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A Rare Look Inside the Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina Evacuees: During Democracy Now's recent trip to New Orleans, we managed to get inside the largest FEMA trailer park set up after Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after we interviewed hurricane evacuee Donna Azeez, we were kicked out of the park by security guards working for Corporate Security Solutions, the private company hired by FEMA to police Renaissance Village. Earlier this month, Democracy Now went down to Louisiana and had a chance to take a rare look inside Renaissance Village - a trailer park on the outskirts...

For the first time since 1972, the United States is planning to fly to the moon, but instead of a quick, Apollo-like visit, astronauts intend to build a permanent base and live there while they prepare what may be the most ambitious undertaking in history -- putting human beings on Mars. President Bush in 2004 announced to great fanfare plans to build a new spaceship, get back to the moon by 2020 and travel on to Mars after that. But, with NASA focused on designing a new spaceship and spending about 40 percent of its budget on the troubled space...

While hurricanes Katrina and Rita put more than 300,000 Louisiana residents in unemployment lines almost overnight, state employee layoffs remain a rarity. An estimated 197 state workers are set to lose their jobs through a variety of storm-related actions, including spending cuts ordered by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, state records show. However, most of the initial round of layoffs apply to workers listed as "missing," which means they have not been in contact with state officials since the storms. About 4,600 state workers are on furlough, which means they remain on the state payroll without collecting paychecks. Many are expected to...

(via The Dead Pelican) One Louisiana congressman is asking thousands to gather for a demonstration on the steps of our nation's capitol. Charlie Melancon says he needs help convincing his counterparts in Washington, D.C. about the needs of Louisiana residents. He's hoping to form some type of motorcade or fly-in in the near future. At the same time, Melancon tells us an online petition is being created to help show that unified front here at home. The congressman hopes that at least 100,000 Louisianians become part of the online mission for a better state. He also tells us he feels,...

Louisiana will spend $45 million on sports and livestock facilities and other new projects in spite of a looming deficit, frustrating some officials who say the frivolity reinforces the state's history of political patronage. "We're in Washington with our hands out asking for $2 billion plus, and rather than holding on to the money to see what the needs are, they're spending it on local projects financing goat shows and lawn-mower races," says state Sen. Robert Barham, Oak Ridge Republican. Supporters of the $4 million Morehouse Parish Equine Center say it will give a much-needed boost to the economy. Jimmy...

The Rolling Stones’ music has been downright awful since Tattoo You (1981) – but Mick Jagger’s big lips keep on yammering. Mick, the great arrogant hypocrite, with a net worth of $500,000,000.00, and 7 children he couldn’t give a damn about, is now lecturing American conservatives about morality: The Rolling Stones, not exactly a band at the forefront of rock 'n' roll activism, are taking aim at the American right with a new song on their upcoming album, according to Newsweek magazine. The track, "Sweet Neo Con," boasts the line, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You...

Students in the Berkeley school district aren't getting written homework assignments because teachers are refusing to grade work on their own time after two years without a pay raise. So far, a black history event had to be canceled and parents had to staff a middle-school science fair because teachers are sticking strictly to the hours they're contracted to work. "Teachers do a lot with a little. All of a sudden, a lot of things that they do are just gone. It's demoralizing," said Rachel Baker, who has a son in kindergarten. Teachers say they don't want to stop volunteering...

Several thousand parents, students, teachers, and other school employees rallied at the State Capitol on Monday evening, calling for more education funding from the state. It was probably the largest education rally at the Capitol in recent years, and it drew more than 175 busloads of participants from such Twin Cities school districts as Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Osseo and Mounds View. Organizers said people came from as far away as Duluth, Mankato and Rochester. Despite the impressive turnout, participation may have been short of the 6,000 to 7,000 people organizers had hoped for. Although an initial State Patrol estimate...

A Bush administration plan to trim dairy subsidies may put the squeeze on family farmers in the area. The proposal would cut by 5 percent a program that provides federal subsidies when milk prices plunge. That money proved to be vital in recent years when the industry slumped and some farms went under, said dairy farmer Myron Bonzo, 40, of New Sewickley, Beaver County. "Without that safety net, there would have been a lot more farms out," he said. Dairy subsidies are designed to provide farmers with a base income and protect them against price drops, said John Johnson of...

Some of my friends, family members, and co-workers wonder how I could be a political liberal in the midst of this new swell of conservatism the United States. The answers to that are all too simple. I am a liberal because the system originated by liberals called Social Security has made my parents' retirement more possible and comfortable than it would otherwise have been. I am a liberal because the system originated by liberals called Medicare paid for my mother to have two knees and a hip replaced at a cost that otherwise could not have been born by all...

Politicians have taken a hard line on welfare recipients who smoke and eat junk food. Now a legislator wants to make sure immigrants learn English to qualify for welfare. Minnesota already requires immigrants to sign up for English classes or apply for U.S. citizenship within four years of becoming permanent residents, in order to get state assistance. Rep. Brad Finstad, R-New Ulm, wants to tighten that requirement to make newcomers sign up for English classes and apply for U.S. citizenship within a year of living here permanently. "This is a personal responsibility issue,'' Finstad said in a release. "This proposal...

SAVANNAH -- The organizer of the International Festival for Peace and Civil Liberties is seeking $2,000 from the city to recoup losses after few demonstrators turned out for last week's G-8 Summit.

The Earth Summit opened in Johannesburg yesterday with a clear attack on the United States by South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, and a demand for more money for poor countries. "A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable," he said. Mr Mbeki said that the poverty gap between the northern and southern hemispheres had increased since the Rio Earth Summit 10 years ago. The world had grown into a global village and the survival of everybody demanded a consensus that there...