D'Iberville residents living in tents - 4,000 in city left homeless

[merh]

D'Iberville residents living in tents
4,000 in city left homeless by hurricane

By Jimmie E. Gates
[e-mail]

D'IBERVILLE — Malcolm and Marge Fountain, aided by their grandson, cleared debris last week from their home site on Batia Street.

The only thing left is the front porch.

"You laugh to keep from crying," Marge Fountain said. "It's tough with the holidays coming up." More than three months after Hurricane Katrina, D'Iberville residents such as the Fountains are trying to put their lives back together.

(snip)

"I hope the president and Congress will do something to help us," Lovelace said.

More @ http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051219/NEWS0110/512190345/1262

[RockaFowler]

1. This is so sad

I was watching a few specials this weekend on Hurricane Katrina and I cry everytime I see them. How could this happen in America??

[merh]

3. It is so sad.

:cry:

[tanyev]

2. Don't hold your breath, Ms. Lovelace.

Lovelace said her family's home was valued at $310,000, but all they're scheduled to get in an insurance payment is $5,000.

"I hope the president and Congress will do something to help us," Lovelace said.

I'd love to know who she voted for.

[merh]

4. Don't start that crap - I am sick to death of that attitude.

Even freepers/fundies/neocons don't deserve to live this way and be abandonded by their country and by comments like what you just made, their fellow citizens.

:argh:

[tanyev]

5. I am not commenting on the devastation she endured.

I am commenting on the fact that this many months out she is still clinging to the notion that President Bush and the Republican congress is going to come riding in on a white horse to rescue her. It's not going to happen, and that poor woman needs to do whatever she can to take care of herself.

[merh]

6. Your commenting on who she voted for as if she is responsible

for her misery.

That is the worst attitude you can have

And it can happen if the rest of the nation would demand it happens. But you would rather bitch about who she voted for than take any action to help.

what a shame.

[lakeguy]

7. if she voted for bush, i think she IS partly responsible

for the misery she still endures. not that bush could have prevented the hurricane, but he sure as hell could have done more to help.

[merh]

8. NO ONE IS Responsible

You are just as responsible if you sit on your ass and do nothing but pass judgment. So there - it is your nation, get off your ass and demand that attention be given to your fellow citizens. How many calls have you made, how many emails have you sent, how many of these threads have you paid attention to and shared with others.

Give me a break

:argh:

[Selatius]

87. A shitload, and nobody cares. Nobody cares, merh.

I'm a very weary, tired person now. As I've said before, I'm leaving Mississippi when I'm done with college, and my best friend wants to leave the country entirely. I've been victimized by arson for being a Democrat here in Mississippi, and the ideas I carry with me advocating mutual cooperation instead of competition have simply been thrown back at me with utter hate. It is like talking to people who cannot hear. Those in the middle can be swayed, but in too many sad cases, I see people refuse to listen to me. I see too many people on the right in Mississippi and few in the middle and still fewer on the left. I can't help but think they've all made up their minds after Jim Crow was taken away.

They keep voting for the Republican even if I can get them to admit that the Democrats are better on the environment, that they are better with respect to labor laws, that they are better with respect to health care and education, yet that logical bridge I try to build to them gets destroyed by the storm of religious irrationality of trying to control other people's personal lives on things such as sex, alcohol, drugs, gay marriage, and so on.

I was angered and embittered when this state collectively made a decision beyond a reasonable doubt to impose on the private lives of its citizens by banning same sex marriage. I was angered not because I am a homosexual because I am not but because these people here stood up and let themselves be counted among the things that stand against everything I believe in, and I'm constantly thinking to myself, "Who gives a fucking damn what they think now! They voted for poverty with Bush. They voted to destroy the environment, health care, public education, and the labor laws thousands bled and died for. They voted to have their sons and daughters coming home in coffins with Bush, so who gives a fucking damn!"

I'm a tired person. I'm so tired.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Yes he could have done more to help

but it isn't fair to blame this woman IF she voted for him. That is NOT the reason teh hurricane hit.

[Maddy McCall]

35. BULLSHIT.

Lame, lame, lame.

[AnneD]

10. But how you vote for CAN have an impact.....

Too many of our fellow Americans seem to have a total disconnect about this. For the last 2 election cycles, the average American has voted AGAINST their own self interest. I do not laud it over those who are suffering, I use it as a teachable moment. I have noticed lately that people are more willing to listen. Katrina has made this nation painfully aware of the GOP shortcomings. And the GOP are sadly mistaken if they think they can wish it off the front page and out of people's minds. I think the GOP knows this and is trying to use their remaining time to bully through the bills they want. I am expecting a GOP bloodbath in 06 and 08.
Will this help these people now---no. But we as DEMs must do all we can to help these victims.

[merh]

20. The democratic leadership has abandoned the people on the Gulf.

What has anyone of them done - how has the party tried to help?

Foolish party leaders, this is opportune time for them to prove that they just don't talk the talk, they walk the walk.

But you don't hear from any of them - Gore, Kerry, Clinton, Dean, Clark, Carter - they should be screaming about this outrage, they should make folks listen if they truly cared.

The only democratic party members that have been heard are those in the affected states and they don't have the clout or the voice to make their screams be heard by the entire nation.

[AnneD]

24. Actually,

I think Dean did go and volunteers from DNC went down there. If you listen to C-Span, you would have head Gene Taylor D from Ms. give an impassioned plea for congress to stop trying to pass the budget bill (where they continued the cap gains tax cuts)and do the peoples work. It just doesn't get the press.

[merh]

27. I know Taylor's work, I am very familiar with his struggles.

I don't know what Dean or the DNC have done or what they are doing now, but it sure the shit looks to me like they have dropped the ball. Don't see 'em in Mississippi.

[Maddy McCall]

40. Merh, can you believe the attitudes in this thread?

Ya know, in the wake of Katrina, partisan politics wasn't even one of my concerns. That's why I stayed away from DU for three weeks--besides not having power...but even when I got power back, I stayed away three weeks because of the partisan purist attitudes as expressed in this thread.

[merh]

47. It's killing me Maddy - I can't stop begging, but the attitudes here

are breaking my heart. I have to keep screaming that we need help here, but I don't know how much longer I can keep it up.

These are not members of the democratic party of JFK or RFK, these are hateful fucks that should hang their heads in shame.

Their mentality is "the blacks in the south deserve to be mistreated because the chose to live in the south" They voted for the politicians that are stepping on their rights, they get what they deserve.

It's a fucking matter of life and death in some instances. :cry:

[AnneD]

51. Don't be quick to dismiss the Dem leadership...

it is hard to get the message out when they control the media. We haven't seen them here in Texas, but they sure have been quick to pick up the phone when we call...It is FEMA that is our problem-and they fall under Bush.

[merh]

59. LADY - I am fucking here

I am part of the party here - I know folks all involved in the party in my state and the national leaders aren't doing shit.

So do not tell me not to dismiss them.

I AM A SURVIVOR - trying to get my fellow democrats to care and it is as frustrating as trying to get FEMA to give me a grant or the SBA a loan or the Red Cross a few bucks for meals or the Salvation Army for groceries.

I don't know why I even come to you all for help, you don't give a shit, you give me as much bullshit as Bush and his buddies give me. ANd hell, at least they make promises, nothing, nothing at all from Dean or Kerry or Clark or Clinton.

Don't dismiss them, they have dismissed us, every fucking chance they get. :argh:

[Maddy McCall]

65. Merh, thank god that there are DUers like Jimmy Jazz ....

People who have actually done something besides peck away on the keyboard.

Thank god for Jimmy Jazz and people like her, who have pulled themselves away from partisan proselytizing on the computer to DO SOMETHING to help.

[AuntiBush]

82. What Can I Do to Help You, Merh?

Tell me. PM me. What can I do to help, sincerely...

Don't have much, but I can scrape-up whatever I can and send it to you. Just tell me what you need. I'll do my best.

A neighbor runs a charity Thrift-Store not far from here. We spoke about it just today. Maybe together we can send something. There is an animal rescue farm out-of-state, but not too far from my town already involved. They've rescued abandoned dogs & cats lost from Katrina.

http://www.animalrescueinc.org

[EFerrari]

92. Come visit the Hurricane Survivors Group.

We need every hand.

:hi:

/couldn't type to save my life

[merh]

99. The help needed is to make Katrina a front page story all the time

If we let it go, if we let them just award their contracts to their buddies and forget about the people, then we are all screwed.

[Maddy McCall]

37. But only Gene.

The Mississippi Gulf is just a forgotten place, in the minds of our representatives, Dem and Repub.

[AnneD]

11. But how you vote for CAN have an impact.....

Too many of our fellow Americans seem to have a total disconnect about this. For the last 2 election cycles, the average American has voted AGAINST their own self interest. I do not laud it over those who are suffering, I use it as a teachable moment. I have noticed lately that people are more willing to listen. Katrina has made this nation painfully aware of the GOP shortcomings. And the GOP are sadly mistaken if they think they can wish it off the front page and out of people's minds. I think the GOP knows this and is trying to use their remaining time to bully through the bills they want. I am expecting a GOP bloodbath in 06 and 08.
Will this help these people now---no. But we as DEMs must do all we can to help these victims.

[tanyev]

12. Merh, I remember that you were in the path of Katrina.

I remember that you were one of the names that many DUers were very concerned about until they heard from you afterwards. I ask you, do you think that the president and Congress will do something to help these people?

[merh]

17. If we don't let them forget -

Damn it, the weed hands you his ass on a silver platter and you close your eyes to it.

Katrina and Rita survivors should be the focal point - how can we allow 3rd world conditions to exist on our shores? How can WE let the nation, our leaders, abandon them?

We need to hold the weed accountable and this is the perfect stick to beat him over the head with.

[EFerrari]

19. That's exactly right. And all this "it's a red state" malarkey

is just beside the point. Besides being a lot of other things that saying will get me a cement cookie.

:nuke:

[Maddy McCall]

54. Thanks for your support, beth.

:hug:

You get it. I wish other DUers would.

[Maddy McCall]

42. I think some DUers enjoy seeing coastal residents suffer.

It gives them something over which to prove their partisan purity.

Do they demonstrate progressive compassion? No. It demonstrates that they hate Bush and consider their hatred of Bush more important than progressive compassion.

[EFerrari]

78. No actual progressive could hold such a view. n/t

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[merh]

16. She is not responsible for the insurance companies screwing her

and the abandonment of her government or by her fellow citizens.

You are just as backwards and hateful as "they" are if you feel that the victims are responsible.

[Maddy McCall]

43. I'm a first responder with a fire department.

Do you suggest that I ask victims of house fires and wrecks what their party affiliation is before I give them assistance?

[Voltaire99]

28. Your sentimentality aside...

...of course people who vote for scumbags get what they deserve when the scumbags screw them.

Adults understand that voting is a transaction. It carries risks. And consequences.

These Bush voters have been living in a fantasy--the fantasy promoted by slogans like "it's your money!" and "we stand united!" But lo and behold, not only wasn't it their money. Now that they're penniless and it's not an election year, the sloganeers aren't "united" with them any more, either.

Now, sadly, but also realistically and justifiably, their right wing bubble is being burst. So this, the slower members of the class are learning, is what an ethos of dog-eat-dog really means! It means...I'm going to be eaten!

That's right, honey, and the leaders you voted for are saying, "Pass the salt!" The best possible lesson now for Bush supporters is to learn that voting has consequences. Don't seek to deny them a long-overdue education; don't enable them to remain in la-la land. That's only going to keep your party out of power and inflict more Bushism on more victims in the future. Your sentimentality, in other words, is misguided, harmful, and wrong. Now huff and puff and tell me how heartless I am; go ahead, I can take it. :-)

[Maddy McCall]

45. FYI...

The coast usually votes overwhelmingly Democratic.

[merh]

46. You are heartless

I voted for Kerry - do I deserve this.

And if the democratic party leaders don't prove that they are making a difference, if they don't put action to their words about being the party that cares about the people, then they are no better than the republican party that let these folks down.

I am sick of you all telling me we are getting what we deserve. NOBODY, no friggin body, not freeper, not fundie, not neo-con, not bigot or slug deserves to be abandoned by their nation, their fellow citizens and an attitude like yours is definitely an abandonment and that makes you no better than the folks you hate.

[HeeBGBz]

53. Heartless

[Maddy McCall]

56. "and the leaders you voted for are saying, "Pass the salt!"

Yep, and that includes the DEMOCRATS (save Taylor) I voted for. When's the last time you heard a Democrat on the national stage even mention Katrina in the media?

I voted for Kerry. He was on the news dissing Bush today. Did he mention ANYTHING about us Katrina victims? Did he and the other Dems point out Bush's neglect to even mention the Gulf in his speech?

Nope. See? It doesn't matter for whom you voted. The neglect we receive is all the same.

[EFerrari]

77. Regardless of the state of your internal organs,

The Gulf Coast states pay Federal Taxes. The Federal government is already in a business deal with them, no matter what idiot is in office.

And, you may not have noticed, but we ALL have gotten the scumbag that stole the election, so your harping on votes you know nothing about is just doubly silly.

"Honey"? Do you usually attempt to condescend to your opponents to shore up bad argumentation? And do you often confuse community and empathy with sentimentality?

Wow.

[MissWaverly]

91. Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute

I tried to vote for Kerry but I voted on a rigged machine that defaulted to Bush 5 times,
was that my fault, do I deserve this, no, no and no. Write your congressman, donate, write
your local churches, write your local papers, roll up your sleeves and help everybody with
the Gulf Coast. JFK would not have forgotten these people and we shouldn't either. If
we can send a man to the moon, we can send food and clothing to the Gulf Coast.

Miss Waverly from Baltimore

[sandnsea]

30. Another possibility

The entire south could pull their heads out of their asses and recognize that it IS the Republican President and Congress who don't believe in government that has them stuck in this pickle. They could see that Landrieu, Reid, Pelosi and others have been screaming to get more money released to the gulf, and stand behind them. Apparently that would require swallowing too much of their pride, or something. So I don't know what option is left except taking care of themselves, and unfortunately they'll just use it as an excuse to vote for even smaller government for decades to come. Guaranteeing that they'll get even LESS help after future hurricanes. *sigh*

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sandnsea]

39. I didn't post to you n/t

[merh]

49. You posted the same shit on a different day.

:grr:

[Maddy McCall]

50. A-fucking-MEN.

[HeeBGBz]

58. In the event, any of these people voted Republican in the blue coast.

Tell me what inspires them to change their vote? YOU? As you pour salt in the wounds?

Your compassion is quite conservative (i.e. nonexistant).

[sandnsea]

66. Or, telling them Democrats are worthless too?

How does that help? How does that convince anybody in the south to rise up and demand what they deserve? If Democrats and Republicans are equally worthless, why would anybody think that they could affect a change?

[Maddy McCall]

67. I suppose we could lie to them and tell them that...

Democrats have responded to the Katrina disaster with swiftness.

You know, the only two elected representatives who have even acted as if they give a damn about coast residents are Trent Lott (gasp! yes, Trent Lott--and his Katrina-related actions have been admirable in the wake of this disaster) and Gene Taylor (a Democrat who truly cares about his constitutents).

No one else gives a damn, Democratic or Republican.

[sandnsea]

76. You aren't paying attention

That's just not the truth. I don't know why you think promoting that line of shit is helpful, but it isn't the truth.

[HeeBGBz]

79. If Democrats stepped up to the plate

In making an attempt to help out, don't you think that would make a significant impression when the next election came around?

At least more than telling them to sit in their ruins and die because they voted for Bush.

[sandnsea]

86. They are, they have

If??? They have.

[Maddy McCall]

34. You make WAY too many assumptions.

Just because you are an armchair warrior sitting in your chair, posting on some irrelevant internet board, you think you are superior to HER? You who experienced NO LOSS from Katrina?

How dare you condescend to us hurricane victims.

[Cobalt Violet]

26. If they voted to live that way then they do deserve to live that way..

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I'm not saying they did vote for it.

But if they did then they have to accept the consequences of their stupidity like everyone else.

[merh]

32. I didn't vote that way - do I fucking deserve it?

How you and folks with your mentality sicken me.

Mississippi was purple and we have had voter disenfranchisment for years. We can't get the national democratic party to pay attention to us, hell, the candidates don't even come here to campaign, we aren't worth the effort.

So what do you say for all of us democratic party members that voted for Kerry and are living in this mess? Fuck us too?

[Cobalt Violet]

36. Your putting words in my mouth.

And I don't like or deserve it.

If someone votes republican and they get republican that's what they deserve.

I said nothing about blue, red, purple, Mississippi, you or anyone else.

[merh]

55. Mississippi was pretty purple -

Maybe if the democratic party paid attention to us and didn't dismiss us, we might have even had been blue.

PARTISAN POLITICS has nothing to do with what is happening on the Gulf Coast. Did you go ask any of the Tsunami victims how they voted before you worried for their well being? How about Pakistani earthquake victims?

I don't recall any questions of the earthquake victims -- why do you see this as a partisan issue?

[Name removed]

61. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[merh]

63. There is no loyalty to the party.

They have abandoned its core principles, just as our "leaders" have.

They are no better than the weed and his minions.

[Maddy McCall]

68. I would never have believed that before today.

I am astonished at what I am reading in this thread--it seems like I have wandered into a Free Republic thread, for SURELY my DU friends don't feel this way.

[Cobalt Violet]

75. you don't know me!

You don't know what I care about. You don't know much. Yet you say alot. Do you ask how I'm doing?

You insult me. I said nothing of you.

[EFerrari]

80. You got Republican. Did you deserve that?

Do you even know if your vote was counted?

[Cobalt Violet]

83. Another attack for my opinion.

At least I don't personally attack people here, And call them names because I have a different opine than them.

I stand buy my opinion. I'm not here to win a populartiy contest. I was here to discuss issues. Some here can't handle that.

[EFerrari]

85. I asked you two reasonable questions.

Which you have not answered.

I am not here to attack DUers or to upset people.

But, saying the Gulf Coast is getting what they voted for is exactly like saying America is getting what it voted for. Think it over. It doesn't work for the Gulf Coast, it doesn't work for America.

We don't even know YET how screwed up the 2004 election was, no, not even after the Conyers hearings and the GAO report and the many statisticians weighing in.

Let me put this another way: progressives are about progress, not retribution.

[sandnsea]

88. Looking at reality is important

And if the majority of the US really and truly wants this kind of government, some of us ought to face it. Apparently the south really and truly doesn't believe government is ever effective because that's what I was told a few day ago. Clinton, Gore or Kerry wouldn't have responded to Katrina any differently. So if that's what people in the south think about government, then what the hell am I supposed to do?

Give money to charity and hope for the best. Like I said. If that's what the folks in the south want, then that's what I'll do.

But they shouldn't be surprised when government doesn't respond when they keep voting against government in the first place. It isn't a matter of anybody deserving anything, it's a matter of being stuck in a country of people who refuse to recognize that there is such a thing as effective governance and that it really can make a difference. If every time a Democrat stands up to try and get hurricane help, the entire south says they're just playing politics and ignores them, then what the hell is left to do?

[Cobalt Violet]

89. I never said the things your accusing me of saying.

Exactly where did I say "the Gulf Coast is getting what they voted ".
No where. I can't talk to people who put words in my mouth and have no respect for me or my right to have an opinion.

And I don't need anyone telling me I'm not a progressive. I marched out in the streets against the contract on America. Me and about 20 other people. I saw this trouble coming for people a long time ago and I have fought hard against it weather anyone here knows it or not. BTW: There was no DU back then.
If I occasionally have a "I told you so" moment, I earned it out in the trenches.

[EFerrari]

90. I asked you two questions and made no accusations at all.

And, maybe you should reserve your "I told you so" moments for a therapeutic situation.

Because inflicting them on Katrina survivors seems to me as inappropriate as possible.

[Cobalt Violet]

93. I haven't inflicted anything on anyone.

If you looked back at the posts you can see that it is me being called names,compared to a freeper. I'm the one who has been call "cold, unfeeling computer jockeys". And other very mean personal attacks against me that call into question my progressiveness by a couple of people who don't even know me.

And now your going to use my own words to attack me? Fuck your therapeutic situation!


LEAVE ME ALONE!


I don't want waste any time answering your inane question.


And besides I don't need to answer to you.:7

[EFerrari]

94. Okay. n/t

[Maddy McCall]

33. Oh, Goddam.

Are you saying that because she possibly voted for Bush (a tremendous leap on your part), she doesn't deserve for her insurance company to behave ethically.

People like you need to learn a little about that thing we progressives pride ourselves in having: COMPASSION.

Your remark sounds like something I'd hear at Free Republic.

[tanyev]

38. NO, I am saying that if I had been through that catastrophe

and been ignored for MONTHS afterwards, that even if I had voted for Bush, I would have to conclude that he did not care about me or my problems. I find it strange that 3 1/2 months later she is still patiently waiting and doesn't seem to have any anger.

[Maddy McCall]

41. Who else is she to turn to for aid?

Santa Claus?? The EAster Bunny??

She turned to her elected officials, as ANY of us would. You talk awfully big, but, ya know what? When you are sitting in a lawn chair in your front yard with nothing but a slab behind you, lets see if you forget about partisanship a little while, as you beg for help.

You make numerous assumptions in this thread, and you don't have the information to make those assumptions. The net result is that you come across as some heartless person who wishes ill on people who MAY HAVE voted for Bush.

And that is just wrong, if you truly are a progressive.

[sandnsea]

44. She might turn to a *gasp* Democrat

But apparently the response to being ignored by a Republican Administration is to put all government in the same basket. No wonder we're losing in the south, and no wonder there is no change in the hurricane response. Other than to keep donating money, I honestly don't know what to do for the south anymore, since apparently Democrats won't respond either, so I'm told.

[Maddy McCall]

48. She MIGHT be a Democrat, but that's completely irrelevant.

FYI. The MS Gulf Coastal Counties vote Democratic.

Your post is really quite funny. YOU don't know what to do for the South anymore? Trust me, we don't want help from assholes who condescend to us.

Until you are sitting on a house slab with only a handle off of a coffee cup recovered from all that you ever owned, you have no idea what we are going through down here. I tell you one thing...the last thing on my mind when I was both assisting people and being assisted by people was to ask "What party do you belong to?"

Had you been through this tragedy, you would understand. Until you go through one as devastating as Katrina, you will NEVER understand.

[sandnsea]

60. I have been

With less than a coffee cup recovered.

Nobody is saying party affiliation should determine who does and doesn't get help. That's just a distortion of what's being said, for what purpose, I don't know.

What is being said that it is amazing to some of us that there are STILL people who believe Republicans are going to help them OR that Democrats wouldn't have helped either because government is just a shitpile anyway.

Which begs the question, if government is just a shitpile that isn't going to help in any event, what good is it going to do for me to contact my elected officials? That's what I'm being told, the entire government is worthless.

So other than give money, what am I supposed to do?

[Maddy McCall]

64. Really? You are a Katrina victim, not only dealing with PTSD but...

also with not knowing how to shelter or feed your family?

What you can do: contact churches or civic organizations in the affected region and ASK THEM what you can do. Spend the time that you spend on this board writing holiday cards to victims, and let them know that you care about them, and that you are praying for them (if you pray) or that you are still thinking about them.

Call a civic organization or the Salvation ARmy and "adopt a family" for Christmas, so that that that family can forget the hell they live in, if only for one day.

Or just sit here on DU and peck away on your computer, and fool yourself into believing that somehow you are making a difference.

Victims of Katrina are being neglected by BOTH parties. As a victim of Katrina, I can tell you this with experience to back up my assertion.

[sandnsea]

69. I've been there, I've done all that

You have no clue about me or my life. You don't know what I've been through, in terms of personal disasters or natural disasters. I've done the charitable things, which is exactly what I said. If you guys don't believe government can help you, then giving money to charity is all we can do and almost every one of us has done that and more. So I really don't know what you're bitching about. You don't believe in government, therefore you don't have government, surprise surprise. And you STILL don't get it.

[Maddy McCall]

72. LOL. Sounds like you have Katrina envy.

You must be from Florida. :rofl:

[sandnsea]

74. What???

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Next to being pissed that the Republicans aren't responding to Katrina and blaming Democrats for it.

[merh]

96. Democrats aren't responding either.

So your argument is without merit.

Come on down here and see what it is like, then you can sit on your happy little "you got what you voted for" holier than thou throne all you want.

[merh]

62. You go find me an article or go to the websites and ask them

WHAT HAS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DONE?

Where are they on the ground, they haven't made this the national issue it is, they haven't screamed with outrage at the conditions.

[sandnsea]

71. Here

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pelosi+katrina&btnG=Google+Search

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=pelosi%20katrina&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wn

[merh]

97. That is lame

Pelosi is the party leader in the House, we already said that Gene Taylor the Dem from MS was making head way.

I'm talking about the leaders of the party, Howard Dean, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Gen Clark, John Kerry, et al, the ones that get national attention -- and face it, the Gulf Coast doesn't get national attention. It hardly got attention after Katrina, the focus was New Orleans.

If you live in an area that is prone to national diaster, I would suggest you adjust your attitude and help the people on the Gulf Coast and not damn them for their politics. One day you could be in my shoes.

[tanyev]

57. You are making many assumptions about me.

Name your favorite Katrina charity. I will send them 50 bucks tomorrow.

[Maddy McCall]

70. Good for you for donating.

It's your attitude that Republicans got what they deserved that most bothers me.

If you want to send a donation, ask merh where would be the best place to send it. My area for the most part has recovered. Merh's is still devastated.

The Salvation Army is doing tremendous work with "Adopt a Family" this winter. They are providing Christmas for families that wouldn't have one otherwise. If I were donating, that's where I would put my money today, even though the Salvation ARmy isn't my favorite organization.

They are doing much for families this Christmas, so that's where I'd put my money. And thank you, if you follow through on your donation.

[tanyev]

101. $50 sent via snail mail. Check #2032.

Rebuild the Coast Fund, Inc.
P.O. Box 4500
Tupelo, MS 38803

http://www.rebuildthecoastfund.org/

[catmandu57]

9. It does seem like we've abandoned the gulf

I don't hold out much hope for government assistance. If we had put half of the eighty billion dollar tax cut towards helping our citizens that would have made a start.
As it is the greedy pigs at the trough are making sure they get fed, while the sick, elderly, homeless and dispossesd are left to fend for themselves.
I'm afraid we're going to have to pull ourselves up broken boot straps and all, it's going to be up to us. Merh is there somewhere I can send money that will get to the people who need it?

[AnneD]

15. FEMA

has not spent all the funds that they received. Our school district that took in many Katrina victims have not received all the funding we were promised (90% of the cost). In fact we have only received only 1 days worth of funding-and how many days has it been. Our previous good bond rating may be heading into the toilet and people may be laid off-all because we decided to do what the government couldn't/wouldn't do.

[Maddy McCall]

52. .

[merh]

21. Check out the organization in my sig line (rebuild the coast)

or download this video - there are organizations listed at the end of it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1996444

(A flash version of the video is being crafted today.)

Also, Habit for Humanity is good too.

Thanks for asking and caring. :hug:

[EFerrari]

13. Posted to KU

Thanks, merh. K&R

:kick:

[merh]

22. thanks

((( :hug: )))

[entanglement]

98. Don't mind the nasties, merh

Hang on :hug:

[intheflow]

23. K&R! This needs to stay front and center!

Only one more vote and it makes the Greatest Page. :kick:

[EFerrari]

25. Could we get another vote here?

:kick::kick::kick::kick:

[ninkasi]

29. Half a trillion dollars

on Chimp's Iraq fiasco, and American citizens are living in tents. For Iraq to continue to be a priority right now is wrong. What the hell good does it do to protect us from "terrorists who lurk and plot", as the idiot puts it, if our own citizens are going to be abandoned when natural disasters strike? It may as well been a terrorist who caused the terrible loss of life and property on our Gulf Coast, yet Bush does nothing but come get his picture taken, spouts a bunch of promises he won't keep, and then cuts taxes for the rich, so that there won't be any money left for rebuilding the Gulf Coast.

He should be impeached for his treatment of American citizens, if nothing else. I don't think we can survive three more years of him. Too many people are hurting too much, and more tax cuts will only make the situation worse. We need to sweep him and every other Republican out of office, and get our country back on track. I'm sure the homeless Katrina victims are thrilled to find out how well rebuilding Iraq is going.

[KamaAina]

73. Um, how big was D'Iberville beforehand?

It sounds like most of that city may still be living in tents -- and it's mid-December. It can get chilly on the Gulf Coast; I remember returning to New Orleans after a Christmas visit to Mom to find my pipes had all burst!

Why doesn't FEMA get off its collective duff and... oh, never mind. :grr: :banghead:

[EFerrari]

81. We have to stay on this misAdministration AND on the Democratic

leadership EVERY EFFENING DAY until they MOVE.

[KamaAina]

95. Population of D'Iberville: 7608.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Iberville

Thus, more than half of the city is STILL living in tents, more than three months later. For shame, FEMA. Hang your heads in shame.

What would it take to get that many tents up on the Washington Mall, so the clueless congressogres could get their heads out of their collective arse and see what's really up in America in 2005?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

84. Hi Merh!

I will kick and recommend because this subject needs to stay on the boards until every last person has a home once again.

Brian Williams is doing a special Tuesday on the evening news about Mississippi. I like that he has something on every night, but usually it is about NOLA, so I was glad to see that he is addressing your area tomorrow.

Keep the reminders up, sweetie. Most people are generous, but need to be reminded that the needs are still there. It is easy for us on the coast line because we see reminders of the destruction of several hurricanes day in and day out on our own property and our neighbor's homes, but there is a big difference between a blue tarp covering a roof and families left completely homeless.

:hug: :pals:

[roguevalley]

100. I'm ill over this. then remember Pakistan, Dafur, most of subsaharan

Africa, the tsunami lands, people living in boxes here ... what the hell are we doing?