Amy Goodman in NOLA this morning. Prepare to be really angry

[EFerrari]

"The Red Cross Has Basically Stolen Money From Victims in New Orleans" - People's Hurricane Relief Fund Blasts Katrina Aid Program

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/30/145217

New Orleans Hit By Another "Hurricane of Racism, Greed and Corruption" - Community Activist Malik Rahim

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/30/145210

The Privatization of Education: How New Orleans Went From a Public School System to a Charter-School City

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/30/145226


Transcripts not up yet but audio/video is.

[EFerrari]

1. Kick

[immoderate]

2. K&R for Amy -- Thanks for posting.

--IMM

[IdaBriggs]

3. In defense of the Red Cross, they are *very* disorganized at local

levels due to the HUGE funding cutbacks that have occurred, and largely staffed by volunteer folks who are there to answer telephones, etc. It is extremely plausible that someone answered the phone at a local level who didn't have a clue what was going on, while folks at NATIONAL are the ones in charge of stuff.

Honestly, with such a large volunteer organization, sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

NO ONE I HAVE EVER MET WITH RED CROSS WOULD *EVER* "STEAL" FROM HURRICANE VICTIMS -- we were *all* volunteers, and while I understand the frustration of dealing with organizations staffed by volunteers who come and go, I find the charges offensive, and would like to see some actual "journalism" investigating the charges, as opposed to someone who is angry, frustrated, and looking for folks to blame for problems that are generally outside the control of the retired volunteer who is answering telephones for a few hours to help out....

:shrug:

ON EDIT: Although I have to admit that some of the upper echelon "paid" folks seem to be there just to piss the rest of us off with some very poor decision making/crisis management skills....

[EFerrari]

4. My understanding is, the RC hid a program meant for housing

and built offices in NYC with it. So, it is the upper echelon being fingered here, not the good people who volunteer, Ida. And iirc, this isn't the first time funds were "repurposed" in the last few years, including donations for the victims of 9/11, remember?

I'm about to go fish for the transcripts.

[IdaBriggs]

43. Thanks for clarifying, sfexpat2000!

Sounds like upper echelon shenanigans. Sigh. It makes the rest of us look bad....:( :cry:

[alarimer]

13. Where did all the money they collected go?

People donated millions. I will never donate to the Red Cross again until there is a complete accounting of their actions here.

[robinlynne]

19. I went to a katrina event 3 days ago. People are FURIOUS with the red cross.

They specifically said do NOT donate any money to these organizations. That money never gets to the people who need it, especially the red cross. If you want to help us, give money directly to schools in new Orleans or hospitals IN New oRleans. And to sign the petition at whenthesaints.org.
Their anger was in this order: federal govt and fema, red cross, and Obama because he blocked their relief legislation for a year.

[alarimer]

22. I never knew that about Obama

Do you know what the rationale was? It certainly makes me not want to vote for him.

The Red Cross is like a quasi-governmental organization. Every single add after the hurricane said to donate to the Red Cross. So I guess at least some of the money went to those ads.

[robinlynne]

32. First time I heard it too. but they were adamant. Apparently they went to Obama

with aneworleans reconstrcution bill, the smae bill he signed onto recently, and he kept the bill from being sent to the house because he said they couldn't get the votes. They specifically said their anger is at the feds, the Red Cross, and Obama. They are extremely grateful to the thousands of individual volunteers who go to New Orleans to help and furious at the institutions, and politicians.

[EFerrari]

5. TRANSCRIPTS are now posted to the links in the OP.

:kick:

[RB TexLa]

6. That Nat LaCour can certainly dance

Saying that things could be fixed within the education system that was in place in Orleans Parish. I really didn't need to read anything past that statement but did anyway. Then he says that no one was happy with the school system before Katrina. Which is it, the old system sucked or it can be fixed by the old system?

[EFerrari]

9. What I heard was, the old system had problems but the new one

excludes a lot of children.

And of course, FIRING ALL THE TEACHERS in NOLA is a must do as a responsible response to Katrina. :eyes:

[RB TexLa]

11. From whom was the property tax to be collected to pay for parish school employees?

Also it is against the law to have "ghost" employees, or to pay public employees for one job and have them perform another job. There wasn't much choice for the city, the parish or the school board in regards to what to do with their employees after the storm.

[EFerrari]

14. I heard the French Quarter didn't flood and was up and running.

Is that wrong?

And frankly, wasn't that Blanco's problem to solve? Which she did on the backs of teachers, kids and education instead of finding funding. You know, there's a LOT of money in the world. It's not that hard to scrape it up if you've a mind to. If I can find 50K in 11 days, someone in her position should be able to do so much better than that.

But I guess it was easier to fuck over the very people you are supposed to be serving because, what are they going to do about it?

[RB TexLa]

16. There isn't any Blanco on the Orleans Parish school board

This guy saying they were fired, is not the right terminology. It's not like some evil person came in and started handing out pink slips. Many of the schools, the children, the teachers themselves were gone. Improved property was gone from the tax rolls. Of course if you drive up to Baton Rouge you find many of these "fired" teachers in class rooms.

Should the city, the parish, the school board, the RTA have just "found" money to pay thousands of employees to wait for population and infrastructure to return?

I remember one of the most telling lines about Orleans parish schools, a guy interviewed here in Dallas not long after the storm when asked what he found different. He said "I found out there have been textbooks printed after 1985."

[EFerrari]

17. I agree that there was a failure of leadership at every level

of government. You'll get no argument from me on that score.

[midnight]

24. I know this is off the topic, but how did you raise 50,000 in 11 days.

Very impressive.

[EFerrari]

29. Actually, I didn't do that. DU did. n/t

[EFerrari]

7. Sorry to keep kicking but these segments / transcripts are

compelling as hell. Must see tv and/or listen to audio, read the trans.

[annabanana]

8. It's the Iraqification of New Orleans...

Another "clean slate" for the neo-cons to play with...

[EFerrari]

10. Malik gives me a lot of hope that NOLA -- that the Gulf Coast --

is fighting back against these bastards.

[ProudDad]

28. I'm afraid a lot of Malik's work

was done in vain:

“They wanted them poor niggers out of there.” by Greg Palast

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1696041

"And the one bright star, Malik’s housing project? The tenants’ work was done this past December. By Christmastime, they received their eviction notices - and all were carried out of their rebuilt homes by marshals right after the New Year, including a paraplegic resident who’d lived in the Algiers building for decades."

[Junkdrawer]

12. And many, many people there think this is a test run for programs...

that will be used widely across the US.

Coming Soon to a "troubled" neighborhood near you....

[EFerrari]

15. Ever since Katrina, my last waking thought most nights is

"please let there not be an earthquake here until these felons are out of office." :(

[EFerrari]

18. Kicking like a mule. lol

[frustrated_lefty]

20. As of December, 2005,

the Red Cross refused to even act as a referral service to hurricane victims.

When I distance myself from the issue, that's one of the things that pisses me off the most. The people of this country gave until it hurt, did everything they could to help. Those of us in the shelters didn't need to see the news to know that. We saw it every day, and it was humbling....I mean that, really humbling...to see the generosity individual people, guy on the corner, people on the street, found within themselves. What pisses me off and makes me sad is that so many people went through the Red Cross and the Red Cross betrayed the trust placed within it. That's a far, sad cry from the spirit in which those donations were made.

[frogcycle]

40. damn

I sent money to RC several times, put links on some websites urging people to, sent emails...

hell, the 'conventional wisdom' was go thru the RC because you could not trust OTHER ngo's...

several years ago when the Mississippi flooded in Illinois I went to the levees and actually did some work. I guess thats the only way to know you are actually accomplishing anything

[tabasco]

21. A real journalist doing actual reporting.

I think Amy is the greatest!

She works hard, does her homework, and it shows in her in-depth reporting.

[KamaAina]

23. The Red Cross thing surprises me not a whit

when I lived there, my friend, neighbor and feminist activist Velvet (no, really, there were four Velvets in the little town where she grew up!) told me stories about how the Red Cross sold bread after Hurricane Betsy in '65. New Orleanians, especially Irish ones, have looooong memories about stuff like that. Take note, Bush**, Brownie, Somestates insurance, etc.

[dflprincess]

25. I'm so glad I sent my Katrina money to the American Friends Service Committee

n/t

[msedano]

26. sad to see conflicted red cross

i had a family emergency in basic training and got three days to trek home and back. but i had no money. the army put me in contact with the red cross, who issued me an interest-bearing loan to cover the greyhound. had i been permanent party at ft ord, the red cross explained, the organization would have simply given me the money. huh? yet, the donut dollies truly brightened our day when they came our way in far out korea. you should see what some crooks did to the red cross in pasadena. sad stuff.

mvs

http://www.readraza.com/hawk/pages/ahappydonutdolly_jpg.htm

http://labloga.blogspot.com


recommended

[ProudDad]

27. K&R and don't forget

to check this out:

"“They wanted them poor niggers out of there.” by Greg Palast"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1696041

[EFerrari]

30. Thanks, ProudDad. n/t

[Elspeth]

31. kick

:kick:

[flyarm]

33. if you remember they stole from the 9/11 families as well till they were caught and

big celebrities came out screaming!!

same shit different day..and we need celebrities to come out screaming again it seems!!

fly

[EFerrari]

35. I remember that. n/t

[G_j]

34. K&R

thanks Amy!

[Swamp Rat]

36. Hell, the Red Cross didn't give me a goddamn dime when I was in need.

Maybe because they put Scientologists in charge of the station where I went.

[EFerrari]

37. The American Red Cross seems to be a pyramid scheme.

Like every other arm of the Bushco regime. :grr:

[rucognizant]

38. Me too!

Back in 1994, after a devestating job situation in another state and a tenant that didn't pay me rent for 8 months living in my house, having to pay rent myself for an extra month because the unemployent office could'nt see me 'till then. THEN a a 3 month delay before I GOT that unemployment check, forcing me to live on $300. ( my security deposit ) the whole summer.
MY tenant had offered IN lieu of $ to keep the electricity in his name for me. SO he moved out ( for which I was grateful, I didn't have to pay a lawyer to extricate him), leaving my oven on CLEAN for a month! Needless to say, when I moved back in the stove didn't work. DO you think the Red Cross would find me a stove?
NO...............it was my own personal disaster, not a big generic one like the later ice storm.
After the unemployment checks finally arrived I did have it repaired but I have never been able to use the self clean function, because the insulation was burned out!

[rudy23]

42. They were at the River Center after the storm, and are horning in on the schools

They are out in full force in N.O. and beyond, that's for sure--whatever you want to think about that.

[JPZenger]

39. Link With More Info

http://katrinahomedrive.org/

[democratelsucio]

41. yup