Showing posts with label Katrina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Katrina. Show all posts
8.30.2010
Prisoners of Katrina | BBC Video
This documentary was made about 4 years ago, but it details some things that I'd only heard bits and pieces of about what happened to the prisoners durring the hurricane and subsequent flooding. I'm sure that the BBC has its own biases, but man, do they do a better job at real journalism then American cable news channels do. Do you know what "breaking news" CNN was emailing me about tonight? Modern Family and Mad Men (I think) winning Emmys. Really? Not your job, CNN. There's about a bajillion sources where I could get that information from, and it makes me sad that you're America's most legitimate 24hr news channel.
8.30.2009
Bulldozing Homes
Dear Blog:
Dsxyfemme85 (rozlyndmoore@yahoo.com) thought you would be interested in this item from nola.com
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1251609846268020.xml&coll=1
Dsxyfemme85
I'm not sure which method is better. On one hand, I understand that some of these houses will never be rebuilt, and that the best step is to tear them down so they're no longer a hazard. But on the other hand, the poorest (and often, the oldest) people are the ones who are taking the longest to rebuild, often because of Road Home issues, and it's not okay to just bulldoze over the past 40 years of their lives when the program that was supposed to assist them with rebuilding is slow, bureaucratic, and biased.
Dsxyfemme85 (rozlyndmoore@yahoo.com) thought you would be interested in this item from nola.com
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1251609846268020.xml&coll=1
Dsxyfemme85
I'm not sure which method is better. On one hand, I understand that some of these houses will never be rebuilt, and that the best step is to tear them down so they're no longer a hazard. But on the other hand, the poorest (and often, the oldest) people are the ones who are taking the longest to rebuild, often because of Road Home issues, and it's not okay to just bulldoze over the past 40 years of their lives when the program that was supposed to assist them with rebuilding is slow, bureaucratic, and biased.
Katrina Anniversary - 4 Years Later
Please check out this timeline, created three years ago for the one year anniversary of Katrina. I'm not sure if its perfect - it doesn't mention when the other levee breaches (London Ave, Lower 9th Ward) occurred, which is what I was really curious about because I could have sworn I heard somewhere that at least one of the levees hadn't broken until the day after the storm had passed.
But anyway, here are some links to some bloggers who are actual New Orleanians, because as much as I've read and studied the storm, the aftermath, and the response, I'll never completely understand what Katrina meant to New Orleans the way these people will.
Library Chronicles
Suspect Device
B.Rox
Humid City
Hurricane Radio
NOLAFemmes
The Trumpet
American Zombie
bark, bugs, leaves, and lizards
Cliff's Crib
Cold Spaghetti
Elizabeth's Edibles
Good Nola
Lipraps's Lament
Maitri's VatulBlog
New Orleans Livejournal
New Orleans - It's Just Me
New Orleans Ladder
Pistolette.net
The G Bitch Spot
We Could Be Famous
Your Right Hand Thief
Also, this is an important article about some murders that took place in Algiers Point in the days after the hurricane. A July 2009 update. And here's a video of a recent CNN update to this story.
But anyway, here are some links to some bloggers who are actual New Orleanians, because as much as I've read and studied the storm, the aftermath, and the response, I'll never completely understand what Katrina meant to New Orleans the way these people will.
Library Chronicles
Suspect Device
B.Rox
Humid City
Hurricane Radio
NOLAFemmes
The Trumpet
American Zombie
bark, bugs, leaves, and lizards
Cliff's Crib
Cold Spaghetti
Elizabeth's Edibles
Good Nola
Lipraps's Lament
Maitri's VatulBlog
New Orleans Livejournal
New Orleans - It's Just Me
New Orleans Ladder
Pistolette.net
The G Bitch Spot
We Could Be Famous
Your Right Hand Thief
Also, this is an important article about some murders that took place in Algiers Point in the days after the hurricane. A July 2009 update. And here's a video of a recent CNN update to this story.
8.29.2009
News Briefs: Mercy Killings, Motivated Reasoning, The Cleansing of New Orleans, Katrina Anniversary Events, Bad Flood Pumps, Bad Plastics, Gulf Restoration Task Force, Mayor Odds, Katrina's Dead, Truth About Katrina, Montgomery Film Festival
This article talks about the lessons that need to be learned from the mercy killings that took place in the days just after Katrina.
Motivated reasoning is to blame for why somemorons people believe whatever the people in the TV tell them.
Some douchebaggery on how Katrina "cleansed New Orleans" of the human parasites, i.e. Black people, from some right-wing asshole I've never heard of.
More Katrina Anniversary events.
Surprise, surprise, the flood pumps are not reliable.
Check the plastics in your fridge, ASAP.
Obama is creating a Gulf Restoration Task Force to deal with wetlands erosion.
More analysis of the upcoming 2010 Mayoral Election.
This article talks about a study of the deaths during Katrina. This one is another death index, that takes into account reasons other than the immediate Hurricane that killed people. I met a lot of people who were getting sick from the stress and depression of living after Katrina.
This article is an older one that lays out what really happened during Katrina.
If I had known about this, I would've gone.
Motivated reasoning is to blame for why some
Some douchebaggery on how Katrina "cleansed New Orleans" of the human parasites, i.e. Black people, from some right-wing asshole I've never heard of.
More Katrina Anniversary events.
Surprise, surprise, the flood pumps are not reliable.
Check the plastics in your fridge, ASAP.
Obama is creating a Gulf Restoration Task Force to deal with wetlands erosion.
More analysis of the upcoming 2010 Mayoral Election.
This article talks about a study of the deaths during Katrina. This one is another death index, that takes into account reasons other than the immediate Hurricane that killed people. I met a lot of people who were getting sick from the stress and depression of living after Katrina.
This article is an older one that lays out what really happened during Katrina.
If I had known about this, I would've gone.
8.27.2009
News Briefs: Theatre Overhaul at Canal Place, Green Goddess, Katrina Anniversary Events, Black Dynamite
In two weeks, Landmark Theaters will no longer be housed at Canal Place. It'll be replaced by Southern Theaters, which will start major renovations shortly.
A new restaurant, The Green Goddess, has opened up at 307 Exchange Alley in the French Quarter. I downloaded their lunch and dinner menus and am curious about how a lot of the foods taste. I'll definitely check it out and report my findings!
Here's a list of some of the events going on for the 4th anniversary of Katrina.
In movie news, Black Dynamite is finally getting a fall release after playing the festivals. If I remember correctly, my second post here was about this movie. Ooops, no, it was my third post. Sony has taken the red band trailer off of YouTube, so here's the green band.
A new restaurant, The Green Goddess, has opened up at 307 Exchange Alley in the French Quarter. I downloaded their lunch and dinner menus and am curious about how a lot of the foods taste. I'll definitely check it out and report my findings!
Here's a list of some of the events going on for the 4th anniversary of Katrina.
In movie news, Black Dynamite is finally getting a fall release after playing the festivals. If I remember correctly, my second post here was about this movie. Ooops, no, it was my third post. Sony has taken the red band trailer off of YouTube, so here's the green band.
8.25.2009
News Briefs: CNN Special, Classism in Housing, Katrina Books, Charity Mess Continues, Pot is Safer, 1614 Esplanade, Katrina and the Prez, Mayoral Warchests,1B1NO, Sex from the Inside
CNN To Air Katrina Anniversary Specials: CNN will air special segments focusing on rebuilding efforts in New Orleans this week.
Jarvis DeBarry on class-based discrimination in the rental market in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish.
A few books on Katrina and her aftermath, New Orleans, or the South in general.
More info on the LSU Complex vs. Charity Hospital battle. The revised plans are just wasteful. There's half the number of buildings than was first proposed. They want to pave people's homes over for parking and trees?
Pot is better, but you already knew that, didn't you?
Articles about President Obama and his promises to rebuild New Orleans, and the new New Orleans.
So far Murray leads with the most money raised for his mayoral race. James Perry has raised the second highest amount of people who've declared candidacy, but Badon hasn't reported his winnings yet.
One Book, One New Orleans has chosen Gumbo Tales as it's book this year.
A friend of mine made a website for the co-op that he lives in. These artist types, so creative.
Aaaaand, an MRI of a couple having sex.
I gotta say, I'm probably going to have the image in my head of him poking her insides around for a while. Is the vaginal canal shorter than I imagined, or was he just really big? Does this mean that when people have sex while pregnant, the penis really is poking the baby in the head (through the uterine wall)? Ack! Also, how much did the couple get paid to do this?
Jarvis DeBarry on class-based discrimination in the rental market in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish.
A few books on Katrina and her aftermath, New Orleans, or the South in general.
More info on the LSU Complex vs. Charity Hospital battle. The revised plans are just wasteful. There's half the number of buildings than was first proposed. They want to pave people's homes over for parking and trees?
Pot is better, but you already knew that, didn't you?
Articles about President Obama and his promises to rebuild New Orleans, and the new New Orleans.
So far Murray leads with the most money raised for his mayoral race. James Perry has raised the second highest amount of people who've declared candidacy, but Badon hasn't reported his winnings yet.
One Book, One New Orleans has chosen Gumbo Tales as it's book this year.
A friend of mine made a website for the co-op that he lives in. These artist types, so creative.
Aaaaand, an MRI of a couple having sex.
I gotta say, I'm probably going to have the image in my head of him poking her insides around for a while. Is the vaginal canal shorter than I imagined, or was he just really big? Does this mean that when people have sex while pregnant, the penis really is poking the baby in the head (through the uterine wall)? Ack! Also, how much did the couple get paid to do this?
2 Articles by Tim Wise on the Healthcare Debate and Socialism
Red-Baiting and Racism: Socialism as the New Black Bogeyman and Sick Heil: Racial Paranoia, White Victimology and the Hitlerizing of Obama. Who is this wonderful man, and why am I just discovering him?
ETA: Oooh, here's video of him making a speech. I can't help but love that he talks like a Black Baptist preacher. And he's dead right about the relationship between St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward, except that they're not even separated by a canal - just the Parish line.
Shared via AddThis
ETA: Oooh, here's video of him making a speech. I can't help but love that he talks like a Black Baptist preacher. And he's dead right about the relationship between St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward, except that they're not even separated by a canal - just the Parish line.
Shared via AddThis
8.23.2009
8.19.2009
8.06.2009
The Nation - Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
This doesn't surprise me at all. After Katrina, Blackwater was running around like lawless criminals, just waiting for someone to give them a reason to shoot them. When I was a volunteer in 2006 two other volunteers went to the store. While sitting in the parking lot, they started to make out. Suddenly they've got flashlights and AK-47s in their face. Blackwater assholes had rolled up in a golf cart looking vehicle, interrogated them for a few minutes, guns pointed the whole time, then rolled out for no reason. She was Black and he was white. That could have been the reason, but I think it was a general power trip thing going on. No one regulates Blackwater.
I'm absolutely positive that some of the young Black men who were shot during the time that Blackwater was in New Orleans were killed by them. Unfortunately, in this city whenever a young Black man is killed all someone has to do is mention drugs and a gun and everyone assumes that he deserved it for being just another thug, whether or not it's true. Sometimes I think that some of these killings could be some serial killer who's saavy enough to realize that no one cares when these men die so they can knock off as many as they want without getting caught.
I'm absolutely positive that some of the young Black men who were shot during the time that Blackwater was in New Orleans were killed by them. Unfortunately, in this city whenever a young Black man is killed all someone has to do is mention drugs and a gun and everyone assumes that he deserved it for being just another thug, whether or not it's true. Sometimes I think that some of these killings could be some serial killer who's saavy enough to realize that no one cares when these men die so they can knock off as many as they want without getting caught.
7.25.2009
News Briefs: Jax Square Artists Get Screwed, More Email Stuff, RSD Not Ready to Rethink Everything, FEMA is Slow?, Latino Workers Finally Get Paid
This sucks, not just for the artists, but for people like me who want to support them and buy good local art, but at an affordable price.
Tracie Washington faces the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board over the ongoing email snafu.
The children with Rethink went before RSD administrators to discuss, among other things, removing metal detectors from their schools. When we let our kids get treated like criminals straight out of the womb, how can we expect them to become anything but?
The Homeland Security Inspector General reported that FEMA took too long to react to complaints about formaldehyde in the trailers that they gave to Katrina victims. That stuff is serious, I've met several people who got sick from living in these trailers, but couldn't afford to live somewhere else.
Latino workers settle lawsuit against Audubon Communities Management for wage theft. This issue is something that the organization that I used to work with dealt with. There were many other companies committing wage theft, forcing workers to stay in gutted houses, trading or "selling" workers to other companies, tricking them into coming here anyway by telling them that t hey will make a lot of money, etc. to the point where we were calling it the new slavery. I don't think that they amount that they got was at all what they deserved, either.
Tracie Washington faces the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board over the ongoing email snafu.
The children with Rethink went before RSD administrators to discuss, among other things, removing metal detectors from their schools. When we let our kids get treated like criminals straight out of the womb, how can we expect them to become anything but?
The Homeland Security Inspector General reported that FEMA took too long to react to complaints about formaldehyde in the trailers that they gave to Katrina victims. That stuff is serious, I've met several people who got sick from living in these trailers, but couldn't afford to live somewhere else.
Latino workers settle lawsuit against Audubon Communities Management for wage theft. This issue is something that the organization that I used to work with dealt with. There were many other companies committing wage theft, forcing workers to stay in gutted houses, trading or "selling" workers to other companies, tricking them into coming here anyway by telling them that t hey will make a lot of money, etc. to the point where we were calling it the new slavery. I don't think that they amount that they got was at all what they deserved, either.
5.13.2009
News Briefs
Pregnant (Again) and Poor
This op-ed by Nicholas Kristof is about a woman in Haiti who, at 30, has ten children that she cannot afford to take care of. I'll admit, my first reaction upon reading the description of the article was "she needs to stop fucking". It always saddens me to hear about children who are unwanted and poorly cared for, which is why I'm devoutly pro-choice. But after reading the article, I can see how she ended up in the situation that she's in, and find it depressing that despite the US and Haiti both being countries that oppress women, at least here she would have had a better chance finding contraception that agreed with her.
FEMA Won't Pay for Charity
FEMA will not pay the $492 million needed to replace Charity Hospital. They believe that Katrina was only responsible for $150 million worth of damage. I haven't really kept up with this fight over Charity Hospital. I think FEMA sucks in general, but from what I've heard only the first few floors of Charity were flooded. This leads me to believe that, aside from blown out windows and the typical hurricane damage, much of what needs to be repaired now is because the city left the building to sit for almost four years without doing any work on it. Doing something like that will increase the cost of repair, just like it has with the homes here that have been left to rot.
Tracie Washington Can Post City Council's Emails Online
I'm curious to see what's in them. I know Tracie Washington. The Louisiana Justice Institute did a lot of legal work with the organization that I used to work with, most notably for the fight to keep public housing open. I haven't worked closely with her, but I know enough not to trust her. I always got the feeling that the poor people who we worked with were distasteful to her. She's claiming that this is about transparency, but I think that this is more about projecting the image of "change" and "honesty" so she can capitalize on Obama's mantra and run for mayor, city council, or some other political position. Also, it's about making the white people on the council (at least one of whom may be running for mayor) look bad.
ETA: Spoke too soon, the state Supreme Court has now blocked her attempts to release City Council emails.
ETA 2.0: Uh oh, they released some of Stacy Head's emails anyway. Since I can't stand that bitch, here they are.
ETA 3.0 This keeps getting better. 3 local stations have received discs containing various emails. I've got to admire the fight in Tracie; I thought she would have backed down by now.
This op-ed by Nicholas Kristof is about a woman in Haiti who, at 30, has ten children that she cannot afford to take care of. I'll admit, my first reaction upon reading the description of the article was "she needs to stop fucking". It always saddens me to hear about children who are unwanted and poorly cared for, which is why I'm devoutly pro-choice. But after reading the article, I can see how she ended up in the situation that she's in, and find it depressing that despite the US and Haiti both being countries that oppress women, at least here she would have had a better chance finding contraception that agreed with her.
FEMA Won't Pay for Charity
FEMA will not pay the $492 million needed to replace Charity Hospital. They believe that Katrina was only responsible for $150 million worth of damage. I haven't really kept up with this fight over Charity Hospital. I think FEMA sucks in general, but from what I've heard only the first few floors of Charity were flooded. This leads me to believe that, aside from blown out windows and the typical hurricane damage, much of what needs to be repaired now is because the city left the building to sit for almost four years without doing any work on it. Doing something like that will increase the cost of repair, just like it has with the homes here that have been left to rot.
Tracie Washington Can Post City Council's Emails Online
I'm curious to see what's in them. I know Tracie Washington. The Louisiana Justice Institute did a lot of legal work with the organization that I used to work with, most notably for the fight to keep public housing open. I haven't worked closely with her, but I know enough not to trust her. I always got the feeling that the poor people who we worked with were distasteful to her. She's claiming that this is about transparency, but I think that this is more about projecting the image of "change" and "honesty" so she can capitalize on Obama's mantra and run for mayor, city council, or some other political position. Also, it's about making the white people on the council (at least one of whom may be running for mayor) look bad.
ETA: Spoke too soon, the state Supreme Court has now blocked her attempts to release City Council emails.
ETA 2.0: Uh oh, they released some of Stacy Head's emails anyway. Since I can't stand that bitch, here they are.
ETA 3.0 This keeps getting better. 3 local stations have received discs containing various emails. I've got to admire the fight in Tracie; I thought she would have backed down by now.
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