A Short History of “When the Levee Breaks”—On Saturday [30 August 2008], a million citizens fled Louisiana for safer ground, after Hurricane Gustav metamorphosed into a Category 4 hurricane in a mere 24 hours. It is scheduled to slam into the U.S. almost exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina did the same, visiting the kind of disaster dystopia one usually sees in film or music. . . . Louisiana authorities explain that there will be no shelter for those left behind or who choose to stay behind. It's a familiar refrain for those caught up in this recurring environmental nightmare, perhaps more familiar than you think. "When the Levee Breaks" was first created by the Delta bluesmen Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. Listen to the original.  Jordan Flaherty about New Orleans  /  New Orleans pre-Gustav

Missing People in New Orleans—Its figures paint a dramatic picture of jobs and housing decline in the central city area. During the storm's aftermath, thousands of residents were evacuated from the city. Two years later, one in three households have still not returned, and the population has dropped from 455,000 to 274,000. Poor households with children are particularly likely to have stayed away, with the number of children in public schools at only 40% of its pre-Katrina level. To some extent, migrants from Mexico and Central America have replaced Afro-Americans in New Orleans, with an estimated additional 100,000 Hispanic people in the region. They have been attracted by some of the relatively well-paying jobs in construction and tourism. Looking for jobs—But overall, the News Orleasn metro area employs 113,000 fewer people than in August 2005, and the pace of job creation has slowed to a crawl. The biggest declines were in tourism jobs (down 24,500), government jobs (down 29,000) and healthcare jobs (down 23,000). And 4,000 smaller firms closed after the storm. "We apparently are at a place where the post-storm employment recovery is peaking," said demographer Elliot Stonecipher. "Those categorical drops in jobs paint a picture of a devastated economy and we have to stop acting like they didn't happen."  Steve Schifferes. Two years on, New Orleans stalls News BBC

Democracy vs. Profit is Central Issue in Takeover of Benton Harbor, Mich. by Roger Bybee—26 April 2011— There is no place in the United States that more cruelly illustrates the intensifying conflict between corporate power and democracy than Benton Harbor, Mich., the first city to be placed under what some Michiganders call “financial martial law.” In March, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder won approval of Public Act 4 (i.e., the Emergency Manager law), which permits him to declare that a city is in fiscal crisis and then to appoint an overseer with unlimited powers including the elimination of existing union contracts. Significantly, chief sponsors of Public Act 4 were State Rep. Al Pscholka, who was a former aide to Whirlpool heir U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, and also "a former vice president for one of the major entities involved in building the luxury golf development," The Rachel Maddow Show reported last week. One of the first battlegrounds in Benton Harbor is Jean Klock Park: Will the 90-acre park continue to be a public facility on Lake Michigan for poor kids or will it be converted into the massive proposed Harbor Shores golf course, condo and marina development? Benton Harbor's population is 92% African-American and deeply impoverished by the de-industrialization of the city and surrounding area. Whirlpool’s recent plant shutdown is the most recent, crushing blow as the corporation continues to expand significantly in low-wage plants in Mexico, despite taking $19 million in federal recovery funds. Benton Harbor is plagued by the lowest per capita income in Michigan ($8,965), with 42.6 percent of the population living below the poverty line, including a majority of kids under age 18.—InTheseTimes  / photo right: Mayor Dave Bing cozies up with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder

“I’m not sure who the president was addressing. I found that language a bit curious. The president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus… he certainly didn’t tell them to stop complaining and he never would say that to the gay and lesbian community who really pushed him on don’t ask don’t tell or even in a speech to APEC, he would never say to the Jewish community stop complaining about Israel.”—BlackAgendaReport  / Obama Loses Cool At Black Caucus Dinner

Jon Jeter, former southern Africa bureau chief, Washington Post

Bill Moyers Journal: Gretchen Morgenson  (video) /  Bill Moyers Journal: Gretchen Morgenson (transcript)  /

The people of South Carolina need someone they can relate to. And that's me. The other guy hasn't lived the life I lived. I'm unemployed. And so are some other people from South Carolina. I won't forget that anytime soon—Alvin Greene

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson on Jena—Thus far Republicans have been campaigning as if all America was a white suburb. . . . .  But the Democratic nominees should not simply assume that they can inherit minority votes. They have to earn them. Standing up for justice and against this kind of hatred is an essential measure of leadership. . . . Jena is a biopsy of the cancer of the criminal justice system. . . . The right-wing backlash is taking away our rights, our votes – and making a profit. . . . Jena is not just Jena; there is a Jena everywhere. . . .  This is not the start of a new civil rights movement – it is an extension of it. The battle with Jena is not over. Jena must inspire us to go back home and fight the criminal justice system.   Nuking, Westerns, and White Manliness