Red Cross Barred From New Orleans By Homeland Security

[Toy Ranch]

They've never been there, since the hurricane struck. Homeland Security has locked them out.

http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?


Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

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. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.


:hazmat:

[blissmeister]

I cannot imagine the mayhem running through New Orleans. After reading the op and trying to follow the reports as they come out of that area, I am actually not surprised at the stance the HSD is taking. After all, where would anyone for the Red Cross start if they were permitted into the area? This is beyond devastation. http://therossshow.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[TerrorEd]

Homeland Security is keeping trained volunteers from providing assistance to the people that are still stranded. That's cold-blooded, and lame.

The Red Cross is much better prepared to handle a situation like this. They've been working natural disasters for a long time. Homeland Security is still wet behind the ears.

I listened to "Democracy Today" on NPR at work yesterday. They had a reporter at the convention center, broadcasting live, I believe. When asked the question: "Who's in charge?", he couldn't say for sure.

It's no suprize the wrong people are running the show. :1caca:

Ed.

[Toy Ranch]

After all, where would anyone for the Red Cross start if they were permitted into the area?

They would have started by providing food and water, medical treatment, and some degree of organization at the Superdome and Convention Center.

Those people were stuck there for days without food or water, for the most part. The Red Cross would have been in there to give them some relief.

[packyrat]

They would have started by providing food and water, medical treatment, and some degree of organization at the Superdome and Convention Center.

Those people were stuck there for days without food or water, for the most part. The Red Cross would have been in there to give them some relief.

Anyone that was at eBayLive last year at the end of June....or has EVER been to the Big Easy during the summer....knows that the heat index and humidity is just borderline bearable outside. At the convention center specifically....there might be room for 200 people to get under the two pick up/drop off overhangs and out of the direct sun....otherwise it is 100% sizzling concrete with the sun beating directly down on it from about 11am till 8pm! To NOT let the Red Cross at least in there to THAT location to provide minimal help, is criminal.

They can physically LOAD people on buses for evac'ing as they become available, but in the meantime....let the people that KNOW how to help....HELP!

People are dying you AZZWIPES! :mad:

[kim]

i couldn't sleep - tossed and turned all night worrying about them...

this whole thing is one of the most disgusting awful horrible and sad things that i've ever witnessed - and - i do mean witness - i will never forget this - nor - will i ever forget those people...

i think those responsible for this outrage - ought to pay - (yeah - it's an outrage too - and - i am outraged as well) - i think they need to pay - and - never stop paying...

[kim]

by the way - this morning CNN said that they have suspended any evacuation of the convention center as well as mercy hospital - and - who knows how many other people - until - first they said until sunday - then they said "possibly" until sunday...

[sibs ling]

I've never been so embarrassed for my Government before.

Sheer ineptitude and lack of planning are, literally, killing people. :(

[packyrat]

Oh dammit all to hell now! :1neko2:

Fox News JUST announced that the ASPCA is *IN* New Orleans rescuing pets from flooded houses and rounding up the displaced ones running scared in the streets.

I am just about the #1 pet wussie in the world, BUT.....to allow the ASPCA in to help and KEEP OUT the Red Cross is pure insanity! :madmadbea

How about the HUMANS that are hungry and thirsty and dying at the convention center, you twits!!???!! :2gamecock

[Toy Ranch]

Packy, from what I understand, the National Guard has finally gotten food and water into the convention center and superdome.

[packyrat]

The key word in your news being "finally", Bobby......

.....the RC would have been in there 3 days ago if they had been allowed inside the city!

I started losing it over the way things were being handled when I heard the first report about a man dying in a wheelchair with his elderly wife beside him, sitting in front of that mega-million dollar convention center with no food or water.....and all that was being done was tossing a blanket over him & anyone else that died there. :1hepbomb1

This *IS* America for crying out loud...things like that DON'T happen here!!! :1neko2:

[bluekazoo]

This *IS* America for crying out loud

This is the *NEW* America ... you know the one ... where people are working hard ... cuz it's hard work ... and where the president says he's 'looking forward to going' to a disaster site FIVE days after the disaster starts ... where a president vacations for five WEEKS during a war that he started ... and where there is less protection and care for citizens since the implementation of 'Homeland Security' than there was before said implementation ..

New Orleans is one of the major ports in this country ... at the very least, shouldn't there have been emergency personnel already working there as an arm of normal 'Level Orange Alert' Homeland Security?

Homeland Security? :1rotfl2: They're only teasing us ... it's just a bunch of pamphlets .. we thought there were really people doing something? :1rotfl2:

None of the government's reaction to this makes sense, my shame for this administration continually reaches new heights ...

The government IS NOT the country - the PEOPLE are the country ... the people are inherently good - and many are sleepless and worried and tearful this week ...

The ban on the Red Cross doesn't even freaking surprise me anymore .. after watching the news this past week, I feel more drained than half a dozen September 11th's could have made me feel ... and I feel more compassion for my fellow citizens as well ...

And if I have to hear Lee Greenwood sing that song one more time, I swear I'm gonna barf ...

/ end rant

[Shadowcat]

The was an article in the paper about towns in Mississippi that haven't seen any assistance of any kind yet. If the RC can't get into NO, then perhaps they should start looking into helping those small towns elsewhere.

[blissmeister]

I have not been watching any television, so maybe someone who has, can brief me here. Does anyone know when the Homeland Security Department will be lifting their gag order to allow the Red Cross in to do what they are well-known for? It is inhumane leaving this devastated area this way... totally inhumane~!

[bluekazoo]

yes, Skitty, I have heard there are areas that haven't even been REACHED by anybody yet ... heaven only knows what they'll find when somebody gets in there.

[krisinluck]

I found this image, complete with caption, on a blog yesterday.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b175/krisinluck/giveadamn.jpg

I think our federal government's give a damn is busted.

I am buried in anger and disappointment. I've moved on into something that has no word to describe it.

According to wwltv.com (http://www.wwltv.com/sharedcontent/nationworld/katrina/stories/090405ccKatrinawccongressguard.1f974ad6.html), it looks as though there will be a government "probe" of the delay in getting National Guard troops in there in a timely fashion. Check out what Wisconsin did:Among those headed in were several hundred from Wisconsin, where the governor took the unusual step of declaring a disaster outside his state to activate his Guard.

"This was the first time a governor ever declared a natural disaster in another state and activated to that other state," said Gov. Jim Doyle, who issued his order Wednesday. "We were ready to be deployed within 24 hours of that order." Yay for Jim Doyle! How cool is THAT?

At least one state had the balls to say screw the beauracracy - let's get this MOVING.

[krisinluck]

Oh! I and saw the article about the small towns not yet touched too, Skitty. The CNN version of it is here (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.the.forgotten.ap/index.html).

[packyrat]

Check out what Wisconsin did:Yay for Jim Doyle! How cool is THAT?
At least one state had the balls to say screw the beauracracy - let's get this MOVING.

Well considering that the shrub and his gang have been too busy scheduling flights back & forth across the country; STAGING set ups for the photo ops in MS & LA; counting up all the excess profits the oil companies will be dumping into their personal portfolios (blind trusts, my ass!); and now holding midnight oil burning parties over how they can slip in a far-rightie onto the SC to pacify the whacko-istians in the middle of all this.....somebody had to to give a flying fuck and DO something that was actually PRODUCTIVE!

I am not a big fan of overthrowing the worthless government that has been bought out from underneath all of us....but, I wouldn't mind a few MORE governors saying SCREW DC and doing similar things!

Maybe total embarassment in the public eye will get the dumbasses attention.....nothing else seems to be! :1barf1:

[Kashtin]

The local head of the American Red Cross has responded to complaints that the agency has not provided help within the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans. He says they weren't allowed.
More than 50,000 people are being housed in 90 Red Cross shelters throughout Louisiana. Many of those shelters are in areas surrounding the Crescent City, but there are none inside.
How come? Local CEO Tom Foley offers this explanation:
"The state Department of Homeland Security in Louisiana asked the Red Cross not to go into the city because they want that message to be, 'You need to leave the city. This isn't going to be a sheltering spot.' "
Foley says it's frustrating for volunteers not to be able to help. But the way the Red Cross operates, he says, is that evacuees are brought to them by local officials -- much like victims of a fire are taken to the Red Cross by a fire department.



That's the Louisiana Dept of Homeland Security.

And Red Cross themselves say they are not search and rescue.

[TerrorEd]

The Red Cross may not do "search and rescue", but they do go on-site to provide assistance, immediately, when allowed. They have a long history of putting themselves in harm's way to do their job.

"The largest mobilization of volunteers for a disaster relief operation was also in response to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, when a total of 54,577 workers arrived on the scene to provide relief ."

The quote is from here. (http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_315_,00.html)

Of course, that mobilization took place before there was a Homeland Security Department, state or federal. I guess the times, they are a-changin'...

I just wonder how big of a difference it would have made to those stranded in NO, having assistance air-lifted to them by the Red Cross. I bet their attitudes and spirits would have been more upbeat. The death toll would be less, also.

Ed.

[sadie999]

The state Department of Homeland Security in Louisiana

Louisiana Homeland Security? Louisiana was a country?

Homeland Security is this administration's excuse to squash every civil liberty in this country because they are such disgusting dickless creeps that the only joy they feel is one of power and sniffing your computer to them is what sniffing little girls' panties is to the pervert down the street.

There may be a state branch, just like there are state offices of the FBI, but it is just one more bloated piece of shit do nothing smoke and mirrors department brought by that idiot and his puppetmasters.

The proof is in the pudding - those people in N.O. waited five days for substantive help - that's failure on the part of the feds. No more blaming Clinton, now. No blaming riots and anarchy (though that is surely what this group of cowards will do). A real man takes his whuppin' when he screws up - so you can be sure Bush will make excuse after excuse.

This president and this administration are a failure at almost everything they touch. Exception to that rule: currying favor with the rich and big business.

Anyone who still believes in Bush and his fellow pukes is more delusional than the most stoned out acid freak at Woodstock ever was.

[Kashtin]

Louisiana Homeland Security?


Yes, Louisiana has a STATE Dept. of Homeland Security. They are the ones that ordered the Red Cross to Stay on the outskirts of New Orleans. They also have a website:


http://www.loep.state.la.us/


There may be a state branch, just like there are state offices of the FBI, but it is just one more bloated piece of shit do nothing smoke and mirrors department brought by that idiot and his puppetmasters.



NO they are NOT!!


The Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (LHLS & EP); formally the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness (LOEP), was created by the Civil Act of 1950 and is under the Louisiana Military Department.

[Kashtin]

"The largest mobilization of volunteers for a disaster relief operation was also in response to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, when a total of 54,577 workers arrived on the scene to provide relief ."



Sorry Ed, but the "On Scene" was in New York. The Red Cross DID NOT have search and rescue at Ground Zero. That was State and Federal Agencies and contractors brought in to dig through rubble.


Of course, that mobilization took place before there was a Homeland Security Department, state or federal. I guess the times, they are a-changin'...


Better see my post above this one on that little point. 1950 was quite a while ago.

[TerrorEd]

"The Red Cross DID NOT have search and rescue at Ground Zero."

I didn't say they performed search and rescue at ground zero. The Red Cross said they provided relief on the scene.

"Better see my post above this one on that little point. 1950 was quite a while ago."

It sure was. Thanks for the link. I stand corrected on that little point! ;)

Regardless, the Red Cross should have been allowed access.

Ed.

[Heartland]

Kashtin, I don't believe anyone expected the Red Cross to do search and rescue missions. What we did expect is that they would be able to go in and offer aid and comfort to the people dying of thirst, heat, and lack of medicine, just like they do for every other natural disaster in the world.

Water and food stations could have been set up in several places that were not under water. I do not believe, and will never believe, that those stations would have kept people from evacuating the city. That's a CYA excuse. I do believe it would have saved a lot of lives if they had been allowed to do what they are best at doing.

[Kashtin]

Kashtin, I don't believe anyone expected the Red Cross to do search and rescue missions. What we did expect is that they would be able to go in and offer aid and comfort to the people dying of thirst, heat, and lack of medicine, just like they do for every other natural disaster in the world.

Water and food stations could have been set up in several places that were not under water. I do not believe, and will never believe, that those stations would have kept people from evacuating the city. That's a CYA excuse. I do believe it would have saved a lot of lives if they had been allowed to do what they are best at doing.


Correct, but the OP blames the United States Department Of Homeland Security for stopping this aid. It was Government of Louisiana decision. Not Federal.

[Toy Ranch]

Correct, but the OP blames the United States Department Of Homeland Security for stopping this aid. It was Government of Louisiana decision. Not Federal.


Read it again, and show me where.

[Cartman]

I don't believe anyone expected the Red Cross to do search and rescue missions. What we did expect is that they would be able to go in and offer aid and comfort to the people dying of thirst, heat, and lack of medicine, just like they do for every other natural disaster in the world.

Except that the THUGS would have came in and turned the stations into anarchy, hurting and possibly killing the Red Cross workers (like they tried to do at the children's hospital), and stealing all the supplies they could carry, and probably any vehicle (or boats) as well.

The Red Cross are never allowed to go into active battle zones, and that is basically what NO was in the last few days - one big battle field.

They didn't let them go in because they couldn't protect them - it is that simple.

..

[Heartland]

They didn't let them go in because they couldn't protect them - it is that simple. That's just total bullshit. Of course they could have protected them. Our military has overcome entire armies in other nations, and they've done it pretty damned quickly.

Do you have anything to back up your "simple" statement, or did you just make it up? It's certainly not the excuse given by the Red Cross or LA Homeland Security.

[Kashtin]

Read it again, and show me where.



This statement:

Homeland Security has locked them out.

Makes no distinction between U.S. Homeland Security and Louisiana Homeland Security.

It appears that the posters following assumed you meant the United States, and you made no effort to correct the error, either here or in the thread started at OTWA.

[tekobari]

There is a real chance of reactions to the racial divide in NO--the impoverished shown being primarily black--spreading to other cities. Rage, especially simmering rage, has a way of causing explosive action. What we saw with 9/11 was immediate response (other than Bush's incredible storytime with the schoolchildren) to the disaster. The death toll from this hurricane may well be higher than 9/11's, and the pictures show mostly poor blacks crammed like animals in a center with no clean water, fresh air, clothing, medicine, etc.

Racial rage simmers in NO as it does among the impoverished in parts of every big city. I expect reactions all over the country to the scenes of desperation in NO if it goes on much longer. Rage causes reaction, which often turns into action. Don't be surprised if that completely predictable reaction doesn't have repercussions elsewhere. I even feel rage, and I'm not black.

If the feds won't act out of humanity, they'd better act to prevent more deaths and violence. They'd better get some help in there immediately. It could get very ugly. Very ugly, indeed.

[sadie999]

Bush is a god.

His dick is large and wise (no blood-flow in the brain causes this).

All things in this country have improved (for rich people) under his capable guidance.

Many people worship at the alter of his asshole. Even those who are hurt by his vast greatness (and his great lips attached to the asses of the corporate machine). They give thanks each day for boys dying overseas, rising prices on food and gas, and most of all college educated people give thanks to all those $9.00 an hour jobs created. Hail Bushy - God of all that is rich and connected.

Nothing in N.O. is this administration's fault - please start again at top sentence to see why.

[TerrorEd]

The Red Cross are never allowed to go into active battle zones,
..


That isn't what the Red Cross says on their website (http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_315_,00.html#387) .

Ed.

[rossshow]

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000063685&tstart=0&mod=1125857748605

[Toy Ranch]

This statement:



Makes no distinction between U.S. Homeland Security and Louisiana Homeland Security.

It appears that the posters following assumed you meant the United States, and you made no effort to correct the error, either here or in the thread started at OTWA.


The state Homeland Security Department had requested

It's not a long post. It's not a long quote.

I did not, and have not, researched the relationship between the Louisiana Homeland Security Department and the Federal Department of Homeland Security. Starting a thread on The Ross Show and OTWA does not burden me with the responsibility to do so. Nor is it my responsibility to correct or re-iterate by post to anyone who comes along and posts to the thread(s). Maybe the Red Cross needs to do that, I don't know. From Ross' link, the CEO of the Red Cross is a major contributor to current administration political campaigns. There certainly is no anti-administration political agenda on the part of the Red Cross.

http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Bonnie_McElveen-Hunter.php