Can't Keep Quiet Any Longer

My heart goes out to the victims of Katrina. Where is our government? And why aren't they helping? Here are some clips from poignant articles I have read over the days, things I think should be highlighted and brought forth to the table:

Survivors Tales

• “He was kind of on the edge of the roof, catching his breath,” Mills said. “Next thing I knew he came floating past me. ... I don’t know if he drowned or had a heart attack.”
• "I know I am blessed because my 4-month-old son is fine, I know where all of my family members are, I have a house to go to. I waited in line two hours on Wednesday to get water and ice only to be turned away, I waited again Thursday for 4 hours and was able to get water, ice and MRE, I was so happy I just cried. I needed to bottled water for my son's formula bottles. I was afraid I was going to run out."--Jessica, Mobile, Ala.
• Asked if it was hard to leave, Jim Stoddard replied, "No, I was going to have a little problem breathing" in the high waters he expected to sweep through his house.
  "When you close your eyes," Smith asked Stoddard, "how do you see your home?" "Like I left it," Stoddard answered. "Gotta be positive. Hope for the best. Expect the worst."
• Judy Martin, sank to her knees and wept as she reached dry land. Her 95-year-old mother, Cecile Dupont Martin, had died the previous night in their one-story house as her daughter begged her to climb to the attic to escape the rising flood. At 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Martin left her mother floating in the bathroom and swam 400 feet up General Diaz Street to safety.
• "As the waters started to recede (Tuesday), the Book of Common Prayer from the Episcopal Church floated by and I picked it up and I put it up in the bell, and the water got down a little bit more, and I was just getting ready to get off and I saw (an American flag) floating by. "So, I'm gonna hang onto these for awhile." --Billy Barrett, Gulfport, Miss.
• The ones wheeling him out said he had died that morning. "They promised him medical attention," a man said. "They said they had medical attention in there. There isn't any."--New Orleans Convention Center.
• Beaty Kailey was born Monday, but originally, her mother had chosen a different name: Katrina. Talk about Ironic!?!
• "The whole state is letting this city down. We are gonna die out here if they don't send somebody out here right now," 12-year-old Takeasha Griggs said.
• "We saw fish. We saw snakes, turtles floating by right outside the windows while we were trying to get the patients up. We got up to the second floor and (the water) got up to the awnings of the second floor. And we didn't know if it was going to stop or not."
• "As I'm writing this, I may be experiencing some signs of early labor. I've been planning the birth of my second son for nine months, but I never planned for a hurricane evacuation. My home is in Slidell and sustained only roof damaged and downed trees, but many other homes in Slidell are destroyed and under water. Thank God most people did evacuate. "--Hilary Bordelon, Slidell, La.
• Says one, "We tried to play games to get our mind off of drowning."
• Stephen Carter was rescued with his two children. He said he wavered about evacuating last weekend after being stuck in eastbound traffic with less than a half-tank of gas. "We nailed a big 'Help' sign on our roof," he said. The family had to climb to the third floor of a neighbor's house because it was taller until "we heard the boat come."
• Baton Rouge is like a war-zone. STILL no electrical power even though there wasn't that much damage to the city. No power trucks to be seen. They have started shooting and looting here. No gasoline, no motel rooms, no rental cars. I am worried going to work about leaving my home unattended. I-10 has people parked everywhere sleeping in their cars. The shelters and hospitals here are full. This area doesn't need politicians visiting, it doesn't need money....IT NEEDS LEADERSHIP & ORDER. God help us all if somebody doesn't step up and get control of this situation. True, Monday we were "in disaster mode", but it's Friday today and it's getting worse.--Wayne Roberts, Baton Rouge, La.
• "This is a very strong house, I laid on a mattress on the second floor during this hurricane with a rosary in one hand and the other hand uplifted praying the Hail Mary over and over probably 10,000 plus times. I am Catholic but no ultra religious -- until now. I promised never to not evacuate in the future when told to do so if I just made it through this one. "
• Tina Miller, 47, had no shoes and cried with relief and exhaustion as she left the Superdome and walked toward a bus. “I never thought I’d make it. Oh, God, I thought I’d die in there. I’ve never been through anything this awful.”
• Mark Poole and his 3-year-old daughter are homeless because a massive ficus tree fell and destroyed their home. "When I moved in here a year ago, I didn't have anything but a TV," Poole said. "I had to go out and buy a couch, wait a month and buy a bed. I finally got it all filled up and now it's gone."
• A Blackhawk helicopter crew rescued at least eight people from a roof where, in red spray paint, was written the words "Diabetic, Heart Transplant, Need transportation."
• "I've been through Betsy, Ivan, all the storms we've had. This is our tsunami now," Mildred Tropez said. "It's been physically and emotionally exhausting. It's hard to watch the news. It's hard to see how the city's been destroyed, and all the victims, the hunger, the lack of water. It's really sad, not just that the hurricane hit there, but the way it's been handled. It's really depressing," Veronica Ramirez said.

The Harsh Truth

• This has been a colossal failure of government. President Bush spent Tuesday, the day after Katrina struck, at a Medicare event in Arizona and then he made his way to a San Diego naval base for yet another anniversary tribute to the Greatest Generation. His concession to reality was adding a few words of compassion to his prepared remarks. Meanwhile, the greatest natural disaster in a century was unfolding at sickening speed with television cameras capturing footage of looting reminiscent of the days after the invasion of Iraq.
• New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says hundreds, maybe thousands, of people have died in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the city on Monday. Nagin says it will at least two or three months before the city has electricity, restaurants won't be able to open and there won't be any commerce. At an impromptu news conference at the Hyatt Hotel, Nagin had no details about the deaths. -- Associated Press
• “What’s absent is a debate over the climate, over Kyoto, over the human-caused warming of the earth,” said an editorial in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a Munich-based daily. “But the oil shortage caused by the disaster will hurt Bush more than gaps in climate policy will.”
• Bertram's thanks turned quickly to scorn for New Orleans officials over the broken levees that led to the rising water in her City Park neighborhood. "It wasn't God, it was man" that caused the catastrophe, Bertram said. "Where'd all the money go that was supposed to pay for the levees? I lived through (Hurricane) Betsy in 1965, and I can tell you right now, the city was so much better organized then."
• "Let's be realistic, everybody's watching TV, and you see the suffering of people down there," Daley said. "This is not a third-world nation. We have come through the Depression and we have fought for liberty and justice in America. We have gone through many wars, we have gone through depressions and wars. We have rebuilt Germany and Japan ... and the frustration is the response. We have to respond much quicker." Mayor Richard M. Daley said.
• Those storms started hitting on Sunday, and yet, four full days later, still, we just aren't seeing emergency relief agents on the ground, in the neighborhoods that have been affected the most. There's video that we have been taking all throughout the day of people that simply aren't getting water. They are not getting food. They are not getting the basic necessities. It's a disgrace here. But if you think it's a disgrace here, the situation in New Orleans is beyond description. The Associated Press reported yesterday, “storm victims raped and beaten inside the convention center; 88 officers also beaten back by angry mobs.”
• With offers from the four corners of the globe pouring in, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has decided “no offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.
  However, in Moscow, a Russian official said the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency had rejected a Russian offer to dispatch rescue teams and other aid. Hmmmm, sounds a bit sketchy to me, Miss Condoleeza
• Speaking at an afternoon news conference, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said the damage to southeastern Louisiana is "just heartbreaking." U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she flew over the damage today and added that it was just as bad as Asia was after last year's tsunami, which she also flew over.
• At one point Friday, the evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses pulled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the evacuation line — much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the Superdome since last Sunday. “How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?” exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard blocked him as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage. LUGGAGE?? I can't say anymore I am totally disgusted.
• “If we can’t respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the gulf for days, then why do we think we’re prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?” asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican.
• "But, here it is, in our own country. We can't get these type of people, troops, to come in and help us. It's crazy," Keith Jones said. "I cannot believe this is America. This strong United States is no longer what it used to be," Veronica Ramirez said.
• It may take months before insurance adjusters can begin to get a handle on damages from Hurricane Katrina. One expert says he's basing that estimate on Hurricane Andrew, which until Katrina was ranked as the nation's costliest natural disaster.
• “In terms of property damage, the estimate is at least $26 billion in insured losses and perhaps twice that in uninsured losses over a 90,000-square-mile area — approximately the size of Kansas.”

Sometimes I wonder about people

• Connick, a New Orleans favorite son, expressed his sorrow over his hometown's devastation. Critical of the rescue efforts, Connick said on Friday's Today show: "How hard is it to bring a truck with bottles of water over to the convention center?" He said he's doing all he can to make people aware of the situation, "but I'm a musician. What can I do?" Ummmm, Donate some money? Or help relocate people. They have everyday people down there with less resources doing much more than just talking about it on TV.
• Louisiana native Britney Spears, who was raised in Kentwood, says her "thoughts and prayers go out to everyone" in the states along the devastated Gulf Coast. "All of my family members there are safe and thank you to all my fans for your concern," Spears, 23, has posted on her Web site. Well golly... we all can rest safe knowing that Brittney is safe and she is praying for everyone. Maybe she spent all her money on K Fed and the baby's nursery??
• “This is a storm that requires immediate action, now,” the president said on Sept. 2nd, after a daylong tour of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. “I understand the devastation requires more than one day’s attention. It’s going to require the attention of this country for a long period of time.” IMMEDIATE ACTION?? Didn't he say this on SEPT. 2nd?? How is that IMMEDIATE???
• A Lousiana teenager stole a schoolbus and packed it full of strangers so he could drive to safety in Houston to the Astrodome. When arriving, shocked authorities weren't going to accept the renegade refugees because they weren't expected and arrived in "borrowed transportation. The boy may face charges for stealing city property. CHARGES?? For saving lives?? It's more than Bush did!!! I think that's ridiculous. Why don't we spend time helping people ourselves, instead of prosecuting the people who are helping others.

Bless Them All

• "I cannot say enough about the kindness and concern this man showed my wife and I .... I don't plan on loosing track of William as I consider this man as the person who saved my wife's and my life, God Bless You Mr. William Johnson."
• OFFERING HOUSING:
  I live in a middle class neighborhood, in a 3BR house. I don't mind taking as many people as want to come, I'll get air mattresses if need be. I'm a single mom with two small children and a cat. We have a fenced-in back yard and are within walking distance of a good elementary school, grocery store, and pharmacy. If you need a bed, I have one twin couch pull-out, a queen, and a bunk bed that's double and twin. My kids and I can bed on the floor. I don't mind pets or children. I only have one car, but it can be shared to get around. Public transport in Tuscaloosa isn't very good, but we'll manage. peace.
• ANOTHER OFFER FOR HOUSING:
  My wife and I are willing to house children for any length of time. We have a 6 year old daughter in 1st grade and we are willing to feed, cloth, house, and send to school other children in need. We have 2 1/2 acres of land and we would also consider allowing families with campers to set up on our property. Please consider our offer. Huffman is located approximately 20 miles from Baytown,Texas.
• ANOTHER ANGEL OFFERING HOUSING
  We can take in anyonewho needs help. We have 4 bedrooms and couches for people to sleep on. We know other people willing to take people in. We live just outside the city limits and will take animals as well. If anyone at all needs help let us know. We are willing to drive to pick up anyone needing help.
• The French city of Orleans also rallied to help its hurricane-hit American namesake. The city south of Paris planned to donate money raised from ticket sales at local sports matches to help hurricane victims in New Orleans, a statement from City Hall said Friday. Orleans and its university also offered to take in 50 students from the University of New Orleans for the school year.
  The proposal to take in 500 students from New Orleans at the University of Innsbruck in Austria for the winter semester was more personal. The two universities, both in cities that boast rich cultural histories, have spent decades building bonds of friendship and community.
• "Many people in our crew right now have lost their homes. They're gone. And they're not focusing on that. They're focusing on, 'I'm gonna take care of patients, take care of my colleagues, and we're gonna get through this.' This is our home, right here. We're fine."
• "They said … they needed boats," he tells Smith. That's all Josh needed to hear to haul his boat 2½ hours to the waters in downtown New Orleans. "(I've) come to save lives," he says. It took just a few minutes for Josh to accomplish his mission, and hoist a wheelchair-confined grandmother from a flooded hotel to safety. Moments later, he did the same for her infant granddaughter. Her family had defied evacuation orders so they could stay by the grandmother's side.
• "I own a small nursing home in east Texas. On Monday, we gave refuge to a family of 27 coming out of Jefferson Parish. I contacted a local chicken franchise and with their help was able to feed this family. My staff and I were thankful to be able to offer them cool shelter, restrooms, and a short respite from their journey for a couple of hours. The seven children were given stuffed animals and time to move about freely. The adults were frayed and the short time we watched the children allowed them to rest. When they left us they were heading to a small hotel 20 miles away where they had reservations. They had already received word that they had lost everything!"-- Judy Stallone, R.N.; Carthage, Texas
• Amy Maher is a coordinator for a national organization called Noah's Wish, which works to save as many pets as possible during such catastrophes. The group expects more than 100 Noah's Wish volunteers to arrive in Louisiana Thursday.
• The American Red Cross, which accounts for the bulk of private donations, said it had received $196.9 million so far, including roughly $85 million from corporate donors.

Here are a list of some of the Celebrity and Corporate Donators that I have collected from articles across the web:

• Nicolas Cage has donated $1 million
• Celine Dion has donated $1 million
• Hilary Duff has donated $250,000
• Lance Armstrong gives $500,000 to relief effort to help displaced cancer victims get treatment
• Deion Sanders' Katrina challenge: $1,000 each and wants every pro athlete to give to hurricane relief. His goal is to reach $1.5 million to $3 million for the cause.
• New York governor George Pataki presented the Red Cross with a check for $2.5 million and promised, “This great state will do far more.”
• Diddy and Jay-Z are donating a combined $1 million
• Wal-Mart pledged $17 million
• Albertson's Inc. pledged $10 million
• ExxonMobil pledged $7 million
• Target Corporation says it's donating $1.5 million to the Red Cross and the company will aid in the distribution of water, ice, energy bars and bug spray in the disaster zone
• Serena Williams has vowed to donate $100 for every ace she hits in the U.S. Open as well as every other match she plays this year
• The Dave Matthews Band will perform a Sept. 12 concert in Denver, and all profits will go to charities supporting hurricane victims.
• Jay Leno, Morgan Freeman, Jamie Foxx are on the auction bandwagon and all holding seperate auctions for services and or goods.
• Countless other celebrities are having telethons and talkshows to raise money.
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Again, my heart goes out to everyone who has been effected by this terrible storm. I wish I could do more, I wish I could drive down there myself. But as a struggling mom of four children, sometimes it's hard to even provide for my own. I have donated my time and what money I could to efforts to help Katrina Victims. if you are a graphics community member and would like to help out, visit www.totallypixels.com . It's only a small part I can help (with several other wonderful women) in helping ease the pain of Katrina.