On 11 Apr 2008 at 19:12, Janet Millington wrote:

> end we have to count on ourselves. Katrina proved govt can’t help people on a
> large scale and business may be better but not the answer.Our govt. here can’t

Hi Janet... This is a particular hot-button of mine, so please bear with me for a moment, but it actually has more than a little bit to do with relocalization.

The only thing that Katrina "proved" was that the US government was more than willing to let a mini genocide occur against minorities and poor whites, and to permanently relocate the survivors in toxic trailers situated next to even more toxic chemical plants and petroleum refineries along Cancer Alley. This was done so they could reclaim New Orleans for the new generation of plantation owners.

The real main lesson from Katrina is that the current sociopathic executive branch of American government is hell-bent on getting the masses to agree with neoconservative "thinker" (there's an oxymoron) Grover Nordquist whose goal is to shrink government down to a size where it can be strangled to death in the bathtub.

The more people who think that government is useless and worthless, based on the example set by current right-wing administrations around the world -- although, truth be said, so called "liberal" adminstrations over the past 40 years haven't been much better -- the more willing people become to hand necessary social functions over to business, which is even _worse_ in the long run, at least if one is at all concerned about life itself.

What we need is bioregionally networked systems of goverance that work for the planet and all species. Let's not let ourselves become blind to the necessity of government, especially while free-market forces are still allowed to roam free, just because of the current sorry examples of government we're suffering under.

> house homeless even after 17 years of economic growth….the homeless figures
> have doubled so how can they help in a recession or a decline (of fuels)?

Allowing the homeless situation to continue as is, when it could have been dealt with centuries ago, serves no other purpose but to keep the masses in line. It's the fear that if we don't keep our noses to the grindstone -- which is an absolute necessity in order for the Exxon CEO to deposit his $30 million salary (as it serves no other purpose that I can see) -- we'll be out in the street.

> So we need everyone in a community or region….even a neighbourhood, to
> share their skills, knowledge, resources and experience. When you have all
> learned all you can from each other then each person then focuses on a direction
> that they are strong in ….housing, water, transport, advocacy, food, clothing,
> communication, health etc and they go and find out all they can and they bring

But you are so correct in that this is what we must do. Build the social safety nets that are missing in a culture that breeds a fear of the other, from which springs the sense of isolation and alienation so commonly expressed today. If we were to overcome our fear of the other, homelessness would disappear.