Katrina: An Abdication of Responsibility

#140 by ZahraJ
``Can Pakistan afford to donate $1 million in cash?``
Probably a borrowed money anyway!
Sridahr

Dear Friends,

Archaeological sites ``Pasargad & Persepolis`` will soon be submerged in Iran.

The ancient archeological sites of Pasargad in Iran are about to be permanently submerged in water. The site with all its surrounding archeological finds of ``Persepolis`` will be flooded by a Dam under construction by the Islamic Republic of Iran. This will include the Tomb of King Cyrus - the first author of the Human Rights Charter. This act will ruin more than what the Taliban did with the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.


An online petition is being circulated as ``Save the Precious Archeological Sites of Pasargad in Iran``. It is hosted by PetitionOnline.com, a free and secure online petition service, at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Pasargad/petition.html

Respectfully submitted,

BBA

ZahraJ #140 It is better to give than to receive. Helping one another at a time of need is one of the attributes that distinguishes human beings from beasts. And Pakistanis are second to none when it comes to helping others in need - the poorest Pakistani will invite you to share his meal with him.

I am all for giving top priority to poverty alleviation in Pakistan. And there is no doubt, as the cynics would stress, that to some extent this is a ``sprat to catch a mackeral`` (to use an old english saying), I nevertheless consider this to be an appropriate gesture of sympathy for New Orleans. Even though it is a token, government-sponsored gesture, it nevertheless is in keeping with the finest traditions of Pakistani hospitality and concern for those in difficult situations.

Re: # 138

Can Pakistan afford to donate $1 million in cash? Let`s be realistic here. It`s indeed a noble gesture but I think there are many deserving Pakistanis sitting in Pakistan who are homeless and jobless. They should be considered first before handing over $1 million dollar to any other part of the world. Pakistan should provide assistance based on its available resources.

Re: # 134
The president can declare a state of emergency in a state as soon as the governer of that state declares a state of emergency. Blanco delcared state of emergency in LA on Sept 26th.

Embassy Release:

Pakistan Donates One Million Dollars in Cash and 0.5 Million in Goods for Katrina Victims

The Embassy Establishes Katrina Response Task Force

Ambassador Jehangir Karamat has announced the establishment of a Task Force to help the Pakistani and Pakistani-American affectees of Hurricane Katrina.

The Katrina Response Task Force will provide a platform to the community organizations and philanthropists to extend relief to the affectees of this massive disaster in a coordinated manner. The Task Force’s efforts will include fund raising, coordinating temporary housing, health-care and emotional crisis intervention services and arranging provisional jobs.

As a gesture of solidarity and sympathy with the people of the United States, the Government of Pakistan has announced a cash donation of one million dollars in addition to a donation of relief goods worth half-a-million for the hurricane affectees. Edhi Welfare Trust will donate another $100,000. Several community organizations are also extending a helping hand. The Government of Pakistan has earlier offered to send a team of doctors and paramedics to the hurricane hit region to provide support to the American relief agencies.

The Ambassador has appealed to residential properties and hotel owners to provide free or subsidized housing to the Pakistani-American families affected by the disaster. Details about the nature, location and duration of the housing availability may be forwarded to the Embassy.

In order to enable the affected families to earn their livelihood as a stopgap arrangement before these families can actually reestablish their lives, the Task Force has introduced a temporary job replacement program. Anyone able to offer a temporary job to an evacuee is requested to contact the Embassy with following information:-

i) Location of the work;

ii) duration for which job is available;

iii) compensation; and

iv) required qualification.

Pakistani doctors who wish to volunteer to provide health care services to the victims of the disaster are requested to contact the Embassy with their specialization and location where they could provide care to those affectees who do not have medical cover.

The Consulate General of Pakistan in Houston is in constant contact with the affected Pakistanis, who are temporarily relocated to Texas, and is providing them every possible assistance. The Relief Center set up by the community in Houston is providing relief goods not only to the Pakistani community but also to other affectees of the disaster. The Relief Center is also providing help in finding jobs for the affected persons.

A large number of Pakistani community organizations are providing humanitarian aid for the victims of the worst hurricane disaster in the history of America. The Embassy is compiling a database of these organizations.

The Ambassador has also requested the community members to provide information about Pakistanis who have been affected by the disaster and are in need of help.

“Hell No We Ain’t Alright”
by Chuck D of Public Enemy

New Orleans in the morning, afternoon, and night
Hell No We Ain’t Alright

Now all these press conferences breaking news alerts

This just in while your government looks for a war to win
Flames from the blame game, names? Where do I begin?
Walls closing in get some help to my kin
Who cares?While the rest of the Bushnation stares

As the drama unfolds as we the people under the stairs
50% of this Son of a Bush nation
Is like hatin’ on Haiti

And setting up assassinations
Ask Pat Robertson- quiz him.... smells like terrorism.

Racism in the news/ still one-sided news
Saying whites find food/
prey for the national guard ready to shoot
‘Cause them blacks loot

New Orleans in the morning, afternoon, and night
Hell No We Ain’t Alright

Fires, earthquakes, tsunamis
I don’t mean to scare/ Wasn’t this written somewhere?
Disgraces all I see is black faces moved out to all these places
Emergency state, corpses, alligators and snakes
Big difference between this haze and them diamonds on the VMA’s

We better look/ what’s really important
Under this sun especially if you over 21

This ain’t no TV show/ this ain’t no video
This is really real/ beyond them same ole “keep it real”

Quotes from them TV stars drivin’ big rim cars
`Streets be floodin,’ B/ no matter where you at, no gas
Driving is a luxury
Urgency
State of emergency
Shows somebody’s government
Is far from reality....

New Orleans in the morning, afternoon, and night
Hell No We Ain’t Alright

I see here we be the new faces of refugees
Who ain’t even overseas but here on our knees

Forget the plasma TV-ain’t no electricity
New worlds upside down-and out of order
Shelter? Food? Wasssup, wheres the water?

No answers from disaster/ them masses hurtin’
So who the f**k we call?--Halliburton?

Son of a Bush, how you gonna trust that cat?
To fix s**t when help is stuck in Iraq?

Making war plans takin’ more stands
In Afghanistan 2000 soldiers dyin’ in the sand

But that’s over there, right?
Now what`s over here is a noise so loud
That some can’t hear but on TV I can see
Bunches of people lookin’ just like me…

Salim, hamidm:

Thanks. While I am ignorant, I suspect that the only reason under which overruling state authorities could have been justified in this case is one of gross incompetence, if that is permissible under the constitution.

#133, DM Sahib,
If I understand the past actions, a President can federalize the State National Guard. In matters of federal concern (Constitutional matters, federal legislation enforcement, judgement of the federal and supreme courts, etc.) the President can prevail in spite of the Governor, Mayor, or any other local official, elected or not. This was done by Eisenhower in AR, Kennedy in MS, and Johnson in GA and AL.
I think this is about right. In no circumstances can the President remove an elected leader in any office - not even the Vice President. :) I need to check the last one.

Re: # 133

dm,

...... i don`t know ...... under the national emergencies act the president has awesome powers - they can become virtual constitutional dictators ..............lincoln launched the civil war unilaterally, without any congressional action, following the secession of southern states ....... and there are many other examples of presidents using/misusing these powers ......... in my opinion it is better to keep the lid on this pandora`s box (inspite of what i say !)............

...... i would guess that the president could sideline the mayor and governor if he wanted to ...

hamidm2:

I don`t know the US constitution well enough. Can the President use emergency powers to overrule a state governor and, if so, under what conditions?

Re: # 131

tahmed,

....... i know that the president can`t ``fire`` the mayor, but he should have pushed him aside (physically if necessary) and put the army in charge ........ this guy reminds me of other ``mayors`` like coleman young, marion barry and kwame kilpatrick ............. and the governor ! ....... what`s up with her ? .......the woman is guilty of criminal negligence and incompetence ........... and the people of louisana chose her over bobby jindal ........ imagine ! ....... jaisa mun, waisey chapair ..........

.......... there is enough blame to go around but i think the city and state officials are the main culprits ........ if you have a fire in an exxon refinery or ford plant, the plant manager has primary responsibilty for dealing with it, not the ceo and chairman .......... it is really that simple .......... however, the federal government is guilty for not responding quickly once it was evident that the blathering mayor and governor were way over there heads ...........

hamidm #127 ``the first thing he should have done is fire the mayor of no and the goveror...``

er..umm...the city mayor is an elected official - cant be fired by the president anymore than he can be fired by you or me. same for the governor...i thought you knew this basic stuff. only romair and indian posters have a right to make such dumb remarks!! :-)

you continue: ``both of whom appear to be incompetent fools and blathering idiots ........``
you got that right. actually it is worse. i attended a dinner where mayor nagin was to give out awards - he arrived 90 minutes late, gave the mike to his wife, who proceeded to shower the mayor (her hubby) with praise, saying he was doing new orleans a big favor by being mayor. on 9/11, the new york mayor was all over town, in new orleans nagin was nowhere to be seen, and simply made a show of anger from the safety of the radio station.

things may be bad in the us for blacks, but they are worse in Britain.

Let us not be complacent about our own society. We pile our social problems into ghettos of our own, which most Britons do not breach. In America, 24.7 per cent of black people live below the poverty line, compared with 8.6 per cent of whites and a national average of 12.7 per cent. In Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics, 68 per cent of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are living in low-income households, and a barely more creditable 49 per cent of black Caribbeans, compared with 21 per cent of whites. They may be measuring different things, but the ratios are similar.

Unemployment among Bangladeshi, Pakistani and black men is three times the rate for white British men. And look at the jobs that they do: one in three Bangladeshi men, according to the 2002-03 labour force survey, are cooks or waiters, compared with one in 100 white British men. Around one in ten black African women is a nurse, compared with around one in 30 whites. Pakistani women are eight times more likely than white British women to be working as packers, bottlers and canners, while Indian women are seven times more likely than their white counterparts to be working as sewing machinists. They may not be living among us, but they feed, drive, clothe and care for us. Wouldn’t it be nice if the country could do the same for them?

timesonline

Dolar een khatam shud. :)

Behram #120, {``We have a saying in Farsi (jawab nadaan khamoshi-eest). ``}

Behram Bradar-e-man,
That reminds me of a Farsi/Poorbhi yarn. These two Iranian travelers were making their way through Oudh when they encountered a bhayya standing near his house in the gaon. Not knowing anything other than Farsi, they yelled ``Che mi goi?`` Completely taken aback, the bhayya realized that he better keep up with them, so he answered ``Tel ki poi.` Ignoring this strange response, the Iranians asked ``Shoma kay bradar?`` The bhayya promptly responded ``Chaar dangar`` displaying four fingers of his right hand. ``Pidar ba hayat?`` the travelers asked making a gesture with their palm indicating wellness. Not to be considered uneducated in Farsi, our brave bhayya responded - ``Bandhay bhoosa khaath.`` :)