FEMA Protecting Its Employees, Not Evacuees

There are still 50,000 families forced to live in FEMA trailers ever since Hurricane Katrina. Trailers in which the levels of formaldehyde present in the air are so high, CBS has obtained emails that indicate the agency is prohibiting its employees from even briefly stepping inside them, and despite agency claims “that it is still working on the formaldehyde problem,” it isn’t.

In July the head of the agency told Congress he was working quickly to deal with the toxic formaldehyde issue.

“FEMA and the CDC are scheduled to begin Phase One of a study in the Gulf Coast within the next few weeks,” said FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison.
Now FEMA says the study has been halted - not a single trailer tested.

The stated reason: the agency says it needs to identify “action levels for responding to the results.”

In other words, when FEMA finds high levels of the toxic fumes, the agency still doesn’t know what to do about it.

Sadly, this is exactly what we can expect as long as the party that doesn’t believe in government is heading our government. Ever since Ronald Reagan’s inaugural speech when he declared “Government isn’t the solution; it is the problem,” Republicans could hardly have done more to make sure it is the case.

FAT FUCKING LIMPBAUGH

Another day of making fun of people, when are people going to wake up to this FRAUD. The reason limpbaugh needed all the OC is for his listener's...how could you not be on drugs to listen to this vile despicable scumbag!

Tragic Realities

The numbers tell the story of the federal government's continuing failures of Hurricane Katrina survivors. Instead of dropping as experts would expect, the percentage of Katrina survivors suffering mental illnesses has risen significantly.

As Newhouse News Service reported, Harvard University's Dr. Ronald Kessler said just 10.9 percent of survivors reported serious mental illness six months after the storm. But just before the second anniversary, the percentage was 14 percent.

Could there be any clearer sign that we are failing a whole region of this country in a time of need? Well, yes. Kessler's testimony to a Senate subcommittee noted that most of the increase in mental health issues had come from storm-ravaged areas outside New Orleans. In the city, in fact, the upward change was slight.

It would be easy to lay all of this on the Bush administration, especially since it has been trying to rewrite the Katrina history to escape most blame. But Congress has co-equal responsibilities to find funding, even in the midst of war, which matches the sterling volunteer efforts of Americans to help Katrina survivors.

At the first anniversary, Kessler and colleagues found Katrina survivors showing remarkable resiliency and communal optimism. But he told The Boston Globe at the time: "What if things aren't better a year from now? Those are the sort of nagging concerns that we have." Nagging concerns have turned into tragic realities.

New Orleans Today

I just got back from N.O. and not much has changed. Travel through the French Quarter and it's back to normal but go out of the city and it's devastated. I remember after the storm the big box stores Walmart, Best Buy ET all said they would re-open to help rebuild the communites and not one opened! I went to some neighborhoods and not one chain store has reopened not Walgreen's or CVS no fast food only a few local business. I will add to this later