In Bristow Virginia, the public housing Executive Director David Baldwin kicked Obama volunteers out, while they participated in a voter registration drive in the area.

http://www.tricities.com/...

A group of Obama campaign workers broke no law when they knocked on doors in a Bristol Virginia housing project last week.

The campaign workers weren’t there to cause trouble. They were registering voters and drumming up support for the Democratic presidential candidate. They got tossed out anyway. Why?

Follow me below for the changing story.

The failure of  the Times Picayune to seriously address the ongoing criminal investigation of  HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson provides cover for what may well be the illegal awarding of so-called redevelopment contracts tied to the demolition of  public housing in New Orleans. We will protest the lack of coverage at 4pm, Thursday, February 28, at the Times Picayune Building, 3800 Howard Ave., New Orleans, La.  

Here in New Orleans, the politics of class was never more evident than post Katrina efforts to rebuild our city.

And I'm not talking about class as in "classy". I'm talking about the upper, middle and not very often mentioned, lower class in this country.

In New Orleans, there has been a concerted effort to rebuild, and exclude, the lower class, the working poor, and those teetering on the edge of poverty, in our city.

City, state and federal leaders have been blunt in what they hope will be a "new" New Orleans.

John Edwards, in defiance of the "agenda", has visited twice to the lower ninth ward here, hammer in hand, to pound some nails, and make a point.

Brian Ross has done it again.  This is a KEY line: News organizations have found "Rezko-linked contributions that are more than double what the campaign has publicly acknowledged..." Be sure to watch Nightline tonight:

As the House debates the Hope 6 public housing renewal bill I am starting to notice a trend.  King, Republican from Iowa, proposes an amendment to remove prevailing wage standards; it fails.  I heard Representative Sessions of Texas argue for demolition only permits that allow public housing to be demolished without a commitment to produce new public housing units, he failed.  Capito of West Virginia proposed to loosen the green requirement, good news for the world, it failed.

because of a situation that has been weighing heavliy on my mind. Bear with me for not feeling up to posting an upbeat post-Christmas diary.

For I am heartsick over the news of what happened in New Orleans a week ago, Thursday. I won't extensively go into what happened because this has already been excellently done in  NOLA: Stun Guns Used As Bulldozers Stand Ready and This Is A National Issue.

However, I will go into several other aspects of what happened, which are deeper, more complex, and more personal than what the mainstream media did in their brief reports and soundbites.

There was a tornado warning on Thursday, December 20th, with a cool front marching down south. The tornado that touched down though, was the incredible spirit, will and determination of those fighting for public, and affordable housing in this city, and taking on the NOPD and New Orleans City Council in the process.

We were prepared, Thursday, to challenge what we already knew would go down: the vote in the affirmative by the New Orleans City Council to demolish over 4000 units of critical, public and affordable housing in New Orleans. Our intent was to keep the meeting from happening, to prevent the vote, by peaceful, but loud, raucous protest. There was no intent to commit violence. Many of us were quite willing to be arrested. One of the principles decided on by public housing residents in this struggle is that it will be a non-violent struggle.

How selfish of me to be trying to drag the reader from some lovely spiked eggnog to the nitty gritty of the struggles of others.

My only rationalization is that Christmas is approaching.  The whole damned story was about Mary and Joseph not being able to get a room when she was about to have her baby.  I believe at the time they were traveling back to Joseph's hometown for some registration or other.  (What's that cool French phrase that means, "the more things change ..."? Cestdelamemchanceorsomethinglikethat.)

So with that admittedly self-serving rationalization, I continue with a story that has grown more and more interesting to me, the public housing issue in New Orleans.

Tonight, I've finished my Christmas decorating.  I have a tree--a 7 1/2 foot fake fir--that is now covered in LED lights, ornaments, and ribbons.  Little tables and planters are covered in a lifetime's collection of Santa Clauses, Christmas carousels, and angels.  My Christmas cards are hung up in a doorway by tape.  And "A Christmas Carol," with Patrick Stewart starring as Scrooge, is playing on TNT.

I've also been reading diaries here and elsewhere about the destruction of public housing in New Orleans.

An aerial view of Pontchartrain Park from the early 1950s.  The area in the top left corner is Camp Leroy Johnson, an army supply depot.  That land was turned over to the University of New Orleans in the 1960s, and is now the university's East Campus.  On the right, jutting out into Lake Pontchartrain is Lakefront Airport (NEW).  The top left corner of the undeveloped area is now the campus of Southern University in New Orleans.  The drainage canal separating the park from the rest of Gentilly on the left is the Florida Avenue canal.  Next to the canal are the tracks for the Southern Railroad.  They head from in town, curve right then travel east across the Industrial Canal and out to the train bridge across the lake that runs parallell to US90 and I-10.  The canal and the train tracks make for a significant geographical boundary between the established part of Gentilly on the left and the new Pontchartrain Park subdivision on the right.

I don't live in New Orleans, so I suppose I could be accused of talking out of my ass, but I've also been around the (urban redevelopment) block a few times, so I think I can safely say that I can smell a rat when I see one.

As diaried by MrSandman and others here at Daily Kos, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a federal agency that reports directly to President Bush, plans to bulldoze over 4500 units of public housing in New Orleans.

And as diaried by NightProwlKitty, the federal actor (HUD) makes this is a national issue.

Barack Obama has called on the President to stop the demolition and John Edwards is opposed as well.

Many folks have read that there were riots and some violence and a bunch of rabble rousing and yelling and such at the New Orleans City Council meeting on public housing, heck, it's the top story at AOL News.

And the NOLA blogs are covering this as well.

Yep, that's the breaking story out of New Orleans.  NOT!

Let's take a look at what actually happened today, let's ... oh, I don't know ... BLOG about it.  The fucking media and our fucking representatives sure as fuck aren't going to educate us.  Arrggh.

This is a national issue.

I wasn't going to write anything about the outrage of Catholic crackpot Bill Donohue and the sewer that is his organization, the Catholic League, with respect to their position on the movie, The Golden Compass.  A lot has been said here on dKos on this subject already, and sometimes it's better to not to flog an issue, giving the crackpot more publicity.  But a chance meeting on Friday prompted me to put some thoughts down.  In short, I began asking myself the question, how did a douchemook (to steal a phrase from oyster) like Donohue become the public face of Catholicism today?

In his song "Rednecks," Randy Newman sums up David Vitter's position on public housing in New Orleans.  Vitty-cent has risen in opposition to a housing bill proposed by his senate colleague, Mary Landrieu.  Landrieu's bill would require a one-to-one replacement of public housing units.  Tear down a unit, it has to be replaced by a new one.  

In the midst of the decision of the New Orleans City Council to not actively oppose the demolition of several HANO-HUD (Housing Authority of New Orleans-US Dept of Housing and Urban Development) public housing projects, many people are obviously upset.  And rightfully so, because the residents of those projects were literally packed up and shipped off to Texas.

Now those folks want the right and means to come home.  But is there a home for them to return to?

N.O. fracas over plans to raze housing

NEW ORLEANS - Protesters angry about the pending demolition of more than 4,000 public housing units stormed a City Council meeting Thursday in a confrontation that ended with a prominent civil rights lawyer being hauled off in handcuffs...

"We live in a system where if you cheer or chant in the City Council you get arrested, but you can demolish 4,500 people's apartments and everybody's supposed to go along with that? That's not going to happen," Quigley said.

"There's going to be a lot more disturbing the peace before this is all over, I'm afraid."

Follow me below the fold for the real story on the ground including video of Maxine Waters in New Orleans on the second anniversary of Katrina.  

Do you support the right of return for all New Orleanians?

Okay, so I'm shocked, just shocked to learn that influence peddling and blatant fraud is going on in Washington, DC. And I'm shocked to find out that Secretary Alfonso Jackson of HUD is handing out contracts to friends of Bush and only friends of Bush to rebuild the city of New Orleans.

We all know that influence peddling at the expense of ordinary Americans all over this country happens everyday in so many egregious ways, but now we have it on record thanks to the National Journal.

Follow me below the fold for the latest outrage in the horrendous mess that New Orleans has become.

This diary was originally written my on Friday as one of the NOLA Speaks series, but as I searched for some timely links to add to this diary I came across something so shocking that I decided to rewrite the first part of this diary. One of the biggest obstacles in the rebuilding and repopulation of the city of New Orleans is the lack of affordable housing.

"Katrina Vouchers" mentioned by Mike, the principle subject of the original diary, are being used by HUD to prevent homelessness in the Katrina Diaspora, but I've just learned that these vouchers will be discontinued as of Monday morning with nothing in their place. Thousands of families will not be able to pay their rents.

Follow me below the fold to find out what you can do to help so many of our fellow Americans in danger of becoming homeless.