I honestly didn't think the Bush Admin could still make me this angry

[Haole Girl]

Now FEMA is kicking the poor and elderly out of their trailers? Almost three years after Katrina? WTF?

Oh, oh... here is a good one: They are worried for them as hurricane season approaches. Yeah.... right....
what about last year? Grrr.....

My theory? They don't want it to "look bad" as the November election approaches.

Well, I say, the Democratic nominee should go in there and film the heck out of that mess....and use it in every campaign ad in the south...
it is government ineptitude at its worst.

:grr:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24861652

BAKER, Louisiana - The U.S. government has plenty of reasons to move hundreds of families out of emergency trailers they have occupied since Hurricane Katrina: the start of a new hurricane season, concerns about toxic fumes and the need for residents to find permanent homes.

But some worry they will have nowhere to go once they lose their subsidized housing.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency wants to close its last six trailer parks by Sunday, the first day of hurricane season. Those parks, all in Louisiana, are all that remain of the 111 the agency built and operated in the state after the August 2005 hurricane.

edit: spelling

[Robbien]

1. Two out of three of them are over the age of 65

Social Security payments use to cover cost of their housing before Katrina.

Now that New Orleans has been privatized and gentrified up the wahzoo, there is no place to which they can go in their price range.

Many of the people ousted in the prior phases of FEMA trailer shutdowns are living in a tent city.

[Haole Girl]

2. Yeah... tents...

Real safe in a hurricane.

:sarcasm:

http://www.gadling.com/2008/02/11/tent-city-in-new-orleans-does-in-fact-exist

[Warpy]

3. FEMA regs say people need to start organizing permanent housing

the day they move into a trailer because they can't stay in those trailers more than 2 years.

There have been similar stories of elderly people in Florida being unable to find affordable housing once their own trailers were gone and they were stuck in FEMA trailers.

The problem is the lack of affordable housing, not the limited stay in FEMA trailers. The problem is also social security payments that are 40% less than they should be, thanks to Greenspan's tinkering with the CPI market basket.

Face it, we are a nation of beggared people, robbed of fair payment for our labor and of our safety net when we retire. That means that when disaster hits, we are ruined unless we still have something to sell.

[Haole Girl]

4. It seems like the new reality

Our government - even after all the taxes we pay in our lifetime - seems only interested in helping corporate America. That, and starting new wars. :-(

[Robbien]

5. It would probably be a different story if our disaster relief wasn't run by the military

The whole idea of FEMA and other NGOs being under the auspice of Homeland Security is stomach turning.

And when there are disasters in other parts of the world, people look at us with trepidation when warships arrive saying they are they to "help".

This country is screwed up.

[Haole Girl]

6. It gives me a very uneasy feeling that people in our country just do not care...

the lack of outrage... all these years later.

It does make a person step back and take another look at our country & its values... or lack of. (sigh)

[Robbien]

7. There isn't a lack of outrage

When only a few systems are broken, people can pick an area and join in to help. When everything is broken, people are overwhelmed and stymied. Who do you chose to help, and how does one do it when no aid systems are working and government doesn't give a care.

It is very hard staying focused on the assistance programs one currently is involved in, when there are so many others out there also screaming for attention.