Out of Sight (100s of children in FEMA's trailer park)

[donsu]

http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2006/12/out-of-sight.html


There are hundreds of children in the trailer camp that is run by FEMA and known as Renaissance Village, but they won’t be having much of a Christmas. They’re trapped here in a demoralizing, overcrowded environment with adults who are mostly broke, jobless and at the end of their emotional tethers. Many of the kids aren’t even going to school.

“This is a terrible environment for children,” said Anita Gentris, who lost everything in the flood that followed Hurricane Katrina and is living in one of the 200-square-foot travel trailers with her 10-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. “My daughter is having bad dreams. And my son, he’s a very angry child right now. He cries. He throws things.

“I’m desperately trying to find permanent housing.”

-snip-

The enormity of the continuing tragedy is breathtaking. Thousands upon thousands of people are still suffering. And yet the way the poorest and most vulnerable victims have been treated so far by government officials at every level has been disgraceful.

More than a third of the 1,200 people in this sprawling camp are children. Only about half of the school-age youngsters are even registered for school; of those, roughly half actually go to school on any given day. The authorities can’t account for the rest.
-snip-
-----------------------------


america so loves it's children

but, good news!, we are going to 'surge' Iraq

[LynneSin]

1. Sounds like "Hooverville" for our generation

:cry:

[madrchsod]

3. very good description of the bush nation

a nation of haves and have nots....

[IndyOp]

2. The scope of this is going to knock people over - when we find out about it...

If you haven't seen it, Greg Palast's "Big Easy to Big Empty" looks really good and is available through the Common Ground website here:

http://www.commongroundrelief.org/palast

[byronius]

4. Just par for the course. No Child Left Behind, except the not-rich children.

Merry effin' Xmas. We have got to turn this around somehow. We have got to get some justice and common-sense back in the US meme. Aaaaghhh!

[sandnsea]

5. That's Rosie's project

I don't know what happened because she said she had put in a system that does more for families than just leave them stranded in a trailer park. If thousands of people lived in low-income housing, and they aren't going to rebuild it, then many people will have nowhere to go. I also don't understand why kids who were going to school aren't going now, that doesn't make any sense. Maybe some of this is more systemic problems than hurricane problems, I don't know.

http://www.forallkids.org/site.php?module=news&pageid=373

[thingfisher]

6. FEMA - What is it good for?

Well, it provides good paying jobs for an army of bureaucrats who actually are FEMA. We have seen how they screwed up the initial response to the hurricane (Doin' a heck uva job!) and now after all this time people are still living in Femaville trailer parks with no more aid to get their lives back together forthcoming.
Why can't the government get creative and enlist those "thousand points of light" we keep hearing about and the federal government to put these very people to work reclaiming and rebuilding their city? Let those who sufferef the loss reap some of the potential benefits of rebuilding. Maybe they could start with the LEVIES that are not going to be upgraded to a force 5 level!

God, it wouldn't take to much to put together an economic development plan that would revitalize the city and put the victims to work at the same time. Perhaps they would learn skills that would make them employable beyond the termination of the rebuilding effort.

But I guess the wealthy elite have their own private vision of what New orleans is to be in the future - probably a virtual New Orleans theme park, retirement commuity, of some awful kind.

[sandnsea]

9. It's misguided to blame FEMA

Clinton did fix FEMA after Andrew destroyed Florida and the response was about the same as with Katrina. It isn't FEMA, it's Republicanism. We are really being stupid to continue to point to a generic 'government' or 'FEMA'. That's why people decided private business could do a better job, Republicans villainized government when they were actually wanting to destroy it. Now people think churches and the private sector did a better job than FEMA, when the truth is, Bush tied up everything EXCEPT churches and the private sector. We're being bamboozled, there's NO reason this Republican government can't respond to Katrina better, they just don't want to.

[jus_the_facts]

13. "they just don't want to"....NO THEY JUST CAN'T AFFORD TO...BECAUSE OF THIS!!!!

....Clinton didn't FIX A FUCKIN' THING in hindsight...he aided and abetted these fuckers and STILL IS as far as I'm concerned!! :evilfrown:


If the Tax Cuts Are Extended, Millionaires Will Receive
More than $600 Billion over the Next Decade

http://www.cbpp.org/2-23-06tax.htm


Over the next decade, households with incomes above $1 million will receive about $648 billion in tax benefits from the tax cuts enacted since 2001 (assuming these tax cuts are extended).

In 2007, the tax cuts going to the top 1 percent of the income spectrum (those with incomes above $400,000 in that year) will exceed the amounts being devoted to programs the Administration identifies as national priorities, such as homeland security.

Over the next five years, the total savings from the deep cuts the President would make in domestic discretionary programs — including education, veterans’ health benefits, medical research, environmental protection, and various programs for low-income families — would be less than the cost of the tax cuts just for households with incomes above $1 million.

-----------
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11896299&src=rss/domesticNews

Reuters: Ranks of US millionaires worth over $5 million swell (26%)

Wed Apr 19, 2006 06:25 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. households boasting a net worth of at least $5 million swelled to an all-time high in 2005, according a report released Wednesday by consulting firm Spectrem Group.

---------------
http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/news/newsmakers/billionaires_forbes/index.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The number of billionaires surged this year, as did their collective pile of cash, according to Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list.
---------------------------

So who are the winners from rising inequality? It's not the top 20 percent, or even the top 10 percent. The big gains have gone to a much smaller, much richer group than that.

But income at the 99th percentile rose 87 percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent. No, that's not a misprint.

Just to give you a sense of who we're talking about: the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that this year the 99th percentile will correspond to an income of $402,306, and the 99.9th percentile to an income of $1,672,726. The center doesn't give a number for the 99.99th percentile, but it's probably well over $6 million a year.

To read the entire article go to this site, scroll down to find the article, then click on the comments (12) below the title.

http://www.pkarchive.org/

[sandnsea]

20. Clinton Fixed FEMA

Period. You did not hear of massive numbers of people on rooftops during the Mississippi Flood. FEMA worked under Clinton and everybody knows it. There's no reason or political logic in claiming otherwise.

I can't figure out what Bill Clinton has to do with the Bush tax cuts. Tax receipts doubled under Clinton, that's why we had a surplus. I don't tend to like or defend either Clinton, but I don't blame every ill of the world on them either.

[jus_the_facts]

21. Look at the statistics...they don't even come CLOSE to what happened in New Orleans alone....

THE GREAT MIDWEST FLOODS OF 1993

http://www.e11th-hour.org/resources/timelines/floods.1993.html

Approximately 54,000 people had to be evacuated from flooded areas at some time during the flood, and approximately 50,000 homes were destroyed or damaged. Losses were estimated at 15 to 20 billion dollars.

A total of 534 counties in nine states were declared for federal disaster aid for the 1993 Midwest Floods. As a result of the floods, 168,340 people registered for federal assistance.

According to the Galloway Report in June 1994, estimated federal response and recovery costs included more than $4.2 billion in direct federal assistance, $271 million in federal flood insurance payments and more than $621 million in federal loans to individual, businesses.

....you'd think after that flood they'd have improved the levee system at the bottom of the river in light of this disaster...but NO...they did NOTHING! :eyes:

[sandnsea]

22. That's what FEMA does

Responds to disasters and the need for federal assistance. They did that. It was a 500 year flood. You can't guard against a 500 year flood.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA and other agencies argued over the best course of action New Orleans. There was a whole lot more involved in the problems there than just fixing the levees. FEMA doesn't have the authority to direct any of them to do anything.

[jus_the_facts]

25. Southeast Louisiana, Orleans Parish Flood Control Project.....

....the GOV'T KNEW then as it did when the Katrina disaster happened that those levees would NOT hold...it was a complete FAILURE from top to bottom on all levels of our state and federal gov'ts to adequately ensure the safety of it's citizens.

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pd/projectsList/home.asp

[jus_the_facts]

26. "FEMA has the authority to review emergency preparedness plans for every single state

They attach federal money of various sorts to having adequate plans.

So the question is: 'Why was the city of New Orleans, why was the state of Louisiana allowed to have an emergency preparedness plan that was obviously so flawed?'"


http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-09/2005-09-16-voa63.cfm

[sandnsea]

28. The Corps of Engineers

Everything you've posted directs to the Corps of Engineers. Yes, they and several other agencies did not work together efficiently to create the right strategy to protect New Orleans. You might want to know that it was environmental groups who did not believe building the levees higher was the solution. That is why they were working on building up the delta and other plans to restore the natural environment which traditionally protected New Orleans from the full brunt of a hurricane strike. It is not a simple issue of pointing your finger at one target and ranting at them.

Your post here is about disaster response, not the levees. I already said FEMA is responsible for disaster response. They did not do a good job under this Administration. They did do a good job under Clinton. If you think any other major city has a significantly better evacuation plan than New Orleans, you're sadly mistaken. You will never ever ever get every person evacuated out of a city. There will always be those who refuse to leave for one reason or another. Whether they are rescued depends on whether we have a jackass for a President who chooses to play politics to prove his privatizing ideology works. That's what happened to New Orleans, and that's what is still happening. Republicanism.

[Quantess]

7. Ah, at last, a thread worthy of being in GD.

K&R!

[WI_DEM]

8. my guess is most are black and poor and that is why nobody in this govt. cares

[nealmhughes]

10. Once again I am reminded of Harry Connick, Jr. who after surveying the damage of Katrina

was asked by a soi-disant "newsperson" on why so many people were unable to flee from the ravages of the storm, continuing on to mention cars. Harry made the most disgusted snuff I have ever heard outside of Gore Vidal and sneeringly yet sincerely said, "Cars? -- hell lady, them folks don't even got air conditioners" or words to that effect.

The people of the South will never forget how Bush continued to play golf and air guitar in Arizona and California while we were praying for our neighbors and friends in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Wondering if they had yet taken to high ground...calling on jammed cell phones to see where they were "Are you OK? Please just head towards Tuscaloosa and then towards Huntsville! You know you can stay up here and bring the dogs with you! I hope this call get through...Call me back as soon as you are on the road..."

Just wondering for days upon end how my friends in Biloxi and at Southern Miss were...if the Ogden Museum flooded or not, how my friend L.LaG. was, where she was...how Ricky the daytime bartender at Galatoire's was...If I would ever wear my favorite teeshirt -- bought on Royal St. again...

Now, when all the trauma of rank incompotence and dropped balls for years is exposed and most of the bodies recovered (we hope), we see a diaspora of them folks without cars, jobs, or air conditioners...
It sounds a lot like Gaza, doesn't it? No reason for the misery there or here...No reason...

[Kurovski]

11. Kick(nt)

[jus_the_facts]

12. If the Tax Cuts Are Extended, Millionaires Will Receive More than $600 Billion over the Next Decade

http://www.cbpp.org/2-23-06tax.htm


Over the next decade, households with incomes above $1 million will receive about $648 billion in tax benefits from the tax cuts enacted since 2001 (assuming these tax cuts are extended).

In 2007, the tax cuts going to the top 1 percent of the income spectrum (those with incomes above $400,000 in that year) will exceed the amounts being devoted to programs the Administration identifies as national priorities, such as homeland security.

Over the next five years, the total savings from the deep cuts the President would make in domestic discretionary programs — including education, veterans’ health benefits, medical research, environmental protection, and various programs for low-income families — would be less than the cost of the tax cuts just for households with incomes above $1 million.

-----------
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11896299&src=rss/domesticNews

Reuters: Ranks of US millionaires worth over $5 million swell (26%)

Wed Apr 19, 2006 06:25 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. households boasting a net worth of at least $5 million swelled to an all-time high in 2005, according a report released Wednesday by consulting firm Spectrem Group.

---------------
http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/news/newsmakers/billionaires_forbes/index.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The number of billionaires surged this year, as did their collective pile of cash, according to Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list.
---------------------------

So who are the winners from rising inequality? It's not the top 20 percent, or even the top 10 percent. The big gains have gone to a much smaller, much richer group than that.

But income at the 99th percentile rose 87 percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent. No, that's not a misprint.

Just to give you a sense of who we're talking about: the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that this year the 99th percentile will correspond to an income of $402,306, and the 99.9th percentile to an income of $1,672,726. The center doesn't give a number for the 99.99th percentile, but it's probably well over $6 million a year.

To read the entire article go to this site, scroll down to find the article, then click on the comments (12) below the title.

http://www.pkarchive.org/

[lonestarnot]

23. They better fucking not be extended!

[jus_the_facts]

27. Even if our newly elected congress did revoke them..the fucktard can still veto it...

x(

[jus_the_facts]

14. Keep this KICKED>>>SO NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO FORGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[jus_the_facts]

15. !

[jus_the_facts]

17. !!

[KamaAina]

16. No Child Left Behind*

* -unless they're poor, black, and from New Orleans or elsewhere on the Gulf Coast. :grr: :banghead:

edit: caps (typing while majorly P.O.'d)

[Amelie]

18. It's a horrible way to live

My sister-in-law, her husband, two teenage sons and 7 year old daughter are living in a 900 sq. ft. trailer. The guys are too tall for the shower and their feet hang over the edge of the bed.

[jus_the_facts]

19. Welcome to DU Amelie....

...and thank you for your response here....this just isn't talked about enough for all intents and purposes! :hi:

[blues90]

24. I think about this all the time

I know this is never in the news except for the one year passing of time and even still they never show or talk about the poor in these trailers or show just how bad it is . They show the homes of the better off and that's all .

I still can't imagine why on earth these people are ignored , oh I know the blatent reasons , they are poor and considered nothing but each has their mind and their dreams and hopes .

America has all the funds to do their sick wars and murder people by the tens of thousands but not a dime for their own people and yes they are people mr bush , they are people .

My hope even though I know it will never happen is that each person who can help and won't such as you mr bush is that you find yourself in the exact same situation .