It's the End of the World as We Know It

So, you know I read the news every day and see stories that make want to retch. The people who prompted this news report qualifies for All Access passes right to Hades.

Apparently there are not enough legitimate, truly heart-wrenching stories coming out of the Katrina devastation zone. This story goes beyond truth and reality. While thousands of people are still trying to get help to get the very basic of human necessities, there are those who somehow come to the conclusion that making up a complete LIE will improve the response to a bad situation.

I have one thing to say: Fuck you people who think you need to make up some bullshit story to tug at people's heartstrings.

You are part of the problem, and NOT part of the solution. Thanks for giving people yet another reason to decide not to donate or care about the people still struggling to rebuild their lives.

Life and Death of the Forgotten

Winter's rain, cold are all tent dwellers can see

By RYAN LaFONTAINE

rlafontaine@sunherald.com

HANCOCK COUNTY - For months, William Hayes and his wife have been scrounging for food and sleeping in a tent behind a storm-battered doughnut shop in Waveland.

Hayes said his wife, who was more than five months' pregnant, got sick this week when the temperature dipped into the 30s. Rain poured into their tent, it was cold, and his wife needed a doctor.

The couple was expecting a baby girl, but when Hayes got his wife to the hospital, his nightmare got even worse. The baby was dead.

I just don't know what I could add to this to emphasize that THIS IS AMERICA - WTF are people doing still in tents more than 3 months after the greatest national disaster our Nation has ever experienced? Where are the fucking FEMA trailers???

Hayes, currently without work, and a few other families are living in a small lot behind DaddyO's restaurant, less than 100 yards from FEMA's Disaster Relief Center. He goes there often to check his trailer application's status.

If you are not outraged by this, you need to check your pulse.

A Show Not to Be Missed

On Saturday, December 17th, the Tipitina's Foundation is hosting a benefit concert with two of America's most legendary musicians: Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson. This performance represents the final leg of the Arlo Guthrie & Friends "City of New Orleans" music tour, which will raise money to buy instruments and professional music gear for New Orleans musicians. Starting in Chicago and ending in New Orleans, Arlo and his group of family and friends will take the famous train southbound and make stops along the way, culminating with a performance at Tipitina's, where his longtime friend Willie Nelson will join him.

The Guthrie Foundation and the Tipitina's Foundation are joining together with music instrument manufacturers to restore the music infrastructure in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. MusiCares, The Recording Academy's safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need, will help distribute "the gear" along with Tipitina's Foundation.

Letters From the Katrina Zone

Almost every day I am reading letters like the one below from homeowners who faithfully followed the guidelines of their insurance companies, paid their insurance premiums, who now find themselves homeless and with no idea how to rebuild their lives.

These folks weren't stupid, or negligent in how they thought they were protecting themselves; many were told they didn't need flood insurance or that their insurance company could not underwrite a flood policy for them. Many homes were well above the flood levels noted, and some even over a mile inland.

Now not only are the insurance companies telling them they won't be paying for any damage caused by flooding, the homeowners still have mortgages that are not due to be paid off for many years. They have no home to live in, and either have to come up with the finances to rebuild, relocate, or rent. Oh yeah, many are without income right now, too.

Read this letter and see if you can keep from feeling the frustration this woman and her family must be feeling right now:

I am glad to see that Sens. Thad Cochran and Trent Lott got a $5 million grant from the Department of Labor to train workers, and the cities are receiving grants to rebuild. But what about the citizens of the Coast? What good are job training and public buildings if we can't rebuild our homes?

I thought that I had protected myself every way that I needed to with my insurance. I always made sure that I had guaranteed replacement cost and I had a "hurricane deductible," not a separate "wind and hail" policy. I was not in a flood zone, so it never was an issue. For many people, because of these same reasons and the limited number of policies available to the agents, they were not allowed to purchase flood insurance.

My home of 26 years was 16.8 feet above sea level, 1.5 miles inland from the water, yet I had eight feet of water in my house!

Where is our help? Some people I know who did not even try to protect themselves - and I mean by not paying for any kind of insurance coverage - have already received $26,000 from FEMA. Something is seriously wrong with this picture. I lost everything I worked and paid for, as did many, many other people.

Where is the help for those citizens who did pay their insurance premiums for all these years and now have nothing? I understand that Sen. Lott has introduced a companion flood-insurance bill to the one introduced by Rep. Gene Taylor, and Sen. Cochran has listened to the idea, but as of today, we have seen no results.

I am willing to buy retroactively into the national flood insurance program, or compromise with the insurance company, just give us enough to put our lives back together. The cost to help us is far, far less than what our nation spends helping other countries.
xxxx xxxx
Waveland

WTMF? Neil Bush touring with Sun Myung Moon?

Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Mrs. Moon crowned King and Queen of Peace & "true parents of human kind" as their followers regard them

And supporting a $200 billion dollar tunnel from Russia to Alaska?

Give me a frickin' break.

Let's hope Moon is planning on spending his own money to pursue this, 'cause if the US can't even allot the money to maintain the levees in New Orleans, or get people out of tents and into better living situations on the Coast, we sure as shit don't need to spend taxpayer's money on a trophy tunnel for some religious whack-nut who claims to be the "Messiah," and who promotes unity between religion and politics.

"Individualism is what God hates most and what Satan likes best." That's just one of the little gems from Moon's quotable past. That just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, don't it?

More reading on Moon...
....and more....

And Time Stands Still on the Coast....

This is west Gulfport where I lived for several years - still very much a disaster zone

As interest in the aftermath of Katrina has waned around the country as people begin decorating their homes for Christmas, there is a deepening sense of sadness for those of us who know that conditions on the Mississippi Coast & in South Louisiana have changed very little since August 30th.

I don't have time this morning to write my own version of what's happening there, but here's an article from The Chatanoogan.com that does a fine job of describing the current situation in Biloxi.

Also, there are some recent photos here from the Gulf Coast News.

From what I am understanding, less than 1/4 of the debris has been removed from the Coast, and there are hundreds if not thousands living in tents still. The Coast is still in relief mode, not recovery, nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina. People are living in 3rd world conditions there, with little or no relief in sight.

More later.....