E-M:/ A National Catastrophe; Donate to the Red Cross

["Alex J. Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com>]

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Enviro-Mich message from "Alex J. Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com>
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Dear Enviro-Mich Participants:

Although it should have been apparent by late Saturday or early Sunday 
by our national leaders and national news media that an unprecedented
national disaster was in the making, after nearly 72 hours it is finally 
dawning on the nation that we have had a catastrophe on the Gulf Coast
and at New Orleans of the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks with enormous
human misery and the likelihood of thousands of deaths.

The deadly enemy this time, however, has been bad land and water management
planning, a failure of vision by the federal government in controlling 
risk, a failure to maintain infrastructure, poor/insufficient disaster planning/preparedness and 
diversion of federal budget resources from programs to benefit people and 
communities [and National Guard troops] to war in Iraq.   

In the case of New Orleans, the other enemy may also be racism and a sense
that the lives of the poor are not as valuable as others? lives.   While hundreds 
of school buses at New Orleans that could have evacuated citizens now lie
underwater, CBS News tonight showed citizens, families and babies stranded
on a highway overpass with no water, food, shade and no help from authorities
after 48 hours.  

While the President was learning guitar at his ranch and conducting 
phony town hall meetings in California, he was again "absent without leave" from his 
responsibilities to promptly and pre-emptively marshal the federal government?s
resources concerning this unprecedented disaster.   This is a failure that has and will continue to 
cause lives to be lost as New Orleans citizens remain trapped and isolated.

Given the present situation, it is looking like the private sector charity efforts
are needed on a citizen to citizen basis to send help to the affected areas.   Please
consider an immediate generous donation to the AMERICAN RED CROSS allocated to 
the 2005 Hurricane Relief to assist our fellow citizens in LA, MS and AL.

Their web site is below and they take credit card donations:

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html

This evening their site is running kind of slow...please be patient and 
persistent and get your contribution in.   You can also donate to Red Cross
through (800)-HELPNOW

Alex Sagady





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Alex J. Sagady & Associates        http://www.sagady.com

Environmental Enforcement, Permit/Technical Review, Public Policy, 
Evidence Review and Litigation Investigation on Air, Water and 
Waste/Community Environmental and Resource Protection
Prospectus at:  http://www.sagady.com/sagady.pdf 

PO Box 39,  East Lansing, MI  48826-0039  
(517) 332-6971; (517) 332-8987 (fax); ajs@sagady.com
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