The Big Blue Dogs

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Aug 28, 2006, 11:13:19 PM8/28/06
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Americans still remember vividly the scenes from a year ago when Hurricane Katrina swept away entire communities, sent thousands of families for shelter in the Super Dome, and left hundreds of thousands more homeless and jobless. Americans throughout the land were moved to help in any way they could - sending donations and aid and volunteering to meet the needs of our fellow citizens.

We responded because that's what Americans do. We care for our country, help our neighbors, and lend a hand to those in need.

However, as we all painfully know, the Administration did not live up to those values in our government's response to the crisis. Our fellow citizens were facing the worst devastation imaginable, and FEMA was nowhere to be found. The President stayed on his Texas ranch for days after the storm. Instead of joining local leaders in responding to the tragedy, he chose to fly over New Orleans for a brief look from Air Force One, well above the suffering below.

In the first days following the storm, I visited the Gulf Coast and New Orleans and saw the devastation firsthand. I saw the inky waters that wrecked New Orleans. I met with religious leaders and community leaders. Most were displaced themselves and were struggling with the needs of their own families. But they were looking to help their neighbors and friends to rebuild their lives, too.

Those leaders and thousands like them in communities throughout the Gulf have never given up. They are the heroes of this crisis. But the Bush Administration has let them down.

One year later, hundreds of thousands of families from New Orleans and the Gulf are still without jobs and unable to return to their homes.

One year later, the administration has used less than half of the $110 billion in federal aid approved by Congress to help people rebuild their lives.

One year later, families in New Orleans are still waiting for trailers to live in and for demolition and clean up crews to clear their neighborhoods so they can rebuild their homes.

One year later, half of the city's hospitals remain closed and less than half of the New Orleans public schools plan to reopen this fall.

One year later, the levees are no safer than the day Katrina hit.

New Orleans and the Gulf are a national treasure that Americans hold dear for its rich history, vibrant culture and economic vitality. We cannot allow the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress to continue its incompetent response to this terrible tragedy. We owe it not just to those directly affected by Katrina, but to our nation, to meet our commitments and get the job done. ++


While the President Pats Himself on the Back
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
08.28.2006
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-nancy-pelosi/while-the-president-pats-_b_28186.html

It's no secret that the Bush Administration values politics and press opportunities over policy. But the dichotomy between the White House media campaign marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the harsh reality Gulf Coast residents have been facing these past 12 months is unconscionable. President Bush has devoted more time and preparation to this public relations blitz than to helping the people of the Gulf Coast.

While the President pats himself on the back and touts his Administration's appalling performance, thousands of families are still waiting for FEMA trailers. The incompetence, mishandling, and shear opportunistic greed that has occurred under the President's watch has been stunning - with $2 billion of the $19 billion spent by FEMA having been wasted on fraud and abuse. But even as families continue to wait for temporary housing, the locks on as many as 118,000 trailers used by Gulf Coast hurricane victims have to be replaced because they could be opened by multiple keys. Tests have also revealed that 94 percent of FEMA trailers tested have hazardous levels of formaldehyde gas, a respiratory irritant and carcinogen. When it comes to the health, security and protection of the American people, negligence and failure have no place.

House Democrats have been examining many of the Administration's failures affecting our Gulf Coast citizens. As everyone who lives there and has volunteered or visited already knows, in order to rate the Administration's performance, there needs to be a grade lower than "F." Last week, House Democrats formed a Waste, Fraud and Abuse Truth Squad, chaired by Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Dennis Cardoza (D-CA). They will conduct oversight of the Bush Administration's handling of taxpayer dollars, giving the Golden Drain Award to those who fail to provide meaningful oversight or hold the Administration accountable despite documented instances of waste, fraud and abuse.

Last week, the Truth Squad released a detailed report highlighting the financial mishandling and corruption that has marred the recovery process, dedicating the first Golden Drain Award to the President's Hurricane Katrina contract process. You can read the full report here and you may be interested in some of the other reports House Democrats have issued recently on Katrina:

Housing - Democratic Members of the House Financial Services Committee, led by Senior Democratic Member Barney Frank (D-MA), released a report detailing the Bush Administration's housing failures in the year since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita seriously damaged the Gulf Coast region. This report demonstrates the Bush Administration's failed response to the housing needs caused by Katrina, which includes the legendary failures of FEMA, the indifference of HUD (the federal agency responsible for housing policy) to the crisis, woefully inadequate requests for housing reconstruction funds, and opposition to numerous Congressional efforts to provide affordable rental housing for working families. The conclusion is inescapable: the Bush Administration's response to the housing crisis spawned by Hurricane Katrina has been an abject failure. Read more >>

Education - One year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the greater New Orleans area, local schools and colleges still have not received the leadership and resources they need from the federal government to truly recover, according to a new report released by Congressman George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Read more >>

Small Business - Nearly an entire year after Katrina first touched down in the Gulf Coast, small business owners continue to struggle. A report released by Senior Democratic Member Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Democrats on the House Small Business Committee found that 80 percent of the loans that were approved have still not been put in the hands of Gulf Coast small business owners. In addition, the evaluation also reported that a year later the Bush Administration has failed to take adequate steps to address the myriad of issues which ultimately led to a failed response last year - raising serious concern for hurricane victims this year. Read more >>

Homeland Security - A new report issued by the Democratic Members on the Homeland Security Committee, led by Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), finds that the nation is not much more prepared to effectively protect our communities and respond to catastrophic emergencies. The report, "One Year Later: Katrina's Waste," further develops several significant contracting questions raised late last week by Democratic colleagues on the Government Reform Committee. In addition, the report urges Congress to address the institutional failures and poor emergency financial controls that continue to leave America vulnerable. Read more >>

Federal Government Response - Senate Democratic Leader Reid and I released "Broken Promises: The Republican Response to Katrina," detailing the failed response in the almost one year since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast. The hurricanes showed the American people that even so long after 9/11, the government is still not prepared to protect them. The report makes clear the disastrous effects incompetence and mismanagement continue to have on Gulf Coast residents. As the Bush Administration seeks to trumpet its "accomplishments" in the year since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this report makes clear how much work remains to be done. Read more >>

These reports should serve as a reminder to President Bush that a photo op on the South Lawn of the White House is not going to help the tens of thousands of survivors who are still waiting for housing aid, for their schools and hospitals to re-open, for electricity to come back on in their homes and businesses, and for safe drinking water. The President promised a plan for the region, but all there is to show for it are 10,000 empty, unused trailers in an airfield in Arkansas. I will be traveling to the Gulf Coast today, as will many House Democrats, not to smile or pretend we're doing all we can, but to listen firsthand to residents about what Congress needs to do. As survivors are rebuilding their lives, House Democrats will work to rebuild trust and faith that the federal government is truly working for the people of the Gulf Coast region.

Americans deserve more than no bid contracts, bureaucratic inefficiencies and a too little, too late PR campaign. One year later, the Gulf Coast continues to need the financial, health care, education, housing and small business support that they deserve to turn devastated neighborhoods into thriving communities. And we still need an independent commission, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to find out what exactly went wrong, why it went wrong, and how to fix it.

I can even give a hint about where the biggest problem is. Start at the top. ++


Helping People Make it Home Again, a Year after Katrina
Sen. Russ Feingold
08.28.2006
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-russ-feingold/helping-people-make-it-ho_b_27932.html

With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina tomorrow, as so many Americans remember the horrifying images of the disaster, the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be dealing with reality they face today - that in a lot of neighborhoods it looks like a hurricane hit a week ago, not a year ago.

Over the past year, in my listening sessions in Wisconsin, I have heard from so many people upset with the federal government's response to Katrina and their emotional pleas to not forget about the people who lost their homes, their communities and their way of life.

On a trip to New Orleans in July, the painful realities about life were everywhere - abandoned businesses, and homes and neighborhoods that were totally destroyed by the hurricane and its aftermath. The challenge of rebuilding is enormous. But what's even tougher is trying to rebuild in a way that helps everyone come back, not just people with access to lots of resources and lots of different options.

There are so many ways that Gulf Coast communities still need help - creating jobs, rebuilding the school systems, and gutting damaged homes so that they can be rebuilt. But when you see those blocks and blocks of neighborhoods that were destroyed - with no sign of reconstruction - it's clear just how much help the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast need to find affordable housing.

Housing has to be affordable so that the Gulf Coast can get back to work. So many of the people who are the lifeblood of the tourism industry - like hotel and restaurant workers - want to call New Orleans home again, but they can't move back if they can't afford any place to live.

It's a testament to the strength of these communities that so many people want to come back, at every income level. You can't do that if you were working a minimum wage job that doesn't exist anymore, and you were renting an apartment that ended up engulfed in flood water.

There are a lot of barriers to moving back for homeowners, but it's also tough for Gulf Coast citizens who were renting when the hurricane hit. In the year since the hurricane struck, rents in the Gulf Coast region have skyrocketed, which makes it even more difficult for low income renters to return to their homes. With a significant percentage of renters in the New Orleans area before Katrina, we need to ensure that the housing assistance in the Gulf Coast is aimed at helping renters, as well as homeowners, rebuild their lives.

We've got to do something to help displaced residents - particularly low-income people - who want to move back to New Orleans. I have put together a few different ideas into one bill, building on really good work on housing issues by some of my colleagues in the Senate. It doesn't tackle every problem, but it will help address some of the tough housing issues facing New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It includes housing vouchers to help make rents affordable for the lowest income people and families. It also makes housing like the Katrina Cottages - which are more like homes, and less like trailers - more available to those who want them. There have been a lot of problems with the FEMA trailers, so it's important to give people the option of living in a more permanent home. And finally it allows HUD to handle temporary rental assistance programs from here on out, instead of FEMA, which isn't equipped to handle housing issues like these for the long haul.

When I posted here after a trip to the Gulf Coast in July, I talked about the challenge of rebuilding a society in a way that includes the region's most vulnerable populations. Almost a year after the levees broke, the idea of returning is still out of reach for a lot of people, especially for people struggling to make it paycheck to paycheck.

A year after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, there is so much that we can still do - and that Congress can do -- to help the Gulf Coast recover. Looking ahead, we've got to reform the Army Corps of Engineers, which built the levees in the first place, to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again. I'm really pleased that the Senate passed several Army Corps reform measures I wrote with Senator John McCain. But we also have to focus on the here and now -- what people are facing on the Gulf Coast today. As we look at the images of the hurricanes a year later, and we remember what people went through, we also have to recognize how far we have to go, and rededicate ourselves to helping the people of the Gulf Coast make it home again.

**Update: in response to a blogger comment that it was the levee's that created Katrina.

I agree with DSB's comment that the poorly constructed levee system contributed to the massive flooding New Orleans endured following Hurricane Katrina. I have been working for years, along with Sen. John McCain, to ensure certain Army Corps of Engineer projects, including the levees, undergo independent peer review. Earlier this summer, I offered an amendment with Senator McCain and others to the Water Resources Development Act to require independent peer review of future Army Corps of Engineers projects that are costly, controversial, or critical to public safety. The amendment, which passed on a bipartisan vote, draws on the lessons of Hurricane Katrina and over ten years of government reports looking into the Army Corps. But we're still not in the clear. Our provision is in danger of being stripped out during the House-Senate negotiation process. I urge you to continue to make your voices heard on this issue. It would be irresponsible for Congress to sit by and allow a system that contributed to the failure of the levees to remain unchanged. ++
 

~ From Barack Obama and MoveOn

Just after Hurricane Katrina hit, MoveOn members and others stepped up to provide a roof, a bed and hope to more than 30,000 evacuees as part of MoveOn's Hurricane Housing effort.

Today, we're launching our new book—It Takes A Nation: How Strangers Became Family—which tells the stories of the families involved. It's a beautiful book, featuring amazing and moving first-person interviews with Katrina evacuees and the donors who took them in, and evocative photos of the folks involved and the aftermath of the flood. Senator Barack Obama wrote the forward—and a note to all of you about it, below.

To commemorate Katrina, we're donating every cent of the profits to the progressive group ACORN, which is working to protect evacuees' rights and rebuild New Orleans right. If you donate $20 today to help Katrina relief efforts, we'll send you a copy of It Takes a Nation (which retails for $25) for free.

You can learn more about the book, check out some of the photos and interviews, and make a donation, at:
https://civic.moveon.org/ittakesanation/book.html?id=8606-1297879-CnZxTHGYlWRDwzYu15KuiA&t=3

Here's that message from Senator Obama:

Dear MoveOn member,
 
This week marks the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the greatest natural disasters to ever strike our shores. The images of Katrina are still seared in our minds one year later: mothers holding their babies above water, seniors slumped in wheelchairs, and bodies floating down American streets. We vowed then, and still vow today, that we'll never forget.
 
One of greatest tragedies of Katrina is that our government failed us. The people who are supposed to be there for us when the chips are down failed and forgot the hundreds of thousands of people who needed them the most—and left them to fend for themselves.
 
Out of all the sadness and despair, we were reminded of one immutable fact: America is great because Americans are good at heart. That's what Hurricane Housing was all about.
 
It Takes a Nation is the story of Hurricane Housing, and I was honored to write the forward. This collection shows everyday heroes at work and reminds us that the strength of our nation is not our government, but our fellow Americans. It Takes a Nation is a story of hope.
 
One year later and we're still hearing about survivors pleading with the government for trailers and food stamps. Today, many have already forgotten the tragedy—and how Americans stepped up in the face of massive government failure to take care of each other. The news cycle moved on, but those affected didn't have that luxury.
 
Hurricane Housing was about more than just donating a roof, the MoveOn community in cities across the country came together to provide jobs, clothing, and healthcare for complete strangers. Out of the disaster, lasting friendships, new levels of understanding, and new families were formed.
 
From the beginning, the idea that has been at the center of the American experience is that amid a melting pot of races and backgrounds and beliefs, we still feel a responsibility toward each other. That out of many, we are one.
 
It's what brought together white and black, rich and poor to march together and fight together for civil rights. It's what's caused soldier after soldier to risk their lives to save those people they never met. And it's what sent Americans from all over the country deep into the waters of New Orleans, willing to do whatever it takes to pull their neighbors to safety. And that's what It Takes A Nation is all about.
 
Thanks for all you do,
Senator Barack Obama 
 
P.S. You can get the book, read excerpts and see photos from it here:
https://civic.moveon.org/ittakesanation/book.html?id=8606-1297879-CnZxTHGYlWRDwzYu15KuiA&t=4
++


Hurricane expert threatened for pre-Katrina warnings
Greg Palast
Monday, August 28
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=27493&mode=nested&order=0

DON'T blame the Lady. Katrina killed no one in this town. In fact, Katrina missed the city completely, going wide to the east.

It wasn't the hurricane that drowned, suffocated, de-hydrated and starved 1,500 people that week. The killing was done by a deadly duo: a failed emergency evacuation plan combined with faulty levees. Behind these twin failures lies a tale of cronyism, profiteering and willful incompetence that takes us right to the steps of the White House.

Here's the story you haven't been told. And the man who revealed it to me, Dr. Ivor van Heerden, is putting his job on the line to tell it.

Van Heerden isn't the typical whistleblower I usually deal with. This is no minor player. He's the Deputy Director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center. He's the top banana in the field -- no one knew more about how to save New Orleans from a hurricane's devastation. And no one was a bigger target of an official and corporate campaign to bury the information.

Here's what happened. Right after Katrina swamped the city, I called Washington to get a copy of the evacuation plan.

Funny thing about the murderously failed plan for the evacuation of New Orleans: no one can find it. That's right. It's missing. Maybe it got wet and sank in the flood. Whatever: No one can find it.

That's real bad. Here's the key thing about a successful emergency evacuation plan: you have to have copies of it. Lots of copies -- in fire houses and in hospitals and in the hands of every first responder. Secret evacuation plans don't work.

I know, I worked on the hurricane evacuation plan for Long Island New York, an elaborate multi-volume dossier.

Specifically, I'm talking about the plan that was written, or supposed to have been written two years ago by a company called, "Innovative Emergency Management."

Weird thing about IEM, their founder Madhu Beriwal, had no known experience in hurricane evacuations. She did, however, have a lot of experience in donating to Republicans.

IEM and FEMA did begin a draft of a plan. The plan was that, when a hurricane hit, everyone in the Crescent City would simply get the hell out in their cars. Apparently, the IEM/FEMA crew didn't know that 127,000 people in the city didn't have cars. But Dr. van Heerden knew that. It was his calculation. LSU knew where these no-car people were -- they mapped it -- and how to get them out.

Dr. van Heerden offered this life-saving info to FEMA. They wouldn't touch it. Then, a state official told him to shut up, back off or there would be consequences for van Heerden's position. This official now works for IEM.

So I asked him what happened as a result of making no plans for those without wheels, a lot of them elderly and most of them poor.

"Fifteen-hundred of them drowned. That's the bottom line." The professor, who'd been talking to me in technicalities, changed to a somber tone. "They're still finding corpses."

Van Heerden is supposed to keep his mouth shut. He won't. The deaths weigh on him. "I wasn't going to listen to those sort of threats, to let them shut me down."

Van Heerden had other disturbing news. The Hurricane Center's computer models showed the federal government had built the levees around the city a foot-and-a-half too short.

After Katrina, the Hurricane Center analyzed the flooding and found that, had the levees had just that extra 18 inches, they would have been "overtopped" for only an hour and a half, not four hours. In that case, the levees would have held, and the city would have been saved.

He had taken the warning about the levees all the way to George Bush's doorstep. "I myself briefed senior officials including somebody from the White House." The response: the university's trustees threatened his job.

While in Baton Rouge, I dropped in on the headquarters of IEM, the evacuation contractors. The assistant to the CEO insisted they had "a lot of experience with evacuation" -- but couldn't name a single city they'd planned for when they got the Big Easy contract. And still, they couldn't produce the plan.

An IEM press release in June 2004 boasted legendary expert James Lee Witt as a member of their team. That was impressive. It was also a lie. In fact, Witt had nothing to do with it. When I asked IEM point blank if Witt's name was used as a fraudulent hook to get the contract, their spokeswoman said, weirdly, "We'll get back to you on that."

Back at LSU, van Heerden astonished me with the most serious charge of all. While showing me huge maps of the flooding, he told me the White House had withheld the information that, in fact, the levees were about to burst and by Tuesday at dawn the city, and more than a thousand people, would drown.

Van Heerden said, "FEMA knew on Monday at 11 o'clock that the levees had breached... They took video. By midnight on Monday the White House knew. But none of us knew ...I was at the State Emergency Operations Center." Because the hurricane had missed the city that Monday night, evacuation effectively stopped, assuming the city had survived.

It's been a full year now, and 73,000 New Orleanians remain in FEMA trailers and another 200,000, more than half the city's former residents, remain in temporary refuges. "The City That Care Forgot" -- that's their official slogan -- lost a higher percentage of homes than Berlin lost in World War II. It would be more accurate to call it, "The City That Bush Forgot."

Should they come home? Rebuild? Is it safe? Team Bush assures them there's nothing to worry about: FEMA won't respond to van Heerden's revelations. However, the Bush Administration has hired a consulting firm to fix the failed evacuation plan. The contractor? A Baton Rouge company named "Innovative Emergency Management." IEM.

Watch this special investigative report about Katrina on Democracy Now!  You can download it at DemocracyNow.org. ++
 
 
 
After the Storm 
Peter Rothberg
Monday, August 28, 2006 by The Nation
A collection of links and things to do
 
 
Levees Fail. Stuff Happens, Harry Shearer
If you have time, this is just a snip of commentary -- but the blog response is very enlightening. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/levees-fail-stuff-happe_b_28142.html
 
 
Lieberman Defended FEMA Director Before and AFTER Katrina, David Sirota
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/lieberman-defended-fema-d_b_28065.html


Make Levees, Not War: The First Anniversary, Toby Barlow
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-barlow/make-levees-not-war-the_b_28090.html
 


A HuffPo Hurricane Housing Story - From NOLA to NYC and Back Again, One Year Later, It Still Takes a Nation, Linda Cronin-Gross
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-gross/a-huffpo-hurricane-housin_b_28157.html




What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does.  Allow yourself that conceit - to believe that the flame of Democracy will never go out as long as there's one candle in your hand.
~ Bill Moyers

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