National Guard soldier surprises family at New Orleans Saints game

Soldier makes triumphant return to family before New Orleans Saints game
11/11/12
Terrance Harris
NOLA.com
The Times-Picayune

Brandon Davis has the earned the reputation among his family as not being able to keep a secret. But the Louisiana National Guard specialist kept a big one from his family this week, remaining cooped up in a New Orleans hotel just minutes away since Wednesday while his family thought he was still on active duty in Afghanistan.

The Davis family is completely surprised to their husband and dad return for war to celebrate the birth of their new child and celebrate Veteran's Day at the Superdome in New Orleans, Sunday November 11, 2012.
(Photo by David Grunfeld, Nola.com |The Times-Picayune)

Meanwhile, his family, including his wife, Leslie and four of his five children, were invited to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to receive what they thought was a community service award from the American Red Cross in Davis' honor prior to Sunday's New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons game.

After the family was presented with the plaque and a short video message from Davis to his family, Davis said "I can't wait any longer" and burst through a tunnel and made his way to his stunned family standing at the 50-yard line.
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At 22 Iraq War Veteran Battles Cancer, Isaac all after Katrina

Iraq War Veteran Battles Cancer, Isaac
Aug 30, 2012
Written by
Gannett News Service
Written By: Jon Shirek
WXIA

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. -- It was seven years ago when the world watched with jaws dropped as residents of New Orleans were rescued from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.

And just like seven years ago, all across Metro Atlanta people are again opening their homes and their hearts to Louisiana families needing shelter from the storm, a storm this time named Isaac.

In one home, in particular -- in Powder Springs -- there is inspiration.

It comes from an Isaac evacuee who is 22 years old, who has already been through more life-threatening adversity than most, and who is just hoping he can get back fast to help rebuild his hometown -- again.

"It's devastation after devastation," he said Wednesday evening, and through it all he has learned to be steady as a rock -- for his family, for his hometown of New Orleans.
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Hurricane Isaac brings thousands of National Guard troops

Hurricane Isaac brings thousands of National Guard troops to the region
Published: Tuesday, August 28, 2012
By Paul Purpura
The Times-Picayune

Hours before Hurricane Isaac's full effects were to be felt in New Orleans Tuesday, Army National Guard Capt. Mark Castillon and his soldiers rolled up on a burglary scene in the Bywater neighborhood. Several New Orleans police officers converged on the shotgun home in the 1000 block of Independence Street, and they already had a suspect in custody, a middle-aged with a lengthy rap sheet.

And in a scene reminiscent of the months following Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, the police officers and a detective searched the house accompanied by a soldier who carried an M-4 assault rifle, as other armed soldiers stood nearby on St. Claude Avenue beside their Humvees.

"We have a familiar relationship with NOPD," said Castillon, a Harahan resident who commands Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery Regiment, a storied unit known as the Washington Artillery at Jackson Barracks. "We're both serving the community as best as we can during this emergency. This is what we're here for, to assist the community."
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Wounded St. John the Baptist Parish deputies are recovering

Wounded St. John the Baptist Parish deputies are recovering, sheriff says
Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2012
By Lori Lyons
The Times-Picayune

The two St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's deputies wounded in last week's deadly shootings are continuing to improve, Sheriff Mike Tregre said Tuesday, while one of the suspects has been released from the hospital and jailed. Deputies Michael Scott Boyington and Jason Triche remain hospitalized for injuries suffered in two early morning shootings Thursday in which two deputies were killed.

Tregre said Boyington, who is at University Hospital in New Orleans, underwent surgery Tuesday morning and is continuing to improve. Triche is undergoing treatment at River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace.
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2 sheriff's deputies dead, 2 wounded in La. shootout

Katrina Five Years After: Hurricane Left a Legacy of Health Concerns

Katrina Five Years After: Hurricane Left a Legacy of Health Concerns
Friday, August 27, 2010
By Brian Donnelly


Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region, killing nearly 2,000 and displacing more than 250,000 others from Louisiana to Florida. This week, in a series titled "Hurricane Katrina: Five Years After," FoxNews.com looks back on the costliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States.

When Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, leaving a legacy of death and destruction in its wake, the storm's immediate effects were evident. But now, five years later, the long-term effects on the devastated population’s mental and physical health still linger.

A study released this week linked the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history with a high incidence of anxiety in Gulf Coast-area children displaced by the hurricane, while another found increased sensitivity to mold in children with asthma whose homes were flooded.

“Being exposed to transient home situations, not being able to get access to care and the adversity of just the recovery process fraught with so many difficulties added and compounded the stress and trauma of being exposed to the devastation and personal loss of life and property during the event of the hurricane and the flooding itself,” said Anthony Speier, psychologist and deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Behavioral Health for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. “So that kind of set the stage for increased vulnerability of the population.”
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Hurricane Left a Legacy of Health Concerns




Katrina's toll includes rise in suicide, mental illness

By Pam Firmin McClatchy Newspapers
BILOXI, Miss. — The last five years have been a mental health roller coaster for many among the Mississippi Gulf Coast's post-Hurricane Katrina population.

Suicides are up since Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005. More people are seeking treatment for substance abuse, therapists say, and post-traumatic stress disorder is on the rebound.

Though suicide numbers were higher in 2004 than in the years immediately after the storm, they have climbed in the years that followed. In Harrison County, the largest county on the Mississippi Coast, the number of people who committed suicide has increased since the storm from 30 in 2005 to 32 in 2006, 36 in 2007 and 44 in 2008.

Read more: Katrina and toll on mental health

Cops with PTSD:New Orleans Accused Police Commission Member

Dad: Accused Police Commission Member 'Heavily Medicated'
Governor's Appointee Accused Of Pulling Gun On Deputies, I-Team Reported Thursday

NEW ORLEANS -- A former member of the Louisiana State Police Commission accused of pointing a gun at two off-duty deputies shot and killed a man in 2001 and was being treated for post traumatic stress disorder, the WDSU I-Team reported Friday.

Seth Dawson is charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer with a firearm -- a felony -- and five misdemeanors stemming from an incident at Harrah's Casino Wednesday night.

Sources close to the investigation said Dawson tried to re-enter the casino after being removed by security and pulled a gun on two Orleans Parish Sheriff's deputies who were working private detail.
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http://www.wdsu.com/mostpopular/23563278/detail.html

Gov. Jindal doesn't have time to honor heroes?

Veterans honor medal delays criticized by legislative panel
By Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune
March 09, 2010, 7:38PM

Members of a joint House-Senate committee that handles veterans affairs complained Tuesday that the state is holding thousands of special veterans honor medals until Gov. Bobby Jindal can attend ceremonies to hand them out.

Members of the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs and the House Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs told Lane Carson, Jindal’s secretary of veterans affairs, to devise a way to expedite medal presentations.


Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton“We literally have World War II veterans who are dying before we have this jubilee with the veterans,” said Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, a Vietnam War veteran and chairman of the Senate committee.

He and Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, who chairs the House panel, told Carson to come up with a way to expedite the medal ceremonies, or possibly face a resolution at the lawmaking session starting March 29 giving him a deadline to do so.
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Veterans honor medal delays criticized by legislative panel

A Streetcar Named Despair

A Streetcar Named Despair

By LISA SCOTTOLINE
Published: September 8, 2009

“Shake the Devil Off” opens with the suicide of Zackery Bowen, an Iraq war veteran who ended his life in 2006 by leaping from a roof in the French Quarter. In Bowen’s pocket, the New Orleans police found his dog tags, keys and a note that read: “I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took. If you send a patrol to 826 N. Rampart you will find the dismembered corpse of my girlfriend Addie in the oven, on the stove and in the fridge along with full documentation on the both of us and a full signed confession from myself.”

The police went to the couple’s apartment, where they discovered that Bowen had murdered Addie Hall more than a week earlier, then baked her legs in a tinfoil pan, packed her torso in the refrigerator and boiled her head, hands and feet in pots. Yet as soon as the author, Ethan Brown, finishes recounting these horrific details, his first question is: “Why was Zackery Bowen, a former Army sergeant, a veteran of two wars (Kosovo and Iraq), and a beloved bartender and ­deliveryman in the French Quarter, in such unimaginably deep emotional pain?”
read more here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/books/review/Scottoline-t.html?_r=1

Shake the Devil Off

Book reviews: 'Shake the Devil Off' by Ethan Brown and 'The Year Before the Flood' by Ned Sublette

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, August 30, 2009
By BEATRIZ TERRAZAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Beatriz Terrazas is a former Dallas Morning News photographer and writer whose work will be published in TCU Press' upcoming Literary El Paso.

Just in time for Hurricane Katrina's fourth anniversary come two ambitious books set against New Orleans. Both lay bare collective wounds.

In Shake The Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder That Rocked New Orleans, veteran journalist Ethan Brown examines post-traumatic stress disorder through Zackery Bowen, a charismatic soldier in the U.S. Army's 527th MP Company.

Zack, a New Orleans bartender before his enlistment, did tours of duty in Kosovo and Iraq. While overseas, his marriage derailed. Discharged in 2004, he returned with his family to New Orleans only to divorce and begin a turbulent relationship with artist Addie Hall. They were among the holdouts who made headlines by riding out Katrina.

A year later, having survived Kosovo, Iraq and Katrina, Zack made news again by killing Addie, dismembering her body, then killing himself.

One psychiatrist tells Brown that Zack's downward spiral probably had several causes, including the loss of friends in Iraq, the collapse of his marriage and the transition to civilian life. Zack's fellow soldiers express feelings of being forgotten by the rest of America.

But Brown discovers the military, too, is at fault. He cites a VA memo cautioning against PTSD diagnoses: "Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder ... we really don't have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD." At the same time, the National Institute of Mental Health warned that inadequate mental health care could lead to "postwar suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan vets" exceeding combat deaths.

read more here

Shake the Devil Off

Suicides climb in New Orleans

Suicides climb in New Orleans 3:24
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the effects on mental health caused by Hurricane Katrina.


4 years after Katrina, NOLA mental health system still in crisis
Story Highlights
New Orleans continues to face crisis of mental health needs, resources

Study: Before storm, area had 487 inpatient psychiatric beds; now,190

Police officer's slaying by mentally ill man renewed spotlight on city's needs

By Stephanie Smith
CNN Medical Producer

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As the storm raged outside her hospital room four years ago, an equally consuming force hijacked Alesia Crockett's mind: deep depression.

For days, Crockett lay in darkness and a tangle of sweaty hospital bed sheets, one among hundreds of desperate patients trapped inside Charity Hospital in 2005, while outside, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath battered the city.

Crockett had been admitted to Charity's inpatient mental health unit after having a psychotic episode. She had struggled for years with bipolar disorder, an illness that causes her to volley between euphoria and profound depression.

She said she barely remembers Katrina.

"Most of the time, I was in a fog, but I do remember some things," Crockett said. "Where my room was, I could see thousands of people wandering, and I could see the waters rise."

Crockett, and many other New Orleanians suffering from chronic mental illness -- and those with what is called "soft depression," or nonchronic mental illness -- say Katrina may have relented days after it hit New Orleans proper, but their mental health issues have not.

In January 2008, a New Orleans police officer was killed by a man suffering from psychosis due to schizophrenia, New Orleans police said. The officer, Nicola Cotton, approached 44-year-old Bernel Johnson for questioning about a rape. A struggle ensued, and Johnson overpowered and killed Cotton with her own gun, police said.

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NOLA mental health system still in crisis

American contractor gets probation in revenge killing in Afghanistan

This sounds like justice. Could you imagine seeing what he saw? I hope he gets help to cope with it.

American gets probation in revenge killing

He was military contractor in Afghanistan when colleague was set on fire
updated 4:08 p.m. ET, Fri., May 8, 2009
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A former military contractor avoided jail Friday for the revenge killing of a handcuffed Afghan detainee who had doused one of the contractor's colleagues with gasoline and set her on fire.

Don M. Ayala, 46, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge that normally would carry up to eight years in prison. But U.S. District Senior Judge Claude Hilton decided a sentence of probation was justified under the horrific circumstances that led Ayala to shoot and kill Abdul Salam in the village of Chehel Gazi on Nov. 4.

"The acts that were done in front of this defendant would provide provocation for anyone" who witnessed the scene, Hilton said. "This occurred in a hostile area, maybe not in the middle of a battlefield, but certainly in the middle of a war."
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30645926/

Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina

I remember trying to simply get people to open their eyes about President Bush. People I normally would have gotten along with fine, were so defensive of Bush they would not open their ears, or even think about what was being said. Most of them were normally reasonable people until 9-11, then it was almost as if they regarded Bush as America. No matter what he did, they defended him, even if it meant they would have to suffer for it. Most of us did suffer for what he did and what he did not do. The people of New Orleans suffering was too much for even the media to tolerate.

Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina
Monday, December 29, 2008


(12-29) 18:41 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.


"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: "Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin."
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New Orleans CNN Hero of the Year talks about what came after

Ask the CNN Hero of the Year 29:24
Liz McCartney answers your questions and talks about how her life has changed since becoming CNN's Hero of the Year.

Appalling: The Untold Story of Hurricane Katrina's Violent Race War

Appalling: The Untold Story of Hurricane Katrina's Violent Race War

Posted by Jill Tubman, Jack & Jill Politics at 11:17 AM on December 19, 2008.


Armed whites targeted innocent black victims fleeing from the storm’s aftermath.


The worst thing about this is that when some people were interviewed involved with shooting "blacks" seemed proud of what they did and speaking as if the men they shot were not men at all. Didn't seem to matter to them that the men they shot at were their neighbors.

After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and, according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will- with no threat of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the police force's role in them have been an open secret to many New Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law enforcement officials have refused to investigate.

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VA and Louisiana State University join forces

Recent VA News Releases

To view and download VA news release, please visit the following
Internet address:
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel



VA and Louisiana State University
Announce Site Selections for New Orleans Medical Center Projects

WASHINGTON (Nov. 25, 2008) - In a public event held today in New
Orleans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the State of
Louisiana jointly announced the selection of adjacent downtown sites for
construction of their replacement medical center projects. The two
projects, called the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Louisiana
State University Academic Medical Center, restore greatly needed health
care capability lost in New Orleans during flooding after Hurricane
Katrina in late August 2005.

"Restoring a full capability medical center for our veterans in New
Orleans and southeastern Louisiana is one of the Secretary's highest
priorities," said Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon H.
Mansfield. "Site selection is a key milestone in the project delivery
process."

"VA selected the downtown site because it offers the best solution for
our veterans, today and into the future," Mansfield added. "The site,
located within a robust medical district with affiliate health care
teaching universities, promotes long term operational synergy and
efficiency. The selected site aligns with the City of New Orleans and
State of Louisiana Hurricane Katrina recovery and redevelopment plans."

An agreement between VA and the City of New Orleans obligates the city
to acquire the land for the new facility, prepare the site for
construction and turn over the site to VA within one year.

"I understand this site selection creates near term impact on the
directly affected and surrounding neighborhoods," Mansfield continued.

"We have been working cooperatively with federal, state, city and
neighborhood partners to develop a robust package of treatment measures
to mitigate the negative impacts and invest in new local opportunities."


"Constructing this state-of-the-art medical complex near downtown New
Orleans follows through on the Administration's commitment to fully
support recovery efforts," he said.

The announcement follows a nearly one-year process of extensive study of
site alternatives, including analysis of the potential impacts on the
environment and historically significant structures.

"Today is of great significance for the City of New Orleans and for the
veterans of the Gulf Coast. The announcement by my colleagues at the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs brings to closure a collaborative
and inclusive process involving Federal, state and local government, as
well as stakeholders who determined the location of the new veterans
hospital," said retired Maj. Gen. Douglas O'Dell, federal coordinator
for Gulf Coast rebuilding.

"The hospital is a key component of the city's vision of a revitalized
downtown area and a world class medical campus," O'Dell added.

"Further, this decision advances the goal President Bush and Secretary
Peake established of better access to quality health care for the needs
of current and future veterans,"

Dr. John Lombardi, LSU System President, said that building these
hospitals in close proximity to each other assures the future of top
quality health care, research, and medical education not only for the
New Orleans area but for the entire state for many years to come. "This
is a major milestone in constructing these joint academic medical
centers that are destined to be models of health care reform for the
nation in creating thousands of jobs while delivering cost-efficient
medical treatment and disease management," he said.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who hosted today's news conference where
the announcement was made, said, "The new VA hospital in downtown New
Orleans will provide needed medical care for veterans throughout the
region and will serve as a key economic driver for our future. Along
with the new LSU hospital, it will serve as the centerpiece of our
biomedical district, generating thousands of jobs and enabling our city
to compete with communities that are known for their medical services
and research."

More information on the VA and LSU medical center projects is available
at http://www.valsumedcenters.com

Suspect is arrested in Vets clinic shooting in New Orleans

Suspect is arrested in Vets clinic shooting
Man's wife shot in leg Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By Michelle Hunter
Kerry Bruce missed his court date Monday afternoon where he was supposed to enter a plea on charges of domestic violence against his wife. Authorities say that's because he was at a Metairie clinic shooting her.

Bruce, 45, of New Orleans, led deputies on a 30-minute manhunt through a Metairie neighborhood before a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office helicopter flushed him out of hiding in a backyard.

Bruce's wife, Stephanie, 43, was taken to University Hospital in New Orleans with a gunshot wound to the leg, according to Col. John Fortunato, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. She was in stable condition Monday evening and expected to recover.

In addition to the domestic violence charges he faces in Orleans, Jefferson Parish authorities have now booked Bruce with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping, Fortunato said.

The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. at the Ochsner Rehabilitation Center, 850 Veterans Memorial Blvd., where Stephanie Bruce worked as a receptionist, Fortunato said. The physical therapy center is on the second-floor of the office building.

Fay Bridges of New Orleans was inside receiving therapy for her back when the shooting took place. She said she and at least four other patients were in a large therapy room, down the hall and away from the reception area.

She didn't see the shooting.

"I heard a pop, pop, then she screamed," Bridges said of the shooting victim. Then Bridges heard a male employee repeatedly telling someone, "Don't do that."

Bridges said the patients panicked and began trying to take cover, but there were few places to hide. All the while, she said she could hear Stephanie Bruce's cries. "She was screaming for dead murder," Bridges said.

According to authorities, Bruce shot his wife in the leg and was trying to drag her into the elevator and out of the building. In talking with other witnesses, Bridges said she was told a male Ochsner employee tried to intervene, but took cover behind a door when Bruce pointed the gun at him.
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DEA researcher from Woodlands was killed on visit to New Orleans

Agent's credit cards led to arrests
DEA researcher from Woodlands was killed on visit to New Orleans
By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 4, 2008, 7:13AM


Authorities have arrested two people linked to credit cards stolen from a Woodlands federal agent who died after he was severely beaten during an apparent robbery in New Orleans last week.

Thomas Joseph Byrne, 40, of The Woodlands, who worked as a supervisory special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration's Houston office, died Saturday in a New Orleans hospital from injuries he suffered in an assault and robbery Aug. 28, officials said.

Byrne had been in New Orleans attending the Organized Crime Enforcement Drug Task Force conference when he was attacked, said Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the DEA's Washington headquarters.

The agent apparently was walking to his hotel from an unknown location when the robbery occurred.

Byrne may have been the victim of an abduction, because he was found on a street about 40 blocks from where he was last seen, according to information posted on the www.policelink.com Web site.

A passer-by found Byrne in the road at Interstate 610 and Interstate 10 and called for help, said Commander Bob Young of the New Orleans Police Department.

The agent was taken to a hospital, where he underwent several surgeries before he died Saturday night.

Byrne is survived by his wife, Maureen, and four children, ages 8, 6, 4 and 2.

Fellow agents were gathered Wednesday at the Byrne home in The Woodlands, where his family declined to comment.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5982561.html

TV news stars head to New Orleans instead of Republican convention

One more case of "if it bleeds, it leads" when it comes to the media. The stars just have to be the ones to report on this monster heading for New Orleans once more. Why is it they cannot just send in a film crew to cover it instead? Because they know people will be tuned in for news of the damage the storm is leaving behind.

Wouldn't it be great if they paid this much attention to the events that change people's lives the same way? Coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan, the people of both nations, our troops, our wounded, the fallen, the families, none of them are worthy of such coverage yet a storm, well now, that's something they really need to be there for. Plan on up to four days of non-stop coverage of this and then they go away and forget all about it. Forget about the lives of the people who will be forever changed. Forget about the fact they will have lost everything they had, yet again. Forget about what the hurricane will do to all of them as long as they get this story as it happens, that's all that matters. Anderson Cooper on CNN is just about the only one who was interested in finding out what happened to the people after Katrina hit. Let's see if anyone is interested this time or not. Somehow, I doubt it.

TV network news anchors descending on New Orleans
by The Associated Press
Sunday August 31, 2008, 7:55 PM
NEW YORK -- Television networks rapidly shifted focus and personnel away from the Republican national convention to Gulf Coast communities in the path of Hurricane Gustav on Sunday, wondering how much of their political planning will be for naught.

Anchors Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, Brian Williams, Anderson Cooper and Shepard Smith were all going to the New Orleans area for the storm instead of being with Republicans in St. Paul, Minn.

Whether they will be heading north at all depends on the strength of the storm at Monday's expected landfall. President Bush and Vice President Cheney both canceled plans to be at the convention, where they were to be featured Monday, and the GOP was considering other changes to its program.

"We're going to go with the biggest story of the day tomorrow," said Jay Wallace, a news vice president at Fox News Channel, "and right now the biggest story of the day is the storm."

Along with Smith, Fox was sending Geraldo Rivera and at least a dozen crews to the Gulf. Fox had been anticipating a big week in St. Paul; its ratings topped every broadcast and cable network at the 2004 GOP convention.

It's unclear how viewers will respond this time if the storm eclipses the convention as a story.
go here for more
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2008/08/tv_network_news_anchors_descen.html

Pets part of the deal this time for Gustav

Sylvania Moore is all smiles as she's assured that she and pet dog Buddy will get out of New Orleans safely as Hurricane Gustav threatens the city Saturday, August 30, 2008. State employee Rena Smith, right, is there to help. (UPI Photo/A.J. Sisco) Slideshow

Michael Moore's letter to God about Gustav

Michael, I know your heart is in the right place and you were thinking about James Dobson asking his flock to pray for rain on the Democrats gathered outside for Obama's speech, but Michael and all my Democratic friends out there, this is not something to make light of nor is it an opportunity to challenge God. It was wrong of Dobson to ask God for something bad to happen to other people. What can we expect from a man who indulges in appearing as a pastor when he isn't trained or ordained as one? He has his own interpretation of God and very little knowledge of the love of Christ. Forget about him, let's get back to you.

We all need to pray for the people who are in the path of Gustav.

Pray for the first responders who are waiting to rush in to help anyone in need. They are ready to help people, not political party members, not people based on financial means, not based on religious beliefs, but all of God's children in harms way.

Pray for the National Guards and the Police officers as they try to keep people calm and evacuate them as easily as possible while they leave everything they own behind once more.

Pray all that was promised waiting to help the people in the states watching the sky for Gustav will have that help as promised.

Pray for the elderly who have chosen not to leave.

Pray the Republicans do what they say they will do and turn their convention into a helpful time instead of a time to celebrate.

Pray for this nation to once more become a nation of one out of many where we are all Americans again and in this together.

Michael, use the goodness and talent God blessed you with for good.



Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Michael Moore's letter to God

Two days after saying that the fact that Hurricane Gustav could hit New Orleans on the same day the Republicans open their national convention was "proof that there is a God in heaven," filmmaker Michael Moore today sought to clarify his remarks with "An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore," on his Web site.
The text includes:
Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an "Act of God" -- when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You. Continue reading "Filmmaker Michael Moore expands on Gustav comments" »