Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

[waioli kai]

Cheney, Katrina aftermath USman

Cheney, Katrina aftermath USman

Cheney is on TV now ....guess all the reruns of his "long-ago" televised, amplified, and, repeated ad nauseum assertions re: "WMD's in Iraq are there, they are just hidden real well; besides I would have died naturally before I even rode in on Bush coattails, and whether I'm right or wrong has never really mattered! Just look! I'm almost, if not, the most powerful person on Earth !! Being wrong? Are you kidding?" How else could Cheney expect to believed by any one but US for saying on the shores of Hurricane Katrina's passing that "No need to raise taxes (no need for more revenue, no end to tax reform for corporatUSt$) to pay for this (promised recovery and renewal) ."

Cheney has no qualms about further bankrupting the United States Government. He and his ilk are the reasons why the U.S. Govt is bankrupt in the first place. "What's more debt anyway? We won The Cold War, and that was priceless."

[waioli kai]

Homeland Security's blanket

Since FEMA's authority comes down from Chertoff's (ie, BushCheney's) Dept of Homeland Security, how can FEMA have any authority (especially as regards being backed up by armed federal agents or military)to do anything that is not condoned, approved, sanctioned when otherwise not initiated by Homeland Security. The so-called "Homeland Security" department given birth by BushCheney is happy to let everyone use FEMA as a scapegoat for federal failings prior to and following Hurricane Katrina.

[waioli kai]

relative to BushCheney, Inc.

Tiger Beer: "New Orleans is messed up.

Was talking to a guy who is from New Orleans.. he was saying it was because the government thinks so little of both southerners and blacks in the United States."

It's a relative issue. When one is related to money, especially to BushCheney, Inc., it only stands to reason that one is going to care a tremendous amount for those direct beneficiaries of US's establishment wealth, the order (or, more precisely the lack order which so tolerates oppression by US's established wealth) and laws (of justUS) which concentrate US's establishment wealth in many who (with few exceptions) would or could rightly ever, call themselves either "a southerner" or "a black".

So its not that US's government cares so little for others, its just that it cares so much for those of its establishment wealthy that, relatively speaking, it just looks or seems like it doesn't have the need for, the time, or the resources for others.

[waioli kai]

U.S. regime change, pray for

Let's be clear about one thing. Nothing that happened last week -- the mass destruction in the Mississippi Delta, the obliteration of the city of New Orleans, the murderous abandonment of thousands of people to death, chaos and disease -- will change the Bush Administration or American politics at all. ....
One indication of this can be found in the first polls coming out after the disaster, which show that some 45 percent of the American people approve of Bush's handling of the relief effort. It seems inconceivable that any sentient being could witness the agonizing results of the Bush team's dithering, dilatory response -- an agony played out in the full glare of non-stop media coverage -- and not come away with a sense of towering anger at this criminal incompetence. But it's obvious that nearly half the American people have now left the "reality-based community" altogether; they see only what they want to see, a world bathed in the hazy, golden nimbus of the Leader. .... ... (Cont'd at www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/09/09/120.html )

45% may well be the BushCheney administration's high "score" in this post-Katrina cover-up recovery, although 30% is likely as low a "score" as CheneyBush would receive in polls of the U.S. populace even when it is crystal clear to all the world that CheneyBushites comprise the latest (the last?) link to the worst ideology borne of the United States befalling Humanity.

[shaveice]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

how reliable is brown's resume?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...103003,00.html

brown's background? how about other fema folks?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/arc..._09/007080.php

jon stewart anyone? (if you're unable to download it, email me and i'll email it to you. classic stuff.)

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/TDS...--kers-9-7.wmv

and another jon stewart clip:

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/The...a-Disaster.wmv

Dems On GOP's Inquiry Into Hurricane Response: "An Investigation Of The Republican Administration By A Republican-Controlled Congress Is Like Having A Pitcher Call His Own Balls And Strikes”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/po...erland&emc=rss


sigh...

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Last night, the US House of Representatives voted to appropriate another almost $52 billion (on top of a previous $10 billion "down payment") to the reflief efforts on the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, the Republican majority did not allow for sufficient time to discuss what the funding would be used for, except that the largest part of it would be used by FEMA.

The fact that we, the taxpayers, are handing a $52 billion blank check over to FEMA both concerns and angers me. With what we already know about the management at FEMA, how can we be assured that our tax money will not go into the hands of the likes of Cheney's Halliburton? I'm almost wondering if his trip to the Gulf Coast yesterday wasn't a "scouting mission" to see how much work he and FEMA could steer in the direction of Halliburton. I also thought it amusing that while he was speaking on camera in NO, someone from the crowd blurted out "F***yourself, MR. Cheney."(x2) Southern courtesy still survives in the wake of devastation and frustration.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Offers of help continue to pour in from other countries but many will languish on Condoleeeza's desk. The State Dept. is requesting that other countries send $$$$ instead of services and supplies which they say might go unused.

I think it quite telling that last week, the President had the moxie to say

"...The United States is more accustomed to giving aid than receiving it, and the Bush administration seemed to have trouble accepting the role reversal, at least at first. Early last week, President Bush said the United States could take care of itself.

"I do expect a lot of sympathy, and perhaps some will send cash dollars," he said. "But this country is going to rise up and take care of it."

As the size of the crisis became apparent, the view changed. But the preparations to receive anything but the simplest forms of aid have not caught up.

Mr. Thomas explained that the United States has no experience with situations like this. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said several times, "This is unprecedented." ...

And yet, when countries tried to respond with the kind of aid the State Dept. requested, they still encountered difficulties in delivering it:

"... When Sweden received the American request, it loaded a Hercules C-130 transport plane with water purification equipment, emergency power generators and components for a temporary cell-phone network. The plane has been ready to take off since noon Saturday, but has not been given clearance by Washington.

"We are still waiting for the green light," Victoria Forslund said at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm. Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said, "If there are any miscommunications on this matter, we want to make it very clear we value their offer of assistance."

Sweden is not the only country that has encountered a problem. France, Germany, India and Taiwan, among others, are awaiting answers to offers. The slow acceptance after the urgent request has only increased the puzzlement of many countries. Mr. Thomas said embassy officers in each country have tried to explain why the aid requests are being handled as they are and insisted "every country has heard back from us."

On Monday, only one plane bearing foreign aid arrived in Little Rock, Ark., a staging area. On Tuesday, 11 planes arrived. Wednesday and Thursday, more planes - from Britain, China, France, Russia, Spain and Israel - are due.

As Europe prepares more supplies, officials say they are beginning to wonder whether the aid is really needed or will ever be used.

"That's our preoccupation right now," said Barbara Helfferich, a spokeswoman for the executive branch of the European Union. "

I wonder when this Administration is going to wake up to the reality that it's OK to accept help from others?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Another way the Administration is going to help the Gulf States rebuild: He's going to allow federal contractors who will be doing reconstruction to pay their workers less than the prevailing wages...can you say another way to exploite the poor in their time of need??? Our wonderful President, always looking out for the needs of big business to make more money off the backs of their employees...It's not like the wages of the employees are going to come directly from the corporations' checkbooks. WE'RE subsidizing and compensating the companies to rebuild the area!

"...Bush also issued an executive order on Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of the hurricane to pay below the prevailing wage, drawing rebukes from two congressional Democrats who said stricken families need good wages to rebuild their lives. ..."


And I wonder how much we're paying that "professional outsourced" company to collect the bodies of the dead in New Orleans? Is it per dead head count?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

I'm praying that the death toll in New Orleans isn't as high as the computer simulation of "Hurricane Pam" projected:

"... As Katrina roared into the Gulf of Mexico, emergency planners pored over maps and charts of a hurricane simulation that projected 61,290 dead and 384,257 injured or sick in a catastrophic flood that would leave swaths of southeast Louisiana uninhabitable for more than a year.

These planners were not involved in the frantic preparations for Katrina. By coincidence, they were working on a yearlong project to prepare federal and state officials for a Category 3 hurricane striking New Orleans.

Their fictitious storm eerily foreshadowed the havoc wrought by Category 4 Katrina a few days later, raising questions about whether government leaders did everything possible — as early as possible — to protect New Orleans residents from a well-documented threat.

After watching many of their predictions prove grimly accurate, "Hurricane Pam" planners now hope they were wrong about one detail — the death toll. The 61,290 estimate is six times what New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has warned people to expect...."

I wonder if any FEMA representatives were on hand for this simulation. Probably not. I bet they were all on vacation.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

Sign of the times at FEMA and the Dept. of Homeland Security.

[shaveice]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

an interesting article about katrina and its effect on u.s. journalists:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/200...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

also, another interesting article by arianna huffington on bush, the u.s.'s activities in iraq/afghanistan and its implications for u.s. security.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariann...rn_b_7002.html

[shaveice]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

an interesting article entitled, "As Waters Recede, Watch Who Cleans Up". obviously, there's a play on the word "clean" and that's a tip on what this article is about.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/200...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

and an article entitled, "Four Years After 9/11 -- We Still Have No Results"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/200...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

this thread was started by someone who titled it, "pray for the citizens of new orleans." definitely appropriate. i think it wouldn't hurt to have a subtitle like, "pray for the citizens of the u.s." if good comes out of these tragedies, i hope it'll be reflected in the leadership of this country, the principles by which the citizens of this country lives, a change in this country's foreign policies, and a focus on the wellbeing of all instead of an us vs. them mentality.

[MadAzza]

Re: U.S. regime change, pray for

Let's be clear about one thing. Nothing that happened last week -- the mass destruction in the Mississippi Delta, the obliteration of the city of New Orleans, the murderous abandonment of thousands of people to death, chaos and disease -- will change the Bush Administration or American politics at all. ....
One indication of this can be found in the first polls coming out after the disaster, which show that some 45 percent of the American people approve of Bush's handling of the relief effort. It seems inconceivable that any sentient being could witness the agonizing results of the Bush team's dithering, dilatory response -- an agony played out in the full glare of non-stop media coverage -- and not come away with a sense of towering anger at this criminal incompetence. But it's obvious that nearly half the American people have now left the "reality-based community" altogether; they see only what they want to see, a world bathed in the hazy, golden nimbus of the Leader. .... ... (Cont'd at www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/09/09/120.html )

Are you seriously using the Moscow Times as a source for an honest, informed critique of how the U.S. does anything? Moscow?

(rolls around on floor laughing)

[Miulang]

Re: U.S. regime change, pray for

Are you seriously using the Moscow Times as a source for an honest, informed critique of how the U.S. does anything? Moscow?

(rolls around on floor laughing)

Actually MadAzza, nowadays, you almost have to rely on the foreign press for the real truth about what's going on in this country ...although ever since the hurricane, I've noticed that the US media has suddenly regained its cojones and starting being more objective about its reporting. S'about time. But then I guess, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Oh yeah, and some judge in TX has put aside temporarily FEMA's demands that the media not show the bodies being recovered on the Gulf Coast. One win for the truth! (And the authorities down there are now saying they are relieved that they're not finding as many bodies as they feared, so that is a good thing).

Miulang

[MadAzza]

Re: Pray for the citizens of New Orleans

I agree that "the foreign press," in general, does a bang-up job. I would not include the Moscow Times in that assessment.