Antiwar.com Blog

Now that most of the refugees have finally been moved out of New Orleans, and we have a better idea of where resources are most needed, I recommend a donation to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. Baton Rouge has become one of the primary relocation centers and is showing the strain. And you can rest assured that your money will go to those who need it: the Baton Rouge Food Bank has the highest rating given by Charity Navigator, with a whopping 99.4% of funds going into program expenses.

Click here to donate.

From an Associated Press report:

Police came through commandeering drivable vehicles and siphoning gas. Officials took over a hotel and ejected the guests.

An officer pumped his shotgun at a group trying to return to their hotel on Chartres Street.

“This is our block,” he said, pointing the gun down a side street. “Go that way.”

WWL-TV 4 of New Orleans showed a video of the confrontation. The “police” seemed official but didn’t show badges.

Some better news from this report:

In the absence of information and outside assistance, groups of rich and poor banded together in the French Quarter, forming “tribes” and dividing up the labor.

As some went down to the river to do the wash, others remained behind to protect property. In a bar, a bartender put near-perfect stitches into the torn ear of a robbery victim.

While mold and contagion grew in the muck that engulfed most of the city, something else sprouted in this most decadent of American neighborhoods – humanity.

“Some people became animals,” Vasilioas Tryphonas said Sunday morning as he sipped a hot beer in Johnny White’s Sports Bar on Bourbon Street. “We became more civilized.”

…

Tired of waiting for trucks to come with food and water, residents turned to each other.

Aaron Broussard,  president of Jefferson Parish on Meet the Press:

Sir, they were told like me. Every single day. The cavalry is coming. On the federal level. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves and were almost a week out.

Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn’t need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast guard said come get the fuel right way. When we got there with our trucks, they got a word, FEMA says don’t give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, fema comes in and cuts all our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards said no one is getting near these lines.
[…]
The guy who runs this building I’m in. Emergency management. He’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said. Are you coming. Son? Is somebody coming? And he said yeah. Mama. Somebody’s coming to get you.. Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night. And she drowned Friday night. Nobody’s coming to get us. Nobody’s coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences. For god’s sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.

via Atrios, Wonkette

Video here, courtesy Wonkette

Blah3 has all the info pulled together:

All of this information has turned up in one spot or another on the web since yesterday, but I wanted to put it all together in one spot for a reason. Bit by bit, parts of Bush’s trip were shown to be less truthful than we deserved. But when you look at the entire trip – and all of the deceit that went into each part of it – it’s an inescapable fact that from beginning to end the trip was a menu of lies and self-serving actions that didn’t do the region any good. In some instances, like the helicopter groundings halting rescue ops, the trip could conceivably actually killed more people.

Quite amazing, the distinction.

When it comes to the ‘can do’ spirit of private citizens compared to the slogging bureaucracy of big government, the private sector wins, hands down!

MoveOn.org, the civic action, antiwar group, posted a volunteer registry at their website for people wishing to offer shelter in their homes or businesses to families and individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I have been watching with amazement, and a few tears, as the numbers continue to climb, driven by the generosity of Americans throughout the country. While the government gets all the headlines, we, the people, still do a mighty fine job of getting things done … and without costing the taxpayers a dime. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: 114,006 beds

Watch the numbers here, or better still, participate if you are able.