Katrina #2
by Mag Raine,

My heart breaks at the untold stories of racism and classism
Dead bodies from the wrath of nature in the form of Katrina,
The president blithely plays golf, rides bikes and eats cake,
His FEMA director completely incompetent,
This administration lies repeatedly,
And the media, good and compassionate;
So good at the beginning,
Now buys the PR lies and exaggeration,
The local officials allowed this to happen,
It was not a question of if but when!
The neocheaters stole the funds,
Every level of government
Screwed over the poor people.
My heart wrenches as I see
people drowning, clinging  to rooftops,
Overwhelming joy mixed with pity
as I read news of 5,000 animals
being rescued from rooftops,
volunteers are breaking down doors,
Saving trapped, wet, hungry, terrified pets.
I completely understand--
Pet guardians not wanting to leave
Their beloved furry friends behind;
Thus far only 200 have been reunited
with their human guardians,
It breaks my heart to think
Of the ones who will never
See their furry or human friend again.
Katrina unveils the truth, exposes the lies,
shatters Martin Luther King’s dream,
Shatters my dreams of equality,
Shatters the myth that powerful America
Is prepared for another terror strike,
As an American I am so ashamed,
As I learn that it’s the elderly, the ill, and
The disabled, and the very poor
Who were left to fend for themselves,
Many have died, perished in the poisoned waters,
Many have been ripped from living independently
Far from their wheelchairs, service animals,
their support staff, from their families,
And their support circles.
A sea  of scrambled emotions:
The overwhelming joy seeing the
goodness and generosity of most Americans,
But the business interests
And corrupt public officials
Who all allowed the levees to
Get old and weak, will need to
Be swept out of office en masse.

Tamar Raine  sept. 14, 2005

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> [Original Message]
> From: ken barber <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 9/16/2005 9:56:56 AM
> Subject: Re: an interesting article...
>
> oh, okay. let's see, what party has been in control of
> the State of La for 40-60 years? which party has been
> in control of the city of New Orleans for 40-60 years?
> so who allowed the situtation to exist even though we
> have spent more than 6 trillion dollars on the "WAR ON
> POVERTY."? i think we need and exit stategy. we need a
> time table to get out of this war. we have lost the
> war. New Orleans showed this war lost.
>
>   the party starts with a "D."
>
> --- Mike Collis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I don't know if I agree with this wholeheartedly.
> > Just another post to get
> > y'all talking...
> >
> >
> >
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> > Judge Roberts, Hurricane Katrina and Americans with
> > Disabilities
> >
> >
> >
> > Building a Supreme Court to Excuse Our Nation's
> > Neglect of the Poor and
> > Disenfranchised
> >
> >
> >
> > By Jim Ward, Founder and President
> >
> >
> >
> > ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights
> >
> >
> >
> > New Orleans is America's canary in the mineshaft.
> > Ideologies of
> > privatization that incapacitate effective government
> > -permitting the
> > privileged to save themselves while leaving the poor
> > clinging to roofs -must
> > now be challenged. This disaster is a chilling
> > reminder of what happens when
> > government fails to protect its citizens, and it is
> > imperative that
> > Americans demand accountability.
> >
> >
> >
> > Terry Lynn Karl Professor of Political Science
> > Stanford University September
> > 8, 2005
> >
> >
> >
> > (Washington, DC) We did not see news reports on
> > Hurricane Katrina showing
> > mass looting by people with disabilities, did we?
> >
> >
> >
> > Given the chance, perhaps this would have been so.
> >
> >
> >
> > Instead, we witnessed people without legs -unable to
> > reach the rooftops
> > -floating in the storm waters; Americans in
> > wheelchairs "rescued" and then
> > left to fry and die in the scorching sun; people
> > with epilepsy and diabetes
> > separated from vital medications; and citizens in
> > nursing homes left behind
> > to drown.
> >
> >
> >
> > And we saw many, many poor people.
> >
> >
> >
> > Louisiana has a shameful poverty rate of 24 percent.
> > There and throughout
> > the United States, people with disabilities are
> > among the poorest of the
> > poor. According to the 2000 Census, people with
> > severe disabilities comprise
> > roughly half of all working-age Americans living in
> > poverty. A staggering
> > one third of adults with disabilities live in
> > households with total income
> > of $15,000 or less.
> >
> >
> >
> > Hurricane Katrina has blown the cover off of
> > America's crumbling physical
> > infrastructure and our weakened ability to respond
> > to the needs of even our
> > most vulnerable citizens. Those quick to write off
> > the results of this storm
> > as a blameless natural disaster fail to grasp how
> > our Country has been
> > weakened by the Free Market solutions of economic
> > Libertarianism. Katrina
> > has dramatically illustrated the failure of a
> > "privatized," "outsourced,"
> > and "downsized" government to protect its citizens
> > from a storm -let alone
> > from the poverty and decaying infrastructure that
> > proceeded it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Americans were rightly angry to learn of the lack of
> > experience and
> > credentials held by Michael Brown, the head of the
> > Federal Emergency
> > Management Agency (FEMA). But, rather than the
> > incompetence of one, we are
> > witnessing the impact of an ideological scheme to
> > undo the federal safety
> > net and roll back basic protections for those most
> > in need. This was made
> > all too clear by the words of Brown's predecessor at
> > FEMA and former
> > campaign manager for President Bush, Joe Allbaugh,
> > who while initiating
> > steps towards the privatization of FEMA, declared it
> > an "oversized
> > entitlement program" and said that the "business of
> > government is not to
> > provide services."
> >
> >
> >
> > In the aftermath of this tragedy, critics of the
> > President fail us when they
> > rail about political cronyism or the length of his
> > summer vacation.
> >
> > During a time of crisis, these arguments seem
> > partisan, petty and
> > opportunistic to most Americans. These criticisms
> > especially distract from
> > seeing New Orleans as the end result of Mr. Bush's
> > carefully calculated
> > plans to gut the Federal government by filling it
> > with ideologues who
> > despise its very existence. In this context, the
> > problems of FEMA, which
> > tragically and disproportionately are impacting
> > people with disabilities,
> > African Americans, and the poor, illustrate just
> > what has gone wrong with
> > our government and they neither begin nor end with
> > Hurricane Katrina.
> >
> >
> >
> > People with disabilities are among the many who have
> > been awaiting the
> > expression of outrage from our elected leaders, the
> > Media and our fellow
> > citizens about the systematic plundering of
> > Medicaid, Medicare, Social
> > Security, public housing, public education, and
> > other vital programs at the
> > direction of this Administration and Congress all in
> > the name of doing away
> > with "Big Government."
> >
> >
> >
> > The appointment of individuals who share contempt
> > for our government if not
> > of the citizens they serve has been pervasive in
> > this Administration.
> >
> > The result has been the proliferation of Federal
> > agencies and a Federal
> > judiciary which operate to grease the skids of Free
> > Market libertarianism
> > and to release government from any responsibility to
> > its own citizens.
> >
> >
> >
> > A few examples specifically impacting people with
> > disabilities include:
> >
> >
> >
> > * John Ashcroft, who as Senator took a lead role in
> > trying to weaken the due
> > process protections afforded children and youth with
> > disabilities by the
> > Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
> > was appointed Attorney
> > General and led the Justice Department in siding
> > with big business and
> > against workers with disabilities.
> >
> >
> >
> > * Gerald Reynolds, recess appointed by President
> > Bush to run the Office of
> >
> === message truncated ===
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________
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