REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Katrina-related accusations and the info behind them

POSTED BY: GEEZER
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 17:57
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Sunday, September 18, 2005 5:33 AM

CANTTAKESKY


Quote:

Originally posted by jaif:
Which has nothing to do with the statement you quoted; "federal help" has nothing to do with "national guard". The governor is the commander of the state's national guard, and it is the governor's job to call them up and give them orders.

Ah, I see what you meant. I stand corrected.
Quote:

I think you in this thread, and the media in general, are micro-managing decisions that you shouldn't. I think we, the public, should reserve our criticism for the big decisions that arch over the little ones...I'm not going to worry too much about the mis-steps below this level...If mistakes were made by their organizations, then they should correct them, not the court of public opinion.
I understand and respect your approach. However, given that this particular outcome was so shocking, I disagree on what constitutes a "big decision." A mis-step is a "miscommunication" that sent 200 ice trucks running around the country for a week, costing tax payers over $1 million. Detaining 40K people in encampments with no food, water, or toilets for a week is not a mistake--it's a big decision. It reflects something very, very wrong with disaster relief policy. For example, coordination and control appears to have higher priority than actual relief and rescue.
Quote:

Furthermore, it appears that all three simply could not grasp the potential scope for disaster that should have been abundantly clear before the hurricane hit.
Most people seem to be focused on "failures" and what the government didn't do, because they were overwhelmed. They didn't declare this, or call for that on time. I want to see the government accountable for what they DID do. They obstructed the exit of evacuees, and they obstructed the entry of relief aid. If they were truly overwhelmed, and had relief and rescue as their priorities, they could have just let people help themselves and each other, and then jump in when they got their act together.

Failures require that those responsible be fired. Crimes require that those responsible be punished. My approach differs in that I believe a crime has been committed. Tens of thousands of the most vulnerable Americans were rounded up and detained for a week without food, water, or sanitation. We know who committed the crime: local, state, and federal authorities (it wasn't the Russian mob with the guns at the checkpoints). We have thousands of eyewitnesses. Now it is a matter of investigating the individuals responsible, indicting them, and trying them in court. Maybe it will turn out that they had really good reasons for committing this crime, and the jury will acquit them. Fine. But they need to face up that these were crimes that were committed and not failures.

The public needs to make it loud and clear it is a crime to herd up innocent Americans and deny them exit. It is a crime to deny a detained population basic necessities. Even POW's are governed by the Geneva Convention and protected by law better than Americans in a disaster area. Policies need to change. When you look at it from this perspective, it is no longer micro-management.

Can't Take My Gorram Sky

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Sunday, September 18, 2005 7:47 AM

JAIF


Ok, let's take this a step further.

You quoted (I think it was you) a particularly horrific story of, essentially, police and national guard brutality to a group of people. Some lied to clear refugees from their front lawn, some others essentially robbed the refugees of their food and water and sent them from a safe place.

I grant that people should pursue that story to its conclusion. [Tangent - my sense is that the racism and horrible attitude to the poor that Mayor Nagin kept harping about was, in fact, primarily state and local, and that was the root cause of the brutal treatment.]

However, none of the above need have happened. We had ample warning of the storm; engineers clearly warned what would happen if the storm reached a certain size. What was needed was state and local leadership moving people north as fast as possible before the storm landed.

I can't explain how much it hurts me to watch corrupt politicians ignore basic science: New Orleans is a bowl, it has walls of X height, and many of those systems have not been adequately maintained. There's a hurricane approaching, going to be cat 4 maybe cat 5, and the walls aren't designed to hold that.

There's nothing left to do but run. But they didn't. They were moronic in the extreme, and every criminal act that follows they are culpable for.

Now I'll go one more step. If I understand the situation correctly, they had an option in the 70s; either build the superdome, or reinforce the levee system to resist a heavier storm. Note that this is only a partial solution - any engineer with a brain can come up with secondary and fallback solutions beyond pumps; e.g. ways to contain most of the sewage in case of flood, and so on. Or water stored above flood levels. Or fallout-shelters in reverse.

But they did none of this. They left the city wide open for a category 4 storm, and they have now paid the price.

Can we go after those crooks? Can the media press that point in other locales where crooked politicians shunt money from needed public works and pour it into rich people's hands?

That's where I'd like to see the focus.

-Jeff

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Sunday, September 18, 2005 9:10 AM

CANTTAKESKY


Quote:

Originally posted by jaif:
Ok, let's take this a step further...
But they did none of this. They left the city wide open for a category 4 storm, and they have now paid the price....

Can we go after those crooks? Can the media press that point in other locales where crooked politicians shunt money from needed public works and pour it into rich people's hands?

That's where I'd like to see the focus.

-Jeff

Good argument. I can't disagree with you here. I'd like to see those people accountable as well. (Damn, I'm just a judgmental bitch.)

Can't Take My Gorram Sky

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Monday, September 19, 2005 12:09 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Pathetic, but it doesn't surprise me.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS0
110/509160369/1260


September 16, 2005
E-mail suggests government seeking to blame groups

By Jerry Mitchell
jmitchell@clarionledger.com

E-mail sent to various U.S. Attorney's offices:

SUBJECT: Have you had any cases involving the levees in New Orleans?

QUESTION: Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps' work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation.

District: __________
Contact: _________
Telephone: ________



Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' offices. Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said Thursday she couldn't comment "because it's an internal e-mail."

Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn't comment further. (I wonder which Republican cooked up this bright idea?)

Whoever is behind the e-mail may have spotted the Sept. 8 issue of National Review Online that chastised the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for suing to halt the corps' 1996 plan to raise and fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: "Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain."

The problem with that conclusion?

The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain on the other side of the city.


In 1977, the corps wanted to build a 25-mile-long barrier and gate system to protect New Orleans on the east side. Both environmental groups and fishermen opposed the project, saying it would choke off water into Lake Pontchartrain. After litigation, corps officials abandoned the idea, deciding instead to build higher levees. John Hall, a spokesman for the corps in New Orleans, said the barrier the corps was proposing in the 1970s would only stand up to a weak Category 3 hurricane.

Since 1999, corps officials have studied the concept of building huge floodgates to prevent flooding in New Orleans from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001 listed a hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the top three catastrophic events the nation could face (the others being a terrorist attack on New York City and an earthquake in San Francisco), funding for corps projects aimed at curbing flooding in southeast Louisiana lagged.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has said the White House cut $400 million from corps' requests for flood control money in the area.





In other words: If the Mississippi had flooded from severe rains in its drainage basin, for example, it (the river) would have been a threat to New Orleans and its (the river's) levee system would be relevant. But in this case, the Mississippi basin is so drought-striken that shipping has been halted in some stretches (though you don't hear much about the drought nationally).

But a hurricane storm surge coming in from the gulf posed a completely different and unrelated threat. And it was those projects for those levees specifically identified as hurricane risks that were crossed off the budget by this administration. Those would be the relevant ones.




Please don't think they give a shit.

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Monday, September 19, 2005 4:27 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
Pathetic, but it doesn't surprise me...

Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn't comment further. (I wonder which Republican cooked up this bright idea?)




It could be the most nutcase Republican, Democrat, or Independent out there. Fron a lifetime spent in Civil Service(since the Nixon administration) I can state without equivocation that anyone in Congress can initiate an inquiry and have the Federal bureaucracy all over getting a response. They can do this despite what the current Administration might wish. Sometimes they do it as political theatre to start accusitions such as generated here, since the bureaucracy can't reveal who initiated the inquiry. Just more evil politics, IMHO.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 5:01 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


And the master of dirty tricks is ..... starts with R and ends with ove. That plus a few other well-known names. I just go with the odds.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 6:10 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
And the master of dirty tricks is ..... starts with R and ends with ove. That plus a few other well-known names. I just go with the odds.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.



435+100=535 legislators. Mr. R+ove may have some influence, but it still takes a legislator to initiate a legislative inquiry.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005 5:25 AM

CANTTAKESKY


Good God in heaven.
Quote:


http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/091605/new_doctorordered001.shtml
Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims

In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency....

At the triage area in the New Orleans airport, Perlmutter was successful in getting FEMA to accept the insulin and morphine he had brought. "The pharmacist told us they were completely out of insulin and our donation would save numerous lives. Still, I felt we were the most-valuable resource, and we were sent away."

Well, at least they took his insulin. Let's give FEMA a big round of applause!

Can't Take My Gorram Sky

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Thursday, September 22, 2005 12:23 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Rove is like Dr. Terwilliger. His thoughts, someone else's fingerprints.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Thursday, September 22, 2005 4:54 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
Rove is like Dr. Terwilliger. His thoughts, someone else's fingerprints.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.



Could be. But there's some Republican Representatives out there who make Rove look like a Ted Kennedy clone. Go figure the electorate. It just takes one right-of-JOhn Birch nut to start an inquiry.

Fortunately, the majority of voters nationwide have a bit better judgement in selecting their representatives.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Thursday, September 22, 2005 5:32 PM

CANTTAKESKY


Here is more documentation of obstruction by local, state, and federal officials. New Orleans escapees are interviewed for NPR's This American Life. The transcript can be downloaded in PDF format.

http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/05/296.html

Can't Take My Gorram Sky

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Friday, September 23, 2005 4:22 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


OK. Back to one of the original accusations I was questioning.
Quote:

Why wouldn't FEMA let the people in downtown New Orleans leave?



The most likely source of this would be the incidents where the Gretna police turned back people trying to cross the Mississippi Bridge from New Orleans. This was on orders of the Gretna City government, who thought they had enought to handle with their own citizens. An example of bad judgement right up there with blocking aid to New Orleans so everyone would leave.

I can't find any FEMA responsibility for this. Anyone have any evidence?



"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Saturday, September 24, 2005 4:50 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Hey, how about that Rita evacuation down in Texas ! Went down smooth, didn't it ?


Please don't think they give a shit.

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Saturday, September 24, 2005 8:21 PM

CANTTAKESKY


Quote:

Originally posted by Geezer:
I can't find any FEMA responsibility for this. Anyone have any evidence?

No, obstruction of exit from New Orleans was not FEMA. From all accounts I've found, that was local or unspecified.

Can't Take My Gorram Sky

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Monday, September 26, 2005 5:21 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
Hey, how about that Rita evacuation down in Texas ! Went down smooth, didn't it ?


Please don't think they give a shit.



Reasonably. I think they'll learn from Rita as well. Probably the biggest thing I see is that evacuation needs to be phased somehow so everyone doesn't hit the highway at the same time and create gridlock. Either that, or build more highways.

It also seemed that the state and local governments were more proactive and able and willing to do more on their own. Now, what could be the difference between the Texas and Louisiana state and local governments? Republicans in Texas and Democrats in Louisiana? Couldn't be that simple, could it?

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Monday, September 26, 2005 6:31 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


You must not have heard about the thousands of people too poor to evacuate who had to stay behind. I'm not sure how you missed reports of the chaos and that fact that tens of thousands of people couldn't get far away enough by car.

Had Rita actually hit the area especially with any force, the severe shortcomings would have been easily apparent.



Please don't think they give a shit - especially not Geezer, who loves playing politics with people's lives.

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Monday, September 26, 2005 6:31 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


You must not have heard about the thousands of people too poor to evacuate who had to stay behind. I'm not sure how you missed reports of the chaos and that fact that tens of thousands of people couldn't get far away enough by car.

Had Rita actually hit the area especially with any force, the severe shortcomings would have been easily apparent.



Please don't think they give a shit - especially not Geezer, who loves playing politics with people's lives.

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Monday, September 26, 2005 12:35 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
You must not have heard about the thousands of people too poor to evacuate who had to stay behind. I'm not sure how you missed reports of the chaos and that fact that tens of thousands of people couldn't get far away enough by car.

Had Rita actually hit the area especially with any force, the severe shortcomings would have been easily apparent.



Please don't think they give a shit - especially not Geezer, who loves playing politics with people's lives.



Is there and echo in here?

What I generally heard was reports of people who didn't choose to leave. It seemed overall that transportation was available for anyone who wanted out and was willing to make the least effort. Trying to evacuate several million people is never going to be problem-free, but it seems they got it better this time than for Katrina.

And I don't love playing politics with people's lives, but remarks like that make me love pissing you off even more.



"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 1:04 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006
020100712.html


That right-wing branch of the government the GAO concluded the Feds bungled Katrina.

GAO Faults Federal Government for Katrina Response

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 1, 2006; 4:09 PM

Despite plenty of advance disaster warning and decade-old recommendations on preparedness, the federal government failed to exercise adequate leadership in response to Hurricane Katrina and was slow to determine the scope of the catastrophe, the Government Accountability Office reported today.

In a preliminary report submitted to a House committee investigating the hurricane response, Comptroller General David M. Walker pointed to a failure of federal leadership as Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast last year, with neither Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff nor any of his deputies stepping in to lead the relief effort.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, submitted its report to the House Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, chaired by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.).

Because Brown's leadership role was "unclear," Walker said, "the efforts of all federal agencies involved in the response remained disjointed."

As a result, Walker said, "there were multiple chains of command, a myriad of approaches and processes for requesting and providing assistance and confusion about who should be advised of requests and what resources would be provided within specific time frames."

Of course DHS disagrees. Heck of a job, Brownie! Chertoff too.



Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 2:11 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!


Massacre of New Orleans

Katrina kills zero - Bush kills 10,000s

Cop-killer Bush kills 500 more cops?

FEMA ran Federal District of New Orleans for past two years
MP3 download:
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/6587.php
www.thepowerhour.com

Katraina was a Cat 3 storm, and levees survived the storm intact. Then FEMA jammed the radio communitations, removed the local police dispatch radio antennas, blocked access in and out of New Orleans, and Bush in his bunker in Waco ordered CIA's Blackwater USA Inc mercenaries from Iraq into New Orleans to bomb the levees and confiscate all the guns in dry areas of the city that still had electricity.

NEWS ARCHIVES AND LINKS:
http://geocities.com/bush_massacred_new_orleans

VIDEO: CONSPIRACY FREAK CONGRESSIONAL HEARING HEARS BOMBS IN LEVEES:
www.infowars.net/articles/december2005/131205Levees.htm

Quote:

"Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial."
-Aaron Broussard, president Jefferson Parish council, MSNBC, TRANSCRIPT Meet the Press with Tim Russert, VIDEO: "Feds criticized for slow response," and VIDEO: "She drowned Friday night," September 4, 2005

"As it turns out, the Canadians Pohlman met weren't the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They were actually a search and rescue team that had traveled all the way from Vancouver, British Columbia, some 2,800 miles away, and they got there first.
Pohlman: I don't know how they got here. It may have been on their horses, but they got here.
FEMA crosses wires with local officials.
FEMA teams eventually did arrive in stricken areas. But at least initially, in their efforts to organize an effective relief effort, the FEMA workers sometimes crossed wires with local officials. Maestri told us FEMA workers seized diesel fuel needed to run generators for emergency response.
Maestri: When we went to get the fuel, fuel that we had ordered and paid for, bought by Jefferson Parish, that fuel was seized. And we were told that FEMA had taken control of all fuel. And they were seizing that. And we would have to justify— go through a bureaucratic process to get that fuel released to the parish.
Phillips: So your people were turned around?
Maestri: Well, we were turned around and we came to realize that if that’s the kind of game that’s being played, when I sent the fuel truck back and I sent it back with armed sheriff’s deputies, because not on my watch. I was gonna try to make sure that nobody died.
Phillips: And they get the fuel?
Maestri: We got the fuel that time.
Phillips: So you were saying that FEMA actually became an obstruction—
Maestri: That’s correct.
And when his radio communications system was crippled Maestri says he was stunned to learn FEMA was responsible.
Maestri: My technicians reported back to me, “Hey, I know why you’re not communicating. Somebody took down your all antenna.” When we got him up there and he looked he said, “My God.” He said, “This is a FEMA antenna. Somebody disconnected your antenna and put theirs up.”
-NBC, "What went wrong in hurricane crisis?"
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9269337/page/4/

"Broussard hinted that he thought President Bush should be held responsible, saying, 'whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.'"
-Newsmax, "La. Official: Feds 'Murdered' Flood Victims," September 5, 2005

"George Bush is on vacation in Crawford, Texas, taking the same August-long break that he did in the summer before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The appeal of Crawford appears to be that it provides the President with an opportunity to put aside all the troubles of the world and to focus on fixing fences and clearing brush. After all, it was during his previous vacation that Bush ignored an August 6, 2001, briefing document titled: 'Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.'"
-The Nation, "The President's Vacation From Reality", August 15, 2005

"Bush just diddle-daddles and works out all day so his boyfriends think he's handsome."
-Alex Jones, www.Infowars.com Radio, WBCR 1470am, September 1, 2005

"Not only was FEMA chief Michael D. Brown (Bronski) a former attorney for the Lyons, Colorado based International Arabian Horse Association, but he was actually *fired from the International Arabian Horse Association. A Kos poster writes that his colleagues say he was fired for being an "unmitigated, total...disaster". The NYT profiles him here. Even I am staggered -- Brown was the lawyer for the horse association not back in the 1980s or 1990s, but until 2001 when he was brought into FEMA as deputy director by Joe Allbaugh. Incredible. One would think Bush administration party patronage positions would be confined to - you know, cushy ambassadorships and Iraq CPA positions, not doled out as heads of agencies that should be led by even semi-competent technocrats and professionals. Bring in the cavalry, indeed."
-War and Peace, "FEMA Head FIRED From Horse Association in 2001," September 3, 2005 (VIDEO: FEMA RUN BY JEW MICHAEL BROWN FROM ARABIAN HORSE ASSN, September 4, 2005)

"Michael Brown's (Bronski) previous job was judging horse shows, and he was fired from that. That job is missing from his official resume. But what nobody is reporting is that another of Brown's prior jobs, that's also missing from his resume, WAS WORKING FOR HURRICANE PLANNING FOR CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, so he knew all about the dangers of levees bursting...! Everything that's 'going wrong' is happening by design."
-Joyce Riley, The Power Hour Radio, September 6, 2005

"Government control of Communications and Transportation."
-Communist Manifesto, 6th Plank, written by Luciferian Masonic Jew Karl Marx in London, England

"Even though dry land routes exist leading out of the city, emergency officials continued to prevent able-bodied storm victims from trying to walk across the Crescent City Bridge, citing the dangers they said would be posed by an uncontrolled exit from the city. 'The last thing we need is people walking an en masse exodus on the interstate,' said Louisiana State Police Lt. Lawrence McLeary. 'Number one, they could probably be in shock and need medical attention. We don't know if they're lawless going out of town and we don't want them walking around wreaking havoc.'"
-James Janega and Howard Witt, "Help arrives, but many in New Orleans still wait for deliverance," September 2, 2005

"State Police in Lafayette, Louisiana, have been accussed of hindering attempts by private citizens to rescue people trapped by floodwaters in New Orleans. The accusations were contained in an unconfirmed report received via email by Jason Robideaux, an attorney from Lafayette. A group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats heading into New Orleans to rescue people still stranded in places such as hospitals. Members of the flotilla were experienced boaters, licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of Louisiana. A Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries (DWF) agent ordered them to turn around and go home. Hundreds of DWF agents were not being utilised. The launch site where the La. Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries were launching their rescue operations via boat. They reported to me that there were over 200 DWF agents just standing around and doing nothing."
-Wikinews, "Louisiana officials accused of blocking rescue volunteers," September 2, 2005

Female reporter: "Is it true that the levees were blown up on purpose?"
White House Press Bullshitter: "This is not the time or the place for questions like that!"
-Press Conference with Ex-President George Bush Sr. Sir Knight of the British Empire and Ex-President Bill Clinton-Blythe-Rockefeller IV, MSNBC Morning Show, September 5, 2005

"Answer the damn question! Scott McClellan is a whore. People wake up every day and decide how they want to make a living. And McClellan gets up every day and decides to be a media whore. A whore. A whore. A whore!"
-Don Imus, Imus In The Morning, MSNBC, September 8, 2005

"Associated Press reports that at least five people shot dead by police as they walked across a New Orleans bridge yesterday were contractors working for the US Defence department. A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal. The contractors were on their way across the bridge to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain, in an operation to fix the 17th Street Canal, according to the spokesman. The shootings took place on the Danziger Bridge, across a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River. Early on Sunday, Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley of New Orleans said police shot at eight people, killing five or six."
-Australian Herald-Sun, "Five dead were army workers: report," September 2, 2005

"Repair crews have patched the ruptured levee along the 17th Street Canal and have begun pumping water from New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday. Helicopters closed the approximately 300-foot breach by filling it with more than 200 15,000-pound sandbags (BUT PHOTO AND VIDEO SHOWED A SECTION LEFT OPEN). Trucks also poured loads of fill dirt into the damaged section. Crews intentionally breached levees in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes Monday so that water would flow back into Lake Borgne, John Rickey, a corps spokesman said."
-CNN, "Pumps begin to drain New Orleans," September 5, 2005

"Helicopter news reporters said there has still been no attempt to repair the dykes in New Orleans. The US Corps of Engineers was seen filling sandbags. Why didn't they do that over the weekend?"
-Harry Shearer, director of Teddy Bear's Picnic at Bohemian Grove homosexual nudist colony and presidential retreat, MSNBC TV Wednesday night 3 days after Katrina

"The US Corps of Engineers will actually open up the levees in places to allow the water level to drop faster" (except it will cause more flooding at high-tide... or storms...).
-MSNBC TV, September 4 & 5, 2005

"And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection - or at least amelioration - against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological. It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."
-Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, "The 'city' of Louisiana", September 5, 2005

"'That would be a P.R. nightmare for us,' Capt. Marlon Defillo said of any forced evacuations. By late Tuesday afternoon, Corps officials said only three of New Orleans' normal contingent of 148 drainage pumps were operating. The Coast Guard has said 110 barges, ships and boats sank or ran aground during the storm -- 67 of them in the Mississippi River, and another 43 along the coast. The levees were deliberately breached in some spots to let the water flow back out into Lake Pontchartrain, where the water level had dropped below that inside the city."
-Cain Burdeau, Newsday, "New Orleans Mayor Orders Forced Evacuation," September 7, 2005

"On Saturday Sept, 3 at approximately 5 pm the Fox News Channel was interviewing a black actor ( who's name I can't remember now.... Haley Stevens? ) and he said that he spoke to one of the first flood victims from the broken levy in New Orleans as this victim's house was the first to be flooded away. The victim said that he saw 2 separate empty grain sail barges crash into the levy and break them at 2 different points. The reporter asked the actor to repeat what he said as this was the first time he's heard of it."
-Rob Willett, DavidIcke.com, "Who Broke the Levees?"

"Depressed and demoralized White House staffers say working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is “life in a hellhole” as they try to deal with a sullen, moody President whose temper tantrums drive staffers crying from the room and bring the business of running the country to a halt. 'It’s like working in an insane asylum,' says one White House aide. 'People walk around like they’re in a trance. We’re the dance band on the Titanic, playing out our last songs to people who know the ship is sinking and none of us are going to make it.' That sentiment is echoed by former Republican Speaker of the House homosexual Newt Gingrich. 'I think the Administration realizes the larger system has failed,' Gingrich says. 'They are not where they want to be on Iraq. Katrina was an absolute failure.' ‘It reminds me of the Nixon days,’ says a longtime GOP political consultant with contacts in the White House. ‘Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him. That’s the mood over there.’"
-Doug Thompson, Capitol Hill Blue, "Bush's Depression: Been There, Reported That," September 28, 2005

DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: This is the actual levee that runs along the canal on the eastern side of the city. And when the hurricane hit, the water came through at such force, it was apparently too much. You can see the massive breach here, and when you look around the corner you can see what the water did to the Lower Ninth Ward. It compleetley destoryed neighborhoods.
JOE EDWARDS, JR., 9TH WARD RESIDENT: I heard something go BOOM!
MUIR: Joe Edwards rushed to get himself and as many neighbors as possible into his truck. They drove to this bridge, where they've been living ever since.
EDWARDS: My house broke in half. My mother's house just disintegrated. It was a brick house. All the houses down there floated down the street like somebody's guiding 'em.
MUIR: Was it solely the water that broke the levee, or was it the force of this barge that now sits where homes once did? Joe Edwards says neither. People are so bitter, so disenfranchised in this neighborhood, they actually think the city did it, blowing up the levee to save richer neighborhoods like the French Quarter.
MUIR: So you're convinced . . .
EDWARDS: I know this happened!
MUIR: . . . they broke the levee on purpose?
EDWARDS: They blew it!
MUIR: New Orleans' mayor says there's no credence to this.
NEW ORLEANS MAYOR RAY NAGIN: That storm was so powerful and it pushed so much water, there's no way anyone could have calculated what levee to dynamite to have the kind of impact to save the French Quarter.
MUIR: An LSU expert who looked at the video today says, while the barge may have caused it, it was most likely the sheer force of the water that brought the levee along the Lower Ninth Ward down.
—ABC News, VIDEO: "Earwitness tells ABC explosives blew Industrial Canal levee," Total Information Analysis, September 12 2005
www.total411.info/2005/09/video-earwitness-tells-abc-explosives.html

"Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said he has 'commandered' the Sam's and Wal-Mart stores in the parish and ordered them to open as soon as possible. Lee said he took the action after he learned that a Wal-Mart store wanted to open recently but was told by FEMA officials that it could not. 'I am upset with FEMA and some of their regulations,' Lee said. After talking about the situation concerning the Wal-Mart on Thursday, Lee said he briefly talked to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans on Friday. He asked her to check on the situation and find out if there was a legitimate reason to keep the store closed. But because of communication difficulties, he did not hear back and took the situation in his own hands. Lee said he gave handwritten notes to Wal-Mart stores in Harvey and Kenner saying they were ordered to open as soon as possible. Lee said Parish President Aaron Broussard agreed with the decision. Lee said anyone from FEMA who tries to close either store will be arrested by deputies. 'We're encouraging the businesses to get up and going.' On other topics, Lee said he had 40 deputies who didn't report for duty for the storm. One who tried to return was told not to waste his time. 'As far as I am concerned (he) will never get a job in law enforcement again,' Lee said."
-Times Picayune, "Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee commandeers Sam's Wal-Mart stores," September 13, 2005

Female reporter: “President Clinton, what do you think about the fact that some of the folks think that the levee was broken on purpose?”
White House Press Bullshitter: "This is not the time or the place for questions like that!"
-Press Conference with Ex-President George Bush Sr. Sir Knight of the British Empire and Ex-President Bill Clinton-Blythe-Rockefeller IV, CSPAN Video, MSNBC Morning Show, September 5, 2005

"The US Corps of Engineers will actually open up the levees in places to allow the water level to drop faster" (except it will cause more flooding at high-tide... or storms...).
-MSNBC TV, September 4 & 5, 2005

New Orleans resident: "I'm not going to leave my home. We've worked hard to own our own home and we finally did it."
Ted Koppel: "But your home is flooded. For your own safety you have to leave!"
New Orleans resident: "Once I leave I'll never be allowed to return, because they'll tear my house down. They've been trying to steal our homes for years. That's what this is all about - it's just a way to steal our land and give it to a big developer for nothin."
-ABC News, Nightline, September 6, 2005

"The Associated Press reported today that unarmed Mexican troops were being escorted by the US army to help relief efforts for hurricane Katrina. However, the report was only specific to one convoy. The convoys reported to Alex Jones are said to be fully armed with Heckler & Koch German assault rifles. The first sighting occurred at 12:30 on Highway 183 traveling towards Austin. The eyewitness described at least ten vehicles, four jeeps (other witnesses described them as Humvees) and six combat trucks brimming with armed Mexican troops wearing body armor, helmets and rifles. The troops riding in the jeeps were wearing holstered hand guns. The vehicles were not being escorted by the US army or any other government vehicles and the vehicles were festooned with insignia reading 'Mexico MP's' and the Mexican flag. The second sighting of a similar nature occurred north of Austin on I35 near Georgetown Texas. Prison Planet contacted Congressman Ron Paul's office whose district is in Texas and the Congressman's response was, "any Mexican troops here period is illegal and unconstitutional."
-Alex Jones & Paul Joseph Watson, "Armed Mexican Troops Invade US - Eyewitnesses: Under cover of aid, combat ready soldiers roll into Texas," September 8 2005
www.infowars.com/articles/us/mexican_troops_enter_texas_armed.htm

VIDEO:
www.infowars.com/video/clips/news/091205_mexican_troops.htm

"The day is coming when American police will be ordered to round up millions of Americans and execute them, just as police or military have been asked to round up and sumarily execute 200-million people in the past 100 years."
—Jack McLamb, Officer Jack McLamb Radio Program, "The most-decorated cop in Phoenix PD history," Police & Military Against the New World Order, author of Operation Vampire Killers, publisher of Aid and Abet Police & Military Newsletter, H.C. 11, Box 357, Kamiah, Idaho 83536, 208-935-7852, from interview on Infowars.com Radio, 16 January 2002
www.JackMcLamb.com

"What I said is, if a federal agent comes knocking at your door-- specifically BATF--says I have a search warrant, open the door, let him in, stand aside and let him search. What I said is, if they come shooting--they're shooting at you now--you have the right to self-defense, and in that event, if they've got a body-protection armor on, you are best to shoot to the groin area."
—G. Gordon Liddy, attorney at law, White House counsel and Watergate burgler, FBI agent, convicted felon, Crossfire, 4/25/95

"Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests."
-G. Gordon Liddy, attorney at law, White House counsel and Watergate burgler, FBI agent, convicted felon, radio show, 8/26/94

"Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney! Go fuck yourself!"
CNN reporter: "Are you getting a lot of that Mr. Vice President?"
"Dick" Cheney: "First time I've heard it., Must be a friend of John... [Lee?], er, ah - never mind."
-VIDEO, OpEdNews.com, "Physician who told Cheney to go F*ck Himself Lost his Home in Katrina, Detained, Cuffed by Cheney's M-16-carrying Goons," September 9, 2005
www.CrooksAndLiars.com

"If the American people ever find out what we have done, they will chase us down the streets and lynch us."
-George Bush Sr. Sir Knight of the British Empire, trillionaire narcoterrorist looting $1-billion/day in 15-years of Iraq Wars that genocided 1.6-million civilians and ended production of cheap Iraqi oil

"Hangin's too good for him. Burning's too good for him. He out to be torn into itty bitty peices and buried alive!"
-Heavy Metal




ARREST THE BUSH GANG FOR MURDER AND TREASON! DO IT NOW! IMPEACHMENT? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN IMPEACHMENT! REMEMBER THE BATTLE OF ATHENS...

"You can't stop the signal!"
-Mr Universe, STM, Pirate TV

FIREFLY SERENITY PILOT MUSIC VIDEO:
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/8310.php

Pirate News TV
Knoxville, Tennessee
Winner Best Music Video
"We Never Went to the Moon"
(no rocket exhaust as Apollo LEM "blasted off" from the "moon")
Los Angeles Music Awards 2005
http://piratenews.org/hollywood.html
http://ufoetry.com

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 2:55 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


"HECKUVA JOB" BROWNIE E-MAILED THESE:

Quote:

In an e-mail message sent on Aug. 29, the day the hurricane struck, Mr. Brown exchanged messages about his attire with Cindy Taylor, deputy director of public affairs at the agency, according to the report. "My eyes must be deceiving me," Ms. Taylor wrote to him, apparently referring to public appearances he had made. "You look fabulous - and I'm not talking about the makeup."

Mr. Brown, in turn, responded: "I got it at Nordstroms ... Are you proud of me?" An hour later, he added: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."

Democrats said that Mr. Brown also found time to e-mail his assistant to inquire about a sitter for his dog. "Do you know of anyone who dog-sits," he wrote on Aug. 30, the day after the hurricane struck. "If you know of any responsible kids, let me know. They can have the house to themselves Th-Su." In another instance, on Aug. 29, he sent Ms. Taylor a message that Democrats said suggested he was overwhelmed. "Can I quit now," he wrote. "Can I come home?" A few days later, he wrote a similar message to an acquaintance, saying, "I am trapped now, please rescue me."




MEANWHILE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS STONEWALLING THE SENATE
Quote:

The Bush administration is withholding information relevant to a Senate committee investigating federal management of Hurricane Katrina. Invoking executive privilege, the administration has also refused to allow sworn testimony from senior White House officials on the disaster and governmental response... the investigation, conducted by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has been thwarted by the White House from obtaining communications logs, and even dates and times of meetings and phone calls regarding Katrina emergency response efforts. ...The administration had declined to provide testimony from Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff; Card’s deputy, Joe Hagin; and domestic security adviser Frances Townsend. Townsend’s deputy, Ken Rapuano, has given informal, non-public briefings to the committee, but has also effectively been placed under a presidential gag order. In addition, Duffy said that the administration has refused to provide staff member correspondence, including e-mails regarding the hurricane....According to Lieberman, attorneys advised former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Michael Brown during a closed-door session not to respond to questions on “whether he spoke to the president or the vice president, or comment on the substance of conversations” he had with White House officials during the response operation. Brown stated, “I’m being advised by counsel that I can’t discuss with you my conversations with the president’s chief of staff and the president.”... Republican Senator Susan Collins, also on the committee, complained of “completely inappropriate” reticence on the part of witnesses who “have told us when we begin to ask about any communications with the White House” that they had been advised not to answer, citing executive privilege.


YOU MAY RECALL THAT BUSH ALSO STONEWALLED THE 9-11 COMMISSION.

HECKUVA JOB, BUSH.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 3:09 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
"HECKUVA JOB" BROWNIE E-MAILED THESE:

Quote:

In an e-mail message sent on Aug. 29, the day the hurricane struck, Mr. Brown exchanged messages about his attire with Cindy Taylor, deputy director of public affairs at the agency, according to the report.

"If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."



And this criminal is STILL employed by FEMA as a "contractor"... because he did EXACTLY what the Bush Gang wanted....

"Heck of a job, Brownie!"
-Commander in Thief

I wonder whose city is NEXT on the chopping block of the New World Odor? Waco, OK City, 9/11, New Orleans - the devastation is growing exponentially.... Entire US cities are now being burned to the ground by "wildfires" that always turn out to be arson, usually by pyromaniac firemen seeking overtime pay, or White House special operatives....

Imagine what a Pentagon Tsunami bomb could do to USA?
www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/141005weather_modification.h
tm

www.weathermod.com
www.weatherwars.info
www.infowars.com/articles/science/weather_mod_bill_research_tech_act.h
tm

www.infowars.com/articles/science/weather_mod_bill_to_restrict_weather
_control_kucinich.htm


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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 3:45 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


You can read the actual preliminary report here.

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06365r.pdf

Not the worst I've seen. In my prior life I read these things all the time, and understand that GAO's brief is to find potential problems. They then recommend solutions. Often these solutions are reasonable, but sometimes they would either cost so much or be so difficult to apply that they are impossible. I wonder how many of the changes they suggested back in their 1993 hurricane Andrew report were never applied, not because they weren't good ideas, but because no one would support the legislation needed to impliment them.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Wednesday, February 1, 2006 4:22 PM

DREAMTROVE


Whoa! A war zone sprung up while I wasn't looking.

Here's my unsolicited 2 cents:

FEMA is a corrupt govt. organization run for profit. It funnels off tax dollars and prevents anyone else from helping while the people die, and the city is destroyed so it can be resold, and redeveloped, for profit. It's govt-corp, and it's democrat-republican. It's Nagin-Bush, and Louisamerica. It's all about taking the people's money and investing in in a scheme to take the people's land and make more money, I think republicans in the bush admin and their corrupt fema appointees worked with democrats in new orleans and liberals on the supreme court for new london white fantasyland. Ack. I'm done. This one, I grant, is all about the money. There is no good here. I don't know who will attack me for this, I suspect it's everyone, but I think it's the truth, a clay pigeon which needed shooting down.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 12:32 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


It would be all about the money if FEMA didn't cost lives. And destroy lives. Tens of thousands of people are still displaced, on the verge of being kicked out of hotels and onto the streets.

Otherwise, the whole scheme to whiten-up NO for speculators stinks.

Geezer, any feelings about how the government should have waited to set up alternate housing? I seem to remember you condoned government inaction.






Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 1:35 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
It would be all about the money if FEMA didn't cost lives. And destroy lives. Tens of thousands of people are still displaced, on the verge of being kicked out of hotels and onto the streets.

Otherwise, the whole scheme to whiten-up NO for speculators stinks.

Geezer, any feelings about how the government should have waited to set up alternate housing? I seem to remember you condoned government inaction.
Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.



No thanks. You guys are waaaay too far into Neverland here. I expect the "Black helicopters were seen seeding the storm to steer it towards New Orleans." posts any time now.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 1:52 PM

FLETCH2


No black helicopters? What kind of cheap ass government conspiracy are you guy's running here?

Geesh, I'm not buying into any conspiracy too cheap to have black helicopters.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 3:06 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Well, if it will amuse Geezer more, I CAN put in black helicopters! Then he can read the stories and sip his whiskey and everything will be all... bendy... like little lights... (thuds onto floor from recliner)



---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 4:49 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Geezer's taken a lesson from his master - never admit failure.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 7:01 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
Geezer's taken a lesson from his master - never admit failure.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.



Oh, come on. Standard government ineptitude is easily enough to generate failures in certain areas, but far from the conspiracy theories you promulgate.

Governments and the bureaucracies that support them are made up of just common folks. Since you have such distain for common folks, I'd expecct that you would believe that general bureaucratic screwups would be enough to cause problems. I'm not quite sure way you have to bring the "evil plan" meme into it.



"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Friday, February 3, 2006 7:59 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Since you have such distain for common folks
This is the other lesson that he learned: when the facts don't go your way, just engage in ad hominem attacks.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 8:11 AM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by Geezer:
Oh, come on. Standard government ineptitude is easily enough to generate failures in certain areas, but far from the conspiracy theories you promulgate.


'Standard Government ineptitude' is a conspiracy in itself; kickbacks, nepotism, favouritism.
Giving the wrong important jobs to your idiot drinking buddies can be lethal.
Wanting to be heroes by not DEMANDING help when needed and seeking to handle things yourself can be lethal.
But if that's standard, i.e. acceptable, than I stand corrected.
We should just accept needless death and displacement...?

Even The Alliance would not have let Katrina happen that way.

Can't we all agree that the people in power only care about polls, and by extention their ability to remain in control, Geez?

Chrisisall

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Friday, February 3, 2006 8:52 AM

FLETCH2


Geezer can I ask a question?

About the only thing that folks on both sides of the political fence agree on is that defence is a legitimate function of government. I think we can agree that the intention of FEMA is to provide a civil defence function.

Had the army or the navy screwed up in such a way that (what?) 3,000 Americans were now dead you know there would be a full enquiry, if for no better reason than to prevent it from happening again.


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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:04 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


NO, NO Chrisisall- You've got it all WRONG. The Bush administration is golden. Everything they do is OK, or at least SOP. There is nothing new here... certainly not anything to be alarmed about! Claims about Iraq WMD? Bad intelligence. Poor post-war planning? Must have been bad advice from the generals. Social Security "reform"? Just being "proactive". Medicare pharamcy plan cost coverup? Nah... just a convenient "re-estimation" by a political appointee. Replacement of 30-year staffers with incompetent fundraisers? Executive perogative- "everyone" does it, previous appointments notw/standing. Spying on citizens w/o a warrant? Well, CLINTON certainly asked for greater powers, doesn't that make him just as culpable? Bribery in the GOP? Lobbyists writing legislation? Indefinite detention of citizens? Improbable vote tallies? Billion$ "lost" by no-bid contractors? Stonewalling the 9-11 and Katrina Commissions? A budget deficit larger than all other deficits combined?

Piffle! Mere nothings!

I mean, really- you're just LOOKING for reasons to pick on Bush!

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:44 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by Fletch2:
Geezer can I ask a question?

About the only thing that folks on both sides of the political fence agree on is that defence is a legitimate function of government. I think we can agree that the intention of FEMA is to provide a civil defence function.



Although that's now part of its task, it was originally set up to deal disaster response and recovery. Sticking it with a Homeland Security role probably didn't help, since it had to cause a loss of focus.

Quote:

Originally posted by Fletch2:
Had the army or the navy screwed up in such a way that (what?) 3,000 Americans were now dead you know there would be a full enquiry, if for no better reason than to prevent it from happening again.



I'm not sure the assumption that 3,000 people are dead entirely due to screwups is a valid one. Even with the best response possible, folks are going to die in a disaster of that magnitude.

There have been, and continue to be, investigations of the response to Katrina. After all the political blameslinging settles down, the recommendations will probably be to increase training and improve communications. They usually are. Then someone will ask where the money for this is coming from, and since there's a limited pot and no one wants to give up their share, it'll quietly be tabled.






"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:49 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
This is the other lesson that he learned: when the facts don't go your way, just engage in ad hominem attacks.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.



Listen - don't you hear the sound of a pot calling a kettle black?

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:54 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Um... nope. One comment is responsive to previous posts- an observation of a rhetorical tactic. The other... you know, the one about looking down on common people... appeared to be completely baseless and off-topic from the previous posts.

But it IS refreshing that Geezer admits he posts ad hominem attacks, if only in a backhand sort of way. I, on the other hand, am golden!

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:55 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


I personally freely admit to ad hominem attacks on Geezer. He has proved over and over that he's worth it.


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:06 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Well I noticed right away that Geezer had nothing to say about the "Heckuva job" emails OR the fact that Bush has been/still is stonewalling the Commission. But he conjured up black helicopters. I dunno Rue, did YOU bring up black helicopters??? Did I?? Did Fletch?? I don't think so... but my memory's kinda fuzzy... Maybe Geezer can show how that's relevant to the discussion. You know, the one that he started in order to get to the bottom of things.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:15 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


snicker


Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:43 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Snideness aside, I just reviewed this entire thread. Rather than trying to get to the bottom of things, what I see are a lot of links to documented FEMA f*ckups and a lot of excuses and misdirection by Geezer. "It's just heresay". "That was someplace else". "People could have evacuated" "Standard government incompetence". Ignoring uncomfortably well-documented problems. And when FEMAILS become public- bring out the black helicopters and the ad hominem attacks!

The reason why Geezer doesn't want to get to the bottom of this sordid mess is because when he does, he'll find Bush's face looking back at him. Bush obviously isn't the ONLY person who screwed up but for some reason Geezer just can't credit Bush with the slightest responsibility for this mess. According to Geezer, Bush is just a hapless misunderstood victim of circumstance.

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 11:27 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
Well I noticed right away that Geezer had nothing to say about the "Heckuva job" emails OR the fact that Bush has been/still is stonewalling the Commission. But he conjured up black helicopters. I dunno Rue, did YOU bring up black helicopters??? Did I?? Did Fletch??



Then I'll bring it up. Our sheriff Tim Hutchison in Knox County Tennessee sent his fleet of 6 military-issue helicopters to New Orleans, to alegedly "help in the rescue". His helicopters are painted black... Presumably to stealthily sneak up on deaf drug farmers harvesting their hemp at night.

Sheriff "Hutch" personally was convicted 6 times for criminal perjury, confessed to renting an airport from a convicted drug dealer, confessed on the front page of the newspaper to stealing cars at a shopping mall with a convicted cop-killing tow-trucker, built 400 houses with his convicted felon business partner without a license. He also declared martial law in Knoxville Tennessee to forcibly evacuate 40,000 residents after a fake US Army train derailment with smoke bombs in hopper cars simulating chlorine gas not leaking from a tanker car. Hutch also hosted the top GOPsters on election eve 1996, at the country music dance club owned by a then-indicted Arab terrorist caught money laundering and concealing stolen property (later convicted). GOP VIPS dancing with Hutch and the Arab terrorist were presidential nominee Bob Dole, novice candidate Dr CanniBill Frist (promoted to Speaker of Senate in his freshman term after paying an $840-MILLION criminal fine for Medicare/Medicaid fraud), et al.

So perhaps Hutch went to the Big Sleazy to help the copsters down there loot 100s of new cars, since Knoxville is world HQ for tow-trucking car thieves? Or to pick up his next shipment of CIA coke? Knox County has over $1-billion/year in coke deliveries since Biush Gang's Iran-Contra in 1980s, according to FBI, courts and newspapers.

Quote:

Knox Sheriff Declines "America's Most Wanted" Help in Berry Murder:

After all, it doesn't look like Knox County is any closer to solving this case, leaving many of Johnia's family members like Gaines Burke, frustrated. "It seems that to me they would have more information or leads," Burke said. Berry's parents tell us America's Most Wanted approached the sheriff's department about doing a story on this case, but they say Knox County turned down that request.
www.johniaberry.org



"You can't stop the signal!"
-Mr Universe, STM, Pirate TV

FIREFLY SERENITY PILOT MUSIC VIDEO:
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/8310.php
(try again later if server is crashed)

Pirate News TV
Knoxville, Tennessee
Winner Best Music Video
"We Never Went to the Moon"
(no rocket exhaust as Apollo LEM "blasted off" from the "moon")
Los Angeles Music Awards 2005
http://piratenews.org/hollywood.html
http://ufoetry.com

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Friday, February 3, 2006 2:57 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Well, see? Ask and you shall receive: black helicopters!

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 3:30 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!


Yeah, I wrote a story about them published in a Knoxville newspaper. After midnight, I "infiltrated" the sheriff's dept FBO (fixed base operator) hanger at Island Home Airport, and chatted up the "deputy" pilots and ground crew, who are on site 24/7. They told me how the sheriff got 6 "free" Bell helicopters from the National Guard (paid for by your taxes), and then local taxpayers had to spend $50,000 each to rebuild them, not counting the extremely high operating cost. Then the sheriff gets to sell them for profit later. Why does the sheriff need 6 choppers, when one is enough, and they are not even licensed for rescue work, and can never legally carry passengers or crash victims. So I wrote it up as a newspaper article.

The newspaper editor phoned me to ask if I wanted my name on the byline, warning me there might be "retaliations" against me, since I also mentioned police-run car-theft rings and the police chief's DUI arrest transcript, and a police-apporved copkilling of KPD cop Tony Williams, all linked to my website. I told the editor to go ahead and put my name on it, "What can they do to me?"

Within 6 hours, police and tow-truckers stole my parked car from our law office parking lot, then denied they had it for 6 weeks, so I listed it as "stolen" on NCIC database. Then we got a tow bill for $700. This ended up with 4 class action lawsuits filed in 3 courts, criminal charges filed, over 100 govt employees were fired, and my dad got "mugged" with 2 guns put to his head (case "unsolved").
http://geocities.com/towcrime
http://geocities.com/parking_ticket_appeal

And I got 3 of the sheriff's black helicopters flying over my house in tight formation....

As a result of my article, and the resultant news stories by local TV news, the sheriff moved his FBO to an airfield owned by a convicted drug dealer. The local news had a field day on that one. But no cop seems to have what it takes to arrest the sheriff. The sheriff even demands up to $30,000 bribe from deputies to get promoted to sergeant or lieutenant, according to his own deputies I spoke with who were standing at the court house in uniform, which they recoup by cashing in on graft, shakesdowns of local businesses for beer licenses, and extortion of career criminals like drug kingpins, prostitute rings, car-theft chop shops, etc. Is that why the last BTVS fanvention was held here in the Hellmouth, er, KnoxVile TN?

But that's all just a Coincidence Theory. Curse those black helicopters!

"You can't stop the signal!"
-Mr Universe, STM, Pirate TV

FIREFLY SERENITY PILOT MUSIC VIDEO:
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/8310.php
(try again later if server is crashed)

Pirate News TV
Knoxville, Tennessee
Winner Best Music Video
"We Never Went to the Moon"
(no rocket exhaust as Apollo LEM "blasted off" from the "moon")
Los Angeles Music Awards 2005
http://piratenews.org/hollywood.html
http://ufoetry.com

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Friday, February 3, 2006 5:25 PM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
Well, see? Ask and you shall receive: black helicopters!


Oh, now I am most certainly gonna watch 'Conspiracy Theory' again tonight- all this talk of Black Helicopters and such has got me in the mood...

Jerry Chrisisall

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 4:05 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Well, 'll be off the net for the week, so let me just pose a couple of questions that might give some indication of why things take a while.


Katrina dumped several hundred thousand people on the low-income housing market in one big lump. That market is pretty well saturated already, so there's not enough empty space to take but a fration. This overlooks the fact that many of the refugees might not want to move to the locations where housing IS available. Hotels and renting cruise ships is OK short term, but gets awful expensive after a while. So what to do? Please avoid "If we ended the war we'd have more money" answers, since both you and FEMA know that's not going to happen.

Many of the evacuees from NO want to move back home. Their homes, and often entire neighborhoods, are completely gone, including most infrastructure. A good numbr of these folks lived in apartments or houses with little or no insurance. Also note that the residential building trade nationwide is running at about capacity right now without considering rebuilding NO and the rest of the Gulf Coast. What to do?

Most of the casualties of Katrina and Rita were people who didn't evacuate, despite warnings. How do you guarantee total evacuation of several million people in a couple of days? There's not enough law enforcement and military to go door-to-door in such a large area, especially since they have other duties geting the folks that do want to evacuate out of the area. Nt to mention the peoples' right to be stupid and stay if they want to.

Please have your papers in by Thursday afternoon.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 5:15 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


See? Like I said: "I am a fashion god" is totally off the radar. So is the fact that the Bush administration has told everyone involved with Katrina NOT to turn over papers to Commission. Everything that has EVER gone wrong with FEMA is just... well, nobody's fault. Probably not Michael "heckuva job" Brown's and definitely not Bush's. It's just... you know... the way things are. Market forces. Politics as usual. Bureaucracy. Nothing that the President has any control over. What did you expect him to do? End his vacation? Moblize the National Guard from other states? Step in when market forces are ineffective? Match the government's reponse to the size of the disaster? Give a shit??? I mean, give the guy a break- he's only the President of the United States, fer cryin' out loud!


---------------------------------
Because they really don't give a shit.

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 9:28 AM

CHRISISALL


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
What did you expect him to do? End his vacation? Moblize the National Guard from other states? Step in when market forces are ineffective? Match the government's reponse to the size of the disaster? Give a shit???

Actually, ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!
Wtf are you DEFENDING him for??? He can start a WAR, but can't mobilize-

oh. Ironical sarcasm.

thought you went to the Dark side for a moment there, Signy

Chrisisall

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Sunday, February 5, 2006 4:01 PM

DREAMTROVE


What more is there to say about Bush though. It's kind of all been said. But just in case it hasn't, I share this, sent to me by my sister:

http://www.quietagent.com/superbowl/

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Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:28 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


That WAS funny!!!

But, hey, on a more serious note, I've got soemthing for Geezer that should answer his questions about why FEMA f*cked up.

Are you ready Geezer?

Quote:

"Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare," the report said. "At every level -- individual, corporate, philanthropic and governmental -- we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw." ...The report is the result of a Republican 11-member House select committee that investigated the response to Katrina at the local, state and federal levels... The panel found that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was "detached" and that then-Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown was "clueless," Shays said. In one of the excerpts, Chertoff was chided for executing critical responsibilities "late, ineffectively or not at all."


The report- which will be released Wednesday- will certainly find plenty of blame to go around at all levels. But the little President and all his band of little men will not be unscathed. I'm going to add that the President resisted this commission and told appointees NOT to release emails etc to the members.

You may all recall that Bush also resisted the 9-11 Commission, and only testified with Cheney holding his hand and not under oath. You may also recall that Alberto Gonzales refused to testify under oath to the House Committee investigating the secret spying scandal.

God, these guys are a piece of work, aren't they Geezer?

---------------------------------
Please don't think they give a shit.

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