Also if you speak to Olbermann I notice that emails sent to his published email are either bounced or deleted without being opened.

you're right, that's usually how i contact "countdown", haven't lately but the e-mails come back without getting thru about half the time.

I dare say, Rachel always looks good. ;-)

I'm very moved by the work of Tracie Washington. She's an unsound hero and I'm inviting everybody to nominate her for the 2010 CNN HERO for what she's been doing and continue to do down there.

Please to everybody who love Rachel Maddow to nominate Tracie Washington as 2010 CNN HERO.

welcome back, micro geek

Awww. *blush* ;-)

You were missed mirco geek. Welcome back!

I watched and thought the woman was very credible. What did she say that was wrong? What is the truth?

Hey Paul; do your homework...

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/08/panel_recommends_against_suspe.html

She was cleared of all charges in regards to the emails, but you forgot to mention that. I checked this article, and the original article, and 92 percent of the blog comments were unintelligible, racist, or completely lacked any facts in there attack. You then end your diatribe, once again not providing any factual statements, by saying that you were too annoyed to refute Rachel's report; you could not refute the report because you don't have any facts...you are just a name caller, and a pretty small sounding name caller at that. That is as personal as I am ever going to get on this blog. I don't think that you could identify who or what was a fraud about anything, since you don't provide any facts. I also think that you are slandering people that are trying to help other people. Does this person threaten you in some way? or, are you spewing hate that you read on the times-picyune blog to make yourself feel better. Be a part of the solution, not part of the problem. I encourage everyone to read the original article, and this one, then read the blog postings to see the real hate that is going on in NOLA...

I did a quick search--not an exhaustive one--and didn't see anything negative on Ms. Washington. Paul, can you provide some links to credible sources? I'm not trying to badger you, I just would like to know the truth. No one likes to be duped. I really can't form an opinion based on claims that a known activist insights anger in some people. That goes with the territory of being an activist--pacifists typically don't like the things you do when it comes to getting your voice heard. I've watched this show long enough, with an open mind, to trust most of what they report and whom they interview.

TRMS staff--any credible links you would like to post to refute Paul's claim?

The truth is documented in numerous local newspaper articles. Living in New Orleans in 2006, I took advantage of my parents daily subscription to the Times Picayune. There was practically a concerted effort among certain local politicians, not just in the city of New Orleans, but in surrounding city, and parish, councils as well, to make sure that certain people would not be coming back to their districts. Tracie Washington is absolutely right. There were people who were white, who would tell you in private, especially if you were also white, that they were glad Katrina forced the poor, and specifically African Americans out of the city. So, there was also support for their being kept out. There were quotes of certain officials in those articles that were very telling. Sure most of those comments were later retracted, as usual. I just tried finding it on-line at the Times Picayune website, you might have to dig in old papers to find it, but it is there. Also, sadly gone, are a lot of the shelters that once took in the homeless.

Here is an article about the racial and poor housing issues from a very creditale source:

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/un_committee_says_poor_blacks.html

Thanks for the detective work, pensword. What an embarrassment.

You guys are impressive as hell. You did all that work in less than an hour.

(I loved that "I'm too annoyed to get into that at the moment." Totally classic.)

Sadly, I watched Rachel's show before reading Paul's articulate and intelligent comments. If I had known Miss Washington was a lunatic whore who worked inside a UPS PO Box store I would have stopped viewing immediately.

As it is, she was able to hide her lunacy during the interview. She came across civil and intelligent, as if she actually cared about the plight of the poor and now homeless people of New Orleans. She actually fooled us into believing she wanted the conditions in New Orleans to change for the better. Building more schools for all the school lost during the hurricane and the like.

She nearly exposed herself for a lunatic when pointing out shuttered homes that were owned by poor black people, who never got adequate assistance to refurbish their dwellings and go back to living in their own communities. No longer to be a burden to the society at large. Living like they were before Katrina.

I went to Miss Washington's website and there was a address for the Louisiana Justice Institute headquarters. Not a PO Box. At that address there is a UPS store for sure, along with an Insurance agency, Temp agency, Law Firm, Saxophone store and not last or least a Roto Rooter store.

I only wish Rachel could have interviewed you Paul. You could have pointed out how things 'weren't all that bad' and how no one should get angry over the conditions down there. Just like "Heck of a Job Brownie" did for years and years. Nothing further needs to be done.

Interviews like the one with Miss Washington might change all that Paul....

If I recall correctly, the emails leaked, were very interesting. In a shame on you sort of way. If it were wikileaks, everyone would be congratulating Tracie Washington. This, and your government, in the guise of the NSA, keeps a database of every word you ever say on the telephone, since circa 9/11/2001. The article below was published in 2006 by USAToday, since then the only holdout phone company, Qwest, that refused to keep a database copy of all its phone calls for the NSA, has been bought out by one that does keep a database. If that doesn't bother you, then why should her interception of some emails, that point the finger at real evil. As for the accusation that Ms. Washington holds court with Jacques Morial, and is corrupt by association. I only know that it is common in local politics for Republicans to accuse Democrats of being corrupt. Jacques Morial was accused of, and then admitted to, failing to file taxes for three years. I don't think most people do that on purpose, really thinking they will get away with it. I think they get in tight spots, and don't know how to handle them. It is a misdemeanor charge. I also know that political corruption is rampant in BOTH parties.

NSA/phone companies database story:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

Jacques Morial story:

http://www.tulanelink.com/tulanelink/johnsoncontrolse_box.htm

Bruce!

I had to read a while before I realized you were being sarcastic! Very well written, though.

Paul, I am very sure you feel aggrieved. Why don't Negroes know their own place!? How dare they insist on adequate housing, education for their children and hospitals. Where do they think they are, America? How are you supposed to get along in your nice all white affluent neighborhoods with maniacs like that upsetting your applecart? I'm sure everybody you know just hates her. Here's a secret...I don't think much of you either. If I had a choice of removing you or the Park 51 Mosque from America, you and all your friends and neighbors would be gone. Everybody lives at the sufferance of everybody else. This country, your state, your city is as much belonging to those minorities and to the beleaguered as it does to you and yours. This is America, get over it.

Paul; I too was concerned, hoping that she was qualifying by meaning that she did not need more people to have to worry about or care for. Maybe Rachel can get a clarification.

I was a little bit more concerned about the Hippie comment, and I was trying to figure out why Rachel was laughing at it.

No Paul, I am not being hypocritical because I am not contradicting myself. People can do good things, and make some improper comments at the same time. I am hoping that some of the issues will be clarified or apologized for. It was a still a good report. I am not going to hate back..... you will just perp the hate on and on. You need to educate.

Paul; watched segment again. She did not say that she did not want Mexicans or Central Americans to come to NOLA; she said that she did not want more people who were not citizens taking NOLA citizens jobs. I don't know how everybody feels about the immigration issue, but I could see how a citizen would feel after Katrina, no jobs, jobs at half the scale, then have to compete. It is a little bit different than California's situation, and it would probably make me sensitive too; did it need to be said, no, but that was not racist.

She is speaking of the methods of privatizing services instead of them being public services. She is specifically speaking of the typical private corporations bringing in outside labor. Contextually that's not difficult to place. Knees down, peeps.

This woman seems to understand the truth of and the external machinations affecting poor people, as well as how capitalism contributes to that. I read her comments pretty plainly.

Info on wage theft and immigrant labor in post-Katrina Nola:

http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:71355

http://www.soros.org/resources/multimedia/katrina/projects/NONow/story_Immigrants.php

http://www.iwj.org/template/page.cfm?id=130

It is true that many Mexicans arrived looking for low wage construction jobs mostly, after Katrina. They ended up taking a lot of jobs that mostly used to belong to poor African Americans, sometimes taking less than minimum wage. Like Tracie Washington, I believe the poor deserve living wages. I believe these people deserve that chance as much as the African Americans, they sadly replaced. Sadly, there really isn't much here for the poor. The infrastructure is not what it was pre-Katrina. I do know a lot of poor people, black, white and Mexican, who make much less than ten dollars an hour, and for whom ten dollars an hour would be much nearer to a living wage. I agree with Tracie, that a lot of policies have been advanced that served to unfairly keep poor African Americans from returning, but also, some did not return, simply by choice. There are plenty stories about poor Katrina refugees finding better services for the poor, in other cities. That said, I do not want to gloss over the ugly fact that there is a lot of racism here, and apparently racism in city planning, that would seem, sadly, to serve that same end, keeping people out. Unfortunately, Mexicans have largely become the newest butts of racial jokes here, and tomorrow, victims of other types of racism, I'm sure.

Furthermore, what others are saying is true, that HANO was poorly run. And the housing here was horrible, and unsafe. But that just highlights, to me, that it needed fixing even before the storm. It sickens me that people would take advantage, and see its destruction as an opportunity to keep the poor, specifically poor African-Americans out. And, it needs to be fixed, in my opinion, for the simple reason that it really won't work, there will be more poor people here, whether they are African American, or Mexican, or whomever. And, they will need decent housing, and other services.

Ten dollars an hour?

The "opposition" is right on that one, ten dollars an hour is pretty good around here.

It is not their race that was the issue, people. It was that they are from outside the country and will work for wages that undercut the local population. She wasn't talking about bringing in other American citizens.

How is that racist?

I wasn't disagreeing with her, and I wasn't saying she was racist. I was saying, we will have poor people here, whether they were black, white, or of Mexican descent. I was just saying that there is an environment here, in which Mexican Americans (not necessarily illegals) who now have some of the jobs poor African Americans use to have, will also be subjected to hate, not hate from Ms. Washington, but others. And I was saying, that poor people will come, and should be welcome, whomever they are.

I can't get the video tonight so I haven't seen the interview, but I can say this: "hippie" is not like "gay" or "black" or "hispanic" or even illegal immigrant. "Hippie" is a style a way of life, a choice. It's like "goth," not like "black."

Being Gay or African American or Hispanic is, first of all, not a matter of choice. Second of all, people who are members of those groups have been subject to massive discrimination and violence for hundreds of years, and of course the discimination continues.

Jokes about hippies may be in poor taste, but that's all. Racism and homophobia are entirely different things.

Oh, I got my video back (it's some kind of local problem.)

You've got to be kidding.

"We didn't used to see tofu eaters .."

"You mean you led a hippie-free life?"

She's talking about people she works with!!

And she loves them to death!

That's what she says!

Give me a freaking break.

When you people have these little fits of hysteria about "reverse discrimination" and nasty hippie jokes ... is it real or is it an act? I can never tell. Can you?

I totally take back what I said about how hippie jokes can be in poor taste. Hippie jokes are never in bad taste. They are always funny.

Some of you people really need to lighten up about some of this stuff. This is exactly what conservatives mean by liberals are too sensitive about labels and such. There was obviously no offense meant. It was her way of saying that she was dealing with folks that do not look like her. She almost said it in an endearing way even if it was a label. I am the first to call out hipocrisy, but geez louise!

HIPOCRISY?!?!? I meant hypocrisy. I am funny.

I think back "in the day" Rachel may have herself fit into a "hippie" designation from time to time during the years between Stanford and "making it big" in Western Mass on the radio (although I don't know about the tofu eating...) so she may have been laughing at herself.

Dutchie6, I think you may not be that far from the truth, at least, according to an article from the Guardian, while she was in the UK she apparently lived in a squat in North London

At Oxford she disliked rarefied collegiate life so much so that she escaped to a squat in a basement flat near Arsenal football ground in London and took a job for an Aids charity.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/08/rachel-maddow-american-television

Whether or not that qualifies her as a hippy I'm not entirely sure, squatting in london is fairly common, especially among people in their early 20's.

davenslidell:

I just wanted to point something out: The email business is not the same kind of thing as the debate about wages ("the $10 an hour crap") and about subsidized housing.

You disagree with me and Rachel and Washington and most people here about wage levels and susidized housing. But presumably you don't think that Rachel or I were part of the email plot with Washington.

You should keep the two categories separate both for the sake of a clearcut argument and because you are surrounded by liberals.

Seattle, is your name really Joe, or do you just like coffee? I like Seattle's Best, and Starbucks. Drink a cup for me.

Um, PJ's is like ten times better than both but that's just like my opinion, man.

Never been. I like Arabic espresso, with cardomom beans. But I used to have to make it myself, and I stopped going to the international food store when I moved. Too far. Cafe' Du Monde is fun for the "biscuits" (that's donuts to the rest of ya) as a Cajun Grandma used to call them, but her coffee was better, and it was a lot more like Italian, or even Arabic espresso than anything Cafe' Du Monde ever fixed. If you stick in your utensil, and it stands that's MeMaws (that's what you call our Grandmas of french origin) coffee, or if you can also then carve a statue that stands like Jackson in the Square, that's Arabic espresso. I will say, New Orleans has had an international community, coffee, and international coffees, for a lot longer than Seattle. And though Seattle is famous for its coffee, we've been famous for coffee, and a whole lot more. Seattle was founded in 1850. New Orleans was founded in 1718. By the way Seattle has a "New Orleans" restaurant, that really isn't. So you really should come down here. When the Saints play September 9, there will be a huge party. But I won't be there. I'll be watching on TV, maybe drinking a cup of coffee.

PJ's is a Louisiana institution. How could you have never tasted it? Who hasn't tasted Seattle's "Best" and Star$? Both are weak as hell. If I'm going to drink coffee at all, it had better taste like coffee and not some watered down artificially flavored B.S. Just saying.

P.S.- I always referred to my grandma as my Memere. I've no idea why any of this is relevant in the slightest nor why the Saintsations have been brought up either. I was just attempting to ease the anti/pro-hippy-dippy hysteria on these here blogs. No offense.

P.P.S.- Belfast has a "New Orleans-themed" restaurant called Bourbon. I was completely offended when I ate there a couple of years ago. I mean, the utter horror...

I hate this coffee we have to drink in the office...

I like Peets. There is a Peets coffee cart here at work.

Family Fodder, I was just taking the opportunity, to promote my city's tourism. It is important for the economy, and recovery. Besides, I really am a coffee fanatic. Some people are addicted to alcohol. Some chain smoke. I chain drink cups of coffee. I have an old cup I got from The View. It is stained all the time. I'd gladlly trade it in for a fresh new Rachel Maddow Show cup, if there are any available.

I think your post illustrates that these are complicated issues. There is no easy solution but there has to be a humane solution that addresses the needs of all.

Don't hate me lefties, but I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Dave has a point with unskilled people having to be willing to work low wage jobs. It's frustrating, I know, but up in farmsville we see the same thing. I worked for crap wages up until I got done with college. I do think it is important to make sure employers are not exploiting workers, though. I don't know what things cost down in NOLA, but where I live, it would be extremely difficult, if not near impossible, to raise a family on 10 bucks or less an hour. People just get gouged on prices for everything compared to some other places I've lived. And to be paid that wage without access to proper healthcare or public schooling would just magnify the problem. Not to mention the public stigma of being poor. There are several sides to consider with this problem and maybe we should all keep an open mind. I will end by saying that sometimes, good, honest people need advocates to help them through their struggles and the work of people like Ms. Washington should not be lost in the immigration and wage war.

=)

Actually that happened in Baton Rouge too, before Katrina. If you just plug in arson, a lot of stuff comes up. Even more than one serial arsonist comes up. But this doesn't, maybe, it is too far back to be on the web anymore. What you're talking about didn't come up either. But this thing in B.R. it was serial arson, and they suspected a lone wolf, same M.O. He got a lot of houses. It lasted a long time. He targeted mostly abandoned houses in very poor neighborhoods. Can't remember if they ever caught him. But even more houses were demolished by the wrecking ball, by order of various city councils. You had a year in some communities to gut your house, remove the trash, and moldy materials, etc. If you did not, or could not comply, whatever civil authority, then condemned it, and marked it for the wreckers. The problem was a lot of people were elderly, or disabled, or simply didn't hear about the ruling in whatever city or state they evacuated to. I was here in 2006, when St Bernard Parish approached the one year anniversary, threatening to demolish any house not "GUTTED" by the one year anniversary. I volunteered to help Habitat for Humanity, because they were helping elderly and disabled residents gut the houses. The city was still so very empty then, it reminded me of something out of the Terminator, after the nukes, and the machines had taken over. More people have come back now, not all, but it is a lot more like the old New Orleans that I used to know.

I don't know if I still have that issue of the Nation. I'll tweet Melissa Lacewell-Harris. If anyone would know, she would. The houses in question were sound, as were the communities they were in. It wasn't a single firebug, but neighborhood commitees who were trying to drive black homeowners out. Simply and baldly. I'll produce details as I find them.

Oh, please do, I hadn't heard about that one, that would be quite a different story.

Here is the article:http://www.thenation.com/article/new-orleans-redraws-its-color-line

I'll repost this elsewhere.

I think if you check the history books, you might find that local people helped each other more. In this case, local people were turned away, because you had to have authorization to enter the city.

I had heard that during that flood, blacks were drafted and forced under the gun to work to save white communities before they could set about taking care of their own. So if you are a pigheaded racist @$$hole, then yes, the 1927 flood went much better. This was the flood that blues singer Bessie Smith got caught up and which inspired her to write Backwater Blues while she took refuge in a funeral home.

As the flood approached New Orleans, Louisiana, about 30 tons of dynamite were set off on the levee at Caernarvon, Louisiana and sent 250,000 ft³/s (7,000 m³/s) of water pouring through. This was intended to prevent New Orleans from experiencing serious damage, but flooded much of St. Bernard Parish and all of Plaquemines Parish's east bank. As it turned out, the destruction of the Caernarvon levee was unnecessary; several major levee breaks well upstream of New Orleans, including one the day after the demolitions, made it impossible for flood waters to seriously threaten the city.^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927

IIRC that was done at the behest of the rich folks in new orleans.so between that and the treatment of blacks in MS the 1927 flood was just sooooo much better.

I never said 1927 was all around better! The flooding itself, supposedly covered several states! I was just saying, I didn't think anyone had road blocks preventing people who wanted to help, from doing anything, the way it went with Katrina. The response for Katrina could have been a lot better, if people were allowed to help. The coast guard eventually realized it needed to utilize local help, and asked local boat owners to volunteer the use of their boats. The federal government couldn't do it all alone, then or now.

In case you haven't checked any of my other posts, I have condemned pigheaded racist @#$$holes, Don.

That was directed at wingnut live...at ease comrade. I know pensword, we are on the same side on this. It was the flooding in the Mississippi that prompted generations of blues songs which eventually wound up in Led Zeppelin 4 When the Levee Breaks, which was an appropriate soundtrack for Katrina. Floods had never been moments of shining compassion and cooperation...they'd never been anything but catastrophic.

Yup, I know the blues too.

I learned alot of history through the bluse. Most surprising was listening to Bessie Smith and Ma Rainy. Very feminist! And so early! Its like it took white mainstream society 30 or 50, 60 years to catch up.

Ooh yeah, Ma Rainey's "Prove It On Me Blues" is amazing.

http://www.outhistory.org/wiki/Ma_Rainey's_%22Prove_It_On_Me_Blues,%22_1928

Yes, I read a book, by an African American "progressive reformer" from New Orleans, circa, 1900. Gaudin was her name, I think, but I think there was more than one progressive by that last name. She was a very open-minded woman, prison reformer, and made subtle remarks that made me think she must have known a lesbian couple, and approved, but couldn't come out and say too openly for fear of mainstream backlash. The book has now been republished for its historical value, when I read it I had to dig an old copy from the New Orleans archives, then I had to argue with practically every historian, professor and student, that an African American "progressive" actually existed. The common wisdom was that the progressive movement was a white movement that excluded blacks from the benefits of reform. Which was mostly true, but there were some affluent African American progressive reformers, who tried to help their own communities, the whites certainly weren't doing it, and so neither was the government. It's a great quote, if I can dig it up I will.