This is weird.........I was at google news when I saw this headline:
Astrodome may close next week
google.com
news.google.com
But when you click on the story which is significant news, this is what comes up:
Bush declares a day of prayer
By Ellen Dunkel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
President Bush today designated Sept. 16 a national day of prayer and rememberance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The federal government has been harshly criticized for its reaction to the hurricane, but Bush said that relief supplies are pouring in and more help is on the way.
"The government is going to be with you for the long haul," Bush told people who were affected by the storm.
He said the government would be assigning "evacuee status" to everyone from the counties that were declared disaster areas, meaning they'd be get help with housing and able to receive FEMA benefits in any state they wind up in.
He also pledged the government would cut through red tape to provide an immediate $2,000 in disaster assistance to displaced families and make sure they continue receiving Medicaid, food stamps, jobless compensation and other federal benefits.
"Our goal is not to simply provide benefits, but to make them as easy and simple to collect," he said.
More than 400,000 families have already registered with the Federal Emergency Management Association, and thousand more still need to be registered, he said.
The president also said he would work with Congress to reimburse states that take in evacuees."
Earlier today, Vice President Dick Cheney, in Gulfport, Miss., said, "we are making significant progress" in the relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina."
Cheney is scheduled later to go to Biloxi and examine a levee repair in New Orleans
First lady Laura Bush is visiting schools in Iowa and Mississippi. She and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings are encouraging help for the hurricane victims while in Iowa.
He said he has "enormous confidence" in FEMA director Michael Brown, and that housing issues are moving quickly along.
In Texas, officials are planning to clear out and close the Astrodome and other temporary shelters, as soon as next week.
"We want to help them get their lives back to normal," Houston Mayor Bill White said this morning on CNN. The target date for emptying the Astrodome is Sept. 19.
Plans for the FEMA to out $2,000 debit cards to evacuees beginning at the Astrodome and eventually at other areas have not materialized as of this morning. FEMA told CNN the debit cards will not be distributed today. In Biloxi, some people were told to expect them in 14 days.
More than 7,000 people were lined up this morning outside Reliant Center as the American Red Cross began distributing their own debit cards, worth up to $2,000 to evacuees.
continued..
mercurynews.com
I checked the newspapers archives for the first article......nada. There is something very strange about this whole disaster relief effort. I can't get over how quickly people have been moved to other states. And you know the number officials were saying had moved to TX......250K..........reporters are now claiming that that figure never exceeded 69K.
And where are all the bodies? Something smells...........big time! |
