New Orleans turns to international aid

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

City has received only half of promised funds
By BECKY BOHRER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS --The cash-strapped city of New Orleans is turning to foreign countries for help to rebuild as federal hurricane-recovery dollars remain slow to flow.

Kenya Smith, director of intergovernmental relations for Mayor Ray Nagin, said city leaders are talking with more than five countries. He wouldn't identify the countries, saying discussions were in the early stages. But he said the city is "very serious" about pursuing foreign help.

"Of course, we would love to have all the resources we need from federal and state partners, but we're comfortable now in having to be creative," Smith said. He did not know if the city would have to overcome any obstacles if it got firm pledges for aid, but "we want to make sure we're leaving no options unexplored."

For months Nagin has complained bureaucracy is choking the flow of much-needed federal aid dollars to New Orleans - slowing the city's recovery. As of June 8, the city said it had received just over half of the $320 million FEMA has obligated for rebuilding city infrastructure and emergency response-related costs. The city has estimated its damage at far more than that - at least $1 billion. And that doesn't include other improvements - such as raised neighborhoods - meant to help build the stronger city promoted by Nagin and his recovery director.



Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/218/story/77475.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. sons of bitches

BushCo has turned parts of the US into a third world country. Being required to get foreign aid after a national disaster - that is imply astounding! and repulsive.

I am just glad that enough foreigners recognize that BushCo is a temporary aberation, soon to be corrected and eradicated. hopefully. nice of them to help.

THANK YOU!

[Acadia Blue]

42. we are still dealing with our damage and have used our joint savings

and are now going into my little separate account. Of course there are still giant trees than can fall on my house AGAIN.
Everyone is price gouging. There are many much worse off than me. I know those here who have nothing left.
I don't know if I can live through dealing with this again as we have not even repaired int total and it could happen because we had a forest and can't afford to take it all down at once because it cost so much.

George Bush does not give a hoot about anyone but the richest Americans. We are planning on not having any help from the corrupt central government of the republicans.

[rodeodance]

2. past time to stop the negiations and just accept the foreign aid!!

[BikeWriter]

3. buck fush!

[Ecumenist]

4. This is pitiful and a hot-assed mess that an American city...

one of the oldest in the country has to turn for aid from OTHER COUNTRIES!! I bet these bastards aren't shamed in the least of what they've brought this country to. F&ck all of them..:rant: They're doing this on purpose and anyone with two half functioning brain cells know it.

[madrchsod]

5. hmmm....China and Venezuela ?

both have a vested interest in rebuilding New Orleans. the problem is the delta has to be rebuilt otherwise the rebuilding of New Orleans will be a waste of money because New Orleans will be in the Gulf of Mexico.

[bjobotts]

41. "The pumps don't work 'cause the vandals took the handles"

The levees pumps are defective and have not been replaced because it's too expensive. Another hurricane and the city will be underwater. I can't believe people are trying to live there before this is corrected. Pumps supplied by JEB BUSH's company, That's why they didn't work (he knew they were defective) and why the levees broke. The place will flood again and again till they are replaced so WTF with aid unless it's to help them move out.

[Acadia Blue]

44. Some have no where to go. Most are accross the lake and there

are not enough first responders there. They had lots of damage too. I was without electricity for 6 weeks and phone longer because the roads were heavily wooded. It was hot too.
N.O. can't take another one, and I personally can't go through the damage I endured last time, becausse we are not even finished fixing what the first one did. I wish we could move.

[Edweird]

6. bushco are disgusting. they have no shame.

[KoKo]

7. Dubai will come to their aid....and probably rebuild the city, too..

CNBC has reported Dubai is buying up real estate in Manhattan and shares in Gap and Banana Republic clothing chains. :-(

[annabanana]

8. It would serve Washington friggen right if FRANCE stepped in

and did some good work for the dear old Painted Lady.

[alfredo]

9. Hell yes. That would be great.

[juajen]

12. So. LA loves the French

So many of us are French-Americans (ha, ha); cajun French is still spoken here; we even have weather forecasts in French and English. Downtown Lafayette has street signs in French, and the list goes on.

France has already helped NO, though I can't cite specifics. I believe NO had a Monet exhibit, a rare occurrence for the paintings to leave France; and there was help from French musicians for NO musicians. I know there was more, I just can't remember. I believe there was an official offer of help from France that GWB turned down, as he did so many other offers. The help many of us want is for the Dutch to come and show us how to repair this wonderful city; but, the Corps of Engineers can't permit that; so, we are stuck with their bungling.

It helps so much that Americans and people all over the world are still pulling for New Orleans. We need this important port city operating at full speed again. All you New Orleans loving people, please, never give up. I miss our wonderful city.

[sutz12]

10. Didn't the Feds TURN DOWN foreign aid at the time of the storm? nt

[pitohui]

23. billions of foreign aid was stolen and misdirected by the feds

for just one example, millions of dollars in medicines from italy was accepted by washington but not sent to louisiana until it was already spoiled

there was coverage a few months back showing how billions in federal aid was stolen, refused, or "lost" by the federal gov't and never made it to louisiana or mississippi

but all we hear on the national media is what a terrible person william jefferson is for taking $90K from some nigerian scammers, whatever!

[hisownpetard]

26. Yes, Bush turned down the offers out of hand...

in a very ungracious way. I remember thinking how condescending
he sounded, without so much as a 'thank you' to the countries who rushed
to offer aid. It was as if he were saying, "This is AMURRICA - we don't
need anyone's help."

Too bad he didn't ask the people effected by Katrina - the ones on rooftops
and the ones without clothing, shelter or food - if they would accept aid
from a foreign country. It was no skin off his back to turn them down. Nor
did he offer anyone a place to sleep at his ranch in Crawford...

Then again, since when did Bush ever care what anyone else in this
country thinks?? It's 'his' government, 'his' country - and the hell
with the suffering masses. If only, in some way, he could be
held accountable for the misery he's perpetuated!

[acmavm]

31. Yes, they did.

[kineneb]

11. Welcome to the Third World. Foreign assistance, anyone? n/t

[cigsandcoffee]

13. Where's the proposed bill to fix this outrage?

I hope I'm just missing the announcement.

[LSK]

14. meanwhile Iraq keeps sucking up tax money

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[ClintonTyree]

37. Along with tax cuts for the uber rich......

and the oil companies that are raping us at the pumps, the corporations that are taking every tax break available and then outsourcing American jobs to third world countries....yeah, they all get preferential treatment because they're BUSH'S BASE! :grr:
Between Iraq and the above mentioned parasites there just isn't enough money to do the things within OUR OWN country that need to be done. Some asshole once said, "a rising tide raises all boats". BULLSHIT! The rising tide destroyed New Orleans and the American middle class. The only boats it raised were the yachts of the rich. Everyone else is under water. :mad:

[McCamy Taylor]

15. NOLA should build a landmark to remind the world that Bush f**ked the city.

I suggest a bronze statue of Condie Rice trying on shoes as a fitting monument to the indifference of the Bush II Regime to the plight of the Gulf Coast during Katrina. Erect it in the middle of the French Quarter for tourists to gawk at for decades to come.

[go west young man]

22. Great idea!

Put it alongside on a statue with Bush strumming a guitar and Brownie talking over dinner on a cell phone. That would be perfect.

[Gman]

16. The feds WILL block this

on the basis that the states cannot conduct foreign policy. (A city is a creature of the state.)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. well they are going to try

where else is the money going to come from?

[Gman]

21. They don't want NOLA to get the money for one reason

NOLA's AA population has been decimated. The demographics of NOLA have completely changed and they want to keep it that way. That means that Louisiana can potentially be solid red next year, which includes Mary Landrieux (however the hell you spell her name!).

[Kool Kitty]

39. You're right.

This has been the plan since the storm. They don't want to fix New Orleans. Everyone thinks this has happened because this administration is so inept (no argument there), but I think people are missing the message here. This has turned out just the way the administration wanted it to. This re-building fiasco is NOT an accident, this is what they wanted all along. Didn't one of Louisiana's state representatives say that Mother nature had done what the government couldn't do-it cleaned out the Ninth Ward? I think that is the real answer. I'm sure the administration thinks this is a success.

The lousy bastards. May they rot.

[Gman]

48. Make no mistake about NOLA

this is not a result of ineptness. They know EXACTLY what they are doing. THey have know EXACtly what they are doing since Day 1 of Katrina.

That is to make LA red. THey have been handed a bird's nest on the ground and they are going to make sure the AA's stay out of LA and that they don't vote.

[Kool Kitty]

49. Oh, I know that.

This is not a result of their general ineptness, this was intentional. (Maybe I wasn't clear about that in my OP.) The government could certainly have rebuilt New Orleans. What did Barney Frank say-that this was ethnic cleansing by inattention? I'm not sure of the last word there, but the message is right. The hurricane was an enormous act of nature, the lack of response (on the part of the government) has been criminal.

[pitohui]

24. they can't always block international aid, and i will give an example

during katrina then the entire parish (county) of st. bernard was flooded, with every residence flooded and virtually all other structures as well

because of the total loss of infrastructure, st. bernard sheriff's office had no way to communicate w. fema and fema officials later testified that they did not send aid to help st. bernard parish "because no one contacted us"

during this time that the usa federal gov't was unable to figure out that hundreds of people were stuck on roof tops in st. bernard parish (or drowning in nursing home beds there), then the city of vancouver in canada sent out teams of helicopters without waiting for negotiations to be concluded between the usa and canada -- these teams of mounties and other canadian rescue personnel saved many lives, including people i know personally, which is how i know the story, i'm not sure if the story ever gained any media exposure since these rescues were conducted w.out permission or knowledge of usa gov't or in the first few flights even the permission of the canadian federal gov't, it started out as an effort backed by vancouver

i see no reason why you have to "conduct foreign policy" to receive aid, you can be a recipient of aid w. no foreign policy strings attached

another example was given by a different poster upthread -- france provided the rare paintings that were displayed for the last few months at the new orleans art museum to help the museum get revenue and get back on track, this is not "conducting foreign policy," it is just helping out a former colony and a kind thing to do

nagin is not mr. tactful and i don't know how well he can conduct negotiations, but where there are people of goodwill willing to help, i see no reason why he would not be able to receive some aid for the city whether mr. bushco likes it or not!

[KamaAina]

29. But as I have been saying all along, the region could form an NGO

that way the aid would go through the private Fondation pour la Nouvelle-Orleans, or as some are calling it, the Ile d'Orleans, rather than through the city itself. Much less corruption that way, too.

It could maybe even gain observer status at the UN, a good way not only to raise funds but to repeatedly poke Bush**co in the eye.

[madrchsod]

33. they all ready did-they turned down furn` aid

[lies and propaganda]

17. IMPEACHMENT FOR KATRINA!

They fucking drowned people!

THEY did, not the fucking hurricane, not the levees.

i will never, ever ne able to get over this. This is the story I will tell my grandkids when they ask why we cant live home anymore.

[valerief]

30. No truer words were spoken. nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

19. This will be a HUGE embarassment for Bush

Katrina is not finished with him yet

[hisownpetard]

28. I wish that were true, but...

have you ever known this President to be embarassed
about anything?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

40. The only time

when the pretzel tried to choke him.

[montanto]

20. well, I hope they get it, too.

that'll be another one in *'s eye.

[rudy23]

25. My feeling is that the emails that Leiberman won't let us investigate, containt the most impeachable

offenses to date. I'm sure there's racist "let em drown" kind of stuff in there that would make it into the history books, if Lieberman would ever let it see the light of day.

Thanks Connecticut Lieberman voters!

[CottonBear]

27. The Dutch could provide money and expertise for flood control.

They are THE world experts in this area. Much of their country is under sea level.

[SeanQ]

32. How fucking pathetic!

We can dump billions untraced in Iraq, but can't come up with a $400 million to help one of our own cities rebuild even after nearly 2 years!?!?!

[barb162]

34. I fear this may have the opposite effect Nagin wants.

That the city is such a basket case, the investors will stay away. I hope I'm wrong.

[underpants]

35. Sounds like they are lobbying the Feds for money

this could be true or it could be a great headline that gets people and things moving. Let's not forget that folks.

[pat_k]

36. "the decider" cut the American people out of the loop..

Like squatters, Bush and Cheney are laying claim to unconstitutional power through openly hostile possession. They have usurped our collective soveriegnty. Members of Congress, who we empowered and charged with the duty of evicting (impeaching) such trespassers, are refusing to act.

By refusing to stand up for We the People, the true owners of this nation, Members of Congress have created a national crisis graver than any natural disaster or social ill. It is bigger than any international crisis. By tolerating the intolerable, they are surrendering our capacity to recover from disaster with humanity, solve our common problems in ways that reflect our common values, and serve as a force for good in the world. When the good will of the American people is cut out of the loop, no peoples, not our fellow Americans, not other nations, can look to us for help.

[AtomicKitten]

38. Our neglect of NOLA is a national disgrace.

shame

[Acadia Blue]

43. It was a sign that we are not "officially" a third world oligarchy.

[Acadia Blue]

45. TYPO...We are now OFFICIALLY a third world oligarchy. Those

countries just let their citizens die in disasters and turn their backs like Bush did.

[davidthegnome]

46. I'm trying to resist the urge to cuss like a lunatic...

Yeah, Bush is sick, his administration is sick, the conservative idealogy is sick. A lot of the blame for this can be laid at their feet. However... there is one thing I am pondering... what is our democratically controlled congress doing to rectify this situation? Perhaps I've missed something?

*gives up and starts swearing*

[doctorj]

47. Is this the country you want?

The people of the Gulf South have been abandoned. If disaster ever hits your home, let me tell you how it works. First it will take Congress 7 months to "allocate" (a lovely governmental word) the funds needed to help you. Then, because of the Stafford Act you will have to put up 10-15% up front and only re-embursed AFTER you have spent the money to repair the infrastructure. Now, if you have experienced a CATASTROPHIC disaster, you have noo tax base to have any money to give. Then the government takes 21 months to FINALLY decide that they will waive the Stafford Act as they have done immeditaely after every other disaster including 9-11 and Hurricane Andrew. Since nothing has been done in all that time it makes it look like it is a local problem, not a national problem. But YOU will never go through a catastrophic disaster. Or will you? This is our government and it is BROKEN. Change must come because this is NOT the country I was brought up to love. Please listen to this short audio clip from testimony given two weeks ago concerning why the people have received any aid.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wx6vNRak7U0