Just a reminder that the Academy Award-nominated, Sundance Film Festival Best Documentary “Trouble The Water” was released on DVD a few weeks ago, on August 25.

This remarkable piece of work is unlike any other Katrina-themed documentary ever made, and is raw, inspiring, surrealistic, and subtly sensational, but that’s only a part of what makes it one of the best documentaries of any kind produced in recent memory. It’s so good, I watched it twice already.

Anyone connected through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should make it a point to see this movie, if you haven’t already (apologies to Kim, Scott, Tia, Carl and even Brian for taking so long to spread the word). Register and leave your opinions below.

The DVD is on sale at most major disc outlets. It’s also available for rent or sale from New Orleans DVD at its DVD machines in Laplace and Harvey, LA. Watch the trailer here:

Even though the President didn’t make it to the Gulf Coast for Katrina’s anniversary this year, we all know he deserves a vacation. And even during vacation, he sent a message. Watch it here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32607347#32607347

Certain guests at Daniel Yeh’s hotel in Galveston after Hurricane Katrina had rooms paid for by FEMA, and Yeh probably thought he’d latched onto an easy way to guaranteed guests and payments. Problem was, the guests weren’t really guests or Katrina evacuees, or the rooms were unoccupied, or were even occupied with paying guests.

Yeh, 55, of Sugarland, Texas, an owner of the Flagship Hotel (a Galveston landmark which sits on piers over Gulf of Mexico waters and suffered damages from Hurricane Ike) was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $30,000 in fines on September 26 because of his scheme.

Yeh has already repaid about $232,000 to the government in restitution, not long after search warrants were served on him in December, 2005. He had faced a maximum of five years in prison without parole and fines of up to $250,000. His sentencing originally had been set for Feb. 1, 2008.

His attorneys had filed a defense motion for a lower sentence because of a claim that diminished mental capacity due to a brain tumor caused him to hatch the scheme. The federal judge rightfully called the medical testimony comparable to “Alice in Wonderland”.

A 39-count 2006 indictment alleged that between October 1, 2005, and December 15, 2005, Yeh knowingly devised a scheme to defraud the federal disaster relief programs of at least $232,000.

In October 2005, Yeh gave a desk clerk about 30 names to put into the hotel’s reservation system at the “FEMA rate” of $84.99 a night. He then picked up the room cards for the rooms and started billing FEMA. An investigation found a number of those people were Yeh’s employees, relatives and friends and were not hurricane evacuees

Yeh pled guilty in 2007 and admitted he submitted a false claim to FEMA for Room 701 at the Flagship from Oct. 28 through Nov. 11, 2005. Based on that claim, FEMA paid the hotel $1,189.

The investigation started when agents got a tip saying the hotel records showed it as full when, in fact, a significant number of rooms were unoccupied. Federal agents say they interviewed a man whose name was listed on Yeh’s claims as the guest, but the man (a contractor who submitted bids in 2004 and 2005 for remodeling jobs at the Flagship and another hotel Yeh is associated with) said he didn’t have a room at the Flagship then.

As part of the alleged scheme, Yeh took over the job of billing the federal lodging programs online after Hurricane Rita, filing false claims for reimbursement for rooms in the names of hotel employees who had stayed at the Flagship free as part of their employment arrangement; rooms in the name of supposed hurricane evacuees on dates when the rooms were occupied by paying hotel guests with different names; rooms occupied by friends, relatives, and employees of his wife’s business, who were recruited to stay at the hotel, but were not evacuees; rooms in the names of supposed hurricane evacuees who never had rooms; rooms in the name of supposed hurricane evacuees on dates when those rooms were unoccupied; and for multiple rooms in the names of a single guest when, in fact, the guest didn’t occupy as many rooms.

Yeh has been free on bond and a date hasn’t yet been set for him to report to prison.

You have to wonder how many other hotels took advantage of the system back then. And that corruption is shamefully greater than that done by any Katrina evacuee or undeserving individual.

Anyone suspecting criminal activity involving disaster assistance programs can make an anonymous report by calling the toll-free Hurricane Relief Fraud Hotline, 1-866-720-5721 or 1-800-CALL-FBI, 24 hours a day, seven days a week until further notice.

Information can also be emailed to the inspector general at dhsoighotline@dhs.gov or sent by snail mail, with as many details as possible, to:
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC. 20528
Attn: Office of Inspector General, Hotline

Government leaders from throughout the Gulf Coast were in D.C. today to ask Congress for money. FEMA said the agency would provide some temporary housing in Houston, but willl not allow its dreaded deathtrap trailers there, while New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin wants his city reimbursed for the recent hurricane evacuations.

Check out the full story here

Thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the devastation from Hurricane Ike. While Ike was no Katrina, the death, pain, hurt, suffering, and damages left behind from the Carribean Ocean to Louisiana and Texas is especially heartfelt in our Katrina-ravaged communities. May you be blessed with a speedy recovery.

In a press conference today, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said six houses had collapsed – five within one hour, and that 28 others are in danger of collapsing today, presumably as a result of Hurricane Gustav. He urged hurricane survivors returning home to avoid any buildings that appear dangerous.

Hurricane Katrina began a blight assault on the city, and many homes and other buildings – as many as 400 – have been slated for demolition, with many others already demolished as a result.

The homes that fell down today were all unoccupied, and there were no injuries reported.

As the City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, State of Mississippi, and the rest of the Gulf Coast – still already ravaged by Hurricane Katrina three years ago – prepares to defy yet another tempest of the sea called Gustav, FEMA has issued no public media statements regarding the impending threat.

Is this just a repeat performance or a deliberate, calculated step in introducing the Gulf Coast to the new “FEMA of 2008?”

A Syracuse, New York man, who two years ago reportedly left home as a healthy young man returned home after three months with second and third degree sunburn, and later began suffering seizures.

According to a CBS-WTVH (Syracuse) news report, 20 year-old Robert Dings is an invalid in a nursing home who can’t talk, walk, and has to be tube-fed. His family is facing years of medical billls and believe he got some kind of toxic disease while working as a volunteer in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. watch the video on wtvh.com

His family asks anyone who might know someone who got sick while volunteering in New Orleans, or anyone who can help, to contact them. They can be reached through the tv station at (315) 477-4633.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Tulane University professor Henry Glindmeyer is leading a 5-year study of a phenomenon called Katrina Cough that was initially linked to residual damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the ensuing floods and weeks of standing water.

They will determine if there are breathing and lung problems over the long-term from post-hurricane conditions such as flooding, stagnant water, dust and mold. Each volunteer will answer a questionnaire, undergo a non-invasive annual breathing test and wear a monitor for five or six hours to detect workplace exposure to dust, bacteria and mold.

A New Orleans Times-Picayune news report said that an earlier study based on emergency room visits found the degree of patient problems with respiratory ailments were generally no worse than for the overall U.S. population. To contact the researchers, e-mail KatrinaWorkerStudy@tulane.edu or call 504-988-3846.

Since Sean Penn Dirty Hands Caravan landed in New Orleans on the last weekend of Jazz Fest, folks around the world had been trying to find out where they were and how and what they were doing. I figured the Hands had been too busy to write.

Determined not to let this mystery stump me, I did an exhaustive search online, and even by phone, calling campgrounds (assuming the group was still going from camp to camp). I even drove around as Jazz Fest was ending, winding my way through heavy post-Jazz Fest traffic in a futile search for bio-diesel buses with hippie-era paint jobs, and hundreds of young activists.

With no word from the Caravan, was there a possibility they got stopped on the highway by some overzealous anti-activist cops, who had refused them entry into this war zone, and the Dirty Hands mission may have been aborted?

Ironically and miraculously, I found them a week later – by going to church – because that’s where the Dirty Hands were arriving as I was on my wild drive through the wild after-Jazz Fest traffic the Sunday before.

Just as I thought, these Hands have been busy. They’ve been doing good works on a church-owned duplex on Washington Avenue in New Orleans’ Central City, and another building nearby on S. Saratoga St. – plastering, painting, cementing, laying tiles, and installing cabinets.

And, these “unofficial” Dirty Hands – renegades from Sean Penn’s army – really do seem to be a truly exceptional group that has a united, genuine, passionate comittment to their objectives. Steve said, “We don’t hear anything about (New Orleans rebuilding) on the news in California. We didn’t know there was so much that had to be done.”

Individually, the goals are as diverse and unique as the personalities will allow. For example, Sarah would like to stay and eventually open a montessori school for pre-schoolers in New Orleans. She got tired of “teaching celebrity kids” in California and wants to teach in a more down-to-earth setting here.

Then there is Adrienne, a 20 year-old who’d like to open some type of recycling operation to help clean the city’s environment of aluminum, plastics, and other trash, and there is Zach, also 20, who wants to start a sports program for local kids and young adults. So does Dean.

Texas Tony and the twelve were slated to leave last weekend, to be replaced by a second relief group from the Caravan, but those plans began to change last week. And those I talked to were in no hurry to end their two week stay, even a little disappointed that they may have to leave. Several are considering making permanent homes in this still-charming ravaged city.

Much of what they envision and what they want to accomplish is relying on the goodwill of actor Sean Penn or others, such as agencies and organizations willing to help reach goals of getting homes, offices, and the bureacracy of Louisiana.

Yet, the small army has made strides, putting their limited funds together to get a rental near the church.

The latest updates can be found on the group’s blog at www.dirtyhandscaravan.blogspot.com/

They came, they saw, they…are still here.

Actor-activist Sean Penn’s personal pet project, the Dirty Hands Caravan had an objective to “empower young people to stand up for what they believe in”. It seems their mission has had a successful beginning.

Twelve energized, dynamic, amazing, talented, and dedicated young people out of about 150 on Sean Penn’s Dirty Hands Caravan had very quietly slipped into the fabric of volunteer rebuilding armies in New Orleans, and -like some advance scouts for a coming invasion – they have quietly blended in.

Several of these unselfish premiere recovery volunteers desperately want to conquer the challenges, buy a house in Central City and stay here.

Steve, Sarah, Adrienne, Tawni, Dean, Ezra, Zach, Tony, Franny, Saffaron, Jonathan, Vince, along with the not-so-young Texas Tony all also want their family and friends to know they’re doing just fine in K-Ville.

With some outstanding goals, this small army is determined to make a difference in New Orleans, even if Sean Penn doesn’t make any sense in his choice of words. Need a writer, Mr. Penn?

FOUND! In New Orleans, a group of volunteers from actor-turned-activist Sean Pitt’s personal crusade to save the Earth – the “Dirty Hands Caravan” – descended on the city during the last weekend of Jazz Fest. Several members who had traveled all the way from a California desert alternative music festival to K-Ville stayed in K-Ville.

KatrinaConnection.com has received thousands of visits, page views, and many thousands of hits from folks all over the world looking for updates (thanks). And (whew!) I tried hard to find out where the Caravan had landed.

With no major local media focused on them this group of twelve quietly decided to stay and help rebuild in the Central City area of New Orleans, a particularly damaged, neglected, high-crime section of this flood-ravaged town.

Through some miracle of divine intervention, the group appears to be based at my church where I had not been inside since LAST Sunday (the day the group was originally scheduled to get to New Orleans). And I have the pleasure of personally meeting the Dirty Hands I’ve been trying to find since last week!

So, anyone loooking for “in yo’ face” Dirty Hands this week can get an update right here on the KC blog, and I know they’re doing some good things here in K-Ville! Can’t wait to tell you about ‘em. Check back soon!

WOW! God is SO cool!

This past week, the brigade of fingers from the “Dirty Hands Caravan” has been busy. Maybe too busy. From the Coachella Music Fest last Sunday to New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, on the way to the Big Easy, the gang’s been so busy they probably didn’t have time to write.

A 12 13 year-old, Pat Pedraja,had been trying to keep us up on it with a blog on dosomething.org., but the poor kid no doubt has his hands full, and may have even left the group (as his last entry on Friday implies) before the final destination due to other commitments.

So the suspense is killin’ me. It would have been nice if the group had set up an easier way to keep up with them.

Today, you can bet the Dirty Hands are in K-Ville, trying to attract attention. And the best way to do it is to raise your hands, right? So, if you’re out there, lemme see your hands!

BTW, Happy Birthday, Pat!

As the Jazz Fest winds down next Sunday evening, a bus caravan with fans, no doubt, of another music festival 1800 miles away will descend on New Orleans with a purpose and a Penn in hand (pardon the pun) – namely, actor Sean Penn, who is leading the brigade, called the “Dirty Hands Caravan”, from the deserts of California to K-Ville.

The activist actor is on the way down yonder with the bio-diesel buses carrying volunteer activists taking part in Penn’s pet project that aims to “Inspire individuals to take individual action”. The group intends to do good works in New Orleans.

“I see this as a reckoning,” said Penn, who made two appearances at the Coachella Valley Music Festival in Indio, California on Sunday.”My generation and those that came before have to recognize the numbing of incentive that we’ve passed on to the change-hungry, imaginative, smarter than us youth of today.”

The Oscar winning actor also said, “We’re providing the wheels, and they’re going to show us how to take the ride. I believe they are capable of engaging independently of their friends, their political party, or an established coalition. The Dirty Hands Caravan seeks to empower young people to stand up for what they believe in, with its longevity based on inspired individuality and pride.”