Gloria LaRiva


From: Alicia Jrapko
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 12:20 PM
To: Walter Lippmann
Subject: Eyewitness report from New Orleans

On Saturday September 3, award-winning filmmaker Gloria La Riva, internationally-acclaimed photographer Bill Hackwell and A.N.S.W.E.R. Youth & Student Coordinator Caneisha Mills arrived in New Orleans as an A.N.S.W.E.R. delegation to document an accurate account of the situation and provide solidarity and support to those in need

The following is an eyewitness report of the crisis in the area written on Sunday, September 4.

Media reports on September 2 describe anarchy and general chaos as the climate in all of New Orleans. The national media reports that hope, supplies and food were now being distributed in the area. However, once we arrived in the Algiers district of New Orleans after seven checkpoints, the reality shows otherwise.

Algiers

While 80 percent of New Orleans was submerged in water, Algiers is one of the few districts that has been spared as it sits higher than most of the city. An historic district established in 1719, Algiers is on the west bank of the Mississippi river, across from the French Quarter. Probably 15% of the residents still remain behind, most of them determined to stay in their homes. The majority of homes are still intact, although many have suffered damage. While their houses survived, the peoples' chance of survival seemed very bleak since there was no electricity or disbursement of food, water or other supplies.

"Imagine being in a city, poor, without any money and all of a sudden you are told to leave and you don't even have a bicycle," stated Malik Rahim, a community activist in the Algiers section of New Orleans. "90% of the people don't even have cars."

One woman told us it was not possible for her to evacuate. She said, "I can't leave. I don't have a car and I have nine children." She and her husband are getting by with the help of several men in the community who are joining resources to provide for their neighbors.

The government claims that people can get water, but residents have to travel at least 17 miles to the nearest water and ice distribution center. Only one case of water is available per family. Countless people have no way to drive.

There is a huge military and police presence but none of it to provide services. All of them, north and south of the river, are stationed in front of private buildings and abandoned stores, protecting private property.

The goods they are driving in are for their own forces.

Not one of them has delivered water to Algiers or gone to the houses to see if sick or elderly people need help. There is no door-to-door survey to see who was injured. The overwhelming majority of people who have stayed in Algiers are Black but some are white. One white man in his late 50s in Algiers pointed across the street to a 10-acre grassy lot. It looks like a beautiful park. He said, "I had my daughter call FEMA. I told them I want to donate this land to the people in need. They could set up 100 tractor trailers with aid, they could set up tents. No one has ever called me back." He is clearly angry.

Although some of the residents do express fear of burglaries into houses, acts of heroism, sacrifice and solidarity are evident everywhere.

Steve, a white man in his 40s, knocks on Malik's front door. He tells us, "Malik has kept this neighborhood together. We don't know what we'd do without his help." He has come in because he needs to use the phone. Malik's street is the only one with phones still working.

Malik and three of his friends have been delivering food, water and ice to those in need three times a day, searching everywhere for goods.

There is a strong suspicion among the residents that this is a deliberately forced removal. Algiers is full of quaint, historic French-style houses, with a high real estate value, and signs of gentrification are evident.

Downtown New Orleans

Although entry is prohibited into downtown New Orleans north and east of the Mississippi, because of extensive flooding and the almost total evacuation, we were able to get in on Sunday.

The Superdome is still surrounded by water and all types of military - helicopters, army trucks, etc - are coming in and out of the area; however, most of the people have already left. On US-90, the only road out of New Orleans, convoys of National Guard troops are pouring into the city, too late for many. According to an emergency issue of The Times-Picayune, 16,000 National Guard troops now occupy the city.

Water is premium and not available. One African American couple approached our car. The woman asked us, "Do you have water you could give us? We have four kids. When they told us to leave before the hurricane we couldn't. We have no car and no money."

Undoubtedly it is similar in the other states that got the direct hit of Katrina, Mississippi and Alabama. On the radio we hear reports of completely demolished towns. What differentiates the rest of the Gulf coast from New Orleans is that the many thousands of deaths in New Orleans were absolutely preventable and occurred after the hurricane. On everyone's lips is the cutting in federal funds to strengthen the levees of Lake Pontchartrain.

Two reporters from New York tell us they just came from the New Orleans airport emergency hospital that was set up.

New Orleans International Airport

The New Orleans International Airport was converted into an emergency hospital center. Thousands of people were evacuated there to get supplies and food, and for transportation that would take them out of the city. Many people arrived with only one or two bags, their entire lives minimized to a few belongings.

Some people did not want to leave their homes, but say they were forced to do so. For example, one white woman and her husband, Pauline Noble and Jerome Hill, were forced to evacuate. Pauline said, "The military told us that we had one minute to evacuate. We said that we weren't ready and he said they can't force us to leave but if we don't leave anybody left would be arrested . but it was the end of the month. The two of us have been living for a couple of months on $600 a month and rent is $550. At the end of the month, we only had $20 and 1/8 of a tank of gas. There was no way we could leave."

When it became apparent that nobody was coming back to pick them up, the couple walked five miles to the airport to see if they could get help.

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, doctors, nurses and community organizations came from as far as San Diego, California and Kentucky to provide support during the crisis. None of them were dispersed into the community. When we arrived at the airport on Sunday, September 4, there were approximately 20 medical people for every one patient while people in regions such as Algiers and the 9th ward were left to fend for themselves.

The majority of people in New Orleans blame the local and national government for the catastrophe. One young Black man said, "The government abandoned us . [it's] pre-meditated murder." Another said, "Why would you [the government] protect a building . instead of rescuing people that have been without food or water for three or four days? It seems like that was the plan. . We couldn't starve them out, the hurricane didn't kill them, it seems planned."

Baton Rouge

As we drive to Baton Rouge tonight to visit evacuated people, we hear on local radio that possibly 10,000 people have died in the flooded areas of New Orleans. Tonight in one announcement, we hear the names of some of the missing people still being searched for, a 90-year-old woman named Lisa, a man 102 years old, two women 82 and 85 years old. The elderly, the most vulnerable, left to their own devices.

Bodies are lying everywhere, and hidden in attics and apartments. The announcer describes how one body, rotting after days in the sun, was surrounded by a wall fashioned from fallen bricks by survivors, and given a provisional burial to give her some dignity. The sign placed next to her body said, "Here lies Vera, God Help Us."

At a Red Cross shelter outside of Baton Rouge, we meet Emmanuel, who can't find his wife and three sons after the floods. His story is shocking. His home is near the 17th Street Canal, where the Pontchartrain levee broke through.

"I stayed behind to rescue my neighbors while I sent my wife and kids to dry land," he says. It is difficult for him to relate what happened. He had a small boat so he went from house to house picking up neighbors. While doing so, he encountered many bodies in the water.

"My best friend's body was floating by in the water. One mother whose baby drowned tied her baby to a fence so she could bury him after she returned." Because troops kept driving by him and others without helping them, he had to walk 30 miles north until he was picked up.

This crisis is a crime of the highest magnitude. The Bush Administration is always able to find money to fund wars that will benefit the rich of this country; however, when it comes to providing aid to respond to a disaster of this magnitude, funds, supplies and resources are lacking. From Bush on down, they should be indicted.


Informant: Carlos Rovira

From ufpj-news

Der Hurrikan enthüllt die dunklen Seiten der amerikanischen Supermacht.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20867/1.html

Have you noticed how it¹s not raining much again; how most of the weather fronts that have managed to come through this season have been dissipated and broken up? Have you noticed the occasional weird cloud shapes that appear with the few fronts that do manage to pass by? And how the jet stream has been forced North again? How high pressure ridges continue to dominate the Southwest? On the Fourth of July, 1976, the former Soviet Union began broadcasting huge, pulsed electromagnetic fields from three gigantic 40-million watt transmitters which beamed those signals halfway around the world to the U.S. This electronic assault disrupted and jammed radio and television broadcast signals, enraged the FCC, and irritated ham radio operators, who quickly dubbed the signals 'The Russian Woodpecker,' because of their pulsed cadence. To date, the Russians have completed nearly 30 of the huge transmitters which emit signals primarily in the very dangerous 10-Hertz range, otherwise known as Extreme Low Frequency (ELF). The technology is based on the brilliant work of the peerless electrical genius, Nikola Tesla. So, what exactly does the 'Russian Woodpecker' do and how does it do it? Consider the following: These 'Tesla' transmitters create massive 'standing' ELF waves that form major high pressure 'blocking systems' that change the normal high altitude jet stream pattern, force it to the north, and actually retard the normal flow patterns of incoming weather systems. Ever notice the television weather satellite pictures showing the jet stream pushed north and a big stationary high pressure blocking nearly every major rain system that approaches the southern half of California?... Regarding the 7-year drought, which appears to be rearing its arid head again, the 1/13/93 edition of Discovery Magazine stated: Scientists would be happy if they learned one thing from this (seven year) drought: What causes the massive high pressure system to build up just off the California coast and stay there, like a double-parked delivery truck in rush-hour traffic, pushing storms to the north? Odd things were also being reported back in the winters of the early 1980's: A ridge of high pressure has hovered nearly 800 miles off the California Coast for the past two months, blocking the usual flow of moist air from the Pacific. --Time 1/1981 For the past four months, a single weather pattern...causing the drought is one of the most unusual national patterns ever recorded...such long lasting (high pressure) centers were unheard of until 1977 (when the Soviets began the 'Woodpecker' transmissions --ed.) --Washington Post 2/2/81 It is important to note that the end of the 7-year California drought in the winter of 1992-93 coincided exactly with the well-documented period of intense solar magnetic storms that disrupted all electromagnetic transmissions here on Earth including the 'Woodpecker.' Last summer's Midwest flooding was probably no accident, either. An unusual shift in the jet stream, acting as a barrier (is causing the floods)... --Newsweek 7/26/93 The stagnant high pressure zone acted like a barrier, preventing the normal flow of weather patterns from west to east... New York Times 7/29/93 It is extremely unusual for weather patterns to persist for so many weeks. The reasons for the weather patterns to become fixed...are unclear. --Storm, The World Weather Magazine 9/93 As far back in April, 1969, Spectrum, a publication of the prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, featured an article by Seymour Tilson which stated: Workers in the field of atmospheric electricity and cloud physics have accumulated sufficient evidence to suggest that electric fields in the Earth¹s lower atmosphere play a critical role...perhaps the critical role...in the development and behavior of clouds that produces precipitation. Mr. Tilson was correct. Exactly two years after the 'birth' of the Russian Woodpecker, July 4, 1978, the U.S. Government conducted its own ELF weather experiment which created an enormous downpour of rain over six counties of northern Wisconsin. This ELF-generated storm generated winds of 157 mph and caused $50 million in damage, levelling Phillips, Wisconsin, and destroying 350,000 hectares of forest. The first published alarm about Soviet weather control warfare came from Dr. Andrew Michrowski of PACE (Planetary Association for Clean Energy). In a published paper in 1978, Dr. Michrowski described how he had placed monitoring stations all across Canada and determined that "the Soviets managed to establish relatively stable and localized ELF fields (over North America) which were able to hamper or divert the jet stream flow in the Northern Hemisphere." Several years later, Michrowski stated in a PACE Newsletter (Vol.4, #4): ELF fields...propagate vertically to the ground, creating 'standing waves'...that can redistribute energy and momentum in (atmosphere) through cumulus convection. It has been consistently noted that variance of the (Soviet) ELF transmissions leads to a subsequent change in the route of the jet stream flow in the Northern Hemisphere within 72 hours. The 2/81 PACE Newsletter reported that the Soviets turned off their ELF Woodpecker signal for a brief period in 1980: "During the two-week lull, the Northern Hemisphere's jet stream was NORMAL... ...with the return of the Soviet ELF transmissions, the jet stream was deflected (again) by a persistent (high) pressure ridge extending from the Yukon to Arizona." There is much more, but I think you get the picture. 'Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it,' doesn¹t function any more. Nikola Tesla said, in June, 1900, " The time is very near when we shall have the precipitation of the moisture of the atmosphere under complete control..." If you have ever read a biography of the great genius, you'll know he wasn't joking. Does the U.S. government have its own series of ELF/microwave transmitters? You bet. Can ELF be used to do more than engineer and influence just the weather (like human beings, for example)? Yes, it CAN and IS. But that's another story...

Email eotl@west.net
Homepage Secret Weapons


Informant: Be Kind Whenever Possible

The US is now seen in a new light, not much different than Bangladesh, Sudan, Ethiopia, or Haiti as just another place where horrific natural disasters occur. The US has always believed itself above these things, an exception to the global rule. Hence American Exceptionalism: the doctrine that gives us the right to have all the nuclear bombs it wants, a military as large as the next 32 countries combined, and the authority to dicate terms to any country that lacks 'superpower' status. Katrina puts this fragile exceptionalism in a new light because it contrasts imperial ambitions with a shameful disregard for the welfare of its citizens in dire need.

It becomes all too apparent that the neo-con's foreign adventurism has come at the expense of domestic needs. Witness the social blights of American cities, vast pockets of poverty, New Orleans being a good example. No neocon has ever proposed a plan to boost the morale and economny of these blighted areas. The gang of Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, Kristol, Krauthammer, and Rumsfeld were too busy restructuring the Middle East or preventing new countries from becoming nuclear to care for blighted American cities. Such places were theoretically not supposed to exist, and if they did, it wasn't a matter that concered the federal government.

It is incredible how few people are standing up and taking responsibility for the inadequate rescue response. The federal government is claiming they responded within the normal time frame of up to 96 hours. State and local authorities are expected to manage the first 96 hours, apparently. But with a disaster of this magnitude, only the federal government could have moved enough people and supplies to make a difference. This is what federal governments are for. Unfortunately the leadership is more interested in jockying for an ever more dominant position in this New American Century.

The terrorist boogeyman has taken hold of the American psyche and will not let go. Ever since that band of 20 terrorists struck on 911, the US has been whipped into a frenzy of fear, shifting its resources into homeland security, much of it going into expensive privatized contracts to the tune of hundreds of billions. Agencies like FEMA, before they were castrated, knew that huricanes struck every year and were the first order of business. Neocon politicians in charge were busy putting terrorism to use by using it to justify their New American Century. The people have been duped utterly in one of history's most tragic deceptions. Even moreso now, we are falling into the pattern that destroyed ancient Athens, that of a demagogue leading the people into needless and costly foreign adventure, ending in total ruin and defeat.

If terrorists were a true threat warranting the lion's share of our defense budget, then why hasn't another band of 20 taken to poisoning our reservoirs, booby trapping our shopping malls, setting our national forests on fire? Because they are a boogeyman threat and do not exist in serious numbers. We need to listen to the terrorists to understand them. We don't have to agree with them. We need to defuse their anger by striving for a common justice. They are people who believe they are practicing their version of homeland security. When their fear looks into our fear and sees its own reflection, somebody better call Houston and tell them we have 'a problem.'

Hugo Chavez believes the US is the biggest menace to the world today. The US global hegemony simply inspires fear in other countries, and this in itself is dangerous. The best possible defense for the US is to practice goodwill and respect for all nations, large and small. It is also the cheapest defense, proven to build allies not enemies. It may not be as exciting as ruling the entire world but it is safer for the planet.

Bush's words upon landing on Louisiana soil were full of the buzzwords his advisors told him to stress, and his kissing of two black women was just what the spin doctor oredered, but I noticed his words lacked any spiritual depth, any deep sympathy or understanding with the victims. George exhibited his usual pinhead consciousness, slightly perterbed, smirky and vindictive. He has been called a 'dry drunk' by one reporter lately and I've not seen a better term applied to him. As a former drunk he seems still under the gravitational influence of alchohol even though he supposedly quit years ago.

In fairness, there were plenty of experts during Clinton's administration that called for immediate action to reconfigure the levies of New Orleans before tens of thousands drowned. Bush simply continued the pattern by doing things like appointing a lawyer as head of FEMA, then trimming its budget 40%, etc. And the local government of New Orleans surely could have tried harder to evacuate the carless population. They should have known not to wait for FEMA.

But most of all, the people will see that American exceptionalism and the neocon plan to make the entire world its business has been nothing but 'imperial overstretch,' and the administration's concern for the welfare of its own citizens woefully lacking.

May God help the remaining people of New Orleans, and the United States of America.

John

One after another, the scandals emerge revealing Wal-Mart's ruthless campaign against workers' rights.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/154065406

When Wal-Mart employees attempt to stand up for themselves and try to form a union, they face threats, propaganda, discrimination, intimidation, and even firings.

Is this any way to treat employees who just want to negotiate for better wages, more affordable health care, and basic protections on the job?

It's a struggle of epic proportions: 1.3 million employees versus Wal- Mart. College students, single parents, the elderly—barely making enough to cross the poverty line, competing against the world's largest employer and corporation—raking in $10,000,000,000 in profits last year. Clearly, Wal-Mart can afford to do the right thing and treat its workers with the respect they deserve. The question is, will it?

It's time to demand Wal-Mart stop denying its employees a voice at work. Tell Wal-Mart enough is enough!

Signatures: 28,175 Goal: 50,000 Deadline: Ongoing...

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/154065406


Informant: Mari

- Bitte an Interessierte weiterleiten - Danke! -

//Fortbildung der Bewegungsakademie//

Seminar für politisch Interessierte oder Aktive in sozialen Bewegungen

Was tun, wenn Konzerne die Welt regieren?

mit Thomas Dürmeier und Daniel Mittler
14.10.05 - 16.10.05 in Verden/Aller

Seminarinhalte

Nicht erst seit wir wissen, dass Konzerne Politiker bezahlen, ist bekannt: Konzerne sind heute die wahre Macht im Staate – national wie global. Dieser Workshop zeigt auf, worin die Macht der Konzerne liegt und stellt alternative Konzepte der Konzernkontrolle zur Diskussion. Wie können wir es schaffen, die zu regulieren, die unsere Regierungen regieren? Wer darauf Antworten sucht, ist bei diesem Seminar richtig.

Das Wochenendseminar will Kenntnisse über die wirtschaftliche und politische Macht von Großkonzernen vermitteln und ihren Einfluss auf unser Leben in lokalen bis globalen Zusammen aufzeigen.

Themen dieses Seminars sind Konzerne, Machtstrukturen, Unternehmensregulierung, Kritik an Unternehmensethik und „Corporate Social Responsibility“

Diese Einführungsveranstaltung richtet sich an politisch Interessierte, die entweder mehr über diesen Problembereich wissen, aktiv die Welt verbessern oder ihre Vorkenntnisse vertiefen wollen. Es soll sowohl ein inhaltlicher Überblick gegeben werden, wie auch Einblicke in die Alltägliche NGO-Arbeit zum Thema Corporate Power vermittelt werden.

Referenten

Thomas Dürmeier ist Diplom-Volkswirt. Derzeit promoviert er an der Universität Kassel zum Thema „Politische Macht transnationaler Unternehmen in der internationalen Politik“ und ist als Referent bei Attac tätig.

Daniel Mittler ist Politikberater für Greenpeace International in Berlin. Seine Hauptarbeitsfelder sind Welthandel und Corporate Accountability Themen. Von 2000-2002 leitete er bei Friends of the Earth eine Kampagne unter dem Titel „Don’t let big business rule the world“.

Ort

Tagungshaus "Forum" im Ökologischen Zentrum, Artilleriestr.6, Verden

Teilnahmebeitrag

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Im Teilnahmebeitrag sind die Kosten für Unterbringung im Tagungshaus Forum enthalten. Hinzu kommen Kosten für Verpflegung in Höhe von 38,- Euro pro Wochenende.

Teilnahmebedingungen
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Bis 05.10.2005 per Online-Formular im Netz unter:
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Bewegungsakademie - Ideen für soziale Bewegungen
Artilleriestr.6
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info@bewegungsakademie.de

http://rs.net-hh.de/archiv/22622.htm?PHPSESSID=efc21ce62dd730a3efcf3ab70a8edfb2

Mit dem Drama in New Orleans erleben wir die Wiederholung einer altbekannten Geschichte und viele identifizieren inzwischen den Gang der Dinge als Klassen- und Rassenkampf - ein Thema, das lange beerdigt zu sein schien.

http://links.net-hh.de?lid=22622

Edinburgh Evening News 05.09.05

RESIDENTS who took on phone giant T-Mobile after a mast was built three metres closer to their homes than agreed have won their fight.

Neighbours in the area around Brunstane Road South, who embarked on the David and Goliath battle, took their case to city planners.

A council development committee has now agreed to order T-Mobile to move the mast. The move marked what residents hope will be the end of a six-month campaign which began when the controversial mast was erected in the wrong spot.

Sandra Yeaman, of Milton Road East, said: "It's excellent news. This is massive to me because it is currently standing just 21 metres from my kitchen window and it is 15 metres high."

Unless T-Mobile appeals the decision, the mast will be moved to Milton Road East where residents claim it will be further away from homes, and a nursery and primary school.

A T-Mobile spokesman admitted the whole saga had been "embarrassing".

He said: "We are aware we will be presented with formal notice to move the mast.

"If that's the decision I think we can promise it will be moved.

"There's no doubt at all this was a mistake. It's unfortunate and slightly embarrassing.

"But the need for a base station to serve mobile traffic in that area has not altered."

A council spokeswoman said that if T-Mobile was good to its word the local authority would not issue a formal notice.

Evening Post S Wales

10:00 - 05 September 2005

Almost 400 people are fighting plans to site a mobile phone mast in Sketty. And they look like being successful as the plans are set to be turned down by councillors tomorrow.

The mast is planned for the footway alongside Gower Road, opposite the junction with Eversley Road, Sketty. Several investigations are underway into the possible health hazards associated with such masts.

In a report to tomorrow's planning committee, council officers refer to the Stewart report on Mobile Phones and base stations.

It states: "Science can never provide a guarantee of zero risk."

The mast, put forward by Vodaphone, would be 12 metres high, with three antennae and a ground-based cabinet.

Council planning officers are recommending that the plan is turned down.

But the recommendation is due to the fact it would loom over the rear garden of a house in Masefield Way. A spokesman for the 381 objectors said: "The proposal poses unknown risks. The council will have to balance the likelihood of harm against the severity of injury that could be caused by the proposal.

"In the short term, the risk may be low but in the long term the risk could be very high, causing serious harm."

Harborough Today 05.09.05

CONCERNED residents have organised a public meeting to discuss controversial plans for a 15m high phone mast in Kibworth – just weeks after successfully challenging a similar scheme.

Last month Hutchison 3G submitted a planning application for a mast 90m away from the 17th century Kibworth Windmill, off Langton Road, Kibworth Harcourt.

Campaigners have arranged a meeting for tomorrow at the Methodist Church in School Road from 6.30pm.

Hundreds of pamphlets raising awareness of the plan have also been distributed to residents.

Protester Beverley Burdett said: "If they can put a man on the moon why can't they find a better place to put these phone masts. "We are not just going to lie down and die. If we are unsuccessful, we will go down fighting."

Villagers successfully campaigned in March against an application from Orange for an 18m high mast 250m away from the Grade II listed windmill. It was thrown out by councillors in May because they felt the siting and appearance would adversely affect the character and appearance of the rural landscape. It is believed the windmill was built in the early 1600s although the main post has a carving dated 1711.

Hutchison 3G say the mast is needed to provide mobile phone coverage for customers. In the application documents Hutchison said: "We have carefully designed a solution to blend in with the farm setting and maximise the use of natural screening." They say the mast will not affect the view from the windmill as it will be screened by conifers.

05 September 2005

It was interesting to hear that Princess Diana was using a mobile phone in the Merc when it crashed in Paris. Could the emissions within the car have been compounded by entering the tunnel? I know that my awareness of emissions increases as I pass through a "corridor" on the M54.

Sylvia

--------

This is something we will never know. Those of you who have followed my issue of TETRA lines will have heard my latest fear that when all else runs critical (speed, conditions, proximity of other cars, tiredness etc.) hitting something that suddenly confuses or disorientates for a few moments can be fatal.

I have a number of incidents relating to TETRA on this score (let alone the issue of engine control electronics interference when particularly near even Dolphin TETRA), but they will never be proven.

Andy

A New Camp Casey In Covington, Louisiana

9.2.05 Crawford Peace

This report came through the new Yahoo group for Camp Casey Alumni. It pretty much speaks for itself.

Hurricane Relief - Katrina-Refugees: Veterans For Peace Road Trip

Where did the food go? What about the Medical supplies? How about all the water that was never sucked up in the 109 degree heat of Camp Casey?

It got loaded up by the team and members of the Veterans For Peace Chapter 116, Mendocino County, http://www.vfproadtrips.org and hauled out with Annie and Buddy Spell of the Louisiana Activist Network, Commanding the way to as close as Camp Casey could get to the catastrophe in Louisiana.

Alberto signed on the tour in Austin and we were joined by Alex and Ella of Minnesota who spent a lot of time at Camp Casey the past month.

We are here, CAMP CASEY is alive, the food is cooking, and we are handing out supplies to the citizens of the community. We need help. Louisiana Activist Network and the VFP Chapter 116 are the only ones here in Covington.

We are in the Same Camp, Different Ditch 96 degrees today

The ditch is at:

Reverend Peter Atkins Park in Covington. Corner of 28th and Tyler in Covington. Louisiana

Where we can take mail: 124 E 14th Street, Covington, LA 70433

The Mendocino, CA Chapter (#116) of Veterans for Peace has joined the Louisiana Activist Network on the corner of Tyler and 28th Street in Covington, LA where we have opened up a soup kitchen and medical station in a public park.

THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT HERE!

THE LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD IS NOT HERE. ONLY WE ARE HERE AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS COMMUNITY ARE IN DISTRESS.

We need, immediately, the following:

WATER, WATER, WATER ice chests with ice baby supplies (diapers, formula, ointments) low fat powdered milk canned foods fresh fruit gasoline additional generators shelter flash lights portable toilets

Deliveries to: 124 E 14th Street, Covington, LA 70433

We, the veterans and activists of Camp Casey are here to stay.

Financial donations are useless under these circumstances. This is anarchy. We need basic supplies ASAP!

GEORGE BUSH HAS LET THESE PEOPLE DOWN!

IT'S UP TO YOU AND US!

REVEREND PETER ATKINS PARK CORNER OF 28TH AND TYLER COVINGTON, LA


Charles Jenks Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427 fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org


Informant: Ashley Smith

On Friday, I talked on the phone with my friend Marylee Orr, who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Marylee is the director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network--a coalition of over 100 grassroots citizens groups throughout the now devastated state of Louisiana. I got to know her on the Department of Environmental Studies' field studies trip to Louisiana last March when 13 of our students got up close and personal with environmental justice issues in "Cancer Alley." Marylee helped our students out a lot during our trip and I have been fast friends with her ever since.

Here is why I love her. Marylee hasn't been up late every night out for the last week out of aimless worry about the many victims and the environmental tragedy left in the wake of the hurricane and official mismanagement of both the disaster prevention and response efforts. She's been up late because she is working hard to do something about the situation. As she told me on the phone on Friday afternoon, the federal government is not really on the ground doing much yet and, in some of the hard hit parishes in the state, even the Red Cross is not much of a presence yet. In the time honored tradition of grassroots citizenship for the common good, this gutsy woman is using the local contacts with grassroots activists, local officials, and Louisiana faith communities she has built up over 20 years to help close the dramatic gap between the intense need of the people of the Louisiana and the official response so far.

Just this Thurday, LEAN members provided an airdrop of food, water, and medical supplies to the trapped residents of St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes, two of the most inundated areas in the state. Saturday, LEAN dropped more supplies for stranded people in Washington Parish. LEAN is also working hard now to raise more funds to allow local people, working with local government leaders to provide direct, immediate assistance with all the efficiency that comes from not being a bureaucrat or an outsider. I've already made a contribution to the Red Cross to offer some assistance to the hurricane victims in Louisiana, but I've decided to write a check for ten times that amount to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network in order to support people that I know have both the big hearts and the local knowledge needed to help meet the crying humanitarian needs in Louisiana. I also know that LEAN won't just leave the area when the immediate crisis is over. LEAN will also work to address the toxic cesspool and chemical contamination that will be left behind when the water finally recedes. I’m asking everyone I know to join me in contributing money directly to LEAN for their local efforts in disaster relief. Every penny will be used well. I would trust Marylee with my life and I know her effort will save lives. Please dig deep and give as much as you can to: LEAN, 162 Craydon Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70806.

At the very end of our phone call on Friday, Marylee thanked me for pledging money and for my offer to encourage other folks to contribute to LEAN's disaster relief efforts, but she also asked for one more thing. She said, "We need financial contributions from all our friends around the country for sure, but we could also really use your prayers. It means so much to know that people around the country care." For people who want to send good wishes as well as their checks, please write to Marylee's group at lean@leanweb.org. She likely won't have time to write back, but it will mean a lot to this hard working, non-sleeping group of local heros to know that our hearts and prayers are with them.

Below is an email I received from Marylee after our phone call.

Best, Steve



September 2, 2005

Dear Friends of Louisiana,

Due to the catastrophic event of Hurricane Katrina there is an enormous need for life-saving and life-sustaining supplies. At this time, the most needed items are tetanus shots, insulin, IV fluids, as well as financial resources to purchase and transport medical and food assistance directly to victims.

Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is working closely with the Office of Representative Brasso of St. Bernard Parish. Our contributions are being immediately given to the residents of St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, two of the most inundated areas. LEAN feels that by working directly with the parish representatives we are best able to assist in meeting the critical needs of these victims and addressing the crisis in our communities.

The situation in Louisiana is heartbreaking and we hope that by working together we can help save lives and improve the lives of those who have survived this disaster. We would appreciate donations of medical supplies, food and water, or funds to purchase these supplies. For example, yesterday, September 1,
2005, we purchased medical supplies such as aspirin, neosporin, syringes, hand sanitizer, gloves, tylenol, bandages, and so forth. These supplies were directly air dropped down today on September 2, 2005, to people stuck in St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish.

We can not thank you enough for caring about what is going on in our region. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated. Words can not describe the suffering and courage of the people here. Please help us help our neighbors in our home state. May God bless you for all your support, concern and prayers during this tragic time.

With warmest regards,

Marylee Orr
Executive Director
Louisiana Environmental Action Network
162 Croydon Ave Baton Rouge, La. 70806

The white people got out. Most of them, anyway. If television and newspaper images can be deemed a statistical sample, it was mostly black people who were left behind. Poor black people, growing more hungry, sick and frightened by the hour as faraway officials counseled patience and warned that rescues take time.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090405X.shtml

Kanye West's impromptu attack on President Bush during a live telecast Friday prompted NBC to delete his remark in its West Coast broadcast of the benefit for hurricane victims. "George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090405G.shtml

Frank Rich: As the levees cracked open and ushered hell into New Orleans on Tuesday, President Bush once again chose to fly away from Washington, not toward it, while disaster struck. We can all enumerate the many differences between a natural catastrophe and a terrorist attack. But character doesn't change: it is immutable, and it is destiny.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090405D.shtml

For years, Washington had been warned that doom lurked just beyond the levees. And for years, the White House and Congress had dickered over how much money to put into shoring up century-old dikes and carrying out newer flood control projects to protect the city of New Orleans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090405B.shtml

To those who wonder why so many stayed behind when push came to water's mighty shove here, those who were trapped have a simple explanation: Their nickels and dimes and dollar bills simply didn't add up to stage a quick evacuation mission.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090405A.shtml

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3371/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

From: "who_declares" Date: Fri Sep 2, 2005 9:50 pm Subject: "Concrete" evidence?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abidemir/message/5546

[Yes, it is quite possible that the New Orleans' levees were sabotaged to accomplish the complete destruction of the city that Hurricane Katrina HAD NOT DONE. Experts would be able to know if the levee had been blasted. It is even possible that explosives were embedded into the CONCRETE levee when it was being constructed to be exploded at the proper time.Just like Murrah and WTC.There are Army engineers out there who MUST know.]


http://www.stewwebb.com/BreakingNews.html

Breaking News September 1, 2005

Second Battle of New Orleans Commences. Witnesses saw Levy Sabotaged by Bushes (FEMA) Federal Emergency Management Agency. American French Alliance (AFA) protecting Poor Black Witnesses who saw Bush-FEMA Blow the Levy's that flooded New Orleans. The American Revolution Continues.


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1125442964217_7
New Orleans: When the levee breaks

Bill Doskoch, CTV.ca News

If you drive into New Orleans from the west, you travel on elevated expressways built on concrete pilings that tower above the swamps and bayous below.

New Orleans is sandwiched between Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River, about 160 kilometres north of where the river joins the Gulf of Mexico, one of the world's most fertile hurricane zones.

The city's location was chosen in part because it was the only patch of relatively high ground along that part of the river, and because of the narrow portage, favoured by the native Indians of the area, between the river and the lake.

New Orleans is home to 485,000 people -- about 160,000 less than Winnipeg, a city that also has some familiarity with flooding -- although the area population is 1.3 million.

While living in Winnipeg is like living on a tabletop, living in New Orleans is more like being in a sunken soup bowl.

The majority of the city is an average of 1.9 metres below sea level -- with the lowest point six metres below sea level and the highest ground still 0.3 metres lower than the sea.

Almost half of New Orleans' 907-square-kilometre surface area is comprised of water, not land.

Since the area is naturally flood-prone, engineers have worked to build an intricate system of canals, pumps and elevated embankments called levees, which form the bowl, to protect the city.

As little as 2.5 centimetres of rain can trigger some degree of local flooding. With its semi-tropical climate, the city gets an average of
90 cm per year.

That reality helps explain one colourful aspect of New Orleans and southern Louisiana -- people are buried in aboveground crypts, not underground graves.

A history of near misses

Levees exist up and down the Mississippi River valley.

The earliest levees were erected soon after the city's founding in
1718 and the system has been expanded and strengthened ever since.

Breaches, and the damage and heartbreak that follows, are ingrained in southern folklore.

For example, "When the Levee Breaks" is the name of a 1929 blues tune by Memphis Minnie, made famous by Led Zeppelin.

"Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good, When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move," the lyrics warn.

IN 1965, WHEN HURRICANE BETSY STRUCK THE COAST NEAR NEW ORLEANS, THE LEVEES ENCIRCLING THE CITY AND OUTLYING PARISHES WERE RAISED TO HEIGHTS RANGING UP TO ABOUT SEVEN METRES.

SINCE THEN, THE BIG EASY HAS HAD NOTHING BUT NEAR MISSES AS HURRICANE AFTER HURRICANE WREAKED HAVOC ELSEWHERE ALONG THE GULF COAST.

IN 1988, HURRICANE GEORGES HEADED STRAIGHT FOR NEW ORLEANS, THEN VEERED AT THE LAST MINUTE TO STRIKE MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA.

HURRICANE LILI BLEW HERSELF OUT AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN 2002.

AND LAST YEAR'S HURRICANE IVAN SWERVED TO THE EAST AS IT CAME ASHORE, BARELY GRAZING THE CITY.

NEVERTHELESS, EXPERTS REPEATEDLY CAUTIONED THAT THE LEVEE SYSTEM WAS UNLIKELY TO PROTECT THE CITY AGAINST A CATEGORY 4 OR 5 STORM.

"We're talking about an incredible environmental disaster," Marine scientist Ivor van Heerden of Louisiana State University, who has developed flooding models for New Orleans, said before the storm arrived.

He predicted that floodwaters would overcome the levee system, fill the low-lying areas of the city and remain trapped there.

So when meteorologists forecasted that Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the city, city officials ordered a mass evacuation, fearing the worst.

"We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin said Sunday as he issued a mandatory evacuation order.

"The storm surge will most likely topple our levee system."

Experts have long warned the network of earthen, steel and concrete barriers protecting the city were inadequate.

When the levee breaks

The 560 kilometre-long hurricane levee system, mostly along Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River on the south -- was designed to withstand a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane, which carries with it a storm surge of up to 5.5 metres.

As it crossed the Gulf of Mexico after pummeling south Florida, Katrina was rated a rare Category 5 hurricane, with winds of 280 kilometres per hour and a predicted storm surge of 8.5 metres. Meteorologists thought the storm would bring 38 centimetres of rain too.

WHEN KATRINA HIT EARLY MONDAY MORNING, IT HAD BEEN DOWNGRADED TO A STILL-DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 STORM. AS WELL, IT VEERED TO THE EAST WHEN IT CAME ASHORE, SPARING NEW ORLEANS A DIRECT HIT.

BUT PEAK WINDS STILL HIT 160 KM/H AS KATRINA LASHED NEW ORLEANS FOR EIGHT HOURS.

ON MONDAY NIGHT, RESIDENTS BELIEVED THEY HAD ESCAPED MAJOR DAMAGE. THEY WERE WRONG.

AS WATER LEVELS IN LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN ROSE IN THE CITY'S NORTH, THE LEVEE SYSTEM BUCKLED UNDER THE STRAIN.

THERE WAS ONE LEVEE BREAK REPORTED AT THE EAST END OF TOWN, BUT ONLY LOCALIZED FLOODING RESULTED.

HOWEVER, THERE WAS A FAILURE OF A LARGE SECTION OF THE VITAL 17TH STREET CANAL LEVEE WHERE IT CONNECTS TO THE OLD HAMMOND HIGHWAY BRIDGE.

THE GAP -- FIRST REPORTED TO BE ABOUT 60 METRES WIDE, BUT NOW ABOUT 150 METRES -- ALLOWED MILLIONS OF LITRES OF WATER FROM LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN TO FLOOD NEW ORLEANS, TURNING IT INTO AN URBAN SWAMP.

ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK TIMES, THIS BREACH WAS ON A SPOT THAT HAD RECEIVED MORE ATTENTION THAN OTHER AREAS IN THE REGION.

SHEA PENLAND, DIRECTOR OF THE PONTCHARTRAIN INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS, SAID THAT BREACH WAS PARTICULARLY SURPRISING BECAUSE IT OCCURRED "ALONG A SECTION THAT WAS JUST UPGRADED."

"IT DID NOT HAVE AN EARTHEN LEVEE," PENLAND TOLD THE NEWSPAPER.

"IT HAD A VERTICAL CONCRETE WALL SEVERAL FEEL THICK."

BY LATE AFTERNOON TUESDAY, MAYOR NAGIN REPORTED THAT 80 PER CENT OF HIS CITY WAS NOW UNDERWATER.

ENGINEERS BELIEVE HIGH WINDS PUSHED WATER OVER THE LEVEES' TOP AND ERODED THEM FROM BEHIND.

OTHER EXPERTS STUDYING FLOOD PREVENTION SPECULATED THAT ANY DIP IN THE RETAINING LEVEE SYSTEM MIGHT HAVE ALLOWED WATER TO SLOSH OVER, TRIGGERING THE COLLAPSE.

To make matters worse, it appeared that the breaches in the levees would not be fixed quickly and may in fact take days to repair.

Plugging the breaches

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had hoped to plug the breaches by dropping 1,360-kilogram sand bags from twin-rotored CH-53 helicopters.

Another plan was to use shipping containers filled with gravel.

But neither option has gone well so far.

"The challenge is an engineering nightmare," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana told ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday.

"The National Guard has been dropping sandbags into it, but it's like dropping it into a black hole."

In addition, there was a report of a pump failure Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning, Blanco called for the complete evacuation of New Orleans.

LATER THAT DAY, EXPERTS FROM THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS ARRIVED ON THE SCENE, ASSESSING WAYS TO REPAIR THE BREACHES.

"We're attempting to contract for materials, such as rock, super sand bags, cranes, and also for modes of transportation like barges and helicopters, to close the gap and stop the flow of water," said Walter Baumy, the Corps' manager for the project.

According to reports on Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers said it was having trouble getting the sandbags to the affected site because the waterways were blocked by boats, debris, and loose barges. The Corps is expected to drive corrugated vertical steel plates into the mud near where the canal meets the lake, sealing it off so that the large breach farther in, can be tackled more systematically.

The decision was made after futile efforts to determine how to drop concrete highway barriers or huge sandbags into the torrent.

Even after the breaches are plugged, electricity will still have to be restored and the pumps repaired before the long process of pumping the water out of New Orleans can begin.

The broken levees allowed the water to fill the city's streets, but dozens of barriers that remained intact are keeping the floodwater from receding.

To help matters; however, the army considered creating an opening in a south levee to allow water to drain out.

"That way, gravity would work for us," corps spokesman Jim Pogue told Reuters on Tuesday.

And once the flooding is over, Michael Brown, head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, told one U.S. network on Tuesday it could be weeks before people could return to their homes.

That's because the floodwaters have turned New Orleans into a toxic soup bowl, with chemicals, human waste and rotting animal carcasses and human corpses all mixing together to make the trapped water highly polluted.

When the city is dried out and roads are restored, people could return to survey their homes, not necessarily live in them, Blanco said at a news conference.

"It's hard to say how many homes may be structurally salvageable," she said.

The push is on now to find temporary housing for hundreds of thousands of people who will likely need it for months, not days or weeks.

As the song laments: "When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay. Mean old levee, taught me to weep and moan."


Informant: Di

Lack of health insurance kills Americans. More Americans die from political decisions concerning health care policy on a weekly or monthly basis than died in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10109.htm

Bush flies over New Orleans much as he flew over Baghdad. He claps his FEMA director on the shoulder, chuckles, and says good job, much the way he hung out with his generals in the Green Zone for Thanksgiving.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10110.htm

They fought for their country in Iraq. Now veterans are struggling to find a decent job in the United States.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05247/563961.stm


From Information Clearing House

Flash prestation
http://www.bushflash.com/vigil.html



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

WHO lost Iraq? Someday, as a fragmented Iraq spirals further into religious madness, terrorism and civil war, there will be a bipartisan inquiry into this blundering intrusion into another peoples history.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/oped/ci_3000678


From Information Clearing House

Two great cities, New Orleans and Baghdad, were last week plunged in horror. They both cried out for sympathy. One will get it, the other will not.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10120.htm

Bush's single-minded focus on the "war against terrorism" has compounded a natural disaster and turned it into the greatest calamity in American history.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10108.htm



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

The near total incompetence and callousness of the Bush administration has thankfully floated to the top of New Orleans' rank floodwaters like so much rotting waste; and no amount of blame-the-victim spin and war-over-people rhetoric can put the genie back in the bottle.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10107.htm

Specifically, Cuba is offering to send 1,100 medical doctors with 26.4 tons of medications and diagnosis kits at no expense to the U.S. (they will even bring their own food and water).

http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/MaryMacElveen/_archives/2005/9/4/1196199.html


From Information Clearing House

Government disaster officials had an action plan if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. They simply didn't execute it when Hurricane Katrina struck.

http://snipurl.com/hfoh


From Information Clearing House

The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10115.htm

Everyone was expected to devise their own way out of the disaster area by private means, just as the free market dictates, just like people do when disaster hits free-market Third World countries.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10118.htm

New Orleans officials issued an almost cynical evacuation order in a city where they know full well that thousands have no car, no money for airfare or an interstate bus, no credit cards for hotels, and therefore no way to leave town before the deadly storm and flood arrived.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/343324p-292991c.html


From Information Clearing House

We are afraid of each other. Isolating ourselves to our own class or perceived kind behind ‘gated’ neighborhoods and communities, we drive with blinders in SUVs towering above the fray at lightning, gas-guzzling speeds looking over, through, and/or around our fellow citizens trying to do anything but see them.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10111.htm

The Bataan's hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty.

http://snipurl.com/hfof


From Information Clearing House

Funding for flood prevention was slashed by 80 per cent, work on strengthening levees to protect the city was stopped for the first time in 37 years, and planning for housing stranded citizens and evacuating refugees from the Superdome were crippled.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10117.htm

As more people become acquainted with the reality behind the veneer of lies, the Bush administration, large corporations, the wealthy elite, and powerful lobbying groups are slowly losing their grip on power as the tide of public opinion rises against them, here and abroad.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10099.htm

Video
http://snipurl.com/hfoe


From Information Clearing House

At least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs and two have committed suicide.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10116.htm

For the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies.

http://snipurl.com/hfod


From Information Clearing House

Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans, officials said.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10119.htm

As they plunged into the dark water engulfing the business district of New Orleans, their wake pushed the body of a woman onto the steps of the Superdome. The floodwater had ripped her pants down to her knees. She was facedown in the muck, a red ribbon still tied neatly around her graying hair.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10114.htm



"Sixteen in the clip!" one Guardsman shouted, a common refrain used to indicate that rifles are fully loaded. But when they arrived, they did not find marauding mobs. They did not come under fire. They found people who had lost everything in the storm and, since then, their dignity.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090405C.shtml

The only difference between the chaos of New Orleans and a Third World disaster operation, he said, was that a foreign dictator would have responded better.

http://snipurl.com/hfob


From Information Clearing House

A top New Orleans police officer said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10105.htm

Neighbors buried Vera Smith on top of the concrete sidewalk at the edge of the Garden District on Saturday in a crude grave they made of soil and bricks they had unearthed from a little park nearby.

http://snipurl.com/hfnc


From Information Clearing House

"These murders are not being reported to avoid panic".

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10097.htm

By Thomas M. Braun

You are in the middle of hell. However, you are loved, I have no doubt in my mind about that. Your family has cared for you, and god bless them for that. But the rich and powerful in your city, your state and in this country, care nothing about you and all the others who live next to you and who struggle to make it through each and every day. They could care less.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10098.htm

By Dan La Botz

Hurricane Katrina blew off the façade of American society. It pulled back the curtain to reveal the millions who live in poverty, mostly African American in New Orleans, but in other cities Latino, Native American, and white. The most apparent failure of the state has been in emergency response, but far greater has been the failure to create a stable existence, a decent society for millions.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10095.htm

I have sent the following oil companies-ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP Group PLC the following question:

- Do you plan to squeeze every cent you can out of the hurricane Katrina crisis?

Here is the email address for two of them and the other two you have to go into the web sight to the contact page:

ShellCustomerCare@shell.com
comment@chevron.com

I urge everyone to drop them a line. Thank You.

Doug Haddix

-------- Original Message --------

--- Cathy Gilbert wrote:

I just got word that a camp in Live Oaks, Fla. designated for evacuees to go to is closed and the Red Cross has a padlock on the door. I'm hearing that ad hoc citizen rescue teams are being turned away by FEMA. Both Cuba and Venezuela have offered doctors (1100 from Cuba, and) and additional help, all rejected. Ham radio channels are apparently being jammed from somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico (where the US Navy happens to be..) and below is a story of how a rescue caravan of 500 boats led by police escort was turned away last Wednesday!

And of course all the lead up factors that made the disaster possible.

Is there deliberate non-help going on? Is there an agenda to flush "undesirables" (i.e., people) so something else can happen? a land grab or a restructuring to favor some corporate sweet pie?

What will the rebuilding of the area look like...


From: Michael Canney
Subject: Katrina News - FEMA blocked 500 boats from joining rescue efforts

Look for these FEMA officials to get promotions and raises for a "job well done"...

FEMA BLOCKED 500 BOATS FROM JOINING IN RESCUE EFFORT

CLARK WARNER, DAILY KOS - On Wednesday morning a group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats left the Acadiana Mall in Lafayette in the early morning and headed to New Orleans with a police escort from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department. The flotilla of trucks pulling boats stretched over five miles. This citizen rescue group was organized by La. State Senator, Nick Gautreaux from Vermilion Parish. The group was comprised of experienced boaters, licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of Louisiana.

The State Police waved the flotilla of trucks/boats through the barricades in LaPlace and we sped into New Orleans via I-10 until past the airport and near the Clearview exit. At that time we were stopped by agents of the FEMA controlled La. Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries.

A young DWF agent strolled through the boats and told approximately half of the citizens that their boats were too large because the water had dropped during the night and that they should turn around and go home.

They were pulling a large (24ft) shallow draft aluminum boat that can safely carry 12 passengers and had ramp access which would allow the elderly and infirm to have easier access to the boat. They then politely informed the DWF agent that the local and national media had consistently reported that the water level had risen during the night which contradicted his statement to them that the water was dropping and no boat over 16 ft. in length would be allowed to participate in rescue operations.

They then specifically asked the DWF agent that they (and other citizens in the flotilla) be allowed to go to the hospitals and help evacuate the sick and the doctors and nurses stranded there. They offered to bring these people back to Lafayette, in our own vehicles, in order to ensure that they received proper and prompt medical care.

The DWF agent did not want to hear this and ordered them home -- all five hundred boats. They complied with the DWF agent's orders, turned around and headed back to Lafayette along with half of the flotilla. However, two friends were pulling a smaller 15 ft alumaweld with a 25 hp. The DWF agents let them through to proceed to the rescue operation launch site.

They were allowed to drive to the launch site where the FEMA controlled 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. They were kept there for approximately 3 hours. During that time they observed a large number of DWF agents doing absolutely nothing. Why? Because FEMA would not let them help! After three hours had passed they were told that they were not needed and should go home. They complied with the DWF's orders and turned around and went home to Lafayette. .

On Tuesday afternoon, August 30, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee asked for all citizens with boats to come to the aid of Jefferson Parish. A short time later Dwight Landreneau, the head of the La. Depart. of Wildlife and Fisheries, got on television and remarked that his agency had things under control and citizen help was not needed. .

http://pelican.dailykos.com/


Cathy Gilbert Miami, FL
305 573 2909

--- End forwarded message ---



Informant: Debi Clark

I do try to get it refilled 3 to 4 days early. Insurance does not kick unless it is a week or more early. Hubby is about 2 hours from home terminal then a little over an hour from home. Not as long as it has been. Long run because most stores and stations are closed or running out of things coming through La., Ms., and Al.. It sure is a mess what Katrina left behind. My heart goes out to the victims. I will always hate the name Katrina...the day she came in my Chihuahua died in my arms. It has been a sad week for a lot of people...

jade


----- Original Message -----
From: Redneck RN
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 8:14 PM
Subject: descent into chaos

Glad to hear from you, Jade. Hope Hubby does make it home OK & SOON. Some docs are REALLY bad about not giving samples or giving refills. Sometimes you can play this game. Have your RX refilled before you're out- but not too long before. That way you have gained a small amt each time you refill. I don't know what kind of neb you are on - but there are now over the counter nebs for sale. Probably not as good as your RX - but certainly would help some in a pinch.

Mary

----- Original Message -----
From: dogpatch7
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: descent into chaos

Just talked to my husband and they filled the truck with fuel in Tx. I have a bad feeling also. This coming week will tell if the restrictions of gas and fuel will ease. For some reason TPB want to cripple the east. As for medication...my worst problem is breathing. I have to use a nebulizer and my doctor will not let me have extra. I have managed to save up quite a bit of extra so maybe it will help. I have warned my family about stocking up on staples but they think I am nuts. Guess we all have to take care of ourselves. Keep safe everyone and keep yours eyes and ears open...

jade


----- Original Message -----
From: Redneck RN
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 8:41 PM
Subject: Re: descent into chaos

Jade, My hubby drove long haul for many years & I went with him alot. I've been hearing the same stories from others locally about not being able to get fuel due to the 50 gal. restriction. I agree - this whole thing smells to high heaven!! Let us hear from you. I just keep having this eerie feeling that this country is REALLY close to being TOTALLY shut down. Get your supplies folks- you may need them SOON!!

FYI

If anybody is on any type of medication that you cannot live without (insulin, BP meds, blood thinner, etc) go to your doctor & ask for samples if he as them or get an extra RX filled NOW!!!!

----- Original Message -----
From: dogpatch7
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: descent into chaos

My husband is a long haul driver. Atlanta, Ga. to Fontana, California. Starting in Atlanta through La. you can get 50 gallons of fuel at a time. You can get gas in Ga. and Al. but no gas (for cars) in Mississippi or La. He was told from TX. on they have fuel and gas. Hope he can get back from Fontana. I have a bad feeling this is going to get much worse. Gov. of Ga. said we have no fuel shortage but...I won't say who but in our family and works under Gov. said we have 7 day supply so what happens then...who knows...have my supplies but hope to get my hubby home! Beware everyone...things are stinking to high heaven...jade

----- Original Message -----
From: Redneck RN
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: descent into chaos

Amen!! The old saying comes to mind- "Where there's a will, there's a way". Sad to say that many of the folks who we've been trying to educate for years, & who thought we were all nuts, may soon (if not already), be paying the VERY high price for their ignorance. Just talked to someone locally who is a long haul trucker. He said that fuel rationing is VERY widespread at truckstops. He told me that they will not sell truckers more that $50 worth of fuel at a time. He said that in order to just get home, he had to stop at 4 truckstops just to be able to get enough fuel. The ENTIRE state of Tennesse had NO gas at all yesterday. A vision of things to come???? I look for SERIOUS fuel rationing (of ALL kinds) to start very soon, followed by VERY limited food ( & other), supplies across the country. I KNOW that I'm preaching to the choir- but I just hope that while there is still food on the shelves - that at least SOME of the brain dead sheeple will wake up & smell the coffee. THIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO GO DOWN IF SOMETHING DOES NOT CHANGE IMMEDIATELY!!!!

----- Original Message -----
From: Dani Djinn
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 8:54 PM
Subject: Re: [prep2003discovery2] descent into chaos

I have to agree. I myself make very little and am not on public assistance. And when I say little try under 500 a month. For the past 5 years I have always had supplies on hand. This is what I do. 10 gal bucket with seal....seperated out for meals rice, oats, dried vegetables, beans, spice for example. I rotate food out every couple of months. Tablets for water purification, water proof matches etc. Fits nicely in this container and at a moments notice I can pick it up by the handle and go. Enough to feed at least two people for two weeks. Preparedness is really very simple poeple just don't take the time to do it. And as for Govt. response...I agree They have their own plans and agenda and we're not in them.

Redneck RN wrote:

I will admit that I, like so many of you, do not watch alot of television. I will also admit that I have been totally hypnotized ( if you will ), by the endless pictures & stories coming out of the Gulf Coast - especially New Orleans. There are 2 things that have hit me right between the eyes with this scenerio.

1. Has there EVER been a BETTER picture that supports what we have known for years- stock food & water. Before you start crawling down my back with things like - they are poor & couldn't afford to do this, & it wouldn't have done any good - as their homes were destroyed- I will say this to you : -- I KNOW that for the MOST part these people are at or below the poverty level. BUT 99.9% of these folks GET government assistance in the form of food stamps, WIC, etc. Water from home faucets can easily be stored in pop bottles, etc. And I REALLY think that almost EVERYONE (even on food stamps), can throw in a 30 cent can or two of soup, or vienna sausage each "payday" to be stored. Do NOT get me wrong. My heart goes out to these folks because they DID NOT KNOW what was coming. May God hold EACH of them close to Him at this time. But for those of us who DO know what may be around the corner- this DOES provide a REAL lesson on the importance of being prepared. As for those who's homes were totally destroyed - I realize that NO amount of stored supplies would have helped them. But we MUST keep preparing in the event that we DO have a dwelling left.

2. Have you ever seen such a horribly botched, feeble attempt by the government to "help" these poor starving people? These folks are not only starving but they are literally dying of dehydration in the New Orleans heat. What on earth is KEEPING our government from dropping cases of food & water from helicopters to those stranded on the streets. If there is ONE lesson that the people of this ENTIRE country should NEVER forget - it is that the federal government did little of NOTHING to come to the rescue of it's own citizens who are dying in the streets. Does the phrase "We're from the government & we're here to help", ring a bell with anyone. THIS, my friends is what we can ALL expect in ANY future disaster!!

Mary

----- Original Message -----
From: Di
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 7:46 PM
Subject: descent into chaos

Rescuers struggle to cope with a descent into chaos
By Jacqui Goddard in New Orleans

BY his own admission, things are going badly for Sheriff Harry Lee and his crisis management efforts.

Outside his mobile headquarters truck, two officers grip a stepladder while a third stands on the top rung waving his mobile telephone in the air, searching for a signal.

Inside Sheriff Lee, of Jefferson parish in New Orleans, is sitting at a table, fuming. He is doing his best to alleviate the biggest catastrophe he will ever witness, but lacks even the most basic of resources.

He cannot communicate with his own officers, and his officers can barely communicate with each other, because the overloaded radio frequency keeps jamming. The chain of command for Louisiana’s hurricane rescue plan has missing links. There is tension between the numerous agencies involved in the relief effort, and some of Sheriff Lee’s deputies are so overwhelmed and demoralised that they are giving up.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1761346,00.html


Informant: dogpatch7

http://shareyourhome.org/

Operation: Share Your Home was started in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and launched by a group of friends and co-workers that wanted to pitch in and make a difference as quickly as possible.

What are the goals of your organization? To serve as a bridge of communication between those who are in need and those who have resources to offer. Through our network of users via our website and call center we hope to find temporary homes for families affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Where are you looking for homes? We are looking for homes specifically in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and neighboring states but many people are interested in going anywhere in the US. We are going to match families together to the best of our ability based on preferences stated from both sides.

Who can help? Anyone who has resources to lend a helping hand.

How can my family be sure it is safe to volunteer my home? Share Your Home can provide a background check if requested. Host families will be able to communicate with their families to discuss logistics and iron out all necessary details prior to arrival.

If my family is a victim of Hurricane Katrina does it matter what state I am from? Share Your Home is matching Hurricane Katrina victims from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.

What if my matched family doesn't work out, does Share Your Home find new placement? We understand that every match can't be perfect and we will make every effort to match as many needs on both sides again and again if need be.

If my family shares our home, how long do we house the family in need? This answer is up to the family lending the house. We realize that lengths of time may shorten and lengthen depending on the quality of the match. Again, we will make every effort to match as many needs on both sides.

Does my family receive compensation for sharing our home? Not at this time. Some families may want to pitch in and help but this is not a requirement.

Is Share Your Home a tax-exempt organization? Operation: Share Your Home is a non-profit organization and has applied for 501 (c)(3) status. Share Your Home does not discriminate with respect to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, or partisan affiliation.

http://shareyourhome.org/faq.html


Informant: Friends

05. September 2005

Zum Fernsehduell zwischen Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder und Kanzlerkandidatin Angela Merkel erklärt Bundeswahlkampfleiter Bodo Ramelow:

Wer das Duell zwischen Gerhard Schröder und Angela Merkel jenseits von Glaubwürdigkeit, Sympathie und Bildschirmpräsenz, wo der Kanzler ohne Zweifel erwartungsgemäß im Vorteil war, analysiert, wird schnell bemerken, dass zwischen den beiden Duellanten politisch keine Welten liegen. Das nimmt nicht Wunder. Haben doch Union und SPD wesentliche Teile der Sozialabbaupolitik der letzten Jahre gemeinsam umgesetzt - Hartz I bis IV, Gesundheitsreform, Steuerreform. Von 95 Gesetzen wurden 92 im Vermittlungsausschuss zur gemeinsamen Sache gemacht. So blieb beim Duell als einziger Unterschied zwischen Schröder und Merkel nur das Schrittmaß, in dem die bisherige falsche Politik fortgesetzt werden soll. Schröder steht für ein Weiter so, Merkel will die soziale Ungleichheit und Ungerechtigkeit noch weiter forcieren. Doch die Auswirkungen der rot-grünen Politik der letzten Jahre sind viel zu verheerend, um die Schröder-SPD nach 2002 noch einmal als kleineres Übel durchgehen zu lassen. Zumal beim Duell wichtige Punkte völlig ausgespart worden sind. Der Osten hat praktisch überhaupt keine Rolle gespielt.

Die Linkspartei hat konkrete Vorschläge für den Osten und strukturschwache Regionen im Westen gemacht. Bei der Rente wurde zwar über die zwei Säulen der gesetzlichen Versicherung und der privaten Vorsorge fabuliert, jedoch keinerlei Überlegung zur Situation derjenigen Millionen angestellt, für die die eine nicht reicht und die sich die andere nicht leisten können. Die Linkspartei hat gerade deshalb ihren Vorschlag einer Mindestrente entwickelt. Die Situation von 1,7 Millionen Kindern in Armut in Deutschland und die damit verbundene Chancenungleichheit war beiden kaum der Rede wert. Die Linkspartei hingegen will das Kindergeld auf 250 Euro erhöhen und zusätzlich zu den ALG II-Leistungen zahlen sowie eine soziale Grundsicherung einführen. Das Fazit des Duells lautet deshalb: Schröder hat gewonnen, Merkel hat sich besser geschlagen als erwartet aber beide haben keine Perspektiven aufgezeigt, die sie und die politischen Konstellationen, für die sie stehen, wählbar machen.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=29734

Coastal Ecosystems and Climate Must Be Protected

Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/ August 31, 2005

The catastrophe unfolding on the US Gulf Coast is fundamentally a human caused ecological tragedy rather than a natural disaster. When President Bush and others smirk at global warming, when developers destroy wetlands, governments channel rivers, and billions are wasted on war and tax cuts for the rich - conditions are created where natural processes are greatly intensified.

America is witnessing an environmental catastrophe of historic magnitude, yet because of their myopic "modern" viewpoint can not recognize it as such. When thousands of refugees from a climate change intensified hurricane, huddle in wrecked cities along barren coastlines and destroyed water works, we are witnessing human-caused ecological collapse. Hurricane Katrina's intensity and difficult aftermath is a direct result of habitat degradation, over-population and climate change.

I am not suggesting Katrina sprang directly from global warming. But leading scientists have long warned that climate change creates an environment prone to more violent storms and other weather extremes. Nor is it suggested that President Bush caused the hurricane. But his obstinacy in refusing to address climate change and refusal to focus on non-oil based energy perpetuates conditions that make these situations more likely and more deadly.

Let me express my deepest sympathy for the victims. We owe it to them to identify the root causes of this disaster, particularly since ecological refugees of this sort will increasingly become the norm. Disaster recovery must include learning and acting upon the ecological lessons of this tragic and historically unprecedented event.

Disaster Waiting to Happen

New Orleans being fed to a hurricane was the result of specific "unnatural" policy decisions. It is not natural (or wise) to build a city below sea-level surrounded by water on three sides in an area where hurricanes occur. A human intensified hurricane fueled by ocean waters warmed by human emissions is not natural. Millions living along a narrow coast line cleared of natural vegetation and coastal ecosystems is not natural. And destruction of wetlands and diverting natural water flows, which leads to sinking coasts, is indeed most unnatural and dangerous.

Katrina was especially deadly because it struck heavily populated areas. From 1980 to 2003, the U.S. coastal population grew by 33 million. There are far too many people living along the Gulf Coast relative to the ecosystems that exist to support them. A few decades ago coastal Louisiana and Mississippi were still covered in swampy wetlands, natural buffers to such storms.

The loss of such coastal wetlands may be the single preventable factor that most exacerbated Hurricane Katrina's destructive power. Wetlands along rivers and near the coast are vital for absorbing and storing floodwaters, and slowing down storm surges. Coastal wetlands in the Gulf Coast have been lost to ill-planned and deadly commercial developments. Louisiana alone has lost 5000 square kilometers of wetlands over the past seven decades - an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. This equals 65 square kilometers of hurricane absorbing coast being lost every year.

The hydrology of the Gulf Coast has been dramatically altered. Natural water flows have been tamed, including straightening the Mississippi River. As a result, the low-lying Mississippi Delta, which buffers New Orleans from the gulf, has been rapidly disappearing as less silt is deposited. Together the Gulf Coast's drastic habitat and hydrological changes have caused the coastline and New Orleans itself to sink.

While Katrina's existence can not specifically be linked to global warming, warming oceans as a cause of stronger hurricanes is consistent with current climate change science. All indications are that hurricanes are intensifying in strength. It has long been known that hurricanes suck energy from warm ocean waters to drive their winds. A recent MIT study found average peak wind speeds of hurricanes over the North Atlantic and the western and eastern North Pacific has increased by 50% over past decades. This increase in storm intensity closely aligned with rising sea-surface temperatures due to global warming.

Global warming has also led to a sea level rise, which exacerbates flooding such as occurred in New Orleans. Some one third of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of the ocean, and thirteen of the eighteen largest cities in the world are by the sea. When some two billion people are faced with rising sea levels caused by global warming, as well as intensified hurricanes, the potential for flooding and other dramatic disasters goes up significantly. This is why we must pursue policies to protect the climate as we further study these phenomena.

What It Means, What Must Be Done

It is not too early to find fault, or to diagnose long-term measures to avoid such disasters. Those that are most at fault for this disaster include the oil industry and their consumers, coastal developers and their occupants, and government officials that failed to heed science on climate change, the risk of flooding in New Orleans, and the importance of coastal ecosystems.

Human development that is planned and conceived without regard to natural ecosystems can not be sustained. The way to minimize future occurrences of this type is to embrace ecological sustainability, sustainable development and ecological restoration as policies underpinning a post-modern society. Blindness to human dependence upon nature is no longer tolerable.

The United States simply can not go on with profligate use of oil. The time when we could count on cheap oil is clearly ending. Important aspects of both 911 and Hurricane Katrina are blowback resulting from America's oil addiction. America has been shown to be a fragile place, one environmental disaster or oil shock away from chaos.

What to do in the mid to long term? We must stop emitting carbon dioxide. We must stop financing development in coastal areas and flood plains. We need a ban on reoccupying storm wracked coastal areas, in order that they may be restored to living, protecting barriers from such storms. Cities must be placed and designed for sustainability over centuries. Further, all humanity must stop having more than one or two children a couple.

These ecologically based policies will not immediately help the hapless victims - but over decades and generations we can maintain an Earth that is livable. Given current population, deteriorating ecosystems, and diminished resources - there can be no other outcome other than mass death and anarchy unless we start changing our ways and preparing now. We are not owed a safe life secure from nature's vagaries. We earn it by treating the Earth with respect, and living in an ecologically sustainable manner.

The whole world has seen how utterly horrible ecological collapse can be. The air-conditioned, highly mobile and wired reality that Americans take for granted is a thin veneer indeed. This past week has drummed home to me that global ecological collapse is going to mean misery and suffering for hundreds of millions if not billions of people. The anarchy that sadly pervades so much of the World has come to America and, as I and others have predicted, it is due to our ecological ignorance and recklessness.


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member:
Stacy Bergot Campbell

From: Meria Heller To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 6:29 PM
Subject: where to buy your gas - courtesy of Bob Chapman - The International Forecaster

WHERE TO BUY YOUR GAS,

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW.

READ ON--


Why didn't George W. think of this?

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought it to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell............................ 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon/Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels

If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Citgo.....................0 barrels

Sunoco..................0 barrels

Conoco...................0 barrels

Sinclair..................0 barrels

BP/Phillips..............0 barrels

Hess.......................0 barrels

ARC0.......................0 barrels

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do.

Now, don't wimp out at this point .. keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I'm sending this note to about thirty people.

If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it.

THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people.


Informant: Friends

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,373133,00.html

(SPON) Auch eine Woche nach dem Hurrican Katrina gibt es noch immer zu wenige Helfer für die Rettung von überlebenden Katastrophenopfern. Viele der über 1000 Hilferufe in New Orleans bleiben weiterhin unbeantwortet.

http://rs.net-hh.de/links.php?lid=22610

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/

EDITOR'S COMMENT:

On "Meet The Press" today, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, insisted that now is not the time to talk about mistakes that may have been made in New Orleans and elsewhere. Rather, our attention should be focused on getting through the current crisis. After that, the mistakes could be addressed.

I have two questions:

1. Are the people who helped create the current catastrophe competent enough to clean things up?

2. What if another hurricane (or other disaster) strikes while these folks are still in charge?

--- David Sunfellow


Informant: NHNE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4210674.stm


Informant: Geraldo Cienmarcos

Stellungnahme des »International Action Center« aus New York in einer
Übersetzung von Wolfgang Pomrehn in junge Welt vom 05.09.2005.

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/09-05/006.php


Aus: LabourNet, 5. September 2005

http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/camp_casey.katrina.html


Informant: NHNE



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1765482,00.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.lewrockwell.com/white/white74.html



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Infos Minute Next-up Hôpital Nord de Marseille
http://www.next-up.org/hnm/3hn.jpg

Rappel du dossier partiel rendu public ce matin
http://www.next-up.org/hnm/hnm.php

Développements prévus en cours de journée.

Can't confirm any specific here. If you can let us know.

J

Our gov't intensified Katrina and directed the storm to New Orleans & Mississippi with relatively old technology. They blew up the levees in New Orleans. There are at least 25 earwitnesses to explosions on levee breach. They prevented water, supplies, and rescues. They jammed communications. This is not bureaucracy, it's pointed murder on a mass scale. There's a forced evacuation at gunpoint going on. Federal thugs are provocateurs sabotaging infrastucture, setting fires, withholding fireboats & supplies.

FEMA is blatantly wreaking havoc and making war on the people of Southeast Louisiana. Will Bush/FEMA treason be exposed?

The national media outlets are now suggesting that hurricane relief is finally leading to vast improvements with each hour that passes. lol


Libertythink feed

Frankensteins monster on the loose: New Orleans = New World Order

New Orleans: Who is jamming communications and why? The Dark Side of Black People Living In Another World Chaotic Evacuation of New Orleans Superdome Katrina could tip U.S. toward recession The Truth Hurts: Snapshot of the Nation--New Orleans, Louisiana


BREAKING: MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN LOUISIANA FEMA orders New Orleans flooded!


Kanye West Rips Bush During NBC Concert Trusted computing, youve heard of it Unrest Intensifies at Superdome Shelter

MIRED IN MISERY: DEATH, DISEASE: Thousands feared killed; water fetid Superdome evacuation suspended because of fires and gunshots

TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS

Sunday, September 04, 2005 Jefferson Parish must continue fight versus FEMA Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard announced on WWL-TV Saturday Night that residents would be allowed back in the Parish on Monday, but must re-evacuate by Thursday. Broussard had promised earlier in the week that residents would be allowed back on Monday, and seems to have managed to cut a deal with the feds to allow this happen.

Earlier reports on this site have shown that FEMA has barred rescue teams from entering New Orleans. And now the feds are dragging people out of the city by gunpoint. And back in Jefferson, Broussard explained on NBC's Meet the Press this morning that FEMA is making war even on local authorites [VIDEO] :

RUSSERT: You just heard the director of homeland security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast. But the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. … Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership. It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.

"Three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA, we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. When we got there with our trucks, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday — yesterday — FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards and said no one is getting near these lines…" Broussard ended the interview pleading for help with the moving story of how Jefferson Parish Emrgency Director Walter Maestri's mother died in a nursing home after being promised rescue repeatedly for five days. No wonder he said earlier this week that Jefferson Parish would be better off right now if it were its own country.

Earlier in the week, Maestri explained how FEMA broke signed agreements to have sufficient assets on the ground within 48 hours of an emergency. FEMA assets are blatantly wreaking havoc and making war on the people of Southeast Louisiana. As residents "temporarily" stream back in tomorrow, they should bring with them generators, gasoline, weaponry, and weeks or months worth of provisions. Sherriff Harry Lee needs to deputize every able-bodied male of Jefferson Parish who returns to patrol key infrastructure and keep an eye on all federal thugs who may be provocateuring, sabotaging infrastucture or withholding supplies.



Claim: 25 earwitnesses to explosions on levee breach It is interesting to note that this report from Tom Heneghen was posted to CloakAndDagger.de on 9/2/05 soon after cable news reported that former Vice-President Al Gore had flown in and out of Louis Armstrong International Airport. Heneghen has long claimed an affiliation with an intelligence network connected to Gore: SECOND BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sabotaged the levee. So say more than 25 eyewitnesses, primarily but not exclusively blacks. Some weather-warfare experts contend Hurricane Katrina was man-made, created and directed by the latest technology and high-level treachery.

On the ground and in helicopters, FEMA operatives have vowed to identify and snuff out the finger-pointers. But, like the War of
1812, amid British-instigated violence, a French and American alliance is protecting brave Americans.

Will Bush/FEMA treason be exposed? Stay tuned.

Who is jamming communications in New Orleans? From former NSA Wayne Madsen's waynemadsenreport.com : September 4, 2005 -- Reports continue that communications in and around New Orleans are being purposely jammed (and severed) by the US government (see Sep. 2 article below). The jamming is having an adverse impact on emergency, disaster recovery, and news media communications. The jamming is even affecting police radio frequencies in Jefferson Parish, according to an Australian news report. The President of Jefferson Parish Aaron Broussard told Meet the Press today that FEMA cut his parish's emergency communications lines and he had to have his sheriff restore the severed lines and post armed deputies to ensure that FEMA did not try to cut the communications lines again. Broussard's statement: "Yesterday -- yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, 'No one is getting near these lines.'"

Jamming radio and other communications such as television signals is part of a Pentagon tactic called "information blockade" or "technology blockade." The tactic is one of a number of such operations that are part of the doctrine of "information warfare" and is one of the psychological operations (PSYOPS) methods used by the US Special Operations Command. Jamming is currently being used by US forces in Iraq and was used by the US Navy in the botched coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez in April 2002. US Navy ships off the Venezuelan coast jammed diplomatic, military, emergency services, police, and even taxi cab frequencies in Caracas and other large cities.

From "The Manchurian Printer," Simson L. Garfinkel [The Boston Sunday Globe, March 5, 1995, Focus Section, Page 83]:

"Not surprisingly, the unclassified version of the Pentagon's report barely mentions the offensive possibilities of Information Warfare--- capabilities that the Pentagon currently has under development. Nevertheless, these capabilities are alluded to in several of the diagrams, which show a keen interest by the military in OOTW--- Operations Other Than War. "They have things like information influence, perception management, and PSYOPS---psychological operations," says Wayne Madsen, a lead scientist at the Computer Sciences Corporation in northern Virginia, who has studied the summer study report. 'Basically, I think that what they are talking about is having the capability to censor and put out propaganda on the networks. That includes global news networks like CNN and BBC, your information services, like CompuServe and Prodigy,' and communications satellite networks. 'When they talk about 'technology blockade,' they want to be able to block data going into or out of a certain region of the world that they may be attacking."'

September 2, 2005 -- Who is jamming communications in New Orleans? Ham radio operators are reporting that communications in and around New Orleans are being jammed. In addition, perplexed ham radio operators who were enlisted by the Federal government in 911 are not being used for hurricane Katrina Federal relief efforts. There is some misinformation circulating on the web that the jamming is the result of solar flares. Ham radio operators report that the flares are not the source of the communications jamming. If anyone at the National Security Agency is aware of the source of the jamming, from direction finding or satellite intelligence, please discretely contact me at waynemadsendc@hotmail.com (from a private or temporary email account). In this case, the Bush administration cannot hide behind national security and it is the duty of every patriotic American to report such criminal activity to the press. Even though the information on the jamming may be considered classified -- it is in the public interest to disclose it. Also, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is reporting that no aircraft over New Orleans have been fired on over New Orleans or anywhere else in the area. Are the reports of shots being fired at aircraft an attempt by the Bush administration to purposely delay the arrival of relief to the city's homeless and dying poor? The neocons have turned New Orleans into Baghdad on the Mississippi.

New Orleans: Who is jamming communications and why?

UPDATE: We can now report that the jamming of New Orleans' communications is emanating from a pirate radio station in the Caribbean. The noise is continuous and it is jamming frequencies, including emergency high frequency (HF) radios, in the New Orleans area. The radio frequency jammers were heard last night, stopped for a while, and are active again today. The Pentagon must locate the positions of these transmitters and order the Air Force to bomb them immediately.

However, we now have a new unconfirmed report that the culprit may be the Pentagon itself. The emitter is an IF (Intermediate Frequency) jammer that is operating south southwest of New Orleans on board a U.S. Navy ship, according to an anonymous source. The jamming is cross-spectrum and interfering with superheterodyne receiver components, including the emergency radios being used in New Orleans relief efforts. The jammed frequencies are:

72.0MHZ (high end of Channel 4 WWL TV New Orleans)

45.0MHZ (fixed mobile)

10.245MHZ (fixed mobile)

10.240 Mhz (fixed mobile)

11.340 Mhz (aeronautical mobile)

233 MHZ (fixed mobile)

455 IF (jammer)

A former DoD source says the U.S. Army uses a portable jammer, known as WORLOCK, in Iraq and this jammer may be similar to the one that is jamming the emergency frequencies.

New Orleans: Forced evacuation at gunpoint GetYourActOn.com Sept. 4: The entire city of New Orleans is under evacuation orders. I just spoke to my friend Daniel in the Bywater (9th ward). He reports that unmarked police vehicles (cadillacs) are driving through the neighborhood with SWAT team police armed with `big black machine guns' telling people through bullhorns they are under orders to evacuate and must leave the city now. People in that neighborhood are being told to go to the big pool on the corner of Lesseps and St. Claude (this is one block from my house) to be airlifted out, tho people are allowed to leave by their own means if they can. He reports helicopters all over the place of all kinds - everything from large Army helicopters with guns to Red Cross helicopters - they are swooping down low in the neighborhood and `buzzing' houses - he said one just flew low enough over him to blow shingles off the roof. He is starting to see National Guardsmen marching through the streets with guns to make sure people obey evacuation orders. He wanted to get into a neighbor's house to save their dog that is locked up in there, but was told by a National Guardsman that unless he has keys to the house, if he tries to break the door in he will be shot on the spot.

We are being forced out of our city, with no word as to if and when we will be allowed to return. We've been wondering what they would do after enough people were forced to die of starvation. Population reduction has been accomplished.

Provocateur forces in New Orleans? The case builds On Thursday, there was a report on the net Delta Force had just dropped into New Orleans. This was at about the same time this website noticed a couple helicopters full of unidentified troops being dropped off the helipad at the Superdome. If the "Delta Force" story is true (and even Army Times says forces are engaging in combat in New Orleans), or another small special ops force were dropped into New Orleans, they would be well placed, for provacateuring more than anything else. Such as laying down sniper fire on boats evacuating patients from a hospital or setting fires, or sniping at firefighters.

This item is from the LiveJournal blog of someone holed up in a functioning datacenter on Canal St. at 1pm CDT Saturday: "The Riverwalk may be on fire (shopping mall at the river at end of CBD/Quarter). Everytime we talk to the police, we hear about sniper fire at the fire scenes. I cannot confirm that there is any. This is all hearsay, but it's coming from the police. The police we talk to, while consistent about claiming there is sniper fire, are conflicted about whether it's police sniper fire trying to take out arsonists or criminal sniper fire trying to take out police and fire rescue teams. Again, this is rumor for now, but we're hearing a lot of this rumor. Delta Force is a criminal organization, having previously engaged in the murder of Americans at Waco, so any fire from them would by definition be sniper fire.

It seems like someone is going up and down the river, setting prime real estate on fire and laying sniper fire to make sure it burns down. First the warehouses, now the Riverwalk shopping mall, a structure orginally constructed for the 1984 World's Fair.

Are there other special forces teams out there that could take out these provocateurs? Anyone that gives a damn about America or New Orleans? Could someone call France and ask for a hand?

West Nile op imminent in La.? Nagin asks Bush for cropdusters
(Total411.info) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said in an interview with WWL-TV Saturday night that he asked Presisdent Bush to send cropdusters to spray for mosquitos in the New Orleans area. Nagin pointed out that mosquitos will be feeding on corpses and spreading exotic diseases.

LSU, now headed by Bohemian Grover Sean O'Keefe, has long had an active West Nile research program in its AgCenter biosciences lab. In fact, that lab was once due to hire anthrax "person of interest" Stephen Hatfill, formerly of Ft. Dietrick and Army programs in Africa coincident with genocidal die-offs.

This could be a volatile situation with provacateurs releasing West Nile as a bioweapon in the second wave of the Katrina attack on Louisiana.

Tell the White House to spray for mosquitos in Louisiana, immediately: 202-456-1414

Tell LSU AgCenter to secure their stockpiles of West Nile and be alert for insiders looking to steal it. 225-578-6803 or 225-578-4161 or 225-336-2416.

People STILL dying trapped in New Orleans From the livejournal blog of someone working inside a datacenter still operational in downtown New Orleans : URGENT ASSISTANCE NEEDED.

First of all, many thanks to the kind and courageous folks currently staffing Outpost Crystal. Their compassion and honesty are unparalleled.

I am writing this to describe a horrific situation in NOLA that few are aware of, and those who are aware are doing little or nothing. As many of you have likely observed, the national media outlets are suggesting that hurricane relief is finally leading to vast improvements with each hour that passes. Food and water are being delivered, power restored, levees repaired, water drainage plans developed, and those still living successfully evacuated. Many are reporting that the final areas are being checked for survivors, as well as those who have passed at the hands of Katrina (and more often, neglect). Unfortunately, this is not the case. As demonstrated on nola.com's blog section, many individuals know the exact locations and WORKING telephone numbers of family members, most of whom are elderly, sickly, starving, and in serious need of medical attention. When able to get through on emergency telephone numbers, a feat not to be taken lightly, they are dismissed or told that dispatch would be sent immediately, yet no one has come, even though calls have been placed for days. Many do not require full evacuation, but basic medical attention and/or supplies. Many are completely immobile, and unable to access the limited relief sites or food drops. I spoke to one such individual, Ms. Lee Livermore, who was still trapped in her home earlier this evening (around 6:00pm EST).

Her nephew, living in Michigan, explained to me that she is diabetic, has difficulty moving, and he has been in contact with the coast guard, emergency services, and even the governor's office, yet nothing is being done. Stranded on a 3rd floor apartment, with little food, no sweets, and low blood sugar, her outlook is not promising. This is just one case out of hundreds, probably thousands. Incredibly, much of this information is available through nola.com, a resource many of the media are utilizing, yet remains unreported. The television broadcasts refer to none of this, simply stressing the importance of financial contributions, encouraging National Guard membership for potential volunteers, and emphasizing the positive direction the situation is headed.

For more information on these people who are stranded and requiring immediate assistance, please visit ://www.nola.com/weblogs/nola/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_nolaview/arch ives/2005_09.html Note: specific contact information and locations ARE provided

Some of these people, primarily those in high profile areas, such as universities and hospitals, have since been rescued. Others, however, are being ignored, even though their situation and status is easily discernable and their telephone contacts are reliable and consistent.


Is FEMA holding back the fire boats?
(Total411.info) -- New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin in an interview by WWL-TV, broadcast on Louisiana Public Broadcasting and webcast on wwltv.com, said that as things are going, much of the city still standing is going to burn a lot more.

So, why aren't their additonal fireboats to put out all these mysterious fires? Thie biggest fire burning today is right on the river!

Nagin has confirmed that national outrage has helped spur the feds from their passive genocide.

We must keep up the heat, calling for fireboats.

Call FEMA and tell them to activate fireboats from all available agencies: FEMA -- (800) 621-FEMA / (202) 566-1600

Pensacola isn't too far away. They can send fireboats from the Coast Guard base there -- demand they ignore any treasonous FEMA orders not to help: (850) 453-8282.

http://www.total411.info/


Informant: JHW369

There is apparently a safe technology developed by a Dr Meyl in Germany. He has written a book, in English, called Skaler Waves (it might be Scaler Waves)

He was sued by the mobile phone companies but the German courts have found in his favour!

Dr Hyland has a copy of the book and is looking at the theory (apparently in the realms of quantum physics) so there is hope out there.

Sarah

--------

Hi Sarah

I have the book as well. Not easy reading, and I remain to be reassured that scalar wave (vector potentials / longitudinal waves) are a wise option. The book is absolutely fascinating, and not just about mobile communications, and shares a deal of material with Tesla. Look up Tesla and find out about his amplifying transmitter etc., look up Konstantin Meyl on Google too, and you'll soon come to the "free energy" area. It's all potentially very big, and as ever what can be used for good can be used for ill. Maybe the bad guys have got there first anyway, if you believe Tom Bearden and the Cheniere site.

But I don't think scalar-technology mobile phones are around the corner yet; for a start the industry does not accept the current risk, nor do they have a clue about this physics. If they did, on both counts, they would then have to come up with a new technology that in its prototype was technically superior to what 3G already offers, because the one thing they could NOT sell on was "the new safe phone". Or they would be sued for knowing current ones are harmful. They are painted into a corner.

Andy

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3372/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Bush sure as hell doesn't read Scientific American or Nature.

http://www.sundayherald.com/51621

<snip>

The drowning of New Orleans, which lies mostly below sea level and is surrounded by large dams, has long been predicted. In October 2001, a feature in the journal Scientific American described the city as “a disaster waiting to happen”. “A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands,” it said. The sunken city’s fate was “at best a troubled Venice, at worst a modern-day Atlantis”.


Informant: Hopedance

In a message dated 9/4/05 9:58:45 PM, gaia@charter.net writes:

Hi Bob, interesting angle -- also environmental -- on why 'natural disasters' are getting worse. Also see the purple colored (bulleted) notes below about why Cuba and Jamaica can handle hurricanes with less loss of life than we have.

Experts: Too Many People in Nature's Way
By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent http://tinyurl.com/djreh (LA Times)

I thought the The dead and the desperate of New Orleans now join the farmers of Aceh and the fishermen of Trincomalee, villagers in Iran and the slum dwellers of Haiti in a world being dealt ever more punishing blows by natural disasters.

It's a world where Americans can learn from even the poorest nations, experts say, and where they should learn not to build future settlements like the drowned old metropolis on the Mississippi.

The levees in New Orleans inspired a false sense of security, says Dennis S. Miletti, a leading scholar on disaster prevention.

"We rely on technology and we end up thinking as human beings that we're totally safe, and we're not," said Miletti, of the University of Colorado. "The bottom line is we have a very unsafe planet."

By one critical measure, the impact on populations, statistics show the planet to be increasingly unsafe. More than 2.5 billion people were affected by floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters between 1994 and 2003, a 60 percent increase over the previous two 10-year periods, U.N. officials reported at a conference on disaster prevention in January.

Those numbers don't include millions displaced by last December's tsunami, which killed an estimated 180,000 people as its monstrous waves swept over coastlines from Indonesia's Aceh province to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and beyond.

By another measure -- property damage -- 2004 was the costliest year on record for global insurers, who paid out more than $40 billion on natural disasters, reports German insurance giant Munich Re. Florida's quartet of 2004 hurricanes was the big factor.

But generally it's not that more "events" are happening, rather that more people are in the way, said Thomas Loster, a Munich Re expert. "More and more people are being hit," he said.

In the 1970s, only 11 percent of earthquakes affected human settlements, researchers at Belgium's University of Louvain report. That soared to 31 percent in 1993-2003, including a quake in 2003 that killed 26,000 people in Iran, whose population has doubled since the '70s.

The expanding U.S. population "has migrated to hazard-prone areas -- to Florida, the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, particularly barrier islands, to California," noted retired U.S. government seismologist Robert M. Hamilton, a disaster-prevention specialist. "Several decades ago we didn't have wall-to-wall houses down the coast as we do now."

The way America builds too often invites disasters, experts say -- by draining Florida swampland and bulldozing California hillsides, for example, disrupting natural runoff and magnifying flood hazards.

"We're building our communities in ways that aren't compatible with the natural perils we have," Miletti said.

The more advanced the nations, the bigger the blow may be.

Terry Jeggle, a U.N. disaster-reduction planner, cites the New Orleans levee system -- dependent on pumps that run on electricity produced by fuel that must be transported in. One failure will lead to another along that chain.

"Complex systems invite compounding of complexity in consequences, too," said the Geneva-based Jeggle.

Experts fear more is to come.

The scientific consensus expects global warming to intensify storms, floods, heat waves and drought. Climatologists are still researching whether climate change has already strengthened hurricanes, whose energy is drawn from warm ocean waters, or whether the Atlantic Basin and Gulf are witnessing only a cyclical upsurge in intense storms. Computer models of climate change in the decades to come point to more devastating Category 5 storms.

The prospect of more vulnerable populations on a more turbulent Earth has U.N. officials and other advocates pressuring governments to plan and prepare. They cite examples of poorer nations that in ways do a better job than the rich:

* No one was reported killed when Ivan struck Cuba in 2004, its worst hurricane in 50 years and a storm that, after weakening, killed 25 people in the United States. Cuba's warning-evacuation system is minutely planned, even down to neighborhood workers keeping updated charts on which residents need help during evacuations.

* Along Bangladesh's cyclone coast, 33,000 well-organized volunteers stand ready to shepherd neighbors to raised concrete shelters at the approach of one of the Bay of Bengal's vicious storms.

* In 2002, Jamaica conducted a full-scale evacuation rehearsal in a low-lying suburb of coastal Kingston, and fine-tuned plans afterward. When Ivan's 20-foot surge destroyed hundreds of homes two years later, only eight people died. Ordinary Jamaicans also are taught search-and-rescue methods and towns at risk have trained flood-alert teams.

Like many around the world, Barbara Carby, Jamaica's disaster coordinator, watched in disbelief as catastrophe unfolded on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

"We always have resource constraints," she said. "That's not a problem the U.S. has. But because they have the resources, they may not pay enough attention to preparedness and awareness, and to educating the public how to help themselves."


Informant: Hopedance

Last year, dairy farmers John and Rosie Ryan of Dangan, Co Tipperary, gave permission to Vodaphone to erect a telephone mast on their farm. However, the couple claim that since the mast became operational their lives have been turned upside down. Since Vodafone erected a mast on his land, John Ryan claims he has suffered from blinding headaches and burning sensations. These are so bad that he cannot carry out his farming activities to an optimal standard, and he can no longer sleep in his home. The family claim these problems are directly related to emissions from the telephone mast that was erected on their farm in March 2003. They claim they had no unusual health problems before the mast became operational. "As soon as the mast went up in March, I started to feel the effects of it. After putting serious pressure on Vodaphone, it was switched off for three weeks and everything was fine, but the minute it was switched back on my symptoms returned. I'm no longer able to sleep at home and can only stay on the farm for a few hours at a time,'' said John. Rosie Ryan said there had been a complete upheaval in family life since that mast started working. "John cannot live here. At the moment we are trying to calve nearly 100 cows and heifers and it's impossible. I spend my nights watching the cameras, and if there's any trouble with a cow I have to ring him to come back and deal with it,'' she said.

IFA call for mast to be shut down In a letter to Vodaphone on 23 January, Jim Devlin, executive secretary of the IFA Industrial committee, called on the company "to cease radio signal transmissions from the mast immediately''. He stated that the IFA was very concerned for Mr Ryan's health. "He is unable to stay in his home and on his farming premises due to the impact this transmission mast is having on his well-being. His farming is being neglected, with dairy cows going unmilked. I must insist that you address this matter without further delay.'' In their response on 30 January, Vodaphone insisted that health and safety issues were extremely important to the company. "Vodaphone acknowledges that some people are concerned about radio frequency electromagnetic fields, from mobile phones and their base stations. Based on current scientific research, there is no evidence of an impact on human health when exposure levels are below internationally recognised guidelines. Mobile phones and their base stations are designed and operated so that people are not exposed above these guideline levels.''

Neighbours back the Ryans The health problems suffered by John Ryan are endorsed by at least six other neighbours and individuals who have cause to work on the farm. Walter Cleary is one of these people. "I do a bit of welding for John and I was here during the summer making gates when I suddenly got this tingling feeling and a violent headache. I left the place and recovered, but as soon as I returned the headache started again. Now I'll only come here when he is badly stuck.'' Tom Hally cuts the hedges and he also says he had to leave the farm as a result of blinding headaches. He claims these disappeared when he went a distance from the mast, but as soon as he returned to the farm they returned. "I didn't imagine it could happen; I don't get headaches and it makes me believe everything John, Rosie and the others are saying.'' Tim Ryan (no relation) also farms nearby and he has noticed that he is getting an increasing number of slight headaches. "I came up here one day to help John out, and after a while I got two right darts in the head. Then I knew exactly what John was complaining about.'' Tom Prendergast's farm lies beneath the mast and he lives within 500m of it. He too insists that his health has suffered since the mast became operational. "I've brought ComReg (Commission for Communications Regulation) here to test the mast three times, because since it arrived life has become unbearable. Most of my house is unusable, especially where it is in view of the mast. We've had to screen the house with radiation-proof material in order to remain living there. I've written countless letters and made phone calls about the problem, but no one is listening,'' he said. Despite having the mast tested three times, Tom Prendergast is unhappy about the way the results were presented. "The first test was invalid and ComReg have agreed it was. We claim the second test was invalid because it is our belief that the power levels were turned down. We say this because there was no mobile reception in the area at the time.'' As for the third test, which took place on 24 October last, this was called off halfway through, but ComReg stood over its findings even though it was incomplete.''

Shut it down John Ryan wants the mast shut down and has offered to return the €10,000 he received for providing a site for it. However, Vodaphone did not accept his offer. "This was never about money. Long before we leased the site for the mast I was worried about the health implications, but I was assured that the mast would give out no more emissions than a hand-held mobile phone.'' John Ryan said he was promised that if there was any trouble the mast would be gone within a year. "I've now discovered that opt-out is only available to the company that owns the mast. As it is, unless Vodaphone voluntarily removes or deactivates it I cannot have it removed for another four years.'' However, Vodaphone said that John Ryan had approached them to secure the company as a tenant on his site. "Negotiations were entered into and independent legal advice was sought and received by Mr Ryan. After a period of weeks a contract was negotiated between the parties. '' Should the mast be decommissioned, Vodaphone estimate it would cost them approximately €50,000. Both John Ryan and Tom Prendergast feel isolated by the phone company. "They keep telling us it's the same mast as all the others around the country and that there are no complaints about them. They tell us they are working within the WHO guidelines, but as far as we are concerned that is all theory. We are left with the reality,'' said Tom Prendergast.

ComReg response ComReg is the regulatory body charged with overseeing the telecoms industry in Ireland. Currently it is conducting a comprehensive monitoring programme at 400 mast sites throughout the country. ComReg has hired Masons Communications Ltd to conduct the measurements. In a statement, it said: "As part of this work, the Dangan site was measured. Measurements there indicate emission levels well within the International guideline limits set down by ICNIRP - the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection. This is the first time ComReg has conducted such an extensive survey. In previous years they have audited the procedures adopted by licensees to ensure compliance to the ICNIRP guideline limits and made measurements at 30 sites on each occasion. In addition, 40 people contacted us regarding 48 sites. They are currently been surveyed and so far they have all complied. With regard to the issue of health, ComReg would like to clarify that it does not have any remit or expertise in this area. In this regard, it looks to national, international and EU policy for guidance. Currently the guideline limits adopted are the ICNIRP guideline limits and these are used internationally.'' Additional statement by Vodaphone "Vodaphone Ireland meets ICNIRP radio frequency exposure guidelines in the rollout of its mobile phone network. Emissions are independently monitored by ComReg, and Vodaphone's 100% record in this regard can be verified by the Commission. In order to provide a high level of protection for the general public, standards for limiting exposure to radio frequency fields have been developed, which incorporate substantial safety margins. Indeed, in practice, levels many times below the ICNIRP guidelines normally exist through the adoption of best contemporary practice, including not raising signal strengths beyond those necessary to achieve service objectives. In the case of Mr Ryan, the signal strength in our infrastructure has been reduced, and is currently operating at a below-optimum level. Vodaphone encourages and supports open, independent, quality scientific research, reviews the results of research on radio frequency fields being performed throughout the world and takes the advice of recognised expert scientific review panels and health authorities for assessments on mobile phone technology and health. From 1999 until 2007, Vodaphone have committed over €8million to research programmes on radio frequency fields and projects. Where research funding is involved, important measures have been implemented to ensure the complete independence of this research.''

Mairead Lavery reports

http://www.mast-victims.org/index.php?content=journal&action=view&type=journal&id=32



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=John+Ryan

Beiliegend unsere heutige Presseinformation zu dem Thema:

Schulaktion gegen Handymasten
http://www.schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at/top-termin_dateien/Presseinformation%202005-09-05.PDF

Gablitz (NÖ), 5. Sept. 2005: Immer mehr Handymasten und Mobilfunkantennen auf den Schuldächern; Wie hoch ist die Strahlung im Klassenzimmer? Was Eltern von Schulkindern gegen Handymasten tun können; TriCoTel sammelt Schuldaten und setzt sich für eine rasche Abhilfe ein; Fotos und Messdaten online im Internet.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Mag. Robert Marschall Geschäftsführer