One Problem With The Media

You may recall when I posted:

Homeland Security To Red Cross: Stay Out Of New Orleans

Look what I posted in the article:

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.

Now look at this:

As the National Guard delivered food to the New Orleans convention center yesterday, American Red Cross officials said that federal emergency management authorities would not allow them to do the same.

Fortunately, John got on the phone and clarified the issue.

Comments

[!]

~Be sure the truth will find you out~. That is, if anyone is interested in the "real" truth !

[GrannyToad]

Aha. Hmm.

LOUISIANA isn't allowing Red Cross into New Orleans, then. State Homeland Security. I'm not having a reading comprehension problem, am I?

[John from WuzzaDem]

GrannyToad,

You are not. The "homeland security" personnel who barred the Red Cross from delivering food to the evacuees housed at the Superdome, and at the convention center were from the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (formerly the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness (LOEP)).

This is a LA *state* agency, created by the Civil Act of 1950 and is under the Louisiana Military Department, which reports to LA governor Kathleen Blanco.

They are NOT part of FEMA, nor are they part of the US Department of Homeland Security.

[galloway]

Yep...it's Kathleen Babineaux Blanco...famous for not making a move without the approval of her political advisors. Unfortunately, those political advisors suck at emergency management.

Bites to be poor and disadvantaged and at the mercy of a power-hungry, paranoid, talentless politician.

[AuntJ]

Someone needs to tell Allen Colmes this - he said it again tonight (and last night) that FEMA kept the Red Cross out. Geez, the MSM and the cable networks need to do some internet research for sure - they are reallly getting on my nerves as I discover articles on the internet on the early days after Katrina and what went on in the Superdome and Convention Center. Its amazing what you'll find if you just look !

[Wayne]

Two day ago or so FOx had the Redcross head on. She said they had 2000(?) people with food and water etc. ready to go into NO and they were told not to by the LA Homeland Security. Also it was stated, they were fearfull if people found out that food and water were available, many more people would be drawn to the dome.

Makes a lot of sense, not.

[Sam]

It used to be that reporters were responsible for checking there facts. I sure am glad to see this forum where I get most of my news trys to do that. Thanks Dan.
Sam

[farmgirl]

Ok here what I want to see: an indepth reporting on just what the aid that these people can expect amounts to.

Here's what I hear..first hand: Motel here had them for 5 days and no money..not from the evacuees or from red cross ..red cross came and told them to move into a public shelter at a local church..then the church moved them all out via some "kind" of busing relocation plan.

So..figure..family of five family A: in shelter, no personal items , no money.

What help can they expect for finding apartmetn/house and paying rent or financing?

Waht help and who from for furniture, appliances? Utility deposits and payments til they work..most jobs don't give pay check for 3 weeks after begin date.

What help with medical care and medications?

What help tolocate a job?

What help for mental health care for those truly traumatized?

What help and work up to decide where this family going to settle?

how do they get to the location they select if they are allowed to make selection.

Who provides what and how do they access it? Why doesn't some media folks pick a family and follow them thru the process of getting the aid and getting started again?

ikeep hearing that zillions of dollars collected for aid, but wher does this aid go? How does it get distributed?

The shelter I know about..has four public telephones and about 200 people remaining in it..How does one get to the telephone to make inquiry calls with only four phones?

I just would like some reassurance that these people are being processed back into a life.

[farmgirl]

You keep reading about needs for foster homes and places for animals.

I contacted three of the agencies myself. I have heard nothing from any of them.

I gave three vets as references as to my capabilities.

It makes me think that again..the process is not working to match up homes with animals.

I bet if I was logging on to send a donation they would process that..makes me wonder if they collecting money and delivering the services..jsut getting so paranoid from this.

I beg pardon if thy are innocent of raking in dough....

[pathenry]

Updated: 4:04 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2005
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.