The following Blanco press release news report was published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, just days before hurricane Katrina hit:

Blanco Launches Drive for Wetlands Support

By Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune

August 25, 2005

Students are urged to join the campaign

Louisiana is in good financial shape to begin the job of rebuilding its disappearing coastline, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Wednesday, although there are nagging concerns about how the state can spend $540 million in federal money included in the energy appropriations bill approved in July.

"The energy money is still a little bit of a question mark, " Blanco said while traveling between news conferences in New Orleans and Houma to unveil a new postcard-writing campaign aimed at garnering national support for the state’s coastal restoration. In the week after the energy bill was signed, President Bush said the money could be used as the state’s match for part of the $1.2 billion Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration plan expected to be authorized by Congress later this year as part of the Water Resources Development Act.

At Terrebonne High School in Houma, as cheerleaders chanted "S-A-V-E, save our coast," she signed legislation requiring an election this fall on an amendment to the state Constitution requiring any money received from offshore oil production in federal waters to be set aside for coastal restoration.

The state already dedicates a share of its offshore oil and gas revenue for restoration projects.

Blanco said she may also ask the Legislature to assign a share of the unused "tobacco settlement" money to coastal restoration. And she’s trying to persuade coastal parishes to coordinate the spending of their share of the energy money — they get 35 percent of the $540 million — with the state’s restoration plans.

"We’re looking at many ways to increase funding," Blanco said. "We will stretch what we have to make it happen."

The postcard campaign is the latest publicity push by the America’s Wetland Foundation aimed at increasing national public awareness of the state’s wetland problems.

Blanco urged students from McDonogh 35 High School of New Orleans and Harry Hurst Middle School of Destrehan attending a morning news conference at the Aquarium of the Americas to write to members of Congress and President Bush, urging them to support coastal restoration efforts.

The campaign has been developed for teachers to use at the beginning of the school year in lessons on how to write persuasive letters. A teaching curriculum is available on the Web at www.americaswetland.com, along with a link to send e-mail messages to Congress and the president. People also can call 1 (866) 4WETLAND for packets of postcards to be used in the campaign.

Newspaper advertisements and bulletin boards will be popping up across the state during the next few weeks urging students and adults to participate in the campaign.

"Get your pens out. Get on your computers and write," Blanco said. "Write, right now."

At Terrebonne High, Blanco said science teacher Paul Johnson created the model letter-writing campaign several years ago that inspired the new publicity initiative.

"You’ve led the state in this effort," Blanco said in an afternoon rally in the school auditorium. "You’ve used your own words to tell others across the country about this crisis through your own letters."

She told the high school students to send a special message to Bush, asking him to accept her offer of an aerial and boat tour to show him both the state’s disappearing wetlands and a few of its first restoration projects.

President George Bush looks out the window of Air Force One at some of the worst damage from Hurricane Katrina as he flies over New Orleans, Louisiana, on his return to Washington, DC. Bush said it would take years to recover from the deadly ravages of Hurricane Katrina, which he branded one of the worst national disasters in US history.

"Mr. President, come on down," she chanted along with them. "Come on down to Louisiana."

Blanco was accompanied on the two-city trip by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., as well as local and state officials, and the group was met by other elected officials at both events.

To rightfully understand the message, mentally replace the phrase "wetlands support" with "lowering the levees." For that is exactly was being demanded, as any study of the forty years fight between the environmentalists and the Army Corp of Engineers will show.

This is so obvious an historical fact it is even recognized by our masters at the New York Times. Read what the Times worthies grudgingly admit in their latest attempts to blame even the weather on President Bush:

Design Flaws Seen in New Orleans Flood Walls

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 20 — A surge from Lake Pontchartrain was the catastrophic situation that the corps had been guarding against since Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago. Initially, the corps wanted to build a giant barrier to keep water from the Gulf of Mexico from reaching Lake Pontchartrain and flooding the canals.

That project was delayed by lawsuits from environmental groups that contended the corps had failed to study ecological effects. By the late 1970′s, the corps abandoned that approach and began raising levees along the lake and the Mississippi and adding flood walls on the canals.

But of course even these stop-gap efforts by the Army Corp of Engineers were fought beak and claw by the environmentalists.

To see some examples of their work, check out the very deluxe website, America’s Wetlands, where the above article is still archived. While there, read up on the past legislation, and how money was diverted from preventing flooding — to encouraging flooding.

You will seldom hear about any of this in our one party media, like the New York Times. It does not comport with their agenda at the moment.

Indeed, in a few years if not months, the usual suspects will be back to demanding that the levees be lowered — if not removed altogether.

I do wonder what all those Louisiana school kids who had to write those letters to Congress must be thinking. They got quite a little lesson.

I hope they remember it when they are old enough to vote.

Behold this fundraising solicitation email from three-time Purple Heart recipient and would-be President, John Kerry (D-France):

Dear XXXXXX,

In a few hours, I will deliver a major address at Brown University about what the rage and destruction of Katrina have revealed. I want you to be one of the first to read and reflect upon the text of this speech for a very simple reason.

It’s time for each and every one of us to say what needs to be said — with the full force of our convictions, with nothing held back. This speech is my attempt to do exactly that — and your response to my call to action will define the work of the johnkerry.com community far into the future.

Natural and human calamity have stripped away the spin machine, creating a rare accountability moment, not just for the Bush administration, but for all of us to take stock of the direction of our country and do what we can to reverse it. That’s our job — to turn this moment from a frenzied expression of guilt into a national reversal of direction.

We’ve seen America at its best and our government at its worst. Millions of Americans are beginning to realize where they fit in our democracy under Republican governance: nowhere.

It’s time for a fundamental debate about the choices we are making as a nation. Here is some of the language I will use later today to help provoke that badly needed national conversation:

The Katrina Administration

Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn’t do. Michael Brown — or Brownie as the President so famously thanked him for doing a heck of a job — Brownie is to Katrina what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what George Tenet is to slam dunk intelligence; what Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad; what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy; what Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning; what Tom Delay is to ethics; and what George Bush is to "Mission Accomplished" and "Wanted Dead or Alive." The bottom line is simple: the "we’ll do whatever it takes" administration doesn’t have what it takes to get the job done.

This is the Katrina administration.

The Real Test of Katrina

This is the real test of Katrina. Will we be satisfied to only do the immediate: care for the victims and rebuild the city? Or will we be inspired to tackle the incompetence that left us so unprepared, and the societal injustice that left so many of the least fortunate waiting and praying on those rooftops?

Making the Gulf Coast a Right-Wing Laboratory

The rush now to camouflage their misjudgments and inaction with money does not mean they are suddenly listening. It’s still politics as usual. The plan they’re designing for the Gulf Coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for right wing ideological experiments. They’re already talking about private school vouchers, abandonment of environmental regulations, abolition of wage standards, subsidies for big industries, and believe it or not yet another big round of tax cuts for the wealthiest among us!

Please take a moment right now to read the entire speech.

Let’s be absolutely clear about the moment we are in. The weeks ahead will define our country’s direction — our understanding of ourselves, what we believe in, what we insist on creating, what we refuse to let happen.

The speech I will deliver in a matter of hours is about saying what needs to be said. In the weeks ahead, our entire johnkerry.com community must engage in doing what needs to be done. I know I can count on you to stand with me as we take on that challenge — and I will be in touch in the days ahead about our next steps together.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

P.S. There is one thing you can do right now. Share this speech by forwarding it to as many people as possible. We’re going to need all the help we can get in the days and weeks ahead.

John Kerry is the richest person currently holding public office in the United States.

Kerry’s Katrina relief efforts have so far consisted of delivering a few boxes of corporate donated New Balance running shoes, some baby formula and cleaning supplies — two weeks after the hurricane struck.

Of course Kerry’s better half, Momma T, has expressed her own views regarding hurricane relief:

"Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while," said Heinz Kerry about hurricane Ivan survivors.

Oddly, Kerry’s email neglected to mention the party affiliation of the state and local officials who were responsible for evacuation and first response in New Orleans:

Will we be satisfied to only do the immediate: care for the victims and rebuild the city? Or will we be inspired to tackle the incompetence that left us so unprepared, and the societal injustice that left so many of the least fortunate waiting and praying on those rooftops?

Why not ask New Orleans Mayor Nagin, a Democrat? Or Louisiana Governor Blanco, a Democrat? Or any of the other officials on the ground, such as the New Orleans Police Chief, who is also a Democrat?

How is it this incompetence happened in a state long famous for its powerful Democrat Party machine?

More reports from Mother Sheehan’s " bright spot," Moslem radical, Malik Rahim — excerpted from the comrades at the Socialist Worker :

A Socialist Workerjournal
Report from the Gulf Coast

Algiers neighborhood in New Orleans

When we arrived at Malik’s house, we were greeted by his partner Sharon, who beckoned us inside, offered us water and fruit, and thanked us for coming. She told us that Malik was out with some Danish filmmakers, and that he would be back soon. She was answering the phone, which was ringing off the hook, and trying to keep a semblance of civilized life despite doing without electricity for close to two weeks now. Her bright personality and strength, despite the circumstances, shone through, but it was clear that the situation had taken its toll. She explained that she hadn’t really left their home for three days running. It was just too much to take in, she explained, seeing their neighborhood like this.

Malik and the Danish journalists returned for a moment, and Malik invited us to tag along as he checked on residents and got in touch with others like him who are coordinating the delivery of supplies to those who don’t have the vehicles or health to find their own. We followed him to a local free school to deliver some supplies. We talked to Suma, an older woman with beautiful graying dreadlocks who runs the People’s Village Cultural Arts center school. She said she was going to have to leave to get some medical care.

“I have seven children,” said Suma. “I have grand- and great-great grand children. We’ll regroup. Life’s got to go on. Algiers Point, they want this whole thing. Who wants it? Developers. And who are developers? White folks. They can make a nice retirement area. I travel, and I’ve never seen houses stacked so close. They’re going to bulldoze all these houses down. They don’t want us here.”

“We’re just like the rats in a tank. They did research on rats by putting up these project buildings. You should’ve been here when the wind blew them down. And they’re going to put up houses. How can houses house all the people that come out of project buildings that look like prisons?

“There was a lot of looting here at the beginning, then all of a sudden, it was quiet. All the looters were gone. There was all kinds of shooting. I didn’t see it, but word gets around. Police shooting people, people shooting people. And there were vigilantes in Algiers Point. It’s a white area… They want to keep that area strictly Point. You go in there, and there’s still houses that were plantations. We know better than to go in there at certain times. ”

Chico, a tall and powerful-looking man wearing a colorful knitted hat, was standing and listening to the conversation. He suddenly burst in: “I’ve been all in there. I’ve been down all through it. When they had the barricades, and the woman kept calling on the phone, saying that people were shooting at them, that was a lie. That was a bald-faced lie. I’ve been all through there, and I’ve distributed food to elderly white people back there. I must have distributed over half a million dollars worth of food.

When we asked if the most of the help had come from residents or the Red Cross and FEMA, a smile flashed across Chico’s face.

“People have asked me, ‘How could you get all this stuff.’ I told them it was top secret, but I got it. I told the military, ‘I can feed you better than you feed yourself.’”

Felony ex-con and former Black Panther, Malik Rahim, and his wife Sharon.

Malik came along and asked us to follow him again. He wanted to show us something. He took us to the Arthur Monday clinic. “This is the health clinic, you know,” he said. “It’s got a chain on it. We have a dead body right here that’s been here for 12 days. They can’t even come up with a body bag. We’ve been covering it up [with a piece of corrugated metal], and that’s all it is. All they’ve done is put an ‘X’ on it. It’s not like it’s floating in the water, or they can’t get to it. They just refuse to pick it up. And this has terrified people. That’s all they did, come and put that ‘X’ on there.”

Malik went to the body and removed the piece of corrugated metal with a big red “X” on it, and then pulled off some of the blanket. We saw the decomposing body of what appeared to be a man, maybe in his 30s or 40s.

“You can see the maggots eating his corpse up,” he said. “It’s been 12 days out in this hot sun, and they won’t move him. There’s no reason for this. It’s just blatant neglect. If it was a white guy, this would have been up. This is the kind of stuff that’s terrifying people and making them not want to stay here. Right by a health clinic, and they won’t even pick it up. And it’s getting hotter and hotter. And I know you all smell it.”

He put the blanket and the metal back on. “We put this on to stop the wind, because every day, the wind would blow the blanket off, and the kids pass by here and are seeing this,” he said. “So we put this on. We called the police. And all the police did was put that X there. They didn’t even try to move it. Just put a little ‘x’ on it, like ‘x’ marks the spot, and we’re going to leave it.

“They got about 18 bodies like this around Algiers, and there’s no reason for them to be here. We’ve got the military walking around, and they’re securing everything. And they’re talking about the health crisis. They’re creatingthe health crisis.”

But the really terrifying question is what caused these 18 deaths. Algiers, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, hasn’t had the catastrophic flooding of the East Bank. No one drowned or was trapped in a house on this side of the river. So we asked Malik how these bodies came to be here.

“Most of them were killed by the police, or by these vigilante groups, when they were around,” he said. “There wasn’t any flooding. Most people killed over in Algiers were killed either by the police or by vigilante groups. Because if you’re Black, and you have a weapon, you’re dead. They would literally shoot you down.

“The only time we had order is when the National Guard and army came in. Before that, it was pure chaos. I cannot express how evenhanded they’ve treated everybody. It isn’t like the police, where there’s one set of justice for whites, and another set of justice for Blacks.

“We have Black doctors who tried to get in here from Atlanta, and they were turned around. And then we had a group of white guys who came in to give us a hand, and they were allowed to come through.

Malik served in Vietnam in 1965, going over with the first U.S. combat troops. He was a member of the Black Panther Party, and more recently, he ran for city council as a Green Party member. His house is on the side of Algiers Point that is predominantly Black. Across the street (his side of the street is filled with modest working-class homes) is a new development–a gated community with several big houses in various states of construction–which he told us divides the side he lives on with the other side of the point that is predominantly Black.

Malik told us that the average income of a white family is about $48,000 (a low figure in itself), and the average income of a Black is just under half of that. We went into Malik’s house and talked some more.

“Before the storm, we had two-and-half days to evacuate 120,000 people,” said Malik. “When they gave the evacuation order, they knew there were over 100,000 people that had no way of getting out of the city. So the city just abandoned them. They could have provided public service buses. They could have made two trips and got everybody out of there. Everybody could have gotten out.

Algiers residents get a much needed delivery of food and water. (Original caption.)

“They told you when you went to the Superdome to bring food for five days. But this happened at the end of the month, and at the end of the month, poor people don’t have any food. How did they expect people to bring food when they knew they didn’t have any? So, they created the atmosphere of looting, because everybody said, ‘Damn, I’m not going to get caught like this, I’m going to find something.’

“First, they went and stole the food, then after that, they started taking anything that they could barter with. If I can steal some TVs, I’ll steal some TVs, because I need to get my family out of here. And if I’ve got to give you some TVs, some rings, some watches or whatever, I’m going to barter to get out of here. If I’ve got to puncture a whole in your gas tank to get gas so I can get out of here, that’s what I’m going to do.

“And that’s what it was. More people were shot by shooting in the air trying to get attention, than were shot by looters, and most of the looters were shot and killed by vigilantes. I had a confrontation, first, around the corner and, second, in front of my door with a group of white vigilantes. The police came and didn’t tell them nothing. In fact, they were able to walk out with their weapons.

“I mean, that’s just the way it was, you know. Again, the hard part about it was that we had a group of doctors coming in, but because the doctors were Black, they were turned around. In this area, maybe between three and 12 people were killed by vigilantes. It’s sad because it’s some of the people I knew, and I never would have thought they would have done this kind of thing. And I said, ‘What are you all trying to do? Are you trying to start a race riot?’

“A few of us came out here and tried to prevent it from turning into a race riot. And when they saw that whites were coming in to help us, they saw that it wasn’t a Black and white thing.”

[Mother Sheehan's attorney] Buddy Spell, a radical lawyer and activist in the Louisiana Activist Network, who lives in Covington across Lake Ponchartrain, stopped by with Andy Stern after failing to procure a boat to go into East New Orleans to check on a rumor that 1,500 people trapped in a local high school had drowned.

He gave Malik his card and said that he was ready to defend anyone who had been framed. Malik said there were already a “bunch of them.” He said that a young guy was accused of shooting at a Blackhawk helicopter with a .22, and may be facing treason charges.

I wonder how many loaves of bread you could get for a wide-screen plasma TV?

Reader Karlila points out that it appears the VFP has terminated the services of their lawyers, Buddy and Annie Spell.

Mother Sheehan communes with her legal counsel, Annie Spell.

The following was posted at the modern-day Bedlam, Democrats Underground. It has since been disappeared , which only further validates its authenticity:

Spells terminated / failed to provide relief

Spells no Longer involved in Disaster Relief / Fail to provide service

Dear Ms. Arata-Spell and Mr. Spell,

I am writing to request the following be delivered to Monica Hampton at The
Green Room, tomorrow, Monday September 16 at 1pm.

1. All records, receipts, and chart of accounts relating to Veterans for Peace,
chapter 116. These items include
+ The notebook of receipts supplied to Ms. Arata-Spell and Mr. Spell by Monica
Hampton on September 16;
+ requests-for-reimbursements filled out by vounteers and VFP;
+ receipts on inventory ordered and delivery confirmation;
+ reimbursed receipts.

2. Copies of every check written to pay for VFP expenditures, as well as an
inventory of what items were bought and delivered with those monies.

3. A reimbursement request for each separate receipt or outstanding purchase
order and delivery confirmation put in by Ms. Arata-Spell and Mr. Spell
including description of how monies spent were used for immediate relief.

4. Three pre-signed blank checks on the VFP Redwood Credit Union account, signed
by Patrick Tate., VFP chapter 116 president.

5. All donations received by Ms. Arata-Spell and Mr. Spell on behalf of VFP
chapter 116, including a $300 cash donation from Mid-Rivers Ethical Society.

6. A list of any and all vendor or other accounts opened on behalf of VFP
chapter 116 and any purchase orders on those accounts.

Upon receipt of the requested materials, to be supplied to Monica Hampton no
later than 1pm Monday, September, 19 2005, the VFP chapter will immediately
review the reimbursement request submitted by Ms. Arata-Spell and Mr. Spell,
and will supply a check or direct wire to The Spells for the agreed amount. We
request five business hours (defined as Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm) to review the
materials supplied to us before the money transfer can occur. As you know, Ms.
Spell, we are waiting for the money to be transferred into the Louisiana bank,
which may delay this timetable. To expedite the reimbursement of the monies,
please provide us with any computer records available.

Twenty four hours after the monies are received by Ms. Arata-Spell and Mr.
Spell (and after it is that the file can be opened), all computer files and
accounting records generated by the Spells are to be deleted.

Thank you both for your efforts during the time we worked together.

Sincerely,

Patrick Tate
President
Veterans for Peace
Chapter 116

And

Michael McPhearson
Executive Director
Veterans for Peace, inc.”

This offering was also posted at DU, then quickly flushed down the memory hole:

Annie and Buddy Spell asked me to post this for them as they still do not have internet access.

Freddy Danforth, Gordon Sodoberg, Dennis Kyne, and it is assumed Pat Tate and Alex Ellison-Tomlinson have left Covington, LA spending only $1,000 of $370,000 donated to the Hurricane Relief effort. The Hurricane struck Covington, LA Aug 29th.

Unfortunately these Veterans For Peace have left behind 100 volunteers w/out any resources and at least 7 trucks of additional items being brought in from all over America.

Some of the volunteers are currently stranded w/out the ability to return to camp or homes because Freddy Danforth, Gordon Sodoberg, Dennis Kyne, Pat Tate and Alex Ellison-Tomlinson have failed to supply any sort of remibusement mechanism.

Annie Spell was given check writing authority on Friday Sept. 16th, however Freddy Danforth, Gordon Sodoberg, Dennis Kyne, Pat Tate and Alex Ellison-Tomlinson failed to transfer the entirety, $350,000 of the funds. But Pat Tate told Annie the funds needed to clear through an account in a Credit Union which would be 10 days from this past Saturday.

Accordingly the donation for immediate relief will not be available until 1 month after the storm hit.

Annie Spell was able to write a check for $1,000 to get water into Bogalusa.

Buddy has personally guaranteed and delivered $30,000 of immediately needed supplies including chainsaws, generators and other tools and has not been reimbursed.

All of this while the bus heads to Washington, DC to bask in the glow of all their great works. ”

And lastly but certainly not leastly, we have this post from the Political Switchboard , purportedly from the great woman, Annie Spell herself. (This post has not yet been airbrushed away by this merry band of Stalinists):

Buddy Spell, Mother Sheehan, and ( faux Vietnam combat veteran, but real crackpot) the VFP’s Katrina relief point man, Ward Reilly.

$100,000 might be missing. A post by Anita Spell.

“Here’s what is going on now…I hope I can stay on-line long enough to get this out and answer any questions:

Friday, Sept. 16th, the Michael Moore people and Veterans for Peace people approved the purchase of 25 generators, electric chords, and chain saws, gas and oil from local vendors in Franklinton, LA to be supplied to families in Arcola who are without power.

When we spoke with the vendors they said they would be more than willing to help out, however the purchase totalled about $28,000.00 and they had no idea who the Michael Moore and Veterans for Peace people were. We were assured by Pat Tate of VfP that over $100,000.00 was in the account in Mandeville, LA, so Buddy and I allowed the purchases to be placed on our account. These vendors generously offered to deliver (at no cost) the generators to Arcola.

Yesterday (Monday, Sept. 19th) I was told by the account manager in Mandeville, LA that I could not write checks from the Mandeville account. (I was put on the account Friday, Sept. 16th) because I had been taken off the account earlier that morning.

I called Michael McPhearson, Executive Director of Vfp yesterday. He told me that he doesn’t know the location of the $100,000.00 and the account in Mandeville, LA has been closed because the local person on the account (me) has been taken off the account.

He said that he hoped to get approval from the Board of Directors of VfP to come to Covington, LA late Wednesday evening and open a new account at another local bank, possibly on Thursday.

What all this means is that local vendors are out $28,000.00 and Buddy and I are on the hook for $28,000.00. So, Buddy is understandably distressed.

I got a letter hand delivered to my house yesterday at 9:00 AM from the Veterans for Peace and the Michael Moore people. They wanted me to give them a list of every single person (with an address) that had received any relief. I’m assuming they mean the houses that received the 25 generators. Pretty ridiculous. Of course we can supply that information, we know these people. Don’t know if they are also asking every other volunteer to do the same.

With their approval, we also paid for and delivered a truck load of water to residents in Bogalusa. It was delivered last Friday. Monica took our check and hand delivered it to the truck driver. I don’t know if she has been asked to provide a list of who received the water.

My computer is blinking.

I’m going to post this and see if it goes through.

If I can, I’ll get back on.”

Update! Ever vigilant reader Karlila found this intriguing post to one of the many ancillary sites of the aforementioned Political Switchboard :

UpbeatBlogs @ DefianceZone

11/09: VFP Road Trips

Comments

BS wrote:

Who stole the money?
Buddy

20/09 01:35:41

Could this be from Cindy Sheehan’s mouthpiece and former Veterans For Peace erstwhile ally, Buddy Spell?

My, my.