The National Furniture Bank Association, a charity organized by the furniture industry, is soliciting donations for Katrina relief (no online donations, just checks). They're also soliciting in-kind donations from furniture manufacturers and retailers and, according to a letter to the industry, they've secured a 170,000-square-foot warehouse in Houston to collect donated furniture.
My latest article, a slideshow essay on the remarkable designer Eva Zeisel, is up on Slate
Mike Beebe, Arkansas's attorney general and a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said some complacent things about the state property rights after Kelo. Republican Asa Hutchinson pounced. The tussle suggests that takings will be an issue in the campaign, with each candidate trying to demonstrate his property rights bona fides. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports:
Attorney General Mike Beebe said Tuesday that Arkansas property owners are adequately protected — much better than residents of most states — against the government taking their land for use by private developers.
Beebe, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor, said in a legal opinion that the Arkansas Constitution and numerous Supreme Court decisions make it clear that condemnation is only an option when property will be taken for public use. State courts historically have narrowly defined that type of use, he said.
Beebe's opinion was issued in his official capacity as attorney general, but it became immediate political fodder in the 2006 governor's race. A potential Republican opponent, Asa Hutchinson, declared that Beebe's approach was "passive."
Hutchinson said Beebe is suggesting that the state "doesn't need to do anything to protect people's property" even after a U.S. Supreme court ruling this summer opened the door for condemnations for private development. "It doesn't make sense to wait for somebody's land to be seized and then wait for the courts to decide the issue," Hutchinson said. "We have an opportunity to prevent potential abuses."
Hutchinson's press release on the subject is here.
Meanwhile, the Texas legislature has passed a bill strengthening property rights protections--but including provisions to protect the soon-to-be Arlington Cowboys in seizing land for a stadium.
In his latest column, Jonathan Rauch takes a serious look at Rick Santorum's intellectually serious new book and concludes that the conservative movement has officially blown apart: "As Goldwater repudiated Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, so Santorum repudiates Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. It's now official: Philosophically, the conservative movement has split. Post-Santorum, tax-cutting and court-bashing can hold the Republican coalition together for only so much longer."
Meghan McArdle posts, and personally vouches for, an example of the type of grassroots relief, outside the major cities, that recovery from Katrina will take lots of. More info, and a PayPal link, here.
In response to my comment below (or, more accurately, to InstaPundit's quoting it) about donations to help refugees cover their rent, Steve Ely writes:
As Michele Catalano noted on A Small Victory, Kevin and Paul from Wizbang are doing essentially that. They've got a PayPal button, Paul's in the thick of it , and donations cover his family, yes, but especially those around them worse off. Much more detailed post from him here.
I gave, and I appreciate the PayPal button. I wish more organized charities would use PayPal.
Since Katrina refugees need the sort of immediate relief and infrastructure (i.e., food and beds) it can provide, I sent money to the Red Cross. It may have lost some credibility post-9/11, but this crisis, unlike that one, plays to the organization's strengths.
On a local note, the North Texas Food Bank needs money to feed Katrina refugees in the Dallas area.
What refugees are going to need is help getting settled in new places to live: first and last month's rent, furniture, etc. (Right now, I wish someone would find a fund to pay for hotel rooms. I'd donate.) Tens of thousands, perhaps more, of the poorest people in America--people with few connections outside their local area--have lost everything. And then there are the "lucky" ones, who at least have family elsewhere and some insurance.
InstaPundit's comprehensive list of bloggers' links is here.
It's not just the Astrodome. Other Texas cities, including Beaumont and Dallas, are turning their sports stadiums and concert venues into refugee camps. Since no one expects the refugees to leave anytime soon, they're also preparing to enroll kids who've fled Katrina in local schools. Here's the Dallas Morning News report:
The first Hurricane Katrina refugees arrived Wednesday afternoon at the newly opened Reunion Arena, wondering about how to educate their kids, how they'll survive without money and when they'll get to go home....
The American Red Cross in Dallas had opened two smaller shelters to house about 400 people, but Reunion will offer a consolidated location with more space. "This way we will be able to provide them a more comfortable place and take good care of them," said Anita Foster, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.
On Wednesday, the Red Cross was organizing the arena floor into sleeping quarters, a kitchen and dining area. The shelter will provide food, bedding, diapers, baby formula and hygiene products, Foster said....
Foster said it was difficult to predict how many people the agency would serve, but she suspected that many families who were in area motels would be heading to Reunion.
"Essentially the money is going to run out and they're going to come here. They have to because they can't go home," she said....
Texas public schools are opening their doors to Hurricane Katrina refugees. 'We will do everything we can to welcome these students and return some form of stability to the lives of these youngsters,' Commissioner of Education Shirley J. Neeley said.
UPDATE: The DMN has a slideshow here, on refugees in North Texas.
I must admit that New Orleans has long been my least favorite American city--dirty, inefficient, rundown, corrupt, not very friendly, and way too popular with people organizing conferences. It seemed like a good place for people who wanted to get drunk, eat crustaceans, or listen to jazz, all pursuits of no interest to me.
Nonetheless, I find Katrina's devastation overwhelmingly sad and hard to get my mind around. The idea that a major American city could essentially vanish in a natural disaster is simply hard to accept. But the obituaries are beginning. Here's Robert Parker on TNR and Josh Levin on Slate, both writers with strong ties to the city.
Will a city already struggling to justify its economic existence be rebuilt? Can it be? The debate has started on D Magazine's FrontBurner blog. To summarize: They rebuilt Galveston. But they didn't rebuild Pompeii.
InstaPundit has a list of places to send aid.
On TV, I like the Weather Channel's coverage, which also looks good online, including a good use of blogs to solicit and convey information.