http://nord.twu.net/acl/katrina.htmlThe Anti-Communitarian League (ACL)
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2020 by Niki Raapana with Nordica Friedrich,
a common citizen's guide to communitarian law.
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http://nord.twu.net/acl/katrina.html The Anti-Communitarian League (ACL) Research & Analysis of the Third Way [ HOME ] - [ Research ] - [ Contact ] |
2020 by Niki Raapana with Nordica Friedrich, |
Why is FEMA building trailer parks for mostly black evacuees outside of small Southern (white?) towns? Portions of New Orleans are being condemned and the re-development plans already do not include most displaced blacks or poor who used to live there. Apparently citizens living in HUD housing have no legitimate claim to their homes. If we don't own the land, we don't own the right to live on the land. That's basically what the American Revolution was all about. As the Irish immigrant Gerald O'Hara emphasized in Gone With the Wind to his eldest daughter, "It's the land Katie Scarlet, it's the land." 
English nabob President Theodore Roosevelt established the first wildlife refuge in 1903. Today all land that bears fruit belongs to the King and his most honored guests, formerly known as the Great White Hunter, although now it's expanded to include the great white vegans who want to turn half the U.S. into A Wildlands Project. "The National Wildlife Refuge System was created and is now sustained in large measure by the strong support of hunters and anglers. We are proud to expand hunting and fishing opportunities to fulfill the mission of the Refuge System and ensure that future generations have the ability to hunt and fish on our public lands," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton."
We have plenty of wildland roads that are already maintained: as the good folks at WildlandsCPR explain, "our National Forests alone have 500,000 miles of roads -- 12 times the size of the U.S. interstate system."
To compensate for this grave displacement of almost half a million American citizens, why can't the U.S. finance whole new TOWNS along some of these already built and maintained roads? These "public lands" have water, fresh fish and wild game and all kinds of natural resources that can be extracted and used for the "public good." 
Instead of investing in our displaced citizens, we're using our tax dollars to buy 100,000 travel trailers that will belong to FEMA. Evacuees don't necessarily get to keep them. FEMA trailer parks are being hastily built in small towns in rural Louisiana. Previous exeperience tells us that not only are many evacuees from older hurricanes still living in trailer parks (past the 18 month FEMA deadline), but they definitely create hardships on the cities entrusted with their "care." It's always been sad to see the way we treat our homeless in this country, and I was aghast at the wars between the church sponsored "tent cities" and the City of Seattle in 1999. Now I'm even more dissapointed to report that the "organized plan" for hundreds of thousands of hurricane homeless people does not include yurts, tipis or any other innovative shelter ideas that are suitable to longer term housing needs. While many people can adapt to trailer park living within 4 small metal walls, it's a crying shame they can't be presented with all the available or additional options.
An 8'x30' trailer has 240 sq ft of living space. Spirit Mountain Yurts (24 ft pictured left) has a 30 ft (710 square feet) for $5,985.00! UPDATE DEC 2009: It's with great sadness I'm adding this link to a yurt forum where SMY is discussed and people are warned not to purchase a yurt from them. Yurt builders everywhere suffer when one builder refuses to take responsibility for their errors. If there was only one complaint it could be just an over reaction from a disgruntled customer. But there are several. http://www.yurtinfo.org/forum/read.php?10,1751,page=2. end update. At Rainer Yurts, under $20,000 will buy a 30 foot round (731 sq ft; 15'6" high at center; 4 windows) $10,629, plus 28oz Roof Fabric with 15 year warranty: $1,052, plus Double Air Cell roof insulation with cotton liner: $2,226, plus Double Air Cell insulation with cotton liner: $1,890 (for walls), plus 60" White Aluminum French Door (full-light window in each door): $600, plus 1 additional 60" White Aluminum French Door (full-light window in each door): $1,275, plus Gutter System w/Downspouts: $835 , plus Rain Diverter For Above Door: $75, plus Flashing For Wood Stove: $125, plus Crate Designed For Shipping In Contiental U.S.: $250= Total: $18,932. 
" As airlifts end and shelters remain jammed, a grim, enduring reality is settling in throughout the areas closest to Katrina's epicenter. More than 300,000 displaced residents, mainly from New Orleans, will be housed in coming weeks in tiny trailers that Americans normally use for recreation and travel.// Unprecedented in its scope and magnitude, an effort is under way by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rush 100,000 trailers into the region as the agency seeks to set up interim housing to deal with the challenge of moving the displaced out of crowded shelters." Victims to get homes on wheels Crews erecting mini-city on cow pasture By Paul Salopek and E.A. Torriero, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek reported from Baker, and staff reporter E.A. Torriero reported from Chicago, September 14, 2005.
The ACL would like to help Katrina evacuees still residing in shelters apply for grants to purchase
pre-made yurts or even to make Gertees out of salvaged materials. There's no reason anyone should have to stay in a shelter for another month! These portable dwellings can be built from scratch in a couple of days. They can provide additional living space for the evacuees living in small travel trailers too. We don't have the banking numbers or the credentials to obtain a sub-contractor position with the big corporates who've been chosen as the primary contractors. We're really not connected. The corporate camp builders have experience in foreign war zones. What we have is first-hand experience with homelessness-camping in the United States and a lot of practical know-how that can assist others to create their own functioning living spaces by recycling what's available. All we require is LAND, transportation costs, a few tools, rope and glue, and minimal daily food supplies. We'll build a Gertee for us to live in while we're there and use it as a "model" for evacuees interested in building their own. We also just found a Montana yurt company that will come and do a seminar for FEMA and/or any other interested government agencies. Please contact us if you see a need for our services or if you have the resources to assist us in helping the poorest evacuees stay out of refugee camps.
Before and After Katrina: Monolithic Customers Share their stories September 9, 2005 by Kris Garrison, monolithicdome.com. "The Monolithic Dome is a super-insulated, steel reinforced concrete structure used for homes, schools, gymnasiums, bulk storage facilities, churches, offices, and many other uses." Building Survivability: The Strength of the Monolithic Dome by Dr. Arnold Wilson, a leading engineer in thin shell concrete construction. How to Build an EcoShell.
Why not start a whole new town somewhere close to where the evacuees are from where they could move to if they so chose? The current "camps" are providing everything, including camp food. Gee, maybe people would rather do their own cooking and set up their own space.
"Gov. Bob Riley has designated all 22 Alabama state parks as refuge for those whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, for a total of 2,500 campsites and 350 rooms. The Federal Emergency Management is now reimbursing park lodges, cabins and chalets in addition to more conventional roadside hotels./ Cheaha is lodging about 30 evacuees, said Park Historian Connie Roberson, including seven children enrolled in Clay County schools. Three are now temporarily employed by the park in housekeeping and in the restaurant." Sweet home Cheaha: Katrina evacuees find temporary housing By Irin Carmon, Star Staff Writer The Anniston Star at MSNBC.com, 9-15-05.
"Specifics on screening have still not been worked out. Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers will conduct the process. Howell said local officials "have not been given a list" to do any screening themselves./
The Porterhouse Café at Quintard Mall will provide food service to residents until Shaw brings in a private food contractor. Security also will be handled by a private contractor, though McClellan's property manager, Scott Bradshaw, said FEMA is still "looking at" a private company. Calhoun County EMA has set up checkpoints around the facility while workers have been inside the barracks, but that security arrangement is temporary." 20 housing units at McClellan should be finished today By Brian Lyman, Star Staff Writer The Anniston Star at MSNBC.com, 9-15-05.
Fort McClellan also houses a chemical school. "Officials have long feared a plane crash on the chemical weapons bunkers, saying it is one of the few events that would pose a threat from the stockpile to the surrounding community." Anniston Army Depot goes under strict security watch By Richard Raeke and Nathan Solheim, Star Staff Writers, 09-11-2001. 
Bush should open up his ranch is an idea posted at oregonlive.com. " I have a perfect solution for many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush has hundreds of acres on his Texas ranch where mobile homes, tents, yurts and hundreds of portable toilets could be set up as temporary shelters./ Barbecues could be set up also, as there is probably a lot of beef available. A job-search station on the ranch would assist people in finding employment, and perhaps some of them could work on his ranch./ I am sure he would welcome this suggestion as the loving, caring person that he is.NADINE SHEPHERDTigard .
Bush: Rebuilding Must Address Inequality By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago (September 16, 2005): "Claude Allen, the president's domestic policy adviser, said two of the main storm relief proposals Bush made in his Thursday speech were aimed at addressing the region's poverty: the $5,000 grants for worker training, education and child care and an Urban Homesteading Act in which surplus federal property would be turned over to low-income citizens to build homes. He also proposed creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama offering tax breaks to encourage businesses to stay in the devastated region and new businesses to open. The White House said Friday that initiative would cost about $2 billion, as would the working training grants./ Bush said the goal was to get evacuees out of shelters by mid-October and into apartments and other homes, with assistance from the government. He said he would work with Congress to ensure that states were reimbursed for the cost of caring for evacuees." [emphasis added]
Does the term "refugee" imply a total loss of all property, including homes and land? Answers.com provides many definitions, including Merriam Webster's Legal Dictionary's: "ref·u·gee ('re-fy?-`je-)n. An individual seeking refuge or asylum; esp An individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)." For the most part, the term "refugee" seems to be primarily an international legal term. It's detailed in international law. International law is also frequently called communitarian law or community aquis.|
Email forward from a doctor in New Orleans, September 10, 2005 "our [FEMA] team has been working the flight line off loading helo's. overnight we turned new orleans airport into the busiest helicopter base in the entire world. at any given time there were at least 8-10 helo's off loading on the tarmac, filled with 10-40 survivors at a time, with 10 circling to land, it was a non-stop never ending process 24 hour a day operation. the cnn footage does not even begin to do it justice. the roar of rotar blades, the smell of jet A and the thousands of eyes looking at us for answers, for hope. our busiest day we off loaded just under 15,000 patients by air and ground. at that time we had about 30 medical providers and 100 ancillary staff. ALL we could do was provide the barest ammount of comfort care. we watched many, many people die. we practiced medical traige at its most basic, black tagging the sickest people and culling them from the masses so that they could die in a separate area. i can not even begin to describe to transformation in my own sensibilities from my normal practice of medicine to the reality of the operation here. we were SO short on wheel chairs and litters we had to stack patients in airport chairs and lay them on the floor. they reamined there for hours too tired to be frigthened, too weak to be care about their urine and stool soaked clothing, to desperate to even ask what was going to happend next. imaging trading your single patient use latex gloves for a pair of thick leather work gloves that never came off your hands and you can begin to imagin what it was like. "watching the new reports trickle back to us has been frustrating and heart braking. there is NOTHING anyone could have done to prepare for this. it was TOO huge, even now its so big its almost impossible to comprehend. the leaders needed to see first hand the damage but did not because their safety could be guarenteed. its a war zone in new orleans. it is covered in raw sewage with no infrastructure. every engineer i have spoken with believes that most of the city will have to be plowed into fields and that rebuilding what is left will take decades. it will NEVER be the same. never. ever." On the Front Lines, email forward from Hemant H. Vankawala, M.D., 9-10-05. |
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"In contrast to this week's confusing and sometimes chaotic effort by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue $2,000 debit cards to evacuees, the Red Cross (free rooms) hotel program seems to be working smoothly, with virtually no paperwork for evacuees and a simplified billing process for hotel managers." Steady buildup to a complete breakdown, By Susan B. Glasser and Michael Grunwald, Washinton Post, September 11, 2005. HOUSTON - The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid out $669 million nationwide to families affected by Hurricane Katrina, officials announced Saturday.// Nationwide, FEMA has registered 573,262 families, agency spokesman Ed Conley said.// In the Houston area, 36,823 families have registered and $49.3 million has been paid. Conley said the family registration figure represents singles and multiple-member households.// Financial aid typically takes about seven to 10 days to be paid, Conley said.// "We do it quicker when we can," he said.// Later Saturday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas released a FEMA memo that detailed how local and state governments could be reimbursed for assisting evacuees.// "Having FEMA's support in writing is welcome news, and I will continue working with the delegation to secure funding from other government agencies until Texas and the many communities across our state are fully reimbursed for their efforts during this time of crisis," Cornyn said in a statement.// FEMA will reimburse governments for lodging, housing, transportation and labor costs, according to the memo released by Cornyn. Many expenses related to education and health care will be reimbursed, but not the costs of hiring extra teachers or buying additional textbooks.//Churches and other faith-based organizations will have to work through local governments for reimbursement, FEMA's memo said, and private families aren't eligible to get repaid. FEMA reports $669 million paid to Katrina victims Associated Press, September 10, 2005. |
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".. the $62 billion Congress has now allocated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Katrina averages to approximately $119,000 per person in Louisiana and Mississippi." Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., chairman of the Judiciary Committee who opposed giving FEMA the money because the bill lacked accountability. FEMA Contracts to Provide Housing Relief for Displaced Hurricane Victims Release Date: September 8, 2005, Release Number: HQ-05-228. The corporations contracted for support include: * The Shaw Group Inc., of Baton Rouge, La. will stay close to home and will provide design, construction, transportation, utilities and facilities management. The company is also providing support to hospitals and other public buildings. * Fluor Corp. of Aliso Viejo, Calif. heads up operations for the Housing Area Command. An engineering and construction firm, it is now in Louisiana beginning construction on temporary housing units that will provide electricity, potable water and sanitary sewage facilities. * Bechtel National Inc. of San Francisco, an engineering and construction firm that is now on the scene in Gulf states to provide emergency housing relief. (Bechtel supplier needs as of September 8, 2005: * Licensed Contractors for Mississippi * RV Parks with hook ups * 10 RVs for offices * Trailers for housing (60 people) * Tents and canopies * Folding tables and chairs * Portable power generators * Portable water treatment * Package Sewage Units * Portable toilets and pump trucks * Helicopters * Aerial Photography * Ablution trailers (Showers) * Catering/Mess Service. In order to help your business must be registered and have a D.U.N.S. Number.) * CH2M Hill (mostly bad links) of Denver specializes in sewerage design, hazardous-waste cleanup and transportation projects such as highways and bridges. It will be working on providing housing in Alabama. * Dewberry Technologies, Fairfax, Va., an advanced technologies company, will be providing planning and reporting tools. (Dewberry Tech says the report is wrong and Dewberry, the parent company is who is providing services to FEMA.) "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. Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals- White House connections attract renewed attention from watchdog groups September 10, 2005. |
States struggle to shelter the dispossessed- Agencies, volunteers working to process Katrina survivors by the thousands MSNBC, September 4, 2005. Why are free American survivors going to boot camps? What about all the offers of free housing on craigslist.org? Have the dispossessed seen the lists? Will good people print copies of offers and options and go pass them out to the evacuees in Fort Chaffee, Fort Custer and the miliary base near Battlefield, Michigan?
"In Fort Chaffee, Ark., relief workers turned the post where Elvis Presley entered the Army in 1958 into a processing center for refugees. There, the homeless were registered by the Social Security Administration, checked by doctors and given post office boxes./A military base near Battle Creek, Mich., was transforming itself into a welcome station./ Up to 500 evacuees were headed for the Fort Custer Training Center, where volunteer cooks were readying meals at a mess hall. Tables were stacked with towels, toiletries, T-shirts and other clothing and essentials. Medical personnel stood by to help, and clergy and attorneys were on call." I'll bet that so are the recruiters.
What we recommend: Practice no-trace camping in a park or anywhere designated "public land." Take your measley 2k debit card and use it to get your food and supplies. (Update: FEMA to stop giving out debit cards
Hurricane victims will have to apply for aid through traditional methods AP, September 9, 2005.) Then head out like a "pioneer." Bring water jugs, candles, bleach, first aid kits, iodine, gertees/tent, sleeping bags/pads, flashlights and batteries (buy all battery operated items the same battery size). Bring "Klondike Goldrush" food and supplies. Go on an extended Survivor vacation. Head for the hills if you're sturdy. Form tribes. Take care of your own elderly, infirm and young. Remember your ancestors. Make a promise to the rest of America to: Bury your toilet duties, burn your garbage, and boil your water before you drink it (adding a T. of bleach per gallon). 
Click maps to locate AVAILABLE PUBLIC lands. 
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"As a U.S. human rights activist who has reported on genocide in Rwanda, Sudan,
West Papua and other parts of the world, I am appealing to my human rights and
civil liberties contacts around the world -- Africa, Europe, Latin America,
Australia, Canada, Asia and the Pacific -- to immediately bring this
humanitarian crisis to the attention of your elected representatives, your
governments, and international organizations. They must make immediate demarches
to the American diplomatic embassies and offices in your countries. The United
States is under the control of a despotic regime that is permitting American
citizens and legal residents to die from starvation and disease. This is why the
Bush regime refused offers of international assistance -- they are depopulating
an entire city that before the storm was 70 percent African American, with the
remaining 30 percent largely comprised of those of Creole, French Acadian, and
American Indian descent. The United Nations must take this up as an urgent
unfolding crisis that has an international impact. Please help our people." Wayne Madsen Report. "Rather than handing over the reconstruction to the same corrupt elite that failed the city so spectacularly, the effort could be led by groups like Douglass Community Coalition. Before the hurricane, this remarkable assembly of parents, teachers, students and artists was trying to reconstruct the city from the ravages of poverty by transforming Frederick Douglass senior high school into a model of community learning. They have already done the painstaking work of building consensus around education reform. Now that the funds are flowing, shouldn't they have the tools to rebuild every ailing public school in the city?" With the poor gone, developers are planning to gentrify New Orleans by Naomi Klein Friday September 9, 2005 The Guardian. {The communitarians agreed the poor must be tested and retrained to become better, happier slaves ~ed.} |