Links to help Katrina victims
Aug. 29th, 2006 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoney321I don't want to make some big political statement about Katrina. We all know (or should know) that the government failed the Delta. Again. From the city gov't to the feds. When I was there in June, there were still cars in trees. There were still houses upside down and four blocks away from their original foundations. Not much has changed. People can't come back without schools for their kids nor without hospitals operating.
So without getting off on a rant and getting upset, I'm just going to put some links out here if anyone is still thinking of contributing in any small way. It all helps. Operation Kindness is a NO-KILL shelter here in the DFW area that took in hundreds of abandoned cats and dogs from NoLa all the way to Gulfport. Some pups and cats are still in the shelter, waiting for adoption. That's over 10 months. (A few of the dogs were found locked in sheds, almost 2 months after the storm hit.) If you don't have the ability to adopt, they can take financial donations to help support medical treatment and living expenses for these animals. It's a great organization.
Without schools, New Orleans can't function. Only 20 schools remained standing of the original 120. Only three elementary schools are open for residents who have stuck around and are trying to rebuild New Orleans. They can use donations for school supplies, clean-up (there is toxic mold in some schools that needs to be eradicated), and teacher support. Warren Easton high school is a historical charter school in the center of NoLa, predominately black, and the only school in NoLa that received an excellence rating. (They also have a top-notch Special Education program.) They can use help, too. We all should know by now that Louisiana had some of the lowest rated schools in the US. The schools were woefully underfunded and supported. Any contribution that can go directly to the students is a boon.
A lot of people were worried about donation money being squandered. I remember last year hearing people complain about the Red Cross, etc. Here's a list of grassroots volunteer organizations, how to donate, and where your money is going. It includes direct assistance to people with HIV/AIDS, mold abatement, the Acadania Outreach Shelter (a great organization for abused women and children among other things), and direct rebuilding of homes and small businesses. That link will pretty much cover all small organizations seeking donations, and have all been checked for fraud.
I swear, if I see Bush smiling and saying it's a job accomplished today, I'll scream. I'm grateful to all of the faith based organizations that did FEMA's work for them. It's no excuse, Bush. 2 more years, people, and he's gone.
[ETA] OFF TOPIC, BUT OH MY GOD!! Warren Jeffs - polygamist leader the Big Love "Rulon" is modeled after - has been taken into custody!! I'll be watching this story like a HAWK.
America's Most Wanted calls him what he is: child rapist and updates on the arrest. The list that he had wigs, cell phones, and tens of thousands in cash in the car.
Another polygamist on the lam, and I knew her sister.
The last raid on polygamist in Short Creek (the old name for Colorado City/Hilldale where Warren Jeffs ruled) is detailed here, and images are here. It failed because the public saw pictures of sad wives and crying children. They were are released and now we have a man like Jeffs running the show.
Full details of the charges against him in Arizona and Utah. He was smart and covered his tracks with his affairs in Texas.
A list of news links all concerning polygamy, the FLDS, and other enclaves such as in B.C. Updated daily. Man, there are some good topics here.
An FLDS website for the new Eldorado, TX enclave, with a picture of the new temple built there. This is where Jeffs has been rumored to be hiding out. Blog links are interesting, and here's the local paper in Texas that has kept an eagle's eye on the ranch.
These are not good people trying to follow the teachings of Jesus, people. More as I find it.
So without getting off on a rant and getting upset, I'm just going to put some links out here if anyone is still thinking of contributing in any small way. It all helps. Operation Kindness is a NO-KILL shelter here in the DFW area that took in hundreds of abandoned cats and dogs from NoLa all the way to Gulfport. Some pups and cats are still in the shelter, waiting for adoption. That's over 10 months. (A few of the dogs were found locked in sheds, almost 2 months after the storm hit.) If you don't have the ability to adopt, they can take financial donations to help support medical treatment and living expenses for these animals. It's a great organization.
Without schools, New Orleans can't function. Only 20 schools remained standing of the original 120. Only three elementary schools are open for residents who have stuck around and are trying to rebuild New Orleans. They can use donations for school supplies, clean-up (there is toxic mold in some schools that needs to be eradicated), and teacher support. Warren Easton high school is a historical charter school in the center of NoLa, predominately black, and the only school in NoLa that received an excellence rating. (They also have a top-notch Special Education program.) They can use help, too. We all should know by now that Louisiana had some of the lowest rated schools in the US. The schools were woefully underfunded and supported. Any contribution that can go directly to the students is a boon.
A lot of people were worried about donation money being squandered. I remember last year hearing people complain about the Red Cross, etc. Here's a list of grassroots volunteer organizations, how to donate, and where your money is going. It includes direct assistance to people with HIV/AIDS, mold abatement, the Acadania Outreach Shelter (a great organization for abused women and children among other things), and direct rebuilding of homes and small businesses. That link will pretty much cover all small organizations seeking donations, and have all been checked for fraud.
I swear, if I see Bush smiling and saying it's a job accomplished today, I'll scream. I'm grateful to all of the faith based organizations that did FEMA's work for them. It's no excuse, Bush. 2 more years, people, and he's gone.
[ETA] OFF TOPIC, BUT OH MY GOD!! Warren Jeffs - polygamist leader the Big Love "Rulon" is modeled after - has been taken into custody!! I'll be watching this story like a HAWK.
America's Most Wanted calls him what he is: child rapist and updates on the arrest. The list that he had wigs, cell phones, and tens of thousands in cash in the car.
Another polygamist on the lam, and I knew her sister.
The last raid on polygamist in Short Creek (the old name for Colorado City/Hilldale where Warren Jeffs ruled) is detailed here, and images are here. It failed because the public saw pictures of sad wives and crying children. They were are released and now we have a man like Jeffs running the show.
Full details of the charges against him in Arizona and Utah. He was smart and covered his tracks with his affairs in Texas.
A list of news links all concerning polygamy, the FLDS, and other enclaves such as in B.C. Updated daily. Man, there are some good topics here.
An FLDS website for the new Eldorado, TX enclave, with a picture of the new temple built there. This is where Jeffs has been rumored to be hiding out. Blog links are interesting, and here's the local paper in Texas that has kept an eagle's eye on the ranch.
These are not good people trying to follow the teachings of Jesus, people. More as I find it.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 03:07 pm (UTC)Thanks for the links. I've been donating monthly to various groups, but these are some new ones. Thanks!
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Date: 2006-08-29 03:18 pm (UTC)*smooch* I tried to find ones that were reputable...
AD news
Date: 2006-08-29 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 04:15 pm (UTC)*beams*
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Date: 2006-08-29 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 03:16 pm (UTC)*non-germy smooches*
<3
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Date: 2006-08-29 03:11 pm (UTC)Although I'd make an exception for polygamy if I could be YOUR wife. ::gives you lovey dovey eyes::
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Date: 2006-08-29 03:16 pm (UTC)I'm trying to get a bunch of links from LasVegas and SLC gathered. They're getting news faster than even CNN. WOOT! What a bastard.
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Date: 2006-08-29 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 04:03 pm (UTC)Bless everyone who continues to do the recovery work that others *cough*BushAdministration*cough* have failed to do.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:09 pm (UTC)I'm so sorry about your neighborhood. But more importantly, I'm just sick as hell about our current administration's lack of spending/involvement in the rebuilding of the gulf coast. Of course, a lot of the issues stem back to the Civil War and the punishment of the Delta region that led to a weakened infrastructure.
I can't imagine how bad it would be there if it weren't for the goodness of strangers, you know? The gov't should be ashamed.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:31 pm (UTC)I would love for Bush and his lackeys to have to spend day after day with the stench of Katrina in their nostrils. After the storm surge subsided everything was covered in a slimy muddy sludge that smelled like rotten eggs, dead fish, and raw sewage that had baked in the 90+ degree August heat. I want him to have to smell for the rest of his life that stomach-turning odor that I will certainly never forget.
I honestly don't know what he's said about the anniversary because every time his face comes on the TV I have to change the channel because he makes me physically sick.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:37 pm (UTC)That whole family is just shameful.
And the fact that a year later there still isn't POWER? WATER?? My god, in LEBANON the people were organized by the crazy terrorist leaders and put to work to rebuild. They've spent, what... 17 MILLION alone in NoLa? And they've had BILLIONS ear-marked. AHHHH.
How about instead of a photo-op with Bush clearing sticks on his Texas ranch (and really, Connecticut, y'all can have him back) we see him clearing debris from the gulf-coast.
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Date: 2006-08-29 05:44 pm (UTC)And today I read an article in which the Dutch have offered to come in and redesign and rebuild the levees so that they would actually protect the city from even the worst storm scenario for a fraction of the cost, while the PTB say "yeah whatever" and go back to merely patching up the levees and dragging their feet on putting real improvements in place.
How about instead of a photo-op with Bush clearing sticks on his Texas ranch (and really, Connecticut, y'all can have him back) we see him clearing debris from the gulf-coast.
Yes. I want to see him gutting out the mold-infested drywall from a poor, elderly black woman's house, or helping to pour the foundation for new affordable housing for low-income families, or dropping off crate after crate of school supplies and books for devastated school systems. Then maybe, just maybe, I won't want to puke everytime I see his face. But I doubt it.
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Date: 2006-08-29 05:50 pm (UTC)Shit, I'd like to see Bush having to work in the temporary morgue, IDing bodies. Maybe THAT would get through to him. Where the fuck was he when he was needed? Arizona or something? BAH. Even Lyndon B. Johnson showed up within HOURS after Hurricane Betsy hit. He was stiff, unliked, but by god, he showed up and rolled up his sleeves.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:08 pm (UTC)And that's a great Katrina list.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:13 pm (UTC)Ervil is an absolute nutcase. Rulon on Big Love was most definitely modeled after Jeffs. They even put in the usurping of power from the Allreds as Bill's father.
Man, they're all sickos.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:21 pm (UTC)Man, they're all sickos. Nods.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:26 pm (UTC)To say this is a topic of interest to me is an understatement. :)
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:11 pm (UTC)Like
Julia, brain not exactly working as it's 50F and windy and I don't want to turn on the heat
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-29 04:35 pm (UTC)There is a community here in BC called Bountiful; it was one of the groups that had followed Jeffs, but is now run by some nutter whose name I can't remember..Winston something or other. A reporter for the Vancouver Sun has been doing an expose of the community. I shudder for all the children exposed to these evil men.
My heart goes out to all those who continue to struggle to rebuild their lives after Katrina.
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Date: 2006-08-29 04:40 pm (UTC)Yeah, Bountiful was set up by the Allreds, I believe, and was used in the 70s-90s as a "re-education camp" for wayward girls. Read: girls who decided they didn't want to live that life. There's a sister city in Mexico the LeBarons ran.
THEY ARE CRAZY PEOPLE. Gah. This is a great day for the FBI, I tell you.
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Date: 2006-08-29 05:24 pm (UTC)I know virtually nothing about the Mormon religion, but these whackos make my blood run cold. I saw a thing about the "lost boys" and thought, at least they got out. The girls, they are really the lost ones.
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Date: 2006-08-29 05:38 pm (UTC)I've blogged a lot on this topic, if you're interested. If you hit the "polygamy" tag in my post, there's more details. And yeah, the girls are really the losers here. They don't know any better, and are treated worse than cattle.
Re: Busy busy busy!
Date: 2006-08-29 05:44 pm (UTC)*makes "Wet-Back Delight" cassarole, because I think it sounds like good Mexican food*
*is completely ignorant*
*loves the Lord, but mostly my sister-wives*
And personally, I'm getting a little tired of holding to the rod. The iron rod. Because without Viagra, it's not as good a handhold as it once was.
(I sent an offical letter to the church telling them to take my name and the kids' names off their records. They keep coming by!!!)
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Date: 2006-08-29 05:51 pm (UTC)I am SICK, Breath. *coughs away from you* I need soup. SOUP.
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Date: 2006-08-29 06:36 pm (UTC)And I'd believe it about the non-improvement. Watching the newsbroadcasts with the Pres and others congratulating themselves on a job well done is just pissing me off more than I can say.
I forgot about Americorps! That's a great organization. Good for your friend.
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Date: 2006-08-29 08:04 pm (UTC)*hugs*
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Date: 2006-08-29 08:46 pm (UTC)*hugs back!*