I hadn’t planned on posting today, let alone posting on Hurricane relief issues, but I have some Must Read Links
I have seen some reports over the last few days that were first dismissed as anecdotal that Katrina Evacuees are being held in remote locations, surrounded by “security.” This security will not allow them to leave, nor will they allow outsiders in. A caller to the Ed Schultz Show told a similar story about his attempts to get assistance to people in camps located in several locations, including Arizona and Texas. He was turned away, not even allowed to say hello to the evacuees behind barbed wire.
But this is the one thing you must read and tell people about today: American citizens are being held in remote camps, unable to contact the outside world, unable to get their lives together. And she has pictures. We have transcended anecdote and are in the world of eyewitness account. Are they being held against their will? Who can say, since they have no contact with the outside world. They aren’t allowed to go to church; they aren’t even allowed to have a preacher visit them. They aren’t even allowed to have a bowl of cereal. There is every indication that they will be held incommunicado for at least 5 months, unable to get new jobs, unable to pay the bills, unable to process insurance claims, unable to declare bankruptcy before the new rules take effect, unable to get their kids into school, unable to so much as have a cold glass of milk. Some of these people have relatives who would like to take them home. Remember, as Howard Dean said just the other day, “They are not refugees. They are Americans.”
People want to help the evacuees displaced by Hurricane Katrina, but they are not being permitted to do so. Why? These pictures are of course sanitized for your protection, but even the media-safe pictures make it clear that they are in the middle of nowhere. There are no jobs, apartments, schools, cell phone towers, internet connections for miles around. It’s a great place to seek inner peace, but a lousy place to start rebuilding a shattered life.
At least there are potential employers near the Astrodome.
Escape is possible from the Astrodome.