http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/13/10965/A Frozen Katrina
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According to the New York Times, heating oil prices are now 36 percent higher than they were last winter and bills will be up to $1500 higher than they were last year. As for the 54 million households heating with natural gas, prices are expected to be 67 percent higher this winter. Current funding for the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is below 1980’s levels–”a time when fuel prices were just a tiny fraction of what they are now,” The Timberjay newspapers point out. In fact, last year’s $2.5 billion in LIHEAP funding allowed just 16 percent of eligible recipients to receive aid. Congressional representatives of New England states have sought as much as $6.5 billion in additional LIHEAP funding to meet the anticipated needs of the upcoming winter. With both lower-income and middle-class people now unable to afford this basic necessity–a requirement for security in one’s own home–newspapers in the Northeast are sounding a clarion call to head-off the impending disaster.
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“It could be New England’s own Katrina disaster,” read a Stowe Reporter editorial. “Hundreds of homes rendered uninhabitable, families’ finances stretched to the limit, some driven away altogether to take shelter with friends or family. But unlike Katrina, this calamity is clearly visible on the horizon and we have months to prepare.”
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No one wants to see refugees from the cold breaking into stores or second homes to spend the night, but there will be desperate people that the state’s social service providers will be challenged to help, since most homeless shelters are full at present and may not be able to house any more people in upcoming months.
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It will be interesting to see if the prospect of masses of New Hampshire citizens freezing at home gets the attention it so clearly deserves.
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“People in the north understand that it would be inhumane to stand by while seniors freeze to death this winter or kids get sick,” he said “People in hot-weather states know heat waves can be killers.” In a floor speech, Sanders cited Center for Disease Control statistics to further illustrate the urgency of this legislation:
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“I understand the games that are played in Washington, but it doesn’t make the obstruction tactics any less revolting,” Sanders said following the vote. “This is life or death. People are dying in the summer heat. People will freeze to death this winter.”
While Republicans continue to push drilling as their election year elixir, real pain, real lives, and real security are ignored.
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the men in charge are busy trying to outwit Russia over pipelines. next winter is not on their minds.
thus, take charge and do what you have to.