|
Today's
Stories
September 2, 2008
Bill Quigley
Living in the Car After Gustav
Marjorie Cohn
Raiding Democracy in St. Paul
Jonathan Cook
Palestinian Village Faces Army Reign of Terror
Robert Weitzel
Biden and Israel
Corey D. B. Walker
Where Do We Go From Here?
John Ross
The Kidnapping Boom in Mexico
Eric Walberg
Wag the Dog in Georgia
Judith Scherr
No Day in Court for Ronald Dauphin
Richard Morse
Haiti, 2008
B. R. Gowani
What If the Israel Lobby was the African-American Lobby?
Michael Greenberg
Loofah Day in Cleveland
Website of the Day
Thanks for the Memories!
September 1, 2008
Nikolas Kozloff
Making a Killing in Iraq: McCain and the Telecoms
C. G. Estabrook
The War Will Go On
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Will a Russo-American Nuclear War Happen (Soon)?
David Macaray
An Elegy for Labor Day
B. R. Gowani
The Lobby as Juggernaut
Saul Landau
Real Gold Winners
Charles Orloski
Going Down to Hell's Cul-de-Sac
Gloria La Riva
Profit and Disaster in New Orleans
Website of the Day
Springsteen: Factory
August 30 / 31, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
Obama's Speech; McCain's Palinomy
Bill Quigley
Gustav is Coming
Jeffrey St. Clair
Valley Boy:
The Rise and Fall of Richard Pombo
Andy Worthington
Shining a Light on the Dark Prison
Deepak Tripathi
The Race for the White House: Notes From a European Observer
Stanley Howard
A Prisoner's Tale of Abuse
Dave Lindorff
Troopergate in Alaska
Wajahat Ali
Palin on the Prowl:
a Cougar for the PUMAs?
Robert Fantina
McCain and Palin
Josh Schlossberg
A Bias for Life: the Role of the Environmentalist
Benjamin Dangl
Beyond Voting
Missy Beattie
Stars, Stripes, War and Shame
Howard Lisnoff
Better Cuba Than Florida?
Suzan Mazur
Rethinking Evolution with Stuart Newman
Rev. Jim Rigby
What Would Jesus Ride to the Conventions?
David Yearsely
Katy Perry Meets Mozart
Serge Quadruppani
Italy's Years of Lead
B.R. Gowani
What If the Israeli Lobby Was the Islamic Lobby?
Richard Rhames
Empty Political Calories
Poets' Basement
Holt, Davies, Corsale and Landau
Website of the Day
Return of the Druids
August 29, 2008
Mike Whitney
How the Chicago Boys Wrecked the Economy
Brian Cloughley
Resurgent Russia
David Ker Thomson
Jacko and Me: Dispatches From Fifty
Joanne Mariner
A UK Window on CIA Abuses
Neve Gordon
The Ordeal of Sahar Vardi, Refusenik
Chris Genovali
Of Whales and Off-Shore Drilling
Ron Jacobs
What's a Godfearing Country to Do?
Michael Donnelly
Honest Abe in Denver?
August 28, 2008
Judy Gumbo Albert
The Battle of Chicago
Paul Cantor
Who Killed Victor Jara?
Saul Landau /
Farrah Hassen
Axis of Evil Defeats Neocons
Andy Worthington
Clearing Out Guantánamo
Ben Terrall
Return to Port-au-Prince
Leonard Peltier
Message to Obama: Symbolism Alone Will Not Bring Change
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Miasma of Bi-Partisanship
Donna J. Volatile
The Obama Construct
Website of the Day
Ishmael Reed, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou on the Meaning of Obama
August 27, 2008
Anthony DiMaggio
The Myths of Joe Biden
Jordan Flaherty
Three Years After Katrina
Ralph Nader
The Politics of Avoidance
Melissa Checker
Carbon Offsets, More Harm Than Good?
Bob Sommer
Blaming the Sixties
Cynthia McKinney
How the Democrats Helped Bush Hijack the Country
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Flawed Presidency
M. Junaid Levesque-Alam
The Only Good Muslim is the Anti-Muslim
Dave Lindorff
Strip-Search Nation
David Macaray
Labor's Hard Lessons
Website of the Day
Stagnant Income in an Eroding Economy
August 26, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
The Big Questions About Iraq
Michael D. Yates
Obama and the Working Class
Paul Craig Roberts
Is War With Russia on the Agenda?
Andy Worthington
The Guantánamo Suicide Report
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson
Obama's Promised Land?
Huwaida Arraf
Sailing into Gaza
Joseph Grosso
Back to the Future: New York's Housing Crisis
Sheldon Richman
What About the Ossetians?
Binoy Kampmark
Impasse at Singur
Website of the Day
Taser Bait in Denver
August 25, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
US Out of Iraq by "2011"
Bill Quigley
Katrina, the Pain Index
Jonathan Cook
Israeli Outposts Seal Death of Palestinian State
James McEnteer
Death by Paranoia
Uri Avnery
The Devil's Hoof
Will Potter
The State Deparment's Green Scare Wing
Robert Jensen
Technological Fundamentalism
Stephen Lendman
Reinventing the Evil Empire
Wajahat Ali
Biden His Time
Carl Finamore
The Future of Trade Unions in China
Website of the Day
Don't Blow Up the Mountain, Boys
August 23 / 4, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
"Change," "Hope"...Why They Must be Talking About Joe Biden!
Jeffrey St. Clair
Killing Salmon with Paul O'Neill: Power, Profits and the Future of the Columbia River
Patty O'Grady
John McCain in a New Context: Why the Senator is No War Hero
Nicole Colson
Obama and Big Corn
Steve Conn
Obama and the Mining Cartel
Deepak Trapathi
Pakistan in Uncertain Times
Robert Fantina
Once Upon a Time in America: a McCain Administration
Jonathan M. Feldman
Obamanomics: Does the Left Have Anything to Say?
Joshua Frank
Targeting Pelosi (and the War Machine): an Interview with Cindy Sheehan
Osama Qashoo
Sailing to Gaza
Howard Lisnoff
The Long Silence: American Jews and the Palestinians
David Michael Green
Sen. McShame and the Wreckage:
John McCain Discovers America
Dave Lindorff
Why Not Let the Republicans Deal With This Mess?
Christopher Brauchli
A Banner Month for Passports
Alan Farago
Who Crippled the Government?
Michael Winship
Cash Register Conventions
Richard Rhames
Vlad the Derailer: Can Putin Save America From Itself?
David Rosen
The Culture Wars Are Over: But Culture Warriors Are Still Terrorizing America
Patrick B. Barr
Don't Try to Tame the Lightning Bolt
Jamie Newlin
Western Turf Wars: the Politics of Public Lands Ranching
Poets' Basement
Glendinning, McEnteer and Bonner
Website of the Weekend
Cafe Reconcile, New Orleans
August 22, 2008
Boris Kagarlitsky
Fallout from the Georgian War
Laura Carlsen
Obama and Latin America: Change or Continuity?
Bob Barr
No War for Georgia
Marwan Bishara
From Russia with Love: Putin Hits Georgia, Bloodies Bush
Peter Morici
Is the Fed Still a Central Bank?
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
The Big Heat
Charles Mostoller
The Battle for the Amazon
Sumbul Ali-Karamali
Obama is Not a Muslim: But Would It Be So Terrible If He Were?
Keith Rosenthal
Standing Up to Union-Bashing
John F. Miglio
The Devolution of the Baby Boom Generation
Website of the Day
Fire Sale in the Markets!
August 21, 2008
Allan J. Lichtman
Is Georgia 2008 a Repeat of Hungary 1956?
Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It
Ralph Nader
The Problem with Problem Banks
Joanne Mariner
The Military Commissions, So Far
Wajahat Ali
Descent Into Chaos: an Interview with Ahmed Rashid on Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban
Ron Jacobs
Georgia and Historical Farce
Rostam Purzal
The Left and Iran
Anthony Papa
Unlocking the Power of Art to Counter Injustice
Website of the Day
Rocky Mountain Way
August 20, 2008
Michael Neumann
Russia and Georgia: Proportion and Distortion
Ray McGovern
Musharraf Out Like Nixon
Eric Walberg
Georgia's Ossetian Debacle
Fidaa Abed
Blocking a Gazan's Path to San Diego
Daniel Haack
The Pentagon's Most Prolific Pundit
Mike Whitney
Greenback Surges, Euro Shrivels
Website of the Day
Hands Off South Africa's Centre for Civil Society
August 19, 2008
Paul Craig Roberts
Are You Ready for Nuclear War?
Deepak Tripathi
A New Age of Torture
Marwan Bishara
The Politics of Evil in the US Elections
Saul Landau
Baseball Diplomacy or Just Baseball?
William S. Lind
Leave Georgia Alone, George
Martha Rosenberg
Whole Foods and Other Food Offenders
James Brittain
The Road to Tyranny in Colombia
Pratyush Chandra
Krugman's Great Illusion
David Macaray
AFSCME's Strike Against the University of California
Website of the Day
McCain Plagiarizing Solzhenitsyn
August 18, 2008
Tariq Ali
Pakistan After Musharraf
Gary Leupp
Russia's Georgia Campaign and the Expansion of NATO
Uri Avnery
The Anger, the Longing, the Hope
John Ross
Inside America's Death Chamber
Farooq Sulehria
An Afghan Woman Who Stands Up to the Warlords
Luis Rodriguez
The Power of Art and Youth
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
A Laser Weapon of Plausible Deniablity?
Noah Baker Merrill
We Can Do Better
Charles Thomson
Betrayal of Trustees at the Tate
Website of the Day
Gonzo Environmentalism
August 16 / 17, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
Don't Know Much About History...
Jeffrey St. Clair
Last Stand in the Big Woods: Resistance and Ignominy at Cove/Mallard
Deepak Tripathi
A Pawn in Their Game: From Georgia to the Brink of a New Cold War
Conn Hallinan
Georgia on My Mind
Mike Whitney
Revisiting the "Battle of Tskhinvali"
Robert Fantina
Russia, Georgia and Bush
Ray McGovern
Out Damn Blot: a Letter to Colin Powell
Nicole Colson
Bled Dry by the Oil Giants
Fatima Bhutto
The Impeachment of Musharraf
Jean-Luis Rocca
The Middle Kingdom's Middle Way
David Michael Green
My Army Went to Iraq and All I Got was This Lousy Air Lift
Ramzi Kysia
Standing Up for Justice in the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Forging the Case for War
Lisa Martinovic
What's So Funny 'Bout Bush, Lies and Torture Memos?
Richard Rhames
Single-Payer, a Dream Denied
Don Santina
Taps for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Rannie Amiri
Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim vs. the Ugly Dictator
Ramzy Baroud
Family Politics and the New Gaza Crisis
John Stanton
The Army's Human Terrain Systems: From Super Concept to Super Farce
Howard Lisnoff
The Deportation of Jeremy Hinzman
Ron Jacobs
Sweat and Sacrifice Make History
Seth Sandronsky
Arianna Huffington's Blind Spot
Poets' Basement
Landau, Darwish and Orloski
Website of the Weekend
Summer Screening: CounterPunch's Favorite Films
August 15, 2008
Steve Niva
The Surge in Iraqi Female Suicide Bombers
David Remington
Sharpening Occam's Razor on the Forged Intelligence Documents
Michael Winship
The Imperial Presidency
Paul Craig Roberts
The Neocons Do Georgia
Farzana Versey
Taming the Islamic Shrew
Harvey Wasserman
McCain Goes Nuclear
Felice Pace
The Politics of Smoke
Julian Critchley
All Experts Agree: Legalize Drugs
Website of the Day
The Farting Preacher
August 14, 2008
Saul Landau /
Nelson Valdés
The Shape of Cuba's Reforms
Conn Hallinan
The Coming Surge in Afghanistan
Mike Whitney
Georgia and U.S. Strategy
Reza Fiyouzat
U.S. and Iranian Relations: What Does Normalization Entail?
Ralph Nader
Single-Payer Health Care in an Age of Two-Party Politics
Christopher Brauchli The Cheerleader in China
Jack Bradigan Spula
Plowing Through the Farm Bill
Patrick Irelan
After the Flood
John Walsh
Buyers Remorse Over Obama
Dan Bacher
Schwarznegger Pimps the Water Bond
Website of the Day
Zevon: Renegade
August 13, 2008
Paul Craig Roberts
"President Bush, Will You Please Shut Up?"
David Remington
Forgery, Fakery and Fatigue (Scandal, That Is)
Brian Cloughley
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Press
Glen Ford
Are Black Politics Headed Toward the Graveyard?
Brendan Cooney
A Shattered Myth in Georgia
Dave Lindorff
This War Has Been Approved By Your Government
Tom Lewis
Morales After the Bolivian Referendum
Stan Cox
Let's Handcuff the Property Cops
Alan Farago
Crimes Against the State: Bushism and the Florida Mortgage Crisis
Martha Rosenberg
Fear and Loathing Behind the Plexiglass Curtain
Website of the Day
Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Young Workers and Social Security
August 12, 2008
Uri Avnery
Obama and the Middle East
Anthony DiMaggio
Master of Ambiguity:
Obama's Non-Plan for Ending the War in Iraq
Bill Christison
No NATO Membership for Georgia
Eric Walberg
War a la Carte: How the US Invited a War in S. Ossetia
Kate Connolly
Old Cold Warriors Never Die: Brzezinski Compares Putin to Hitler
Diane Farsetta
Cracking the Pentagon Pundit Code
Peter Morici
The Trade Deficit and Job Losses
Thom Rutledge
Equal Opportunity Judgment: Reason, Morality and the Edwards Scandal
Lee Patton
How to Swiftboat McCain
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Technological Titans, Moral Midgets
Website of the Day
Mr. Hot Buttered Soul
August 11, 2008
Ishmael Reed
Politics of the Race Card: McCain Gurgles in the Slime
Paul Craig Roberts
The Moronic Party: From Off-Shore Drilling to the Georgian War
Gary Leupp
The Neo-Cons' Dream Forgery: the Habbush Letter Revisited
Douglas Kammen
Rice and Circus in East Timor
William Willers
New Paths Toward the Loss of Our Public Lands: Subsidies, Volunteerism and Outsourcing
Greg Moses
The Smell of Propaganda in the Morning: Press Calls for War in the Caucasus
Jeff Leys
Showdown at Fort McCoy
Cynthia McKinney
We Are Not Hopeless
Alan Farago
The Olympic Spectacle and the New China
Website of the Day
Mahmoud Darwish, RIP
August 9 / 10, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
You Want More Still Proofs the Crony, Old-Line Press is Dead?
Jeffrey St. Clair
Pools of Fire: the Looming Nuclear Nightmare in the Backwoods of N. Carolina
Bruce Jackson
Hamdan's Secret
Kevin Young
Targeting Civilians: the Path to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Chris Floyd
The Serpent's Egg: Solzhenitsyn and the Origins of the American Gulag
Joshua Frank
Inside Obama's Fundraising Operation
Robert Fantina
Of Campaigns and Timelines
Brendan Cooney
The Eagle is Wounded
Mark Almond
Plucky Little Georgia?
Lois Gibbs
The Lost Lessons of Love Canal
Rev. William Alberts
Blind Patriotism? McCain's Counting On It
Kathy Kelly
The Big Voice
John Ross
The Cutthroat Games: the Decline of the Olympics from Mexico City to Beijing
David Michael Green
The Fire This Time: the GOP and the Economy
Bill Moyers /
Michael Winship
A Novel Approach to Politics
Ron Jacobs
I Read the News Today, Oh Boy (Or Why John McCain Wants Cindy to Show Her Tits)
Richard Rhames
The Greatest Degeneration
David Yearsley
Once More Unto the Albert Hall, Dear Friends
Lee Sustar
Justice for the Freightliner Five: a Struggle for the Soul of the UAW
Brenda Norrell
Turning Sewage into Snow on the Sacred San Francisco Peaks
Ben Terrall
Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid
Poets' Basement
Dominguez, Jenkins, Ibn Salma and Willson
Website of the Weekend
Tuli Kupferberg's Fig Leaf Olympics
August 8, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq's Nationalist Surge
Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Voting: a Ritual of Justifying Biases
M. Shahid Alam
The Zionist Stratagem
Andy Worthington
Salim Hamdan's Sentence
Lawrence J. Korb
Bad Advice from Generals
David Model
Instant Genocide
Alan Farago
When Miami Goes Bust: the Politics of the Housing Crisis
Diop Olugbala
What About the Black Community, Obama?
Firmin DeBrabander
When the Olympics Went Green--with Algae
Website of the Day
Summer Reading: CounterPunch's Favorite Novels
August 7, 2008
Dr. Trudy Bond
Fixing Hell and Curing Obesity
William Blum
Breaking Young Hearts:
Obama and the Empire
Paul Craig Roberts
Do You Feel Safe Now?
Ralph Nader
Gouged in the Skies: Gotcha Capitalism in the Airline Industry
Robert Weitzel
Obama and the Two Walls
Jacob G. Hornberger
Why Wasn't Ivins Declared an Enemy Combatant?
Binoy Kampmark
Driving Bin Laden
David Macaray
What Does a Radical Labor Union Look Like?
Howard Lisnoff
Echoes of the Sixties: Refusing to Recite the Pledge
Website of the Day
Bono's Retirement Fund
August 6, 2008
Marc Herold
Obama and Afghanistan
Greg Moses
The Unnecessary Execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin
Sheldon Rampton
The Anthrax Cover-Up
Kevin Young
The Atomic Bombing of Japan: Tsuyoshi Hasegawa Re-Examines the Japanese Surrender
Michael Estrada
What I Re-Discovered in Mexico
Robert Weissman
The Commercial Games
Dr. Susan Block
The Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church Killings: Did Rightwing Talk Shows Drive Him to Kill?
Cindy Sheehan
This is Horseshit
Ace Hoffman
The Unholy Trinity
Website of the Day
Over to You, Paris
August 5, 2008
Paul Craig Roberts
The Anthrax Attacks and the Assault on Civil Liberties
Jeff Halper
An Israeli Jew in Gaza
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq Better? With Three Wars Going On?
Nancy Welch
"What Did My Father Do to Deserve Such Treatment?"
An Interview with Laila al-Arian
Peter Morici
Rear View Mirror Economics
Sousan Hammad
The Antisemitism Incitement Craze
Eamon Martin
The Audacity of Despair
Shepherd Bliss
Slow Food Nation Gains Momentum
Tim Matson
Keeping Cool and Saving BTUs
Website of the Day
Top Heavy Greens?
August 4, 2008
Uri Avnery
Olmert's Exit
Saul Landau
Reflections on the Cuban Revolution
David W. Remington
The Face of the Modern War Criminal
Rev. Jesse Jackson
The Question Conscience Asks
Dave Lindorff
The Cheney Doctrine: Shoot Your Friends First
Peter Morici
The Lingering Economic Malaise
Joanne Mariner
Debating Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism in Britain
Ramzy Baroud
Through the Israeli Looking Glass: Obama Joins the Club
Christian Wright
Why We're Protesting at the Democratic Convention
Website of the Day
The US and Karadzic
August 2 / 3, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
The Ongoing Persecution of Sami al-Arian
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Worst Day of Ted Stevens' Life?
Patrick Cockburn
Who's Really Running Iraq?
Winslow T. Wheeler
Is the King of Pork Dead?
James Abourezk
Lies the Oil Companies Peddle
Andy Worthington
The CIA's Secret Prison on Diego Garcia
Brian Cloughley
Baleful Imperial Power
Robert Fantina
Redefining Progress in Iraq
Benjamin Dangl
Total Recall in Bolivia
Marlene Martin
Living in Hell for Life
David Yearsley
The Sound and Fury of Wet Balloons Rubbed with a Big Sponge: Yes, Bill O'Reilly, This Your Kind of Music!
Fatemeh Keshavarz
What Qualifies "Them" for the Death Sentence?
David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis
Harvey Wasserman
Meet the Real Terrorists of the 1960s
Jason Hribal
Moja Has Mojo:
How a Few Elephants Turned the Zoo Industry Upside Down
Phyllis Pollack
The Rolling Stones' Exile on Geary Street: an Interview with Rock Photographer Dominque Tarle
Laray Polk
Tongues of Fire, Plains of Grace: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Ron Jacobs
Jerry Garcia Meets Barack Obama
David Macaray
Labor, Management and the Adversarial Relationship
David Rosen
Teen Prostitution in America
Dan Bacher
Schwarzengger's Water Empire
Joe Allen
Batman's War of Terror
Poets' Basement
Graham, Stevens, Cory and Fleming
Website of the Weekend
Get Your War On: the Watch List
August 1, 2008
Jonathan Cook
Palestinians Face Home Demolitions Spree by Israel
Nikolas Kozloff
McCain's Mad Dog Advisor Max Boot
Rannie Amiri
Islamobamaphobia: a New Word Enters the Lexicon
Peter Morici
U.S. Economy Loses Another 51,000 Jobs
Christopher Brauchli
South Dakota's Abortion Fairy Tale
M. K. Bhadrakumar
Coup in the Great Caspian Play
Patrick Cockburn
Turkish Court Says Ruling Islamic Party Can't be Shut Down
James J. Brittain
The Continuity of FARC-EP Resistance in Colombia
Dan Bacher
Warren Buffett, Salmon Killer
Website of the Day
Shark Genocide: 100 Million Deaths a Year
July 31, 2008
Michael Hudson
The Next Big Bail Out: State, Local and Private Pensions
Carl Finamore
Protest Politics and the Democrats: A Street Protester Looks Back at 1968
Mike Whitney
What's Going on in Afghanistan
Joshua Frank
Obama's Green Coal: Another Myth from the Change Agent
Andy Worthington
The Peculiar Case of Jarallah al-Marri
Ralph Nader
The Living Legacy of Rosa Parks
Bill Moyers /
Michael Winship
The Wave of Capitol Crimes
Robert Weissman
The Collapse of the WTO Talks
Dave Lindorff
Bush Judge Does the Right Thing on Executive Immunity
Website of the Day
Perils of the New Pesticides
July 30, 2008
Brian M. Downing
Assessing the Surge
Chuck Spinney
Should Obama Escalate the War in Afghanistan? A Thought Experiment
William S. Lind
Why McCain is Wrong on Iraq
David Ker Thomson
Against Bike Lanes
Karl Grossman
Nuclear-Powered Amphibious Assault Ships?
Mike Whitney
Apocalypse Down Under
Martha Rosenberg
Heifer Palooza
James Murren
Where Your Life is Worth One Bullet
Dave Lindorff
The Impeachment Hearing
Ron Jacobs
A Conspiracy to Kill Iraqis?
Website of the Day
Mapping Job Loss to China
July 29, 2008
Jeffrey St. Clair
King of the Hill Indicted! Ted Stevens' Empire of Corruption
John Ross
Return of the Gunboat
Peter Morici
When Will Henry Paulson Learn?
Alison Weir
Israeli Strip Searches
Gary Leupp
"Bewilderment and Confusion on the Left?"
David Macaray
The Calculus of Union Strikes
Brenda Norrell
Censored in Indian Country
Marjorie Cohn
End the Occupations: Of Iraq and Afghanistan
Eric Ruder
A New Consensus on Iraq?
Website of the Day
"If You Could See Me Now ... "
July 28, 2008
Dr. Bryant Welch
Torture, Political Manipulation and the American Psychological Association
Kathy Kelly
Pictures from Summer Camp on the West Bank
Mike Whitney
Bad News and Bank Runs
Peter Morici
Spreading Layoffs, Sagging GDP
Christopher Brauchli
Death by (Power) Surge in Baghdad
Clifton Ross
The Spectacle and the Movement in Colombia
Stephen Lendman
The Bush Administration's Secret Biowarfare Agenda
Website of the Day
Stone's Dubya: the Trailer
|
September 2, 2008
New Orleans Journal
Living in the Car After Gustav
By BILL QUIGLEY
The good news is that nearly two million people evacuated and were spared the direct hit of Gustave. Our sisters and brothers in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, who were not able to leave the point of the storm, lost over 100 lives. The people of the U.S. were fortunate to be able to leave.
The bad news is that most people have not been allowed to return.
Since the storm, New Orleans and numerous other coastal communities have continued 24 hour curfews and prohibited people from returning by posting law enforcement at all entrances. Officials argue that neighborhoods are without electricity and return would be challenging due to the presence of downed trees and power lines.
Locking people out is quite a hardship and also very challenging for the hundreds of thousands of displaced working families. As one local resident put it, “I understand that most public officials are saying for us to stay away as a safety aspect, but they do not realize that some of us cannot afford to stay away that long.”
Garland Robinette, a respected radio voice of WWL radio, was also pleading with elected officials on air this afternoon, “What are you going to do about the poor people who can’t afford another hotel room?”
When the average weekly wage for workers in the hotel and restaurant business is less than $400 a week, the least expensive hotel, plus gas and meals for a family since last Saturday or Sunday, can eat up a week’s wages in no time. Additionally, tens of thousands of people have also lost a week of work because most workers are not paid for the time during evacuation. That puts families two weeks of wages behind.
That it why there are widespread reports of families now parked on the side of the highway or in parking lots waiting for permission to come home.
Over 60,000 people are in 300 shelters across the South. Those who came by publicly paid buses will not be allowed to return until perhaps the weekend.
People who cannot come home are now being told to contact the Red Cross and local churches to see if they will provide bed space.
Despite our continuing problems, we are all thankful for the good fortune we have had. We are also grateful for the help of our neighbors, families and friends who have put us up, given us money for gas, and allowed us to shower and use their phones.
Nearly two million people cooperated in the evacuation. New Orleans and other coastal communities reported only a handful of arrests. This has worked really well so far. But unless officials are sensitive to the serious financial crunch that working and poor families are in, the risk is that next time large numbers of people will be less likely to evacuate.
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. His essay on the Echo 9 nuclear launch site protests is featured in Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance from the Heartland, published by AK Press. He can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com
|
