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OnyxCougar · 09-06-2005, 05:16 PM

This from a diff website http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/105148/3626:

Quote:

Fri Sep 02 14:36:29 2005 "Red Cross Issues FAQ On Why They Are Not In New Orleans"

Quote:

Acess[sic] to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

Link is http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html I've also archived it locally. The link already disappeared from the Red Cross website, but so far the actual page is still there.

The date is from the HTML code making up the web page. Right-click and Open With Notepad to see it, it's the first line.

I particularly like that part about "...encourage others to come into the city."

This is yet another detail of how much this response stinks. All these things, cut phone lines, the security cordon refusing access to emergency rescuers and providers, it all smells.

edit: From the "You gotta be shittin me...." Department:

Link (Houston Chronicle): http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...siness/3335685

Quote:

Sept. 1, 2005, 8:30PM

AROUND THE REGION

CONSTRUCTION
Halliburton hired for storm cleanup
The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.

KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.

From the first link:

Quote:

Sister travels all over the state of Mississippi and knows all the little towns and people in them, working for a government agency. I finally got through last night and we spoke for hours.

I said- surely they won't rebuild the casinos.

She said- Oh no- this is the urban renewal they have all been wanting. They will rebuild, bigger and better. All those crummy little old businesses- the tire shacks and fast food places- those are gone. But 200-300 feet in from the most beautiful coast in the Gulf has been cleared. The casinos won't be rebuilt on barges this time. They were forced to build them out on the water so they would be "temporary" but that level of temporary is not needed in this economic climate. The Baptists will lose this fight, since they already have degrees at many universities to teach hotel and casino management in the name of economic development.

Only the Beau Rivage (http://www.beaurivage.com/) which was build on shore is still in good shape. She suspects the no zoning, hands under the table level of construction typical of MS did in much built on the coast. Beau Rivage evidently brought in their own inspectors and was having none of that. She did say they are in a noisy flight path to the local air force airfield though.

Her prediction- golf courses will spring up along the coast and the casinos will be slightly more inland. The poorer locals will not be allowed to rebuild because "building permits" will not be issued. Their land will be purchased cut rate, and if you didn't care to sell, it will be condemned for "economic development" as per the Supreme Court.

Tin foil hat? I don't think so. It isn't a plot, just, in the immortal words of Laura Bush, the first wife, "That's just the way it is."