Senator wants answers on 2,000 missing in Katrina

[funkybutt]

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1141891237133940.xml

Privacy policies may be delaying locating people

WASHINGTON -- Calling it "totally unacceptable" that nearly 2,000 people remain unaccounted for more than six months after Hurricane Katrina, a Michigan senator Wednesday called on federal investigators to determine whether overly rigid governmental policies have made it harder for people to find missing family and friends.

[MadMaddie]

1. Better late than never I suppose!!

[fooj]

2. Kudos to the Senator from Michigan. Landrieu? Hey Mary...

Why haven't you called for a federal investigation?

[MadMaddie]

8. I think she has so many things coming at her...

the repugs are trying to destroy her....because she is a Dem and a woman!!

I am not excusing her but I gotta feeling she is trying to pick her battles...wisely..

[fooj]

9. You may be right, however, her record indicates that she has been

picking many battles that oppose democrat's positions. It just makes me go... HMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

Peace.

[MadMaddie]

10. You are right also.....

Yes indeed...it makes one wonder???

[rodeodance]

23. 'there's something about Mary"

[choicevoice]

29. there's something about Mary that stinks

[confludemocrat]

55. Pol who ignores 2000 deaths? Nah, couldn't happen. At least Bush gives

lip service on both sets of 2000 deaths he has caused.
Picks her battles wisely? So 2000 people missing from the greatest disaster in U.S. history which occurred in her home town, doesn't rate?
So both you and she knows there is something more important than that, which she is saving her political capitol for.
That's sad. How lame.

[pitohui]

33. she has

unfortunately she cannot seem to get any nat'l media

kerry and landrieu released another statement yesterday, it sunk like a stone

the media is gop-owned and has an agenda

[hedgehog]

3. Why only now and why a senator from Michigan?

and what about the other 99 senators?

[slampoet]

43. Because Michigan has thousands of Creoles and Cajuns living there...

Something that most people don't realise is that the Creoles were shipped around to dozens of places during their diaspora and many ended up in places like Central Michigan.

Same with Cajuns after they were kicked out of Canada by the British.

[rfkrfk]

4. why federal?

this is a state issue

bushco, stay out

[hedgehog]

11. State issue?

These are US citizens we're talking about.

[rfkrfk]

21. so, the Louisiana police do nothing, in anticipation of somebody else

doing the job?

If the Loisiana police are overwhelmed,
they could ask for help.

btw, missing person reports go to your local police,
not the FBI

[pitohui]

28. the louisiana state police?

they are not empowered to go into social security records and see who is paying in (working) or taking out by direct deposit (retired) anywhere in the nation which is prob. the best way to track down the rest of the living

we have asked and asked and ASKED for help since day one and esp. since oct 1 when the state ran out of money

this state is poor and the tiny funds here must go to help the living

[rfkrfk]

34. perhaps they don't want to be 'found'

is it worth it to go after these people,
when there is more important things to do?

[pitohui]

37. christ, can we please honor our dead?

you don't know what you are talking abt, large numbers of the missing are elderly who refused to evacuate and are last known to be in flooded or storm surge areas, these are not desperadoes (and in any case, if they were, shouldn't we know where desperadoes are hiding?), they are in most cases likely dead, their families are grieving, the families deserve some closure in this matter

why was every bit of toothpick-sized bone sacred in manhattan but entire bodies are forgotten in louisiana, why isn't the life of a southerner entitled to the same respect as the life of a yankee

i'm tired of the second class citizen status

there is not much more important to do than re-unite families where they can be re-united, isn't that ultimately what life is supposed to be abt?

or are families only important really when they're new york families?

i really need an explanation from our federal gov't to explain their behavior because it has been absolutely disgraceful in my book

[rfkrfk]

39. recovery of bodies, is fine

I don't see any special 'federalness' there

I just don't want police resources going to
hunt down every guy with an unpaid parking ticket

Manhatten was a special case, due to circumstances,I would
guess that in many cases, only a small portion of
human remains could be found for many individuals.

there is a limit to how much debris can be inspected by hand,
at some point, you just have to give it a once over look, and then haul
it off. People want to return to their neighborhood,
not like NYC where the site of an office building{s} can
be kept off limit for years,

I completely understand there are difficult choices here.

[pitohui]

52. yeah manhattan is a special case all right

rich stockbroker yankees, we'll DNA test every bone the size of a toothpick

poor, middle class, and even well-to-do southerners, who gives a fuck

i got it now

:sarcasm:

[SoCalDem]

44. Huh?? You CAN'T be serious...

Most of the "missing" are presumed dead at this point, but if there are remains found, and the total rises above the WTC tragedy, it will lose part of its
punch" for *²..

The ultimate irony is that BOTH should be combined and used AGAINST that fool.. Both events were at least partly due to his penchant for vacation-at-any-cost, and inattention to details.

[mike923]

48. It's a sad way of thinking about it....

if the Kartina total is more than 3K, it doesn't take any impact away from 9-11.

[rocktivity]

51. DING DING DING! SoCalDem, you're our grand prize winner!

if....the (death) total rises above the WTC tragedy, it will lose part of its "punch" for *²...

WILL lose? But seriously, folk, even HE'S smart enough to know THAT--and THAT'S why all this foot-dragging has been going on. Don't expect an "final" death toll until after he leaves office.

:headbang:
rocknation

[pitohui]

53. did you catch the "unpaid parking ticket" crack? (#39)

here we are, searching for our poor who are lost because they don't have a car, and our elderly who are lost because 1) they can't drive at night, so couldn't evac on saturday night, 2) can't drive in a heat index of 108 degrees so couldn't evac on sunday

and this ... person ... is saying that they are lost because they want to get out of paying some parking tickets?

what parking tickets, we are talking people who no longer own and operate cars

sometimes i'm ashamed to be a part of the human race and this is one of those times

i expect such a wisecrack on free republic which is why i don't go there, i sure don't expect it here

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. For one thing, the survivors have been scattered across many

many states. W/o federal oversight, how do they coordinate?

You'd think the Feds would love to have a database that would collect information on 50% of NO residents. TIA, and all, you know.

[pitohui]

27. the state is broke

we have never rec'd a fair share of our oil royalties among other issues, this is a v. poor state, we had to stop seaching for bodies on oct. 1 cuz we ran out of money

saying it is a state issue is the same as saying you don't want the bodies found

we are broke and any little bit of money found has to go to rebuilding schools, the public hospital system (which was completely destroyed), and homes and businesses of the living

[BOSSHOG]

5. Sadly

Many of these people are gone forever washed out to the gulf of mexico. I appreciate the effort but it will be impossible to account for everyone. Let us hopefully do a better job in the next six months taking care of the survivors.

[aquart]

14. You mean the next batch of survivors?

Because we have people in tents and new hurricanes on the horizon.

[uppityperson]

6. I read about Coast Guard, FEMA raising ships, wonder if they'll find bodys

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1141892224276650.xml

Boats and vessels sunk by Hurricane Katrina soon will be removed by the Coast Guard in 10 St. Tammany Parish waterways, according to Parish President Kevin Davis.

The project by the Coast Guard will begin before the end of the month, he said, and will be limited to waterways defined as "commercially navigable" under federal codes.

But it will result in sunken vessels and other debris being removed from major canals and streams that help drain the parish, Davis said...

more@ link


I wonder if there are still intact bodies or bits amongst all that?

[Ecumenist]

7. I think that it's about time ....

There are a lot of us out there who aren't from NOLA but have family members missing and although the chance that my Great Aunt is alive is between zero to nil, I and a great many people in my family would be grateful to know where she is and what happened. I don't care if it happens to be a senator from another state or Skippy the Wonder Dog who gets the inquiry started and the job done.

[saigon68]

12. You may need Skippy the Wonder Dog to check it out

The Senate is more interested in keeping gay men from Marrying each other

Or preventing some tramp( Their words) from getting an abortion.

[Ecumenist]

19. NO kiddin'

But those things are are vastly more important , doncha know... Moral and upstanding folks know what American, hardworking churchgoing folks care about and it ain't po' black,white sodomites and liberal commies in the Gommorah of the south.:sarcasm:

[Walt Starr]

15. They'll never be accounted for

Can't have the number of casualties from Katrina outdo 9/11, dontcha know.

[hedgehog]

18. I think you've answered the question

Can't have anything overshadow 9/11

[Up2Late]

16. Well it's about time! I hope he asked why bodies are still being found...

...too.

If I remember correctly, after 9/11, the search teams were sifting through the fine particles of the WTC to find some sort of body part to return to the families. Why hasn't the same been done in NOLA?

[katinmn]

42. That's what I'm afraid of. That the 2,000 missing are actually

bodies waiting to be found or that they were bulldozed over in a cover-up.:-(

[seriousstan]

17. We got to do better in terms of just keeping track of people? Fuck this!

Am I the only one that thinks I should be free to travel where I wish when I wish without having to notify the Government? How many of these people took the opportunity to get out of the crime and squalor of the lower 9th?

Must we now "report in" if we decide to start new lives elsewhere?

[hedgehog]

20. It's not that, it's the idea that people died and nobody cared.

Entire families may have gone missing for all we know.

Looking ahead, we better get our act togethtr before the great re-count Fiasco of Election 2008! What happens if a Katrina type hurricane hits Florida or the Gulf coast and scatters people in the weeks ahead of election day?

[seriousstan]

22. Perhaps you should read about the reasons people don't want to be found

http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/2005/12/the_truth_is_ou.html

[hedgehog]

24. I remember hearing about that from 9/11

I vaguely recall one case where a man left behind two widows and two sets of children that didn't know about each other.There are always exceptions, but we're talking about people like those whose bodies were found this week in houses just now being demolished. This is not rumor, this is being reported on the NBC Nightly News.

[seriousstan]

25. There were 14 people that were found "disappeared" after the tunnel fire.

No we are not talking about the dead bodies because nobody knows if they are dead. I am sure more dead will be found, but we are now dealing in the .2% region where everything is grey.

What I am saying is that all the screeching about 2000 dead is not based it fact or reality.

[hedgehog]

26. Maybe the 2000 dead is a stand-in for the fact that the size of this

disaster has never been properly totaled. I for one am still not certain how much land south of New Orleans stayed underwater after the storm passed. In other words, I think this storm was an early stage of global warming or global climate change or the sea level rising or whatever else you might want to call it. If you don't look at it, it didn't happen, right? And if the rumor spreads that there are 2000 dead unaccounted for, isn't that shorthand for there's a big problem out there that the government isn't acknowledging?

[pitohui]

32. cataldie coroner is pretty certain of around 400 people more dead

and that's just in lakeview and 9th ward

living people, esp. rich living people like those from lakeview get jobs and start paying into social security, living people, esp. very poor elderly people like those in lower 9th ward get social security checks, if they disappear and they're not ever taking out their direct deposits, it ain't because they suddenly hit an oil well in the middle of a hurricane, ya know?

there are also supposedly around 300 almost certainly dead and swept into the water on the gulf coast, for similar reason, last seen alive in the area of storm surge and not heard from since, not even from social security

believe it or not, we have very few elderly criminals in 9th ward, the gangbangers tend to be a pretty youthful crew, i would say the elderly disappeared are dead and deserve to be accounted for, esp. as their families are grieving for them

the attempt by some to paint all of the missing as a crew of escaped sex offenders does not sit at all well with me, i'm afraid, don't take this comment as aimed at the poster, it is aimed at certain irresponsible news reports i've read

[anotherdrew]

36. according to that there are only 12 people missing, so... n/t

[seriousstan]

40. That was from the Gulf coast of Mississippi......but.....

that would require you to read and comprehend the article.

[anotherdrew]

45. indeed it would n/t

[pitohui]

30. what abt the missing from mississippi gulf coast then?

who would want to escape biloxi or pass christian or waveland?

[CornField]

31. If the senator "wants" it -- just imagine how the 2000 families must feel

Our legislators never cease to amaze me :eyes:

[HeeBGBz]

35. They will all show up come '08

And strangely enough they will all have decided to vote Republican.

[Rex]

38. I still want answers about the 3,000 dead from 911.

Or how bout the 2,000+ dead American soldiers in Iraq? I have zero confidence in politicians nowadays. Zero.

[jamesinca]

41. 2,000 unaccounted for

1,300 died during the storm and the flooding
3,000 at the WTC

That adds up to 6,300 Americans that have died in America or come up missing since Bush took office. What exactly are the DHS and the Patriot act doing for me? I guess it works this way: Bush says they hate us for our freedoms, so he takes away our freedoms so they will leave us alone. FUGWB!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

46. What happened to the other 3,300 missing?

[IdaBriggs]

47. I'm proud of my Michigan Senators. Both supported the fillibuster

against Alito. They vote very consistently for strong Democratic stances. I support both of them. :)

[Festivito]

49. Article implies it was Levin. What's with the "a" senator?

Weird.

The idea that we do not care about the number, and names, of those who may have been swept away appalls me.
But, this concern pales to the other appalling actions surrounding Katrina.

[Cobalt Violet]

50. He right, it is unacceptable.

If it had happened in a rich, white area I'm sure there wouldn't be so many missing.

[pitohui]

54. lakeview is a rich, white area

and yes, there are still plenty of missing

the two areas that cataldie would like to focus on are lakeview and lower 9th ward where most of the people reported missing if they're still missing there was no way for them to have gotten out alive

doesn't mean all bodies will be found, they prob. wouldn't be, but at least we should have the simple decency to look

even freakn neanderthals in cave man days honored their dead better than this