There are real solutions for NO. Cities throughout history have been blown away and rebuilt. But these are rebuilt from within. Money pushed in is siphoned off and out, exchanging one or two hands locally (if at all) and disappearing. We know how to rebuild from rubble. In fact, building from rubble can help the community to reimagine a new place, one suited for the inhabitance, improved for those who live there.

NO is a perfect example of everything the USA is at its worst, a colonizing entity, with continued racist tendencies, seeing poor people as valueless souls to be exploited at best.

Oh joy. Volunteers have to raise funds, leave their homes/work and expend time on a project that should be the government’s responsibility to do. This so-called govt of/by/for the people should hire people (see the millions unemployed along with the displaced Katrina folks willing to work to rebuild and return) to rebuild the Gulf Coast. This rebuilding includes not just housing, schools, hospitals but also strenthening the levees and restoring the wetlands. The govt should be getting tough with the insurance firms that are screwing over Gulf Coast policyholders by not paying them adequately (or dropping coverage) after these people have paid premiums for years.

Volunteers are appreciated but this job is too big for a few volunteer groups to tackle. Most important, the govt is abandoning its responsibility and showing a total lack of decency and moral character by allowing private interests to turn New Orleans and the Gulf Coast into a more apartheid state than it was pre-Katrina.

As for Walker and Winfrey, celebrities are as disinformed and uninformed as the average Joe. Even moreso than average Joe, they are quick to jump on a “cause” without researching the details.