*************************************************************
CODE PINK WOMEN FOR PEACE
Action Alert: Rally for Relief
Tuesday, September 6, 2005 4:30pm-6pm
San Francisco & Oakland
San Francisco Federal Building 4:30-6pm
450 Golden Gate Avenue (@ Larkin Street)
San Francisco, CA 94102
Oakland Federal Building 4:30-6pm
1301 Clay Street (@ 14th Street)
Oakland, CA 94612
------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Day of Emergency Action
Support the People of New Orleans!
Jobs/Income & Housing for All Displaced Families
Real Relief - Yes! Racism - No!
Wednesday, September 7
San Francisco Protest - 5 PM at
Powell & Market St.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
sf@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Subscribe to the email alert list!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STOP THE WAR AND OCCUPATION!
IRAQ, PALESTINE, HAITI....
MARCH AND RALLY SEPTEMBER 24
11:00 A.M. DOLORES PARK, S.F.
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT CONTINGENT
10:00 A.M. 16TH AND MISSION BART PLAZA, S.F.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANSWER Organizing Meetings:
Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m.
2489 Mission St., suite 24 (at 21st St., S.F.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT Planning Meeting:
Saturday,
September 17th,
2:00 P.M.
110 Capp Street (Buzz #202)
San Francisco
For more information:
college_not_combat@yahoo.com
(415) 248-1701
http://www.collegenotcombat.org/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT BAUAW MEETING:
TUESDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 20, 7:00 P.M.
474 VALENCIA STREET, S.F.
NEAR 16TH STREET
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Dangerous Incompetence
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Saturday 03 September 2005
George Bush has been an incompetent failure his entire life.
Fortunately for humanity, he was just partying his way through
school, running companies into the ground, and being an alcoholic
and cocaine abuser for most of that time - and his incompetence
was limited to hurting the people who worked for him and his own
family. The people in his life who were hurt by his incompetence
probably have been able to "get on" with their lives. Now, though,
his incompetence affects the world and is responsible for so
many deaths and so much destruction. How many of us did
not foresee the mess he would make of the world when he was
selected the first time? We saw what he had done to Texas.
How many of us marveled and were so discouraged and amazed
when he was "re-elected" the second time? We saw what he had
done to the world. Dangerous incompetence should never be
rewarded, let alone be rewarded so handsomely as in George's case.
The Camp Casey movement has been struggling with how
best we can help the government-ravaged people of New
Orleans and the surrounding areas. We sent a busload of
supplies into Covington, La., which is a poor, African-American
town across Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans. I had the
privilege of visiting Covington with my friends, Buddy and
Annie Spell last July. It was a community filled with love
and laughter.
The Bring Them Home Now Tour bus that went into Covington
is the Veterans For Peace Impeachment Tour bus that I rode in
and out of Crawford on. They took about 10,000 pounds of
leftover Camp Casey supplies and we had 2 trucks filled to
the brim with leftover water from the camp to Covington.
The tour bus also has satellite, so it is the only
communications that Covington has with the outside world now.
This is an email that our tour received from Gordon,
who is one of the bus drivers who bravely drove to
Covington. I left it intact without editing:
I can't recommend coming here but, if you must, we do
need help! During the day we are going out into the
community with water and baby supplies and lunch foods.
But, there has been an attack on the Armory and the cops
are scared. We have move into Covington middle school,
and we are giving the red cross our assistance with medical
supplies and food services. Until we arrived, they only had
MRE's. They just brought in 5 new born babies from the
hospital as they are expecting more casualties. We brought
in a generator and solar powered lights, no power, no phone
service here, our satellite link is the only connection to the
outside. The Marshal Law enforcement that will be coming
to New Orleans with the Army, could create mass panic.
That will lead to more refugees, we have twenty right
now and room for 100. Don't come here unless you're
prepared to work!.
I should say, stay out on the road and raise money for
the relief effort. But make up your own minds.
We need to keep the public aware of what is going
on here and all over SOLA.
If you want to help go an established refugee camp
and provide your internet access to document who
is there and what they plan to do to the website.
Use your satellites access to maximize the story
of the relief effort!
Gordon
There it is.
I think we should finish the tour so we can talk
about what an abject failure this administration is.
The unnecessary tragedy in New Orleans is directly
related to the unnecessary tragedy in Iraq:
Unnecessary being the operative word.
Innocent people are dying daily in this world.
In the crush of the hurricane story, the fact that
950 people (mostly women and children) were
trampled to death in Iraq was buried in the back
sections. Those are 950 people who would still
be alive if George Bush were not president.
950 people in Iraq and how many thousands in the
Gulf States died while the emperor strummed
a guitar and knocked a golf ball around? Additionally,
eight of our brave and wonderful soldiers have
been needlessly killed in Iraq since Monday.
I really believe that George and his band of
incompetent and dangerous thugs need to resign.
It would be the only honorable and competent
thing to do. But wait....
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
The Perfect Storm
Thursday, 01 September 2005
"The river rose all day,
The river rose all night.
Some people got lost in the flood,
Some people got away all right.
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemine:
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
"Louisiana, Louisiana,
They're trying to wash us away,
They're trying to wash us away."
-- Randy Newman, Louisiana 1927
http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd09012005.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
New Orleans Mayor, in Tears, Blasts Washington's Response
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: September 2, 2005
"We understand the recovery is not going to be an overnight
recovery," General Blum said. "This is a catastrophe of
enormous magnitude."
The additional troops will be getting into areas that were
previously inaccessible. Asked why the civil unrest
continues, General Blum said that "there are not enough
police and soldiers to be everywhere all the time."
He said that there should be a dramatic change in the
coming days, and as soon as "positive control" is
instituted more people will be allowed to leave pockets
of New Orleans to go to the Superdome and other shelters.
"We understand the recovery is not going to be an overnight
recovery," General Blum said. "This is a catastrophe of
enormous magnitude."
The additional troops will be getting into areas that
were previously inaccessible. Asked why the civil unrest
continues, General Blum said that "there are not enough
police and soldiers to be everywhere all the time."
He said that there should be a dramatic change in the
coming days, and as soon as "positive control" is
instituted more people will be allowed to leave pockets
of New Orleans to go to the Superdome and other shelters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02cnd-storm.html?hp&ex=1125720000&en=c39cf45e7f030e63&ei=5094&partner=homepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
The Victims
From Margins of Society to Center of the Tragedy
By DAVID GONZALEZ
Published: September 2, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02discrim.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
CUBA: Hurricane Dennis causes severe damage
Marce Cameron
Cuba was hit hard by Hurricane Dennis, the most ferocious
storm to lash the Caribbean island nation in four decades.
It caused the deaths of 16 Cubans and left a swathe of
wreckage in its wake. The death toll would have been far
higher had it not been for the timely evacuation of more
than 1.5 million people.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/634/634p12c.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Editorial
The Man-Made Disaster
Published: September 2, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/02fri1.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
World stunned as U.S. struggles with Katrina
Fri Sep 2, 2005 09:39 AM ET
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=9546626&src=eDialog/GetContent
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Shoot to kill, troops told
September 2, 2005 - 4:20PM
Rotting bodies littered the flooded streets of New Orleans
today and mounting violence threatened to turn into all-out
anarchy as thousands of survivors of Hurricane Katrina
pleaded to be evacuated, or even just fed.
http://smh.com.au/news/world/shoot-to-kill-troops-told/2005/09/02/1125302714538.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Leave My Child Alone Video
Cindy Sheehan (mother of a soldier slain in Iraq),
Jim Massey (ex-Marine recruiter) and others reveal the
true impact of No Child Left Behind's military recruitment
in our high schools. With no end in sight to the
increasingly lethal American occupation in Iraq, this
is the single-most important film for concerned parents
and citizens to see. Watch the 11-minute film and then
take action to "opt our kids out" at LeaveMyChildAlone.org.
Created by Mainstreet Moms and Working Assets
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm?event=showContent&contentid=26
http://63.251.167.36/emotionstudios/progressive/qthigh.html
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
UK's Chief Scientific Advisor:
Global Warming May Be to Blame
By Andrew Buncombe
Published on Wednesday, August 31, 2005 by The Independent
Sir David King, the British Government's chief scientific
adviser, has warned that global warming may be responsible
for the devastation reaped by Hurricane Katrina.
"The increased intensity of hurricanes is associated with
global warming," Professor King told Channel 4 News yesterday.
"We have known since 1987 the intensity of hurricanes
is related to surface sea temperature and we know that,
over the last 15 to 20 years, surface sea temperatures
in these regions have increased by half a degree centigrade.
"So it is easy to conclude that the increased intensity
of hurricanes is associated with global warming."
Professor Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology also claimed, less than a month ago, that
ocean surfaces had become warmer, which doubled the
destructive potential of tropical storms in the past 30 years.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0831-05.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Displacement Of Historic Proportions
By David Von Drehle and Jacqueline Salmon
The Washington Post
Friday 02 September 2005
The largest displacement of Americans since the Civil War
reverberated across the country from its starting point
in New Orleans yesterday, as more than half a million
people uprooted by Hurricane Katrina sought shelter,
sustenance and the semblance of new lives.
Storm refugees overwhelmed the state of Louisiana and
poured into cities from coast to coast, crowding sports
arenas, convention centers, schools, churches and the
homes of friends, relatives and even strangers. Red Cross
officials reported that every shelter in a seven-state
region was already full - 76,000 people in Alabama,
Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas and
Louisiana. Hundreds of miles from New Orleans, hotels
were jammed or quickly filling.
Rich and poor alike, they found themselves starting
over. The former began buying new houses and leasing
new office space. The latter waited in lines for
a bar of soap or a peanut butter sandwich.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205Y.shtml
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
The Green Party of Alameda County Presents
Back to School, Not War
www.BackToSchoolNotWar.org
Saturday, September 17
The Forum at Laney College
RALLY: 6-8:30pm
Recruiters Out of Schools
US Troops Out of Iraq
Guest Speakers include:
- Peter Camejo, Green Party candidate for Governor
- Clarence Thomas, Longshoreman's Union ILWU Local 10
- Aimee Allison, Army Conscientious Objector
- Dr. Agha Saeed, Chair American Muslim Alliance
- Elaine Brown, Black Panther Party, Green Party Candidate
- Wilson Riles Jr., Former Oakland City Councilor
- Maria Poblet, Deporten a la Migra (Deport the INS)
- Regina Johnson, College Not Combat Proposition
WORKSHOPS: 9am-4:30pm
Topics include
- American Muslims and the Patriot Act
- Labor and Greens
- College Not Combat: Military Out of Schools
- Immigrant Rights
- Saving Public Education
- Strategies for Universal Health Care
PLUS MUCH MORE
PRICE: $20-$40 sliding scale (Students with ID $10)
For more information or to register on-line go to:
www.BackToSchoolNotWar.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
'This is criminal': Malik Rahim reports from New Orleans
by Malik Rahim
Malik Rahim, a veteran of the Black Panther Party in New
Orleans, for decades an organizer of public housing tenants
both there and in San Francisco and a recent Green Party
candidate for New Orleans City Council, lives in the
Algiers neighborhood, the only part of New Orleans that
is not flooded. They have no power, but the water is still
good and the phones work. Their neighborhood could be
sheltering and feeding at least 40,000 refugees, he says,
but they are allowed to help no one. What he describes
is nothing less than deliberate genocide against Black
and poor people. - Ed.
New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005 - It's criminal. From what
you're hearing, the people trapped in New Orleans are
nothing but looters. We're told we should be more
"neighborly." But nobody talked about being neighborly
until after the people who could afford to leave ... left.
If you ain't got no money in America, you're on your own.
People were told to go to the Superdome, but they have
no food, no water there. And before they could get in,
people had to stand in line for 4-5 hours in the rain
because everybody was being searched one by one at the
entrance.
I can understand the chaos that happened after the tsunami,
because they had no warning, but here there was plenty
of warning. In the three days before the hurricane hit,
we knew it was coming and everyone could have been evacuated.
We have Amtrak here that could have carried everybody
out of town. There were enough school buses that could
have evacuated 20,000 people easily, but they just let
them be flooded. My son watched 40 buses go underwater
- they just wouldn't move them, afraid they'd be stolen.
People who could afford to leave were so afraid someone
would steal what they own that they just let it all be
flooded. They could have let a family without a vehicle
borrow their extra car, but instead they left it behind
to be destroyed.
There are gangs of white vigilantes near here riding
around in pickup trucks, all of them armed, and any
young Black they see who they figure doesn't belong
in their community, they shoot him. I tell them,
"Stop! You're going to start a riot."
When you see all the poor people with no place to go,
feeling alone and helpless and angry, I say this is
a consequence of HOPE VI. New Orleans took all the
HUD money it could get to tear down public housing,
and families and neighbors who'd relied on each other
for generations were uprooted and torn apart.
Most of the people who are going through this now
had already lost touch with the only community they'd
ever known. Their community was torn down and they
were scattered. They'd already lost their real homes,
the only place where they knew everybody, and now the
places they've been staying are destroyed.
But nobody cares. They're just lawless looters ...
dangerous.
The hurricane hit at the end of the month, the time
when poor people are most vulnerable. Food stamps don't
buy enough but for about three weeks of the month, and
by the end of the month everyone runs out. Now they
have no way to get their food stamps or any money,
so they just have to take what they can to survive.
Many people are getting sick and very weak. From the
toxic water that people are walking through, little
scratches and sores are turning into major wounds.
People whose homes and families were not destroyed
went into the city right away with boats to bring the
survivors out, but law enforcement told them they
weren't needed. They are willing and able to rescue
thousands, but they're not allowed to.
Every day countless volunteers are trying to help,
but they're turned back. Almost all the rescue that's
been done has been done by volunteers anyway.
My son and his family - his wife and kids, ages 1, 5
and 8 - were flooded out of their home when the levee
broke. They had to swim out until they found an
abandoned building with two rooms above water level.
There were 21 people in those two rooms for a day and
a half. A guy in a boat who just said "I'm going to
help regardless" rescued them and took them to
Highway I-10 and dropped them there.
They sat on the freeway for about three hours, because
someone said they'd be rescued and taken to the Superdome.
Finally they just started walking, had to walk six and
a half miles.
When they got to the Superdome, my son wasn't allowed
in - I don't know why - so his wife and kids wouldn't
go in. They kept walking, and they happened to run
across a guy with a tow truck that they knew, and he
gave them his own personal truck.
When they got here, they had no gas, so I had to punch
a hole in my gas tank to give them some gas, and now
I'm trapped. I'm getting around by bicycle.
People from Placquemine Parish were rescued on a ferry
and dropped off on a dock near here. All day they were
sitting on the dock in the hot sun with no food, no
water. Many were in a daze; they've lost everything.
They were all sitting there surrounded by armed guards.
We asked the guards could we bring them water and food.
My mother and all the other church ladies were cooking
for them, and we have plenty of good water.
But the guards said, "No. If you don't have enough water
and food for everybody, you can't give anything." Finally
the people were hauled off on school buses from other
parishes.
You know Robert King Wilkerson (the only one of the
Angola 3 political prisoners who's been released).
He's been back in New Orleans working hard, organizing,
helping people. Now nobody knows where he is. His house
was destroyed. Knowing him, I think he's out trying
to save lives, but I'm worried.
The people who could help are being shipped out. People
who want to stay, who have the skills to save lives
and rebuild are being forced to go to Houston.
It's not like New Orleans was caught off guard. This
could have been prevented.
There's military right here in New Orleans, but for
three days they weren't even mobilized. You'd think
this was a Third World country.
I'm in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, the
only part that isn't flooded. The water is good. Our
parks and schools could easily hold 40,000 people,
and they're not using any of it.
This is criminal. These people are dying for no other
reason than the lack of organization.
Everything is needed, but we're still too disorganized.
I'm asking people to go ahead and gather donations and
relief supplies but to hold on to them for a few days
until we have a way to put them to good use.
I'm challenging my party, the Green Party, to come down
here and help us just as soon as things are a little
more organized. The Republicans and Democrats didn't
do anything to prevent this or plan for it and don't
seem to care if everyone dies.
Malik's phone is working. He welcomes calls from old
friends and anyone with questions or ideas for saving
lives. To reach him, call the Bay View at (415) 671-0789.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
A Reverence for Property Over People
Bush Nixed Funding That Could Have Saved New Orleans
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
and JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
August 31, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn08312005.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Op-Ed Columnist
United States of Shame
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 3, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Eyes on America
Across U.S., Outrage at Response
By TODD S. PURDUM
Published: September 3, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/national/nationalspecial/03voices.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
The Levee
Gazing at Breached Levees,
Critics See Years of Missed
Opportunities
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: September 2, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02levee.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Health Challenges
Rotting Food, Dirty Water
and Heat Add to Problems
By SHAILA DEWAN and ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: September 2, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02health.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
KATRINA'S AFTERMATH
As they begin to patrol the chaotic city, troops
are surprised by what they don't find.
By Scott Gold
Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2005
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-troops3sep03,0,7512924.story?coll=la-home-headlines
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
No comments:
Post a Comment