HUD Sends New Orleans Bulldozers and $400,000 Apartments for the Holidays

The Right to Return" for Pre Katrina Displaced

Things are moving fast as the United States Government seizes the opportunity whilst the nation is distracted by the frenzied holiday shopping season to bulldoze 4600 sturdy brick, public housing units when 200,000 are still displaced and thousands homeless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuQv4eAsvGE

For some time I have felt as if an experiment in social engineering and an insidious changing of the demographics has been ocurring in New Orleans since Katrina and the levee failures at http://www.PostKatrina2007.blogspot.com

Since I began posting, as I was getting to 'know' New Orleans, I have written on how I perceived that Black New Orleanians weren't being "welcomed back". Instead the message I saw in the streets of the city was and is, "If you are a working poor or poor Black New Orleanian and your neighborhood was flooded, 'we' do not really want you back." And 'we' will show you our contempt for you by ignoring you, allowing your neighborhood to fall to ruin and in the case of civil rights lawyer and Loyala faculty member, Bill Quigley, "you will be arrested and intimidated if you dare to advocate behalf of these New Orleanians seeking to return."

Watch the arrest: http://www.wdsu.com/video/14794232/index.html

Many will argue against public housing. I assure you your are being distracted. This issue is about the Right to Return, this is about capitalism run amok, this is about one group of politically strong and wealthy individuals determining the life path of others less fortunate then themselves, for their own profit and comfort.

I don't for a minute imagine that life in public housing was ideal. I know that violence, crime, and suffering came from the public housing areas and I know that the people who lived there loved their homes and their communities. They were evacuated and then not allowed to return to their homes and that the United States government is using this as another opportunity to 'privatize' at the expense of the public good.

http://www.defendneworleanshousing.org

Thursday, December 6, 2007

BILL QUIGLEY CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER ARRESTED VIOLENTLY FOR 'DISTURBING THE PEACE."

I just watched a news story on a local New Orleans news station, WDSU concerning the arrest of Bill Quigley, a New Orleans civil rights lawyer and prolific writer on issues concerning New Orleans.

Click here to watch an full advertisement before {: . ( the WDSU video newscast of Bill Quigley's arrest.

While many Loyola college students were out playing in the snow today, Bill Quigley, a Loyola faculty member and civil rights lawyer, was being violently roughed up as he was arrested whilst representing public housing folks at a city council meeting.

When I watch the video, I perceive Mr. Quigley's body language to reflect fear, shock, and surprise, as the man arresting him pushes him into the wall roughly. I believe you can see Mr. Quigley is still shaken when he speaks to the camera later.

As they were showing him being arrested the words "civil rights lawyer" kept playing like a looped soundtrack in my mind, as I watched the images of how he was being treated, I tell you it was eerie and startling to watch.

(Cause there is so much more of this to come and the 'law' will be armed with tasers.)

Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights.
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight.

--Bob Marley

My kids who live in New Jersey have good incomes and a nice home. They cannot afford to purchse the gas to heat their home. Their last gas bill was $550. They have set their thermometor to 42 degrees and put up a good tent in their dining rooom and sleep in sleeping bags on an air matress. The entire cost of the camping gear was only $124. They will save over $2,000 in gas bills by March. It is not what they ever expected, but then neither was having Bush become insane.

Sorry, I'm a better survivor than typist!

Survival of the Fittest ended with the discovery of penicillan! That is the evolution of the most enduring DNA, and the most resourceful, intelligent, creative, people willing to pull together to make it. I wonder how many of these greedy bastards would have died of childhood diseases, without medications.
NOW, Survival of the MOST AGRESSIVE, like Cancer, is eating away the best qualities of human beings!
ANd while they are spending all that taxpayer money to rebuild those apartments in N O, they are eliminating we seniors in the Northeast, by apportioning too little SS incomes and reducing the $ for LIHEAP funds. I have been given 164 gallons to get through the winter.! There is no way I can afford to buy it for myself............. NOW they're saying "It was never meant to provide all your heat." Hello! it has provided for my entire winter heating season for the last 4 years!
So you are going to see hundreds of the poor abandoning their homes to live in shelters through the winter.
I will survive, I know how to go into the basement and drain my own system, if necessary. I also have a woodstove. It's ll be great exercise for a 68 year old to slide down the 50 ' hill to get the windfall down below and saw it up with a bow saw. I guess if I nail a pulley to a tree I can get the wood up without too much strain.
But then I can claim TRUE survival of the fittest, in my DNA. In the 17th century my ancestor coming from Holland as a new bride, was shipwrecker=d off Sandy Hook. As they waded/swam their way to shor her new hubby was killed mby the NAtives and they captured, Penelope. Soon after they took her in to NY and dropped her off, (Ransome of Red Chief?) She remarried and her new husband became one of the 12 propriators of West Jersey. They jad 10 children and she lived to be 112! One of their great great grandsons would have signed the declatration of independance, had he not died in 1774! His law partner George Ross DID sign, and his son bcame a Revolutionary War Hero.

"You do raise some very good points JAKE."

Thanks for saying so, I am skeptical in general as you may have guessed.

"I rely on CD, ZNet, Counterpunch, Democracy Now, TomPaine.com and Air America. "

Um, they all seem to be more or less from the same general political point of view. Don't you see any benefit to mixing it up just a bit?

As for NO, the main problem to me seems to be that it's not a very good site for a permanent settlement. The indigenous peoples said as much centuries ago to the settlers. There is the geological eventuality too that the Atchafalaya river, being a shorter and steeper drainage to the Gulf, will one day rob the Mississippi's course, and there will no longer be any reason for NO to be.

I think Little Brother was taking a swipe at me with his Ebeneezer Scrooge comment. That's okay, asserting that personal responsibility is important is never going to get far these days, and that's all I did.

By the way, do I recall correctly that around the time of Katrina Prez. Bush reassured a prominent Republican guy (a senator?) that the government would see that his home was rebuilt? I think so (this popped into my head when foxetrader mentioned the well-to-do homeowners in California. When mentioning individual responsiblity, I do not mean specifically the less well off. The government wastes billions of taxpayer dollars every year supporting the rich who, by all rights, deserve and need no such help.

I don't know if msm is reporting this story because I rarely watch or read them. I rely on CD, ZNet, Counterpunch, Democracy Now, TomPaine.com and Air America. Counterpunch carried this story by Quigley yesterday and Randi Rhodes has been riffing on it today. She had a guest who has referred us to _advancementproject.org and
justiceforneworleans.org. There is important legislation pending in Congress that may affect this abomination of ethnic cleansing.

FOREXTRADER, I do apologize. I'm truly sorry, I have no excuse. Please forgive me. I'll be far more careful in the future.

KEM PATRICK: please read the post over. I was quoting an individual who thought that the people of New Orleans were whiners. My response was at the bottom. Please read carefully before you flame, regards.

Consider that the Nazi propagandists (also strategists) may be expecting and planning for, a "counter-movement". Perhaps they've staged information releases to imply that their time table is much shorter than their actual plans, remember it's mis- and dis-information.

Why would the FASCISTs attempt to purposely build up the pressure, and incite possible violence and definitely increase "ranting on the internet" ?

Perhaps it is to play us for fools, to "encourage" our overreacting prematurely. Perhaps they've planned all of this before, and the chess game moves forward to their predictable pace. They certainly have access to the latest models to predict crowd reaction and social forces propagating across the country - and every move is likely orchestrated with precision of military planning.

Most significantly, perhaps the very creation of a "movement" is what they need to trigger Martial Law, so we must be vigilant and very cautious of any who would incite us to take immoral actions that would backfire, and both strip us of credibility and prepare the way for further infringements upon our rights "to protect the country".

The power crazed fascist (anti-democratic) elitists behind the scenes, have been practicing for decades on 3rd world (and Australia counts as 2nd world status) and have learned many lessons since their failed of the Depressionera USA takeover in 1934. The McCormack-Dickstein Committee (1934-1935) has the scoop here, and here.

If only we had such a true patriot such as Major-General Smedley Butler (see his link in 2nd one above), to infiltrate the Nazi's 2nd attempted USA takeover this time around, and out them for all to see. I know that 73 years ago, is like asking people to remember the civil war, this this war is far less civil and much more divisive.

Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »

FOREXTRADER, you say, Bush made promises that he had no right to make and never intended to keep those promises in the first place.

Okay, maybe so, but why have we spent billions of tax dollars there and accomplished little, but to enrich Halliburton and some other buddies of Bush and company? Do you agree that is what we should have done?

Just one example: FEMA awarded a contract to a company, to deliver bags of ice to the people in New Orleans. The company recieved $123 million to deliver the ice. They never delivered even half of it and stored the unused ice for two years at a cost to the taxpayers of $12 million. Then FEMA decided the ice was old and maybe not safe for use. So they had the stored ice melted. They paid the company $3.5 nillion to melt the unused ice.

Now we are spending millions more to bulldoze very livible apartments, while thousands of American citizens are living in tents. Then we plan to build far fewer of the same type apartments, at an estimated cost of $400,000 for each small, inexpensive apartment.

Maybe Bush didn't intend ot honor his promises to help in New Orleans, but if so, why is he allowing this obvious corruption and insane waste of our money to go on and little of any good is being done there? I fail to understand your complaint and comments.

You do raise some very good points JAKE. But that was published in the LA times. The Presidential Directives listed are accurate and are available on line in the LIbrary of Congress. That's a pretty good source.

Twoblueday: "I am weary of all the whining about New Orleans. The real issues are never discussed anyway:
1) the Bush government made "promises" it had no power to keep, and no intention of keeping. So lets stop acting as if the promises still have weight, and stop maintaining the fiction they will be fulfilled."

"2) local disasters do not, as seems to be a consensus in discussions, obligate the rest of the nation to bust the budget (so what's another pile of billions into the red, some might say? I say if you have a weight problem, eating a donut does not obligate you to eat a dozen of them). Aside from infrastructure issues that have become federal budget items (and maybe rightfully so), Katrina caused many, many individual problems that the federal government (and local mafias, er, local governments) have no obligation, or, really, means to resolve. This is probably a very unpopular view in today's "entitlement" society, but it is my view."

That's way I feel about those rich Ahnold Schwarzenegger loving California suburnanites who lost their homes in the wildfires. How dare they compare their suffering to Katrina victims. Not even close!!!!Entitlement society you say? Why don't you clowns stop stealing Louisiana's oil revenues. You sure as hell aren't entitled to that!!!!

If we had wanted our "poor and vulnerable" living on this to-be-made-valuable real-estate, we'd have reinforced those critical-levies ere-now (or not sent those 'mystery-barges')...
"Best-advice" is: Give-up and disburse, or expect your-own version of a 'Palestinian-experience'. [The 'Big-Easy' ain't 'easy', no-more...]

I am forwarding this article to the cnn website and ask those arscholes why don't they print these article?

How cute the CAT bulldozers that are special built for Palestinian land demolition can be personally witnessed in new orleans... there may be some nice people in this country but this gov't that is full of american people that just f@cking suck, this is pure abuse of power and proof americans hate their fellow americans. what a bunch of pigs! How do american people just allow this crap to happen to their own people and land. where's trump? isn't he building zillion dollar fking condos too? struggling working class clowns is what we are, displace us out of boston,new york,or any worth while city. what a disgusting shit hole the usa is

"If they had like to die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.

This is probably a very unpopular view in today's 'entitlement' society, but it is my view."

-- Ebenezer Scrooge, businessman

'Tis the season!

Can we fight deregulation? We must fight in our own hearts and minds. We must break the belief that the market will provide justice, that outsourcing public programs is NOT cheaper. We must replace the market synonym of Freedom with that of Profit... we must always ask who profits, because if we all need it then we all work together (through goverment) and pay nonprofit rates, and we all become owners, rather than payers. Yes the dollar is really only good for paying taxes it seems. (though I must say, income tax pays for our debt to the privately owned federal reserve, and that corporate tax pays for our military budget, and China and Saudi Arabia are already buying up our debt. Debt has always been profitable- and it used to be called Slavery)

"Fema Concentration Camps. That article lists every one of them by state. __ There are more than 800. Since that article was published, more have been added."

It's the same list reprinted on half a dozen other sites by my current count, and the funny thing is, there is no author, and no citations. I alluded to this in a previous post. Who compiled this list and who keeps it updated?

The executive orders are not executive orders per se, but someone's reworded interpretation. Who did that?

What is the most compelling reason that I should embrace this as a reliable source of information?

You all should think about why you believe the things you do. It starts with *facts*.

I am weary of all the whining about New Orleans. The real issues are never discussed anyway:
1) the Bush government made "promises" it had no power to keep, and no intention of keeping. So lets stop acting as if the promises still have weight, and stop maintaining the fiction they will be fulfilled.

2) local disasters do not, as seems to be a consensus in discussions, obligate the rest of the nation to bust the budget (so what's another pile of billions into the red, some might say? I say if you have a weight problem, eating a donut does not obligate you to eat a dozen of them). Aside from infrastructure issues that have become federal budget items (and maybe rightfully so), Katrina caused many, many individual problems that the federal government (and local mafias, er, local governments) have no obligation, or, really, means to resolve. This is probably a very unpopular view in today's "entitlement" society, but it is my view.

And the "black helicopter" sites, always a reliable source. Better than MSM.

"Get off your lazy ass and do the research yourself pinhead."

I did that, and it didn't go anywhere. OTOH, why are so many gullible koolaid drinkers so willing to believe things they read just because they seem to mesh up with their world view?

I only have two words Kucinich and Paul, it's time our tax dollars designated for welfare go to the poor, disadvantaged and oppressed, instead we turn our welfare tax dollars into Wealthfare tax dollars, tax dollars for the rich and richer. In otherwords our tax dollars meant for charity for the disadvantaged, to make us feel good, into dollars for the corrupt, evil and rich which makes us feel bad.

I want to feel good about my taxes again.

Do you know that most of our tax dollars we spend on war goes to the already extremely wealthy (very low percentage goes to our soldiers, they get the right to live in America instead of dollars). Once the majority of us figure that out, it is going to make us so sick that we will eliminate taxes all together...and hallaluha mission accomplished!

After the wealthy have turned our stolen tax dollars into gold, they will crash the dollar (the dollar's real worth is only to pay taxes). My guess is they are waiting till the Democrats take power to crash the dollar, they control the timing you know, they (those with power like Cheney, Murdoch, CEOs of our largest corporations) control the FED and the media (money supply + information = control).

If the Republicans win they will crash the dollar just after we win/lose the war with Iran, they need to keep the dollar going until we invade Iran in order to have something to pay the soldiers and military contractors. Yet the military contractors turn their dollars into gold ASAP, the soldiers, however, after giving their lives to defend freedom (if they were duped by the lies) or a green card or a job or to be a future Senator/President (if they're delusional) one day, or whatever their motivation was for signing on, they will be left holding worthless dollars, for their killing/protection services, to pay for their soon to be privatized VA healthcare.

Watch the Saudis and Chinese start buying up our banks and corporations with their worthless dollars as the wars near to an end (whether we win or lose), you thought American unions were worthless in protecting our rights, wait to you see Chinese and Saudi Unions, they are really paper tigers, made with our dollars by the way. (Unions = Liberty) (No Unions = no Liberty...for Everyone.. except the Emperor/Dictator and his court of boot lickers)

Soon the Saudis and Chinese will be buying our private armies like Blackwater and perhaps our own army, cia, fbi, nsc, fcc, fda, etc once they're privatized (assuming Republicans retain control of congress of course, yes Repubs still control congress, you see half the Dems vote Republican most of the time)...my advice is in this primary vote Kucinich and Paul, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain, if by some miracle they win their respective primaries.

Spread the word. If it's not Kucinich who cares who else it is, Obama, Clinton, Edwards they're basically all the same cosmetic change (Black, Women, Nice Hair), not real change, if we want to stop a crashing dollar and not become Chinese and Saudi corporate slave workers, vote Kucinich and Paul, otherwise its our own fault, we still have the choice, now use it, spread the word...Ciao

"800 FEMA prisons that are fully staffed and ready for occupancy"

Citation please. Just because you heard it doesn't mean it's true.

******* Why do morons persist in demanding proof for anything that isn't mentioned by the completely discredited MSM? Get off your lazy ass and do the research yourself pinhead. Do you really expect someone to take time out of their busy day to educate you because you are too lazy to educate yourself?
Must be one of those retarded college grads who think they have been educated because they managed to sleep through 4 years of lies at a university. Duh, educate me. No retard, educate yourself! I get so sick of this kind of crap. I for one can attest that the FEMA concentration camp nearest to me (Sand Point Navy Reservation in Seattle WA) though officially "closed" is fully staffed and was used during the WTO riots (perpetrated by the CIA) to house hundreds of protesters without adequate food, water, or heat.*********

We're gearing up for the creation of the new builder class of slave laborers,

who will find productive and beneficial experience in knowing how to build really good castles for those of the privileged class.

Got brick?

Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »

Those projects could be made easily into affordable condos and afford the poor and low income people the pride of ownership which they deserve. This is indeed blatent ethnic cleansing in NOLA.

$400,000? That's cheap! Doesn't everyone have 5-20 million in investments and a healthy 6-figure income? Oh, I forgot. The '06 median household income was $48K, personal income was $26K. Are these luxury homes?

As for apartments -- to HELL with them. Replace every last one of them with a condominium that people can generate equity with, as modest as necessary, with market going-rates appropriate to the region's economy. Anyone worth his progressive salt has read about the absentee landlord problem, connected the dots, and can see that the prime reason people are perpetually landless like serfs, and real estate is not affordable to locals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absentee_landlord

"Does Alphonso really believe that of those 50,000 families in FEMA trailers, 4,600 of them could not live in the existing units for 72k each?"

This is definitely a "they should just give up and get lost" kind of scenario. It's corporate brinksmanship - the same trend as what has been happening to neighborhoods in boroughs in New York, except in New Orleans the developers and their pals at HUD and congress, are exploiting thousands of people at once. They see their window of opportunity, and it's obviously so easy for big business and big media to render people utterly meaningless in the process.

In Jersey the development corporations and mall stores tear down existing buildings, blow up the sides of mountains and leave a big pile of broken rock, then move in, jack up rent and nobody can run a small business anymore.

In Jersey City half of downtown disappeared over five years, so that when I returned it looked nothing like it had before. I was in a state of shock. Where once there was a neighborhood of three-story buildings with small businesses run by a diverse group of people, mostly immigrants, now there are monolithic glass condo buildings without any streetfronts at all. The two worlds run smack into each other, the former spontaneously-populated town and the generally rather empty corporate psuedo city.

They have created these depressingly artificial surreal homogenized centers of commerce. That is not a free market. I don't know what that is. It's grotesque if you ask me.

jakenewton re:kempatrick "800 prison camps" comment:
Actually, there are 600 FEMA prisons and concentration camps in place in case of any real or imagined "national emergency." Go to:
www.freedomfiles.org/war/fema.htm or
www.beggarscanbechoosers.com
for the horrifying facts. We are living in dangerous times.

The situation calls for visionary, 21st century planning, execution and should be a model for future urban planners to emulate.

The Republican's are in charge, right? Should be a no-brainer...

Oh wait.... the Republicans are in charge.

What does Noemi Kline call this?, oh, that's right, the Shock Doctrine.

Bulldozers are important weapons in the worldwide war on the poor. The rich, with their insatiable greed for wealth and comfort treat the poor (and, yes the middle classes) as grades of lower species. I contributed money to the relief effort to relieve the suffering of N.O. residents. Where has it gone? Now $762 million of our tax money goes to destroy their homes. There may yet be another Rachel Corrie or two who will die before this ends.

BTW, if you have not already read it, Google FEMA prisons and then scroll down to the third and forth articles and read them. ___ Amazing. They also give you the Presidential Directives Bush has inacted. ___ Scary.

... bulldozers to demolish thousands of homes ...

Where is Rachael Corrie when we need her?

Oh noo! I wasn't spam posting.... Mea Culpa.

Since the destruction of my beloved city of New Orleans due to the levies (I won't even put that on Katrina!), Federal Policy towards New Orleans is something out of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" program. This article is a good case in point. FEMA should change it's name to ANGKA.

From the same administration that brought you ethnic cleansing in Iraq and Palestine brings you ethnic cleansing in New Orleans.

This government seems to be working toward igniting a conflagration either at home or abroad the purpose of which is to impose martial law and establish a dictatorship. These are very dangerous times.

I would like to support Bill Quigleys excellent article and assertations with recent photo's and on the ground experience.

I was just driving by the St. Bernard housing development this morning and marveled how it was just left to crumble and rot. And the C.J. Peete housing - how the police are often not even patrolling in them as people ransack and destroy the buidlings - then I remember, "oh!" - "they don't want to save these structures". So they are left to rot whilst thousands continue to be homeless and long to return home. And whilst new expensive condo's - the lifeless boxes for housing hundreds - are being built with a fury on Tchopotulis Street near the CBD and French Quarter.

At the same time I understand the pain, violence and poverty, that came out of these same housing developments and the desire to wipe the slate clean. The problem with wiping the slate clean is all that is "healthy and unhealthy" for the social envoirn gets destroyed. The other problem is who wants to "wipe" the slate clean . It seems to me that those who "have" in New Orleans, would like those who "do not have", or have very little financial resources, to not come back, or just give up and go away.

I was discussing my concerns about the changing racial makeup of New Orleans post Katrina with a life long Black New Orleanian, who had lost his home, "Where are all of us who take care of them (the wealthy-upper middle income earners) who cut their lawns, watch their children and their elderly; that take care of their security, housekeep for them, wash and detail their cars for them live? We won't be able to afford to live near in the areas we need to work in and to take care of their needs and our own."

I have been witnessing, photographing and documenting since the February 2 - 2007 what I believe to be the racial cleansing of the city of New Orleans. It is obvious for those who have the eyes to see. The poorer neighborhoods struggle to survive, many are left in shocking poverty and despair, it would blow your mind to see the hard ships and struggles endured by those with lower incomes in New Orleans. This morning I saw a man hauling wood to rebuild his home in a shopping cart. And he was a good 1/2 mile + from the Home Depot when I saw him on the busy road.

I watched 2 more Caucasions move into my neighborhood on Sunday (I am also a Caucasion) - we have moved into what was once a tight knit, primarily Black New Orleanian neighboorhood with an famous church on it's corner. I have watched my street go from a racial makeup of 60% Black to 65% Caucasion.

I also watch, I am sorry ahead of time for my judgement - in disgust - as people of my own race, cruise our street in their SUV's looking for properties (even though there are no for sale signs anywhere). These folks don't look at the people around them on the street as they cruise down it, they will not make eye contact with you either - they are "safely" tucked in in their hermetically sealed vehicles. Their behavior as I watch them reminds me of men who cruise the streets for prostitutes.

This phenomena of lack of social interaction is so foreign to my experiences with the Black New Orleanian community who socially excells at the greeting of stranges in passing on the street, waving to neighbors, and eye contact in their orientation to hospitality and social respect for strangers and neighbors alike. No, the people who cruise my neighborhood the seem to lust after the properties and I watch as those of their ilk greedily devour neighborhoods and the culture.

And some reading this post will say, "it's survival of the fittest". And they would be correct, if life was about a competition of the fittest. What I am speaking to is about community and generations of strong social networks. That is what makes New Orleans so unbearable to be away from for thousands of displaced residents.

I am aware of flagrant racial discrimination as new/older landlords have bought up properties and have the power to "choose" how they demographically change the neighborhood not for the betterment of the community - no to raise their property values. And for some reason, being a Black New Orleanian does not equate in their scenario's. My own landlord owns 6 properties on my street. He has dispraportionately rented out his properties to 5 Caucasions and 1 Black. He also charges a different rent (she pays more) to my Black neighbor for the same apartment. I have told my neighbor this, she tells me she is just glad to be able to live here. Now multiple this by 75 properties he owns. He has a lot of power to change the demographics of this city and he is.

Below are a few of the postings I have posted on life for the poor and lower income families post Katrina. The first 2 links have pictures of 2 housing projects. 1 left the fall into disrepair and looting. The other boarded up against anyone who needs to live there trying to get back in.

Thank goodness for all the volunteers and people who have come to support those in need, for it is in my opinion places like the Upper and Lower 9th Ward wouldn't be as far along as they are, (and that isn't saying much) without the help of hundreds of thousands of volunteers. They would have been left as other poor and lower incomes neighborhoods are left - to rot, whilst families strive to raise their families and ejoy a part of the promise of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

http://postkatrina2007.blogspot.com/2007/04/welcome-back.html

http://postkatrina2007.blogspot.com/2007/04/welcome-back-part-2.html

http://postkatrina2007.blogspot.com/2007/04/open-for-business.html

http://postkatrina2007.blogspot.com/2007/04/do-you-think-there-is-racial...

http://postkatrina2007.blogspot.com/2007/06/moral-test-of-government.htm...

http://postkatrina2007.blogspot.com/2007/07/right-delayed-is-right-denie...

Bill Quigley - You are my hero! Thank you for all that you do.

"800 FEMA prisons that are fully staffed and ready for occupancy"

Citation please. Just because you heard it doesn't mean it's true.

This administration has to have a war. If Iran is off the table New Orleans is apparently on. I wouldn't be surprised to see IED's blowing up bulldozers. How far can you push people before they push back? This is exactly what happens when evil gets the upper hand. Learn something here people !

TRASHING A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson was on C-SPAN this morning with a pitiful cheerleading speech designed to counter the recent upheaval and pessimism in the housing market.

Right Alphonso, never give up hope because things aren't really that bad are they? After all, anyone can see the logic of replacing 4,600 livable units with 744 units at roughly 5 times the unit price of $400k compared to $72k (18% of 400k).

In other words, either way draws roughly $300 million in revenue but using the existing units accomodates FIVE times the number of families at one-fifth the rental/purchase price.

Does Alphonso really believe that of those 50,000 families in FEMA trailers, 4,600 of them could not live in the existing units for 72k each?

What better opportunity exists to establish a model for high-tech conservation and frugal living in compact spaces, whether financed by private or public funds.

How could it NOT be cost effective to rehabilitate 4,600 structurally sound units rather than bulldoze them down for 744 units in the same space.

Anyone familiar with high-tech construction alternatives understands the huge potential of efficiency gains with this situation.

Where's the details Alphonso? Why not demonstrate this is not another corrupt deal with your buddies that gives government property to private developers for pennies on the dollar?

Where's the bid details for rehabilitation alternatives of the 4,600 units? Where's the cost-benefit assumptions and comparisons?

This looks as ridiculous as using million dollar helicopters to pull people from rooftops post Katrina at the same time barring people with $200 flat bottom boats from going into the same area and rescuing MANY more.

Do you mean it's racial HORRIFIED? __ Naw, __ no way. That don't happen anymore in America.

So much for Chocolate City? I don't think so; there's no economic base left there. Once Shell moves out, it'll be another Detroit.

Put those homeless and tent dwellers in some of those 800 FEMA prisons that are fully staffed and ready for occupancy. You won't need the new HUD apartments. Build some Hud casinos and make a buck, instead of spending one. Put Karl Rove in charge of the operation, __ he's out of work.

Is halliburton in on this crooked deal by any chance?

Wonder if those bulldozers are made in China?

What's the beef? I'd love to live in an apartment that cost $400,000 to build. Talk abut the Ritz,__ wow! __ This is another swell example of what our government can accomplish when they want to do something with our taxes. ___ Time to puke again.

Hey Dems- see what corruption does for you? It bites you in the ass and then along come the repukers to show you how it should have been done. We need a 3rd party or someone thats honest. Obhama/Edwards/Kucinich

so much for a chocolate city... it is going to become plain vanilla..

buminfl, thanks, but I'm a bit underwhelmed. The first site says "black helicopters" within just a few sentences after all. The article there contained no byline of a reporter. I had to search the second site for a specific article, which while having an author with a name simply linked to a site that did not, and basically listed a sites that someone feels might be used for such a purpose. This is far from the same as saying that these camps exist as prisons or concentration camps and are staffed as such, etc. Anyone?

If you Google fema prisons, __ (be sure to put the "S" on on the word prison)___ you will see the fifth article titled, Fema Concentration Camps. That article lists every one of them by state. __ There are more than 800. Since that article was published, more have been added.

It also lists all of the Presidential Directives approved by the administration and will allow Bush to be our King at any time he so desires. He will have the authority to have any citizen taken to a work camp and work at whatever type of job he wishes. All bank accounts will be under his control, all modes of transportation will be controlled by the government, including personnel vehicles, all fuel supplies will be controlled by the government, all farms and food supplies under his control. There are more to read. That is not paranoia, the directives have been signed into law.