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Obama voted AGAINST Katrina Aid http://paganpower.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/obama-voted-against-katrina-aid/

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration now acknowledges it is trying to recover nearly $500 million from people who improperly received federal aid money intended to help victims of two deadly hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, along the Gulf Coast two years ago. It said the amount may increase further. "This is a moving target and not finite," said James McIntyre, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The government's newest estimate of improper aid represents $494 million FEMA paid to 134,000 people who were ineligible for the aid they received. More than half the money went to people who couldn't...

-German town donates money to run summer camp for child Katrina victims in Austin.- Almost a year ago, Michelle Williams was standing on the roof of her uncle's house in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina filled it with water. A fireman rescued her and her family in a boat, she said. This week, the 9-year-old was sitting at a picnic table in Zilker Park, grinning about all the friends she has made at a summer camp for young Katrina evacuees. "It's very fun to play with people who understand you and what you're going through," she said. "You get to...

New Orleans, LA (AHN) - The head of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund has stepped down following the resignation of a majority of the board only days ago. The Hurricane Katrina Charity, formed by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W, Bush, has raised about $125 million. Former Executive Director Mary Ann Wyrsch said that her staying on board may slow the momentum the charity has picked up. The Bush-Clinton Fund released a statement acknowledging that Wyrsch's resignation was done in the best interest of the fund. Wysch wrote in her resignation letter, "I am concerned about any distractions from this...

-With Katrina evacuees arriving, city had to mobilize fast- Mayor Will Wynn stood on the loading dock of the Austin Convention Center that Saturday morning in September dressed in a sweaty polo shirt and worn Levis, nervously watching the first Capital Metro bus loaded with Hurricane Katrina evacuees rumble into the parking lot. Less than 48 hours earlier, Wynn had made a bold promise to state and federal emergency officials: Austin — like Houston, Dallas and other cities — would house as many evacuees as needed. Now, as the first wave of what would eventually be more than 5,000 people...

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is urging the Department of Homeland Security to assure illegal immigrants that they will get their fair share of Hurricane Katrina relief aid without fear of being deported.

During this hurricane season of George W. Bush’s political discontent, the president has been slammed almost uniformly by pundits on the left and the right. Some criticisms about the administration’s late reaction to Katrina, and FEMA’s inadequacies in a crisis, are justified. But critics, especially in the conservative ranks, are missing two crucial messages being sent by the president -- messages that could endure long after the names Katrina and Rita are just names again. Bush knows, even if others have forgotten, that the terrorists are carefully watching the U.S. government’s response to the natural disasters in New Orleans, Houston,...

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is urging the Department of Homeland Security to assure illegal immigrants that they will get their fair share of Hurricane Katrina relief aid without fear of being deported. In a statement posted to her official Senate web site on Wednesday, Clinton said that the DHS should "issue a formal statement reassuring immigrant victims of Hurricane Rita and Katrina that they can seek help from relief agencies without fear of deportation or being turned over to immigration authorities." In a letter written directly to Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, Clinton and other Senate Democrats complained that they...

"I'm lost, I'm lost ... all my family is gone," the man cried as television cameras recorded his despair in the flooded streets of New Orleans. Those words pierced the heart of the Rev. Matt Wolfington. "It really got me started talking to some of my staff," Wolfington said. "Everybody seemed to feel pretty helpless." Perhaps it was his previous nine years in police work, but this pistol-packing preacher was shocked to hear people saying that there wasn't anything they could do after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Wolfington was determined to find something they could do. He is...

The federal government's mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe is only the latest bungling in a national disaster response system that for years has been fraught with waste and fraud. A South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation has found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency in five years poured at least $330 million into communities that were spared the devastating effects of fires, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes. In the country's poorest, inner city neighborhoods, disaster assistance is considered an entitlement. Taxpayer money meant to help victims recover from catastrophes instead has gone to thousands of people who suffered little or no damage,...

I have been watching TV and I see a lot of Christian churches sending hundreds of tons of aid to the gulf coast hurricane victims. I wonder if anyone has noticed any aid from people of other religions i.e. how many Islamic people have sent supplies to Katrina victims?

Truckers passing through Mississippi have an opportunity to help the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, and the commitment could entail as little time as an hour. “I need some trucks, really bad,” says Steve Boudreaux, director of safety and compliance for the Mississippi Trucking Association. Boudreaux is working with three groups that have distribution points around Jackson, Miss., to coordinate transportation for supplies needed for relief and recovery efforts throughout southern Mississippi. Mississippi suffered the greatest devastation when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29. Boudreaux fields calls from Mississippi Emergency Management Agency evacuee shelters requesting supplies. It’s his job...

BEIRUT: Leading Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah called on Muslims inside and outside the U.S. to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Usually a harsh critic of U.S. policies in the region, Fadlallah said that Islam rejected the spirit of gloating and revenge in time of a natural disaster. "We refuse to look at disasters as a godly punishment or a godly wrath. It is not necessary [for disasters] to be separated from nature. They can hit oppressed regions as they hit arrogant regions," he said. "Islam, which exhorted Muslims to befriend the world, to reach understanding with others...

Lubbock's Hurricane Katrina shelter will close today, a week and a half after 408 evacuees from New Orleans touched down in the Hub City. The American Red Cross and city of Lubbock will close the shelter in a hangar at the Reese Technology Center at noon today. About 20 people were still at the Reese Center on Tuesday night. Most of the shelter's residents have been sent to live with friends or family or set up in apartments in Lubbock. About three or four may be transferred to the Salvation Army shelter. "We want to get folks into as normal...

*Images of Americans in need pulls at everyone's hearts* The magnitude of the damage to the U.S. Gulf Coast isn't fully known by federal, state or local leaders in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Where nature's fury left wrecked lives, homes, cities and small communities, people are more determined than ever to rebuild. Of course repairs to roads, bridges, homes, businesses, sewer and water plants and the environment translates into the need for dollars and cents. The Associated Press reported the final tab for Hurricane Katrina could climb to $200 billion, or as much as four years of the war...

D'IBERVILLE, Miss. (NNS) -- Seabees stationed at Gulfport, Miss. received aid Sept. 8 from U.S. and international forces in support of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts here. U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., Mexican marines from ARM Papaloapan (A 411), Sailors on board USS Bataan (LPD 5) and Dutch sailors on board HMS Van Amstel (F 831), participated in one of the first international humanitarian efforts here, repairing D'Iberville Elementary School just outside of Biloxi. The elementary school is currently being used as both a shelter and a food and water distribution center. The 75 Mexican marines arrived Sept. 8 via...

SLIDELL, La. – The blisters on her feet stung, but she removed her shoes and walked through the black mud. She showed the Texas church group what had happened to her house and her back yard. The waters from Lake Pontchartrain had risen high and fast and slammed all her furniture against the doors and through a wall. The winds uprooted the oak tree that she had planted a dozen years ago. Her parents' ashes, which she kept in an urn, were swept away. She had no flood insurance. All she had were the clothes in the back seat of...

For Linda Cooley, a visit to Dallas' Concord Missionary Baptist Church this week meant a three-course meal, a bag of toiletries, a Wal-Mart gift card, a blue "Sunday go to meeting" hat, and assurances that more help would be forthcoming. Hurricane Katrina claimed Ms. Cooley's New Orleans home, but she has found sustenance – and friends – at Concord. "It uplifts my spirits to come here," said Ms. Cooley, now staying with her sister in Dallas. "And it keeps me from watching CNN." While the federal government response to Hurricane Katrina has yielded widespread criticism and the promise of congressional...

US federal emergency officials are directing hurricane-aid supplies to areas where they aren't needed, according to a US Air Force official. This has caused delays that have left international aid shipments for Hurricane Katrina victims sitting at an Air Force base in Arkansas. Civilian truck drivers hired to transport goods to Louisiana and Mississippi have been diverted to areas that don't need the items they're carrying, said Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Bret Archbold, who oversees the transfer of international shipments onto the trucks at Little Rock Air Force Base, in Jacksonville, north of Little Rock. "We're backlogged now because...

(AP) NEW YORK Homeowners affected by Hurricane Katrina could get a welcome surprise from the bank. The government housing agency Freddie Mac is encouraging lenders to return the most recent mortgage loan payments from people displaced by the storm. Industry experts say they can't recall that ever happening before. Freddie Mac also wants lenders to extend the length of time borrowers can forgo monthly mortgage payments to a full year. The agency wants the offers extended to all homes in disaster areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates that 360 thousand single-family mortgages in...