PLEASE HELP US - Time is running out!

PLEASE DO NOT FORSAKE US


This is just a small image depicting some of the damage that surrounds us.

In the last 2 days, the remains of 5 houses around me, on the street where I live, have been bulldozed and taken away. All that is left are the empty, dirt lots and the mangled trees.

Where a neighborhood once thrived, now all that remains are the gutted homes and empty lots and fema trailers. And that is just my neighborhood.

There are hundreds of neighborhoods that were devastated in the cities of D'Iberville, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Diamondhead, Waveland and Pass Christian, the communities of Delisle and Clearmont Harbor have felt the pain, their people are in need.

And there is of course, New Orleans, and all of the surrounding cities and communites - your fellow citizens need your help.

We cannot do this alone, we need help - we need the promises made to be kept, we need everyone on DU to write their congress critters and to demand that they support the reconstrustion efforts. Please beg them to now recess for Christmas until they fund the reconstruction efforts.

Please call or email your representatives and tell them that the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast does matter.

Do you have to have a face to go along with this, someone you can relate to? How about my face, how about my life, how about my beggging that you do something for those of us living in the remains of what is left of our lives. These are the images of my house after Katrina slammed my world, stole the life I knew.




I am doing better than most, I have a fema trailer and I am working and I am getting by, but many don't have the wit and the stamina and the pig headedness I have. They are weakened and drained, they are heart broken and lost. Families lost everything they ever owned, the kids toys, their clothes, their beds, their books. Open your spice cabinet and reach for the pepper, is it there, mine wasn't, hell, I didn't have a cabinet to open. Everything around you, everything you take for granted, imagine it gone in a matter of hours.

Now image, almost 4 months later, struggling to remain optimistic, struggling to find hope amidst the debris of your lives, and then waking to the news that Congress recessed for the holidays, to celebrate Christmas, WITHOUT FUNDING the reconstruction/rebuilding efforts.

Won't that be a Merry Christmas for the thousands of Katrina Survivors?

Please do what you can to not let that happen. GIVE US HOPE.

The forgotten -
Third world conditions on our shores and soldiers dying in illegal and immoral wars.
Can this be the reality for the citizens of this country, is this the heritage of the land of liberty?
Where is the outrage, can you not see, how easily this can happen to you?
I never thought it would happen to me.
Foresaken, forgotten and dispensible - the nobel future of we, the people of the United States of America. :cry:


HELP US, PLEASE

DUers, we have made a difference in the past, we can do it again, damn it, please let's try.

thank you trillian :hug:

:kick:

over working on issues dealing with the hurricanes.

:cry:

I can't do much else - no extra money to send and my rep is Hastert.
:cry:

And try to make a stink.

I know in my heart that things are dire down there, and my heart goes out to all of you. It's overwhelming just to contemplate from here, merh, and unimaginable to have to live through.

But you're right. This is another area where we the people are going to have to make things happen 'cause they're not going to otherwise. They're just not. The tsunami victims are faring much better than our own citizens, and that may be our nation's worst scandal ever.

I'll call tomorrow.

This should have been their number one priority months ago. They can't recess until they make sure people are given the necessities they need.

This makes me so angry.

I'm sorry, mehr.

I can't believe they'd recess for Christmas knowing that there are thousands still homeless after Katrina, some are even sleeping in tents while fema trailers sit empty in other states.

((((((((((((((((((:hug:)))))))))))))))))))))
4 months later, we'll keep yelling. I really don't care if they call it christmas, or z-mas or whateverness, I care they people have a place to sleep, to eat, to be that is safe, warm, and has pepper in the cupboards.

...but all I can come up with is calling and e-mailing the White House on Christmas Day and asking about what the administration is doing for Christmas for the people of the Gulf Coast.

That's my little plan...anyone else that wants to join in, please please do.

My heart breaks for you and all of the other forgotten victims of Katrina. I will be writing letters and making calls tomorrow, you can be sure of that. This is one of the most shameful things ever to happen in America. What difference does it make if we are safe from terrorist's attacks, if a natural disaster leaves us destroyed, and abandoned by the government that is supposed to take care of us?

Does anybody think that a home destroyed by hurricane winds or flood waters is any less destroyed than if it had been bombed by a terrorist? The sad, sad truth, is that by ignoring all of you, Bush has made terrorists of all of us, in that neglect of our fellow Americans in need is in itself an attack of sorts. We might donate, but we can not match the ability of government to help at this time of crisis.

Thank you for reminding us, Merh. I pray for all of you, and will do what I can to see that you are not forgotten.

Thanks for the reminder. The rulers are trying to ignore the devastation and we can't let it happen.

You're doing great, considering the circumstances, merh! :hug:

K&R'd, of course.

Anything for you all in the Gulf Coast...and other hurricane ravaged regions!

:cry:

:grouphug:

Kick, and recommended. :hug:

:grouphug:

:hug: And here rightwingers are so worried about whether or not someone says "Merry Christmas" or not. :mad:

:grr:

Glad to hear that you are hanging in there. Wish it was the same for your neighbors. Perhaps this email blitz will help with that.


Thanks for the reminder that every effort we can make to right this situation is important.

I'll get on this first thing in the morning.

:kick:

I'll gladly beg...gladly...I hope it helps.

Hugs to you and yours.

Edit to say that I wrote my reps. Hopefully, the spirit of Christmas will soften their hearts.

weeks ago in Ohio. He said he had been to the New Orleans and handed out coffee...then he continued and said that after 2 months of a 'free ride,' it was time that 'these people get on with their lives.' He thought that people should be kicked out of the hotel rooms.

He made me sick...I told him that I hoped he didn't lose his home someday...cuz I would be forced to have about as much sympathy for him as he did the victims of the hurricanes. We continued our disagreement over the head of the Red Cross who has now resigned...a big Pug fund raiser.

This man has never had to face a true disaster in HIS life....it was pretty obvious. He thought handing out cups of coffee was all he had to do.

I will call and write...and do what I can. Don't give up hope....the majority of Americans and people of the world are with you. I am just disgusted by the actions of our gov't. My thoughts and prayers are with you...stay strong.

:kick:

this whole situation is heartbreaking.

Hi Neighbor.

I will call my congress "Critter"



Hard work bears fruit.

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=574

.. Katrina Survivors are Losing the Battle to Return Home

By Medea Benjamin

Two months after Katrina, the residents of New Orleans most traumatized by the hurricane and its aftermath are now traumatized in their battle to return home. And many of the city's poor, black "Katrina survivors" are losing this second battle.

Diane Watson lived in the district that was the poorest and the hardest hit: the lower Ninth Ward. Two months after Katrina, that area remains cordoned off by military guards and they're still finding dead bodies beneath the rubble. Mrs. Watson, who was evacuated to Houston, drove back to New Orleans with a relative to see the home she had lived in for the last 40 years. She was directed to the Red Cross tent, where an escort from the mayor's office took her to see the house. She returned in a daze. "It was supposed to be my house, but it sure didn't look like it. The roof was on one side, the house was somewhere else, and my neighbor's carport was smack in the middle." Her eyes bulged in disbelief and tears ran down her checks. "They wouldn't let me go inside to see if I could find something, anything, for memory's sake, like a picture of my late husband."

Mrs. Watson had no insurance. When her husband died two years ago, she forgot to keep up the payments. "A whole lifetime of work and now I have nothing," she sighed. "I'll have to move to Chicago and live with my daughter. My arthritis acts up bad in the cold, but I have no choice."

John Turner was luckier-his house in the Gentilly section was water logged but still standing, and he had insurance. But at 75, he was too overwhelmed by his ordeal at the Superdome and too tired to start all over again. "My house was a 'fixer-upper' when I bought it back in 1975, and I've been fixing it up ever since. This year I retired and was just able to start enjoying it. Now this," he said, tears welling up in his eyes. While Mr. Turner had home insurance, he didn't have flood insurance. He had no idea what his insurance would cover, but he prayed it would enough for him to move somewhere else. When I wished him good luck, he tried to smile. "I sure need some good luck. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."

Giselle Smith, a single mom with three children, is younger and more resilient. In early October she returned to her home near the French Quarter, an area that only got two feet of water. "I love living in this district," she said, " and I couldn't wait to get back. I know all my neighbors, they help me with the kids, and during Mardi Gras, we just go out our door and we're right in the thick of it," she laughed. The day she returned, Ms. Smith got to work cleaning up the house. She ripped up the buckled floors and put in new tiles, she scrubbed off the mold and repainted. By the end of the month her modest home was clean as a whistle. But Ms. Smith had a different problem. She was a renter.

She'd been renting the same house for 11 years, just like she had the same job as a parking lot attendant for all those years. The neighbors attested that she was a good worker, a good tenant and a good mom. But the very day that the governor lifted the moratorium on evictions, her landlord presented her with an eviction notice. The reason? Failure to pay September's rent. The Smiths, like everyone else in the city, had been forced to evacuate, and her home had no electricity or water or sewage. She also had to pay rent in Houston for September, and didn't have money to pay rent in two places.

Ms. Smith is determined to fight the eviction, and local lawyers have come to her aid. But the real reason for the eviction notice is that houses that didn't flood are at a premium and her landlord, like many others, is eager to cash in. Ms. Smith's neighbors down the block were paying $800 rent until they came home to find their rent jacked up to $1,300. By end of the week her long-time neighbors, a black family, had packed up and a white family took their place.

Similar fates are befalling residents of the city's 38,000 public housing units: they are coming home to find their apartments boarded up, even though the concrete block apartments-ugly as they might be-were among the best in withstanding the hurricane. Housing advocates say it is part of a long-term desire to cleanse the city of its public housing, recalling the crass comments of Representative Richard Baker (R-LA): "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

Before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was a city of 485,000 people, 65% of whom were black. Today, officials estimate that during the day there are some 125,000 people, falling to 70,000 at nighttime when many leave to find shelter outside the city. Mayor Nagin predicted that New Orleans would lose about half its pre-Katrina population. And with government policies and market forces stacked against the poor, the "new" New Orleans is becoming whiter and whiter.

What Can We Do?

The "whitification" of New Orleans, however, is not inevitable. There are many solutions: demanding a massive program for affordable housing, halting evictions and price gouging for rental properties, making it possible for evacuees who are scattered around the country to move to temporary shelters (trailers, vacant apartments, tents) back home, giving job priority to local residents, reopening pubic schools, providing support systems to those returning, demanding that the poor be represented in the rebuilding decisions.

We need to support the movements, both at the grassroots and at the policy levels, that are supporting these policies.

At the grassroots level, there are remarkable community activists like Malik Rahim, who has turned his home on the dry west bank of Algiers into the Common Ground Collective, a hub for hundreds of volunteers, a free medical clinic and many tons materials aid. Another extraordinary local figure is Mama D, whose home in Ward Seven has become a similar beehive of support for those returning home. Both are encouraging volunteers, skilled and "generalists", to join them-anytime for any amount of time. During Thanksgiving week, November 22-29, Common Ground is calling for a mass convergence on New Orleans help clean up the Ninth Ward (see commongroundrelief.org).

Community Labor United is also setting up communication/relief centers, and is asking for volunteers (see www.communitylaborunited.net ). They have dedicated December 10 as the Day of Return and encourage people to join them for a march in New Orleans.

ACORN, temporarily based in Baton Rouge, is fighting home demolitions and reconnecting with its New Orleans base (now scattered throughout the country). They recently created the ACORN Katrina Survivor Association to pressure elected officials and FEMA. ACORN has also partnered with the unions and the NAACP to form New Opportunities for Action and Hope (NOAH), which is demanding housing, job training and fair wages for displaced families. Another coalition, the Rebuilding Louisiana Coalition, is calling for a rebuilding process that is environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and culturally respectful. And these are just a few of the many organizations worth supporting.

Many of us gave generously with our wallets when we saw the horrific TV images of people struggling to survive the ravages of the hurricane and government negligence. Now that the people of New Orleans are struggling to return home, we must not abandon them. Let's support the grassroots groups with funds, join their efforts to change public policy, and come on down to help.

A massive movement of solidarity is the only force that will rescue the people of New Orleans this time around.

Medea Benjamin (medea@globalexchange.org ) is cofounder of Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org ) and CODEPINK (www.codepinkalert.org ).
-----------

http://www.sfbayview.com/121405/victimsfight121405.shtml

Katrina victims fight for justice

by CC Campbell-Rock

They took buses, trains and planes last week to Jackson, Mississippi, for the “National Gulf Coast Survivors Assembly,” Dec. 8-9, and to New Orleans, Dec. 10, for the “Day of Return – March for Self-Determination.”

Billed as “Justice After Katrina: The People Must Decide!” the events were presented by the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition. The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund is made up of Gulf Coast residents, organizations and supporters from around the world. The group is working around the clock to make sure that hurricane-ravaged areas are “reconstructed with residents’ input, respect for families, sustainable improvements in jobs, wages, housing, education and health, and justice for those who have suffered at the hands of the neglectful U.S. government.”

Malcolm Suber, coordinator of the Dec. 10 “Right to Return March,” said evacuees came from New York, Chicago, D.C., Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and California

..more..

Crossing my everything for you. Let us know what else we can do.

I cannot begin to tell you how pissed of I am about this. I have not forgotten you, and the hundreds of thousands in your situation--or worse.

Sometimes I feel like my heart is broke in so many pieces that all of the king's horses & all of the king's men cannot put my heart back together again.



"The forgotten -
Third world conditions on our shores and soldiers dying in illegal and immoral wars.
Can this be the reality for the citizens of this country, is this the heritage of the land of liberty?
Where is the outrage, can you not see, how easily this can happen to you?
I never thought it would happen to me.
Foresaken, forgotten and dispensible - the nobel future of we, the people of the United States of America."


You can't be any more plain spoken than that, sister. What has happened to you has happened to all of us, we just haven't experienced it yet.

will make those calls, and email, and all possible...

thank you for calling out to us for this!


just please know you are in our hearts and minds, constantly!

we wear armbands for you all, and we rant and RAGE for you all, every day!

please feel us sending you healing golden light and energy, and the constant awareness of you that is in our hearts!


peace...

Thanks to all the Duers who have helped. :grouphug:

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

I beleive many feel a distinct wrongness on the election results.
Me think answer for that soon.
A simple plea for help.
What beat on the sufferings
And me think merh not vote bush
So LAY OFF this direction of thoughts
:hug:

we all voted for * just because we live here on the gulf Coast?If so,I have to be so harsh and call you a moron.
Get a clue yourself!

I am constantly surprised at the coldness of some DU'ers.

You live in RED Texas? Get a clue and a heart. Why did YOU vote for Shrubby?

:wtf:
You think everyone in the devastated areas, except for you, voted for bush? Are you accusing merh of voting for him? We sure do get all kinds in DU.

For the record ... bush is NOT a Christian. A Christian is someone who FOLLOWS CHRIST. Don't insult real Christians.

cover to blue states to find happiness. I work here to try to bring about change, I fight the challenges and if you look at the election results we were pretty fucking purple.

I have worked years in MY state - for my community - to bring about change, to make a difference. I haven't be successful politically, but neither has the democratic party in my state. They fail us daily, not giving us the attention we deserve, not having the national leaders come here to address our needs and ask for our votes. We southerners are funny, if you don't ask us for our votes, we figure you don't need 'em.

And even if I did vote for the fuckers, that doesn't mean I deserve this. No fundie, neo-con, freeper deserves to be abandoned by their nation, forgetten by their own.

Your attitude sucks as bad as the freepers, fundies, neo-cons you condemn and damn. I am sick of folks like you telling me I am getting what I deserve. NO ON DESERVES THIS SHIT.

They wanted to elect a good ole boy they could drink a beer with and tell stupid jokes they could understand.

:kick:

but I won't forget, merh. I won't let THEM forget, either. I promise.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo's!

(((((((((hugs))))))))))

(((((merh))))

:hug: :cry:

Keep fighting, Merh. We'll fight with you.

on those CRC candidates especially, but also a 50 state effort, i.e., CA: done -- so we can measure our progress.

And we need to put something BEHIND the calls -- as in, "If you decide to break before funding, we will go sit in front of your office until you get back to the peoples' work."

What do you think?

Whatever it takes

:hug:

I have things and money to send. Do not give up my friend.

thanks for caring :hug:

Love you.

:cry: I pray that Ben is healing, I have been so remiss in keeping up with the news on his recovery. Please forgive me and let me know how he is doing. Ray, Ben, Peyton and you have all been in my prayers. I pray that Ben's recovery is going well and that you will be reunited with him soon.

Your generosity touches me, that you worry about me after all you have been through yourself.
I am so honored and so very grateful. Thank you

I love you too. :hug:

:kick:

:kick:

a few specific things, Merh, it might make it easier for people here to contribute to the relief effort in different ways.

(1) What are the best organizations to donate cash to?

(2) How do people donate "things"? For example, if someone wants to buy & donate holiday presents for children, where should they send things?

(3) Should DUers contact specific congressional officials? Or focus on those from their own state?

I think DUers are able to get things done best when there are specific actions to be taken. I also think it is worth reminding people that small donations add up; do not think that a couple dollars is too small to send. Everything helps.

Relative to donations, I can tell you the organization in my sig line promises 100% of the monies raised to go to the needs of the citizens. I can also tell you the husband & wife that formed it donated $5million to the fund and are paying the admin costs. I can also tell you habitat for humanity is helping folks build homes. Please realize I am one of the survivors, I don't have the answers, I have some of the needs. There is a hurricane forum, maybe you can get specifics there.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=360

Relative to holiday presents, I'd think you could contact some organization you trust and deal with in your area and ask them if they have some group down here they are working with. Again, I don't have the answers, wish I did.

How much more specific is it to ask to contact your congress critters and ask them to support the funding of the reconstruction efforts?

stuff for Christmas. They are also a safe bet.

:cry:

send gifts to the needy in many regions, including the hurricane ravaged regions.
http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/602-2842302-2931009?node=16067381

You know the problem with charities, they are run by people, and just like people, they are not without sins and faults. I know of no perfect charity.

Peace...and thanks for the "kicks in the butt" on this.

These are the races the party cares about, the "frontline 10".

John Barrow (GA-12)
Friends of John Barrow
Athens, GA

Brian Higgins (NY-27)
Brian Higgins for Congress
Buffalo, NY

Melissa Bean (IL-8)
Melissa Bean for Congress
Barrington, IL

Jim Matheson (UT-2)
Matheson for Congress
Salt Lake City, UT

Leonard Boswell (IA-3)
Boswell for Congress
Des Moines, IA

Charlie Melancon (LA-3)
Melancon for Congress
Napoleonville, LA

Chet Edwards (TX-17)
Chet Edwards for Congress
Waco, TX

Dennis Moore (KS-3)
Moore for Congress
Lenexa, KS

Stephanie Herseth (SD-AL)
Stephanie Herseth for Congress
Sioux Falls, SD

John Salazar (CO-3)
John Salazar for Congress
Pueblo, CO

Also, here are two related offices that may want to hear from us: :evilgrin:

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
430 S Capitol Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003
(202) 863-1500 www.dccc.org

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Phone (202) 224-2447
Fax (202) 969-0354
For general information email info@dscc.org

It's always good to contact your own congressional leaders .... but there are usually specific people who need to be contacted to get the wheels turning on specific issues such as this.

After a short nap, I may repost this info in its own thread.

We need to focus the DU laser.

Thank you for your help. :)

Dr. Ben Marble :applause:


http://www.katrinasanta.com





Check out his site. :patriot:

More emails. More letters. More FAXes. More contributions. And, to whatever God may listen to me anymore, more prayers.

TODAY.

I changed "now recess" to "not recess" in para 6 and removed references to DU to make the message more generic. Then I emailed it to the person who sent me the snowstorm hoax email yesterday.

(((((((((DU)))))))))

:kick:
:kick:
:kick:

:sarcasm:

Let's do what we can to help.

:kick:

The worthless administration has forgotten us here in Mississippi. I have tears in my eyes, Merh. I wish I could do more-I wish the whole freaking country would do more. But they seem to have moved on.

Maybe if we had WMD's down here and flew a cropduster into a building in Crawford they'd declare us terrorists and invade. At least we'd get rebuilt.

on edit: Pretty good work, Merh. Only 60 replies and already 58 nominations for the Greatest Page. God, I love DUers.

I need to check out for a couple of hours. Please don't let this drop.

:kick:

But I doubt much help will be needed.

or so said my Faux-News watching client last week.

Yesterday, my good friend who reads the WSJ every day and is surrounded by hard-core old-line Republicans, said that the victims of Katrina are the byproduct of a "culture of entitlement". Fortunately, she's not so far gone that some logic and good sense couldn't lead her to see where she was completely misled, but how many others are being led down this road by the MSM - Faux, the WSJ?

These are the memes we're fighting here folks:

- Katrina victims have gotten tons of aid already, and most of it is wasted anyway.

- We don't want to encourage them to start feeling "entitled".

- Why do they live in these areas, anyway?

So it's up to us not only to give til it hurts (or not hurts - why not take what you might spend on decorations this year, or pet treats, or a week's worth of Starbucks, and give just that - just the extra -- to a worthy organization?)

And it's also up to us to keep talking to our friends, our families, our work colleagues. Tell them that we have friends like Mehr who are still sitting in rubble - some in FEMA trailers, some not. Remind them of all the people who still need help.

And talk to our legislators - tell them that instead of privatizing the Red Cross (and then gutting it, most likely), maybe they need to beef-up FEMA - bring it up to James Lee Witt-era Pre-BushII levels of both funding and staff quality. Maybe put some money in the hands of someone other than huge Bush friends like Bechtel and Halliburton (who will just turn around and hire illegals, and then under-pay them and house them in prison camps).

We have to keep this banner up, and not let people around us conveniently forget what they don't have to look at every day.

Your story is making me cry.

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

"Do you not remember all the press conferences with democrats agreeing that Saddam should be taken out of power given by democrats and republicans alike?" By conferences, do you mean those conferences that were full of lies and bogus intelligence and fake reports of WMDs, chemicals of mass destruction and threats to our safety? Those conferences?

Good for this country is good, not illegal or immoral - umm, yes, yes it is illegal and immoral and it ain't even been good for our nation you goof. We are weaker now than we were days after 9/11. You need to go find a forum where there are other brain washed individuals that believe that it is LEGAL TO INVADE A SOVEREIGN NATION THAT DID NOT ATTACK US OR POSE A THREAT.

Actually, the resolution authorizing the US OF FORCE (notice, not war, use of force) did so based on the WMDs, Iraq's involvement and support of terrorism (ie Al Qaida) and his threat to our security. (bogus intel)

Now we know that no WMD's were NOT found - they didn't exist - so there is lie one of your Prez and this admin.

We also know that Saddam and Bin Laden were political enemies with religious and ideological differences. Bin Laden thought Saddam and the Baath party were a bunch of infidels. He didn't like the way they were westernizing the sacred, holy land of the Muslims people in Iraq by adopting progressive, western ways. He resented the fact that they didn't follow the extreme and very restrictive teachings of the Muslim faith. We also know that it was not until the USofA & your prez threatened Iraq that Bin Laden said he would stand with the Muslims of Iraq against the US agressors (he did not say he loved Saddam or even liked him). So there is lie 2.

We also know that 17 of the 19 terrorists on the flights on 9/11 were Saudis - they ACTUALLY HAD A HAND IN 9/11. We also know that the Saudi government abuses and kills its people all the damned time, they have very strict and harsh punishments of its people as provided by their religion and laws (public beheadings and stonings, hands chopped off, etc). We also know that women have no rights in the cities and can't drive automobiles and we know that our idiot in chief doesn't see the Royal family as evil, so why was Saddam so extreme & evil? Why shouldn't we overthrow the government there and give the Saudis democracy? So there you go with lie number 3.

Lies are immoral - morally wrong - not good - to Christians they are sins. Bad president, bad USofA - illegal & immoral war.

As far as your question relative to dirty bombs here, they don't need a dirty bomb, they have the chemical companies surrounding our communities that are not secure and were physically weakened thanks to Katrina. They have the some 12 nuclear facilites within an 12 hour radius of us, the same nuclear facilities that are not secure and some of which sustained damage thanks to the hurricanes.

Now about my choice of a place to live. My house was not in the flood plain, when I obtained my mortgage, no flood insurance was required and none suggested. My house was at 20 ft elevation. Hell, the house I was at during the storm was 2 miles inland and at 17 foot elevation and the waters came 9 feet into the home. So your idiotic rantings that I got what I deserved for living where I live is just that idiotic. Well, it is more than that, it is heartless and you don't belong here.

Ignore my threads, stay out of my way and keep your conservative, war is good, "we need to fight them over there and not here" attitude to yourself. You have been sold a bill of goods, you have been lied to and you have believed the lies. Our illegal and immoral war has created more terrorists, has weakened our position in the world (and as a military threat since we can't win) has cost a fortune, thus weakened our ability to be able to defend ourselves at home (look around you at the military facilities being closed on our shores - who the hell is gonna protect us?)

I hope you have a pleasant life believing the fairy tales told to you by this administration, I pity you when you finally wake up to reality. It will break your heart, just as it has broken mine.

:scared:

brainwashed Kool-aid drinkers never cease to amaze me-and self proclaimed Christians without souls are the worst of all. Party over country for those repugs-always and forever.They don't care about the AMERICAN victims of the WORST NATIONAL DISASTER IN US HISTORY, they only care about repeating Rove's spin "terra, terra, terra", in an attempt to turn the rest of the country back into a bunch of lemming- like thumb sucking bed wetters. Sorry, but America isn't buying what IQless has to sell.

RECONSTRUCT AMERICA FIRST!

If I had a hat, it would be off to you.

:hug: He/she will be gone soon.

He didn't last long at all. :hi:

:hug:

Is there a place in this country that is immune from natural disasters? Do you have a clue about insurance companies and how they screw over their clients? Do you think you'll be OK when some disaster hits your home? I've seen some fucking insensitivity, but you take the prize. People are homeless and we, as a country, are forgetting them.

And you think this war is necessary? Are you enlisted? Are any of your loved ones? You reek with the stench of the lies you believe and are definitely in the wrong place.

http://feinstein.senate.gov/crs-intel.htm

I hope that helps you wake from your sleep. :hi:

You better wake before the nation you love is gone. It's happening and you don't even see it because you are in a trance, a sleep so deep, you believe the lies.

How quickly they forget. How quickly they fucking forget.

:nuke:

the "frontline 10" + 2, and will phone my congress folk today!

:kick:

Nancy's office won't be open here for another hour.

Got an encouraging perspective... Look to this weekend for some possible "news".

:hug:

lol!

:kick:

C'mon folks! We've got a lot of work to do! All 435 Representatives need to hear from a DUer in his or her district!

I'm in my home, central heat blasting, but outside its wicked cold. Glad I'm not living in a tent with those blasts of Artic air coming in.

What 3rd world country is it that we live in? Remind me...

they need to know this will not be forgotten nor forgiven when it is time for us to vote again!

(feel free to add to your emails etc.)

This year, I will not be accepting {Christmas/ Hannukah/ Kwanzaa/ Saturnalia/ Festivus/ Pastafest} presents, nor will I be giving any {include here exceptions necessary to keep family peace, your job, etc.}. Please give a gift instead to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, who are still trying to rebuild their lives four months after our president vowed they "would not be forgotten".

For several years I have not felt right about all the commercialism and money literally thrown away at Christmas. This year, I too will be giving to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

We hear too much about the good news in Iraq - their elections for democracy, rebuilding schools, jobs, etc.

BUT, what about our own country, our citizens in Mississippi, Louisiana, and other states devastated by Katrina. Why isn't any news about rebuilding our own schools, why no news of homes and jobs for so many people displaced by the hurricanes.

There should be less emphasis and money spent in Iraq, and more to help our own country.

great Bush countdown calendars that Skinner turned us onto.

:kick:

me to call Rep. Bean. We both worked for her election and have to constantly be on her butt now that she got in. I will darken the doorstep of her next visit home in your honor. Maybe I'll give her copies of your photos for Christmas! (We are on her card list after all.)

Thinking of you often. :hug:

More power to you Merh! Sending spirit filled gumption! Merry Christmas as much as is possible.
Bama

:kick:

Are they still in? I was in meetings most of the afternoon. :(

help, will. I am totally tapped out and can't spare a penny right now to anyone, yet my mail and email is full of those who are seeking contributions. This Bush administration has really screwed so many people across the board.

:grr::grr:grr:

:kick:

Hope you guys remember us

Glad I have heat.

Bill CLinton was president and FEMA helped out quickly. These motherfu***rs in office now could give a rat's ass about the Katrina victims.

In 1994 our house was yellow-tagged and everything ceramic or glass broke. We also didn't have a kitchen, but FEMA was there within one week. All of our neighbors felt that the government was on our side and there to help - God bless Bill Clinton and the Democrats. We need to take back our country from the GOP and help the Gulf Coast......

Merh, how can DUers help?? I mean besides donating to Habitat for Humanity and other legit charities??

matter. (Wilma, Rita & Katrina)

Write your congress critters, write the leaders of our party, write the media, write everyone you can think of and let them know that this is important, that our fellow citizens should not be living in 3rd world conditions on our shores.

Have you heard Dean or Clinton or Kerry or Gore or any democratic party member speaking up for us, speaking out about the FEMA incompetence and the pathetic handling of this?

I know my Congressman, Gene Taylor, has been very vocal and is trying and I know the Louisiana leaders are trying, but where the hell are the rest of the party. Why don't they send volunteers to the affected areas, why don't they put their words into action and reach out to the hearts and souls of the citizens that are in such need, put the party principles into action and help?

On Monday...

and a KICK!

They're mostly repukes, but I did it anyway.