[alephnull]

They complain about the lack of response but won't let the Red Cross in.

[No Truce With Kings]

"They complain about the lack of response but won't let the Red Cross in."

The local and state gummints in Louisiana have made a fine art of playing the game "Heads, I win. Tails, you lose."

And the press sucks it up.

[Modok]

The Red Cross forgot to make the payoffs to the right people so they don't get in. This is still New Orleans.

[twigs]

I heard that on KYW yesterday. The Red Cross spokesman sounded defensive, obviously answering the question on why they had not been in NO.

[GrandmaPatriot]

"The state Department of Homeland Security in Louisiana asked the Red Cross not to go into the city because they want that message to be, 'You need to leave the city. This isn't going to be a sheltering spot.' "

Foley says it's frustrating for volunteers not to be able to help. But the way the Red Cross operates, he says, is that evacuees are brought to them by local officials -- much like victims of a fire are taken to the Red Cross by a fire department.

It seems that they don't want the people to get the idea they can stay in the city. Doesn't sound like what you implied with your remark.

[snuffy smiff]

Is it just me or is it starting to sound more and more like aid was intenionally withheld from those poor folks just so the lowlife scumbags can scream "it's all Bush's fault!"

[deport]

The Red Cross needs to establish outside the impacted areas and let them clear the devastated areas of all but essential personnel. The NG/others can provide bottle water and cold MREs until they can be evacuated...

No one but clean up, damage assessment and restroration personnel need to be in the severely damaged areas, imo.

[plain talk]

The state Department of Homeland Security in Louisiana asked the Red Cross not to go into the city because they want that message to be, 'You need to leave the city. This isn't going to be a sheltering spot.' "

OK. OK. I understand that they are evacuating the whole city. But this is utter rules-based stupidity. They should have let some Red Cross in immediately to help with the thousands of refugees until they can be evacuated.

[fire and forget]

Anyone heard any stats on drug abuse (percentages of drug addicts) in New Orleans? I haven't seen or heard anything at all in relation to this but I suspect withdrawals account for much of the hostility and violence in the city.

[deport]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476193/posts

This Is Why the Red Cross Was Not In New Orleans:
...EVANS: Well, Larry, we were asked, directed by the National Guard and the city and the state emergency management not to go into New Orleans because it was not safe. We are not a search and rescue organization. We provide shelter and basic support and so we were depending, we are depending on the state and the agencies to get people to our shelters in safe places.

[roses of sharon]

They are slandering America and the President, globally, which is their intent.

[SandRat]

SAAAAAAAYYY WHHHHAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!

[Danae]

It's time we look at reality, and not the fantasy anymore. In a natural disaster of this magnitude, there are going, repeat, GOING to be casualties. This is a disaster of the magnitude of Pompeii! Let's look forward, realize that things are not perfect yet continue to work toward that end. We have got to STOP applying the OLD rules, the ones that applied BK, Before Katrina.

Just like with 9-11, we have to shift our paradigm. We have no choice, we have to stop trying to lay blame, to Pin the disaster on Mr/Mrs XYZ at HIJ agency. Time to simply pull together as Americans, identify problems, and then solve them.

Time to stop looking at what divides us, and working to strengthen that which we all share. Fingering who failed whom where, is only going to get just that. It isn't going to put one wall back up in New Orleans. It isn't going to get Diapers for a five day old baby. Time to be doing what can be done with the resources at hand. Take what we learn, and APPLY it through out the Nation.

Mistakes are being made, have been made, and will be made in the future. How intelligent, wise, and deliberate we are will be decided in the near future by how much we learn from those mistakes, and how well we are able to apply the knowledge. We will fail if we allow ourselves to become so mired in the irrelevancy of the PC culture.

Who cares about a bunch of extremist environmentalists protesting the logging of the Biscuit Fire in southern Oregon (burned two or three years ago I think)? Let's get rid of all that dead wood, reduce the fire hazard, and make all the board feet available to the reconstruction of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. To hell with these fools, who preach what we all know to be nonsense. Come right down to it, where are all those fools that have basically made it impossible to build new refineries now eh?? Where is the ACLU? Now here is an opportunity to rid ourselves of that bloodsucking monster, they have supported causes that are part of the legal mire that make the permitting process so impossible! Wisdom. This is what we need. Wise use of resources, ALL our resources!

Let's get the city evacuated, get the people out using every means possible, including forcing those (who are otherwise staying) out, through a lack of services from the Red Cross. What ever it takes people. Time to get it done. Wisdom. They can not be sustained where they are.

[dawn53]

I don't really believe this.

I think the Red Cross has asked for a certain level of safety assurance, and it can't be given, and the Red Cross doesn't want to admit that's what's keep them out.

The Salvation Army is in NO, why not the Red Cross.

[OldFriend]

Karl Rove really was the one to make that call. No doubt about it..or was it Dick Cheney.

[Redcloak]

The folks at the Red Cross don't get it. The government weenies don't want the Red Cross' help; the want the Red Cross' money.

[CFC__VRWC]

It's probably because the military is already in New Orleans, dropping tons and tons of food and water and other supplies while evacuating the city, and they don't want to complicate their mission any more having to protect Red Cross workers from the gangs of goons and thugs still roaming the city with their stolen weapons.

[EGPWS]

The local head of the American Red Cross has responded to complaints that the agency has not provided help within the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans. He says they weren't allowed.

First they do nothing to get people out and now they do nothing to get people in.

It almost appears calculated.....