end of the article –Hostettler only has $28K cash on hand at this point ofthe race. Ellsworth has $258K CoH.

11) This quote is in the article: On Friday afternoon, Randy Fertel, a son of the founder of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House empire, who heads the family charitable foundation, felt compelled to distance himself from the chain’s current executives, who decided to move its corporate headquarters to Orlando, Fla., after serious damage by Katrina. “My mother would never have done that,” he said to cheers from the audience, “and she would have reopened our original Broad Street restaurant, too.”

DINING & WINE November 2, 2005 Pralines, Seasoned With Tears By R. W. APPLE Jr.

At a food symposium in Mississippi, lamentations for New Orleans food dominated the conversation.

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/dining/02orle.html&OQ;=emcQ3Deta1&OP;=c84f0bQ2F@TQ7Dy@xJPQ5BZJJW!@!BBQ22@FF@B!@xsrsrQ25@B!JZYQ7D1RW,Y

12) Here’s coverage in the Guardian about Katrina:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/hurricanes2005/story/0,16546,1636599,00.html

We’ll return for your sister’s body, the rescuerssaid. Two months on she was still in the house

Gary Younge in New Orleans
Tuesday November 8, 2005
The Guardian

Nobody knows how long Deborah “Bodie” Fisher, 85, hadbeen trapped in her home with the corpse of heryounger sister, Delia “Sis” Holloway, 82, upstairs,and 2ft of flood water downstairs when help finallyfloated by on September 2.

It was five days after New Orleans’s levees hadbroken. Bodie waded downstairs to tell the rescuers toleave her alone. “My sister is upstairs,” she toldthem. “Let me die here with my sister.” Then sheslammed the door and went back in.

The rescuers overruled her. They broke in through anupstairs window, went past Sis’s body and let Bodiepack a bag before they took her to the makeshifthospital at New Orleans airport. They said they wouldcome back for her sister.Two months later two family friends, John Gaines andStacey Martin, went to the house. Ms Martin used toclean for the women and Mr Gaines thought taking herto the house would give her some closure.

“I left Stacey alone to get her memories,” Mr Gainessays. “She went upstairs and after a while shescreamed, ‘Sis is in here. Sis is in here.’ I thought,’Here we go. She’s hallucinating.’ So I went upstairsand sure enough, there was Sis.”

Two months after she was first seen, Sis’s body laydecomposing in a townhouse in the business district.Mr Gaines says she died with one of her feet on thefloor, as though she was trying to get out of bed. Thefoot had rotted from the leg. Someone had covered herbody with clothes. But when Ms Martin tried to removethe clothes, Sis’s face started to come off with it.Just as downstairs bears the flood’s watermark, so theheadboard shows the stain her hair made as it splayedout above her head. “She had no face,” Mr Gaines says.”The skin had shrunk right up to the bones on the bodyand was jet black. All the fluids had run out of her.”

This is the gruesome sequel to the story that startedon these pages two months ago. Bodie is my wife’sgodmother. She had decided, along with her sister, tostay put as Hurricane Katrina came barrelling over theGulf. The house had been in the family for at least acentury and had withstood all other hurricanes.
Mr Gaines kept offering to take them out with him, butthey stayed put. “Bodie was the commander in chief andshe wasn’t moving,” Mr Gaines says.

“They thought they would be OK,” says Sis’s daughter,Deborah Holloway. “I wasn’t happy with their decisionbut I knew that’s how they wanted it to be.”

Indeed, the wind caused little damage to the house.But when the levees broke, the bottom floor filled up.Someone managed to get through to the women on theTuesday, and they were fine. Nobody knows quite whathappened between that conversation and the time whenthe rescuers arrived three days later. One of themwrote “Help” in red lipstick back to front on awindow, and hung a red scarf as a sign of distress.All around the house there are bottles of wate
r, somehalf finished; upstairs in the back room is half aloaf of bread.
What followed was a tragic tale of callousincompetence compounded by institutional indifference,and individual kindness negated by systemic failure.

Bodie was flown in an air force plane from New Orleansto San Antonio. Somewhere along the way, says MsHolloway, she had her bag stolen. When the familytracked her down in San Antonio, they went to see her.Ms Holloway says: “She was coherent, talkative, angryand very upset about her sister.” Her aunt lookedfrail and had lost a lot of weight.

Ms Holloway went to get Bodie some new clothes and herfavourite Jamocha almond fudge ice cream. Shortlyafter she came back, she died.

“She died in San Antonio but she died because ofKatrina,” Ms Holloway says. “I hope she’s counted asone of the dead.”

Two days later, on September 8, someone wrote in blackmarker pen, “1 elderly DOA [Dead on arrival]. 2ndfloor bedroom. No hazards,” on the front wall of theNew Orleans house. On September 10, Ms Holloway wascalled in California and asked for a DNA sample sothat her mother’s body could be identified. She wastold that a sample of Sis’s DNA had been taken, put itin a pouch with her identification and it would bematched with her daughter’s before the body wasreleased.

On September 13 Steven Pacheco, an official of theSociety for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals(nobody knows how that organisation got involved),went to the house and called to inform Ms Hollowaythat her mother was dead and that her mother hadwritten a letter to her daughter that was in herpurse.
Ms Holloway asked him if he would mind going back andgetting the letter and some other keepsakes. MrPacheco did. “There were so many good people all alongthe way,” Mrs Holloway says. “But so muchincompetence.” That day someone wrote “DOA upstairs”and the date on the same front wall of the house inred spraypaint.

On September 17, Ms Holloway held a double memorialservice for her mother and her aunt, presuming thather mother’s body was in St Gabriel’s morgue and wouldsoon be released. She kept calling but nobody couldhelp her locate the body. One volunteer said they didnot know which body was in which bodybag.
More than two weeks later, Mr Gaines arrived to findSis’s body still in the house. He called the emergencyservices and they finally came to take her away. Thistime they marked the house in yellow spray paint,right over the red.

Three days after the body was removed, thefirefighters came. They were gathering informationabout people who had not been found by their lovedones and wanted to know what had happened to Sis.

As of Friday, her body was at St Gabriel’s, still aprisoner of the appalling bureaucracy. “They say theywill not
release her until they have positiveidentification,” Ms Holloway says. “And I can’t tellyou how long that’s going to take. My mother deservedbetter than this. Whatever happened to dignity? Whowas responsible? She can’t be the only one.”

13) This is a little old now, but it shows how financially desperate LA is going to be. FEMA is currently asking a state with a 7 billion USD annual budget in a good year to pony up 3.7 billion USD for the stellar relief effort they’ve put together to date:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051104/ts_usatoday/louisianacantpaykatrinaritabills

Louisiana can’t pay Katrina, Rita bills
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
Fri Nov 4, 7:49 AM ET

Flood-ravaged Louisiana can’t pay the $3.7 billion that the U.S. government says is its share of hurricane relief, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Thursday.

“You can’t squeeze $3.7 billion out of this state to pay this bill. Period. That would be difficult for us on a good day,” the spokeswoman, Denise Bottcher, told USA TODAY.

Staffers for the governor “about fell over” Wednesday night when they received the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s estimate of the state’s costs for hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said Mark Merritt, a consultant working for Blanco.

FEMA projects that it will spend a total of $41.4 billion in Louisiana, about $9,000 per resident. Federal law requires state and local governments to pay a portion of disaster relief costs. That share can be as much as 25%. The $3.7 billion estimate is roughly 9% of FEMA’s projected costs in Louisiana.

The $3.7 billion represents just under half of the $8 billion the state spends per year and comes as the extensive flooding around New Orleans has severely undercut tax revenue. The state is in the midst of heavy cost-cutting to whittle down a projected $1 billion shortfall.

Congress would have to enact legislation to forgive Louisiana’s debt, FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews said. President Bush has waived certain state and local costs, such as debris removal, but he is bound by law to collect the $3.7 billion from Louisiana, she said.

Mississippi and Texas, also hit hard by this year’s hurricanes, have not received FEMA’s projected costs.
The issue of a state’s obligation to pay disaster relief costs occasionally creates controversy. On rare occasions, FEMA has threatened to report local governments to the U.S. Justice Department because federal money wasn’t reimbursed.

The bulk of the money Louisiana must pay will go toward paying for personal property lost in the storms. FEMA pays up to $26,200 per household for uninsured losses. Blanco’s office estimates that 60,000 households in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish alone will qualify for the payments. FEMA this week began notifying people that they will receive money.

Merritt is a former FEMA official who now works with former FEMA director James Lee Witt, an adviser to Blanco on hurricane recovery. Merritt said the scope of the disaster far exceeded anything envisioned when the relief agency was created. He called the costs “astronomically unprecedented.”

Before Hurricane Katrina, the largest FEMA disaster was the Sept. 11 attacks. FEMA spent $8.8 billion for relief in New York after Sept. 11, which equaled less than $500 per resident of the metro area, Merritt said.
“A disaster of this magnitude … has never happened on this scale in U.S. history,” Merritt said.

14) Katrina comparisons, or why the US is sticking it to NO so far:

Taking offense at comments by Gov Jeb Bush and because of numerous comparisons between our Louisiana experiences and circumstances in Florida or New York City, below is a list gathered from several sources that underscores the extent of the Katrina disaster compared to other hurricanes, including 1992’s Florida Hurricane Andrew, formerly considered America’s most destructive. All disasters are horrible, all hurricanes frightening, and each death is a tragedy in that family. Every effort to present an accurate picture was made, however one consistent problem has been an inability to nail down firm numbers. No statistics could be found for those still missing since Katrina, or those who died after evacuation to other areas.
Katrina 1,302 lives lostRita 119 lives lost (6 directly)Wilma 47 lives lost (21 directly)Andrew 65 lives lost (26 directly)
Katrina 250,000 to 350,000 homes destroyed Rita 10,000 homes destroyedWilma 150 homes destroyedAndrew 25,000 homes destroyed
Katrina $130,000,000,000 projectedRita 8,000,000,000 Wilma 15,000,000,000 Andrew 25,000,000,000
Katrina disaster assistance from Feds lowers to 75% after November 26Andrew disaster assistance from Feds was 100%September 11th disaster assistance from Feds was 100%
Katrina SBA loan approval rate: 1.6%Over 500,000 out of workCustomary SBA loan approval rate: 40-55%

15) After this article came out, the Saints agreed not to move for another year. This article shows how local sentiment stacked up about a potential Saints move that is still eventua
lly likely:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/football/nfl/11/03/bc.fbn.benson.saintsgam.ap/index.html

16) A little humor for those fed up with Republicans:

http://www.becomerepublican.com/

1) Italian media now reports that illegal phosphorous weapons were used at Falluja and other locales:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325560.ece

US forces ‘used chemical weapons’ during assault oncity of Fallujah

By Peter Popham Published: 08 November 2005

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that theUnited States dropped massive quantities of whitephosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during theattack on the city in November 2004, killinginsurgents and civilians with the appalling burns thatare the signature of this weapon.
Ever since the assault, which went unreported by anyWestern journalists, rumours have swirled that theAmericans used chemical weapons on the city.

On 10 November last year, the Islam Online websitewrote: “US troops are reportedly using chemicalweapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensiveon the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grimreminder of Saddam Hussein’s alleged gassing of theKurds in 1988.”

The website quoted insurgent sources as saying: “TheUS occupation troops are gassing resistance fightersand confronting them with internationally bannedchemical weapons.”

In December the US government formally denied thereports, describing them as “widespread myths”. “Somenews accounts have claimed that US forces have used’outlawed’ phosphorus shells in Fallujah,” the USinfowebsite said. “Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. USforces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, forillumination purposes.

“They were fired into the air to illuminate enemypositions at night, not at enemy fighters.”

But now new information has surfaced, includinghideous photographs and videos and interviews withAmerican soldiers who took part in the Fallujahattack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorusshells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.

In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italianstate broadcaster, this morning, a former Americansoldier who fought at Fallujah says: “I heard theorder to pay attention because they were going to usewhite phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it’sknown as Willy Pete.

“Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the fleshall the way down to the bone … I saw the burnedbodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes andforms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres isdone for.”

Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, thebroadcaster’s 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it,show exactly what the former soldier means. Providedby the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah,dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodiesof Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whoseclothes remain largely intact but whose skin has beendissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency ofleather by the shells.

A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewedfor the film, says: “A rain of fire fell on the city,the people struck by this multi-coloured substancestarted to burn, we found people dead with strangewounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact.”

The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the HiddenMassacre, also provides what it claims is clinchingevidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, anew, improved form of napalm, was used in the attackon Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on CertainConventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows itsuse against military targets.

Meanwhile, five US soldiers from the elite 75th RangerRegiment have been charged with kicking and punchingdetainees in Iraq.

The news came as a suicide car bomber killed fourAmerican soldiers at a checkpoint south of Baghdadyesterday.

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that theUnited States dropped massive quantities of whitephosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during theattack on the city in November 2004, killinginsurgents and civilians with the appalling burns thatare the signature of this weapon.
Ever since the assault, which went unreported by anyWestern journalists, rumours have swirled that theAmericans used chemical weapons on the city.

On 10 November last year, the Islam Online websitewrote: “US troops are reportedly using chemicalweapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensiveon the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grimreminder of Saddam Hussein’s alleged gassing of theKurds in 1988.”

The website quoted insurgent sources as saying: “TheUS occupation troops are gassing resistance fightersand confronting them with internationally bannedchemical weapons.”

In December the US government formally denied thereports, describing them as “widespread myths”. “Somenews accounts have claimed that US forces have used’outlawed’ phosphorus shells in Fallujah,” the USinfowebsite said. “Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. USforces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, forillumination purposes.

“They were fired into the air to illuminate enemypositions at night, not at enemy fighters.”
But now new information has surfaced, includinghideous photographs and videos and interviews withAmerican soldiers who took part in the Fallujahattack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorusshells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.

In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italianstate broadcaster, this morning, a former Americansoldier who fought at Fallujah says: “I heard theorder to pay attention because they were going to usewhite phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it’sknown as Willy Pete.”Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the fleshall the way down to the bone … I saw the burnedbodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes andforms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres isdone for.”

Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, thebroadcaster’s 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it,show exactly what the former soldier means. Providedby the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah,dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodiesof Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whoseclothes remain largely intact but whose skin has beendissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency ofleather by the shells.

A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewedfor the film, says: “A rain of fire fell on the city,the people struck by this multi-coloured substancestarted to burn, we found people dead with strangewounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact.”

The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the HiddenMassacre, also provides what it claims is clinchingevidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, anew, improved form of napalm, was used in the attackon Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on CertainConventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows itsuse against military targets.

Meanwhile, five US soldiers from the elite 75th RangerRegiment have been charged with kicking and punchingdetainees in Iraq.

The news came as a suicide car bomber killed fourAmerican soldiers at a checkpoint south of Baghdadyesterday.

2) Here’s the link to the Italian story referred to above and below:

http://www.rainews24.it/Notizia.asp?NewsID=57784

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/7/11819/9522

Italian Satellite TV to Broadcast Evidence of US Useof Chemical Weapons on Civilians by paper tigress [Subscribe] Mon Nov 07, 2005 at 09:08:19 AM PDT

Italian media going full-bore on the BushAdministration. After its revelations on thesubterfuge behind the Nigergate forgeries, documentaryevidence of the use by US troops of phosphorus and anew formulaton of napalm [MK77] on the Sunni civilianpopulation will be broadcast tomorrow on international
satellite TV. Global coverage of the atrocity, folks.

paper tigress’s diary :: :: A news program on Italian satellite TV, RAI News 24,has substantiated the claim that the US military hasbeen exploiting the dual use of white phosporus. Inits siege of Fallujah, the chemical was used on thecivilian populace. The story is in today’s Repubblica. The Bush Adminstration and the DoD are about to beshamed before the eyes of the world.
:::

Shocking revelation RAI News 24. Use of chemicalweapons by the US military in Iraq. Veteran admits:Bodies melted away before us.

White phosphorous used on the civilian populace: Thisis how the US “took” Fallujah.

New napalm formula also used.

ROME. In soldier slang they call it Willy Pete. Thetechnical name is white phosphorus. In theory itspurpose is to illumine enemy positions in the dark. Inpractice, it was used as a chemical weapon in therebel stronghold of Fallujah. And it was used not onlyagainst enemy combatants and guerrillas, but againinnocent civilians.

The Americans are responsible fora massacre using unconventional weapons, the identicalcharge for which Saddam Hussein stands accused. Aninvestigation by RAI News 24, the all-news Italiansatellite television channel, has pulled the veil fromone of the most carefully concealed mysteries from thefront in the entire US military campaign in Iraq.

A US veteran of the Iraq war told RAI Newcorrespondent Sigfrido Ranucci this: I received theorder use caution because we had used white phosphoruson Fallujah. In military slag it is called ‘WillyPete’. Phosphorus burns the human body on contact–iteven melts it right down to the bone.

RAI News 24’s investigative story, Fallujah, TheConcealed Massacre, will be broadcast tomorrow onRAI-3 and will contain not only eye-witness accountsby US military personnel but those from Fallujahresidents. A rain of fire descended on the city.People who were exposed to those multicoloredsubstance began to burn. We found people with bizarrewounds-their bodies burned but their clothes intact,relates Mohamad Tareq al-Deraji, a biologist andFallujah resident.

I gathered accounts of the use of phosphorus andnapalm from a few Fallujah refugees whom I met beforebeing kidnapped, says Manifesto reporter GiulianaSgrena, who was kidnapped in Fallujah last February,in a recorded interview. I wanted to get the storyout, but my kidnappers would not permit it.
RAI News 24 will broadcast video and photographs takenin the Iraqi city during and after the November 2004bombardment which prove that the US military, contraryto statements in a December 9 communiqué from the USDepartment of State, did not use phosphorus toilluminate enemy positions (which would have beenlegitimate) but instend dropped white phosphorusindiscriminately and in massive quantities on thecity’s neighborhoods.

In the investigative story, produced by MaurizioTorrealta, dramatic footage is shown revealing theeffects of the bombardment on civilians, women andchildren, some of whom were surprised in their sleep.
The investigation will also broadcast documentaryproof of the use in Iraq of a new napalm formulacalled MK77. The use of the incendiary substance oncivilians is forbidden by a 1980 UN treaty. The use ofchemical weapons is forbidden by a treaty which the USsigned in 1997

Fallujah. La strage nascosta [Fallujah, The ConcealedMassacre] will be shown on RAI News tomorrow November8th at 07:35 (via HOT BIRDTM statellite, Sky Channel506 and RAI-3), and rebroadcast by HOT BIRDTMsatellite and Sky Channel 506 at 17:00 [5 pm] and overthe next two days.

3) Monbiot points out how the media has decided to ignore with a conspiracy of silence the Lancet’s estimate that by now well over 100,000 Iraqis have died since the US invaded the country:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1636605,00.html

The media are minimising US and British war crimes inIraq

The reporting of the Iraqi death toll – both in itsscale and account of who is doing the killing – isprofoundly dishonest

George Monbiot
Tuesday November 8, 2005
The Guardian

We were told that the Iraqis don’t count. Before theinvasion began, the head of US central command,General Thomas Franks, boasted that “we don’t do bodycounts”. His claim was repeated by Donald Rumsfeld inNovember 2003 (“We don’t do body counts on otherpeople”) and the Pentagon last January (“The onlything we keep track of is casualties for US troops andcivilians”).

But it’s not true. Almost every week the Pentagonclaims to have killed 50 or 70 or 100 insurgents inits latest assault on the latest stronghold of theubiquitous monster Zarqawi. In May the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff said that his soldiers hadkilled 250 of Zarqawi’s “closest lieutenants” (or so500 of his best friends had told him). But last week,the Pentagon did something new. Buried in its latestsecurity report to Congress is a bar chart labelled”average daily casualties – Iraqi and coalition. 1 Jan04-16 Sep 05″. The claim that it kept no track ofIraqi deaths was false.

The report does not explain what it means by casualty,or if its figures represent all casualties, onlyinsurgents, or, as the foregoing paragraph appears tohint, only civilians killed by insurgents. There is noexplanation of how the figures were gathered orcompiled. The only accompanying text consists of thewords “Source: MNC-I”, which means Multi-NationalCorps – Iraq. We’ll just have to trust them.

What the chart shows is that these unexplainedcasualties have more than doubled since the beginningof the Pentagon’s survey. From January to March 2004,26 units of something or other were happening everyday, while in September 2005 the something or otherrose to 64. But whatever it is that’s been rising, theweird morality of this war dictates that it isreported as good news. Journalists have beenmultiplying the daily average of mystery units by thenumber of days, discovering that the figure is lowerthan previous estimates of Iraqi deaths, and using itto cast doubts on them. As ever, the study in the lineof fire is the report published by the Lancet inOctober last year.

It was a household survey – of 988 homes in 33randomly selected districts – and it suggested, on thebasis of the mortality those households reportedbefore and after the invasion, that the risk of deathin Iraq had risen by a factor of 1.5; somewherebetween 8,000 and 194,000 extra people had died, withthe most probable figure being 98,000. Around half thedeaths, if Falluja was included, or 15% if it was not,were caused by violence, and the majority of those byattacks on the part of US forces.

In the US and the UK, the study was either ignored ortorn to bits. The media described it as “inflated”,”overstated”, “politicised” and “out of proportion”.Just about every possible misunderstanding anddistortion of its statistics was published, of whichthe most remarkable was the Observer’s claim that:”The report’s authors admit it drew heavily on therebel stronghold of Falluja, which has been plagued byfierce fighting. Strip out Falluja, as the studyitself acknowledged, and the mortality rate is reduceddramatically.” In fact, as they made clear on pageone, the authors had stripped out Falluja; theirestimate of 98,000 deaths would otherwise have beenmuch higher.

But the attacks in the press succeeded in sinking thestudy. Now, whenever a newspaper or broadcasterproduces an estimate of civilian deaths, the Lancetreport is passed over in favour of lesser figures. Forthe past three months, the editors and subscribers ofthe website Medialens have been writing to papers andbroadcasters to try to find out why. The standardresponse, exemplified by a letter from the BBC’sonline news service last week, is that the study’s”technique of sampling and extrapolating from sampleshas been criticised”. That’s true, and by the samereasoning
we could dismiss the fact that 6 millionpeople were killed in the Holocaust, on the groundsthat this figure has also been criticised, albeit byskinheads. The issue is not whether the study has beencriticised, but whether the criticism is valid.
As Medialens has pointed out, it was the same leadauthor, using the same techniques, who reported that1.7 million people had died as a result of conflict inthe Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That findinghas been cited by Tony Blair, Colin Powell and almostevery major newspaper on both sides of the Atlantic,and none has challenged either the method or theresult. Using the Congo study as justification, the UNsecurity council called for all foreign armies toleave the DRC and doubled the country’s UN aid budget.

The other reason the press gives for burying theLancet study is that it is out of line with competingestimates. Like Jack Straw, wriggling his way aroundthe figures in a written ministerial statement, theycompare it to the statistics compiled by the Iraqihealth ministry and the website Iraq Body Count.

In December 2003, Associated Press reported that”Iraq’s health ministry has ordered a halt to a countof civilians killed during the war”. According to thehead of the ministry’s statistics department, both thepuppet government and the Coalition ProvisionalAuthority demanded that it be stopped. As Naomi Kleinhas shown on these pages, when US soldiers stormedFalluja (a year ago today), their first action was toseize the general hospital and arrest the doctors. TheNew York Times reported that “the hospital wasselected as an early target because the Americanmilitary believed that it was the source of rumoursabout heavy casualties”. After the coalition had usedthese novel statistical methods to improve theresults, Blair told parliament that “figures from theIraqi ministry of health, which are a survey from thehospitals there, are in our view the most accuratesurvey there is”.

Iraq Body Count, whose tally has reached26,000-30,000, measures only civilian deaths which canbe unambiguously attributed to the invasion and whichhave been reported by two independent news agencies.As the compilers point out, “it is likely that many ifnot most civilian casualties will go unreported by themedia … our own total is certain to be anunderestimate of the true position, because of gaps inreporting or recording”. Of the seven mortalityreports surveyed by the Overseas DevelopmentInstitute, the estimate in the Lancet’s paper was onlythe third highest. It remains the most thorough studypublished so far. Extraordinary as its numbers seem,they are the most likely to be true.

And what of the idea that most of the violent deathsin Iraq are caused by coalition troops? Well accordingto the Houston Chronicle, even Blair’s favourite datasource, the Iraqi health ministry, reports that twiceas many Iraqis – and most of them civilians – arebeing killed by US and UK forces as by insurgents.When the Pentagon claims that it has just killed 50 or70 or 100 rebel fighters, we have no means of knowingwho those people really were. Everyone it blows topieces becomes a terrorist. In July Jack Keane, theformer vice chief of staff of the US army, claimedthat coalition troops had killed or captured more than50,000 “insurgents” since the start of the rebellion.Perhaps they were all Zarqawi’s closest lieutenants.

We can expect the US and UK governments to seek tominimise the extent of their war crimes. But it’s timethe media stopped collaborating.

www.monbiot.com

4) For those who are exasperated by Ahmedinejad’s comments about Israel, here are some parallel examples arising from Israeli politicians through the ages:

Words that Went Unpunished
Jihad el-Khazen
Al-Hayat – 07/11/05//

As we all know now, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoting Ayatollah Khomeini as he spoke to students who gathered in Tehran for a conference called “The World Without Zionism.”

All hell broke loose after the speech and Iran was threatened by the same countries which apologize for Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.

I said yesterday words don’t kill, bullets do. But since the West show more interest in words than deeds, I have the following:

-“If only it would sink into the sea”, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin referring to Gaza, just before signing the Oslo Accords.

“I don’t know something called International Principles. I vow that I’ll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child’s existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I’ve killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do”, Ariel Sharon, current Prime Minister, in an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.

-“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population”, David Ben-Gurion, May 1948, to the General Staff. Also Israel Koenig “The Koenig memorandum”.

-“Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories”, Benjamin Netanyahu: Speech at Bar-Ilan University, 1989.

-“We must expel Arabs and take their places”, David Ben Gurion, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985.

-“We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves.” Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv , October 1983.

-“[I advocate] using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes [and] against recalcitrant Arabs as an experiment. [I do not understand] the squeamishness about the use of gas […] We cannot in any circumstamstances acquiesce in the non-utilisation of any weapons which are available to procure a speedy termination of the disorder which prevails on the frontier.” Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State at the British War Office, authorising RAF Middle East Command to attack rebelling Iraqis with chemical weapons, 1919.

-“The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more”…. Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time – August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000 .

-“The Palestinians” would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” Israeli Prime Minister Menahim Begin in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988
They are all Menahim Begin. But bad as they are they are no worse than their apologists who provide them with cover, and always come up with excuses to justify their crimes.

The Israeli translation company Memri would translate a sermon of an Imam in a desert outpost that no Muslims outside the outpost itself had heard of. But it does not translate the venom of the settlers’ rabbis. Four Palestinian civilians have been killed by settlers since the withdrawal from Gaza and about one hundred other civilians by military strikes since the hudna (truce) of February. This is terrorism, not words that mean nothing in practical terms.

http://www.j-khazen.blogspot.com/

5) Here’s a website devoted to recording transgressions against the laws of warfare in Iraq:

http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Ar
ticlesIraq2.htm#AlQaim

6) Mark LeVine analyzes the profits to be gained from chaos in the Middle East:

Playing the Chaos Card in the Middle East
By Mark A. LeVine

Within twenty-four hours, on October 16-17, the New York Times ran three stories about the threat increasing chaos posed to emerging, still fragile political orders in Iraq, Palestine, and the Sudan. In all three cases, the chaos afflicting these societies was described as an unintentional and negative consequence of ill-conceived policies put in place by the various governments involved: the U.S. in Iraq, Israel as it withdrew from Gaza, and the Sudanese Government as it finally tried to restrain marauding Janjaweed militias in Darfur. In no case was the chaos viewed as intentional or beneficial to one or more of the forces competing for control of these countries….

7) This article analyzes the effects of current US foreign policy on perceptions of US brand marketing:

Bush’s Bad Business Empire
Making the World Unsafe for Microsoft and Mickey Mouse
By Mark Engler

The Bush administration has a reputation for creating an unusually business-friendly White House. Put Dick Cheney’s secretive Energy Task Force and massive tax cuts together with corporate lobbyists writing regulations for their own industries, and you’ve made an argument that seems pretty persuasive.

There are reasons, however, to consider a contrary notion: Maybe George Bush and Dick Cheney aren’t very good capitalists at all.

George W. Bush’s history as a failed businessman is well known. Dick Cheney, portrayed by conservatives as a brilliant ex-CEO and by progressives as a Halliburton shill, also has a suspect past. While he certainly increased Halliburton’s profile in four-and-a-half years as its chief, his foremost accomplishment was the $7.7 billion acquisition in 1998 of Dresser Industries, a rival that turned out to be plagued with staggering asbestos-related liabilities. In the wake of Cheney’s reign, multiple Halliburton divisions sought bankruptcy protection and the company’s stock price plunged. Rolling Stone magazine reported in August 2004, “Even with the bounce Halliburton stock has received from the war, an investor who put $100,000 into the company just before Cheney became vice president would have less than $60,000 today.”

Many analysts hold the Vice President accountable for the downturn, arguing that Dresser’s asbestos problems, which cost Halliburton billions, were predictable. Less harsh critics nonetheless question his success as a business leader. For instance, Jason E. Putman, an energy analyst at Victory Capital Management, argues that, as Halliburton chief, “[o]verall, Cheney did maybe at best an average job.” Newsweek’s Wall Street editor, Allan Sloan, is less complimentary, suggesting Cheney was a “CEO who messed up big-time.”

When it comes to Iraq, we hear a lot about the government largesse flowing toward Halliburton, Bechtel, and a handful of other favored firms. Less often do we consider the possibility that the administration’s “war on terrorism” has been a major business blunder. If you start, though, with the lackluster corporate records of Bush and Cheney, the administration’s foreign policy comes into quite a different focus. Even if you believe that the White House is designing its overseas crusade to benefit U.S. corporations, there’s no reason to assume that it has been doing so successfully.

Increasingly, the business press is suggesting that corporate leaders, who once hoped the current administration would push the corporate globalization of the Clinton years to new heights, now fear another fate from the international order Bush has created. Tax cuts and deregulation on the domestic front have been obvious bonuses, but otherwise many U.S. multinationals face a troubling scene. The White House’s failed CEOs have pursued a global agenda that, at best, benefits a narrow slice of the American business community and leaves the rest exposed to a world of popular resentment and economic uncertainty.
When it comes to the interventions of Bush, Cheney, Condi, and the neocons in the global economy, “at best an average job” might be a charitable judgment, and “messed up big-time” could be closer to reality. Those business people who have yet to join the majority that opposes the president’s handling of his war in Iraq — or the increasing chorus of conservative critics who have begun questioning the administration’s foreign policy — may soon have a long list of reasons to get on the bandwagon, starting with the bottom line.
Not KFC’s War

In recent years, KFC has had some trying moments in the Muslim world. In early September, a bomb exploded inside one of the company’s fried-chicken outlets in Karachi, Pakistan. It was not the first time the chain had been targeted. In May, a Shia mob, angered by U.S. backing for President Pervez Musharraf and by reported abuses at Guantánamo Bay, set fire to another KFC outlet — one decked out with large images of Colonel Sanders set atop fields of stars and stripes. Two other branches were destroyed shortly after the U.S. attack on Afghanistan in 2001.

The woes affecting KFC go well beyond one fast-food chain — McDonald’s, too, has been attacked in Pakistan and Indonesia — and the torching of fast-food outlets is only the most dramatic sign of the new business climate being fostered by a changing American foreign policy. If Clinton’s diplomatic affairs could be described as a sustained effort to make the world safe for Mickey Mouse, Microsoft, and popcorn chicken, the Bush/Cheney agenda represents something altogether more dangerous for business.

The Clinton administration served as a steady advocate for building a cooperative, “rules-based” international economy — a multilateral order known to critics as “corporate globalization.” The Bush administration, while purporting to be interested in issues like “free trade,” has offered up a very different set of policies. Aggressive and unilateralist, it has fashioned a new model of “imperial globalization” which has even put multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organization, decried by globalization activists, in jeopardy. Rather than working through such bodies, the current administration has regularly shown intransigence in international negotiations around trade and development; it has focused on tying its aid for other countries directly to its militarist prerogatives; and it has tried to deny war-weary “Old Europe” its traditional role as a junior partner in the globalization endeavor. In the process, it has begun dismantling an international order that se! rved multinational corporations very well in the booming 1990s, and facilitated their rise over the past 30 years.

In short: If Bush is an oil president, he’s not a Disney president, nor a Coca-Cola one. If Cheney is working diligently to help Halliburton rebound, the war he helped lead hasn’t worked out nearly so well for Starbucks.

A Bungled-Brand America

Whether the administration’s bold gamble for U.S. global dominance will prove profitable either in the near future or in the long run, the business costs of this approach are already becoming evident. For starters, the new wave of anti-Americanism sweeping the planet goes far beyond KFC bombings in South Asia or widespread hostility in the Middle East. In Asia, the South China Morning Post has noted that a “strong, growing hostility” toward the United States has complicated Disney’s expansion plans in the area. The Bush imperial foreign policy, moreover, is inspiring consumer backlash even among traditional allies.
In December 2004, Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service reported on a survey of 8,000 international consumers released by the Seattle-based Global Market Insite (GMI) Inc. The survey noted that

“one-third of all consumers in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom said that U.S. foreign
policy, particularly the ‘war on terror’ and the occupation of Iraq, constituted their strongest impression of the United States… ‘Unfortunately, current American foreign policy is viewed by international consumers as a significant negative, when it used to be a positive,’ comments Dr. Mitchell Eggers, GMI’s chief operating officer and chief pollster.”

Brands the survey identified as particularly at risk at the time included Marlboro cigarettes, America Online (AOL), McDonald’s, American Airlines, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron Texaco, United Airlines, Budweiser, Chrysler, Barbie Doll, Starbucks, and General Motors.

More recent assessments have verified these trends. Indeed, in past months, a litany of stories in the financial
press featured unnerving questions for business. Typical were the British Financial Times in August (World Turning Its Back on Brand America) and Forbes in September (Is Brand America In Trouble?).

A U.S. Banker magazine article from August relaying the results of an Edelman Trust Barometer survey of global elites found that “41 percent of Canadian elites were less likely to purchase American products because of Bush Administration policies, compared to 56 percent in the UK, 61 percent in France, 49 percent in Germany and 42 percent in Brazil.”

It’s not just snooty foreigners who are negative, either. American business leaders themselves have been starting to link economic woes to imperial policy. The previously mentioned U.S. Banker article warned, “[T]he majority of American CEOs, whose firms employ eight million overseas, are now acknowledging that anti-American sentiment is a problem.” And a 2004 Boston Herald story, headlined Mass. Execs: Iraqi War Hurting; U.S. competitiveness becoming a casualty, pointed to the “sixty-two percent of executives surveyed by Opinion Dynamics Corp. [who] said the war is hurting America’s global competitiveness.”

Regularly featured in stories about America’s image problems is a group of corporate executives who have come together as Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA).While avoiding an explicit stance on the Iraq war, the BDA argues:

“The costs associated with rising anti-American sentiment are exponential. From security and economic costs to an erosion in our ability to engender trust around the world and recruit the best and brightest, the U.S. stands to lose its competitive edge if steps are not made toward reversing the negativity associated with America.”

Compared to the adverse impacts of Bush’s imperial globalization, the administration’s efforts at Karen-Hughes-style brand rehabilitation are laughable — and the BDA knows it. Taking diplomatic matters into their own hands, BDA spokespeople flatly state, “Right now the US government is not a credible messenger.”

A Quagmire for Corporations

Is the problem just one of perception, or have the wages of war cut into business profits? In June 2004, USA Today reporter James Cox wrote about how financially ailing companies are pointing to the war as the culprit:

“Hundreds of companies blame the Iraq war for poor financial results in 2003, many warning that continued U.S. military involvement there could harm this year’s performance. In recent regulatory filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), airlines, home builders, broadcasters, mortgage providers, mutual funds and others directly blame the war for lower revenues and profits last year.”

Among those complaining, Hewlett-Packard claimed that the occupation of Iraq has created uncertainty and hurt its stock price; meanwhile, media companies Hearst-Argyle Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Journal Communications bemoaned the number of TV and radio ads pre-empted by war news.
While fingering the war might be just a convenient excuse for some underperforming executives, the level of grumbling is noteworthy, as are the comments of outspoken fund managers profiled by Cox:

“‘The war in Iraq created a quagmire for corporations,’ David J. Galvan, a portfolio manager for Wayne Hummer Income Fund, says in his letter to shareholders.

“Vintage Mutual Funds concludes that ‘the price of these commitments (in Iraq and Afghanistan) may be more than the American public had expected or is willing to tolerate’…

“In an SEC filing, Domenic Colasacco, manager of the Boston Balanced Fund, calls the ongoing U.S. occupation ‘sad and increasingly risky.'”

Of course, we know that reconstruction companies are posting profits. Sales of gas masks and armored Humvees are also up. But such war-supported companies are a small minority. On the other hand, the diverse businesses in the tourism industry have taken a huge blow. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Orbitz, Priceline.com, Morton’s steakhouses, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, and Host Marriott, to name just a few, have blamed disappointing returns on the war. Travel industry leaders have warned:

“The US is losing billions of dollars as international tourists are deterred from visiting the US because of a tarnished image overseas and more bureaucratic visa policies… ‘It’s an economic imperative to address these problems,’ said Roger Dow, chief executive of the Travel Industry Association of America, tourism’s main trade body… Mr. Dow stressed that tourism contributed to a positive perception of the US… ‘If we don’t address these issues in tourism, the long-term impact for American brands Coca-Cola, General Motors, McDonald’s could be very damaging.'”

Economic Nightmares Foretold

Every year, the global business elite gathers at a resort in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. In the high-flying Clinton years, a feeling of exuberance pervaded the globalists’ gathering — protests outside their meetings notwithstanding. By January 2003, however, the mood in Davos had already darkened perceptibly. Economic optimism was waning. The coming war in Iraq, in particular, was causing concern. Corporate leaders showed little more enthusiasm than the protestors outside for the impending unilateralist invasion. Analysts fed their misgivings, citing “the threat of war as the biggest question mark hanging over global growth prospects.”

Around the same time, progressive economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot detailed a possible worst-case scenario in a policy report entitled The Economic Costs of a War in Iraq. Beyond the costs of anti-Americanism abroad, they focused on three additional areas of concern: A war-related oil shock that might cost the American economy hundreds of thousands of jobs over a seven-year period; a heightened risk of terrorist attacks in the U.S. which might result in increased security costs, slowing the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and a likelihood that increased oil prices would drag the developing world into a deep recession.

I asked Baker how relevant the report’s concerns have proven. Though he emphasizes that the worst did not come to pass, he notes worrying signs. Oil prices have indeed skyrocketed, owing largely to increased demand from China and India, but exacerbated by Iraq’s AWOL oil. Moreover, as each new intelligence estimate predicts that we are less, not more, secure because of the Iraqi occupation, the risk of an economy-crippling attack grows. Already, Baker points out, the hours we spend waiting in security lines at the airport or delayed in city subways represent costly economic losses.

Then, of course, there is the as yet unrealized possibility that spreading guerilla warfare and terrorism will include escalating sabotage against vast and largely indefensible stretches of oil pipeline in the Middle East. It is this scenario among others that caused professor of Middle Eastern history and Informed Comment blogger Juan Cole to liken Bush’s Iraq debacle to “throwing grenades around in the cockpit of the world economy.”
Such costs, foretold before the invasion, suggest that the pre-war pessimism in Davos was well justified. And such a modest li
st hardly exhausts the possible economic “downsides” to Bush administration policies in Iraq and beyond. The debate about Congressional spending, for one, deserves at least passing mention. Whether fiscal conservatives are right that Iraq- and tax-cut-bloated deficits are necessarily bad for business, or whether Military Keynesianism has actually been helping to soften a periodic economic downturn, the idea of war without sacrifice should sound fishy to any account-minded executive. Take direct war costs running in the hundreds of billions, add in medical bills for disabled veterans, then throw in the costs of National Guard reservists being pulled from small businesses, and pretty soon you’re talking real money. At some point the overvalued dollar, which our creditors in the central banks of C! hina and Japan have decided to let ride for the time being, will have to come down and is likely to bring the economy with it. When that happens, Colonel Sanders won’t be the only one to feel the pain.

Will Business Turn?

Back in August of the 2004 election cycle, the Kerry campaign distributed a list of 204 business executives who supported the candidate’s policies. It was a nice try, but, as Bloomberg News reported, the Democrat trailed Bush badly in corporate support. Fifty-two chief executives from major companies had by then donated to Kerry; 280 to the president’s re-election campaign. (Business being business, “at least three executives on Kerry’s list also gave the maximum $2,000 to Bush’s re-election campaign.”)

A year has passed since the elections. Approval ratings for the victorious president continue to sink to all-time lows, and “staying the course” remains official Washington policy for Iraq. In this context, it’s not surprising that Republican “realists” like Brent Scowcroft (who warned in a Wall Street Journal op-ed before the war that “it undoubtedly would be very expensive — with serious consequences for the U.S. and global economy”) are making noise again. And it would make perfect sense if an increasing number of those Bush CEOs were by now pining for a return to Clinton-style multilateral globalization of a sort still held out by the defeated Senator from Massachusetts and many other Democrats.

Neither of these alternative camps will seem particularly appealing to progressives, but they pose a genuine threat to the imperial globalists who seem incapable of extracting themselves from Iraq. Indeed, intra-party rivalry among the Republicans — which is likely to increase as we enter an election year — could play a vital role in turning White House hawks into dead ducks. All the better if this avian transformation is sped by dissatisfaction from corporate leaders reevaluating the costs of Bush foreign policy and deciding that empire just doesn’t pay.

Mark Engler, a writer based in New York City, is an analyst with Foreign Policy In Focus and a contributor to TomPaine.com, Newsday, and In These Times. He can be reached via the web site DemocracyUprising.com. Research assistance for this article was provided by Kate Griffiths.

Copyright 2005 Mark Engler

8) This Guardian op-ed last week caused quite a storm in the UK:

Iraq war has exposed us to terror at home, says Meyer

Ewen MacAskill and Julian GloverSaturday November 5, 2005
Guardian

Britain’s former ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, delivers a damaging critique of Tony Blair’s approach to the war in Iraq in an interview in the Guardian today.

Sir Christopher, who had a ringside seat in the decision-making that led to the war, unfavourably contrasts Mr Blair with the boldness and attention to detail of Margaret Thatcher. He says Lady Thatcher took pride in knowing more detail than her officials. “That is why it was terrifying to be summoned into her presence because if you did not know your stuff, she would expose you. There was never that danger with Tony Blair.”
He takes issue with the prime minister’s claim that the war has not exposed Britain to terrorist attacks: “There is plenty of evidence around at the moment that home-grown terrorism was partly radicalised and fuelled by what is going on in Iraq. There is no way we can credibly get up and say it has nothing to do with it. Don’t tell me that being in Iraq has got nothing to do with it. Of course it does.”

Sir Christopher gave the interview to mark the publication of DC Confidential, the first account by an insider of the decision-making that led to war, to be serialised in the Guardian from Monday.

Unusually for a diplomat, his account is revealing about a host of cabinet ministers who passed through the Washington embassy, such as John Prescott and Jack Straw, and exposes the vanities of advisers such as Lord Levy, Mr Blair’s Middle East envoy.

But the part of the book which will attract the most attention concerns Mr Blair and his dealings with George Bush in the run-up to war. He portrays the PM as a man of moral and philosophical certitude but not overly interested in the nitty-gritty of policy. In the interview, he says it would be wrong to see Mr Blair as “an empty vessel”. He adds: “By God, in British politics, when on top of his game, his speeches are incredible.”
Sir Christopher, who supported the war, sat in on the crucial meetings between Mr Blair and Mr Bush, reading transcripts of their private phone calls and regularly meeting figures such as Dick Cheney, the vice-president, and Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary.

He reveals that the Foreign Office, which raised doubts about the wisdom of the war, had been even more marginalised by Downing Street than had until now been realised. He said he dealt almost exclusively with Downing Street in the 18 months before the war and could recall few, if any, phone calls with the Foreign Office in that time.

Sir Christopher said he had reflected hard on his time in Washington and its influence on the Iraq war. Although he supported the war and still feels it was right in principle, he now believes that much could have been done differently.

9) Blair blames France for preventing the “UN cover” that would have rendered the 2003 invasion of Iraq legal. Perhaps, but if France and the other 11 SC members who opposed war HAD authorized the invasion, that would have been sufficient cause for pretty much the entire 3rd world to leave the UN altogether — because the invasion would not have been any more legitimate in the eyes of that part of the world, and US forces in Iraq would not faced any less resistance than they are seeing today:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article325480.ece

Blair blames France for Iraq war in reply todiplomat’s claims

By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 08 November 2005

Tony Blair has angrily rejected the charge byBritain’s former ambassador to Washington, SirChristopher Meyer, that he could have used his “swingvote” to stop the US going to war in Iraq.

Sir Christopher claimed in his outspoken memoirs thatBritain’s support for military action was “taken forgranted” by the White House, after Mr Blair agreed tomilitary action with reservations at the Bush ranch inCrawford, Texas, in April 2002.

At his monthly press conference yesterday, the PrimeMinister responded with claims that the FrenchPresident, Jacques Chirac, was to blame for the slideto war without a second UN resolution. He said theFrench had threatened to veto a second UN resolutionon Iraq.

Mr Blair told journalists: “If you go back and look atwhat happened in March 2003, I think you will see thatI made the most strenuous efforts to get a second UNresolution and to end up with a second resolution thatwould have given us more time. The fact is, wecouldn’t get one for a very simple reason: the Frenchmade it clear they would veto any such resolution.”

Senior French so
urces accused Mr Blair of a faultymemory. “Only four out of the 15 members of theSecurity Council supported a new resolution andBritain needed nine to win approval. It is completelywrong to blame it on France,” said one official.

Sir Christopher supported the French in concludingthat the French opposition to the draft UN resolutionwas not final. He said: “I never interpreted theFrench refusal to accept the draft of a secondresolution as a refusal for ever and a day. Indiplomacy, you never say never.

“Talking to me in private, French officials accuseAmerica and Britain of deliberately exaggeratingFrance’s position to justify going to war withoutfurther UN cover.”

Sir Christopher, 61, a career diplomat, said that inearly October 2002 he asked a White House contactwhether the US mobilisation for war had advanced sofar that it was unstoppable. “I was told that thePresident had not yet signed off on going to war.Nothing was irrevocable.”

He said President Bush would still have faced anagonising decision if he had encountered oppositionfrom his key ally, Britain, in the weeks before thewar in 2003. “The advice the British Prime Ministerthen gave the US President would never have been moreimportant in my time in Washington. It could even bethe swing vote for war or peace. The pendulum neverswung back again.”

Tony Blair has angrily rejected the charge byBritain’s former ambassador to Washington, SirChristopher Meyer, that he could have used his “swingvote” to stop the US going to war in Iraq.

Sir Christopher claimed in his outspoken memoirs thatBritain’s support for military action was “taken forgranted” by the White House, after Mr Blair agreed tomilitary action with reservations at the Bush ranch inCrawford, Texas, in April 2002.

At his monthly press conference yesterday, the PrimeMinister responded with claims that the FrenchPresident, Jacques Chirac, was to blame for the slideto war without a second UN resolution. He said theFrench had threatened to veto a second UN resolutionon Iraq.

Mr Blair told journalists: “If you go back and look atwhat happened in March 2003, I think you will see thatI made the most strenuous efforts to get a second UNresolution and to end up with a second resolution thatwould have given us more time. The fact is, wecouldn’t get one for a very simple reason: the Frenchmade it clear they would veto any such resolution.”

Senior French sources accused Mr Blair of a faultymemory. “Only four out of the 15 members of theSecurity Council supported a new resolution andBritain needed nine to win approval. It is completelywrong to blame it on France,” said one official.Sir Christopher supported the French in concludingthat the French opposition to the draft UN resolutionwas not final. He said: “I never interpreted theFrench refusal to accept the draft of a secondresolution as a refusal for ever and a day. Indiplomacy, you never say never.

“Talking to me in private, French officials accuseAmerica and Britain of deliberately exaggeratingFrance’s position to justify going to war withoutfurther UN cover.”

Sir Christopher, 61, a career diplomat, said that inearly October 2002 he asked a White House contactwhether the US mobilisation for war had advanced sofar that it was unstoppable. “I was told that thePresident had not yet signed off on going to war.Nothing was irrevocable.”

He said President Bush would still have faced anagonising decision if he had encountered oppositionfrom his key ally, Britain, in the weeks before thewar in 2003. “The advice the British Prime Ministerthen gave the US President would never have been moreimportant in my time in Washington. It could even bethe swing vote for war or peace. The pendulum neverswung back again.”

10) Peak Oil again:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1636920,00.html

Jeremy Leggett explains how a bid to defuse the comingglobal peak-oil crisis was sidelined
Tuesday November 8, 2005

History shows that James Schlesinger, a formerdirector of the CIA, is not a man to mess with. Assecretary of defence during the first oil shock in1973, he threatened to invade the Arabian peninsula ifthe Saudis didn’t reopen the oil pumps they had shutdown in ire over the October war, thus precipitatingthe crisis.

In an interesting contrast with the US’s currentprofessed intentions in Iraq, Mr Schlesinger was onrecord then as saying: “Militarily we could haveseized one of the Arab states. And the plan did indeedscare and anger them. No, it wasn’t just bravado. Itwas clearly intended as a warning. I think the Arabswere quite worried about it after 73”.

So it was with some surprise that participants in lastweek’s oil summit in Rimini, Italy, heard MrSchlesinger give a speech warning of a grave threat tothe world economy from a coming peak in oilproduction.
Addressing a select audience that included oilministers and senior officials from the oil cartelOpec, the energy watchdog International Energy Agency,and the UN, plus advocates of a premature oil peaksuch as the former British cabinet minister MichaelMeacher, Mr Schlesinger offered a graphic analogy.

The peak-oil threat and the response to it arereminiscent, he said, of the rumbles under Vesuviusand the reaction to them of its hapless residents.”The peak or plateau is coming,” he said.

He’s right. We don’t know exactly when, but theprobability is sooner rather than later. When it comesto oilfield discoveries these days, oil companies arefinding small deposits, in contrast with the massiveoilfields of old. In fact, 80% of global productiontoday still come from the oilfields discovered before1970, and these are being rapidly pumped towardsexhaustion.

Yet demand is soaring. “Political systems do not dealeasily with long term threats, even if they have aprobability of 100%,” Schlesinger warned.

His message was clear: economic horror will descend onthe world if we do not plan ahead, and the time tostart is now. We are asleep at the wheel, like thecitizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum were, looking upat their volcano and thinking that its dormant statewould be destiny. They ignored the rumbles, and endedup buried under ten metres of ash.

Mr Schlesinger threw a barb at the detractors he knewwould follow him at the podium. Most people, and allgovernments, are in denial, he intimated. “Every timesomeone says the peak is far off, there is an audiblesigh of relief.”

He cited Daniel Yergin, the chairman of theinfluential oil industry consultancy Cambridge EnergyResearch Associates. “When Daniel Yergin said the peakwouldn’t be until 2020 in a recent report, it wasgreeted with elation,” Mr Schlesinger said.

This is what people in denial want to hear, MrSchlesinger implied, and people like Mr Yergin arehappy to say it. Somewhat appropriately, Mr Yergingave the last speech in the main plenary. “I don’t seewhy human genius can’t meet the challenge,” Mr Yerginsaid. He recited a long litany of the oil industry’stechnical prowess, and the scope for all the kit andfine minds to find new oilfields in deep water,enhance recovery from existing oilfields, and thelike.

Moreover, he said, his company had access to aproprietary database run by the US-based IHS Energygroup that backs the case for optimism.

Ordinary mortals can buy access to that database for amillion dollars or more. Or they can talk to thegeologist who worked on it in its early years, ColinCampbell, for free. Working on the early version ofthe database, and keeping his own version of itupdated since, Mr Campbell has become the leadarchitect of peak-oil whistleblowing in and around theoil industry.

Mr Campbell was at the Rimini event, and had with himthe draft of a protocol written in the languagegovernments would need if they wanted to defuse thepeak-oil crisis. Advocating the simple and achievableexpedient of demand ma
nagement at the same rate asglobal depletion, it was to be called the Riminiprotocol.

Mr Campbell’s understanding, along with fellowadvocates like Mr Meacher, was that the launch of theprotocol was to be a main feature of the summit.Indeed, the organisers told him that Mikhail Gorbachevwas due to launch the protocol in a plenary speech.

Mr Meacher had earlier appealed publicly for theorganisers to give the protocol maximum publicity,saying that the peak-oil crisis would unleash aneconomic apocalypse if governments didn’t act.

It was not to be. Mr Gorbechev didn’t show up and MrCampbell was not allocated a slot to speak in the mainplenary. Somewhere, somehow, amid all the machinationsinvolved in persuading the oil industry’s glitteratito turn up at the event, the Rimini protocol hadbecome sidelined.

The summit was entitled “The Spirit of the Empire,”and that spirit – exemplified by Daniel Yergin’sbravura performance – expressed itself in accordancewith current global form. The rumblings below theVesuvius of the hydrocarbon age could be heard loudand clear in Rimini. And the citizens of Pompeiielected to dream on.
· Jeremy Leggett’s book on peak oil, Half Gone: Oil,Gas, Hot Air and the Global Energy Crisis, ispublished this week by Portobello Books.

My apologies for inactivity — I’ll try to get back on the horse again.

1) Preliminary body map, showing where bodies got recovered in the New Orleans area after Katrina:
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/102305/1023A14.pdf

2) This is an extensive article on the coastal restoration needs in Southeast Louisiana:
http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline03/0603feat.html

AN EXTRACT:
“We’re trying to enforce human decisions on a natural process,” says Naomi. “What we’re trying to do is take a snapshot of geologic time and say, ‘This is what we want; this is where we want to live.’ The question is, Is it going to be feasible in the long term?”

Naomi says this question will not be answered with levee feasibility studies alone. It will also require a more complete understanding of the natural processes at work in and around New Orleans. For example, the wetlands of coastal Louisiana, which would act as a buffer and slow any storm during its approach to the city, are dying because the freshwater and nutrients that historically flooded into them from the Mississippi can no longer escape the river. At the same time, the sediment deposited here by the river long ago is subsiding, and no new sediment is overflowing to replenish it.

The Corps estimates that in southeastern Louisiana a football field worth of wetlands sinks into the sea every 30 minutes, leaving the residents of the area more vulnerable to hurricanes every inch of the way.

3) This blog compares investments made in flood control in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, and New Orleans. Flip the comparison around and compare our nice new US weaponry with their old Pentagon hand-me-down weaponry. Gee, where would you prefer your tax money get spent?:

http://larrison.blogspot.com/2005/10/hold-back-waters.html

4) On the Saints, and any potential move:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/oconnor/2005-10-24-keeping-score-saints_x.htm

5) WWOZ is back, broadcasting from Baton Rouge. Check them out on live stream:
http://www.wwoz.org/

6) More Halloween activities, in New Orleans:

The 6t’9 Social Aid & Pleasure Club proudly presents itsFirst Annual Halloween Parade
“THE WHORRORS OF A NATURAL DISASTER”
October 29, 20056:00 PM UNTIL 9:00 PM
KING KATRINA: CHIEF AL, NORTH SIDE SKULLS BONE GANGQUEEN KATRINA: OTTER
REQUESTED ATTIRE:KATRINA COUTURE OR HURRICANE HIGH WATER FASHION
PARADE START:THE SCHMACCHUS LOUNGEST. CLAUDE BETWEEN ST. PHILIP & URSULINES
PARADE DISBAND:MIMI’SCORNER OF FRANKLIN AND ROYAL
FEATURING STOPS IN THE SIXTH WARD, NINTH WARD & BEYOND
MUSIC: T.B.A.
AND REMEMBER:
WITHOUT THE HEALING,IT’S JUST SOLIPSISM AND MASTURBATION

7) Gretna march, Monday:

Please join us for the HIP HOP CAUCUS’ MARCH ON GRETNA in Louisiana on Monday, November 7, 2005!
Come March with Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. (Hip Hop Caucus), Kim Gandy (NOW), Van Jones (Ella Baker Center for Human Rights), Ron Daniels (Center for Constitutional Rights/Institute for the Black 21st Century), Curtis Muhammad (Community Labor United), Rev. Tony Lee (Ebenezer AME Church), Cousin Jeff Johnson (BET/People for the American Way), College Students, Community Activists, led by People of New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Katrina; join the People’s Committee for Relief & Oversight, NOW, UP for Democracy, & the Hip Hop Caucus, as we March on Gretna!!!!!!

Date: Monday, November 7, 2005Time: Rally starts at 10:00 a.m.Location: Convention Center, 900 Convention Boulevard, New Orleans

March over Crescent City Connection Bridge to Gretna’s Oakridge Mall

PRESS CONFERENCE for this event will be held in Washington, D.C. on November 2 with representatives of sponsoring organizations (details forthcoming)

We will march over the Crescent City Connection Bridge to Gretna’s Oakridge Mall where buses were to transport evacuees to safety – a destination people from New Orleans never reached.

In the aftermath of Katrina, New Orleans authorities directed people to evacuate the city by crossing the Crescent City Connection Bridge which spans the Mississippi River linking New Orleans to the west bank city of Gretna.

However, if you were black or in the company of blacks, you were blocked from evacuating New Orleans by armed Gretna police with guard dogs. Under orders from Gretna Police Chief Arthur S. Lawson to seal off the bridge and deny safe passage to evacuees, Gretna police officers fired shots in the direction of the crowds and held others at gunpoint. It should be noted that the people of Gretna had been evacuated, the Gretna officials were concerned about the protecting the property of their suburban community.

On Monday, November 7, 2005, the Hip Hop and progressive community will cross that bridge!

We march with our fellow citizens displaced by Katrina to reclaim the right to cross that bridge to Gretna, and in crossing that bridge in the name of the rights to safety and self-determination, to racial and economic justice – we March in support of the People’s control of the reconstruction process in the Gulf Coast. And we
will keep marching until we reclaim this democracy nationwide in the elections on November 7, 2006!

NEVER AGAIN WILL PROPERTY RIGHTS TRUMP PEOPLE’S RIGHTS!

WE WILL MARCH FOR FREEDOM IN NEW ORLEANS, USA! WE WILL MARCH FOR CIVIL RIGHTS ON NOVEMBER 7, 2005! AND WE WILL KEEP MARCHING, ADDING TO OUR NUMBERS, UNTIL WE TAKE BACK AMERICA ON NOVEMBER 7, 2006!

The Hip Hop Caucus and UP for Democracy will also be organizing a work brigade on Sunday, November 6, 205 to assist New Orleans families in the “recovering and retrieving” – assisting in the clean-up efforts now underway.

This march is endorsed by Black Leadership Forum, Center for Social Justice, Cities for Progress/Institute for Policy Studies, Clergy & Laity Concerned About Iraq, Code Pink, ColorofChange.org, Common Ground, Community Labor United, Ella Baker Center for Civil Rights, Global Crisis Coalition, Global Exchange, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Healthcare NOW!, Hip Hop Caucus, Independent Progressive Politics Network, League of Pissed Off Voters, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, New Orleans Network, National Organization for Women, People’s Alliance for Community Empowerment, People’s Hurricane Relief & Reconstruction Oversight Committee People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond, Progressive Democrats of America, Project South, Rainbow Push, National Progressive Youth & Student Organization, Quality Education as a Human Right, Rebuild Green, Rebuilding Louisiana Coalition (NOLA), Rebuild Hope NOW, Saving Our Neighborhoods, Southwest Workers’ Union, TransAfrica Forum, United for Peace & Justice, United Houma Nation of Louisiana, Urban Heart.
For more information: www.upfordemocracy.org or call Charles Young at (202) 545-0113 or Diane Shamis (845) 661-3754.

This is a low-volume email list for Jordan Flaherty’s emails from New Orleans. To subscribe, email jordanhurricane-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. To unsubscribe, email jordanhurricane-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net.

8) New Orleans’ priest’s account of Katrina:
http://www.catholic.org/clarionherald/news.php?story=2

New Orleans priest recalls harrowing ministry after Katrina
Clarion Herald staff
BETH DONZE

BATON ROUGE, La. – Like many of his fellow New Orleans archdiocesan priests, Father Dennis Hayes decided to take his chances and stay put as Katrina teased the Louisiana coast, praying that the storm’s Category 5 fury would spare or just nick the Arabi, La., streets around St. Louise de Marillac Church.
Surely Katrina would veer away at the last minute as so many hurricanes had done before, hoped Father Hayes, and even if the storm did end up causing damage, at least he would be on hand to minister to his parishioners’ spiritual and material needs.

And so, ensconced on the second floor of the concrete-and steel St. Louise de Marillac School with his 13-year old dog Badooki, the Blessed Sacrament and his parish’s sacramental registers, Father Hayes thought the worst was over by Monday morning Aug. 29 – until Arabi began to fill up like a huge bathtub.

“Within one hour ” between about 8 and 9 a.m. ” I saw the water cover all of the homes and the entire parish plant. In just that little bit of time the water rose from the ground to the wires of the light poles. That night I could hear cries and wailing of people for help,” Father Hayes said.

By Tuesday morning, helicopters were flying up and down each street, pulling people to safety from rooftops and trees. Spotting an upended aluminum canoe stranded on a nearby rooftop, Father Hayes climbed out of a second-floor window to commandeer the vessel. It quickly became evident that the floodwaters wouldn’t be receding anytime soon.

“After hearing the helicopters flying overhead, I decided to get rescued,” he said. “I climbed out of the window and hailed down a helicopter. They spotted me and sent down a rescuer on a cable to get me.”

Father Hayes had no choice but to leave behind the Blessed Sacrament and his beloved pet. The short flight from St. Louise de Marillac to Jackson Barracks revealed the extent of the inundation.

“You could see all of St. Bernard, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico ” solid water,” he said.

At Jackson Barracks, each evacuee was given bottled water and an MRE ” Meal Ready to Eat. Able-bodied refugees were urged to make their way to the Superdome, using the Mississippi River levee as a sort of “elevated roadway” into town. Father Hayes soon realized he was walking into a war zone.

“It was like a riot,” he said. “People, firemen, Wildlife and Fisheries boats and trucks, looting, one man who was exposing himself to everyone, wandering dogs ” I decided to walk down St. Claude in about 2 to 3 feet of water, down Burgundy and past Sts. Peter and Paul Church, to see if Laura Wallace, a very elderly lady who was my secretary there, was at home. She had evacuated, wisely.”

From Bywater, Father Hayes walked down Decatur Street, through the French Quarter, then on to Poydras Street, with plans to continue to the Superdome. Miraculously, just outside of Mother’s Restaurant, he spied a working pay phone and was able to reach his cousin, Dennis Hayes, in New York.

The New York Hayes gave the Louisiana Hayes a reality check.

“My cousin told me that Gov. Blanco was saying not to go to the dome because the conditions were very bad. So I decided to try to get to Notre Dame Seminary, where I teach and have a key. I figured the upper floors would be dry and there’d be people I knew and food,” Father Hayes said.

Advised by armed soldiers to find a safe harbor before the dusk curfew, Father Hayes waded as quickly as he could down Earhart Boulevard toward Carrollton Avenue. At Broad Street, chanting prisoners were being evacuated from Central Lockup.

“The water was up to my neck at this point and full of diesel oil. I jumped up on the porch of one of the tenants of the B.W. Cooper housing project,” Father Hayes said. “The lady there, Kelly, got me a chair, a towel and some dry clothes. Kelly was a saint. She and her husband let me stay on their third-floor bedroom for the night ” their three children had already been evacuated. They fed me some good Bunny Bread with some good chopped ham and plenty of water.”

The constant chatter of people stranded on second- and third-floor porches meant that there was little sleep that night, and by Wednesday morning the water level had risen even higher, creeping up the complex’s indoor stairwells.

“Everyone was saying, “Go to the Superdome,'” Father Hayes said. “Six hundred buses would be there to evacuate people.” Walking in neck-high water and using a borrowed ice chest as a flotation device, Father Hayes left his apartment refuge with streams of evacuees, stopping at the Kentwood Water Plant to “loot” bottled water and trade notes with people on the packed Claiborne Avenue overpass, the area’s only dry spot.
“Once I got to Claiborne I thought about trying to go the seminary again, but everyone coming from that direction said this was not possible. So I went to the dome. Two Air Force guards were very kind. They let me rest and gave me some cookies and nuts,” Father Hayes said.

While he knew the Superdome wouldn’t be the most comfortable of shelters, nothing prepared him for the living nightmare that would take place inside the New Orleans landmark.

“I got a real taste of what the poor of New Orleans were going through,” Father Hayes said. “Urination and defecation in the bathrooms had poured out into the passage ways of the dome; the vending stands had all been decimated; there was smoke all over; people cursing; stifling heat; babies screaming; a fire during the middle of the night; two babies born; shooting at helicopters.”

While eating his pre-packaged meal from Jackson Barracks atop an outdoor planter, Father Hayes managed to find a glimmer of beauty amid the ruins of his saturated, smoldering hometown.

“The stars were beautiful that night,” he remembers.

At dawn, Father Hayes left the dome, concluding that “those 600 buses were not coming.” Evacuees were now being advised to go to the Convention Center, a questionable option since word on the street was that conditions there were as bad as those at the Superdome.

“So I got back into that miserable water and walked to the cathedral,” said Father Hayes, who recalls munching on a bag of hot-and-spicy Zapp’s potato chips as he entered the French Quarter. “I knelt down in front of the cathedral and asked for New Orleans to be saved. I thought about breaking into the rectory, but I was worried that I might get arrested.

“I stopped to read a memorial plaque at the Moonwalk about the founding of New Orleans. I was really mad at Iberville and Bienville for not locating the city about 90 miles up the river. I blamed them for all this mess,” he said.

Newly bolstered, Father Hayes decided to journey “full circle” ” to somehow get back to St. Louise de Marillac to recover the Blessed Sacrament, his dog and help other victims of the disaster. His public ministry began almost immediately.

“A few men were around drinking beer on the St. Claude Bridge over the Industrial Canal. I was praying my rosary. They stopped me, kissed my hand with the rosary and asked for my prayers,” Father Hayes said.

On the levee at Jackson Barracks, he came upon St. Bernard Sheriff Jack Stevens, who remembered the priest
from his days at Chalmette’s Our Lady of Prompt Succor parish nearly two decades earlier. Sheriff Stevens invited Father Hayes to help him minister to people the authorities were still rescuing from rooftops and trees.

“I rode with (Sheriff Stevens) to the staging area on the river and walked up and down the warehouse with the two things I had with me: my rosary and my St. Benedict crucifix,” Father Hayes said. “People were very appreciative. One man ” Mr. Schiro, who was about 80 ” had just been rescued after spending three
days in the water. His wife and two sons lay dead in his house.”

For the next 10 days, Father Hayes and an energetic group of volunteers ministered to Katrina’s victims, including the rescuers themselves.

“The fireman were going into homes by either boat or vehicle and physically pulling people out of attics. They were also seeing dead people. By the end of the day they were wiped out ” exhausted emotionally and physically,” Father Hayes said.

He found his niche in the evenings, talking to rescuers after they had had a meal and a quick shower ” the quiet time of their day at which they would begin to break down.

“I didn’t have a Bible or any of my prayer books, so I just wrote down passages and thoughts and shared that with them,” Father Hayes said. “They really appreciated having a priest ” someone they could talk to privately. They needed someone to help them make sense of the disaster and to tell them that they were being heroic by bringing hope to people and saving lives,” he said.

Father Hayes eventually made it back to St. Louise de Marillac to rescue the Blessed Sacrament, his pet and the parish’s sacramental registers. On the two Sundays following Katrina he was able to distribute the Eucharist to firemen and emergency personnel scattered across the St. Bernard Parish area, from the Creole Queen riverboat to the Exxon Oil Refinery.

“I met so many people who showed me what real humanity and holiness are all about,” he said.

9) Rally to Rebuild Louisiana!

Featuring Jesse Jackson, Governor Blanco, Congressmen Jefferson and Melancon, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and more.

Saturday, October 29, 2005 – 10:00am-1:00pm Louisiana State Capitol – Baton Rouge
See www.noahcoalition.org for more info.

10) The New Orleans Bookfair:

Saturday, October 29, 2005 – 10am to 6pmBarrister’s Gallery 1724 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. New Orleans, LA
Participating publishers include Fiction Collective II, Verso, Pelican Publishing, Last Gasp, Soft Skull, AK Press, Garrett County Press, Get Lost and many more, including NOLAPS. Free. Open to the public. For more info see www.nolabookfair.com

11) The Economics of Return:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/18/AR2005101801910_pf.html

The Economics of ReturnClass, Color May Guide Repopulation of New Orleans
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 19, 2005; A01

NEW ORLEANS — It was a Thursday, the first of September, just four days after Hurricane Katrina, and floodwater stood seven feet deep in the living room of Robert Bouchon’s big brick house on Memphis Street in Lakeview, this city’s largest middle-class, white neighborhood.

The Bouchon family, though, had already assembled an interim middle-class life on the outskirts of Houston, where Robert and his wife, Cathy, together with their three young children, had fled in their minivan.

They moved into a furnished two-bedroom apartment in a gated enclave in a suburb called Kingwood. They had enrolled the children in a Roman Catholic primary school similar to the one that was still underwater in Lakeview. They had also called State Farm Insurance to collect on their house and their BMW X3, a three-month-old SUV that was submerged in the driveway back home. They registered online for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and decided for the sake of family mental health not to watch news coverage of “the craziness” back in New Orleans.

“Everything was out of control, so we just kind of put on blinkers to our little Kingwood experience,” Bouchon, 43, a soft-spoken structural engineer, said in a recent interview as he sat on a sofa in his Houston apartment.

When Katrina blew in and levees gave way, the high water, in many neighborhoods, was colorblind and classless. It clobbered Lakeview, a leafy and serene white area where longtime residents cannot remember serious flooding, as cruelly as the Lower Ninth Ward, a black neighborhood with a long, dismal history of high water.

But in New Orleans, where affluent whites live high and working-class blacks live low, the privileges of neighborhood quickly asserted themselves. For many, race and class predicted patterns of escape, dictating whether flight would be a nervous drive out of town or a caged week of torment and humiliation.

These days, as planners and politicians look ahead, many realize that the future of this city, which before the storm was more than two-thirds black and nearly one-third poor, swings on two simple questions:
Are residents coming home? If so, which ones?

It now appears that long-standing neighborhood differences in income and opportunity — along with resentment over the ghastly exodus — are shaping the stalled repopulation of this mostly empty city.

On the same day the Bouchons moved into the apartment in Houston, Ora Goines, 59, a retired hospital secretary, remained mired in chaos here, together with her daughter, her son-in-law and her two grandchildren, who are 13 and 2.

Their one-story, wood-frame house was underwater on Delery Street in the Lower Ninth Ward, and they had evacuated to one of the city’s public hospitals, where Goines’s daughter, Germaine Mills, 33, worked as a clerk and where employee families had been offered refuge.

But it soon turned into a prison, as storm water rose eight feet deep around University Hospital. Power, plumbing and air conditioning failed, and backup generators flooded. Most of the hospital’s food reserves flooded before they could be moved to higher floors.

With toilets out, management ordered everyone — 500 family members and staff, along with 110 patients — to use buckets lined with infectious waste bags. They were supposed to pour in bleach to kill the smell. But on the fetid seventh floor, where Mills and her family were assigned, there was no bleach. By midweek, towering stacks of those bags made the entire hospital smell like a sewer. Staff workers smashed windows to let fresh air into the stifling building, which was later declared unsalvageable.

Four days after the storm, with military helicopters lancing across the city, staff members and their families were hungry, sweaty and stuck. Boats finally hauled them away to buses on Friday. “I wouldn’t say I was scared; I was angry,” Mills said. “Every day we got a different story about why the National Guard couldn’t come and get us.”

Her anger wilted into exhaustion during a 24-hour bus ride to a church shelter in Tyler, Tex. “Imagine sitting that long on a bus after what we had been through,” she said. “Our body odors and the stench from a backed-up toilet on the bus — it was just awful.”

Will It Become Whiter?

Billions upon billions of federal dollars will be spent in coming months and years to rebuild the city’s levees, to support new housing and clean up the colossal mess. There seems certain to be a massive increase in job opportunities, skilled and unskilled.

Still, anxiety is building that New Orleans will not bounce back as Chicago did after the fire or San Francisco after the quake. There is concern that it will be much smaller, whiter, richer and more homogeneous: an anodyne, theme-park version of the Big Easy dominated by highbrow restaurants and lowbrow bars of the unflooded French Quarter.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin pleaded last week for everyone to “come on home,” saying there is no place else where they can find “red beans and rice and gumbo and all those things that you love.”

This series will follow several displaced families — from Memphis Street in affluent Lakeview that is 94 percent white and from Delery Street in
the working-class, 98 percent black Lower Ninth Ward — as they pick up the pieces of their lives and ponder the sanity of taking the mayor’s advice.

Should they bring themselves and their children back to a below-sea-level city that, for all its sweet music and gastronomical allure, is largely a ruin, as well as a sitting duck for the next big storm?

Courtesy of Katrina, these families have much in common. They are shellshocked, scattered across the country and homesick. They are sick of insurance forms and worried about how their kids are getting by without their friends.

But there is already a compelling difference.

Memphis Street families believe that, if they want to, they will probably be able to rebuild in Lakeview and resume their lives.

Lakeview, where 66 percent of children go to private school and 49 percent of residents have a college degree, was pumped dry within three weeks of the storm.

Memphis Street smells now of bleach, which kills mold, and resounds to the thwack of crowbars and the whine of chain saws. Insurance adjusters have begun making rounds.

Robert Bouchon has already received a check for the $40,000 BMW he left parked next to his pool in his back yard when the family fled to Houston. State Farm has since hauled it away. He was the first on his block to hire
workers to gut the first floor of his house down to the studs.

On Memphis Street, many of his neighbors are also busy organizing a comeback. Water has been turned back on and Gary Quaintance, three houses away from the Bouchons, has drained unspeakable greenish-brown liquid from his pool and refilled it twice. Many front lawns on Memphis Street have been piled high with kitchen and living room ruins, awaiting garbage trucks to haul it all away.

There was, however, much that was not ruined on the second floors of the many two-story houses along Memphis Street. Cathy Hughes, a copy editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, used her press credentials to get home three weeks after the storm to find that her musician son’s precious drum set was safe inside an upstairs bathtub, where it had been stashed before Katrina.

‘Go With the Flow’

For families from Delery Street, meanwhile, a realization is growing that the odds of coming back get longer each day.

“My life is moving on,” said Mills, who lives now with in-laws an hour outside New Orleans in the town of Paincourtville, in Louisiana’s sugar-cane country.

There, her husband, Terrelle, has a $7.50-an-hour job at an Ace Hardware store. Her mother, Ora, has a $7-an-hour job at a Big Lots discount store. Her 13-year-old, Kortney, is in a local public school, and Mills is planning to enroll in a nursing program in nearby Baton Rouge.

“I got to go with the flow,” said Mills, whose fury lingers over the hardship her family endured while waiting five days for federal, state and city officials to figure out how to get them out of a major hospital. “I can’t say we won’t go back, but as of right now we are not going back.”

In the Lower Ninth Ward, where more a third of residents lived in poverty and 6 percent had a college degree, a hastily rebuilt levee failed in late September to hold back the storm surge of Hurricane Rita. Most of the place was again submerged.

Parts of the neighborhood, including the Goines and Mills house on Delery Street, are still flooded and residents are still barred — for their own safety, the city says — from coming back on their own to see their homes.

Ora Goines’s car, a mold-infested 1999 Hyundai Sonata that is not insured against flood damage, has been drifting around for weeks inside the chain-link fence that encircles her side yard. Her house is still standing, but much of her block on Delery appears to have been bombed, with cars flipped atop semi-collapsed roofs, telephone poles snapped in half. Her next-door neighbor’s two-story house was ripped from its foundation and floated across the street.

Before Rita engulfed the neighborhood with water for the second time in less than a month, Goines, her daughter Germaine and the rest of her family tried to go back to see their house. Police would not let them get close.

Goines concedes that her house is a goner, and so does her insurance company, which has cut her a check for $66,000. She says, too, that she is a goner, as far as New Orleans is concerned.

“I decided that I don’t have any use for New Orleans,” she said recently in the dining room of her son-in-law’s father’s house in Paincourtville. Like her daughter, she sounds angry. “I wouldn’t have thought like that, but it flooded, and I don’t trust New Orleans anymore.”

Planners have raised the possibility of razing much of the Lower Ninth Ward and turning it into a flood-plain park. It is talk that infuriates those who have been forced to flee and are resigned to the necessity of bulldozers.

“I know they are going to have to tear my house down,” said Joan Howard, 36, a housekeeper, who lived across Delery Street from Goines. “But I believe it’s only right that they build me another house — if I decide to go back. I know it’s like a war zone down there, mister. Everything is destroyed. But I got the flood insurance.”
Howard and her husband, Danny, 50, a truck driver, live now in the western suburbs of Houston, where they say they nearly emptied their savings account to come up with three months’ rent for a $527-a-month, one-bedroom apartment for themselves and Howard’s two teenage children, Ashton and Ashley. They have furnished it with three air mattresses from Wal-Mart and a kitchen table and chairs from Goodwill Industries. Joan Howard’s father bought them a big-screen TV.

Three times in the past three weeks, Howard and her family have tried to get back to see their house on Delery Street. The first time, they got past police, wrapped plastic bags around their legs up to their knees and waded. Howard said they had to stop when the stinky water reached their knees. Two more recent trips failed because their three-bedroom, one-story brick house, in perhaps the lowest corner of the one-time swamp that is the Lower Ninth Ward, is still inaccessible without hip boots and permission from police.

“Us being homeowners, this flooding has really thrown us on our side,” said Howard, who had been in her house for 11 years. “We wasn’t poor really. We was really blessed, but we had to work for it. We had a big, beautiful house.”

The house stills stands, unlike many on the street. Inside, the ceiling has collapsed. Furniture, appliances and other contents appear to be have been run through a savage rinse cycle, as in a washing machine with toxic water. Webs of mold are everywhere, and the smell is horrific.

Anger over the possible razing of portions of the Ninth Ward is fueled by the neighborhood’s high home ownership rate, which is nearly 60 percent, and by its many years of residential stability. Despite long-standing problems of crime, drug abuse and inferior public schools, families stayed in the community for generations, anchored by churches and block parties and friendship.

Howard and her family, who knew most of their neighbors on the block (although they have lost touch with all of them since the floods), often marched behind a brass band in the anniversary parade of the Big Nine social club as it wound its way through the Lower Ninth Ward. One year, Howard marched as a maid to the queen of the Big Nine.

Until the storm hit, nearly three-quarters of families in the Lower Ninth Ward had been in the same house since 1995. In this respect, the neighborhood was considerably more stable than Lakeview, where over the past decade 57 percent of families had been in the same house.

As when Hurricane Betsy washed out much of the Lower Ninth Ward in 1965, there is again widespread grumbling about a “plan” to create a whiter New Orleans.

Howard does not believe in
white conspiracies, saying she has worked for too many “nice white people.” Still, she remembers Betsy. “When she came through, they say the white man opened up the walls upon us.”

Germaine Mills, too, is skeptical of conspiracy talk, but she says something is going on that is not right.
“I’m thinking they probably think less blacks, less crime,” said Mills, who left her mother’s house on the
Sunday before the storm with only a change of clothes for herself and her family.

In Lakeview, which was recently described by a Times-Picayune headline as a decimated neighborhood where “Homes Are Sludge Pits With Little to Salvage,” the notion of a hurricane conspiracy to remake the city strikes rebuilding residents as absurd.

“Why would you flood a whole city to run one set of residents out of town?” said Quaintance, 53, a retired policeman who plans to renovate the first floor of his Memphis Street house, doing most of the work himself.
“It is just so ridiculous.”

Officially Closed but Open

Robert Bouchon was one of the first residents to come back to Memphis Street. He tied a canoe to the front porch of his house on Sept. 13, two weeks after the storm. The city was officially closed to residents, but police and the National Guard were quietly allowing Lakeview residents in.

“It was very hot and very quiet,” Bouchon said. “The tops of cypress trees were sticking out of the still water.
There were no birds. It was pretty except for the fact that, you know, it was your neighborhood and it was underwater.”

The front door was swollen shut, but he used a log to break down a side door, which opened onto the pantry.
“That’s when it hit me,” he said. “It was like a bad science experiment. The smell was just awful.”

Furniture had floated from room to room. An antique mahogany dining table, which belonged to his wife’s grandmother, had fallen to pieces. The water had risen high enough to take the paintings off the walls, which were bare and stained black from the flood. Mold had started to grow.

Boxes of brownie mix and bags of chips floated on the pantry floor. The Bouchons had long planned and
hurriedly canceled a birthday party for Emma, their 12-year-old, for Saturday before the storm. In the refrigerator were 24 rotting hamburger patties that Bouchon and his wife had prepared for the party.

It was to have been the first chance for 15 kids from the neighborhood to swim in the Bouchon’s new pool, completed just two weeks before Katrina.

After he drove back to Houston and told his wife, Cathy, about the house, she began waking up at all hours of the night.

“I would picture everything that I owned floating in that nasty water,” she said. “Your mind can’t stop. I was picturing the mold growing on my wedding dress.”

A week later, Sept. 20, Robert returned home again. Memphis Street was impassible because of fallen trees, but it was dry. Lakeview was still officially closed, but authorities were letting many residents in.

In rubber boots and shorts, Bouchon slathered bleach on first-floor walls, found that nearly all the family photo albums had been ruined and rescued the kids’ computer, which had been upstairs on the undamaged
second flood and was fine. The children had begged him to fetch their video games.

Two weeks later, he hired a four-man crew that spent two days clearing out soggy sheetrock and dragging ruined kitchen appliances out to the front yard. As they worked, he found his wife’s wedding dress, which had blackish-green tendrils of mold climbing up white satin, and hung it outside on the back porch.

As foul as the mess was, all the Bouchons wanted to do was go home.

“We miss our possessions, but mostly it is the neighborhood, our friends, the kids’ friends,” he said. “It was so close.”

Memphis Street is in the heart of a neighborhood of middle-aged professionals and young families. Like the Bouchons, many had bought old houses in the past decade and rebuilt them with gourmet kitchens, wide-open family rooms and swimming pools out back.

Nearly all the children on the street went to St. Dominic Elementary School, just two blocks from the Bouchon’s. Life on Memphis Street revolved around the school calendar, parish dinners and rotating Friday
get-togethers at parents’ houses.

Since Katrina, the Bouchons have been in constant contact with their scattered neighbors, by cell phone and by reading the St. Dominic Web site and its “Lakeview forum,” on which there have been more than 1,330 postings.

As an engineer, Bouchon is certain that his house can safely be rebuilt. His quick decision to gut the first floor seems to have stopped the spread of mold. His flood insurance — $180,000 for the house, $30,000 for its contents — will probably not be enough to pay for the massive renovations needed to restore the house, which was worth about $650,000 before the flood, Bouchon said.

“Luckily, we have options,” he said. “We had some savings.”

He expects, too, that his business — inspecting and designing foundations for residential and commercial buildings — will boom in the rebuilding of New Orleans. He has already been asked to evaluate a number of damaged buildings.

But returning is not without its anxieties. What scares Bouchon and his wife is the levee — just a half mile from their house — that failed on the 17th Street Canal and deluged his neighborhood with outpouring from Lake Pontchartrain. A team of engineers from outside the city has concluded that floodwater did not overtop the levee; the barrier apparently gave way because of poor construction.

“Look, I am an engineer and I know how these things should be put together,” Bouchon said. “Before the flood, I had no reason to believe the levees wouldn’t work. Now, I have questions. This was not a natural flood, in my opinion. It shouldn’t have happened. If they just rebuild the levee the way it was, that’s not good enough.
“We want the neighborhood to come back; we want the school to come back. We just have to answer all these questions, and that will take time.”

The Bouchon children — Emma, Owen, 9, and Patrick, 7 — have seen pictures of their house, but their parents do not believe it would be good for them to visit.

“We won’t take them there for a while,” Bouchon said. “It would be so overwhelming.”

‘Not Much Hope’

Mayor Nagin toured shelters in Louisiana last week, telling people that in New Orleans crime was down, wages were up and jobs were abundant. He promised a FEMA mobile home for those willing to come back.

Joseph Williams, formerly of 2513 Delery Street, is not even tempted.

In a two-car caravan, with his wife Kesa, his two children and his parents, he left the Lower Ninth Ward on the Saturday before Katrina and lives now in a three-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Atlanta.

“The mayor doesn’t get paid unless he has citizens in the city,” said Williams, 32. “Right now, there is not enough progress to change my mind. There aren’t enough people back there and not much hope.”

A probation officer in Jefferson Parish, Williams said he will begin work this month in a similar position with the Georgia Department of Corrections, but with a $4,000 jump in salary over the $24,000 a year he was being paid back home.

His wife, 28, an accountant, has done even better. Within a week of arriving in Atlanta, she found an accounting job at a small engineering company starting at $40,000 a year, a $14,000 raise over her job in New Orleans.

“There are good things that came out of this hurricane,” Williams said.

Their daughter, Kayla, 7, attends a public school in the suburb of Riverdale, and Williams says it is a major improvement over Martin Luther King Jr. elementary in the Lower Ninth Ward.

“They are putting pressure on her at school here,” he said. “In
the long run, it will make her better.”
Williams is part of a huge, multi-generational New Orleans extended family that he said has about 200 members, most of whom lived in the Lower Ninth Ward but are now scattered across Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia.

His mother and her nine siblings talk endlessly about going back, if the Lower Ninth Ward becomes livable, Williams said. But he and his brother and his many cousins, Williams said, have been keeping in touch on cell phones over recent weeks and are agreed that they are through with life in a city vulnerable to floods.
“We don’t want to be in the position again,” he said. “We are not as stubborn or headstrong as our parents’ generation.”

Marcelle’s Diary

Marcelle Martinez, age 10, is the self-selected voice of Memphis Street.

When her neighbors down the street, the Bouchons, got their new swimming pool in mid-August, Marcelle popped by, interviewed the family and wrote it up for her newsletter, the Memphis Street Times. Before the flood and with the help of her mother, Marcelle published five issues on the family computer (since ruined by the flood).

When her parents loaded her and her brother Evan, 11, into the family car and fled the storm for the Midwest, Marcelle wrote her reaction in her diary:

“Here we are in Indiana. SIGH In case you don’t know Katrina is a stupid hurrican that has completely destroyed my life. Well at least an entire year of it.”

Marcelle, like her parents, expects her exile is temporary.

“I’m sure we will go back,” she said. “I want all my neighbors to come back, and I want everything to be like it was.”

Marcelle’s parents cashed out some of their 401(k) retirement plan two weeks ago and bought a $210,000 house in Destrehan, a town on the Mississippi River about 35 miles west of New Orleans. They’ve enrolled the children in Catholic school there.

It is a holding pattern, something they hope will stabilize family life until they can rebuild in Lakeview.
“Look, the best thing we did in our lives was move into this house,” Cathy Martinez, 42, said recently, while standing on the water-buckled, oak floor of her 3,000-square-foot house on Memphis Street, which she and her husband had spent most of the past four years remodeling. “We have lost more than a house. We have lost a way of life — the way life should be.”

Before the flood, she said, her block on Memphis Street was “like the ’50s.” She and her children walked to school, to church, to the supermarket and to the library. Cathy Martinez said she was one of five professionally trained women on Memphis Street who had chosen to given up their careers to raise children.
Her husband, Ron, 48, a partner in a small architecture firm, had a 15-minute drive to the office.

Soaked with sweat from carrying intact second-floor furniture out to a rental truck, Ron Martinez said his flood insurance, capped at $250,000, would not pay enough to rebuild the house, which he said was worth about $600,000 before the storm. His expects his architecture firm, however, to prosper, with more work than it could handle as New Orleans rebuilds.

“The people on this street were all in position in their professional lives where we could live where we wanted, and it was here,” he said. “The thought of not being able to come back here kills us.”

Marcelle has been daydreaming about her bed on Memphis Street.

“I used to lie on the bed like the wrong way, with my legs and my head hanging off the sides,” she said. “It would be cool if I could do that again.”

12) Apparently the White House is upset with the Onion. First the article reporting on it, then the Onion article which led to the conflict:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/business/24onion.html?ei=5090&en;=b40eb239c3b34014&ex;=1287806400&adxnnl;=1&partner;=rssuserland&emc;=rss&adxnnlx;=1130216409-MQAj9E3s79DWWzaqK+FPdw

Protecting the Presidential Seal. No Joke.

KATHARINE Q. SEELYEPublished: October 24, 2005You might have thought that the White House had enoughon its plate late last month, what with its search fora new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war inIraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it foundtime to add another item to its agenda – stopping TheOnion, the satirical newspaper, from using thepresidential seal.

The newspaper regularly produces a parody of PresidentBush’s weekly radio address on its Web site(www.theonion.com/content/node/40121), where it has apicture of President Bush and the official insignia.
“It has come to my attention that The Onion is usingthe presidential seal on its Web site,” Grant M.Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote toThe Onion on Sept. 28. (At the time, Mr. Dixton’soffice was also helping Mr. Bush find a Supreme Courtnominee; days later his boss, Harriet E. Miers, wasnominated.)

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote thatthe seal “is not to be used in connection withcommercial ventures or products in any way thatsuggests presidential support or endorsement.”Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion hadnever applied for such an exception.

The Onion was amused. “I’m surprised the presidentdeems it wise to spend taxpayer money for his lawyerto write letters to The Onion,” Scott Dikkers, editorin chief, wrote to Mr. Dixton. He suggested the moneybe used instead for tax breaks for satirists.

More formally, The Onion’s lawyers responded that thepaper’s readers – it prints about 500,000 copiesweekly, and three million people read it online – arewell aware that The Onion is a joke.

“It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, byusing the seal, The Onion intends to
‘convey…sponsorship or approval’ by the president,” wroteRochelle H. Klaskin, the paper’s lawyer, who went onto note that a headline in the current issue made thepoint: “Bush to Appoint Someone to Be in Charge ofCountry.”

Moreover, she wrote, The Onion and its Web site arefree, so the seal is not being used for commercialpurposes. That said, The Onion asked that its letterbe considered a formal application to use the seal.

No answer yet. But Trent Duffy, a White Housespokesman, said that “you can’t pick and choose whereyou want to enforce the rules surrounding the use ofofficial government insignia, whether it’s for humoror fraud.”
O.K. But just between us, Mr. Duffy, how did they findout about it?

“Despite the seriousness of the Bush White House, morethan one Bush staffer reads The Onion and enjoys itthoroughly,” he said. “We do have a sense of humor,believe it or not.”

KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

13) And now the troublemaking Onion article:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41444

Bush To Appoint Someone To Be In Charge Of Country
October 12, 2005 Issue 41•41

WASHINGTON, DC—In response to increasing criticism ofhis handling of the war in Iraq and the disaster inthe Gulf Coast, as well as other issues, such asSocial Security reform, the national deficit, andrising gas prices, President Bush is expected toappoint someone to run the U.S. as soon as Friday.

Bush presents his shortlist for the Secretary of theNation post.

“During these tumultuous times, America is in need ofa bold, resolute person who can get the job done,”said Bush during a press conference Monday. “My fellowAmericans, I assure you that I will appoint just sucha person with all due haste.”

The Cabinet-level position, to be known as Secretaryof the Nation, was established by an executive orderSept. 2, but has remained
unfilled in the interveningweeks.

“I’ve been talking to folks from all across thiscountry, from Louisiana to Los Angeles, and peopletell me the same thing: This nation needs a strong,compassionate leader,” Bush said. “In response tothese concerns, I’m making this a top priority. I willname a good, qualified person as soon as possible.”

Among the new secretary’s duties are preserving,protecting, and defending the Constitution of theUnited States, commanding the U.S. armed forces,appointing judges and ambassadors, and vetoingcongressional legislation. The secretary will also betasked with overseeing all foreign and domesticaffairs, including those relating to the economy,natural disasters, national infrastructure, homelandsecurity, poverty, and the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan.

The secretary will report directly to the president.

For weeks, members of both political parties have beenurging Bush to fill the post.

“Every day the president waits is another day he’saccountable for needless deaths at home and abroad,the stagnating economy, and the threat of terrorism,”Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said. “This post is fartoo vital to be left vacant. Mr. President, there isno reason to delay.”

“I applaud the president’s decision to find a strongleader for our country, but it’s imperative that hemake his selection soon,” said Senate Minority LeaderHarry Reid (D-NV), adding that he and all Democratshope to work closely with the new national executive.

“In the spirit of bipartisanship, we will welcome thenew secretary,” Reid said. “Together, we will strivefor a new dawn of American politics, one unmarred bypartisan bickering between Congress and the WhiteHouse.”
According to a nationwide poll conducted by the CookPolitical Report, the majority of U.S. citizens findthe question of national leadership to be highlysignificant, with 61 percent of respondents “strongly”believing that the country is suffering from aleadership vacuum. Fifty-four percent said theytrusted Bush to find an appointee who will be able toeffectively manage the country.

While many Beltway insiders have named senators BarackObama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) as likelycandidates, White House sources revealed that Bush maybe leaning toward a stalwart loyalist. The listreportedly includes fellow Yale graduates, Midland, TXbusiness associates, and various GOP fundraisers withconnections to the Bush family.

“Despite their inexperience in government, they’veclearly passed the Bush character test,” said a WhiteHouse staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”I think the president is looking for someone he’scomfortable with and can trust, above all else. A[former FEMA director] Michael Brown type, or maybeeven Brown himself.”

Bush said the creation of the Secretary of the Nationpost directly addresses the increasingly complex andsometimes overwhelming challenges facing the executivebranch in the 21st century. Although he acknowledgedthat the tasks facing the new appointee will beextraordinary, Bush ended his announcement on apositive note.

“As your president, it is my duty to see this nationthrough any crisis, no matter how severe. And as yourpresident, I pledge to you that I will find a mancapable of doing just that,” Bush said. “I will not—Irepeat, I will not—let you down.”

14) This pretty much sums up the nation’s mood about W these days:

http://filmstripinternational.com/index.php

15) Disaster lessons from Katrina for US disasters (I completely concur with each of them):

Excerpt from
http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner10222005.html
October 22 / 23, 2005
Pot Shots Dershowitzed
By FRED GARDNER
Before Disaster Occurs in San Francisco

With two other nurses from San Francisco General Hospital, Gina Shephard, RN, went to San Antonio Texas, to help out with the relief effort following Hurricane Katrina. Her union, SEIU 790, paid her expenses. “Though there was a great need for help, there was no clear way to utilize me,” she reports. “I found the whole effort chaotic, disorganized and de-humanizing.” Here are the recommendations she is making to San Francisco officials, based on what she observed.

– We don’t need volunteers from other regions. We already have an abundance of trained people with the skills to do what is necessary, and we have a tradition of compassion and respect for all people. Also, disasters bring out the best in people, and there will be many willing to help. If people from other areas want to help, they should send the money they would have spent coming here.

– Don’t rely on the Red Cross. They are very wasteful and unorganized despite their reputation. There was a scandal about their misuse of funds after Sept. 11 in New York, which forced the director to quit. Besides, what they do is mostly limited to giving out over-the-counter drugs. Red Cross personnel won’t, for example, give tetanus shots -an obvious priority- or other vaccines.

– Get the victims involved. For the survivors who have not been injured, it is totally demoralizing and depressing to sit around with nothing to do but think about the horror of what they have experienced. Many of these people can and want to be involved in a recovery effort. Of course, it should not be forced upon them, but they should be asked if they want to participate in things like preparing and serving meals, moving things and clean-up.

– Whenever possible, small shelters are vastly superior. Large shelters should be avoided. They are overwhelming to run, they make people feel desperate and the humanity of the individuals involved tends to get overlooked.

– Keep the military out, unless they are specifically trained in sensitivity to victims of a disaster -and even then I have my doubts about using them. One survivor from the Superdome told me the following anecdote. After five days of unbearable suffering in the Superdome, she was finally taken to a plane to be evacuated. When she asked a military person who was herding people onto the plane where they were going, she was told “What do you care? You are getting a free ride!”

– Have a clear chain of command in place that is capable of acting quickly and without cumbersome bureaucracy. This includes having medical personnel on hand to do triage.

– Every effort should be made as soon as possible to get people out of shelters. Shelters are not only completely demoralizing but are also a breeding ground for disease.

– It should be unnecessary to say this, but people’s lives and well-being are more important than property. Several people told me that during their stay in the Superdome and the Convention Center, had it not been for the “looters,” they would have had nothing to eat for days.

– Have a clear evacuation plan set up that doesn’t involve individual cars. Public transportation must be used, not only to include people without cars but to avoid the kind of massive gridlock that we saw as people tried to leave Houston as Hurricane Rita approached.

– The possibility of having to cope with disaster is one more reason that new mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed. During the crisis, we heard of many, many cases of babies who had no formula -which would have been unnecessary if those mothers were breastfeeding.

16) This is a posting from dailykos:

The price of Bush’s cronyism by kos
Fri Oct 21, 2005 at 09:26:28 AM PDT
Remember Katrina?

In the midst of the chaos that followed HurricaneKatrina, a Federal Emergency Management Agencyofficial in New Orleans sent a dire e-mail to DirectorMichael Brown saying victims had no food and weredying.

No response came from Brown.

Instead, less than three hours later, an aide to Brownsent an e-mail saying her boss wa
nted to go on atelevision program that night — after needing atleast an hour to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge, La.,restaurant.

The e-mails were made public Thursday at a SenateHomeland Security Committee hearing featuring MartyBahamonde, the first agency official to arrive in NewOrleans in advance of the Aug. 29 storm. The hurricanekilled more than 1,200 people and forced hundreds ofthousands to evacuate.

Bahamonde, who sent the e-mail to Brown two days afterthe storm struck, said the correspondence illustratesthe government’s failure to grasp what was happening.

”There was a systematic failure at all levels ofgovernment to understand the magnitude of thesituation,” Bahamonde testified. “The leadershipfrom top down in our agency is unprepared and out oftouch.”

The 19 pages of internal FEMA e-mails show Bahamondegave regular updates to people in contact with Brownas early as Aug. 28, the day before Katrina madelandfall. They appear to contradict Brown, who hassaid he was not fully aware of the conditions untildays after the storm hit. Brown quit after beingrecalled from New Orleans amid criticism of his work.

17) Hurricane Analysis:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5362865,00.html

Gulf Coast Suffers Record Hurricane Season
Saturday October 22, 2005 10:46 PM
By DEBORAH HASTINGS
AP National Writer

Not in the last century, since it was decided that thedead and detritus of every hurricane should berecorded, has there been such a disastrous barrage ofwind and rain and saltwater on the Gulf Coast.

Twenty-two tropical storms and hurricanes in the pastfive months, the most ever in a single season. Atropical storm that formed Saturday in the Caribbeanwas dubbed Alpha because the last letter left in thetempest alphabet went to Hurricane Wilma.

The World Meteorological Organization, a UnitedNations agency responsible for christening theseuncontrollable offspring of nature, had never beforerun out of names. (There is no X, Y or Z, no U or Q -not enough proper nouns begin with those letters, theagency says.) Nom de storms now revert to the Greekalphabet for the rest of the season, which ends Nov.30.

By July, one month into the season, there were alreadyseven named storms – tropical storms Arlene, Brett andCindy, hurricanes Dennis and Emily, and tropicalstorms Franklin and Gert.

The worst of that bunch was Dennis, which fromIndependence Day to July 12 battered coastal Alabama,the Florida Panhandle and many spots in the Caribbeanwith 150 mph wind. At least 32 people died.

InTallahassee, Fla., more than 7 inches of rain poureddown in four days, more than a normal summer month’sworth.

After that beginning, the season got worse. Muchworse.

The end of August brought Hurricane Katrina, whosedamage statistics are still being tallied. TheNational Hurricane Center says Katrina may be theworst natural disaster in the history of the UnitedStates. It will take a very long time to decide that.

Because of huge backlogs of autopsies at FederalEmergency Management Agency morgues, it has beenimpossible to sort the dead from the missing (amongthem the lost souls whose bodies were sucked into thegulf and not returned). As of this past week, thedeath tally stands at more than 1,280 across fivestates.
It started small – a tropical depression southeast ofthe Bahamas. Veering left and picking up speed, itmade landfall as a Category 1, the weakest of allhurricane classifications, on the evening of Aug. 25,atop the Miami-Dade-Broward county line.

It dumped more than a foot of rain across Florida,knocking down trees and snapping power lines until ithit the gulf. And there it sat, feeding on the warmwater, growing fatter and more powerful until itballooned into an awesome and terrifying Category 5headed for New Orleans.

At 6:10 a.m., four days after arriving in southernFlorida, Katrina made landfall in Plaquemines Parish,La., just south of the City of New Orleans, as aCategory 4 storm with 140-mph wind. Four hours later,it made a second landfall near the Mississippi line,dropping to a Category 3 with 125-mph wind. At itswidest, the storm’s swath stretched from west ofLafayette, La., to Pensacola, Fla. Storm surges of upto 29 feet drowned southern Mississippi, washing awaya major portion of the interstate and an unknownnumber of people.

Up to 17 inches of rain fell in the hardest-hit areasof Louisiana. And what nature didn’t flood in downtownNew Orleans, a broken levee did in the impoverished9th Ward. Thousands evacuated; many aren’t expected toreturn. The state’s economy was knocked to its knees -nearly a quarter of a million unemployment claims havebeen processed since Aug. 29, more than all of 2004.Louisiana budget officials have predicted governmentlayoffs and cuts to health services and educationbecause of taxes and revenues lost to Katrina.

The estimated insurance pay-outs don’t help theeconomic portrait either – with the latest estimatearound $34 billion.

After Katrina, it was hoped that was the end of deathand destruction and rain and wind – for this season,least. But nature abhors a vacuum and doesn’t possessa conscience.

There was more. Five more. September broughthurricanes Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe and Rita.

It was Rita that, for one breathtaking day threatenedto wipe out Katrina’s record of destruction and thecountry’s fourth-largest city – Houston.

On Sept. 20, it swept through Florida Straits,reaching Category 2 intensity as the eye passed southof Key West. Then Rita, too, blew into the gulf. At anastounding rate, it mushroomed from a Category 2 to aCategory 5 in about 24 hours, and it seemed to beheading straight toward Galveston, Texas, a place thathad lost some 8,000 people to a hurricane in 1900,before storms were given names.

About 40 miles north of Galveston lies Houston. OnSept. 24, at 2:30 a.m., a slightly subdued Rita hitjust shy of the Texas-Louisiana border, as Category 3storm with 120-mph wind. Lake Charles, La., wasflooded. Parts of New Orleans were again flooded. TheTexas oil towns of Beaumont and Port Arthur wereflooded. More than 100 deaths have been attributed toRita, nearly one-fourth occurring the day before thestorm hit when a bus full of elderly evacuees explodedoutside Dallas.

In hindsight, and compared to Katrina, Rita deliveredonly a glancing blow. Insured losses are estimated atup to $6 billion. Rainfall around New Orleans rangedfrom 4 to 6 inches, instead of four times that much.

After it was decided, about a century ago, toofficially document the death and destruction wroughtby hurricanes, record-keepers came up with many kindsof ways to do so. There is a list of the 10 costliesthurricanes (ranked by damage figures). There is a listof the 10 deadliest hurricanes (ranked by lives lost).

On the former, Hurricane Andrew of 1992 occupies theNo. 1 spot, with $26.5 billion in monetary losses. Onthe latter list, Galveston’s 1900 storm is at the top.

Last year’s quartet of hurricanes that terrorizedFlorida – Charley, Ivan, Frances and Jeanne – ranksecond, third, fourth and sixth, respectively, withdamages ranging from $15 billion to $6.9 billion.

18) New Orleans artists’ products:

Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:45:01 -0500
From: “Rachelle Matherne” <anthony@turducken.net>(by way of Anthony DelRosario <anthony@turducken.net>)
Subject: New Orleans artists, crafters, musicians

Dear friends & strangers,

I run an online consignment boutique called The Milk-Bar (www.themilk-bar.com) that specializes in handmade items by New Orleans artists and crafters. I also carry CDs and other merch from local bands. I want to greatly in
crease the inventory before the holiday season, and am interested in consigning your work. Right now is a great time for a centralized Internet presence for New Orleans artists, even (or especially!) those not currently living in the area. If you’re interested, please reply for moreinformation, including a copy of the consignment agreement to look over. Please forward this to any NOLA artist, crafter, ormusician that you know.

Thanks,Rachelle

http://www.themilk-bar.coman online boutique of functional art

I have taken a break the past two weeks due to professional obligations that I’ve had to attend to. I will try to do a posting or two in the next week, and then will try to get more active after 1 Nov. Sorry about the disappearance…

Most of today’s Katrina postings after the first 3-4 come straight from nola.com. If you’re already monitoring that outlet, there won’t be much new. As Katrina fades from national interest, there should be less frequent postings from here on out devoted to Katrina…

1) Katrina Tribute — turn your speakers up.
http://gmagic.com/katrina/

2) Able to laugh again:

YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN LOUISIANA WHEN ….
You have FEMA’s number on your speed dial.
You have more than 300 C and D batteries in your kitchen drawer.
Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti Os.
You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.
When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths and one safe hallway.
Your SSN isn’t a secret, it’s written in Sharpie on your arms.
You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.
You are delighted to pay only $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
The road leading to your house has been declared a No-Wake Zone.
You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.
You own more than three large coolers.
You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.
Three months ago you couldn’t hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.
You catch a 13-pound redfish in your driveway.
You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner’s and flood insurance policies.
You consider a “vacation” to stunning Tupelo, Mississippi.
At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.
You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.
There is a roll of tar paper in your garage (if you still have a garage).
You can rattle off the names of the meteorologists who work for the Weather Channel.
Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.
Ice is a valid (and deeply interesting) topic of conversation.
Your “drive-thru” meal consists of MRE’s and bottled water.
Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.
You spend more time on your roof than in your living room.
You’ve been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder or a tree worker.
A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.
You don’t worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.
Your child’s first words are “hunker down” and you didn’t go to UGA.
Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it’s Christmas.
Toilet Paper is elevated to “coin of the realm” at the Red Cross shelter.
You know the difference between the “good side” of a storm and the “bad side.”
Your kids start school in August and finish in July.
You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.

3) Future of New Orleans, NOLA.com articles:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_01.html#084166

Whether rebuilding a home or the city itself, questions abound
By Gordon Russell, Meghan Gordon and Jeffrey MeitrodtStaff writers

When floodwaters laid waste to Dennis Terry’s Lakeviewtownhouse, his first few steps were obvious ones:Recover anything worth saving. Call the insurancecompany. Call the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Wait for a check to arrive – hopefully one thatreflects the home’s true value.

Now, though, Terry faces a labyrinth of more complexdecisions. So do tens of thousands of owners ofuninhabitable homes across a swath of New Orleans andits environs.

Terry’s biggest questions: Can he rebuild? Should he?And if he does, will he have to build a home that isless vulnerable to flooding than the one that was lostin Hurricane Katrina’s brutal aftermath?

“Getting a real answer on anything is very difficultat this point,” Terry said. People want the
rebuildingprocess to get going, he said, but “we don’t even knowwhen it’s going to start.”

State Rep. Peppi Bruneau, whose Lakeview home wasdestroyed, said he’s just as stymied as his neighborsby the lack of information. Like them, he wants toknow whether the land will be elevated, whether newhouses will have to be built on piers, and whether thelevee system will be sufficient to prevent anotherwipe-out.
“You’re now finding out how little information we havebeen able to get out of city government,” Bruneausaid. “Ask one of the councilmen and you’re going toget the same answer. You’re not getting anyinformation from the mayor’s office. I know he’sinundated; I’m not blaming him. But these areexecutive decisions.”

To some extent, the questions posed by Terry andothers in his predicament can’t yet be answered.

Localofficials are just beginning to grapple with thechallenges posed by rebuilding the most devastatedparts of the city, ranging from Lakeview to the Lower9th Ward to St. Bernard Parish.

They must decide whether it’s wiser to rebuild inflood-prone areas or whether it makes more sense toturn some areas into green space. In areas in whichrebuilding is certain, they’ll have to decide whatkind of flood protection they want.

Will planners write new building codes, similar tothose in coastal areas of Florida, that require homesto be more hurricane proof? Will they bring in tons ofdirt aimed at raising the elevations of certainneighborhoods, or require building materials that areless prone to flood damage, such as concrete?

No matter what local officials decide, most homeownerswhose properties sustained heavy flood damage will beforced to meet current building requirements for thefirst time. Thousands of homes will have to be raisedor torn down and rebuilt at higher elevations in orderto meet zoning codes that were first created in theearly 1970s – well after most properties in the areawere erected.

Federal officials say the magnitude of the rebuildingprocess may actually work in the city’s behalf.
“One of the concerns we always have after is a floodis people rush in to rebuild,’’ FEMA spokesman EdPasterick said. “And in a lot of cases, the communitydoesn’t grab hold of the process like they should. Butif you have a larger event, you are much moreconscious of limiting the damage next time. That iscertainly going to happen in New Orleans.’’

Like communities all across the United States, NewOrleans passed laws in the 1970s requiring new homesto be at or above the level designated on the federalflood maps. But the older homes that dominate thecityscape were exempted from the new requirements.Katrina has changed all that.

Any house that sustained damage estimated at 50percent or more of its value will have to be broughtinto compliance with the rules or face much higherpremiums, FEMA spokesman Ed Pasterick said. It will beup to local building inspectors, who may receiveadvice from the feds, to make those calls.

A homeowner who rebuilds in violation of thefloodplain maps might pay more than $2,000 a year fora policy that used to cost $350, officials said. Localcommunities that fail to enforce the rules can alsoface sanctions from FEMA.

Huge numbers of homeowners will be forced to come intocompliance with the stricter elevation standards. Of256,000 homes covered by federal flood insurance inthe seven-parish metropolitan area, more than 155,000stand at elevations that are too low to protect themfrom a 100-year-flood, according to data supplied byFEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.

While no one knows exactly how many properties wereflooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, about140,000 flood claim
s had been filed in Louisiana evenbefore Rita, Pasterick said, mostly in and around NewOrleans.

And that number doesn’t account for the thousands ofhomes that lack flood insurance. Overall, federalofficials estimate that only about 41 percent of thehomes in metropolitan area carry flood protection,despite the area’s propensity to flood.

According to Phil Huffman of the HomebuildersAssociation of Greater New Orleans, Katrina damaged atotal of 360,000 homes in the New Orleans area, ofwhich half may need to be totally rebuilt. How muchmoney homeowners will receive is an open question: Themaximum flood payout under federal rules is $250,000,a cause of consternation for owners of houses thatwould cost more than that to replace.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal said he expects a consensuswill form by next week on a legislative initiative toassist homeowners whose losses are greater than thecoverage provided by their flood insurance or theirprivate insurer. With so much wealth lost so suddenly,Jindal is concerned that the extensive home damagewill result in a raft of bankruptcies. There might bea way for insurers along with the federal and stategovernments to share the responsibility, he said.

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Charles Foti islooking into a lawsuit against insurance companies toforce them to cover flood damages, much as MississippiAttorney General Jim Hood did two weeks after Katrina.But Foti is hoping a solution can be found that wouldavert a costly and time-consuming lawsuit, hisspokeswoman said.

Though many homeowners now feel they’re getting theshort end of the stick, Pasterick said many haveactually paid unrealistically cheap flood premiums foryears because their properties were grandfathered.Most local communities didn’t impose elevationrequirements on new home construction until the early1970s.

Those whose homes were damaged but not destroyed byfloodwaters will have other options, although housesthat incurred substantial damage will have to beraised above the flood plain.

Take the case of David Cressy, Mandeville’s cityattorney. Cressy’s 140-year-old home on the lakefrontwas inundated with 5 feet of water from Katrina’sstorm surge, making it uninhabitable. Many of Cressy’sneighbors with homes on 10-foot stilts fared muchbetter.

“They lost some stuff, but not their house,’’ Cressysaid. “That’s what convinced me that I’ve got to raisemine.”
Doing so will be expensive: Cressy will have to raisehis floor levels by 11 feet. So far, the cheapestestimate he’s gotten is $50,000, and that didn’tinclude a foundation, which he hopes to add.

“It’s probably going to cost me $100,000,’’ Cressysaid. “But I’m going to do it. I’m not going throughthis again. This is crazy.’’

Cressy won’t have to pay the entire tab. WayneBerggren, Mandeville’s flood plain manager, saidCressy’s is among 30 to 40 homes in Mandeville thatqualify for a little-known benefit called “increasedcost of compliance coverage” through their federalflood insurance policies.

Under the program, a property owner is eligible for upto $30,000 in grants if the cost to repair the home is50 percent or more of the building’s “pre-damagemarket value.’’

The money is not subject to the overall cap of $26,200that covers other FEMA grants. However it is subjectto the $250,000 maximum payout for structural damageunder federal flood insurance. Most homes have lesscoverage.

In the New Orleans area, the government will probablywind up handing out more than $1 billion in suchgrants, based on The Times-Picayune’s analysis offlood-policy data.

The projection that up to half of the 360,000 homesdamaged in the New Orleans area will have to betotally rebuilt, raises the specter of wholesaledemolitions, a specter that concerns New Orleans MayorRay Nagin.
“Most of the experts are telling us that any housethat was in flood waters for a couple of weeks wherethe water was above their (electrical) outlets, isprobably a property that is going to be very difficultto renovate,” New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said. “All Iknow is that in some areas, houses will be demolishedin significant numbers.”

But not without the owner being fully in the loop.”There’s this myth out there that we will start thesedemolitions en masse before people get a chance to assess and weigh in. We won’t do that,” Nagin said.
Preservationists fear a rush to judgment, with homes,including some in historic areas, getting torn downwithout much review.

“We get concerned when we read that there seems to bean assumption that the slate will be wiped clean inmany areas,” said Stephanie Bruno, director of thePreservation Resource Center’s Operation Comeback.“That sounds like the kind of approach they’re taking.Our approach would be more of a case-by-case basis.”

Bruno said many homes that are heavily damaged can befixed.

“The term ‘beyond repair’ is very subjective,” shesaid. “Even buildings that are structurallycompromised can be repaired if there’s a will to dothat.”

Meg Lousteau of the Louisiana Landmarks Society echoedBruno’s comments after touring parts of the city.“From what I saw, except for buildings that hadactually collapsed, I haven’t seen a single buildingthat needs to be torn down,” she said.

Even structures that are choked with mold can befixed, Lousteau said. “Mold can be dealt with withouttearing down the whole structure, especially in olderhouses,” she said. “I just hope people can get pastthe grossness of what they see when they first walkinto their homes. It’s going to be overwhelming andpainful, but the truth is, the damage is superficialin a lot of cases. You can rip out the Sheetrock andthe wiring.”

Lousteau said she also worries that insuranceadjusters may recommend demolition because of a beliefthat starting fresh will be cheaper.

Both Lousteau and Bruno were especially concernedabout the future of the Holy Cross neighborhood, thesection of the Lower 9th Ward that lies between theMississippi River and St. Claude Avenue, which isdesignated as a historic district locally andnationally. While the area flooded badly, it drainedquickly, they said, and most of the homes there aresalvageable.

Bruno said the PRC will be offering its services topeople looking to rebuild, or sell.

“We see ourselves helping to publicize tax breaks, loans and grants to help people see what’s out there,”she said. “And if they want to take their insurancecheck and move to Pennsylvania, helping them find away of disposing of property and getting it into thehands of someone who does want to renovate.”

As thousands of individual homeowners try to figureout their next move, a free-spirited debate about howto rebuild the city and its environs on a big-picturelevel has already begun to develop.

Federal officials, ranging from FEMA leaders to U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development secretaryAlphonso Jackson, have emphasized that most keydecisions will be up to local officials.
Nagin on Friday named the 17 members of a blue-ribbonpanel that will serve in an advisory role onrebuilding efforts. The City Council, not to beoutdone, is establishing a similar body. And Gov.Kathleen Blanco has set up her own rebuilding team.

Jackson, of HUD, said he has encouraged the mayor tohold a “charette” led by architects, engineers andurban planners to brainstorm ideas for how to rebuildthe city the right way.

In addition, a five-member panel appointed by theAmerican Planning Association and contracted by FEMAwill provide input. They include city planners fromFort Worth, Texas; Pittsburgh; Tampa, Fla.; andChicago. Grover E. Mouton III, who teaches urbandesign at Tulane University, is the group’s sole NewOrleanian.

Yolanda Rodriguez, director of the City PlanningCommission, said she expects her age
ncy will take alead role in making decisions using therecommendations turned in by the various groups.

One of FEMA’s roles will be to help the community“understand that maybe some of the decisions that weremade in the past are ones they don’t want to makeagain,” Pasterick said. “After every storm everybodyrevisits the wisdom of how things were built before.Maybe you’re not going to rebuild in certain areas, ormaybe there are some areas you won’t want to developagain and turn into park land. But those are all localdecisions.”

Even so, the feds will have a major role to play,because nearly all of the billions in aid pouring intothe area comes from the federal government. Ofparticular importance will be the decisions on howlevees and floodwalls are rebuilt. So far, the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers has pledged only to restorelevees to their pre-Katrina size, designed to handle aCategory 3 hurricane. But local officials are lobbyingfor floodwalls to withstand a Category 5 storm.

St. Bernard Parish is looking for similar help. JoeyDiFatta, president of the St. Bernard Parish Council,said the parish has asked the Corps to raise leveesthere to 25 feet – 8 feet higher than they were whenKatrina hit.
State Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Chalmette, said homeownersdon’t have the two keys they need to decide whether tostart over in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes.

“To talk about revitalization is useless until youknow: Are our levees going to be properly done andsecured? Are we going to be able to buy insurancethat’s affordable?” Boasso said. “This is the mixedmessage that we have to get straightened out. We’re inlimbo, because it all boils down to levees andinsurance.”
Experts and residents have already weighed in. Somesaid the massive task of rebuilding entire New Orleansneighborhoods would likely become the largest casestudy of its kind, with countless opportunities fortriumphs and failures.

“This is the biggest planning challenge any of us islikely to have occur during our professional careers,”said Rob Olshansky, a professor of urban planning atUniversity of Illinois and an expert on rebuildingcities after natural disasters. “It’s all there.”Some gut-wrenching decisions lie ahead.

“We have to look at the fact we have marshland andreclaimed lake bottoms that we built on, that wefilled in,” said City Councilwoman Cynthia HedgeMorrell, who represents Gentilly and parts of theLakefront. “And we’ve got to evaluate how safe that’sgoing to be. Maybe we shouldn’t have built there?“We have to face up to the fact that we’re a coastalcity. And we need to take a hard look at what they do in other places. We sit smack dab between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River and we buildout homes on slabs. How stupid are we?”

Hedge Morrell noted, in comments echoed by fellowcouncil members, that other communities ruined byhurricanes, such as Homestead, Fla., rebuiltintelligently.

“They knew it was wind damage that really hurtHomestead so they came up with a plan so houses builtnow, they have to tie the roofs into a cement wall,”she said. “In our case, we have to look at what isactually the (elevation) level we need to rebuild on.”

The city needs to give people clear instructions tokeep them safe, Hedge Morrell said “We’re going to tell you what the height has to be in terms of filling in,” she said. “We’re going to tell you what type of materials you have to use, because evidently the structures we had let people build in that area on slabs couldn’t handle what happened.”

Kristina Ford, director of the city planningcommission from 1992 to 2000 and now a professor ofenvironmental studies at Bowdoin College, saiddecision-makers should consider radical ideas forresurrecting demolished areas, including ones thatwere unthinkable before Katrina.

For example, she said residents from the Lower 9thWard perhaps could be relocated to one of the city’shigher ridges. Their old neighborhood could be used ina way that doesn’t put lives at risk, as headquartersfor the public works department or as a place to storebuses and other rolling stock that can be moved tohigher ground ahead of a storm.

Once leaders decide whether to relocate or fill inparts of the city, Ford doesn’t doubt that smartdevelopers will surface with design proposals toreplicate the “jumble” of styles present in most cityneighborhoods.
“I see houses that are maintained to differentdegrees, I see gardens that are maintained todifferent degrees,” Ford said of her mind’s-eye viewof New Orleans. “One of the things that I would lookfor would be a design that very quickly would revealindividual enthusiasm of individual residents. …Anything monolithic can, if it’s designed well, lookless monolithic.”

Bruneau said nobody in Lakeview would sit by whiledevelopers built “condo world.” While he wouldn’t support mandatory style codes, Bruneau believes that individual owners would each rebuild their own piece of the hodgepodge of bungalows, ranch houses, “McMansions” and townhouses that filled the neighborhood.
“How do we rebuild a city that is so complicated, andinterestingly so?” Ford said. “There will be animpulse to do this completely rationally, then we’llend up with something that has none of New Orleans’quality. One of the charms of New Orleans was theirrationality.”

While Katrina’s swath of devastation is unprecedentedin modern American history, the experiences of othercommunities after disasters could be instructive – forinstance, the flood that swamped Tulsa, Okla., in1984.

After the flood, which killed 14 people and inundated6,800 homes and businesses, the city earned a 40percent discount on flood insurance for its residentsby taking aggressive action to limit future damage.
After completing more than $100 million in floodmitigation projects, Tulsa became the first – and only– city to earn a Class 2 rating under the government’sCommunity Rating System. The measures included theacquisition of more than 1,000 flood-prone propertiesand the preservation of more than a quarter of thecity’s flood plain as green space.

By contrast, New Orleans is a Class 8 community, whichentitles its residents to a 10 percent discount onflood insurance. The highest ratings in Louisiana arein Jefferson and East Baton Rouge parishes, which havea “7” rating, earning residents there a 15 percentdiscount.

A disaster more comparable to Katrina was theearthquake that leveled Kobe, Japan, in 1994,destroying 150,000 homes and damaging another 450,000.Olshansky, who just completed a yearlong study of itand other post-disaster rebuilding projects, saidofficials there used all sorts of programs tojumpstart public and private developments in a 10-yearreconstruction. One key was to build temporary housingclose to the city for the 310,000 people in emergencyshelters — something New Orleans hasn’t yet pulledoff.

“If you want to rebuild New Orleans, you’ve got to getthose people back there,” he said. Olshansky said New Orleans could benefit from hiring professional planners to advocate for each neighborhood, as Kobe did to ensure that displaced residents would return to a neighborhood that fit their needs.

New Orleanians should also prepare for the depressionKobe residents encountered well into reconstructingtheir city, Olshansky said.

“For a couple of years it seems hopeless and it seemslike it’s never going to end,” he said. “The project just seems overwhelming, but they got through it, and other places got through it. … A year from now, things are going to look really bad and, ‘It’s a year later,’ and ‘Oh my God, we haven’t gotten anything done.’ It’s going to take a long time.”

Leverne and Elwood Fleming of eastern New Orleans knowthey’ll have to be in for a long haul if they want toget back to their old life on Trapier
Avenue, wherethey worked, lived and socialized.

“I would like to see them do something to rebuild theeast; I just don’t know what kind of timeline theyhave,” Leverne Fleming said after seeing their ruinedhome covered in mildew and mud. “I don’t know how longwe can wait this out, because sooner or later we’regoing to have to make a decision.”

Terry faces the same frustrating wait as he and hisfamily hold off on rebuilding their Lakeview townhousewhile the future of the city is debated. He said hehopes the process doesn’t stretch on so long that hisfamily has to make a permanent home hundreds of milesfrom Lakeview.

“I’ve thought about living elsewhere to a degree, Ihave, but would I want to?” Terry said. “My wife and Idiscuss it, our way of life. I want it back. I loveNatchitoches to death, but it’s not home.”

–Staff writers Frank Donze, Jeff Duncan and RobertTravis Scott contributed to this story.

4) NO Future Article II:

Returning New Orleanians ponder city’s future
By Brian ThevenotStaff writer

Kappa Horn shook her hips to “New Orleans Funk” as shepresided over a grill full of hamburgers — the onlymenu item of the day at her nearly reopened MagazineStreet breakfast joint.

Going to … get back!

Going to … get back!

“This the best album in the world,” she told hungryand thrilled-to-be-home customers, as officialresettlement of New Orleans’ east bank began late lastweek.

Horn had just returned to open Slim Goody’s after adepressing stay in Baton Rouge. But there were momentsof pure beauty, too. Greasy spatula in hand, she toldof watching the Dirty Dozen Brass Band play in BatonRouge.

They kicked into “Do Watcha Wanna,” the brass-bandstandard that bumps like a New Orleans anthem toanyone who has wiggled and giggled with friends andstrangers in the city’s world-famous music halls.The room exploded, just like at home.

Then, Horn said, “somebody whispered in my ear, ‘Well,You can’t kill that.’”

No indeed. New Orleans will not die. For true.

But that begs a question that many New Orleanians arealready beginning to grapple with: When the city getsback on its feet, what sort of place will – or should– it be?

The question is already provoking spirited discussionamong returnees, if only as a diversion from moreimmediate anxieties, such as where to live and how tomake a living.

Many said their thoughts alternate between visions ofNew Orleans’ grand opportunity to wash away its severeproblems and concern that its legendary charactercould get watered down in the process. Issues of race,class, politics and the fragile social fabric ofneighborhoods weigh on their minds even as they beginto piece back together their damaged homes andbusinesses.

At Slim Goody’s, chills ran up the spine of MatthewRatcliff, 33, as Professor Longhair’s “Big Chief” cameon the juke box. He worked as a cook at Cobaltrestaurant before the storm. They’re paying him foranother three months. After that, who knows? But he’slooking for another job – anything – in the meantime.“I’ve just been so stir-crazy,” he said. “Even if it’sminimum wage, it’ll keep me from drinking all thetime. Try staying in Little Rock, Arkansas, for amonth. That’ll make you nuts.”

A few minutes later, Horn explained to customers thatshe had to reduce the menu to hamburgers only becauseshe has no one for food prep. Ratcliff asked if she’dtake him on.

“Show up at 8,” she said.

Just like that, at least one man’s economy switchedback on.

“Perfect, I can walk to work,” Ratcliff said.Asked the question many are asking — how will thecity look in the next three to five years? — Ratcliffsaid he believed a corps of die-hards, many withoutchildren, would form a base of rebuilders in asomewhat smaller city.

“It’s a transient city anyway, but the hard cores aregoing to be back. All my friends are coming back.People with families and kids may not. I think the25-to-40 crowd is going to make up the bulk ofpopulation,” said Ratcliff, who is single. “Thesepeople are realizing they’re spoiled on New Orleans.It took me three or four weeks out of town to realizeI couldn’t live anywhere else.”

On Napoleon Avenue, a couple, both doctors, inspectedtheir spacious home near the corner of SaratogaStreet.

“We think the city’s going to be great,” said DawnGalliano, as she worked with her husband Dante,inspecting the moderate looting and water damage.Asked why, she hesitated. “I don’t want to say,” shesaid.

Dante put the matter diplomatically, but his messagewas clear: Fewer poor people.

“I think there’s going to be so much businessdevelopment in the lower economic areas, in theproject areas,”
he said.

Near Napoleon Avenue and Magazine Street, WalterMarschner of Jefferson Parish Appraisal Service made astop at one of the many homes he has inspected fordamage. He speculated that the city would lose bothrich and poor people, but ultimately come out more ofa middle-class town – a good thing, he said.

“What I’m hearing is that a lot of people aren’tcoming back,” he said. “We have a lot of people at thebottom of the barrel, attending New Orleans publicschools, on welfare. They have nothing going for them.A lot of these people have been transported to Dallasand Houston and Shreveport and all over. What they’refinding there is that you can buy a 1,000-square-foothouse (in Shreveport) for $40,000, that there arebetter schools, and that people are welcoming themin.”

Marschner said he believes that poor New Orleanianswho have been dispersed to other places may help boththemselves and the city.

“This may sound mean and rotten, but if we can get ridof 100,000 of the lower class that are takers and notgivers to the community, we’ll be much better off,”said Marschner, who is white. “That might soundracist, but I don’t mean it that way.”

To some, such comments do indeed sound racist. Stan “Pampy” Barre, the African-American restaurateurand indicted political operative, expressed outrage atpublished comments from Regional Transit AuthorityChairman James Reiss, who is white. Reiss told theWall Street Journal that New Orleans would be betteroff without a teeming underclass and attendant highcrime rate.

“Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to seeit done in a completely different way …” Reiss toldthe newspaper. “The way we’ve been living is not goingto happen again, or we’re out.”

Barre invited Reiss, who declined to comment further,to make good on his pledge to leave.

“He (Reiss) doesn’t want to redevelop those areas ofthe city that have a heavily black population,” Barresaid.

“But that’s what makes New Orleans (what itis).”

Barre brushed off the notion that poor black NewOrleanians would be better off living elsewhe
re simplybecause they have not historically prospered here.“That may be true in some instances,” he said.
“Butwhat black people are going to miss about New Orleans,they’re going to miss their mommas living right downthe street, red beans and rice on Monday, Mardi Grasand JazzFest.

“There’s a lot of people that want to come back, butthat’s going to be impossible unless they have a goodplan and they don’t price them out of the (housing)market,” Barre said. “I wish I had the answers.”Even a New Orleans fixture like Barre can’t yet set upa new restaurant to replace Pampy’s, the popular 7thWard meeting ground for city movers and shakers. Inthe meantime, he’s exploring opening a place in BatonRouge.
Opinions on the desired demographic and landscape of anew New Orleans do not break neatly along lines ofrace. Nor do the prospects for repopulating the manyareas of the city inundate
d by floodwaters. Along withspeculation on how many impoverished African-Americansmight return to neighborhoods such as the Lower 9thWard comes speculation about the degree to whichaffluent and mostly white areas such as Lakeview willlure its residents back. An even bigger question markhangs over the mostly white and working-class parishof St. Bernard, which was clobbered by flooding andstorm surge and will be among the most difficult andexpensive to protect from further storms.

Ratcliff, who is white, was not less incensed thanBarre by the notion that the storm was a blessingbecause it might run poor blacks permanently out oftown, a sentiment he said he heard frequently inArkansas.
“That really pisses me off,” he said. “Those are thesame poor blacks that I rode the bus with last winteron my way to work, the people I talked about theSaints with … They’re part of our culture: the secondlines and the Mardi Gras Indians. You can’t justeliminate parts of society. Like me, some of mybiggest flaws make up who I am.”

Down the street, from Slim Goody’s, Hope Manasek, a41-year-old white woman hitchhiked to the FrenchQuarter, where she sold incense at a shop before thestorm. She fretted that New Orleans would soon becomea “Disneyland for Houstonians.” Losing a largepercentage of poor New Orleanians would ruin the town,she said.

“I’ve always seen New Orleans as a poor black town – acompletely free place, not like the rest of America, aplace with totally different values, food, music,attitude, a place where people came to escape theirempty lives,” she said, sipping a beer at Molly’s atthe Market in the French Quarter, which reopened rightafter the storm. “No matter how weird you are in yourhometown, nobody looks twice at you here.”Molly’s owner Jim Monaghan Jr., an outspoken FrenchQuarter resident in the model of his father whostarted the bar, attacked the assertion that poverty –regardless of race — is integral to the city’sculture and heritage.

“I don’t know what there is about poverty that’s funkyand flavorful – the city’s still going to have asoul,” he said.

Amid the wide array of opinions on the city’s probablefuture, those returning this week seemed to agree on afew key points, particularly that homes should berebuilt to replicate the architecture that makes thecity famous and livable. If shotgun houses arebulldozed in the Lower 9th Ward, shotgun houses shouldbe built in their place, they said, provided thedeluged low-lying area doesn’t simply become aspillway or part of an improved flood-protectionsystem, as some have recommended.

More importantly, those interviewed said, the city’spolitical fiefdoms must go.

“The thing I thought of most in the last few weeks ishow angry I am” at the city’s inability to prepare foror respond to the storm, said Cheron Brylski, aveteran political operative and public relationsspecialist. “This really showed how inept ourgovernment structure is … The political landscape isgoing to change significantly. You’re going to seesome new faces.”

But putting in new leaders will be like rearrangingthe deck chairs on the Titanic unless residents forcechange in the political culture, the cronyism and thepatronage games, Brylski said.

“Local neighborhood leaders have been ignored for solong,” Brylski said. “People at some point juststopped participating. We’ve seen dropping voterturnout.”

Brylski said she doesn’t believe the national articlesshe’s read speculating that New Orleans will become an“Uptown, white-only” enclave. The city’s diversitywill survive, she said, because people of all classesand races know instinctively that New Orleans won’t beNew Orleans without it.

The owners of Praline Connection, the popular Creolerestaurant on Frenchmen Street in the Marigny, aren’tso sure. As Curtis Moore and Cecil Kaigler, bothAfrican-Americans, worked to repair their commissarynear the restaurant Friday, they also fumed atgovernment leaders for their failure to put NewOrleanians – particularly poor black New Orleanians –first in line for clean-up and repair jobs.
“You need the people back – and they need to beworking. We’ve got Hondurans and Mexicans down hereworking while New Orleanians are just sitting out oftown in shelters,” said Curtis Moore. “I think thecity can come back strong, but only if all the moneythat’s coming down here is applied fairly and justly.If it just makes the rich richer, it’s not going towork.”

Moore’s vision of the new New Orleans disturbs him.“It’ll be a majority white town. Most black people arerenting, and their landlords are white. If the pricesgo sky high, they’re not going to be able to afford tocome back. We’ll have less black people, and that’ssad … New Orleans will definitely lose some of theflavor and culture. It won’t be the gumbo town; it’llbe more like the white bean.”

Monaghan said he plans to turn the French Quarter andthe Faubourg Marigny into a base for politicalagitation. He launched his effort Friday with a townhall meeting entitled, “What is the future of theFrench Quarter?”

The Quarter, on high ground near the river, escapeddevastation from the storm but residents now fear thethreat of ever more corporatization, condos and thecontinuation of corrupt, ineffective government.“This is a neighborhood. We don’t want to see itcorporatized to the point where people can’t live init. And the same for the Marigny,” Monaghan said. “Itwas happening before the storm, and I think this isour chance to say that people want to live here andhelp rebuild. Nothing against corporations, but it’s awhole different vibe – sterile.”

Monaghan said he had teamed up with Harry Anderson,the magician and former star of television’s “NightCourt,” who recently opened up a magic club on DecaturStreet. They hope to mobilize residents to demandchange at City Hall.

“We want to light a fire under people’s asses,” hesaid. “We’re looking for a friendlier City Hall – nomore snarling people over there who won’t even answera simple question, no more nasty meter maids and busdrivers … This is our city.”

The prospect of handing over truckloads of federalmoney to the same cast of political charactersfrightens Monaghan, who said he personally would startattending council meetings as a watchdog.

“You can just come around to all the coalitions – thepowers that be and the different factions who hate oneanother because of personalities – and say, ‘Here’ssome money … Here’s some money … Here’s some money,’”he said. “The oligarchy has to go away. That’s whatfailed us.”

5) Returnees:

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1128108542146890.xml&storylist;=louisiana

New Orleans welcomes back more residents; some areunwilling to stay
9/30/2005, 5:25 p.m. CT
By MARY FOSTER The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The sounds of power saws and woodchippers filled parts of New Orleans on Friday as theFrench Quarter and other neighborhoods that werespared the worst of Hurricane Katrina were officiallyreopened to residents, a month after the storm hit.

Along St. Charles Avenue, its famous streetcars stillidled, Maury Strong and her husband were elated toreturn home and find they had electricity.

“I came back to air conditioning and CNN, so I’mhappy. The fridge is on, the beer is cold,” she said.”I’ve been sobbing back in California for two or threeweeks. I thought it was going to be much worse.”

Despite the misgivings of state and federalauthorities, Mayor Ray Nagin threw open the FrenchQuarter and the Uptown section as part of anaggressive plan to get the city back on its feet.Algiers,
a neighborhood across the Mississippi Riverfrom the French Quarter, reopened to residents onMonday.

Altogether, the neighborhoods account for aboutone-third of New Orleans’ half-million inhabitants.Most of the reopened areas have electricity, but onlyAlgiers has drinkable water.

Serious hazards remain because of bacteria-ladenfloodwaters, a lack of clean water and a sewage systemthat has not been fully repaired. The stench ofgarbage piled up in some areas is overpowering, andstretches of the city are pitch-black at night.

Some residents came back only to pack and leave.

“We’re moving out of this stinking city,” Billy Tassinsnarled as he loaded his daughter’s belongings into atruck, a day after finding his home fouled withknee-deep mud. “They can finishing destroying it andburning it down without us.”

Nagin announced a 17-member commission to draft arebuilding plan for New Orleans, tapping businessowners and others, including Roman Catholic ArchbishopAlfred Hughes and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis.

The mayor said he has e-mailed the White Houseoutlining his top priorities, including rebuilding andimproving the levee system; seeking help with a raillink to Baton Rouge that could be used for emergencyevacuation; and getting federal tax breaks andincentives for businesses and residents.

“New Orleans is not asking for a handout; we’re askingfor a hand up,” Nagin said. The Louisianacongressional delegation has called for $250 billionin federal aid to help the state recover fromhurricane damage.
At the Red-Thread dressmaker’s shop on MagazineStreet, Ilona Toth wept as she began packing up toleave 15 years after opening her business.

“It’s just too hard,” said Toth, a Hungarianimmigrant. “Every year a hurricane is always coming.We always have to evacuate, then clean up. It’s toomuch trouble.”

Some were intent on coming back.

“This is my home. I will never leave New Orleans,”said Virginia Darmstadter, 75, who has lived in theUptown section’s Garden District for 21 years and lefther husband in a Houston nursing home to check theirhome. The house had no electricity, and had water andmold. The family planned to return to Houston aftercleaning up a few things.

“As soon as we get electricity and my husband isstrong enough to come back, believe me, I’ll be back,”Darmstadter said. “I’ve lived long enough to know thatlife is a wave; you move up and down. When you aredown, you have to muster the wherewithal to face it.”

Along Prytania Street in the Uptown section, peoplecleared brush and tree limbs from their yards, whilerepair crews worked on power lines.

Taylor Livingston, 40, was using a leaf-blower, hopingto create a lived-in look at three homes he wasguarding against looters.

“I don’t know how it’s going to come together,” hesaid. “I don’t know if there’s ever been a big cityevacuated the way we were evacuated. It’s all new. Idon’t know that we can come back that quick.”

The city is 95 percent dry, said Maj. Jeff Kwiecinskiof the Army Corps of Engineers. Water was still beingpumped out of the devastated Ninth Ward, butKwiecinski said it would probably be gone by Sunday.
Debris was stacked outside homes for miles, andincluded moldy mattresses and rows of refrigerators,duct-taped shut and leaking foul-smelling liquids.Burglar alarms sounded in many buildings as the powerblinked on, a sharp counterpoint to the wood chippersgrinding up fallen limbs.

Katrina’s death toll in Louisiana rose to 932 onFriday, the state health department said, whileMississippi’s toll climbed to 221 after a body wasfound under a collapsed motel.

In the city’s eastern reaches, authorities said theyhad found 14 dead dogs. St. Bernard Parish spokesmanSteve
Cannizaro said 10 dogs were shot to death at amiddle school, and four more were found at anelementary school. Authorities do not know who killedthe animals

6) Jeff parish arrest count:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_01.html#084166

Jeff arrests 275 in Katrina looting
Deputy wounds man during foot chase
Stolen vehicles found as far away as Houston

By Michelle Hunter East Jefferson bureau

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office has arrested 275people on looting charges since Aug. 27, including
oneman shot by a deputy after he fired at the officer,Sheriff Harry Lee said in his most expansiveaccounting to date of Katrina-related crime.

The deputy wounded Larry Falkins, 19, of Westwegoduring a foot chase in Kenner on Sept. 1, an arrestreport said. Falkins had been identified as the manwho had broken into a nearby pawnshop.

Falkins allegedly fired a gun at the deputy andmissed. The deputy returned fire and hit Falkins inthe arm. Falkins managed to get away, but authoritieslater caught up with him at Kenner Regional MedicalCenter, after he turned up for treatment. Falkins wastreated, released and later booked with looting,attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assaulton an officer.

Lee’s figures exceed those reported by the FBI forlooting arrests in New Orleans and Jefferson Parishcombined.

In the days just before and well after Katrina rippedthe New Orleans region on Aug. 29, Jefferson deputiesrecovered many pickup-truckloads of merchandise stolenfrom Wal-Marts, Walgreens drug stores, Radio Shacks,grocery stores and businesses in Oakwood Center, whichlooters sacked and set afire. Among the booty: DVDplayers, DVDs, CD players, even electric toothbrushes– “Something that everybody needs during a hurricanewhen there’s no electricity,” said Capt. KerryNajolia, deputy commander of the Sheriff’s Office SWATteam.

Among those booked with looting the Harvey Wal-Martwas Menekia Humphry, 29, of Harvey, who, with her13-year-old daughter in tow, wheeled out a shoppingcart of stolen goods including several Playstation 2video games, an arrest report said. Also booked withlooting that same store were two Sheriff’s Officecorrectional officers who are accused of takingelectronic equipment.

Quite a bit of stolen loot was found in vehicles thatalso had been stolen, Lee said. So far, 24 vehicleshave been reported stolen from East Jefferson cardealerships, and at least 110 from dealerships in WestJefferson, he said. Deputies have not yet heard fromanother four West Jefferson dealers.

Even now, some Jefferson car dealers are getting callsthat vehicles stolen from their lots have been foundall over the United States, including several at theAstrodome in Houston, a major evacuation site for NewOrleans area residents, Lee said.

Deputies also arrested more than eight people whobailed out of stolen U.S. Postal Service trucks parkednear the West Bank Expressway and Westwood Drive inMarrero, arrest reports said. Inside the trucks,deputies found stolen goods, some with the securitytags still attached, as well as lottery tickets, thereports said.
Looters also made their way into several grocerystores. But some thieves bypassed the food aisles andwent to the pharmacy.

Shawn Berrigan, 33, of Metairie was arrested oncharges of lifting several bottles of prescriptiondrugs from a Sav-A-Center pharmacy, an arrest reportsaid. Deputies found a black garbage bag containingnarcotics such as hydrocodone and alprazolam. He wasbooked Wednesday with eight counts of drug possessionwith the intent to distribute, looting and pharmacyburglary, the report said.

7) Payroll articles:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_01.html#084166

Some paychecks stop for New Orleans workers
Companies can’t pay without custo
mers
By Rebecca Mowbray and Jaquetta WhiteBusiness writers

Some New Orleans-area service-sector companies whoserevenue stream is tied to a consuming public that hasbeen largely absent for the past month began layingoff workers Friday.

After Hurricane Katrina, many employers committed topaying their employees for 30 days. Friday marked theend of that period as well as the last day of themonth, making it a natural time to cut ties.

The Belle of Orleans riverboat casino, for example,which was heavily damaged by the hurricane, fired its692 employees.

“We paid them for 30 days, and that’s where we’re atnow,” said Gonzalo Hernandez, general manager of theprivately owned casino formerly known as Bally’s.

Tulane University, the metropolitan area’s largestprivate employer, on Friday terminated all part-timefaculty, part-time staff who did not get benefits, andpart-time staff who were hired after May 1 that hadbeen eligible to receive benefits. As of Nov. 1, onlystaff employees who have been specifically requestedto return to work will continue to be paid; otherswill need to use accrued vacation or sick leave untilthe university re-opens in January.

Previously, the university had terminated adjunctfaculty who didn’t receive benefits andall-but-dissertation graduate students who taughtclasses as adjuncts.

On a brighter note, Tulane on Friday extended paythrough the end of October for research faculty,clinical faculty at the School of Medicine, medicalresidents and Veterans Affairs professors who workpart-time at Tulane.

Sept. 30 was also a significant date for 500 full-timeemployees at the Fair Grounds Race Course and itsbetting and video poker operations. “We have said wewould be paying everyone through the end of September,which is today,” spokeswoman Julie Koenig-Loignon saidFriday. Fair Grounds employees will need to startusing their vacation and sick days as of today. ButChurchill Downs Inc., the owner of the track, may havean update on that policy soon. “We are revisiting thatdecision on a week-by-week basis,” she said.

Port of New Orleans employees who do not show up towork Monday will have to use their annual leave inorder to continue being paid. Of the 318 port workers,119 have reported to work. Thirty-three more areexpected this week, according to the port’s Web site.Those numbers do not include people employed by theport’s tenants or dock workers.

At least one port tenant, International ShipholdingInc., has said that it will continue to pay all of its122 New Orleans employees. They have been moved totemporary offices in Houston, Mandeville and BatonRouge until the company can move back to New Orleans,said Erik L. Johnsen, the company’s vice president.

Friday was the final payday for employees at WholeFoods Market locations in New Orleans and Metairie whohad not relocated to another store. The company paidworkers for two pay periods after the storm, whetherthey worked or not, and offered to pay relocationcosts for those who chose to move to another city witha Whole Foods store. Company spokesman Scott Simonssaid only a “few” employees chose not to relocate.

Other companies weren’t able to hang onto theiremployees that long. Two other grocers paid workersfor only one week after the storm.

Winn-Dixie paid employees through Sept. 7 and thenplaced them on unpaid leave of absence, unless theyfound work at another Winn-Dixie store, said thecompany’s spokesman, Dennis Wortham.

Likewise, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.,which owns the Sav-a-Center stores, paid employees forone week after Hurricane Katrina but continues to payfull benefits, company spokesman Glenn Dickson said.
About 775 of Sav-a-Center’s 2,100 employees have beentransferred to another store, he said. Many of thosewho did not transfer were teenagers who probably wouldnot relocate.

The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s 360 full-timeemployees stopped receiving paychecks Sept. 11 unlessthey were working. The Convention Center’s 250part-time employees are paid only for the hours theywork. Sabrina Written, a spokeswoman for theConvention Center, said that some people in sales,human resources, finance, telecommunications, safetyand operations have been working, but it’s hard toknow how many people that includes.

It’s also likely that many other workers in the NewOrleans area have already lost jobs because theeconomy is made up largely of small businesses, whichare less able to withstand the shock of the storm.Many small companies and retailers have been forced toshut down because they have no customers.

But the situation looks brighter for employees atother companies.

Harrah’s New Orleans Casino, which has about 1,900full-time employees, has committed to paying itsworkers for 90 days and has waived the payrolldeductions for insurance. The Treasure Chest, whichhopes to re-open soon, is paying its employees throughthe end of October. The Boomtown re-opened Friday.

Many hotels are trying to recall their workers to NewOrleans, according to the Greater New Orleans Hoteland Lodging Association.

“We anticipate that there are going to be somelayoffs, but most hotels are trying to get theirpeople back so they can re-open. Many hotels arere-opening on a limited basis with limited staff, butthey see the future need (for more employees) as theyget closer to full service,” said Bill Langkopp, thegroup’s executive vice president. “Everybody isanxious to get back in operation.”

8) Tulane article:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_01.html#084166

Tulane promises prospective students it won’tdisappear
Admissions officials face some reluctance
By Bruce AlpertWashington bureau

BETHESDA, MD. – In one sense, it’s the same pitch thatTulane University admissions counselors make everyyear: Tulane is one of America’s elite privateuniversities, a school that’s neither so large as tobe impersonal or too small as to limit academicchoices, and it offers the extra benefit of beingsmack in the middle of one of America’s most excitingcities.

Still, as Tulane representative Jeff Schiffman talkedto a group of Walt Whitman High School seniors Friday,he acknowledged that some might well have doubts aboutapplying to a university that was forced to cancel thefall semester due to damage caused by HurricaneKatrina.

Schiffman promised that the campus will be spruced upand ready for classes next fall, and that the vibrantNew Orleans culture that makes Tulane “such a greatplace to go to school isn’t going to disappear.”
Onestudent asked whether “there will be Mardi Gras.” Mostcertainly, Schiffman replied.

Still, he told students not to take his word for it.

“Unfortunately, you can’t visit the campus this fall,but come visit during the spring semester,” Schiffmansaid.
“We’ll be open up again on Jan. 17, and you cansee for yourself.”

Not only will they get a great education, he said, butthey can attend Tulane at a time of incredibleexcitement, with a university committed to playing amajor role in New Orleans’ redevelopment.Architectural students already are working up newdesign schemes for devastated sections of New Orleans9th Ward, Schiffman said, while engineering studentsare looking into new design possibilities for leveesthat failed and flooded the city.
For some of the Whitman students gathered in theschool’s guidance office, post-Katrina Tulane isn’t aneasy sell.

“My parents think it’s not going to be as safe.Because of the water there might be more diseases,”said Abby Wald, 17, a Whitman senior. “And since a lotof the city was ruined, will it be rebuilt by the timeI go there? So it made me less interested in theschool.”

But Mariel Yohe, 17, said she was reassured bySchi
ffman’s optimism about the future of both Tulaneand New Orleans.

“I was a little worried because of all you read in thenewspaper, but you don’t really know about a placeuntil
you see it,” Yohe said. “After hearing from theadmissions guy, I feel more confident.”

Abraham Einhorn, also 17, said he worries about howlong it will take New Orleans to return to anysemblance of its former vibrancy. But he said he stillhas a good feeling for the place.

“I think just like in New York after 9/11, there willbe more of a connection to the place by the people wholive there,” Einhorn said. “I think that the peoplewho come back will really be the ones who want to bethere. But you wonder about all the lost historicalbuildings. I suspect in some ways after the rebuildingit will be better, but in some ways it will be worse.But I’m definitely going to consider Tulane.”

Richard Whiteside, Tulane’s dean of admissions, saidapplications for next fall’s freshman class arerunning about 50 percent ahead of last year, althoughhe conceded that part of the reason is attributed tothe earlier distribution of brochures and admissionsforms. Tulane has about 6,500 full-time undergraduatesand a total student body of about 13,000.

Whiteside said he isn’t sensing much reluctance aboutbecoming part of Tulane’s class of 2010 as he meetswith high school students and their parents.

“I’d say the first five or six minutes go somethinglike this: a lot of mutual support and concern forwhat happened, but that all ends pretty quickly,”Whiteside said in a phone interview from Tulane’stemporary administration offices in Houston. “And thenit’s all about admissions-related questions, likepotential majors, financial aid and what student lifeis like. It’s the same questions we get every year.”

9) NO Rebuilding commission announced:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_01.html#084166

Nagin introduces city’s rebuilders
Group called on to shape N.O.
Nagin to make members sign ethics statement

By Frank Donze and James VarneyStaff writers

With much of New Orleans still in shambles and anational debate growing about the cost of rebuildingthe city, Mayor Ray Nagin on Friday introduced a panelof movers and shakers who he hopes will be thearchitects of a new and better Crescent City.

The 17-member group faces the gargantuan andunprecedented task of returning parts of the citynearly annihilated by Hurricane Katrina to theirpre-storm condition, while simultaneously addressingchronic problems such as New Orleans’ deplorablepublic school system.

Nagin’s team includes attorneys, academics, businesspeople and church figures, many of them lifelongresidents. As he unveiled the group, Naginacknowledged that New Orleans’ reconstruction has comeunder increased scrutiny in Washington, wherelawmakers are questioning the amount of money beingdiscussed for recovery, and Louisiana’s storiedreputation for political corruption.

“I know there is this great debate about whether NewOrleans should be rebuilt,” he said.

His team was picked with that in mind, the mayornoted, praising the members as “authentic” and with”high integrity.” His administration’s own trackrecord should also set some minds at ease, hesuggested.
“Google me,” he said. “We’ve been aboutanti-corruption, about doing things in a mannerconsistent with how other areas of the country dothings.”

Nagin also said each commission member has agreed tosign an “ethics statement” pledging they will not”profiteer from the rebuilding process.”

Whether the final aid package that comes fromWashington is $100 billion or $250 billion, Naginvowed to see the funds spent in a transparent mannerthat would breed confidence in the recovery effort andthe city’s future. What’s more, much of the moneywould be earmarked for projects to ensure that asimilar disaster never happens again, he said.

At questions about the country’s commitment torebuilding the city in light of its precarioussituation, however, the mayor displayed a flash ofimpatience. Nagin wondered why metropolitan areas withtheir own looming confrontations with nature are notsubject to the same debate.

“I don’t see it about Florida,” he said. “There’s notone about California, which sits right on a faultline. Let’s figure out what we have to do to make thisa safer community.”

In an e-mail to the White House, Nagin said he hadasked for four specific things:

– To have the city’s levees immediately restored towithstand a Category 3 hurricane and “quicklythereafter” upgraded to a more comprehensive system oflevees and floodwalls that could, in theory, withstanda direct hit from a Category 5 storm.

– Whatever dollars are appropriate to rebuild a leveeprotection system equipped to withstand a Category 5hurricane.

– An “expedited and fortified” light rail system torun from downtown to the airport and then from theairport to Baton Rouge. Beyond its immediate benefitsto the economy, Nagin said the system would serve asan evacuation tool.

– A complex package of tax breaks and incentives forindividuals and businesses working or headquartered inNew Orleans.

When asked what kind of response he got from the WhiteHouse, Nagin smiled but did not provide specifics.

“They basically said they were looking at it,” hereplied. “You know, the president looked me in the eyeand said we would rebuild the city into a shiningexample for the nation and so far he’s been a man ofhis word.”

Nagin added: “New Orleans is not asking for hand out.We’re asking for a hand up.”

The mayor said he has given the commission anambitious timetable, asking it to deliver a “fullyvetted plan” by year’s end.

He said the commission “will not work in isolation,”with up to two dozen subcommittees – on subjects suchas levees, education and economic development – whosemembership will number in the hundreds.

While he provided few details, Nagin said thecommission plans to set up teleconferences to solicitinput from evacuees scattered across the nation.

The commission will be co-chaired by two native NewOrleanians: community activist Barbara Major,executive director of the St.Thomas Health Clinic, andMel Lagarde, chief executive officer of HCA DeltaDivision, a major health care provider.

“I am honored to have been asked to be a part of thiscommission,” Major said. “I don’t know if I’m morescared than honored. But fear is a good thing becauseit brings about caution.”

Major said she is committed to rebuilding a NewOrleans “with the inclusiveness that it never hadbefore in terms of equity and access. That everybodyhas a right to return to New Orleans. Not to the oldNew

Orleans but to a better New Orleans where there isdecent housing and quality schools and health care forall.”
Lagarde said signing up for the commission “is anopportunity I’ve waited for really ever since thestorm hit.

We’ve talked enough about the devastationand the issues that face this city as a result of thestorm.”

While it will be a daunting task, he said New Orleanshas an unprecedented chance “to come together andbegin looking at things completely new, with acompletely different set of issues and paradigms.”

Nagin said he is not concerned that other committeesbeing assembled by Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the NewOrleans City Council will conflict with hiscommission, noting that the governor’s panel has astatewide mission and that Council President OliverThomas has a seat on his committee.

Blanco, who showed up unannounced and got a bear hugfrom a surprised Nagin, agreed with the mayor’sassessment.

She said she wants every Louisiana community hit byKatrina to set up similar committees of
localcommunity leaders and pledged her full support for theeffort.

“We will be your right arm,” Blanco told Nagin.”We’ll work as a big team. We’re going to work hard asyour partner and we’re going to make this happen.”

10) Archdiocese finances:

Archdiocese plans layoffs
Katrina has ravaged the church’s finances
Archdiocese employees must call in
By John PopeStaff writer

Under financial strain from the burden of caring forvictims of Katrina and Rita, the Archdiocese of NewOrleans is grappling with the painful prospect oflaying off an unspecified number of its 9,000 layemployees to avoid running a deficit.

“We certainly want to keep as many employees as wecan,” the Rev. William Maestri, the archdiocesanspokesman, said Friday. “However, we realize theravages of Katrina and Rita have put a great strain onthe archdiocese to provide for the victims of thestorms and support its employees.”

No decision has been made on the number of employeesto be let go, the areas from which these workers willcome or when the decision will be made, he said,explaining that this process has been in the works foronly three weeks.

“We want to do this as quickly as possible . . . withall deliberate speed, to be fair to our employees,”Maestri said.

Under its hurricane policy, the archdiocese paid allemployees through today, he said, and benefits runthrough Oct. 31. Workers who are laid off can continueto pay for health insurance for another year.

Maestri said all lay employees must report to theirsupervisors or call 1 (888) 366-5024 by Monday.
If a job is available, the caller will be told whenand where to report, and wages will resume on thefirst day of work. If no work is to be had, the workerwill be terminated with two weeks’ severance pay andthen become eligible for unemployment compensation.

Employees also will be terminated, with two weeks’pay, if they turn down jobs offered when they call,Maestri said.

If they don’t call by Monday, they will be droppedwith no severance pay.

“The layoffs will be painful,” Maestri said.

But being laid off may not be the end of the line,because some archdiocesan departments with robustbudgets may be able to hire workers from agencies thatcan’t afford them, Maestri said, adding that anincrease in donations to the archdiocese might meanthat more employees could be kept on the payroll.

In a statement to employees spelling out theseoptions, the archdiocese described itself as “both avictim of the storm as well as an integral source ofsupport.”

“We must, however, regrettably, discontinue theemployment of many of our faithful workers,” thestatement said. “We pledge to keep as many aspossible. We hope to rehire many in the future.”

11) NO Hospitals:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_10_01.html#084166

Local hospitals in critical condition
Only handful in area back up and running
New Orleans facing health-care crisis
By Ronette Kingand John PopeStaff writers

Hurricane Katrina closed half of the hospitals in theseven-parish area, including all of those based in NewOrleans, and some may not reopen.

Several hospitals – most notably the Charity andUniversity hospital campuses operated by a branch ofLouisiana State University – will have to undergointense structural studies before anyone can even talkabout reopening them, said John J. “Jack” Finn,president of the Metropolitan Hospital Council of NewOrleans.

Of the approximately 4,000 employees both campuses hadbefore Katrina, about 2,500 haven’t checked in sincethe storm, spokesman Marvin McGraw said, adding thathe does not know whether Charity will reopen.
“It would take pretty close to a miracle for ahospital with a badly damaged electrical andmechanical system” to reopen, Finn said. “I can’timagine anyone spending $50 million to $100 million toput it in the condition that it was in before.”

The potential loss of Charity, compounded by thediminished capacity of private health-care providers,is a double whammy for the New Orleans area.

“What we have in New Orleans is the loss of the hugepublic hospital and the capacity that was relied onfor the city’s and the state’s large uninsuredpopulation for their care,” said Diane Rowland,executive director at the Kaiser Family Foundation.”Plus we have a loss of private-hospital capacity.Even if they reopen, it will take some time to getthem back in shape.

“There’s no way I can imagine how other hospitals withreduced capacity and far more limited outpatientcapacity can absorb what Charity was doing if Charitycan’t reopen.”

Charity, the 66-year-old state-owned colossus onTulane Avenue, is the principal teaching hospital forLouisiana’s doctors, and it provides an array ofservices that poor people would have a difficult timegetting elsewhere, Rowland said. Charity also operatesthe area’s only Level One trauma center, a member ofan elite group of hospitals that are equipped tohandle the most serious emergencies.

Dr. Vincent Berkley, chief medical officer for IndianHealth Service, the federal health program forAmerican Indians and Alaska natives, is leading a U.S.Public Hospital Administration team overseeing therestoration of health care in New Orleans. The goal isto rebuild the area’s hospital capacity in anintegrated and incremental manner, with hospitalssharing information about the services they areprepared to offer.

In the meantime, disaster medical assistance teamsthat work with doctors, nurses and pharmacy servicesto provide urgent medical care to communities withouthospitals have been set up. And the emergency medicalservice systems in Orleans and Jefferson parishes areworking together to transport patients to hospitalsthat can accommodate them.

A dozen hospitals in the New Orleans area continue tooperate, including Ochsner Clinic Foundation inJefferson, East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairieand West Jefferson General Hospital in Marrero. KennerRegional Medical Center and Touro Infirmary areoperating emergency rooms. And this week KennerRegional was cleared to reopen some inpatient beds, aspokesman for the hospital’s owner said.
Tulane-Lakeside Hospital in Metairie reopened Friday.Although Lakeside specializes in women’s health care,the hospital will offer additional services to helpmeet the community’s immediate needs, said JeffPrescott, spokesman for HCA Inc., the hospital’sparent company.

Children’s Hospital has a projected opening date ofOct. 10, depending on the return of city services.
All acute-care hospitals in St. Tammany Parish remainopen, including North Shore Regional Medical Center inSlidell, as well as River Parishes Hospital in LaPlaceand St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling.

As the hospitals work to reopen, hospitaladministrators must balance the community’s need formedical care with their own fiscal health.

“The challenge a hospital CEO faces is how to bring inadditional staff when you don’t know what the patientload is going to be to provide work for that staff,”Berkley said. “They’ve got to pay them to be there towork, but at the same time they’ve got to have workfor them to do.”

At the same time, hospitals may lose staff members whoare unable or unwilling to return to the area.
“Nurses are being hired away because many of them haveno homes here and no schools where they can send theirchildren. The human resources side is not attractive,”Finn said.

Already 5,944 doctors were displaced in the 10parishes in Louisiana and Mississippi flooded byKatrina. That figure doesn’t include doctors workingas administrators or researchers, only those caringfor patients. Of those, 4,486 were in Orleans,Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes, acc
ording toThomas Ricketts, a University of North Carolina-ChapelHill professor who conducted a study on displaceddoctors. The study is based on data from the AmericanMedical Association, information on areas that floodedand the locations where doctors practiced.

More than half the displaced doctors were specialists,including 1,292 primary care doctors and 272obstetricians and gynecologists. Half of the 1,300medical students at Louisiana State University andTulane moved to other programs, mostly in Baton Rougeand East Texas.

The problem is that many doctors won’t come back. Forphysicians, once they get busy practicing elsewhere,the reasons for not coming back build, Ricketts said.

Medicine “is a fairly complex, high-order service thatrequires a great deal of coordination and cooperationamong professions,” Ricketts said.

Doctors need patients, nurses, pharmacies, medicalrecords staff, X-ray technicians and other specialiststo support them, he said. “Just having a doctor openthe door does not mean you can provide modernmedicine.”

This week Tenet Healthcare notified the approximately2,400 employees of Memorial and Lindy Boggs medicalcenters that they would be laid off at the end ofOctober because it’s clear those hospitals will beclosed for at least six months, a company spokesmansaid. Both lost power and flooded when levees brokeafter Hurricane Katrina. Workers there are being giventhe opportunity to apply for work at Tenet’s 67 otherhospitals in 13 states, Steve Campanini said.

Both Methodist Hospital and Chalmette Medical Centertook on water, and the parent company for thosehospitals, UHS Inc., has started surveying the damage.UHS has 2,800 employees spread among the five NewOrleans area hospitals it operates and they are stillbeing paid.

UHS has not decided how long that will continue,spokesman Nick Ragone said, but the company willcontinue health insurance benefits for workers atChalmette and Methodist through the end of the year,he said.
Ragone said UHS is offering jobs to employees at its85 hospitals around the country and some have takenadvantage of the offer.

12) Biblical reference:

Perhaps if the Supreme Court would have allowed Bible reading by the emergency planners, some of the horrible, unsanitary conditions at the Super Dome in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina would have been prevented. On this matter of hygene the Bible is quite clear.

http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/camp_defecation/dt23_09p12-13.html