Giving Blood

Life: A view of a poster urging people to donate blood to help wounded soldiers., London, United Kingdom, 1939, Photographer William Vandivert

Nothing to write about, really. I can't get worked up about politics or the economy. We got the right choice in the Presidential race so I feel safe in relaxing a bit. What to rail/write about when I am calm? My life, I guess.

I gave platelets for the first time yesterday. I've been giving blood for the past two years, and this summer the Red Cross sent me a letter saying I have a high platelet level and am eligible to give platelets. (I also have Type A blood, and while Type O is a universal donor for whole blood, Type A is the universal donor for platelets.) Did you know that while whole blood can be stored for up to two months, platelets have a shelf life of six days? And platelets are very important to people being treated for leukemia.

I was a bit nervous about it, surveyed several people about what it was like, and even asked my doctor at my annual physical whether she thought that frequent platelet donation could damage my veins (her answer: no, your veins heal and as long as there is no infection involved, your veins will not be overly scarred.)

So I presented myself at the Red Cross's Worcester Pheresis Center yesterday afternoon. Went through the typical pre-donation questionnaire, checks of blood pressure (132/78), iron level (13, 12.5 is the minimum to donate) and then got into the donation chair/chaise. This is what it looked like:


Both arms have to be still for the whole procedure, as there is a needle in both. One needle is taking out the blood, and the blood is returned (along with a little saline) through the other needle. So you can't move, you can't bend your arm, and you can't itch any scratches. The nurse told me that they would itch for me, that's part of the job. Luckily I was able to quell any itching urges. The chair had a built-in heating element on the back, and they covered me with a blanket and gave me a handwarmer for the hand that wasn't squeezing the little ball to make the blood flow, but it was still a little chilly. I had tingling around my mouth and they gave me Tums to up my calcium levels, and advised that the next time I donate I should eat a yogurt beforehand.

There were three movies to choose from, and I chose Made of Honor, figuring that even if I wasn't paying any attention to it, I could still enjoy very handsome Patrick Dempsey. The movie was terrible, and I was way too distracted to follow it at all, so it was OK that I was finished long before the movie ended. The procedure itself took less than an hour. I had juice and cookies and headed home feeling none the worse for the weather. The nurse told me that the entire procedure harvests about 1 teaspoon worth of platelets -- but that is the equivalent of the amount of platelets in 6 pints of whole blood. (This blogger says that 70% of your blood goes through the machine roundtrip during the donation. Ewww.)

You can donate platelets every six days, but I can't imagine doing it that often. I'm going to aim for once a month, which is about twice as often as you can give whole blood. I'm the only person in my family eligible to give blood, as my mom takes several medications, and my brothers and sister all spent more than 3 months in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, so they're disqualified.

I'm not a great lover of the Red Cross as an organization, and I have to question how blood that is donated for free is charged at $600 to $700 a pint to patients in hospitals, but that's a macro question. On a micro level I will continue to give blood to help those that need it, and to build up karma points on my agnostics scorecard (in case there is a heaven).

One of my father's teaching jokes was the Agnostic's Prayer:

Oh God, if there is a God
Save my soul, if I have a soul.

Just in case points.

Know Your "Charities"

WaPo: Red Cross, Humane Society Under Investigation

The Louisiana attorney general has launched inquiries into two of the country's best-known charities -- the American Red Cross and the Humane Society of the United States -- after receiving complaints that they misused some of the millions of dollars they raised in the fall to help the human and non-human victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. plans to announce tomorrow that he is looking into allegations that Red Cross volunteers diverted money and supplies meant for hurricane victims in New Orleans, spokeswoman Kris Wartelle said. And the attorney general's office has begun an inquiry into whether the Humane Society spent the money it raised after Hurricane Katrina appropriately.

The Red Cross said yesterday that it has dismissed three of its volunteers who had been involved in food and shelter operations in the stricken city after the storm. The volunteers "have been relieved of their duties" after it was determined that "allegations involving waste and abuse were substantial enough to warrant their immediate removal," said a senior Red Cross official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

[]

Yesterday, Red Cross volunteer Jerome Nickerson Jr., a Baltimore lawyer who was asked by the Red Cross in the fall to team with another volunteer to investigate complaints of misuse of supplies and cash, said he found numerous problems in the disaster-relief operation.

He said they found "rogue warehouses" filled with Red Cross supplies that they believed were being sold. Also, some disaster staffers were ordering suspiciously large volumes of such supplies as cooking oil, coffee and canned food from Red Cross warehouses for areas in which they weren't needed. Large numbers of prepared meals were also being ordered and, in at least once instance, were delivered to local restaurants, Nickerson said. Red Cross volunteers were also using multiple debit cards loaded with thousands of dollars in Red Cross funds. "It was completely out of control," he said.

Nickerson said other Red Cross disaster volunteers and staffers interfered with their investigation, corrupting computer files and refusing to give them documents.

But in December, after Nickerson and his partner, Michael Wolters, a Wisconsin security guard, presented their findings to Red Cross officials in Louisiana, and told them they wanted to investigate further, they were sent home.

"It was very disappointing," Nickerson said.

Of course, the Red Cross isn't really an independent charity. It's a quasi-governmental organization, and in this era of corrupt Republicans, it's run by corrupt Republicans.

From the socialistworker.org:

The right-wing, scandal-ridden “charity” that isn’t really a charity
The truth about the Red Cross

People who think of the Red Cross as a “private charity” would be shocked to discover its actual legal status.

Congress incorporated the Red Cross to act under “government supervision.” Eight of the 50 members of its board of governors are appointed by the president of the United States, who also serves as honorary chairperson. Currently, the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security are members of the board of governors.

This unique, quasi-governmental status allows the Red Cross to purchase supplies from the military and use government facilities--military personnel can actually be assigned to duty with the Red Cross. Last year, the organization received $60 million in grants from federal and state governments. However, as one federal court noted, “A perception that the organization is independent and neutral is equally vital.”

The leading administrators and officials of the Red Cross are almost always drawn from the corporate boardroom or the military high command. Among the past chairs and presidents of the Red Cross are seven former generals or admirals and one ex-president.

The current president Marty Evans is a retired rear admiral and a director of the investment firm Lehman Brothers Holdings. Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, the chair of the Red Cross, is also CEO of Pace Communications, whose clients include United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and AT&T--a group of companies known for their vicious treatment of workers.

The Red Cross has become particularly tied up with the Republican Party in recent decades. Both McElveen-Hunter and Evans are Bush appointees--for her part, McElveen-Hunter has donated over $130,000 to the Republican Party since 2000.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THOUGH IT is technically a nonprofit, the Red Cross is run more like profit-hungry corporation than what most people think a “charity” would act like. The most deadly example of this was the Red Cross’ criminally negligent response to the early stages of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

The Red Cross has been for many decades, and remains today, the largest blood bank in the country. In 1982 and especially 1983, when it would have possible to contain the outbreak--or at least stop the spread of the disease through infusions of infected blood--major blood banks, led by the Red Cross, opposed national testing of blood for HIV.

The Red Cross’ opposition was based on the financial cost. As investigative journalist Judith Reitman wrote in her book Bad Blood: “It appeared it would be cheaper to pay off infected blood recipients, should they pursue legal action, than to up the Red Cross blood supply.”

Previous post: Please, Give to Charity. Just Not the Red Cross (Sept. 25, 2005)

The Incompetence, The Corruption, The Cronyism: October 13, 2005 edition

The Incompetence:

We could make this all FEMA, all the time:

DIY Disaster Relief

Don’t let anybody kid you. The government response to Hurricane Katrina was not only a disaster when the storm first hit. It’s still a disaster now.

I’ve been talking to medical professionals who have been to the Gulf Coast in the past couple of weeks, and this is what they have told me.

First, FEMA continues to be next to useless. It is not providing relief workers with the access they need to areas crying out for their help. It is not keeping up with bills for the emergency work it has authorized so far. A shockingly large number of doctors and nurses are being told that their services are not needed. Those with the guts and the initiative to go ahead regardless are finding that the exact opposite is true – thousands upon thousands of storm evacuees who have run out of their prescription medications, or require new prescriptions, or need help with a panoply of storm-induced problems, from simple cuts and bruises to infections and depression and suicidal feelings.

Secondly, FEMA and the Red Cross are not talking to each other to sort it all out. At the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana – home to more than 5,000 evacuees – there was, as of a few days ago, no formal on-site medical care. That meant people had the unenviable choice of going to the emergency room of a Lafayette hospital, waiting in line for hours and hoping for the best, or somehow fending for themselves.

Thirdly, the failures of the first six weeks or so since Katrina struck are likely only to compound the problems down the road. Sanitation in the shelters is a nightmare. Some professionals don’t exclude outbreaks of tuberculosis or other diseases one might have associated, pre-Katrina, with an earlier, more backward era.

Mobile Homes, Campers Wait at FEMA Sites

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- More than 9,000 mobile homes and campers meant for the victims of Hurricane Katrina are sitting unused at government staging areas while displaced families continue to live out of tents and shelters.

$11 Million a Day Spent on Hotels for Storm Relief

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - Straining to meet President Bush's mid-October deadline to clear out shelters, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night, a strategy local officials and some members of Congress criticize as incoherent and wasteful.

[]

The American Red Cross started the hotel program days after Hurricane Katrina struck, when it became clear that the shelters it had opened were not adequate to deal with the 600,000 to 700,000 families displaced by the storm, a spokeswoman, Carrie Martin, said.

The hotel program was intended to last a couple of weeks but has twice been extended by FEMA. Now Red Cross officials are saying there is no end to the initiative, which pays for 192,424 rooms in 9,606 hotels across the United States, in a range of cities as diverse as Casper, Wyo., and Anchorage, Alaska.

Congress last month appropriated a $62.3 billion for the relief effort, most of it designated for FEMA. The agency had told Congress that it expected to spend more than $2 billion to buy up to 300,000 travel trailers and mobile homes to house displaced residents. The agency also planned to give out $23.2 billion in assistance to victims for emergency needs and for temporary housing and housing repairs.

But the temporary housing program has been troubled since the start, observers say. Instead of setting up as many as 30,000 trailers and mobile homes every two weeks, as of Tuesday, just 7,308 were occupied. Even counting berths on the four ships that FEMA has leased and rooms on military bases and elsewhere, the agency has provided only 10,940 occupied housing units for victims in the three Gulf states.

The Corruption:

The law may be catching up with Senator Frist:

SEC Issues Subpoena To Frist, Sources Say
Records Sought On Sale of Stock

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

[]

The formal request for documents usually presages an acceleration of a federal probe. In Frist's case, regulators had to proceed with caution due to his status in Congress and their mutual desire to avoid triggering constitutional objections to the release of documents. The disclosure of the subpoena comes as Democrats blasted Frist anew for his financial and personal ties to Hospital Corporation of America, a Nashville chain founded in 1968 by his father and his brother, Thomas Frist Jr. Critics yesterday seized on a report that Frist held a substantial amount of his family's hospital stock outside of blind trusts between 1998 and 2002 -- a time when he asserted he did not know how much of the stock he owned.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Frist earned tens of thousands of dollars from HCA stock in a partnership controlled by his brother, outside of the blind trusts he created to avoid a conflict of interest.

"It seems that for years, Frist may have misled his constituents and the American people about his health care industry stock holdings and the conflict of interest they created as he drafted our nation's health care policy," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "This deal raises even more questions about the Republican culture of corruption in Washington, D.C."

The Cronyism:

Great article in the New Republic, outlining the 15 worst hacks in the Bush Administration. Here's just one:

Welcome to the Hackocracy

11: Patrick Rhode
Acting Deputy Director Federal Emergency Management Agency

As acting deputy director of FEMA, 36-year-old Patrick Rhode had, until recently, the unenviable job of backstopping the hapless Michael Brown, a man who needed much backstopping. Unfortunately, it's not clear that Rhode is much more qualified than Brown to be managing the nation's worst disasters. Before joining FEMA, the biggest disaster he had helped manage was the Small Business Administration (see Hector Barreto)--and even that was something of a stretch. Rhode entered federal government in 2001 as deputy director of advance operations for the Bush White House, a job he had also held for Bush's 2000 campaign. Never fear, though: Rhode has covered disasters--as a TV anchor for local network affiliates in Alabama and Arkansas, in which capacity he developed "an acute interest in what responders do in times of crises." Perhaps not acute enough. He recently said that FEMA's response to Katrina was "probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."

I'm a Proud Democrat from Massachusetts

Here's an amazing story, of compassion and bureaucracy overcome:

Time magazine: Guess Who's Coming ...

Forrest King, a rotund man who does not surrender very easily, was told by the American Red Cross and FEMA that they would not help him find Hurricane Katrina victims who needed a place to stay. If he wanted to help, he should give cash, he was told. Otherwise, who knows whom he might let into his home? They might be murderers. They might smoke. In any case, there would be great strain on everyone.

But King's house in Attleboro, Mass., southwest of Boston, had rooms to spare. And after days spent watching wrenching hurricane coverage on Fox News, he and his family decided that bureaucrats might not be the best judges of the situation. "The government failed," says King. "The citizens have to stand up and say, 'Get out of the way. We'll take care of our own.'" And so, for the past week, King, a self-described "dyed-in-the-wool conservative," has been sharing his home with the Meehan-Hoo family, a lesbian couple with three children, ages 5, 7 and 9. "The adults are same sex, and I don't care," he says. "I don't care if they're purple and got horns coming out of their faces. They're Americans first."

But here's the rest of the story, which of course didn't make the slavish corporate media:

From democrats.org, the Democratic Party website:

Lending a Helping Hand to Hurricane Victims

On Friday, September 9, days after Hurricane Katrina had ravaged the Gulf Coast, I felt frustrated and angry. In the communications department here at the DNC, I spend most of my day working and watching the news, and although I felt informed of what was going on around me, I also felt helpless and powerless to help those so far away.

At 10 a.m. the phone rang, and while I usually only get calls from the press, this one was different. A man identifying himself as a lifelong Republican was on the line. I began to prepare myself for whatever harsh words he was about to unleash, but to my surprise he said, "I need your help." So I asked him "What do you need?"

In the wake of Katrina, Forrest King took in six evacuees because he said it was time for Americans to come together and help one another. He went on to say he had an elderly woman in his care, she had no medicine, and no one from the state or federal level would help him. He said that the Republican Party had abandoned him. He said the last thing he ever expected was to be calling up the DNC asking for help but he had no one else to call.

Forrest told me the President he campaigned for -- just under a year ago -- had failed him and that Bush's blatant lack of leadership in the face of this crisis had shattered his faith in the Republican Party. It was further shattered when he called his Governor, Republican Mitt Romney, and gotten no help. It was diminished even more after a call to the Republican National Committee, who told him they couldn't do anything. He was shocked that his own party -- though politically in power at the national and state level -- didn't seem to have control over anything.

I explained to him that I was in the communications department in Washington, DC and didn't know what I could do for him. He said just get me medicine and help for this woman, she's dying. I knew I had to do something, so I called the state party in Massachusetts and spoke with the executive director. I told her the situation. She placed a call to a case worker in Senator Kennedy's office. I continued to call the state party and Kennedy's office throughout the day for updates.

When I spoke with Forrest, I heard the desperation in his voice when he talked about his frustration with the administration. But his patriotism and his ideas about how Americans should help one another had really affected me. I was invested in helping him, in making sure this woman he had taken in was OK, and in providing him with assurance that I hadn't abandoned him as his party did.

I called Forrest that afternoon after receiving word that an ambulance had been sent and the elderly woman was safely at the hospital. He answered saying, "I'm on my way," mistaking me for a case worker. He said he couldn't believe how quickly he received help and that he was actually on his way to the hospital. He later told me that the doctor who admitted the elderly woman said she should have never been placed in a residence and that bringing her to the hospital when he did, had probably saved her life.

When Forrest first called, he identified himself as a Republican. But above all he was an American who invited other Americans who lost everything to share his home. I am proud that as a fellow American and a Democrat, I could help him. I understand the anger Forrest has expressed towards the ambivalence of his party to help in a time of need.

I was fortunate to see dedication and compassion from my fellow Democrats to help him and other Americans in this time of tragedy. I feel my reaction to this man's plight truly reflects my core values and priorities as a Democrat. The health and well being of our fellow Americans is a moral responsibility that I will never shed. Thank you Forrest, and welcome to the Democratic Party.

Romney was probably out campaigning for President, delivering one of his sure-fire laugh lines about being a Republican from Massachusetts. He's the joke. Go back to Utah and resume your homestead tax exemption and get your fake conservative, fake compassionate a** out of my tolerant, compassionate, and generous state.

"Where Are The Buses?"

From attytood:

They have learned nothing

The woman pictured at the top of this entry is named Hortense Davis. She is 73 years old and lives in a flood-prone section of Houston, directly in the path of Category 5 Hurricane Rita.

Clearly, George W. Bush is not focusing on her. Because Hortense Davis desperately wants to get the hell out of Houston. And no one is helping her. It is New Orleans deja vu all over again.

The president, and the people around him, have learned nothing from the worst natural disaster in American history.

Here is Davis' story, from an excellent hurricane blog started by the Houston Chronicle. This post is titled, and you'll be sick to your stomach when you see this: "So Many People, So Few Buses."

Hortense Davis is waiting at the Houston Greyhound station for a bus that may not be coming.

The 73-year-old woman called the Red Cross today to find out what she should do about the storm. She said she was told to go to the bus station and tell them she had no money and needs to get out of the city.

"But when I got here, they said they couldn't help me," she said. "So now I'm just sitting here."....

Doesn't anybody remember what New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said just 20 days ago?

I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

Where are the buses? Where's Michael Chertoff, and where's R. David Paulison? Most important, where's Bush? Rita is about 39 hours from land. Somebody needs to get their asses moving. And focus.

Howard Dean, a Real Leader

I received the following email from Howard Dean last night (I'm on the national Democratic Party email list, as I am a congenital Democrat. I'm also on the Republican Party email list, just so I can see how the re-thugs address their constituencies.) The Democrats are cancelling all fundraising events, cancelling their fall meeting, released DNC staff to participate in relief operations, and urging people to open their home to flood victims.

As reported here earlier, the Republicans intend to respond to the disaster by eliminating the estate tax and cutting Medicaid.

By giving us the "Dean Scream" (as well as "Swift Boating", and other atrocities) the media also gave us the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Can you imagine Howard Dean staying on vacation during a Category 5 hurricane? I can't even imagine Howard Dean on vacation, to be honest. He's a bulldog, and I say that with great admiration.

The Deaniacs were right. Send Bush back to Crawford. Impeach the incompetent b@st@rd.

Dear [truth],

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, you mobilized to make sure that the Red Cross had the financial resources it needed to respond swiftly. The response was literally overwhelming -- so many donations poured in that their web site struggled to process them.

Since then Americans have seen another kind of disaster unfold. The irresponsible lack of attention by our federal government has led directly to the devastation of communities and the loss of American lives.

The federal response over these crucial first days has been totally unacceptable. There will be a time for a full accounting of the preventable part of this disaster, and those responsible will be held accountable. It will be soon.

But there are lives to save right now and our focus must be steady. People need help right now. And you can be a direct participant in the relief efforts by providing housing for a victim of the disaster.

The vast number of evacuees has triggered a cascading crisis -- the first group of evacuation centers in the Gulf States has been overwhelmed, and the surrounding states have seen their capacity exceeded as well.

Hundreds of thousands of survivors are being transported in small groups to cities and towns across the country. A coalition of groups has put together a web site to collect offers of housing and provide a place for victims to search for help. You can offer shelter -- whether for a few days or a few weeks -- by signing up here:

http://www.hurricanehousing.org

To support your volunteer housing operation the following steps have been taken:

We are briefing Democratic elected officials on the HurricaneHousing.org program and asking that they treat this as the front-line network of volunteers who are ready and waiting to provide shelter in their jurisdiction.
We have asked outside organizations to direct their members to HurricaneHousing.org to volunteer; those organizations with representatives on the ground have been asked to help victims connect with the housing bank.
We have directed the staff at Democratic Headquarters in Washington to use local volunteers signed up on HurricaneHousing.org as they work with DC emergency response officials to assist hundreds of survivors being transported to the DC Armory, which is located nearby.
In addition to mobilizing our infrastructure to support the housing drive, we have also taken the following steps in the last week:

All DNC fundraising events have been cancelled until further notice and donations are being directed to relief organizations.
The DNC Fall Meeting that had been scheduled to take place this week has been postponed.
All staff have been given leave to participate in relief operations (many are completing Red Cross training this week and will deploy shortly).
The Democratic leadership in Congress has proposed a comprehensive policy package to ensure that victims receive health care, financial assistance and educational and employment opportunities during the crisis (go to www.democrats.org/reliefplan for more). But more than anything our organization has done, the thousands of acts of compassion by ordinary citizens and a renewed sense of common purpose will be the legacy of this effort.

Our American community will emerge stronger from this crisis.

Thank you for doing what you can.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

P.S. -- A number of organizations on the ground still need financial support. You can learn about them here:

http://www.democrats.org/reliefgroups

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.


Contributions or gifts to the Democratic National Committee are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Click here to unsubscribe from this mailing list.

DNC, 430 S. Capitol St. SE, Washington DC 20003

How FUBAR is FEMA? Let me count the ways

from dailykos, via the florida blues blog. Hit the link to the original post to link to the stories (in bold, below) referenced.

FEMA is FUBAR

David of Daily Kos says to take a look at this list of stories he's rounded up about FEMA:

FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations

FEMA turns away experienced firefighters

FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks

FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel

FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food

FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans

David says: We know FEMA's budget and operations have been gutted. We know FEMA's currently run by a washed-up hack attorney who couldn't even get a job at Jacoby & Myers. But this is beyond outrageous. I am sure there are plenty more stories like this; I collected these in just ten minutes on Google News and DKos. Looking at this list, it would be hard to blame you if you thought FEMA actively wanted rescue and relief operations to fail.

Of course, that's not the case - but these ranks failures transcend even the corrupt indifference we've grown sadly accustomed to over the past five years. If there's any hope for the recovery efforts, it'll come from guys like Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré and Clinton-era FEMA director James Lee Witt, not criminal incompetents like Michael D. "Brownie" Brown.

More:

FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid

FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board

FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck

FEMA turns away generators (See entry from 3:32 P.M. by Ben Morris, Slidell mayor)

FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond"

Why were the Red Cross, Coast Guard, National Guard and Army helicopters there one day and gone the next?” “Who changed priorities?”

From the excellent site rawstory.com:

Lethal chaos: Professor describes scene at New Orleans hospital

A first-hand account of the New Orleans devastation from leading human rights attorney

Loyola University law professor Bill Quigley, best known for his work with Haitian pro-democracy activist Father Jean-Juste, spent some time speaking to Raw Story’s Jennifer Van Bergen about his experience inside New Orleans’s ground zero.

When the category-four Hurricane Katrina made landfall early last week, Bill Quigley was volunteering at Memorial Hospital, at the heart of what would be later described as the worst-hit area. His wife Debbie, a medical doctor at Memorial, was on duty that night.

**********

The power went out early Monday. The sickest patients, roughly seventy or so, were evacuated by helicopter Sunday. Not until Wednesday morning did more helicopters appear. Quigley and other volunteers tried to get the attention of the numerous helicopters they could see hovering over the city. The sickest patients were brought up eight flights of stairs in sheet slings to the roof. Some patients were kept on the roof as long as 24 hours.

**********

Quigley says they saw helicopters from the Red Cross, the National Guard, the Coast Guard and the Army. One Army helicopter, which the volunteers on the roof managed to “flag down” wouldn’t land and refused to take anyone, even those remaining critically ill patients, because “they were full with rescue workers and could only pick up individuals one at a time off of roofs, which they stated they had been doing all day.”

Instead, Quigley says the Army helicopter dropped some food supplies that turned out to be just three or four boxes with tin cans of Vienna sausages.

These were not enough to feed the patients, let alone the staff or volunteers. Food and water supplies were dwindling.

After that the helicopters never returned to Memorial Hospital.

“We couldn’t figure out why they didn’t come back,” Bill said.

Tulane University Hospital had been evacuated, Quigley heard, but those at Memorial “were left to die or get out as best they could.”

At least ten patients died while awaiting rescue workers. Many died because their life-sustaining medical treatment required electricity.

***********

Bill, tired and still dazed, wonders what happened.

“Why were the Red Cross, Coast Guard, National Guard and Army helicopters there one day and gone the next?” he opined. “Who changed priorities?”

The helicopters didn't return until Wednesday. Isn't that the same day Bush returned from his vacation? Did they stop the rescue so he could ride in on Air Force One, the cavalry, and lead the convoy through New Orleans?

Operation Photo Op, Laura Bush Edition, 2.0

The Frontlines of the American Refugee Crisis

From someone on the ground in Lafayette, Louisiana who was volunteering at the Cajundrome:

It actually couldn't have been a worse experience; a team of us were working to put up a website with directions to every Red Cross shelter in the region when we were evicted from the computer room by the Secret Service.

There's only one room in the Cajundome with telephones and internet access for refugees, and Laura Bush shut it down for eight hours (along with the food service rooms to the side and the women's showers). You may have seen it on CNN; apparently seven refugees were allowed back so Laura could help them in front of the cameras.

If you saw that footage, that's where I put in half my volunteer hours. Not knowing Bush was still back there later I tried to insist on being allowed back into the room to a "Red Cross" guy who must have been a Secret Service agent undercover. A hint for future Secret Service agents: The real Red Cross guys don't look like they want to break your legs for walking too close to the barricade, because they're too busy passing out food and helping people. They're also less likely to use phrases like "Stand fast, sir!"

Now, I know this is the sort of thing that happens whenever a VIP tours a disaster site, and maybe Laura Bush handing out that loaf of bread really will lead to an increase in donations. All I can say is, to have paralyzed a third of a day of operations at this stage of the game, it fucking well better. And I tried to position myself to say this to her in front of the television cameras too, but instead I only got a wave and a smile as she hurried past me.

7:10 a.m. update: Fixed broken link, thanks Big Daddy in comments

The horror of New Orleans in 2005 is a national disgrace.

M. Charles Bakst: Bush, Katrina and 9/11

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were a national disaster.

The horror of New Orleans in 2005 is a national disgrace.

As bad as 9/11 was -- the brutal shock that it was, as impossible to absorb as it was, to see the Twin Towers explode, to imagine the agony of humans incinerated -- coping with it still was easier in some ways than watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least in 2001 there were heroes, lots of them, notably New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the firefighters and police officers who nobly rushed into buildings to save lives, often at the expense of their own.

And, after a momentary stumble, President Bush stood tall. This was the man who went to Ground Zero and spoke defiantly of the terrorists. And who later spoke to Congress with steely confidence and grim determination and declared, "I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle."

This nation, in grief and in purpose, was as united in those days as I have seen it. In that saddest of times, people were proud to be Americans.

This past week has been a national embarrassment.

George Bush, who once seemed so decisive and so inspiring, has never seemed smaller, more out of touch, more overwhelmed by the job. He had, of course, weakened himself by getting the country bogged down in Iraq in a war that may be impossible to win and seems irrelevant to the genuine threat from terrorists.

But it is much more than that.

In the crucible of New Orleans, Bush has symbolized all of the government officials at any level who failed to anticipate or act upon the dangers hurricanes in general and Katrina specifically posed to New Orleans and, certainly, bungled the response to the devastation that finally came. (How dismaying it was to read yesterday of a Red Cross official saying the U.S. Department of Homeland Security "has basically told us they don't want us -- our Red Cross folks -- in New Orleans because our presence would keep people from evacuating.")

America has become a laughingstock, to think that people could suffer here for days on rooftops or terraces or in a sports arena or convention center without rudimentary help like food or water, amid lawlessness and stench, surrounded by death.

I do not diminish the horrors that took place within the World Trade Center or the vividness of the sight of the buildings exploding and falling.

But in terms of faces and voices of individuals in anguish -- faces that you actually have seen and voices you have heard -- enduring misery, begging for aid, and feeling abandoned by their government -- New Orleans has presented the starker, more inexplicable tableau.

The news media have superbly conveyed this suffering. They have not as successfully forced government officials to account for the poor planning and slow reaction.

The New Orleans catastrophe is made uglier by the fact that most victims are black and poor. This is the reality of inner city life. Race and class. You may wonder if race and class explain the slowness of the federal response.

The most inspiring thing about this tragedy is to be found among the huge numbers of organizations and individuals who have been collecting money and supplies for hurricane relief -- it will be long needed -- in New Orleans and elsewhere. They represent the best impulse in the nation's character and they remind me of a notion I associate with Jimmy Carter. Wouldn't it be nice to have a government as good and decent as the American people?

M. Charles Bakst, The Journal's political columnist, can be reached by e-mail at mbakst [at] projo.com

"The Red Cross is Locked Out So They Can't Document the Atrocities"

Why the Red Cross is Locked Out and the People are Locked In

Crooks and Liars video of Geraldo Rivera and Shep Smith at the Convention Center reveals a big part of Team BushCo's disaster management strategy: lock down the cities so the hideous element isn't allowed to threaten the suburbs with invasion. And the Red Cross is locked out so they can't document the atrocities. They have a habit of doing that.

Of course, why didn't I think of that? Just like after Fallujah, the U.S. refused to let the International Red Cross in.

Despicable.

MSM Picks Up Red Cross Story

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food

As the National Guard delivered food to the New Orleans convention center yesterday, American Red Cross officials said that federal emergency management authorities would not allow them to do the same.

Other relief agencies say the area is so damaged and dangerous that they doubted they could conduct mass feeding there now.

"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans," said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

"Right now access is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities. We have been at the table every single day [asking for access]. We cannot get into New Orleans against their orders."

Calls to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, were not returned yesterday.

wkyc.com (Northeast Ohio): Few answers for thirsty, hungry in New Orleans

The American Red Cross, Salvation Army and other charitable organizations that typically are the first to respond to disaster sites with food and water have been kept out of the city.

“Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities,” said Gregg Tubbs, a spokesman for the American Red Cross. “The Red Cross can’t get in there. We can’t enter New Orleans against their orders.”

By LARRY WHEELER, Gannett News Service

(Contributing: GNS reporter Raju Chebium, in Metarie, La., and Dan Turner, The (Shreveport, La.) Times, in Baton Rouge, La.)

KCBI-TV (Idaho): Doctor says Red Cross should have been there

September 3, 2005 12:56 PM

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS "Where is the Red Cross?"

A doctor at the airport in New Orleans posed that question today to an Associated Press reporter. The doctor, one of the first to set up a triage center at the airport, says he wishes the Red Cross had been there, since the organization has the expertise to set up that kind of facility. He said he hasn't seen any Red Cross presence there.

And the picture that emerges is a bleak one. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a surgeon who visted the airport today, says the hallways and floors are "filled," and that people are dying because the resources aren't there to treat them.

Donations pour in to aid groups for Katrina relief

By ADAM GELLER, The Associated Press

Published: Saturday, Sep. 3, 2005

But aid groups said their efforts were limited in important ways.

“We are not in New Orleans,” the Red Cross’ Dodge said. The federal Department of “Homeland Security has basically told us they don’t want us, our Red Cross folks, in New Orleans because our presence would keep people from evacuating.”

A spokesman for the federal agency said Friday that there is not an absolute policy barring relief groups from the entire city, but that its own efforts were taking precedence there.

“There may well be situations where it merits the Red Cross holding back while our personnel go in first,” said the spokesman, Russ Knocke. “But our priority is meeting the immediate life-saving and life-sustaining needs of those who’ve gone through a nightmare.”

Other groups also reported that they were not being allowed into the city. MAP International said it was working to send medical supplies to a New Orleans hospital, but that the shipment was being held up by a difficulty in getting the credentials needed for drivers to get through roadblocks set up by the National Guard.

Second Harvest said it had secured a warehouse between New Orleans and Baton Rogue, because its workers can’t get to their facility in New Orleans. But setting up operations was being complicated by shifting demands. “At this point we don’t know how many people are in need and where they are. Evacuees arrive at different places everyday,” Daly said.

Homeland Security Keeping Red Cross Out of New Orleans

I just sent this as an email letter to the editor or news tip to about 10 newspapers:

Homeland Security is keeping NGOs out of New Orleans

If you go to the Red Cross website, they are saying that they are being kept OUT of New Orleans by the state Homeland Security Department, and that this is because if the Red Cross is there, people won't evacuate.

So, with no plan to evacuate tens of thousands of people, while starving & dehydrating them, in the Convention Center, in the Superdome, on I-10, under overpasses, in fields, Homeland Security has been keeping help out of New Orleans. People are dying of thirst, heat exhaustion, lack of medical care, and the Red Cross can't go in.

This is even posted on the Red Cross website. Here's the link: http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00. [...]

The Red Cross is getting the lion's share of charitable gifts, and they are being kept out of New Orleans by the insane bureaucrats of Homeland Security.

This is the worst, most incompetent relief effort in the history of the world. Hundreds if not thousands have perished unnecessarily. Shame, shame.

Operation Photo-Op -- Laura Bush Edition

Evacuees at Cajundome wait for first lady, and for lunch

Couldn't have those refugees eating before the camermen got there.

As the first lady toured the Red Cross shelter at the Cajundome this morning, a line of evacuees waiting to eat their lunch trickled out the door of the Dome.

First lady Laura Bush arrived about midday to tour the shelter and meet evacuees.

By 12:50 p.m., the trays of food were still covered and hungry evacuees stood in line, holding empty plates. Rice, beans and jambalaya were on the menu. About that time, volunteers began rolling the carts of food into position to serve.

National Guard BARS Red Cross from New Orleans

This is horrifying. The NGO that is receiving the lion's share of charitable contributions -- over 195 million as of today -- is BARRED from entering New Orleans. This is criminal. This is Nazi war crimes criminal. People have died, starvation, dehydration, heat exhaustion, because of this clusterfuck, brought to you by the worst President in the history of the United States of America, George W. Bush.

So if you've given money to the Red Cross, that money is not going to New Orleans. People are thirsty. People are starving. People are dying for lack of medicine, medical treatment, heat exhaustion. That's the story now. New Orleans is being wiped off the map by the Bush Administration.

Kos diary telling this story: Red Cross NEVER allowed into New Orleans.

I was wondering where the Red Cross was in all this. They were never mentioned. It was like they didn't exist. And, after yesterday's drama at the convention center, the Brown and Chertoff lies, the Red Cross was still MIA. Then, earlier today, I saw a note that the Red Cross was not allowed to enter NO. Hmm, that's doesn't make sense. This simmered for a couple hours.

So I called the Red Cross and asked them if its true....

And, to my surprise, the nice lady answering the phone said it was true and they told/asked/ordered not to enter NO. She then went right into her spiel about all the other work the Red Cross was doing across the region. I said that's nice, but I still didn't understand why they weren't in NO. To my amazement, she patiently explained it to me. I even called back to verify what she said. This time she asked if I was media, I said no, just a concerned and confused contributor.

So here goes: Homeland Security (her term, not mine) told the Red Cross DO NOT enter New Orleans and says this still now. And why, you may ask? Not Security. Not worker safety. Not lack of access. It was because people would be drawn to the Red Cross food and they wouldn't want to go to be evacuated. So I asked: "The people starving and dying at the convention center yesterday couldn't get Red Cross food and water because they would be drawn to the food at the convention center, where they were, and not want to be evacuated from the convention center where no evacuations were going on or planned and all the while they are dying". (Actually, it was a couple questions.) She went back into her spiel about all of the other good work they were doing. When I asked again, she said yes, that was true. She seem relieved to admit it.

In closing, I asked if she asked this question before since she was very familiar with the answer she gave. She said yes. And I promised another donation. Which they will get after this post.

So, the question for Bushies, why was the Red Cross banned from NO when they knew people were starving? Could it be they were saving the convention center rescue until Bush's visit today? It certainly seems like it. Doesn't it?

Red Cross National Affairs number (202-303-5551)

Official statement from the Red Cross:

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

Access 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.

The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

The Red Cross shares the nation’s anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives.

As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.