http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/messages.cfm/forumid:5/threadid:18556#172076


Informant: Di

(please pass this on)

01-Sep-2005

We recently wrote about how National Guard troops needed for disaster relief in New Orleans have been diverted to the Iraq war. Now it turns out that Federal money earmarked to repair the levee system has been diverted to Iraq as well. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested $27 million to pay for hurricane protection projects around Lake Pontchartrain. The Bush administration offered them less than $4 million, and Congress eventually gave them $5.7 million. The corps requested $18 million specifically to repair and strengthen New Orleans levees. Instead, their annual budget was reduced 20% because the money was needed for the war in Iraq. The corps had to delay seven projects that would have enlarged the levees. Most of the destruction in New Orleans caused by hurricane Katrina happened because breaches in these levees allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into the city until 80% of New Orleans was under water. In 2002, Bush fired Army Corps chief Michael Parker after Parker tried to push through a number of flood control projects, including a proposal to spend $188 million to build a flood control pump in the Mississippi river. Parker, who is a Republican, says, "I'm not saying [New Olreans] wouldn't still be flooded, but I do feel that if it had been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have."

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4819


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Jacki Hi

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090305X.shtml



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

03.09.05

Die Österreichische Ärztekammer (ÖÄK) weist darauf hin, dass die weite Verbreitung von Technologien zur mobilen Kommunikation nicht nur Vorteile, sondern auch eine Reihe von Nachteilen mit sich bringt. Diese seien nach Ansicht der ÖÄK in Anbetracht der Tragweite für die Gesundheit des Einzelnen und der Gesellschaft noch viel zu wenig beachtet.

Die bisher vorliegenden wissenschaftlichen Daten und Beobachtungen zahlreicher medizinischer Experten zeigen auf allen naturwissenschaftlichen Nachweisebenen Schädigungen der Erbsubstanz bzw. ein erhöhtes Risiko für gewisse Tumore nach langjähriger Verwendung von analogen und digitalen Handys sowie von Schnurlostelefonen. Erstmals wurde dies auch in breit angelegten epidemiologischen Untersuchungen am Menschen und nicht nur in Zell- und Tierversuchen nachgewiesen.

Ferner zeigen erste Ergebnisse epidemiologischer Untersuchungen zu den Auswirkungen bei Handymasten und den Basisstationen von DECT-Schnurlostelefonen zum Teil deutliche Auswirkungen auf Wohlbefinden und Gesundheit. Anwohner von Handymasten leiden unter anderem vermehrt unter Schlafstörungen, Konzentrationsproblemen, Energielosigkeit und Depressionen.

Die ÖÄK rate daher für Telefonate zu Hause Schnurtelefone zu verwenden und bei Kindern grundsätzlich auf Funktelefone zu verzichten. Besonders wichtig ist daher „die Frage eines effektiven vorbeugenden Gesundheitsschutzes bei Handymasten und anderen Dauersendern. Es kann nicht sein, dass alle paar Jahre weitere Funksysteme wie GSM, DECT, UMTS, WLAN, WIMAX etc. eingeführt werden und parallel dazu Vorsorgemaßnahmen und notwendige Forschungsanstrengungen unterbleiben.“, sorgt sich der Referent für Umweltmedizin der Österreichischen Ärztekammer, Dr. Gerd Oberfeld. (iw)

http://www.tariftip.de/news/18856/archiv/Handy-Schnurlos-Co-Aerzte-warnen-vor-Langzeitfolgen.htm

--------

6-09-2005

HNA online 5-09-05

Die Österreichische Ärztekammer lässt sich von den Betreibern nicht einschüchtern und hat die obige neue Stellungnahme publiziert. Ich würde mir wünschen die Deutsche Ärzteschaft hätte auch diesen Mut. Aber das Abtauchen hat ja in Deutschland leider eine lange Tradition !

Dr. Claus Scheingraber 5-09-05

http://tinyurl.com/9kgnm


Informant: NHNE

http://tinyurl.com/csh5s


Informant: NHNE

http://tinyurl.com/9eb8g


Informant: NHNE

http://rs.net-hh.de/links.php?lid=22594

(SZ) Ein Artikel der Süddeutschen Zeitung nimmt den Hinweis von Greg Palast zum Zerfall der amerikanischen Zivilgesellschaft und seine historischen Parallellen auf: wer reich ist und die richtige Hautfarbe hat, überlebt; die anderen bleiben auf der Strecke.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/artikel/888/59829/

http://www.opendiary.com/entryview.asp?authorcode=A553678&entry=20223&mode=


From Be Kind Whenever Possible

Mayor tells it like it is!
http://godlikeproductions.com/sounds/mayornagin.mp3


From Be Kind Whenever Possible

Posted By: mook
Date: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 6:18 p.m.

SPLOID EXCLUSIVE: FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson …

Millions of Americans and people around the world have rushed to donate money to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which is shaping up to be one of the worst U.S. disasters in history, if not the worst.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the lead federal agency in the rescue & recovery operation at work in New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast.

FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.

The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.

“It’s an outrage,” said privacy watchdog Bill Scannell, who alerted Sploid to the FEMA / Robertson scam. “Operation f**cking Blessing? And it’s right underneath the Red Cross link!”


From Be Kind Whenever Possible

NKNews

Crude oil pipeline out of Southern Louisiana which runs through parts of Mississippi; Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia and through Charlotte, North Carolina, has been out of operation since the weekend due to power outages and storm damage. Not expected to be back into operation for possibly several weeks. This accounts for the fuel outage all along this pipeline route.

SOMETHING YOU WILL NOT SEE ON CBS EVENING NEWS...........or TV

Nadir ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 4:35 AM Subject: NKNews: Katrina - disaster


Hi All:

Listening to Alex Jones show. He is now only allowing callers in from Louisiana. Looks like a major meltdown is beginning.

Caller-in has brother who is part of rescue team - his brother is quitting - he says the governor has no idea what he is doing. One report has sherrifs locking themselves into their offices for protection. Shooters shooting at rescue helicopters.

Scott Stevens came onto Jones show and said NO DOUBT that this hurricane was engineered. He has cloud pattern evidence to prove it. Jones is now changing his mind from yesterday and now thinks it may have been "managed" too.

Inside the stadium, according to some, total mayhem, many dying, rapes, etc.

There is concern the entire state will go into chaos. Mississippi river is now closed to some extent - main supply artery for everything.

Here is the email from a friend in North Carolina:

Just thought you might want to know that my area as of late Tuesday afternoon has NO GAS. Luckily I managed to listen to Guidance to go tank up + was one of the last people in my town to be fortunate enough to do so?!

The word is that there isn't any gas available for a radius of hundreds of miles from Asheville/out/ Greenville, South Carolina/out/ ALL reserve storage tanks/empty--Also, there is a rumor that there won't be any for TWO WEEKS!?

Next I expect a "run" on the banks + grocery stores-

And this:
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index813.htm

Being kept from these American people also by their Military Rulers have been the uncounted offers of assistance from Nations all around the world, including: Venezuela has offered their Medical Airlift Command for the evacuation of peoples trapped in these devastated regions; Holland has offered the resources of their Public Works Ministry (and who are the acknowledged World Experts for below sea level water evacuation procedures); Russia has offered over 100,000 temporary living structures, along with Military Personal to assist their American counterparts; Iran has offered 1 Billion US Dollars in immediate assistance and guaranteed 5,000,000 barrels of oil at $35.00 US Dollars; China has offered their Military Rescue Forces (who are acknowledged as one of the best in the world for rescuing peoples in flood ravaged areas.)

All of these offers, and more, the Military Leaders of the United States have declined, and for the their previously stated reason: "The United States Government and its People Respectfully Decline your offer of assistance and refer you to our previous State Department Bulletin (NCO:13788) in which we had stated that this remains an internal action."

I'm sure you're all prepared by now should something like this happen to us. Many now watching small quakes in Southern Cal.


Neal


From Be Kind Whenever Possible

Lee S, Johnson D, Dunbar K, Dong H, Ge X, Kim YC, Wing C, Jayathilaka N, Emmanuel N, Zhou CQ, Gerber HL, Tseng CC, Wang SM.

Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

The biological effect of radiofrequency (RF) fields remains controversial. We address this issue by examining whether RF fields can cause changes in gene expression. We used the pulsed RF fields at a frequency of 2.45GHz that is commonly used in telecommunication to expose cultured human HL-60 cells. We used the serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) method to measure the RF effect on gene expression at the genome level. We observed that 221 genes altered their expression after a 2-h exposure. The number of affected genes increased to 759 after a 6-h exposure. Functional classification of the affected genes reveals that apoptosis-related genes were among the upregulated ones and the cell cycle genes among the downregulated ones. We observed no significant increase in the expression of heat shock genes. These results indicate that the RF fields at 2.45GHz can alter gene expression in cultured human cells through non-thermal mechanism.

PMID: 16107253 [PubMed - in process]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16107253&dopt=Citation


From FGF-Infoline 02.09.2005

Study

Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells were used as an experimental model to study the effects of intermittent EMF exposures (5min on/30 minutes off). ELF-EMF exposure (2mT 50Hz with worst-case distortions for supply) to ES-derived neural cells significantly affected transcript levels of the apoptosis-related bcl-2, bax, and cell cycle regulatory "growth arrest DNA damage inducible" GADD45 genes, whereas mRNA levels of neural-specific genes were not affected. RF-EMF exposure (GSM-1800 simulated exposure at time-averaged SAR of 1.5 W/kg) of neural progenitor cells resulted in down-regulation of neural-specific Nurr1 and in up-regulation of bax and GADD45 mRNA levels. Short-term RF-EMF exposure for 6 h, but not for 48 h, resulted in a low and transient increase of DNA double-strand breaks.

Bibliographic information: Teodora Nikolova, Jaroslaw Czyz, Alexandra Rolletschek, Przemyslaw Blyszczuk, Jörg Fuchs, Gabriele Jovtchev, Jürgen Schuderer, Niels Kuster, and Anna M. Wobus, in The FASEB Journal, fj.04-3549fje, published online 22 August, 2005

http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/04-3549fjev1
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16116041&query_hl=2


From FGF-Infoline 02.09.2005

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/septiembre/vier2/37katcris-i.html


Informant: Carlos Rovira

From ufpj-news

The Deepening Climate Crisis
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/938144/

Storm Turns Focus to Global Warming
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/941142/

Katrina's Real Name real name is global warming
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/939369/

2005 Set to be Historic Year for Hurricanes
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/942979/

DIRECT ACTION FLOODS ICELAND
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/937558/

Profits increased by allowing mercury pollution to continue
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931180/

EPA Unions Call for Nationwide Moratorium on Fluoridation
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931982/

Petition to US Congress: RE-EXAMINING FLUORIDATION
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/938218/

Help protect the Great Bear Rainforest from logging
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/948051/

Pesticide study makes life-threatening conclusions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/933519/

Argentinean Ancient Forests Trashed for GE SoyaPlantations
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/938260/

Hybrid Seed
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/946381/

WTO HANDS OFF OUR FOOD
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/934355/

Independent Scientists Object to Monsanto-Sponsored Documentary
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/943973/

Support BioDemocracy in California
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/941135/

Tons of Toxics
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/939154/

Cruelty to bears petition
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/942643/

Vote USA 2004
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Vote+USA+2004/

Iraq War
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Irak-Krieg/

Is Iran next?
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next

Tsunami
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Tsunami/

RFID
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/RFID/

EMF-Omega-News 3. September 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/948236/

Long-Term Mobile Phone Use and Brain Tumor Risk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940552/

Questioning the authority of scientific journals
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940688/

Is the brain influenced by a phone call?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931090/

Secret Report On Cell Phone Dangers And Tetra
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931779/

Impact of Electromagnetic Field Exposure Limits in Europe Is the Future of Interventional MRI Safe?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931100/

The case for phone masts
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931644/

The case against phone masts
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931751/

Phone company in mast u-turn
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/931654/

MY SAFETY FEARS OVER PHONE MAST SITES
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/936086/

New Orange slogan
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/936674/

It must be awful to live under such conditions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/938523/

PHONE FIRM VICTORY ON MAST APPEAL
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/938537/

GO-AHEAD FOR PHONE MAST DESPITE PROTEST
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/938550/

Before the launching of next-up organisation - Avant le lancement de next-up organisation
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/939213/

Fury over mobile phone mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940863/

Meet Kevin Hull of 02 telecommunications
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940876/

O2 mobile phones
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940900/

Out to stop mast plans: TEENAGER is calling on residents to oppose an upgrade to a phone mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940916/

Village fights mast at goat farm
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/940933/

Battle lines drawn over mobile mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/941352/

PHONE GIANT APPEALS AGAINST MAST REFUSAL
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/941367/

O2 appeals rejection
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/941375/

COUNCILLORS TO RULE ON MARKINCH MAST PLAN
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/941380/

Comparing Japan and America
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/946375/

ANGRY Airedale residents will be meeting mobile phone bosses later this month in a bid to stop plans
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/947543/

BLOCKING OF PHONE MAST OVERTURNED
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/947558/

Our health is threatened - Alertes santé, experts et citoyens face aux intérêts privés
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/947618/

Have you noticed what a publicity coup this is going to be?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/947697/

Caution and preparedness required
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/947738/

News from Mast Sanity
http://tinyurl.com/aotw3

Omega-News Collection 3. September 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/948240/

Left Behind to Drown
http://www.counterpunch.com/sustar09012005.html


From Information Clearing House

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help,'' the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5248786,00.html


From Information Clearing House

A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands. Human activities along the Mississippi River have dramatically increased the risk, and now only massive reengineering of southeastern Louisiana can save the city.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10058.htm

It will take just a couple more days of almost 100 degree weather to really bring this New Orleans stew to an incomprehensible completion with the bloated corpses of pets, animals and yes, people. As morbid as it is, it soon will be all too easy to find the missing.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10052.htm

Katrina and her aftermath are 100% disaster and only very slightly natural.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10055.htm

As always with a devastating event like Hurricane Katrina, voices are raised claiming that nothing could have been done to prevent the catastrophe. Such declarations are thoroughly false.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10056.htm

The president's 35-minute Air Force One flyover of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama was the perfect metaphor for his entire presidency: detached, disconnected, and disengaged. Preferring to take in America's suffering -- whether caused by the war in Iraq or Hurricane Katrina -- from a distance. In this case, 2,500 feet.

http://snipurl.com/hdkd


From Information Clearing House

The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Miss., in an editorial today, criticized the relief effort in its ravaged area so far, and told officials and the nation-at-large: "South Mississippi needs your help."

http://snipurl.com/hdk0


From Information Clearing House

- WARNING- This video contains images and audio, which is only suitable for a mature audience.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10064.htm

The former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke stepped up his challenge for the Conservative leadership today by launching a blistering attack on Prime Minister Tony Blair's role in the Iraq war.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article309553.ece


From Information Clearing House

This morning, we've launched an emergency national housing drive to connect your empty beds with hurricane victims who desperately need a place to wait out the storm. You can post your offer of housing (a spare room, extra bed, even a decent couch) and search for available housing online.

http://snipurl.com/hdjp


From Information Clearing House

By Carolyn Baker

The inmates are in charge of the asylum, and they are hellbent on conquest of the last remaining drops of oil on the planet—hellbent on maintaining their power and that of the corporations who gave it to them, and they will do whatever is required to dominate the earth, including annihilating it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10053.htm

The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved.

http://snipurl.com/hdjk


From Information Clearing House

It's a matter of when, not if. Eventually a major hurricane will hit New Orleans head on, instead of being just a close call. It's happened before and it'll happen again.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/


From Information Clearing House

Welcome to Bush's America; where the uber-rich can expect lavish tax cuts and the huddled masses get a 3 day lock-up at the Superdome; where the government redirects desperately-needed resources to the oil wars in Mesopatamia and entire regions disappear beneath the flood-waters at home.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10065.htm

Subject: Emergency Housing drive at
http://www.hurricanehousing.org PASS IT ON !!

Please promote far and wide!

Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org Civic Action [mailto:moveon-help@list.moveon.org] Thursday, September 01, 2005 11:39 AM

Emergency housing drive at http://www.hurricanehousing.org. Pass it on.

Do you have a spare room, bed or couch to offer a family fleeing hurricane Katrina?

Please forward this message to anyone in the Southeast who can help.

Hurricane Katrina's toll on communities, homes and lives has devastated the nation. Now victims must face the daunting question of where to go next—and we can help. Tens of thousands of newly homeless families are being bused to a stadium in Houston, where they may wait for weeks or months. At least 80,000 are competing for area shelters, and countless more are in motels, cars, or wherever they can stay out of the elements. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross are scrambling to find shelter for the displaced. This morning, we've launched an emergency national housing drive to connect your empty beds with hurricane victims who desperately need a place to wait out the storm. You can post your offer of housing (a spare room, extra bed, even a decent couch) and search for available housing online at: http://www.hurricanehousing.org Housing is most urgently needed within reasonable driving distance (about 300 miles) of the affected areas in the Southeast, especially New Orleans. Please forward this message to anyone you know in the region who might be able to help. But no matter where you live, your housing could still make a world of difference to a person or family in need, so please offer what you can. The process is simple: You can sign up to become a host by posting a description of whatever housing you have available, along with contact information. You can change or remove your offer at any time.

Hurricane victims, local and national relief organizations, friends and relatives can search the site for housing. We'll do everything we can to get your offers where they are needed most. Many shelters actually already have Internet access, but folks without 'net access can still make use of the site through case workers and family members.

Hurricane victims or relief agencies will contact hosts and together decide if it's a good match and make the necessary travel arrangements. The host's address is not released until a particular match is agreed on.

If hosting doesn't work for you, please consider donating to the Red Cross to help with the enormous tasks of rescue and recovery. You can give online at: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=859 As progressives, we share a core belief that we are all in this together, and today is an important chance to put that idea to work. There are thousands of families who have just lost everything and need a place to stay dry. Let's do what we can to help. http://www.hurricanehousing.org Thanks for being there when it matters most. —Noah Winer and the whole MoveOn.org Civic Action Team Thursday, September 1st, 2005


Informant: Be Kind Whenever Possible

In spite of all the questions in the United States today about the "liberating" character of the war in Iraq, Japan after the defeat remains George Bush's precedent for the dawn of a democracy under the leadership of the American occupier.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105H.shtml

Dan Simpson discusses what he calls "two more ill-conceived arguments for what the United States is doing in Iraq" put forth by President Bush in his recent efforts to shore up the levees intended to protect his administration from being washed away by the flood of American anti-war sentiment.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105E.shtml

http://tinyurl.com/7bzbb

From ufpj-news

There are increasing indications that the situation in New Orleans may be worse than Americans are being told. TV outlets abroad are reportedly showing video of large numbers of floating bodies, and just as the US media did not show people jumping from windows in the World Trade Center on 911, it may be that we're being spared the worst.

Russian intelligence analysts are calling New Orleans a "dead city." Some foreign reports estimate that as many as 50,000 people may be dead. It may be impossible to get an accurate count of the dead because alligators are devouring the corpses. One problem is that looters have broken into gun shops, so now criminals are roaming the streets armed with guns.

A Wal-Mart was completely cleaned out of all the guns in the store. One policeman was shot in the head in a confrontation with looters. Rescuers have been withdrawn from areas of the city where chaos and danger are simply too extreme. Most tourists in New Orleans visit for the French Quarter, which, since it was built on higher ground than the rest of the city, has been spared the worst flooding.

However, its stores and boutiques have seen the worst looting. Some of the goods being stolen in the city are necessities, like food, water and diapers. However, many looters are taking this opportunity to steal luxury goods, such as antiques, electronics and jewellery. There is concern that armed gangs of criminals may soon move into highly populated areas and start breaking into homes and holding up citizens. An ambulance carrying a police officer was shot at. One man was sitting on his porch when a gang armed with a knife insisted he hand over his electric generator, a prized possession in a city without power. The homeowner took out his own gun and fired over their heads, causing them to run away.

http://www.unknowncountry.com


Informant: DI

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3358/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

I brought the issue DU to the attention of Atty. General Hatch of MN. I informed him that the local political officers and executives of energy companies had colluded with munitions manufacturers to dispose of nuclear waste by supplying it for free to create the DU munitions; it is financially expedient and convenient to blow up overseas what you cannot dispose of legally domestically. I pointed out the prerequisites for prosecution under RICO.

Atty General Hatch's response leads me to believe he is complicit; he stated that his job is to defend the industrialists of the state of MN. He did not recognize my request for prosecution under RICO of the perpetrators of the crime. He suggested writing my Representatives to urge proper disposal of nuclear waste: thus partaking in the conspiracy by advocating forcing the hand of energy executives to supply the material with which peoples have been slated for extermination through radiation sickness.

Most DU is from MN.

David Diggins DFL Constitution Committee Secretary and Delegate


On Behalf Of Tom Cahill
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 4:22 PM

Uranium Munitions

Rep. Duncan Hunter, Chair House Armed Services Committee
2120 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC, 20515

Sept. 1, 2005

Rep Hunter:

"INCOMING," as you should know, is military jargon for the warning infantrymen shout when an artillery shell is about to explode nearby.

Because you head a committee that is supposed to be the public's watchdog over the Department of Defense, I think it only fair to give you a heads-up on an issue that could soon explode on the American public despite continuing attempts at a cover-up by the Pentagon and corporate media. At the very least, your political career is in jeopardy.

Mere exposure to the public of the truth about so-called "depleted uranium" used by the US military for more than a decade could have incredibly serious consequences for the entire country and quite possibly the world. On the other hand, exposure to munitions and armor containing uranium is a death sentence or worse for every member of the armed forces abroad or even at home.

Misprison of Felony is the legal term for "the offense of concealing knowledge of a felony or treason by one who has not participated in it." You may be held accountable for uranium munitions.

In your own best interest, you need to see the film "Beyond Treason" being distributed by the American Gulf War Veterans Association. Enclosed is a review of this well-documented documentary that includes information how to send for a DVD copy. If ever a film could change a nation, this one just might. Read the review, view the film and see if I am exaggerating.

Most sincerely,

Tom Cahill
PO Box 632 Fort Bragg, CA 95437
707/964-0820
tcahill@mcn.org

Member: Veterans For Peace and other progressive organizations.


Informant: David Diggins

The Register-Guard says that the United States has bet its economic future on the ability of market forces to take care of energy supply problems. But the invisible hand of the market promises to slap Americans in the face before it puts cheap gas in their tanks. The United States' near-exclusive reliance on the free market to solve the world's energy problems threatens to leave the country unprotected against severe blows to its economy, security and way of life.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090105EC.shtml

Ivins says that this is a column for everyone who ever said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's nothing I can do about it." She makes a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that government policies have real consequences in people's lives. Katrina illustrates this very point.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105Q.shtml

Check it out:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

Richard

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/levee_funding/index_np.html

Bush: Krieg statt Katastrophenschutz

(salon.com) Wie die US-Regierung die Mittel des Katastrophenschutzes umschichtete für den Irakkrieg beschreibt eine Artikel des amerikanischen Magazins Salon.com

http://rs.net-hh.de/links.php?lid=22581

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12342


Informant: David Diggins

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/printer_090105EB.shtml


Informant: STRIDER

1) The Hurricane and Bush’s Criminal Negligence: Bush Slashed Flood Protection * Bush sent emergency personnel and equipment to Iraq* Bush’s role in global warming * Oil Profiteering * Bush failed to develop an evacuation plan * No emergency relief program, even now

2) Emergency September 10 Strategy Meeting in NYC - organized by the Troops Out Now Coalition We need a mass movement to demand money for people’s needs in the Gulf States, not for war and occupation

Statement from the International Action Center

With every hour that passes, we see and hear new stories of the horror and devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. What makes these images more shocking is the realization that much of the death and destruction could have been prevented.

Almost all of the death and destruction arising from the hurricane is the direct result of criminal neglect by the Bush Administration. This crisis was predicted in numerous reports and news articles and little, if anything, was done.

While natural disasters are beyond our control, the preparation for expected and predicted disasters is something that we can control. Natural disasters do not have to be catastrophes if plans are made in advance to protect people and their homes, but these plans were not made.

We cannot discuss the effects of this catastrophe without noting that those who have suffered most are people of color. Seventy percent of New Orleans’ residents are Black, as are a major part of the population of the surrounding area affected by the hurricane. The fact that absolutely no preparations were made for their evacuation, that no thought was given to meeting their basic emergency needs in the wake of the storm, and that even now they have been abandoned and ignored by the government, lays bare the racism at the core of U.S. society and at the heart of the policies of George W. Bush.

The criminal negligence displayed by all levels of government preceding and during this crisis sends a clear message that, to those in power, the lives of poor people, especially poor Black people, are of absolutely no concern.

President Bush has diverted funds that were needed to prepare for this type of natural disaster to fund a war of conquest in Iraq. He did this despite being warned of the potential for danger by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) as early as 2001. The Houston Chronicle reported on Dec. 1, 2001: “ New Orleans is sinking. And its main buffer from a hurricane, the protective Mississippi River delta, is quickly eroding away, leaving the historic city perilously close to disaster. ...So vulnerable, in fact, that earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country.”

The Bush Administration knew of the danger and they knew how to prepare for it. But they chose to do little or nothing – they actually slashed funding for preventative and emergency measures, leaving the people of the region helpless to deal with the inevitable disaster. Now, with the destruction of New Orleans and numerous surrounding communities, tens of thousands of people are without food, water, or electricity. Thousands of homes are destroyed and the death toll continues to climb.

This is a disaster of unprecedented proportion. It is poor and working people, particularly people of color, who are suffering the most from this disaster.

No preparation

It was clear from watching the disaster unfold that no real plans had been made for evacuating the region, even though everyone, including Federal authorities and meteorologists, knew that a hurricane of enormous magnitude was descending on the area.

For the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, there was no provision for evacuation or shelter. It was “everyone for themselves,” and those who didn’t have the ability to flee or the means to finance their own evacuation were left to perish. There were no arrangements for more than 100,000 people in New Orleans - 20 % of the population and overwhelmingly the poorest part of the population. Those with out cars, credit cards, and hotel reservations had few alternatives but to stay home and face the coming deluge. The death toll continues to mount, and it becomes more and more apparent how little the government is concerned for human life, particularly the lives of poor and working people.

There were many obvious things that could have and should have been done if the government were concerned about the lives of the people. Trains, airlines, buses, and other transportation could have been put to use evacuating people. Convention centers, hotels, and college dormitories throughout the region could have been used for shelter. The government uses eminent domain to take working people’s property for the benefit of corporate developers; this would have been an excellent opportunity to use eminent domain in a way that actually benefits people.

Because there was no plan for evacuation, more than 20,000 people were herded into the Superdome without adequate food, shelter, water, or medical care for days. The New York Times said, “By Wednesday, the stench was staggering. Heaps of rotting garbage in bulging white plastic bags baked under a blazing Louisiana sun on the main entry plaza, choking new arrivals as they made their way into the stadium after being plucked off rooftops and balconies. The odor billowing from toilets was even fouler. Trash spilled across corridors and aisles, slippery with smelly mud and scraps of food.”

Videos of the situation (see below) show just how desperate the situation is—people are without food, water, and medicine. Bodies are piling up on the streets. The people have been absolutely abandoned by the government.

Only massive immediate Federal intervention can relieve the situation. The government has access to stockpiles of food and medicines and it has cargo planes and helicopters to deliver them. Yet the Administration has chosen not to act while people are dying.

Slashing emergency preparations to fund war and tax cuts for the wealthy

Knowing that a hurricane of this strength was eventually inevitable, the Bush Administration slashed the budget of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the area by $71.2 million. This cut eliminated hurricane and flood protection projects as well as a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane. This cut was part of the Bush policy of slashing essential programs to pay for a tax cut for the wealthy and for the occupation of Iraq .

Comparing the cuts of more than $71 million for flood protection to the $1.7 billion taken from the people of Louisiana for the war in Iraq yields one more example of how the Bush policy of endless war endangers the population here.

The Aug. 30 Editor and Publisher revealed that $250 million in crucial projects planned by the Army Corps of Engineers in the delta for shoring up levees and building pumping stations could not be carried out. “The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq , as well as homeland security—coming at the same time as federal tax cuts—was the reason for the strain.

“The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history.”

Emergency Specialists and Equipment sent to Iraq

The National Guard, who would normally be deployed to aid in evacuation and disaster relief, is unable to respond adequately because 40% of the Mississippi National Guard 35% of the Louisiana National Guard is in Iraq. So is much of their equipment, including dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators that are essential to dealing with this type of emergency.

According to the Washington Post, "With thousands of their citizen-soldiers away fighting in Iraq, states hit hard by Hurricane Katrina scrambled to muster forces for rescue and security missions yesterday -- calling up Army bands and water-purification teams, among other units, and requesting help from distant states and the active-duty military."

Many of the members of the National Guard are also emergency medical technicians and firefighters. They should be at home helping their neighbors recover from this disaster, not in Iraq maintaining an illegal occupation.

Contempt for Environment exacerbates disaster

The flooding is exacerbated by the elimination of wetlands, which provide a natural buffer. The Bush Administration has removed Federal protection from as much as 20 million acres of wetlands.

The Bush Administration has demonstrated utter disregard for human life and contempt for international law by refusing to abide by the 1997 Kyoto accord, a treaty signed by the United States and 54 other nations. The agreement is designed to limit emissions that cause global warming.

Sir David King, the British Government's chief scientific adviser, says that global warming may be responsible for the devastation reaped by Hurricane Katrina. "The increased intensity of hurricanes is associated with global warming. We have known since 1987 the intensity of hurricanes is related to surface sea temperature and we know that, over the last 15 to 20 years, surface sea temperatures in these regions have increased by half a degree centigrade. So it is easy to conclude that the increased intensity of hurricanes is associated with global warming."

Loss of life is avoidable – Cuba a U.N. model

The massive loss of life in Louisiana and Mississippi was avoidable, if those making decisions were interested in funding emergency measures rather than spending money on war and occupation. Cuba lies directly in the path of many hurricanes, and yet the loss of life is usually minimal, because the government has systems in place to aid orderly evacuations, provide emergency shelter, and look after the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor.

In 2001, when Hurricane Michelle, a level-4 storm, hit with sustained 125-mile-per-hour winds and widespread floods, more than 700,000 people were evacuated. Only five Cubans lost their lives in the storm.

In September 2004, Cuba endured Ivan, the fifth-largest hurricane ever to hit the Caribbean, with sustained winds of 124 miles per hour. Cuba evacuated almost 2 million people--more than 15 percent of the total population. One hundred thousand people were evacuated within the first three hours. An incredible 78 percent of those evacuated were welcomed into other people's homes. Children at boarding schools were moved. Animals and birds were moved. No one was killed. The UN declared this to be a model of disaster preparation.

Cuba, a country blockaded and isolated by the U.S. for 45 years has been able to evacuate millions of people in an orderly fashion without loss of life. Natural disasters do not have to be catastrophes.

Oil profiteering

Beyond the horrific loss of life and homes in the region, working people everywhere will suffer as the pay more than $3.00 per gallon for gas, as oil companies rake in record profits. In some places, gas has reached as much as $5.00 per gallon.

Releasing oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves could easily offset the loss of oil refineries in the region. Nearly 700 million barrels of oil are stored in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. This reserve was established to cushion oil markets during energy disruptions or other emergencies, and sitting on the oil rather than releasing it only keeps the price of gas high and ensures greater profits for the oil companies.

While George W. Bush and his friends at the Big Oil companies are growing rich from escalating oil prices, while working people, who are already suffering from the economic policies of the Bush Administration, have to spend more of their shrinking paychecks to pay for gas to get to work and school.

Venezuela offers to help while Washington refuses to act

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has demonstrated more concern for working and poor people in the U.S. than George Bush has. Chavez has announced that Venezuela will be offering poor people discounted gas through its Citgo chain.

He has also offered to send more than $1 million in oil, food, and and equipment to the region. In addition, the Venezuelan government is offering two mobile hospital units, each capable of assisting 150 people, 120 specialists in rescue operations, 10 water purifying plants, 18 electricity generators of 850 KW each, 20 tons of bottled water, and 50 tons of canned food.

A senior U.S. State Department official said he was not aware of the Venezuelan offer, and then dismissed it as "counterproductive."

The real looting: Bush Administration steals from working people to fund war and corporate greed

Rather than focusing on criminal neglect by the Federal and State governments, the corporate media is reporting that the real danger is looting. In an attempt to shift blame from the policies of the Bush Administration, the news networks are demonizing the victims. In a blatant appeal to racism, those being portrayed as “looters” on the news are without exception black males.

Tens of thousands of poor people have been stranded by a policy of neglect. Many are without food, fresh water, baby formula, and medicine, and the government has refused to provide even basic relief.

The real looters are not the hungry people taking what they need from an abandoned corporate superstore. The real crime is that they were left in this situation by a government that puts war and corporate profits ahead of human needs.

The Bush regime has looted billions of dollars of the people’s money, slashing programs that provide basic necessities and robbing from agencies that are tasked with preparing for natural disasters in order to fund a war of conquest against the people of Iraq. There are dangerous looters, but they are Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, not the poor people of New Orleans trying to feed their families. It is clear that the Bush Administration is increasingly putting the entire population of the country in growing danger by relentlessly slashing every social program, infrastructure maintenance program, and environmental protection program.

Money for Human Needs not War!

It is the Bush Administration, and the Big Corporations it serves, who are directly responsible for the disaster, and they, not the working people of the region, should be responsible for rebuilding and providing relief.

In a speech on Wednesday, President Bush said, “our hearts and prayers are with our fellow citizens along the Gulf Coast who have suffered so much from Hurricane Katrina.” But the people of the region need food, clothing, shelter, and jobs, not hearts and prayers.

He grinned as he said, “Recovery will take years,” but offered no plan to assist in that rebuilding. The people of the area need, and are entitled to, more than empty rhetoric and vacant smiles. The crisis demands a massive national mobilization to meet emergency needs and facilitate rebuilding efforts. The disaster is beyond the scope of local authorities or private charities to handle; the Federal government must devote its ample resources, which are now being used to wage war, to provide immediate and long-term relief.

We call on the Bush Administration to:

* Stop funding war and occupation. Use the money instead to fund emergency relief and rebuilding.

* Erase the debts incurred by working people who had to pay for gas and emergency shelter because of the government’s refusal to plan for evacuation.

* Provide emergency unemployment relief to the tens of thousands who have lost their jobs because of the devastation.

* Immediately exercise eminent domain to use all available space to provide emergency and long-term shelter to those left homeless.

* Provide a massive jobs program at union wages for rebuilding. Millions of unemployed workers could be hired to help construct housing, schools, and other public facilities.

* Food, water, clothing, medical supplies, and other necessities should be immediately commandeered for the emergency from agribusiness, supermarket chains, and pharmaceutical companies. Government food storage supplies in warehouses throughout the country should be made available immediately.

Watch a video from the Convention Center in New Orleans: "Desperate Struggle" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612 click on “Launch” under Free Video

September 10 Emergency Strategy Meeting organized by the Troops Out Now Coalition

Lang Center at the New School University
55 W. 13th St. in Manhattan
(between 5th & 6th Ave. )
1:30 - 6:00 pm

Now, more than ever, it is clear that we need a massive people's movement to stop the Bush agenda of endless war and cuts in vital services. Join us on September 10, from 1:30 to 6:00 pm for a National Strategy Meeting to help build a movement to Bring the Troops Home Now and demand "Money for the Gulf States , not for War!"

Topics will include:

* Hurricane Katrina : A campaign for emergency action. Help plan national actions to demand Money for Hurricane Relief, Not for War!
* Mobilizing for the September 24 National March on Washington DC
* Counter-Recruiting Campaign
* The Millions More Movement
* Dec. 1-3 National Boycott to Shut Down the War

http://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID4692830,00.html

(ARD) Ein ARD-Bericht beschreibt u.a. die Qualität der von Bush inszenierten "Hilfsaktionen" in denen Bulldozer an den Ort seiner Besuche transportiert werden - für Fotos und Fernsehbilder, nicht jedoch für den realen Einsatz, wie eine geschockte ARD-Journalistin bemerkte.

http://rs.net-hh.de/links.php?lid=22588

Please help protect the Great Bear Rainforest from logging by signing this petition. This is a time-sensitive petition, with the target date set for the end of September.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/462802826

If you have already signed, thank-you. Please pass this on to members of your network or those who you feel would be interested.

Sincerely;

Sharon Flathen


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Sharon F.

Many African-American leaders note that the victims in New Orleans were largely black and poor, those who toiled in the background of the tourist havens, living in tumbledown neighborhoods that were long known to be vulnerable to disaster if the levees failed. Without so much as a car or bus fare to escape ahead of time, they found themselves left behind by a failure to plan.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205J.shtml

Every catastrophe operates as an instantaneous revelation of the society it strikes, and Katrina is no exception to this rule. And what it shows in the mirror does not gladden the heart.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205H.shtml

Under Bush, the National Guard has been spying on peace groups. The FBI is infiltrating campus anti-war groups, knocking on dorm room doors to ask questions and interrogating college students.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205F.shtml

The Bush administration is making no secret of its determination to punish whistle-blowers and other federal workers who object to the doctoring of facts that clash with policy and spin.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205E.shtml

While hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the images that have filled the television screens have been mainly of black Americans...there was no escaping that race had become a subtext to the unfolding drama of the hurricane's aftermath.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205D.shtml

Ever stopped to wonder how many conflicts in the world would stop if multinationals stopped their ruthless clammer for the worlds resources?

Ever wondered how much environmental destruction would be prevented if the same multinationals were to embrace their social and moral responsibilities instead of seeing this as a marketting exercise?

It you've ever wondered this, and done a little research, your answer must be - a hell of a lot!

There is one brand of corporation that perhaps is the most ruthless, the mining companies. Do a quick search on organisations such as Rio Tinto or Anglo American Plc and you will quickly uncover a catalogue of environmental destruction and human rights abuses that is on a global scale.

These companies do not do what is right, they do what they can get away with, and spend vast amounts on "greenwash" PR that claims they are angels.

I've set up a new group - Against Mining - http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AgainstMines that aims to highlight the natural, environmental and human devastation that is often a direct result of the actions of these international mining corporations.

It is time we realised that until we tackle this problem, all the aid and poverty relief in the world is simply window dressing.

If you care about the world, you will care about the actions of mining companies and you will be welcome at Against Mining.


George


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: George Chaplin

http://www.petitiononline.com/migrants/petition.html

Late on Sunday August 21, 2005 a violent riot erupted by more than 1,600 ethnic, migrant workers building a mass transit railway project in Kaohsiung Taiwan. Workers set fire to their dormitory in southern Taiwan, burnt cars and hurled rocks at police after some were apprehended. There are estimated between 300,000 to 500,000 migrant workers on Taiwan many of whom are tricked into working on Taiwan with offers of lucrative jobs only to find themselves as slaves to "contractors" and "agents" on Taiwan.

Below is a petition the the Director General Juan Somaviaf of the International Labour Organization to immediately take appropriate actions to investigate the ongoing atrocities being perpetrated by the Taiwanese against ethnic minority workers on Taiwan.

http://www.petitiononline.com/migrants/petition.html


"To: The Honorable, Director General Juan Somaviaf of the International Labour Organization

We, the undersigned organizations, institutions, churches and individuals appeal to the Director General Juan Somaviaf of the International Labour Organization to immediately take appropriate actions to investigate the cause of the most recent violent riot by ethnic, migrant workers that erupted late on Sunday August 21, 2005 by more than 1,600 migrant workers building a mass transit railway project in Kaohsiung Taiwan. We demand that Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (ÄĵÆ) be removed and expelled from that position for her gross dereliction of her duties. Specifically to timely investigate and provide appropriate assistance to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers currently in the Taiwan area. We are appealing to the Director General Juan Somaviaf of the International Labour Organization to investigate the current maltreatment of migrant workers in the Taiwan area and to refer said findings to the International Court of Justice. We call for the formation of an independent oversight institution composed of migrant workers in the Taiwan area to take positive actions to prevent further violence as well as extend free, timely, appropriate and full assistance to all distressed migrant workers. Labor standards for migrant workers in the Taiwan area fall below the minimum standards of basic labor rights in terms of freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, equality of opportunity and treatment, housing, facilities for recreation, cultural expression and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues. We seek the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights for all migrants in the Taiwan area. The decision to migrate, in the same way as the decision to authorize or not to authorize migration for employment is an rational decision, based on knowledge of the conditions of work and life in the areas of employment and is needed to remedy general or sectoral labor shortages. Provisions for the protection of migrant workers do, themselves, have effects on the protection of the entire workforce that in protecting migrant workers against exploitation and stipulating first and foremost the principle of equality of treatment, followed by equality of opportunity and treatment with non migrant workers. The powers that be, in the Taiwan area fail to implement instruments and fulfill their obligation to apply, without discrimination in respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully within Taiwan area. We demand the protection of human rights for all migrant workers and an end to state sponsored discrimination, contemporary forms of slavery, indentured servitude and forced labor in the Taiwan area. Director General, the time to act is now. Migrants' rights are human rights!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned "

http://www.petitiononline.com/migrants/petition.html


Links:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/08/22/taiwan.thaiworkers.reut/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/taiwanteacher2002/index.html

United for Peace and Justice

ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545 |

THE GULF WARS

Statement from United for Peace and Justice

Sept. 2, 2005

http://www.unitedforpeace.org

The effects of Katrina are tragic, causing death, the disruption of lives, and the loss of property on an unimaginable scale. Although Katrina was a natural catastrophe, its effects were largely avoidable and parallel another tragedy unfolding daily near another Gulf, 7000 miles away. Both disasters flow from the criminal behavior of the Bush administration and are closely related. Much can be said about how long-term policies -- from denying the existence of global warming to permitting greedy developers to destroy protective offshore islands and wetlands -- may have contributed to the severity of Katrina. But now there are more immediate concerns.

FEMA and President Bush have failed to provide timely aid for the poorest people of New Orleans. They had no way to escape. They have been virtually abandoned for days in waist-deep polluted water, the Convention Center, or the Superdome, sharing space with the already dead, surrounded by stinking garbage and human waste, without potable water, food, or medical care.

This reminds us of Iraq, where the infrastructure has been destroyed by blockade and war causing people to endure sweltering heat, without electricity, medical care and jobs. Both disasters were predicted. Numerous studies anticipated that a major hurricane could flood New Orleans, while many predicted that the invasion of Iraq would punish millions of innocents, bringing resistance and possibly civil war. However, these studies were ignored by federal administrations, hell-bent on domination and profit.

In both the Persian and American gulfs, the poorest people suffer most. In both places, people of color are neglected and brutalized by racist policies. This ugliness is reflected in graphic images of neglect that come bursting daily from the TV screens. People desperate for necessities are now criminalized as looters. The New Orleans police were ordered to stop rescue efforts and instead protect property, and the National Guard has been given "shoot to kill" orders.

The war in the Persian Gulf impacts directly on the unfolding catastrophe in our Southern states. Budgets for flood control, strengthening the levees, evacuation, and relief have been inadequate and have actually been reduced. Last year $71 million was cut from the budget for flood control in New Orleans alone. Meanwhile more than $200 billion has been squandered in Iraq. Where are the giant helicopters that could rescue stranded people? Where are the giant air conditioned tents and the ready-to-eat meals that could house and feed refugees -- the same tents and meals that Halliburton provides so expensively in Iraq? Why are 35-40% of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guards in Iraq, on missions of death, instead of back home where they are so desperately needed?

Disruption of Middle East oil production (by the Iraq War) and refining capabilities on the Gulf coast (by Katrina) are forcing gas prices to spiral upward. These shortages are already being used by the big oil, pipeline and refining companies as pretexts to extort ever greater profits from the working people of the U.S. Because of this exploitation, the economy will be globally affected, potentially bringing inflation together with joblessness, a re-enactment of the "stagflation" that punished us during the Vietnam War.

Now, more than ever, our voices must be heard. Call the White House to demand immediate and effective relief efforts in New Orleans, along the Gulf coast and wherever the refugees are being taken. The White House phone number is 202-456-1111. And make our own contribution through either of these two special hurricane relief funds:

AFL-CIO – http://www.aflcio.org/

NAACP - https://www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php


END THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

3 Days of Peace & Justice Actions in Washington, D.C.

September 24-26, 2005

Visit our website today to download leaflets, endorse the mobilization, and learn more about the plans for this powerful weekend of action.

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/septmobe


Informant: Martin Greenhut

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

This from a friend. Her friend is a physician who was attending a conference in New Orleans.

Aug. 31, 2005

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandeered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreen's on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police escort The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the the French Quarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fighters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of clicho?= way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care physician. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuild will take. And the horror of so many dead people .

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MAY BE INTERESTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH.


Informant: Martin Greenhut

NATIONAL DAY OF EMERGENCY ACTION

Save the People of New Orleans Jobs/Income & Housing for All Displaced Families Real Relief – Yes! Racism – No!

Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005 Los Angeles Protest: 6 pm, Westwood Federal Building 11000 Wilshire Blvd (corner of Wilshire & Veteran)

What is taking place today in Louisiana and Mississippi is a crisis rarely seen in this country. It has provoked an outpouring of concern for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Millions of people across the United States and around the world are watching in horror at both the scale of suffering and the lack of response by the U.S. government. Thousands are dead or missing; millions have been displaced or lost their jobs and homes.

The African American community in New Orleans has been especially hard hit, and on top of massive suffering has suffered vicious racist scapegoating at the hands of government officials and the corporate media. The real "looters" are the big oil companies that are making super-profits by jacking up the price of gas and oil.

It is becoming clearer every day that this crisis goes far beyond a "natural disaster." The danger that a hurricane posed for New Orleans and the region had been known and discussed for years—with no significant preparations taken. The U.S. government and all its agencies are guilty of criminal neglect. The Senate relief bill of $10.5 billion—which equals just 7 weeks of the cost of war in Iraq— is completely inadequate.

Working people in the United States need to stand with the victims of this crisis and demand that the government take immediate and long-term action to give real assistance to those who have lost everything.

Join the protest on Wednesday, September 7 in Los Angeles and demand real relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina!

Stop Racist Scapegoating of the Victims! Jail the Real "Looters" – The Oil Company Executives! Money for People's Needs, Not for War!

National Protests Scheduled: Los Angeles: 6 pm, Westwood Federal Building,11000 Wilshire Blvd (corner of Veteran & Wilshire) Washington, DC: 5 pm, White House San Francisco: 5 pm, Powell & Market Sts.

For more info call 323-464-1636 or e-mail answerla@answerla.org.

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition-LA Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
323-464-1636 http://www.answerla.org answerla@answerla.org
1800 Argyle Ave, #410 Los Angeles , CA 90028 Join us each Tues at 7 pm for A.N.S.W.E.R. Activists Meetings.


Informant: idthomp

This is from Meria Heller....

A good one.

Annie


KATRINA, CAUSE AND EFECT - By Meria Heller
http://www.Meria.net
9/2/05

Hurricane Katrina roared through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and touched a few other states this week. The devastation is total. Many lives were lost; property damage in the billions and a toxic wasteland will be left in its wake.

Government response was shamefully poor, and the agencies that are overpaid to over plan for such disasters were rendered impotent. Although other countries offered to help, the President of the United States refused it.

People now talk about rebuilding the cities discounting the toxicity of the air, water, buildings and land. Chemical plants, oil refineries, dead bodies, sewerage, dead animals are only the tip of the toxic iceberg.

For the past thirty years or so there has been a strong environment movement and education taking place in the United States. There has also been a new spiritual movement incorporating respect and understanding of the planet, Gaia - Earth. Many people, politicians, religions have chosen to ignore the work of Nobel prize winning scientists on runaway global warming and destruction. Humankind has chosen to ignore common sense when building on or over nature.

If your house is made of sand, don't be surprised when the ocean takes it way. If you build your house near a volcano, don't be surprised when the lava flows. If you trust your body and soul to a politician or religious figure, don't be surprised when your soul is lost. If you're waiting for someone else to run your life, you'll lose it.

Centuries ago, humanity knew how to live with and respect nature. There were many rituals and offerings to spirit keepers of all forms for all the beauty and life given by Planet Earth. People knew how to share the bounty of Earth with each other, and money did not exist. Ownership of the land did not exist. To take something from nature without an offering in return was unheard of. To see your brother or sister (two legged, four legged, crawling, swimming) in need and not help was unheard of.

We are taught in school about cause and effect. We are taught that for every action there is an equal reaction. When the Earth is invaded through mines, bombs, etc., she may release certain gases, dis-eases to protect herself from further invasion. If "shock and awe" goes off in the Middle East, "shock and awe" will come back at us. This is common sense and common science.

When man thinks he can manipulate nature and the weather, nature and weather will manipulate man. There has never been an instance where man can beat nature, yet for his stupidity and rigidity he continues to try. How much manipulation of the Earth, the weather, the resources has man been guilty of? Well, for every action there is an equal reaction.

I myself have been an environmentalist for the past 30 years. I co-host twice a month a show called "The Earth News Hour". I walk my talk, drive my talk, write my talk, and then wait on the events based on common sense to unfold.

We are now in the age of the superstorms. We will NEVER have "normal" weather again. Global warming is out of control, greedy Corporations run and ruin the planet and the time is way past due to develop alternate lifestyles that compliment the Earth.

People ask me "where can I move?" " what should I store?" and similar questions. The answer is simple (corny but simple) "wherever you go, there you are". There is NOWHERE to move. The One World Order minions, greedy corporations, pollution is everywhere. What should you store? Look at Louisiana for that answer. It's all been swept away.

The best place to move is inside yourself. Live about 10 inches from your head inside your heart. The best things to store up is your spiritual wardrobe. Who are you? What do you stand for? Are you brave enough to stand up for the Planet and the people? What are you driving? Eating? Buying? Sharing?

We are living in very exciting, interesting times. Many prophecies have been written about these times. Knowledge and respect for the planet will tell you all you need to know in times of uncertainty. Surely the animals know how to get out of harm's way and survive without jobs. Are we any less? We live in the days of all the "isms" falling. Catholicism, Capitalism, Communism, etc.

Perhaps the reaction from Katrina will be the realization that we don't need a Federal Government. We don't need wars. We don't need to be a nation of consumers. What we do need is love for each other. Friendship with the whole world. Technology and dollars spent to clean up the mess we've made of our home - Earth. The message of the medicine wheel is the same now as it's always been "live in a sacred manner or die". Imagine a huge medicine wheel filled with love encircling the planet. Pray for peace. Send your love out worldwide! Perhaps Katrina will have saved the planet by the time all is said and done. Pray for all living things,

Meria

"THE MERIA HELLER SHOW "- Now in it's 6th Year On The Net- #1 on Net! http://www.Meria.net

"Meria is the best weapon of Mass instruction we have" - Greg Palast

My book "Reinventing The Wheel, The Universal Wheel: Tool of Global Unity" is now available exclusively through the website ! Order your copy today! Solutions!! Peace!! Unity!!

(CNN) Der Chef der amerikanischen Zivilschutz-Behörde FEMA Michael Brown erklärte drei Tage nach dem Durchzug des Hurrican Katrina, dass die Opfer für ihr Schicksal selbst verantwortlich seien. Sie hätten die Aufforderung zur Evakuierung befolgen sollen. Er ging nicht darauf ein, wie die Mittellosen, Alten und Kranken dies hätten realisieren sollen.

http://links.net-hh.de?lid=22586
http://tinyurl.com/78u49

At a meeting 11 days ago in Chicago, representatives from 900 unions worldwide coalesced around a common idea: Turn up the pressure on Wal-Mart globally to boost pay and benefits.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090205LA.shtml

Organizers are planning what they say will be the largest anti-war demonstration in the nation's capital since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205S.shtml

In a statement issued Friday September 2nd, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) lambasted the Administration's slow response and lack of action to help the Gulf Coast communities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205Q.shtml

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

1 Sept. 2005 WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi.

KBR has not been asked to repair the levees destroyed in New Orleans which became the primary cause of most of the damage.

Since 1989, governments worldwide have awarded $3 billion in contracts to KBR's Government and Infrastructure Division to clean up damage caused by natural and man-made disasters.

Earlier this year, the Navy awarded $350 million in contracts to KBR and three other companies to repair naval facilities in northwest Florida damaged by Hurricane Ivan, which struck in September 2004. The ongoing repair work involves aircraft support facilities, medium industrial buildings, marine construction, mechanical and electrical improvements, civil construction, and family housing renovation.

In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration.

Today, FEMA is widely criticized for its slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Allbaugh managed Bush's campaign for Texas governor in 1994, served as Gov. Bush's chief of staff and was the national campaign manager for the Bush campaign in 2000. Along with Karen Hughes and Karl Rove, Allbaugh was one of Bush's closest advisers.

"This is a perfect example of someone cashing in on a cozy political relationship," said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington watchdog group. "Allbaugh's former placement as a senior government official and his new lobbying position with KBR strengthens the company's already tight ties to the administration, and I hope that contractor accountability is not lost as a result."


Informant: Milo

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343799


Informant: Milo

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205R.shtml


Informant: Anna Webb

**** Personal Call for Action **** This is Not a Press Release or Related to any Voting Issues **** Strictly Personal Letter

Please flood the Whitehouse and former Utah Governor Leavitt with requests to send the buses to evacuate New Orleans and act like the Christians they claim to be. Lines of buses are sitting outside New Orleans while people die!! Take the people anywhere where there is running water and dirt to dig an outhouse and let other people bring them tents and food!! (or drop the New Orleans refugees off at truck stops - anywhere with water and sanitation where volunteers can reach them.)

Whitehouse emails are:

comments@whitehouse.gov and vice_president@whitehouse.gov

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

Why we have not evacuated the stranded in New Orleans, is more than I can comprehend! Nor did I understand why buses were not sent in to evacuate the vehicle-less indigent BEFORE the hurricane hit when everyone knew that New Orleans would be flooded.

Do we have to drive to New Orleans ourselves to pick up those people or is the President going to order the buses in to pick them up?

At least someone should have TOLD us that the authorities would not even allow the buses to evacuate all the people, so that real Christians and other spiritually mature folks in America could have driven there ourselves to rescue people from death!!

I am outraged!

Do I have to drive to New Orleans myself to help evacuate the rest of the people there?

Why are they rescuing them out of flooded homes, only to let them die on the pavement inside the city?

What is the matter with this Whitehouse and our former Governor Leavitt that they let people die needlessly rather than evacuate New Orleans immediately?

Do they not understand that bringing more people into a city without water or sanitation is illogical, unintelligent, and will only cause more deaths? New Orleans needs to be evacuated for many months - or perhaps for good - at least until it is habitable!

Why are they keeping people in New Orleans who want to leave? This is America. We are not supposed to enslave Black people to let them die on slave ships any more. These people want to leave New Orleans. Get them OUT of New Orleans now before more of them die!

To keep these victims in New Orleans any longer is the height of moral bankruptcy!

Yet I hear Mike Leavitt, former Utah Governor and Director of Human Health now, talking as though he plans to keep those people in New Orleans indefinately - even though they want to leave. That is called slavery! And it is even worse because it is obvious that they will die if left in the unsanitary conditions in New Orleans now.

Am I wrong? If so, please explain it to me?

Any open pasture or forest land with a clean stream running through it, or a well, would be more survivable than New Orleans is now. Let those people go!


Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org

Reasonable robustness, and phrased their statements a little more carefully:

Anti-Phone Tower Leaflet Criticised
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/13942.php

Advertising standards matters when you're posting stuff around.

Andy

Monday, September 05, 2005 8:51 PM

Subject: Obviously people have huge concerns about mobile phones.

Here is another wireless gimmick that people are sure to trust??? I wonder who calibrates this monitoring equipement?? It would be nice if someone in the area were able to check the radiation densities with a properely calibrated spectrum analyzer. We already know that the WHO maximumums are too high and killing us, so what else is new??

Regards Robert

"We thought if people could check themselves - on a weekly basis if necessary - the actual levels against the World Health Organisation maximums then that could provide some reassurance."

I ask -WHAT DO THEY DO ABOUT THE HEADACHE ??

Oh I forgot, there are drugs for that!! -- RER Residents check phone mast levels Residents worried about mobile phones can now use the internet to keep track of the level of emissions from masts.

The joint project between Vodafone and Oxford City Council - named Cassiopea - will record emission levels in the Cowley area of the city.

This data will then be made available as a graph on the council's website, compared to the recommended maximum.

Authorities say the small mobile unit - which is solar-powered - will be moved to other areas of Oxford in the future.

'Huge concerns'

The machine will detect Electro-Magnetic Fields (EMFs) from all sources, not only mobile phones but also origins as diverse as taxi firms and baby listening devices.

Jane Frapwell, who is running the project for Vodafone, told the BBC News website the company had provided training and information to the council but was taking a back seat.

"We've consciously decided to do that, so people can be reassured it's independent," she said .

"Obviously people have huge concerns about mobile phones.

"We thought if people could check themselves - on a weekly basis if necessary - the actual levels against the World Health Organisation maximums then that could provide some reassurance."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4202798.stm
Published: 2005/08/31 18:24:40 GMT

© BBC MMV http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4202798.stm

--------

THE HEADACHE ?? It's just in people mind: It is a problem of public perception ! The WHO published a booklet on how to deal with public perception on EMF, so here is one of the fruits of the hard work. Put an "independent" monitoring equipment to make sure that the headaches stand in the ICNIRP standard. The population is in a very well controlled study, everything is under control, no need to worry. We will have to wait with the headaches for the conclusive proof.

Iris Atzmon.

--------

Check online to see how masts affect you
http://new.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=enonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED31%20Aug%202005%2013%3A48%3A53%3A493

Residents check phone mast levels
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4202798.stm

Now think what it actually means.

Vodaphone will prove to the world, to everyone concerned, to every campaigner, to every Council and planner, that their masts will not make people warm, because they comply hugely with the guidelines on acute exposure.

How many of these people will be reminded that there are no guidelines on chronic low-level exposure to comply with, and that this is where all the real worries lie?

Andy

Red Cross cannot enter New Orleans - National Guard orders
Posted by Beam Me Up
Added to homepage Sat Sep 03rd 2005, 01:03 AM ET

Red Cross

* Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

* The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524

Discuss this topic (43 responses)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4598834

http://www.democraticunderground.com/


Informant: sash

http://www.lesverts.fr/article.php3?id_article=1256

Our health is threatened. Experts have been launching the alarm, but their voice is choked and their works are ignored. The stakes are however big: how to avoid the announced development of true epidemics not only of cancer, asthma, autoimmune or neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer), but also of new pathologies? It is known, the carcinogenic character of asbestos was proven since 1950. However, asbestos was only forbidden in France in 1997! This scandal should not be reproduced. It is thus essential to listen to the "launchers of alarm". Who are they? What new medical dangers do they highlight? How do lobbies act when they face them?

This book brushes an interesting panorama of the great public health stories and the research now in progress. The authors also bring answers, with precise proposals for a recasting of our system of medical safety, in order to guarantee the freedom of the people who research and the listening of the civil society to the service of a true precaution and prevention policy. André Cicolella is a researcher in environmental health, specialized in the evaluation of the medical risks for an establishment of public research. Launcher of alarm himself, he is at the origin of the awakening related to glycol ethers, chemicals very largely used. This situation resulted in the first decisions of the Court of cassation on the protection of the launchers of alarm. President of the Fondation Sciences citoyennes since its creation in 2002, in charge for the Commission health of the Greens, it is also at the origin of the creation of the French Agency of medical safety of environment (AFSSE) with the deputy André Aschieri. Dorothée Benoit Browaeys is a scientific journalist. She is co-founded the electronic review http://www.vivantinfo.com and VivAgora association for the public discussion on the scientific and technical choices.

--------

Alertes santé, experts et citoyens face aux intérêts privés, André Cicolella et Dorothée Benoit Browaeys, Fayard, 2005, 432 p., 22 €

Notre santé est menacée. Des experts lancent l’alerte, mais leur voix est étouffée et leurs travaux sont ignorés. Les enjeux sont pourtant immenses : comment éviter le développement annoncé de véritables épidémies non seulement de cancer, d’asthme, de maladies auto-immunes ou neurodégénératives (Alzheimer), mais aussi de nouvelles pathologies ? On le sait, le caractère cancérigène de l’amiante a été prouvé dès 1950. Pourtant, l’amiante n’a été interdit en France qu’en 1997 ! Ce scandale ne doit pas se reproduire. Il est donc essentiel d’être à l’écoute des « lanceurs d’alerte ». Qui sont-ils ? Quels nouveaux dangers sanitaires mettent-ils en évidence ? Comment agissent les lobbies auxquels ils font face ? Ce livre brosse un panorama passionnant des grandes affaires de santé publique et des recherches en cours. Les auteurs apportent également des réponses, avec des propositions précises de refonte de notre système de sécurité sanitaire, afin de garantir la liberté du chercheur et l’écoute de la société civile au service d’une vraie politique de prévention et de précaution. André Cicolella est chercheur en santé environnementale, spécialiste de l’évaluation des risques sanitaires dans un établissement de recherche publique. Lanceur d’alerte lui-même, il est à l’origine de la prise de conscience liée aux éthers de glycol, produits chimiques très largement utilisés. Cette affaire s’est traduite par la première jurisprudence de la Cour de cassation sur la protection des lanceurs d’alerte. Président de la fondation Sciences citoyennes depuis sa création en 2002, responsable de la Commission santé des Verts, il est également à l’origine de la création de l’Agence française de sécurité sanitaire de l’environnement (AFSSE) avec le député André Aschieri. Dorothée Benoit Browaeys est journaliste scientifique. Elle est cofondatrice de la revue électronique www.vivantinfo.com et de l’association VivAgora pour le débat public sur les choix scientifiques et techniques.


Informant: NO LOGO

Owning the Weather in 2025
http://tinyurl.com/2dvj6t


Informant: Amy Sasser

From ufpj-news


--------

Weather Modification Operations and Research Act '05
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=90418;show_parent=1
http://www.apfn.net/MESSAGEBOARD/06-07-05/discussion.cgi.12.html

--------

In 2025, US aerospace forces can "own the weather"

EXCELLENT!! Thank You very much...I'll pass it on.

Annie


In a message dated 9/2/2005 5:47:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, smilingmoon14 writes:

Specific information on weather modification by the government

The one piece of definitive weather manipulation from the past is in my copy of the April 1982, Volume 14, Number 1, issue of THE JOURNAL OF WEATHER MODIFICATION. It carries an article on Project Popeye entitled "Weather Modification in Southeast Asia, 1966-1972." As the abstract says "An inter-service rain-increasing program was introduced into the Vietnam conflict specifically to impede North Vietnamese infiltration through the Laotian panhandle..." These events are far enough behind us that you can look up something on the historical record. For more recent events, although I have a lot of suspicions about specific cases, the actual evidence doesn't go beyond proof of a theoretical capability. The copy that I have of the 1995 Air Force report, WEATHER AS A FORCE MULTIPLIER: OWNING THE WEATHER IN 2025, makes grandiose claims about how 'In 2025, US aerospace forces can "own the weather" by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications.' So I guess we're one-third of the way there (2025 - 1995 = 30; 2005 -1995 = 10; 3*10 = 30).

Patrick

The degree of the disaster unfolding in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina is unnecessary. This is a social catastrophe due to the disregard for human life by state and federal authorities. The impact of Katrina stands in sharp contrast to the result of a similar hurricane in July that hit Cuba-an island nation near the U.S. Gulf Coast, with much less wealth, but with a revolutionary government of workers and farmers.

When Louisiana authorities ordered the evacuation of New Orleans, the population of half a million was left to fend for itself. Those relying on public transportation were stranded. The federal government did not organize to fly people out in the 24 hours prior to the storm hitting land when evacuation by air was still possible. In the rush out of the city, those with access to resources faired far better than working people, as is always the case in a capitalist country divided into social classes.

The women, men, and children who waited for hours to find shelter in New Orleans' Superdome were subjected to humiliating searches as rains began to drench them. Razor blades, nail clippers, and other items used for basic hygiene were taken from them by National Guard troops. This affront to human dignity goes hand in hand with the treatment by state governments and their troops of desperate people seeking water, soda, or food as criminal "looters."

In Mississippi, where the eye of the storm hit, there was even less of an organized evacuation attempt than Louisiana. Tens of thousands of structures were flattened and the death toll is rising. While every layer of the population was affected, the impact is crushing for workers and small farmers in one of the country's poorest states.

The response by the revolutionary government of Cuba has been starkly different. Evacuations of more than 1.5 million people were organized there in July during Hurricane Dennis and a year ago during Hurricane Ivan. The government and mass organizations-from the Federation of Cuban Women to trade unions and the Union of Young Communists-worked together to make such massive movements of people possible and effective. Collective action and human solidarity were aimed above all at protecting the health and welfare of all people first, and then safeguarding vital equipment and farm machinery. This included ensuring that everyone had water, food, and medical care. As a result, the human toll was minimal: zero last year after Ivan, and 16 in July after Dennis. After each storm the government helped mobilize people to repair the damage and rebuild rapidly.

Natural disasters can't be stopped. But what happens before, during, and after them is not inevitable. It wasn't foreordained that thousands would die in Katrina's path. Cuba shows what's possible when working people hold state power with a revolutionary leadership.

In the U.S. now, the labor movement should demand massive and immediate government relief, an end to the treatment of human beings in need as criminals, a moratorium on farm foreclosures in all affected areas, and a federally funded public works program to rebuild the destroyed housing and infrastructure quickly.

http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6935/693502.html

Vol. 69/No. 35 September 19, 2005 U.S. Gulf Coast: social disaster unfolds in wake of hurricane (front page) BY BRIAN WILLIAMS

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama August 29, a social disaster is unfolding in the region. The catastrophe is of massive proportions in New Orleans, a city of half a million people, and surrounding areas. According to news reports, thousands of people may be dead, and the toll is rising. Up to a million people have been left homeless.

Signaling disregard for the plight facing working people trapped in New Orleans, government authorities declared a state of emergency to deploy additional cops and an armed personnel carrier to stop "looters." These are largely working people deprived of food and drinking water who are seeking basic goods to survive in the absence of timely government aid.

Prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, government authorities urged a major evacuation, which they later said was mandatory. Those relying on public transportation were largely stranded, with more than 20,000 taking shelter in the Superdome football stadium and thousands of others remaining trapped in their homes.

Those with cars who could afford the gas prices left the city-some 80 percent of New Orleans residents. But they were on their own to figure out where to go or stay overnight, with many unable to find hotel rooms or running out of funds.

"There's nowhere, nowhere to go. There's nowhere to eat, get gas or stay," truck driver Robert Smith told a Miami Herald reporter. Smith, who left New Orleans with his family of six, ended up stranded on Interstate 10 near Gulfport, Mississippi.

According to Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, who was interviewed on the August 30 CNN television program "Larry King Live," commercial airlines stopped flying into New Orleans a day before Katrina hit because they would lose money without any passengers coming in, even though the airline companies could have sent planes to evacuate people for another 24 hours. Neither the state nor the federal governments took steps to ensure the commercial flights continued or to use military aircraft in their place.

The biggest direct impact of the hurricane was on working-class areas in eastern New Orleans. An estimated 40,000 homes were flooded in St. Bernard Parish in that part of the city. As water levels rose individuals were forced to take refuge in attics and on their roofs.

In Mississippi, the town of Gulfport is virtually gone and Biloxi has been severely damaged. More than 100 are reported dead in these two areas. The death toll, however, is expected to be much higher once bodies buried by debris or under water are discovered.

The day after Katrina hit two levees burst in New Orleans, submerging 80 percent of the city in a swamp of dirty water, as deep as 20 feet in some areas, according to New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. On August 31 he estimated thousands have likely died in the city. These levees were not built strong enough to withstand the impact of a major hurricane.

Across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama more than 1 million people are without electricity. Power companies predict it could be up to two months before service is fully restored. In New Orleans residents have been told not to drink the water. The water flooding the streets there includes chemical and natural gas leaks, animal carcasses, and human corpses.

Some 3,000 people have been rescued by boat and air lifts as of August 31, reported Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitchell Landrieu. The rising death toll in the city is still unknown as boats were bypassing the floating dead bodies to reach the thousands still stranded in flooded homes, attics, and rooftops. "Officials said it could be weeks, if not months, before most evacuees will be able to return," reported the Washington Post.

Those who took shelter in the Superdome have faced unhealthy, sweltering conditions, with holes in the roof, no electricity or air conditioning, and inadequate toilet facilities. On August 31 Louisiana governor Blanco ordered the evacuation of the Superdome within two days. The dome is now surrounded by three feet of water. The Houston Chronicle reported that a plan has been worked out to ship the 23,000 people confined there to the Astrodome in Houston.

A good part of the government's response has been aimed at minimizing "looting." On August 30, the Pentagon ordered five Navy ships and eight maritime rescue teams to the Gulf Coast. The amphibious assault ship the Bataan with six Sea Stallion and Sea hawk helicopters is en route from Texas. A special command center has been set up at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to coordinate the Pentagon's rescue and "law and order" operations in the area. Some 4,000 Army and Air Force National Guard personnel have been sent to Louisiana.

In Mississippi, 1,600 members of the state National Guard unit have been deployed. "I have instructed the Highway Patrol and the National Guard to treat looters ruthlessly," said Mississippi governor Haley Barbour.

The employers and the government are using the catastrophe to push for acceptance of even higher fuel prices. Oil prices shot up above $70 a barrel at the end of August, with gas prices at the pump hitting $3 a gallon. The hurricane shut down most of the oil and gas operations in the Gulf region, which account for nearly a third of domestic oil production and a fifth of natural gas output. According to Bloomberg News, this includes at least eight U.S. refineries with the capacity to produce about 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, more than 10 percent of the nation's total.

The response to Katrina by U.S. state and federal authorities contrasts sharply with that of the government of Cuba, which has been far more successful in organizing mass evacuations and minimizing the human toll during similar hurricanes and other natural disasters. In preparation for Hurricane Ivan, which hit the Caribbean island in September 2004, the Cuban government evacuated and organized lodging for nearly 1.9 million people. Many were evacuated along with their household possessions. As a result, no one died when Ivan hit Cuba.

Hurricane Dennis-a category IV storm like Katrina when it made landfall in Louisiana-slammed into Cuba in July. At that point, 1.5 million people were evacuated to safer ground. Sixteen individuals died from the impact of that storm.


Vol. 69/No. 35 September 19, 2005
(editorial) http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6935/693520.html
THE MILITANT

[Reprinted from post on soc.culture.cuba Google UseNet group. Presumably, an 'Amen!!' at the end of the message didn't get transmitted.]


---<thepen_ab@y...> wrote:

IS IT TIME TO BRING THE NATIONAL GUARD HOME FROM IRAQ?

After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We must DEMAND that our National Guard come home now.

http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm

The form above will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, and now you can send a letter also to the editor of your nearest daily newspaper at the SAME time, all with one click. Our troops in Iraq need to come home immediately. Not a year from now, not a month from now, NOW now. Is there not a SINGLE politician with the courage to stand up and speak the truth. When enough of US speak up it will happen. We must take PERSONAL responsibility for our government and what it does. Why are you not clicking on the action form below right now?

http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm

Is it the destiny of our country to be utterly destroyed in pursuit of vain foreign conquests, as was Rome so many centuries ago, to where they could no longer protect their own homeland? Is that what is meant by the words "finish the job"? What insanity misled us to this terrible PREVENTABLE tragedy, where pleas for critically needed levee repairs were ignored to finance war profits and tax cuts for this administration's personal cronies. They can't even recruit for the National Guard anymore because it's nothing but a ticket straight to a desert hellhole. Bring the guard home now.

http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm

Please take action NOW! Forward this email to everyone you know, and encourage its posting on blogs and websites.

Originally posted by The Pen to change-links


Informant: Barry Schier

{Comment on article below}

Of course, knowing the potentially disastrous effects of the predicted scenario, Washington did act: It CUT BACK funding for reinforcing the levees that kept much of New Orleans literally and figurately above water. -- Barry Schier

{Article}

Models predicted New Orleans disaster, experts say

By Alan Elsner Fri Sep 2,11:54 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virtually everything that has happened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck was predicted by experts and in computer models, so emergency management specialists wonder why authorities were so unprepared.

"The scenario of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was well anticipated, predicted and drilled around," said Clare Rubin, an emergency management consultant who also teaches at the Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management at George Washington University.

Computer models developed at Louisiana State University and other institutions made detailed projections of what would happen if water flowed over the levees protecting the city or if they failed.

In July 2004, more than 40 federal, state, local and volunteer organizations practiced this very scenario in a five-day simulation code-named "Hurricane Pam," where they had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed over half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents.

At the end of the exercise Ron Castleman, regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared: "We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts.

"Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies," he said.

In light of that, said disaster expert Bill Waugh of Georgia State University, "It's inexplicable how unprepared for the flooding they were." He said a slow decline over several years in funding for emergency management was partly to blame.

In comments on Thursday, President George W. Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

But Louisiana State University engineer Joseph Suhayda and others have warned for years that defenses could fail. In 2002, the New Orleans Times Picayune published a five-part series on "The Big One" examining what might happen if they did.

SCENARIO LAID OUT

It predicted that 200,000 people or more would be unwilling or unable to heed evacuation orders and thousands would die, that people would be housed in the Superdome, that aid workers would find it difficult to gain access to the city as roads became impassable, as well as many other of the consequences that actually unfolded after Katrina hit this week.

Craig Marks who runs Blue Horizons Consulting, an emergency management training company in North Carolina, said the authorities had mishandled the evacuation, neglecting to help those without transportation to leave the city.

"They could have packed people on trains or buses and gotten them out before the hurricane struck. They had enough time and access to federal funds. And now, we find we do not have a proper emergency communications infrastructure so aid workers get out into the field and they can't talk to one another," he said.

Most of those trapped by the floods in the city of some 500,000 people are the poor who had little chance to leave.

Ernest Sternberg, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo, said law enforcement agencies were often more eager to invest in high tech "toys" than basic communications.

"It's well known that communications go down in disasters but people on the frontlines still don't invest in them. A lot of the investments that have been made in homeland security have been misspent," he said.

Several experts also believe the decision to make FEMA a part of the Department of Homeland Security, created after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was a major mistake. Rubin said FEMA functioned well in the 1990s as a small, independent agency.

"Under DHS, it was downgraded, buried in a couple of layers of bureaucracy, and terrorism prevention got all the attention and most of the funds," she said.

Former FEMA director James Lee Witt testified to Congress in March 2004: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded.

"I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared. In fact one state emergency manager told me, 'It is like a stake has been driven into the heart of emergency management,"' he said.

Underlying the situation has been the general reluctance of government at any level to invest in infrastructure or emergency management, said David McEntire, who teaches emergency management at the University of North Texas.

"No-one cares about disasters until they happen. That is a political fact of life," he said.

"Emergency management is woefully underfunded in this nation. That covers not only first responders but also warning, evacuation, damage assessment, volunteer management, donation management and recovery and mitigation issues," he said.

{Preface}

For those who complain that police aren't doing anything in response to the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, in the interest of equal time, I reprint an article to show that police are doing something -- shooting to kill or wound "looters" and "fir[ing] warning shots at tourists trying to escape New Orleans." -- Barry Schier

{Article}

Police fire warning shots at tourists trying to escape New Orleans

Fri Sep 2, 2:24 AM ET

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Frightened Japanese, European and American tourists told how police fired over their heads to end their attempt to leave New Orleans.

Stranded since Hurricane Katrina hit the city on Monday, the 200 tourists were thrown out of their hotel on Thursday morning and said they were confronted by police as they attempted to get to buses to take them to safety.

Turned back to the centre of New Orleans, where looters were still roaming the lawless streets, the tourists huddled together on their suitcases under a pavilion next to the Mississippi River.

The hotel in the French Quarter told the tourists to leave saying their safety could no longer be guaranteed.

They said police gave them conflicting information. At one stage they were told to head to the Superdome arena or the city's convention center where deadly shootings and rapes have been reported among the thousands of refugees.

Later, the tourists were told to make their way to a highway overpass where buses would take them to safety.

The tourists dragged their suitcases through a notoriously dangerous inner city neighborhood, got drenched in a thunderstorm and were then turned back.

"All of a sudden, police cruisers rushed in with sirens blaring," said Patty Murphy, a 57-year-old saleswoman from Massachussetts. "They were shooting over our heads telling us to go back."

The tourists, one walking on crutches, then trekked back to the relative safety of the Canal Street ferry terminal which faces the police command centre.

It has been a desperate four days for the visitors who had no power or water in the hotel. At one stage they chartered buses to get them out of town only to be told the vehicles had been commandeeered by the National Guard.

"We are lost," said Ryo Gotanda from Chiba, Japan as she ate a military ration pack handed out by police.

"We are tourists we don't know how to get around how to protect ourselves, it is like being in a jungle," said Gotanda, who studies in New York.

The worst part, she said, was walking through the tough inner-city neighborhood. "People were staring at us, waving clubs. I was scared, for the first time in my life I thought I would die," said Gotanda.

Many tourists said they felt tremendous sympathy for the people who had lost everything in the disaster. But they also questioned the lack of organisation by authorities.

"It is incredible that a country as powerful as the United states with its huge military cannot do better than this," said 18-year-old Aitor Fuste from Barcelona.

The tourists spent the night under the concrete pavilion hoping they would be safe and trying their best to comfort each other.

"We are obviously very happy to be alive," said Genie Whitfield, from Leitrin, Ireland, who was on her honeymoon in New Orleans.

She and her husband had tried to get out before the hurricane but all the flights were booked.

"It has been quite an experience but if we have kids ... we definitely won't call them Katrina," she said.

A 94-year-old local woman, Alicia Schultz, joined the group. She was carted around on a hotel trolley by her son Wenteslaus who told of an action packed four days.

"She had to walk about a quarter of a mile from her home, then she was put in a boat. She was supposed to get on a chopper but it never came."

"We eventually made our way to the convention center where my mum got knocked out during a fight," he said.

"She has been out in the sun and the rain for 72 hours. She's a little disoriented," said Schultz, while his mother chatted happily with tourists and other residents waiting under the pavilion.

Help the victims of huricane Katrina with a free click of the mouse:
http://conservebirdhabitat.com/katrina.htm


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Chris Otahal

Exeter Express and Echo

12:00 - 02 September 2005

Exeter City Council has lost another planning appeal to phone giant Vodafone after turning down a bid to put up a new mobile mast. Last week, the Echo revealed how Vodafone had appealed successfully against a decision by the city planners to refuse permission for a mast at the junction of Sweetbrier Lane and Honiton Road in Heavitree.

Now another mast proposal - also rejected by the council on the grounds that it would "clutter" the landscape - has gone Vodafone's way on appeal.

The company applied last October to erect a 12-metre, third generation network mast, with three antennas and equipment cabinets, in the centre of the Magdalen Street roundabout, close to the Southgate Hotel.

Some nearby householders objected, citing possible health risks, and the plans were blocked by councillors. Now, though, a Whitehall planning inspector has allowed the application.

Exeter's head of planning services, Richard Short, said: "The main issue was considered to be whether the need for 3G coverage was outweighed by any harmful effect on the area's character.

"The inspector thought it unlikely that there were other practicable alternatives to the proposed site that would provide the required coverage. He saw that there were a number of tall lighting columns, a CCTV mast and numerous traffic signs on and around the roundabout.

"He thought the proposed equipment cabinets would be relatively small and unnoticeable."

The inspector also said the mast would have no effect on health.

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Terry Foster, who lives near the roundabout, said: "I can't understand why there's a mast going up when everybody can get a signal on their mobiles."

Vodafone said it had considered other sites further from homes but none matched its needs.

Mast row

Pontefract and Castle ford Express

ANGRY Airedale residents will be meeting mobile phone bosses later this month in a bid to stop plans for a 28ft mast in the middle of their estate. More than 500 objectors – backed by MP Yvette Cooper – signed a petition against the mast to be built on a patch of grassland in Elizabeth Drive.

Bosses from Vodafone have now agreed to meet residents at a special drop-in session at Castleford Civic Centre on Wednesday September 21 from 4-7pm. Petition organiser James Dakin, who lives on Elizabeth Drive, said: "A drop-in session suggests Vodafone wants to deal with residents individually instead of as a whole group. It could split people's opinions and we want to tackle the company together. "This is typical of what's happening across the country with these masts. Mobile phone companies and councils just railroad them through despite the potential health risks. I would have expected the council to at least allow us to put in our objections first." Ms Cooper said she had written to Vodafone three times to ask them to consult residents. She added: "I am appalled that Vodafone didn't meet residents before putting their planning application forward, despite having assured me three times that they would. "I am now urging them to conduct a proper consultation before anything goes ahead and that means listening to what residents have to say and not simply coming to talk to them."

A Wakefield Council spokesman said: "Planning permission for the mast was given to Vodafone on August 10. It was a delegated decision so it didn't need to go to full committee."

01 September 2005

--------

I will be sending this article to Prof Allmendinger who is in charge of the Arup study commissioned by the Government on whether the operators are adhering to the 10 commitments and their other obligations. Sian

http://www.wired.com/news/hurricane/0,2904,68743,00.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,68720,00.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts120.html
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=91340;show_parent=1



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

I am posting this to show you all that although life isn't great here, we have much to be thankful for. My spiritual sister, Spirit, is full Cherokee and works for the emergency services in Florida on the phone lines. She is pretty strong and always copes well. I am very close to her and knew there was trouble coming somewhere, which is why I phoned her. We firmly believe that what we are seeing and hearing around the world is the product of Man's abuse of our planet. In our own ways we are all campaigning against some of this abuse, so we need to be strong and united and move forward in a peaceful and productive way. If you pray, now is the time to add your voices to the world-wide prayers of many nations and beliefs.

Sandi



hi Sandi- i don't know how i made it until Friday but thank goodness- it has been a most heartbreaking week-those poor people in new orleans and mississippi - there is no bellsouth left down there so our office is taking most of the calls and it is so sad i have to unplug once in a while and cry. people call and tell me they can't find their families and it goes on and on. those people don't even have police protection so we have to take 911 calls and we can't do a thing for them. the police can't get to them anyway. they have been busing people to houston and dallas texas, and we have camps here in panama city for the evacuees. some other counties are setting up camps as well. we have all been working overtime and they asked us to work all weekend as well. but i don't think i can handle it. i am having nightmares and can't sleep from this. so this week i have come home and gone to bed. the scary thing is that if that storm had moved 100 miles east, it would be us instead of them. and the storm came 100 miles inland still the category 4-it would have wiped us out clear past the alabama border. i am only 30 miles from alabama. only 35 miles from the main bay, and 25 miles from an arm of the bay. i am really having a hard time with it. i really enjoyed talking to you the other night-i am sorry i couldn't hear you well. i was in a fog i think too! yasmin wrote an email and said her necklace is here in the title, but i cant open the email to read it-darn AOL! i hope you are fine-and i hope they get this noisy phone line cleared up soon-it's really a bother. but since the storm hit, it might not happen for awhile. i am going to try and send this-aol keeps kicking me off- love and hugs to you Sis. Spirit


From Mast Sanity

I had a long conversation with a pal of mine last night about why exactly, the US seems unconcerned about global warming and what, in all likelihood is the imminent climate catastrophe, which I think is worth sharing with readers.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10078.htm

It appears we lack the expertise and leadership to prevent or deal with a major national crisis. Why aren't these convoys and helicopters dropping in water, food, and medicine to these trapped individuals?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10071.htm

"Many of them were people without automobiles," - They were "people who couldn't afford a hotel room, who may have had no choice but to remain. And that means that the people who remain in New Orleans are disproportionately poor people, disproportionately African-American."

http://snipurl.com/hefk


From Information Clearing House

As Cindy Sheehan has so eloquently pointed out, using our children as "human cluster-bombs" to kill other children in never-ending wars is not a family value, it is the callous betrayal of our youth and the wanton destruction of our future.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10070.htm

By The Daily Mail

Here is a superpower that can crush at will a tinpot dictatorship - but then becomes so bogged down in the grisly aftermath of war that it finds itself unable to respond anything like adequately to the plight of tens of thousands of its own citizens engulfed by a natural calamity.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10074.htm

NOAA
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0901-04.htm

Disaster Experts Say
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0901-01.htm

Crisis Points!

From: Muriel Schmidt


Folks, This will be an important thread that will need to be monitored in the coming days. I can't cut and paste all of the crisis points right now...stay tuned....This is THE year folks. Top off your preps now....Diane

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=164556

The thing that many people are not figuring out yet is the bigger disaster about to happen.

The Mississippi River is impassable to barge traffic. That means nothing will go north that is imported in (oil, coffee, sugar) and nothing exported out (grains, steel, etc.).

Nothing will move until all the channels are cleared and the levys stabilized.

Oilstorm.

Game over.


From Be Kind Whenever Possible

How convenient for the oil industry that Hurricane Katrina hit just before the traditional Labor Day-weekend hike in gas prices. Now, John Nichols states, that instead of having to fake up some absolutely absurd excuse for jacking up gas prices, the industry can try and dupe Americans into thinking that they are suddenly paying $3.25 a gallon because of a storm.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205K.shtml

Many African-American leaders note that the victims in New Orleans were largely black and poor, those who toiled in the background of the tourist havens, living in tumbledown neighborhoods that were long known to be vulnerable to disaster if the levees failed. Without so much as a car or bus fare to escape ahead of time, they found themselves left behind by a failure to plan.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205J.shtml

An explosion jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over the city where corpses rotted along sidewalks and thousands remained stranded - crying for food, water and a way to evacuate.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205I.shtml

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/indexback177.html


Informant: Debi Clark

From the WMA Annual Meeting, San Diego, Ca. 2005; 16th Weather Modification Conference

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:QiCVBcXkFDoJ:ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/86444.pdf+verified+weather+modification&hl=en
or here in PDF: http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/86444.pdf


Informant: Debi Clark

By Wayne Madsen
9-2-5

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 resault 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.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/


Informant: beefree

Please forward-----post to appropriate web logs as a general question and appeal-- rewrite in your own words if you like...

Why are the soldiers carrying assault rifles instead of water? CNN is broadcasting images a military convoy of some (12 to 15) supply trucks driving through deep water into the New Orleans convention center area since around 10:30am PDT Friday, Sept 2. Tens of thousands of people are without drinking water or food, STRANDED and crowded onto the tiny islands of dry land, into the fifth day since the hurricane. These people are literally DIEING from dehydration. Many are already dead. I ask again: Why are the soldiers carrying assault rifles instead of water? Where are the WATER TRUCKS?

There are obviously boxes of food, good, yes, but WATER IS NEEDED, more than anything. Carry in the drinking water -- Large trucks full of drinking water are needed immediately. Emergency water treatment facilities need to be set up. Emergency water collectors and water tanks should be brought in empty and positioned to collect clean, fresh rainwater BEFORE the next rains happen. It may be months or years before this flooded region is dry again, and normal water treatment plants may be out of commission for just as long. Immediate temporary solutions can be quickly implemented as longer term solutions are put in place.

Call the Red Cross, call the National Guard, call the white house and call upon CNN and also FSTV and PBS and Amy Goodman--Democracy Now! to publicly DEMAND them to send more swift boats, military planes and helicopters to drop into remote flood zones with packages of food, CLEAN FRESH WATER, inflatable row boats, life rafts and inflatable zodiac boats, emergency radios and telephones, low cost individual solar water distillers and other emergency survival and rescue supplies.

Call at least several Congressional Representatives and Senators and any elected officials anywhere in the USA. Anyone you know who knows anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone in the white house or the Federal or State levels of government. Create an ever increasing public outcry against the further occupation of ALL foreign lands and the continued neglect of our domestic needs.

Where is the Fresh WATER YOU BASTARD? You are NOT HUMAN
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4550425

We are grossly underestimating the developing catastrophe in NO
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4531415

CHINA just evacuated 790,000 in path of hurricane, "W"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4565510


Informant: sash

You'll find this Bay View web exclusive at
http://www.sfbayview.com/083105/thisiscriminal083105.shtml

There you can read more about Malik in a flier from his recent run for New Orleans City Council. Please distribute widely.

'This is criminal': Malik Rahim reports from New Orleans

by Malik Rahim

Malik Rahim, a veteran of the Black Panther Party in New Orleans, for decades an organizer of public housing tenants both there and in San Francisco and a recent Green Party candidate for New Orleans City Council, lives in the Algiers neighborhood, the only part of New Orleans that is not flooded. They have no power, but the water is still good and the phones work. Their neighborhood could be sheltering and feeding at least 40,000 refugees, he says, but they are allowed to help no one. What he describes is nothing less than deliberate genocide against Black and poor people. - Ed.

New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005 - It's criminal. From what you're hearing, the people trapped in New Orleans are nothing but looters. We're told we should be more "neighborly." But nobody talked about being neighborly until after the people who could afford to leave . left.

If you ain't got no money in America, you're on your own. People were told to go to the Superdome, but they have no food, no water there. And before they could get in, people had to stand in line for 4-5 hours in the rain because everybody was being searched one by one at the entrance.

I can understand the chaos that happened after the tsunami, because they had no warning, but here there was plenty of warning. In the three days before the hurricane hit, we knew it was coming and everyone could have been evacuated.

We have Amtrak here that could have carried everybody out of town. There were enough school buses that could have evacuated 20,000 people easily, but they just let them be flooded. My son watched 40 buses go underwater - they just wouldn't move them, afraid they'd be stolen.

People who could afford to leave were so afraid someone would steal what they own that they just let it all be flooded. They could have let a family without a vehicle borrow their extra car, but instead they left it behind to be destroyed.

There are gangs of white vigilantes near here riding around in pickup trucks, all of them armed, and any young Black they see who they figure doesn't belong in their community, they shoot him. I tell them, "Stop! You're going to start a riot."

When you see all the poor people with no place to go, feeling alone and helpless and angry, I say this is a consequence of HOPE VI. New Orleans took all the HUD money it could get to tear down public housing, and families and neighbors who'd relied on each other for generations were uprooted and torn apart.

Most of the people who are going through this now had already lost touch with the only community they'd ever known. Their community was torn down and they were scattered. They'd already lost their real homes, the only place where they knew everybody, and now the places they've been staying are destroyed.

But nobody cares. They're just lawless looters ... dangerous.

The hurricane hit at the end of the month, the time when poor people are most vulnerable. Food stamps don't buy enough but for about three weeks of the month, and by the end of the month everyone runs out. Now they have no way to get their food stamps or any money, so they just have to take what they can to survive.

Many people are getting sick and very weak. From the toxic water that people are walking through, little scratches and sores are turning into major wounds.

People whose homes and families were not destroyed went into the city right away with boats to bring the survivors out, but law enforcement told them they weren't needed. They are willing and able to rescue thousands, but they're not allowed to.

Every day countless volunteers are trying to help, but they're turned back. Almost all the rescue that's been done has been done by volunteers anyway.

My son and his family - his wife and kids, ages 1, 5 and 8 - were flooded out of their home when the levee broke. They had to swim out until they found an abandoned building with two rooms above water level.


There were 21 people in those two rooms for a day and a half. A guy in a boat who just said "I'm going to help regardless" rescued them and took them to Highway I-10 and dropped them there.

They sat on the freeway for about three hours, because someone said they'd be rescued and taken to the Superdome. Finally they just started walking, had to walk six and a half miles.

When they got to the Superdome, my son wasn't allowed in - I don't know why - so his wife and kids wouldn't go in. They kept walking, and they happened to run across a guy with a tow truck that they knew, and he gave them his own personal truck.

When they got here, they had no gas, so I had to punch a hole in my gas tank to give them some gas, and now I'm trapped. I'm getting around by bicycle.

People from Placquemine Parish were rescued on a ferry and dropped off on a dock near here. All day they were sitting on the dock in the hot sun with no food, no water. Many were in a daze; they've lost everything.

They were all sitting there surrounded by armed guards. We asked the guards could we bring them water and food. My mother and all the other church ladies were cooking for them, and we have plenty of good water.

But the guards said, "No. If you don't have enough water and food for everybody, you can't give anything." Finally the people were hauled off on school buses from other parishes.

You know Robert King Wilkerson (the only one of the Angola 3 political prisoners who's been released). He's been back in New Orleans working hard, organizing, helping people. Now nobody knows where he is. His house was destroyed. Knowing him, I think he's out trying to save lives, but I'm worried.

The people who could help are being shipped out. People who want to stay, who have the skills to save lives and rebuild are being forced to go to Houston.

It's not like New Orleans was caught off guard. This could have been prevented.

There's military right here in New Orleans, but for three days they weren't even mobilized. You'd think this was a Third World country.

I'm in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, the only part that isn't flooded. The water is good. Our parks and schools could easily hold 40,000 people, and they're not using any of it.

This is criminal. These people are dying for no other reason than the lack of organization.

Everything is needed, but we're still too disorganized. I'm asking people to go ahead and gather donations and relief supplies but to hold on to them for a few days until we have a way to put them to good use.

I'm challenging my party, the Green Party, to come down here and help us just as soon as things are a little more organized. The Republicans and Democrats didn't do anything to prevent this or plan for it and don't seem to care if everyone dies.

Malik's phone is working. He welcomes calls from old friends and anyone with questions or ideas for saving lives. To reach him, call the Bay View at (415) 671-0789.


Informant: Debi Clark

I know you join me in sending our thoughts and prayers to our 40,000 Members and activists who live in the hurricane-stricken areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Many members of the NRDC family -- and millions of others -- are in urgent need of assistance as they struggle to emerge from the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If you are moved to donate, we recommend the following two websites that list highly-rated charities assisting in the relief effort:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/catid/68/cpid/310.htm
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/

Thank you for helping at this very difficult time.

John H. Adams NRDC Action Fund

This website was sent to me to try and help anyone searching for those missing. It is an extensive site.

http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Hurricane_Katrina_Recovery.shtml

Go in peace and love.


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Judianne D.

Tantamount to Negligence
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20848/1.html

Gleichbedeutend mit Fahrlässigkeit
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20849/1.html

by Greg Palast

Friday, September 2, 2005

The National Public Radio news anchor was so excited I thought she'd piss on herself: the President of the United had flown his plane down to 1700 feet to get a better look at the flood damage! And there was a photo of our Commander-in-Chief taken looking out the window. He looked very serious and concerned.

That was yesterday. Today he played golf. No kidding.

I'm sure the people of New Orleans would have liked to show their appreciation for the official Presidential photo-strafing, but their surface-to-air missiles were wet.

There is nothing new under the sun. In 1927, a Republican President had his photo taken as the Mississippi rolled over New Orleans. Calvin Coolidge, "a little fat man with a notebook in his hand" promised to rebuild the state. He didn't. Instead, he left to play golf with Ken Lay or the Ken Lay railroad baron equivalent of his day.

In 1927, the Democratic Party had died and was awaiting burial. As depression approached, the coma-Dems, like Franklin Roosevelt, called for balancing the budget.

Then, as the waters rose, one politician finally said, roughly, "Screw this! They're lying! The President's lying! The rich fat cats that are drowning you will do it again and again and again. They lead you into imperialist wars for profit, they take away your schools and your hope and when you complain, they blame Blacks and Jews and immigrants. Then they push your kids under. I say, Kick'm in the a... and take your rightful share!"

Huey Long laid out a plan: a progressive income tax, real money for education, public works to rebuild Louisiana and America, an end to wars for empire, and an end to financial oligarchy. The waters receded, the anger did not, and Huey "Kingfish" Long was elected Governor of Louisiana in 1928.

At the time, Louisiana schools were free, but not the textbooks. Governor Long taxed Big Oil to pay for the books. Rockefeller's oil companies refused pay the textbook tax, so Long ordered the National Guard to seize Standard Oil's fields in the Delta.

Huey Long was called a "demagogue" and a "dictator". Of course. Because it was Huey Long who established the concept that a government of the people must protect the people, school, house, and feed them and give every man or woman a job who needs one.

Government, he said, "We The People" not plutocrats nor Halliburtons, must build bridges and levies to keep the waters from rising over our heads. All we had to do was share the nation's wealth we created as a nation. But that meant facing down what he called the "concentrations of monopoly power" to finance the needs of the public.

In other words, Huey Long founded the modern Democratic Party. Franklin Roosevelt and the party establishment, scared senseless of Long's ineluctable march to the White House, adopted his program, called it the New Deal, and later The New Frontier and the Great Society.

America and the party prospered.

America could use a Democratic Party again and there's a rumor it's alive -- somewhere.

And now is the moment, as it was in '27. As the bodies float in the streets of New Orleans, now is not the time for the Democrats to shirk and slink away, bleating they can't "politicize" this avoidable disaster.

Seventy-six years ago this week, Huey Long was shot down, assassinated at the age of 43. But the legacy of his combat remains, from Social Security to veterans' mortgage loans.

There is no such thing as a "natural" disaster. Hurricanes happen, but death comes from official neglect, from tax cuts for the rich that cut the heart out of public protection. The corpses in the street are victims of a class war in which only one side has a general.

Where is our Huey Long? America needs just one Kingfish to stand up and say that our nation must rid itself of the scarecrow with the idiot chuckle, who has left America broken and in danger while he plays tinker-toy Napoleon on other continents.

I realize that the middle of rising flood is a hell of a bad time to give Democrats swimming lessons; but it's act up now or we all go under.

A pedagogical note: As I travel around the USA, I'm just horrified at America's stubborn historical amnesia. Americans, as Sam Cooke said, don't know squat about history. We don't learn the names of a nation's capitol until the 82d Airborne lands there. And it doesn't count if you've watched a Ken Burns documentary on PBS.

I suggest starting with this: read "Huey Long" by the late historian Harry T. Williams. If you want to ease into it, get the Randy Newman album based on it (Good Old Boys) with the song, "Louisiana 1927". Listen to part of the song at http://www. GregPalast. com Do NOT watch the crappy right-wing agit-prop film, "Huey Long" by Ken Burns.


Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

http://www. GregPalast. com


Informant: gw

http://tinyurl.com/e2kz4


Informant: NHNE

Drive Out the Bush Regime people!!!

Immediate Proposal. Its time to act and organize in a new way! Response to the Gas Crisis and Bush Regime!

As you may have noticed, gas prices are going crazy and there have been rushes at the gas stations, some have even dried up. The Bush Regime has been busy passing off this 'gas crisis' as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Looking deeper we can see a link behind the severity of the disaster and the Bush Regime policies, particularly its' warmongering around the globe.

In fact, huge amounts of money have been diverted away from the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. The Army Corp of Engineers, who oversees ports in the US, has not hidden the reasons for this. Money was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq. Though nature is a powerful thing in its' own right, the outrageous neglect of the Bush Regime has contributed to the severity of this disaster.

World Can't Wait supporters and all those outraged by this are encouraged to go to gas stations in their area and talk to people about the World Can't Wait Call, available here ( http://www.worldcantwait.org/WCW_Call_8-22.pdf ). This call Speaks to the severity of these times and shows what has to be done - to drive the Bush Regime from Power. Take out this call today, tomorrow and throughout this crisis. Let people know of the negligence and illegitimacy of the Bush Regime!!!

Atlanta World Can't Waiters have already begun to do this. The responses so far have been overwhelmingly positive. At just a couple of gas station, hundreds of flyers went out, contacts were made, and a number of stacks went out. One High School teacher took a stack to pass out to his students.

This is a great opportunity to take out this call and unleash more people to turn their outrage into a movement to bring about a future worth living in!

The World Can't Wait flyers are available online at http://www.worldcantwait.org/WCW_Call_8-22.pdf or get in touch with the Atlanta Committee via email or phone (below). Let us know how many flyers you need and give us a phone number to get back in touch with you.

Lilith and Janx Atlanta Committee
worldcantwaitatl@yahoo.com
(TOLL-FREE) 866-370-5404


Informant: Debi Clark

The first US catastrophe of the post-911 world and it went about as many of us would have predicted.

People of color/ poor people/ people who possess no power were treated worse than animals.

Recall the very first imagess of people wading through chemical- laced, sewage-laden water and make every Black face White. Can you really imagine that the situation would have been allowed to deteriorate as it has?

Imagine middle-class white people in that hell-hole formerly known as the Superdome. Can't quite picture that? Oh..that's right. Black people don't really mind living in those conditions. And they like pickin' cotton too.

All human beings are worthy. But some are more worthy than others. Do you suppose the New York Times will publish biographies of each of the dead of Katrina as they did of 911?

Years from now will the public be still talking of the trauma these people (those who survive) experienced?

No, because what you get depends on who you are.

What about the trauma of the Palestinians compared to the trauma of the Jewish settlers? One is huge and we hear little or nothing about it. One is small and we hear about it every day for a week.

The government does not care for the least of us. That should not come as a surprise.

The least of us are treated differently. So one shot fired at a Chinook helicopter, and rescue attempts are put on hold. That is collective punishment. Just like one Palestinian turns himself into a suicidal bomber, so Israel invades and destroys entire villages. Collective punishment and racism. One of you did this to us, so we will turn our might on all of you. Doesn't matter that the one act had nothing to do with the other.

I'm glad to see the Black Caucus Jessie Jackson Reverend Sharpton and especially the Nation of Islam getting involved. What would Malcolm do? Malcolm would be there with the people sitting on the freeway, with the people outside the Superdome. If Malcolm were here, wouldn't be any bullets flying at helicopters trying to evacuate the sick and dying. Malcolm would know how to turn that desperation into constructive action. What would Mumia say? I hear Mumia's voice. I hear that distinctive cadence, can't quite make out the words. He will have the right words when words fail us all.

When all else fails blame the victim. FEMA head Mike Brown: "They" chose not to evacuate and now they are causing me all this damn trouble. Somehow 911 victims didn't get blamed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Damn. Ain't that just like Black folk, causing all that trouble.

20 foreign countries and the U.N. to date have offered assistance. Where are the corporate donations?? Where are the food companies, the water companies, the baby food companies?

What you get depends on who you are.

I recall trying to persuade people that Palestinians also grieve when their children die. I know..seems kinda like asserting that the sun rises, but there it is. If we were watching fair-skinned babies dehydrate right before the camera's eye..?

Charles Barkley, aka The Mouth, where are you? Sure would be nice if some athletes - or teams - or owners - gave even a couple of million. Chump change to them. Now that would be community service. Bill Gates - are you watching your TV?

60% of some police precincts not showing up for work!!? What is that about?! It got too hard, so I won't show up?

Hear a lot of folks are praying. I'm praying too. I'm praying for an end to racism. Those Black folk settled on the lowest-laying land in New Orleans, because it was land where no one else wanted to live. I'm praying for an end to classism. Those who had cars and money escaped. I'm praying for an enlightened leadership in our country which puts people above profits.

This is not a natural disaster.

Final comment: I never thought I would say this but I think for the most part CNN and MSNBC did a good job. Of course looting was exaggerated. In some cases cable news did a great job, such as when Anderson Cooper let his emotions show and actually broke down on the air. The reporters on the ground saw the misery and did not attempt to filter it. They did not sugar coat the horror. I shudder to think how much worse, if we were not seeing these images every day, every hour. I suspect that some of these reporters have been forever changed. Give them credit- they kept asking - where is the aid? They argued with the politicians and the bureaucrats and they challenged them. And (for-the-moment)Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans - Let's show some support for him when (if) this ordeal is over. He said the four- letter word, IRAQ and surely is going to be out of a job.


Informant: rasheedaas

Where is the food? Where is the water? Where are 500 buses to transport people? Where is the National Guard? (OK, we know where they are)

If you think "everything is being done" 4 days after Hurricane Katrina hit to help the New Orleans and other refugees, go to "airamericaradio.com" and scroll down to "9/2 - Click Here to Hear New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on sister station WWL" (interview of just last night -- Thursday night)

Here is the Mayor of New Orleans CRYING for help, not requesting, CRYING for help.

Keep pressure on bush until he acts to help the people of the southern states.

Contact your congress-members to pressure bush.

Call the White House comment line and hit 1-1 to get a live representative:

1-202-456-1111 (then 1 - 1) I just did & told them that I can't wait to see him impeached!


Informant: Debi Clark



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

by Thomas Wheeler

...Yet the supplies of fresh meat for the military grinder -- where losses in killed, maimed and wounded have been much higher than expected -- are drying up at a fast rate. In the U.S. the mass media war propagandists were elated to be able to report that, despite increasing problems, up until the end of fiscal year 2004 (September 2004) all military services (barely) met their recruitment goals except for the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves. Since that time the military recruitment shortfalls have quickly become a recruitment crisis for the Iraq occupation death machine. And everyone knows that without enough (at least somewhat-) willing bodies placed on the line in Iraq to operate the overwhelming firepower arrayed against the population there, the insurgency will quickly spiral out of the occupiers’ control. This means that in the immediate future Bush and Blair’s already-tenuous war and occupation could well be completely lost for a lack of enough willing cannon fodder....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Wheeler0901.htm

by Jason Leopold

Two years ago this month, a blackout plunged 50 million people in Northeastern U.S. and the Canadian province of Ontario into total darkness for more than a day, wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy. Now, it’s the devastation in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi wrought by Hurricane Katrina that has killed hundreds, perhaps thousands of people. The common thread in both disasters is that energy and environmental experts sounded early alarms about the potential for catastrophes like this unless the White House immediately took the necessary steps to upgrade the country’s aging power grid to stave off widespread power failures, and in the case of Hurricane Katrina, backed the Kyoto protocol, which aims to curb the air pollution blamed for severe climate changes that is no doubt the reason Katrina turned from a relatively small hurricane to a destructive monstrosity, due to high sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. While supporting the Kyoto treaty would not have done anything to prevent an act of God like Hurricane Katrina or the destruction left in its aftermath, it would have been a step in the right direction. Global Warming isn’t some harebrained scheme cooked up in a laboratory by mad scientists. It’s an issue that is as real as terrorism. And it’s just as deadly....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Leopold0901.htm

(Part I)
by Media Lens

Earlier this month, New Scientist reported the astonishing news that the world's largest frozen peat bog, comprising an area the size of France and Germany combined, was melting. According to researchers who have been studying the permafrost of western Serbia, the bog could unleash billions of tons of methane, a greenhouse gas twenty times as potent as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. If this were to happen, the consequences for the climate system, and for humanity, would be appalling. (Fred Pearce, “Climate warning as Siberia melts,” New Scientist, August 13, 2005) One of the researchers involved warned of an “irreversible ecological landslide.” Another concerned scientist said: “When you start messing around with these natural systems, you can end up in situations where it's unstoppable. There are no brakes you can apply.” (Ian Sample, “Warming hits ‘tipping point’,” The Guardian, August 11, 2005) In response, Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said: “If we don't take action very soon, we could unleash runaway global warming that will be beyond our control and it will lead to social, economic and environmental devastation worldwide.” (Sample, ibid.) But within just a couple of days, a surreal silence had descended. Where were the declarations by governments of radical action on energy, trade, transport and food production? Where were the impassioned newspaper editorials? Where were the urgent television and radio debates? Nowhere. One can only conclude that our society is, quite literally, insane....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/MediaLens0901.htm

by Jack Random

On the third day of hell, the president gets tough: “I have zero tolerance for lawlessness.” With all undue respect, Mr. President, you have a great deal of tolerance for a vast array of lawlessness. You tolerate corporate crime: fraud, tax evasion, no-bid contracts and cooking the books. You tolerate political crime: disenfranchisement, election fraud, slander and outing intelligence agents for political revenge. You tolerate international crime: overthrowing democratic governments, torture, attacks on journalists, the Geneva conventions and wars of aggression. You tolerate the pharmaceutical industry’s malfeasance, trading thousands of lives for arthritis relief. You tolerate intolerable labor standards both here and abroad. You tolerate industrial waste, poisoning the air, land and water, and contributing far more than your fair share to the problem that precipitated this “act of god.” In many ways, yours is the most tolerant administration in history....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Random0901.htm

by Mike Whitney

The changes that are taking place in the military under the deceptive name of “transformation” have nothing to do with national defense. Rather, the military is being converted into a taxpayer-subsidized security apparatus for multinational corporations. Its primary task is to seize dwindling resources through force of arms and crush indigenous movements that resist US aggression. On the home front, the changes brought on by transformation are equally dramatic. Traditional defenses provided by the National Guard have been substantially weakened to allow the Pentagon to insert itself into domestic affairs and establish an ongoing military presence within the United States. Donald Rumsfeld has already stated that the military will play a greater role in dealing with the after effects of any future terrorist attack. There’s no doubt that he will honor that commitment....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Whitney0901.htm

by Brandy Baker

Please, take my baby,” a woman stuck in New Orleans was reported saying as she gave her two-month-old child to a woman who was on a packed bus. The mother did not know this woman to whom she gave her baby and may never see again. This selfless act of saving her baby was reported on CNN: sandwiched between reports of “looters” and gunshots. I am having a hard time believing that the richest country in the world with the strongest military ever known to the human race was not able to respond more quickly to the tragedy in New Orleans so that more lives could be saved. Oh wait, much of the military is in Iraq fighting an illegal war instead of saving lives here in New Orleans. Billions of dollars that we need for events like this are drained by an illegal occupation in a land that most Americans knew little to nothing of before 1991....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Baker0901.htm

by Mike Ferner

What would it be like to endure suffering on a scale somewhere between a nuclear attack and Hurricane Katrina -- with nobody “out there” to mobilize assistance for you? That is the case today in Iraq....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Ferner0901.htm

September 2nd 2005

EARTH CHANGES TV NEWSLETTER

ECTV Adds Special “Hurricane Katrina” Page

by Mitch Battros – ECTV

The disaster and future fallout from the “Katrina” catastrophe will be with us for months to come. As a result, we have added a special “Hurricane Katrina” page to our website. It is on the left side menu. I have made this free to all. There is much to learn from what has happened; it very well may be a blueprint for events to come.

Katrina Link: http://www.earthchangestv.com/hurricanekatrina.php

I have spent the last 10 years in preparing myself, and through Earth Changes TV, my national and world community for the times we have entered. It has been told to us by our ancestors and passed down from generation to generation. The one harmonious message passed on by almost every ancient tribe from the beginning is… “change will come, and you will be different”. They knew of natural rhythmic cycles that came before them, and will be here after we are gone. Simply put, it is the rhythm of life. The Hopi’s speak of the end of the 5th World. The Mayan Calendar tells us of the time of transition (December 21st 2012). The Bible tells us of ‘Revelation’ in the end times. The Egyptians tell us of “Ra” (Sun) to return in the later years. The Aztecs show in their calendar a center glyph of the Sun with its tongue hanging out. This is translated to say “In this time, the! Sun will speak to us”.

I know some of you would like to think we humans are all powerful (at least in our present state of being) to change the rhythm (or cycle) of nature….Wrong. We are nothing but a flea at the end of a lion’s tail. Yes, you can make a strong argument that man is intended to rise above the angels; I cannot argue this. It is believed by many that an angel, as mighty and blessed as they are, will never be more than an angle. But for us humans, we have the capacity “to rise above the angles”. Most religions and spiritual paths affirm this knowledge. The principle of “ascension” crosses many beliefs, from Buddhism to Catholicism, to Hinduism, to Egyptians, to Countless indigenous tribes. But I think we can all agree, collectively we’re still pretty far from utilizing our higher potential.

Many disasters have been in our past, many disasters are still ahead. I suggest to you we should not fear the disaster itself, but our reaction to such disasters. Do your current actions and beliefs reflect the wisdom of our ancestor’s message… “change will come, and you will be different”. This statement empowers us to choose if the time of transition will be a painful one, or an enlightening journey. Have you taken the necessary actions of basic preparedness in your personal, spiritual, and community life?

See ECTV’s Survival Tips: http://www.earthchangestv.com/survival/index.php

Diskussionspapier

02.09.05

Mit einer scharfen Wachstumskritik an allen Parteien hat sich der Regionalverband Südlicher Oberrhein des Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz (BUND) mit einem "Thesen- und Diskussionspapier" zu Wort gemeldet. "Unbegrenztes Wachstum ist dauerhaft möglich und die einzige Lösung aller Probleme" sei die nicht hinterfragte Botschaft praktisch aller Parteien. Doch hinter solchen Aussagen, Wahlkampfparolen, Wirtschaftsinteressen, Wünschen und Problemlösungsansätzen stünden "unhinterfragte Mythen und der alte, zerstörerische Irrglaube, unbegrenztes Wachstum sei dauerhaft möglich". Kopfrechnen sei in Wahlkampfzeiten nicht angebracht. "Doch bei einem anhaltenden Wachstum von 3 Prozent verdoppelt sich das Bruttosozialprodukt alle 23 Jahre, bei 5 Prozent sogar bereits alle 14 Jahre", schreiben die Umweltschützer aus Südbaden. "Und eine Menge, die exponentiell wächst, vertausendfacht sich jeweils nach der zehnfachen Verdoppelungszeit. Dauerhaftes exponentielles Wachstum einer Wirtschaft ist nicht möglich und führt zwangsläufig zur Selbstzerstörung." Als Problemlösungsansatz könne es langfristig und global nicht dienen. Durch die periodischen Kriege im Laufe der Menschheitsgeschichte sei das bisherige Wachstum immer wieder unterbrochen worden. "Es wäre anzustreben, die aktuellen Probleme ohne großen Krieg in den Griff zu bekommen."

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11770

An Activism Alert from the Cultural Workers Consort...

Like all of you, the visions of what's going on in the Gulf Coast region for me defy comprehension. Detailed reports from NPR and Pacifica on radio, as well as CNN and others on TV, cannot explain just how its possible that thousands and thousands of people are caught in the worst disaster our shores have known. When I first heard someone say "this is our tsunami" I did not realize how correct they were. Words cannot decscribe the level of tragedy we learn of daily from the safety of our television screens or radio speakers.

Perhaps the saddest part is that, as usual, the people who are among the poorest in our country are also those in the thick of this nightmare. Economic conditions that kept people dangling over the poverty line for generations have now erupted into a local "third world". These poor and working class folks, some elderly, some children----all in great need---- have been waiting for aid and our federal government has surely been slow to act. Finally, days after the fact, Bush is taking a helicopter tour of the south. He broke away from vacation for this. Advocates for social justice cannot wait on this detached figurehead of the very privileged. Happily, many organizations have lept at the opportunity to collect much-needed funds and the AFL-CIO, for all its warts, has immediately established a Union Fund that will help many. Donations from everyday people are the only way to fight a problem of such magnitude. The following message is one way to help

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE AFL-CIO E-ACTIVIST NETWORK AND LETS DO THE WORK WE NEED TO DO NOW SO THAT OUR FALLEN SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN THE SOUTH MAY HAVE SOME HOPE.

In Solidarity, John Pietaro



Dear Working Families e-Activist,

Please Help Working Families Devastated by Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina has devastated working families in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Please help.
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/f7aV1q61jubU/

Click on the link below to make a tax-deductible contribute to the Union Community Fund's special Hurricane Relief Fund. Donations will be targeted to meet the most critical needs among working families.

(Click here)
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/f7aV1q61jubU/

No drinking water. No food. No electricity. No homes to return to. No workplaces to go back to. No schools for the children.

Most of us cannot imagine the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane left behind massive, unprecedented and enduring needs. Immediate needs for rescue, safe drinking water, shelter and food are staggering. The longer-term needs—help for working families whose livelihoods were washed away, for the injured and for survivors—are hard to imagine.

Those of us fortunate to be outside the hurricane's path must help—and we must help now. The AFL-CIO's Union Community Fund has established a special Hurricane Relief Fund that will target help where it's needed most by working families. We are working with the labor federations in affected states and with relief organizations to make sure your contributions help brother and sister union members whose lives have been turned upside down. Please click on the link below to make your tax-deductible contribution now:

https://secure.ga3.org/08/UCF_Katrina_Relief

Please give, and please give generously. We must match this human disaster with our compassion, and match our caring with contributions that will make a difference for traumatized working families now and during the long rebuilding process.

Caring about each other is what marks us as union members and working family activists. Let’s put our values to work right now.

https://secure.ga3.org/08/UFC_Katrina_Relief

Thank you for doing your part for working families during this national tragedy.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO Sept. 1, 2005

P.S. Please forward this e-mail to your co-workers, friends and family.

The Union Community Fund—labor’s charity for working families and communities in distress—is nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity. Donations to the Union Community Fund are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law.

Tell your friends and co-workers about the special Hurricane Relief Fund of the Union Community Fund. Please urge them to contribute today.

http://www.unionvoice.org/join-forward.html?domain=wfean&r=NdaV1q61jcgP

Here's a vision: all of us peace people across the country hire buses to go to New Orleans to pick up people and bring them back to our own communities.

There are reports of as many as 300,000 people trapped in N.O. -- Meanwhile there are people in all of our communities that are offering their homes for these people through Craig's List and MoveOn-- but the people in N.O. don't have access to computers or a way to get to these homes.

So, how about if we each send buses down there, pick up as many people as we can and bring them back to a place where they can be safe and comfortable?

Not only would this be a wonderful thing for us to do, it would also make a statement about the inhumanity of our government as opposed to the basic goodness of the normal citizens in this country-- We could even put peace signs on the outside of the buses-- good press.

Of course this would be an expensive thing for us to do, depending on how near your city is to N.O., but with some phone calling, we may be able to get funding from local businesses.

A number of us are working on this here in Boston-- please let me know if you like this idea and we can coordinate our efforts.

Peace and Solidarity,
Amy Hendrickson
peace@texnology.com
Brookline PeaceWorks Not in Our Name

From ufpj-news




UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090205_bet_life.shtml


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Something HAS to be done!

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

From Subject: Re: Mobilize to Save New Orleans

My father has a small plane and has been trying all week to get info on how he can help and he says he is being refused and that FEMA is lying on TV about having all their rescue teams on the way. He said he just got off the phone with the head of a 400 unit rubber boat FEMA approved rescue squad who are not being allowed to help. The FEMA folks he was finally able to get on the phone referred him to their webpage titled "How to Work with FEMA" that is all about how to become a PAID contractor - not a volunteer.

Meanwhile...

Nagin: 'No more goddam press conferences'

5:30am CDT -- CNN is rebroadcasting a radio interview with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He is demanding help, urging the nation to flood Washington with phone calls telling the CUT THE BULLSHIT. Where are the promised 40,000 Guard troops? Where are the 500 buses?

Audio soon.

PERMA-LINK http://www.total411.info/2005/09/nagin-no-more-goddam-press-conferences.html


Feds bar US' local govts from aiding New Orleans?!

Total411.info monitors LibertyForum fairly regulary and finds this has the ring of truth. Everyone around the country should confirm with any local officials you know personally and then call the White House and tell them to STOP BLOCKING AID TO KATRINA VICTIMS. 202-456-1414.

via LibertyForum http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php? Number=293930967:

"I just got this e-mail from a friend. I've cut the last names out, but I know this guy well enough to know this isn't bull shit".

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share a very interesting story with all of you. After watching CNN for the past few days Jennifer and I were trying very hard to figure out a way we could help these poor people out in New Orleans.

I wanted to personally find someone I could trust and work with so today I made contact with the Mayor of XXXXXXX, MD. who's an old friend, a member of the local Catholic Church and extremely experienced with disaster relief as he has been involved all the way down to South America personally rebuilding homes for three families with funds raised strictly out of XXXXXX.

XXXXXX is not much different from New Orleans and the coast as it is a barrier island and most of the Eastern Shore is below sea level and in flood planes everywhere.

Heck, most of you saw photos of our home early this summer and the flooding we had after a severe rain storm. I spent three days pumping the water off our property and thank God the water never came close to our home but we're 40 miles from the ocean. Imagine how Ocean City looked during and after that same rain storm.

Nevertheless, I called Jim YYYYYY, (Mayor of XXXXXXX) and asked him how we could help and to my surprise I could not believe Jim YYYYYYY actually sounding frustrated and even upset as he had already set up a task force completely packed and ready to go as of this past Monday morning. Jim was at a convention in Miami last week for disaster relief and hurricane relief when they were updated the entire time about Katrina.

When he returned home Sunday he immediately put things together to help out and get this, they had to apply to the Federal Government to volunteer! After Sept. 11th Bush created a new task force in which any disaster relief had to be approved by the Government and background checks would have to be done first before any person or group could go and help.

Jim had been waiting 4 days to hear something back and they have heard nothing at all. So if everyone wonders why these people are dying and why there's no real help like there was immediately while the Twin Towers were hit, this is why. In my opinion

I am outraged to hear they want to rebuild and use Federal Funds to do so in an area that floods out completely just in regular rain storms. If you haven't been there when it's raining then you have no clue how bad it is there. One thing we agreed upon is that XXXXXXXX does not have the poverty New Orleans has and it is extremely sad these people never had a real chance to get out because they had no transportation or money to get out. So before you throw money into relief funds, please wait and see where your money will be going. We need to help these people directly and not the Federal Government.

Jim YYYYYYY will once again be using local funds in which we will personally be heading down there and rebuilding families homes that will be in dry areas and not rebuilt in wetlands. The funds will be personally handled for probably three families and this is what we should all be doing to help. It's too easy send money to the Red Cross but it sure does feel better to give knowing your money is truly helping certain people directly. We all need to help one way or another. However, you needed to know why no one is truly coming together and helping these people the past three days and this is a fact. Hopefully you can find a local group that can help as well but if you want to know more about what Jim YYYYYY is doing just let me know and I'll keep you posted.

PERMA-LINK < http://www.total411.info/2005/09/feds-bar-us-local-govts-from-aiding.html


FEMA declares war on Louisianans' property rights

This is from the FEMA briefing held Thursday afternoon. Here's the C- SPAN video <javascript:playClip('rtsp://video.c- span.org/project/hur/hur090105_fema.rm')>. This bit starts at 24:17 --

REPORTER: Did you hear that today, people were refusing offers of rescue? We've heard over and over that today and yesterday that sometimes when approached by rescue teams in boats, some people say "No, we're staying." Do you know if that's still happening?

MIKE BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: I don't know if this is still happening. But I do know that it's happened some yes and it's happening some this morning... and I have no rationale to give you why that's the case....

Sometimes people just refuse to be taken away, and we may reach a point where we have to take them out.

REPORTER: That was my question. Do you force them out at some point?

BROWN: At some point if someone refuses to move, it will hamper the rescue effort, the clean-up effort, and at that point there will be a plan developed, a decision made, about how we will extract those people from the area.

Then at 31:42: REPORTER: There's been some talk by some Parish presidents, specifically the one in Jefferson Parish, about encouraging people to come back Monday. Do you think that would be an unwise thing to suggest to people?

BROWN: It's really incumbent upon everyone to recognize that we shouldn't do anything that's going to hinder rescue efforts, we shouldn't do anything that's going to hinder the recovery efforts it's still a very dangerous situation...

We will actually send a lot of urban searech and rescue teams that have been identified as having been under floodwater and we will check the structural integrity of those homes. And some of them may be reflagged where they cannot go in except with a local official, or with one of the team members to get what belongings they can and get out of there. It's going to be that kind of tedious longterm process that we have to do house by house.

-------

This last part is particularly outrageous. Most of the houses that will still be standing have been flooded before, and FEMA is going to play code-inspection games while people to get back in the city and get on with rebuilding. State and local authorities should not stand for this. The beginning of Brown's response here is a not-so-veiled threat against local officials to back off. If New Orleans is to be saved, state and local officials need to stand up to these fed thugs and the rest of the country needs to back them.

PERMA-LINK http://www.total411.info/2005/09/fema-declares-war-on-louisianans.html


Thursday, September 01, 2005

FEMA bars rescue volunteers from New Orleans Live interview on Fox News Channel at 9:43 am -- volunteer rescue worker indicated that FEMA has barred hundreds of rescue volunteers with boats from going into the city.

Pretxt for this is a purported incident of gunfire.

PERMA-LINK http://www.total411.info/2005/09/fema-bars-rescue-volunteers-from-new.html


Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Nagin: White House ignores pleas to save New Orleans; helicopters diverted

Total 411.info) 8:07 pm CDT -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has given a remarkable interview to WWL TV, broadcast on wwltv.com. Nagin said that the National Guard's Blackhawk helicopter carrying the sandbags to plug the hole in the levee on 17th St. Canal was diverted to rescue misssions.

Nagin said he called the governor, and that he and other state and local officials are unsuccesfully trying to get through to the White House to ask if the people in Washington know what they're doing.

The White House switchboard is 202-456-1414.

To ask the La. Air National Guard to ignore Bush's treasonous orders and plug the hole, call (504) 271-6262.

PERMA-LINK http://www.total411.info/2005/08/nagin-white-house-ignores-pleas-to.html


--- In ABORDC@yahoogroups.com, "Debbie Russell" <debstuff@h...> wrote: This is disgusting. We are the richest country in the world, by FAR, and we can't airlift food and water into New Orleans. People are dying and BUSH DOES NOTHING! FEMA (declared a national emergency on GAS, but not for PEOPLE!) & National Guard are not being called in. Red Cross is nowhere to be found.

RALLY at NOON; BRIDGE ACTIONS at 5pm; Meeting at 6pm

-----------------------------------------------------

COME HELP: NOONTIME RALLY AT CAPITOL: bring poster & banner & paint/marker materials to work on banners for 5pm bridge actions.

BRIDGE ACTIONS - 5pm: organize one of your own or find those at bridges over I-35/downtown. Remember that hanging banners over the railing is illegal, but holding banners above the line of the railing is not.

6pm MEETING: Meet at Enchanted Forest on Oltorf, 1 block east of S. Lamar to plug into organizing to help refugees in Austin. This is a beautiful piece of land that can house at least 100 people camping - with bathhouse and portapotties. Start asking friends and neighbors for tent/sleeping bags/pillows/camping chair donations (write names/numbers on all items, both bag cover and item) - and drop off to Enchanted Forest-just inside the beautifully crafted front gate, in front of the dome structure. Also need: water donations (large 2.5 gallon preferred over small bottles); food
(simple, non perishables); folding tables and ice chests (ice donations occasionally would be great!). If you can volunteer a significant number of hours to help with operations there, please contact me at 573-6194 if you can't show up to the meeting today.

A letter from a CodePinker:

(SEND LETTERS TO): comments@w...

To President Bush:

I heard on the radio this morning that a 10-year-old girl in the New Orleans convention center was raped yesterday. There are dead bodies out front and people inside without food and water. There are people in hospitals dying because the generators aren't working and the workers can't keep the patients alive without electricity to help.

The people needing to be rescued in New Orleans haven't seen FEMA or the Red Cross, and the governor of Louisiana says there aren't enough National Guard troops to keep the order.

This is the consequence of your war in Iraq. Utter chaos and American citizens dying of starvation, dehydration, and worse. I will have to learn to forgive you one day for these unimaginable sins, but I hope you never forget what you did to these people.

I heard you flew over the area in a helicopter two days after the hurricane was over, and that's it. At least have the decency to look like you care, to look like you're doing something. But better yet, get your act together and fix this problem. I am outraged and saddened beyond belief. I am not an angry person by nature, but as I type this, I am shaking with anger I have never felt in my life.

These people are dying. Do everything in your power to fix this.

Right now.


Informant: smilingmoon14

Here are some VERY GOOD points and questions.....IF WE can think of these good solutions....WHY can't they? Could it be ...They don't want to?

Check it out!!

Thanks Hazel!!

Annie

--

I listened to Air America all afternoon yesterday, 9/1. Many important points:

1. Only 72 Helicopters to evacuate 10,000 people.

2. Inflated boats could have been dropped from helicopters.

3. Small planes could have banners behind with instructions.

4. Wal-Mart and all stores should have opened to the public for free merchandise.

5. People stayed behind because they were told they would lose their jobs if they left.

6. The majority of the folks left behind are/were poor folks with no money at the end of the month and no way to get out..... was this intentionally created to eliminate these people?

7. Medical supplies could have been dropped.

8. Planks of water, food, medicine, clothing, etc. could have been dropped.

9. These people need Gatorade...and this should have been supplied and dropped....

10. My thought: All Greyhound and other buses and trains nearby should have been brought in before the hurricane hit and taken people out of there for free. The "authorities" knew the poor people had no money to get out.

11. Babies were taken out without their parents to who knows where....

12. No news shows mentioned......that bodies are all over the place and many were being eaten by alligators.

13. Looters were being arrested and handcuffed to be taken to......where?

14. My thought: If it is true that there are internment camps all over the US (800 supposedly) which are completely supplied, manned and ready for action....... If this is true, then why aren't they being used? Because this is a lie.....fear propaganda to keep the Internet distracted from true events..... These reports come out every few months.

15. FEMA has supposedly been training and having disaster drills constantly.... If this is so, why have they been unable to perform relief and organization?

16. Why is it that ALL of Louisiana's National Guard is in Iraq? Perhaps because they were waiting for this hurricane season to HAARP this particular area of poor folks, mostly black.......and guess who will most likely be doing the "reconstruction".....might it be Halliburton? Very convenient for "them" to now create jobs...

17. Where is the "knowledge" that Jeb Bush has about a devastation like this? Why is he so quiet?

18. AND WHAT IS GOING ON ELSEWHERE, IN THIS COUNTRY AND GOVT. THAT IS KEEPING US CITIZENS DISTRACTED?

19. Reports have been that the world has been offering help and this govt has refused help.

20. The idiot's main thoughts are about reconstruction.....with barely any mention of the people.

21. Was this a "training exercise" on a large scale.

22. Why haven't companies like Coca-cola, etc. offered free water.

23. Is this the start of martial law for the country?

24. Interesting that all military leave had been cancelled BEFORE this horror occurred...isn't it?

25. Something to think about........the TimeTraveller, John Titor, said civil war began in the US in 2005..... Also, I have heard that this summer was being referred to as "The Summer of Blood"...Why?

26. Where is Cheney?

27. There was more, but those are the things that stuck in my mind.

28. Do you really think that this was a totally natural event?

29. Someone was shooting at the military which caused them to back off and other relief efforts, too.....do you really think that these devastated people would shoot at those who were attempting to help? Or were those bullets conveniently fired by inside ops in order to keep help away so that more people would die?

I pray for the safety of all of us.


Informant: smilingmoon14

This is going on in the BACKGROUND???....As this disaster is taking up all the news.

It is to watch and be aware NOW.

Thanks Glen....

Annie


http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:IHkhQHsIFMsJ:rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/+%22Wednesday,+August+31,+2005%22++%22rigorous+intuition+%22&hl=en


Saturday, August 27, 2005

Threat assessment

/Put your ear to the train tracks, put your ear to the ground, You ever feel like you're never alone even when there's nobody else around?/ - Bob Dylan

Is Wayne Madsen http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/ 's life at imminent risk?

Thanks to LibertyThink http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2605
by way of the RI discussion board http://p216.ezboard.com/frigorousintuitionfrm10.showMessage?topicID=583.topic "ex-NSA analyst WAYNE MADSEN under threat of Assassination - flees Washington":

/At Wayne Madsen's request we are putting this message to him from a source high in a United States Intelligence agency. Wayne is now in hiding and on the run after his source revealed that a private contractor assassination team had been hired to take him out./

This is the message Madsen received:

/We have reason to think that a "project" will be undertaken against "someone" considered problematic now...not next week but NOW. That person is not specified but is in the US, in an apartment setting and lives alone. It is a "he" and he works via www. This information is specific to an intent but not specific to a person. The source is impeccable and you know my track record which have parallel sourcing. The "project" will be assigned to "parallel contractors" who will make any action appear random and witnesses would suggest Middle Eastern in source. Actions would be carried out in or near the home. We do not hear things like this often (almost never) and so far every warning of this type has been within 24 hours of action and these warnings have proven
100% accurate in the past. We do not know of any direct reason for someone to use this source to provide wrong or misleading information or for use by those who are "contracting" this action. Your recent work and profile make us tell you this directly.

Please respond with a note that all is normal there. Please consider the warning we received as it can be applied to many including yourself. It is possible that someone considers "us" linked in some way and that this warning may be a "deterrent" to work that some may not want completed. We have no reason to think this but I want to consider every possible angle and application to this warning. Please consider what can be done while taking any measures you think necessary to avoid this "project". We consider this warning as coming with the highest level "authenticity" and purity of motive, but the subject and message subject and its specifications were too unusual to be sure of intent./

I'm sure, if no harm befalls him, Madsen's many critics will level his survival as a credibility issue. But just as Hugo Chavez says http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2685349.htm "If anything happens to me then the man responsible will be George W. Bush" in order to pre-empt his assassins, let's consider that life is the enemy of our enemies, and always hope for it. Even if it means we look paranoid, and don't get to say /I told you so/.

/posted by Jeff at 9:30 AM
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/08/threat-assessment.html /32 comments http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/08/threat-assessment.html#comments

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7966076&postID=112514935715603064&quickEdit=tru


Informant: smilingmoon14

You can love him or hate him....But he puts his finger....Directly on the right spot!

Annie

Vacation is Over... An Open Letter From Michael Moore to George W. Bush Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
http://www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.


Informant: smilingmoon14

I saw the speech mentioned below yesterday and almost fainted in disbelief at Bush's terrible speech and behavior. I was sure this would be the final nail in his coffin, but then a Republican emailed me this morning saying this must be God's punishment on a Soddom and Gomorrah-like city like New Orleans! Let's hope others will finally take the "red" pill to see reality ... (or is it the "white"?) :-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/opinion/01thu1.html

September 1, 2005

Waiting for a Leader

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

We will, of course, endure, and the city of New Orleans must come back. But looking at the pictures on television yesterday of a place abandoned to the forces of flood, fire and looting, it was hard not to wonder exactly how that is going to come to pass. Right now, hundreds of thousands of American refugees need our national concern and care. Thousands of people still need to be rescued from imminent peril. Public health threats must be controlled in New Orleans and throughout southern Mississippi. Drivers must be given confidence that gasoline will be available, and profiteering must be brought under control at a moment when television has been showing long lines at some pumps and spot prices approaching $4 a gallon have been reported.

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


Informant: dmetke

From ufpj-news

My friend Les Evenchick, an independent Green who lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans in a 3-story walkup, reports that 90 percent of the so-called looters are simply grabbing water, food, diapers and medicines, because the federal and state officials have refused to provide these basic necessities.

Les says that "it's only because of the looters that non-looters -- old people, sick people, small children -- are able to survive."

Those people who stole televisions and large non-emergency items have been SELLING THEM, Les reports (having witnessed several of these "exchanges") so that they could get enough money together to leave the area.

Think about it:

- People were told to leave, but all the bus stations had closed down the night before and the personnel sent packing.

- Many people couldn't afford tickets anyway.

- Many people are stranded, and others are refusing to leave their homes, pets, etc. They don't have cars.

You want people to stop looting? Provide the means for them to eat, and to leave the area.

Some tourists in the Monteleone Hotel paid $25,000 for 10 buses. The buses were sent (I guess there were many buses available, if you paid the price!) but the military confiscated them (!) and would not let the people leave. Instead, the military ordered them to the now-infamous Convention Center.

HOW SIMPLE it would have been for the State and/or US government to have provided buses for people BEFORE the hurricane hit, and throughout this week. Even evacuating 100,000 people trapped there -- that's 3,000 buses, less than come into Washington D.C. for some of the giant antiwar demonstrations there. Even at $2,500 a pop -- highway robbery -- that would only be a total of $7.5 million for transporting all of those who did not have the means to leave.

Instead, look at the human and economic cost of not doing that!

So why didn't they do that?

Why have food and water been BLOCKED from reaching tens of thousands of poor people?

On Thursday, the government used the excuse that there were some very scattered gunshots (two or three instances only) -- around 1/50th of the number of gunshots that occur in New York City on an average day -- to shut down voluntary rescue operations and to scrounge for 5,000 National Guard troops fully armed, with "shoot to kill" orders -- at a huge economic cost.

They even refused to allow voluntary workers who had rescued over 1,000 people in boats over the previous days to continue on Thursday, using the several gunshots (and who knows WHO shot off those rounds?) to say "It's too dangerous". The volunteers wanted to continue their rescue operations and had to be "convinced" at gunpoint to "cease and desist."

There is something sinister going down -- it's not simply incompetence or negligence.

How could FEMA and Homeland Security not have something so basic as bottled drinking water in the SuperDome, which was long a part of the hurricane plan? One police officer in charge of his 120-person unit said yesterday that his squad was provided with only 70 small bottles of water.

Last year, New Orleans residents -- the only area in the entire state that voted in huge numbers against the candidacy of George Bush -- also fought off attempts to privatize the drinking water supply.

One of the first acts of Governor Kathleen Blanco (a Democrat, by the way) during this crisis was to TURN OFF the drinking water, to force people to evacuate. There was no health reason to turn it off, as the water is drawn into a separate system from the Mississippi River, not the polluted lake, and purified through self-powered purification plants separate from the main electric grid. If necessary, people could have been told to boil their water -- strangely, the municipal natural gas used in stoves was still functioning properly as of Thursday night!

There are thousands of New Orleans residents who are refusing to evacuate because they don't want to leave their pets, their homes, or who have no money to do so nor place to go. The government -- which COULD HAVE and SHOULD HAVE provided water and food to residents of New Orleans -- has NOT done so INTENTIONALLY to force people to evacuate by starving them out. This is a crime of the gravest sort.

We need to understand that the capability has been there from the start to DRIVE water and food right up to the convention center, as those roads have been clear -- it's how the National Guard drove into the city.

Let me say this again: The government is intentionally not allowing food or water in.

This is for real.

MSNBC interviewed dozens of people who had gotten out. Every single one of them was WHITE.

The people who are poor are finally leaving the horrendous conditions in the SuperDome and are being bussed to the AstroDome in Houston.

Call them "People of the Dome."

If people open fire on the National Guard coming to remove them against their will, will New Orleans become the first battle in the new American revolution?

Mitchel Cohen Brooklyn Greens / Green Party of NY


From ufpj-news


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545

"It is obvious that behind Robert's clean-cut conservative mask hides a proponent of oligarchy." Legal Land Theft and the Supreme Court - by Paul David Collins ©, Sept. 2nd, 2005

If property can be taken away from the people for private economic development, then that means the government is giving preferential treatment to private forces. Those private forces would be correctly labeled an aristocracy. The Supreme Court has been prostituted out to the Power Elite for the purpose of transforming the Republic into an oligarchy.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Eminent_Domain.htm

Legal Land Theft and the Supreme Court - by Paul David Collins ©, Sept. 2nd, 2005

When a student is introduced to the subject of American political science, the three branches of the national government is one of the first topics explored. The student is taught that the judicial branch's primary task is to interpret the law. It was for this purpose that the Supreme Court was created. In June of 2005, a Supreme Court ruling in Kelo versus New London, a case concerning the issue of eminent domain, drastically redefined the Court's role in national politics. CNN's Parija Bhatnagar reported the following concerning the
Supreme Courts ruling:

The Supreme Court may have just delivered an early Christmas gift to the nation's biggest retailers by its ruling Thursday allowing governments to take private land for business development.

Retailers such as Target, Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond have thus far managed to keep the "eminent domain" issue under the radar -- and sidestep a prickly public relations problem -- even as these companies continue to expand their footprint into more urban residential areas where prime retail space isn't always easily found.

Eminent domain is a legal principle that allows the government to take private property for a "public use," such as a school or roads and bridges, in exchange for just compensation.

Local governments have increasingly expanded the scope of public use to include commercial entities such as shopping malls or independent retail stores. Critics of the process maintain that local governments are too quick to invoke eminent domain on behalf of big retailers because of the potential for tax revenue generation and job creation.

The Supreme Court's decision Thursday clarified that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private and public economic development. (No pagination)

The Court's actions in this particular case make it painfully obvious that the justices have become little more than politicians in robes. Do not be deceived. Supreme Court nominees are no longer chosen based on their judicial philosophy. It is naive to believe that a potential nominee is called into the Oval Office by the President and asked whether he or she is a proponent of judicial activism or judicial restraint. A simple question is posed to the nominee: "Are you willing to dance?" Eager to ascend up the political ladder, the nominee will invariably answer in the affirmative. So the Supreme Court is now made up of justices dancing to a political tune. This leads to the next question: "Who is calling the tune?"

The answer to the above question is disturbing. If property can be taken away from the people for private economic development, then that means the government is giving preferential treatment to private forces. Those private forces would be correctly labeled an aristocracy. The Supreme Court has been prostituted out to the Power Elite for the purpose of transforming the Republic into an oligarchy.

The Kelo versus New London ruling will help preserve the blueblood tradition of stealing the commoners' lands in the name of profit. This is a tradition that goes back thousands of years. In fifteenth century England, major landowners began fencing in common land. Originally, those lower down the economic food chain used these lands as tilling and grazing grounds. All of that had changed by 1600. Major landowners had enclosed one-eighth of England's arable land (Chambers et al. 474).

In the eighteenth century, notions and concepts of democratic institutions and representative, constitutional republicanism began to be popularized. With this rise in popularity, the masses began to breathe easy, believing Olympian delirium had finally been expunged. Perhaps now the common person would enjoy the property rights as well. After all, two of the inalienable rights recognized by America's Founding Fathers were the right to liberty and property. This meant that man had an inalienable right not only to produce, but also to keep that which he produced. One's incentive to be productive comes from these two rights.

However, the plight of the Native Americans painfully illustrates the fact that the bluebloods' tradition of land theft was far from over. As Dr. James W. Wardner points out in The Planned Destruction of America: "It was the privately owned railroads which initially worked with the government to steal Indian land and water. Now it's the privately owned oil conglomerates and agribusinesses" (150-151). Wardner explains how this was accomplished:

Through a number of "Leasing Acts," the federal government through the secretary of the interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been authorized to lease public and Indian lands and mineral rights to private corporations (MNCs). By 1973 the federal government had leased 680,854 acres of public land and 258,754 acres of Indian land, containing over 20 billion tons of coal to approximately fifteen multinational oil companies.

Through the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, 38 million acres were stolen outright from the North American Indians by the government. As if that wasn't enough, Indian landowners were forced to sell an additional 23 million acres between 1887 and 1934 because of inability to pay their taxes and mortgage payments. By 1934 the Indians has lost nearly two-thirds of their land or 90 million acres! (149)

Whites and other Americans that were not of Native American descent were able to brush off these crimes because they were largely unaffected by such land theft. Social engineering has programmed the majority of Americans to reside strictly in their belly buttons, unmoved by injustice so long as they go unharmed. With Kelo versus New London, the debt collector has finally come knocking at our doors and it is now our turn to pay.

Fortunately, there has been some movement in the right direction. Shortly after the decision in Kelo came down, over 40 states began taking steps to limit their general policing power as it pertains to property seizures. However, this can only be considered a starting point. What is needed now are Supreme Court Justices who are unwilling to prostitute themselves out to the Power Elite. Blocking the confirmation of Bush's current nominee, John G. Roberts, would certainly begin to reverse the trend.

Many conservatives within the controlled conservative movement have misidentified Roberts as one of their own. Nothing could be further from the truth. Roberts has backed several authoritarian measures that would aid the Power Elite in transforming America into an oligarchy. One such measure was his proposal for the establishment of a national ID card, ostensibly to fight illegal immigration. In USA Today, Joan Biskupic and Tony Locy reported the following:

When he worked in the Reagan White House in 1983, John Roberts made the case for a national ID card, saying in a memo that it would help address the "real threat to our social fabric posed by uncontrolled immigration." (No pagination)

The two journalists explored the rationale behind Robert's proposal:

"I recognize that our office is on record in opposition to a secure national identifier, and I will be ever alert to defend that position," Roberts wrote to White House counsel Fred Fielding on Oct. 21, 1983. "I should point out, however, that I personally do not agree with it. I yield to no one in the area of commitment to individual liberty against the spectre of overreaching central authority, but view such concerns as largely symbolic as far as a national ID card is concerned."

Roberts said the USA already had "for all intents and purposes, a national identifier - the Social Security number." A national ID would not "suddenly mean constitutional protections would evaporate and you could be arbitrarily stopped on the street and asked to produce it." (No pagination)

Robert's support of authoritarian measures did not end with his days in the Reagan White House. His action in July 2005 show that he is still a long way off from walking the straight and narrow. William Grigg elaborates:

Roberts participated in a July 15 decision by a panel from the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Bush administration's claim that the president can designate any individual as an "enemy combatant" and detain that individual indefinitely. The July 15 decision also assented to the administration's claim that the president can create special military tribunals to conduct trials of enemy combatants, rendering decisions that are not subject to judicial review of any sort. (No pagination)

It is obvious that behind Robert's clean-cut conservative mask hides a proponent of oligarchy. Moreover, the democrats cannot be expected to save us from him. When the democrats started using the filibuster to block the President's nomination, Senate majority leader William Frist proposed the "nuclear option". The "nuclear option" was a call for a vote to do away with the filibuster. With the republicans dominating both the House and the Senate, elimination of the filibuster was almost guaranteed. This led to the "Gang of 14", which was a group of fourteen senators, coming together and reaching a compromise. Democrats promised not to use the filibuster unless there were "extraordinary circumstances". A clear and concise definition of "extraordinary circumstances" was never presented.

Charles Schumer has done a good job at talking tough when it comes to the Roberts nomination. However, it should be noted that good ole Chucky has never been on our side. Schumer showed his authoritarian propensities when he lumped all members of citizen militias into a criminal category. While there are some shady characters in the militia movement, there are also many law-abiding citizens who correctly fear the rise of a garrison state. The senator also shamefully sided with the ATF against the Branch Davidians during the time of the Waco atrocity. Schumer's threats of releasing the dogs of war on Roberts is merely a publicity stunt to convince his supporters that he fought hell and high water for their interest. Behind closed doors away from the media's eye, Roberts and Schumer are merely Establishment kissing cousins.

Grass roots opposition is what is called for here. Instead of relying on a well-dressed politician who promises the world and delivers absolutely nothing, Americans should voice their sentiments for themselves. If the majority of Americans were heard through petitions, letters, and phone calls to their representatives, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the rest of the Senate would have no choice but to be receptive. In the very least, they will realize they are no longer dealing with an ignorant and indolent public.

Sources Cited

a.. Bhatnagar, Parija. "Eminent domain-A big box bonanza?" CNN 24 June 2005.

b.. Biskupic, Joan and Tony Locy. "Roberts argued for ID Card, against women's rights act." USAToday, 18 August 2005.

c.. Chambers, Mortimer et al. The Western Experience Volume B: The Early Modern Era. 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003.

d.. Grigg, William Norman. "The Roberts Nomination: Presidential Power Uber Alles." The New American 20 July 2005.

e.. Wardner, Dr, James W. The Planned Destruction of America. DeBary, Florida: Longwood Communication, 1994.

About the Author

Paul D. Collins has studied suppressed history and the shadowy undercurrents of world political dynamics for roughly eleven years. In 1999, he completed his Associate of Arts and Science degree. He is working to complete his Bachelor's degree, with a major in Communications and a minor in Political Science. Paul has authored another book entitled The Hidden Face of Terrorism: The Dark Side of Social Engineering, From Antiquity to September 11. Published in November 2002, the book is available online from www.1stbooks.com, barnesandnoble.com, and also amazon.com. It can be purchased as an e-book (ISBN 1-4033-6798-1) or in paperback format (ISBN 1-4033-6799-X). He also co-authored the book, The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship: An Examination of Epistemic Autocracy, From the 19th to the 21st Century, which is available online here.

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Eminent_Domain.htm


Informant: Milo

Hats off to a group of progressive Dems. They are offering a common-sense response to protect the thousands of families and small businesses who will be left financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6038

by Brian Siu, TomPaine.com

Hurricane Katrina has highlighted the U.S. oil supply's vulnerabilities. It also opens the door for smart alternatives.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050902/beyond_petroleum.php

The Sun

By EMILY SMITH US Editor in New Orleans and CLODAGH HARTLEY

HURRICANE-ravaged New Orleans descended into a lawless hell last night.

Gangs armed with looted automatic weapons freely roamed the flooded US city, robbing homes, businesses — and hospitals.

Innocent civilians were at the mercy of the gun gangs as anarchy reigned — and even cops came under fire when maniacs walked into the city's police HQ firing their AK47 rifles.

Others shot at firemen battling to put out a blaze at the Oakwood Shopping Centre.

They also shot at an Army helicopter helping in the evacuation of
25,000 people who had sought refuge in the city's Superdome.

Jefferson Parish President Aaron Brusard said: "We have descended into hell. This is complete and total lawlessness."

Earlier a National Guardsman at the Superdome had been wounded by a gunshot.

The rescue operation had to be cancelled — leaving those at the stadium trapped in squalor.

The hunt for survivors of Monday's storm — feared to have killed thousands — was suspended as cops were ordered to hunt down looters instead.

Last night New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin made an urgent plea for more aid to help stricken citizens.

He said: "This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources and don't anticipate enough buses. We are running out of supplies."

Mr Nagin's pleas came as President Bush ordered in 10,000 more National Guard troops to boost the 10,000 already there. He vowed "zero tolerance" of lawbreaking.

Congress is expected to convene an emergency session in the next few days to pass a $10billion relief package.

With the ever-growing risk of disease from stinking water up to 20ft deep in places, many who failed to escape before the storm hit were in despair yesterday.

Rev Issac Clark, 68, said: "We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help."

Scenes of horror lay around every corner. Daniel Edwards, 47, pointed to an elderly woman dead in her wheelchair — a blanket thrown over her — and said: "I don't treat my dog like that."

Next to the woman another body lay wrapped in a sheet.

Elsewhere the body of an old man lay on a settee on a grass bank.

Around him hungry babies wailed. Mr Edwards said: "You can do everything for other countries but you can't do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military but you can'tget them down here."

Armed gangs trying to get their hands on drugs attacked hospitals — already struggling without power.

Doctors and nurses had to fight them off.

A patient at a Ronald McDonald care home told how it was attacked by a mob.

Joseph Winn said: "They came in the windows saying they wanted the TVs, the furniture, everything.

"I told them we were a charity but they said, `Charity doesn't exist here anymore'."

The driver of an old folks' bus was carjacked by gunmen who threatened to kill him. Vital food, water and medical supplies were stolen en route to hospitals.

Nursing home boss Peggy Hoffman said: "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."

Half a million people fled as Hurricane Katrina bore down on the city — but 40,000 are estimated to have been left behind.

There were Third World-style scenes yesterday as crowds fought to get on buses from evacuation centres where they had been taken.

Many, including mums with children and the elderly and sick, had spent a night with no shelter.

They included thousands packing the muddy banks of a once busy motorway. They pushed, begged and cried out to officials to let them on to just a few buses waiting to take them away.

Leon Nunez, 80, was worried about his diabetic wife Muriel, 79, who lay unable to move after no food for days. He said: "I'm worried we will die waiting.

Meanwhile disabled people were trampled in the stampede for coaches. The sick begged for help, including wheezing children whose asthma drugs were swept away by the storm.

Arthur Dennis, 37, said: "Why do I feel like I'm going to die before I get on a rescue bus?"

He had been trapped on a roof for three days with no food or water.

Arthur said: "I saw dead bodies floating by with the snakes. But it's almost worse here. People are getting violent."

Meanwhile the mobs were getting closer as across the city gunshots rang out and fires raged.

Thugs smashed their way into a Walmart superstore and used dustbins and inflatable mattresses to float away food, clothes, TV sets — and stolen weapons.

There were similar scenes in other devastated towns on the US Gulf Coast, including Biloxi and Gulfport.

Those evacuated may not be allowed to return to their homes for months — by which time there could be little left.

Conditions in the huge refugee camp at the Superdome were becoming unbearable last night — fuelled by heat and humidity.

Angry crowds tried to flee but were held back by troops. Fights broke out — and there was horror when at least seven bodies were spotted in the water outside.

Around 20 British tourists are among those there.

Wayne Henry got a text message from son Peter, 20, late last night telling him he had endured the "worst two days of his life".

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005400726,00.html


Informant: maintzger

By Authorities At Gunpoint. -We need to get the word out to local stations

From Indymedia-New Orleans
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/3941.php

9:30PM Thurs Sept 1. Update: Please help spread this message:

There are supplies sitting in Baton Rouge for the folks in New Orleans, but the National Guard has the city surrounded and is not letting anyone in or out. They are turning away people with s[QUOTE]upplies, claiming it is too dangerous. If we have planes that can drop bombs on people in Iraq, certianly we can air drop supplies into the city. Our goverment is KILLING the people of New Orleans. This is the message I am now sending to all major media sources, national and worldwide, as well as posting to email lists, blogs, etc. The story is getting out that the people there are not getting supplies, but the truth of WHY is not. Please help spread the word, we must get this story out. Please so not let any more of my friends die.

I can be reached at 254.640.8441 - feel free to call me or give my number to any media that needs a contact person to talk to.

Here is my message:

I am a resident of the Bywater in New Orleans (9th Ward). I am one of the lucky ones that was able to evacuate before the storm.

I have recently managed to speak to some friends stranded in New Orleans. They are starving and dehydrating and there is no news of when they will be receiving food and water. I have spoken to relief efforts and understand that there are plenty of supplies waiting for these people, BUT THEY ARE NOT BEING ALLOWED INTO THE CITY.

The National Guard has the city surrounded and is not letting anyone in or out, except the buses being evacuated. The excuse that they can not bring supplies into New Orleans because of the looting and gun fire is not a valid excuse - if they are too afraid to enter the streets of New Orleans, they need to be air dropping supplies into the city. If the United States is capable of sending planes that can withstand enemy fire to drop bombs in Iraq, certainly they are capable of air dropping supplies into a city where the worst of the gunfire they could encouter would be from semi-automatics.

Our government is killing the people of New Orleans. By witholding supplies, they are ensuring more deaths, and I hold them complicit.

Please bring this matter to the attention of the people of the United States. They need to know that New Orleans is deliberatly being denied food and water. Perhaps if the people there had food and water, they might not be shooting off guns.

Please feel free to call me for further information or with any questions. I appreciate your attention to this most serious matter.

I fear for my friends.

Sincerely,

Andrea Garland Get Your Act On!
http://www.getyouracton.com

On another note, Jeffrey and I are in the process of getting a large vehicle and loading it up with donated supplies needed for longer term cleanup efforts (generators, chain saws, solar cooking equipment, etc.). Some basic info and a paypal link is at Get Your Act On! http://www.getyouracton.com and more detailed info will be posted later. Please help spread the word about this, as well. We live 6 blocks from one of the hardest hit areas in New Orleans, so we intend to bring these necessary tools to our neighbors.

Also heard that part of the reason our house flooded is they dynamited part of the levee after the first section broke - they did this to prevent Uptown (the rich part of town) from being flooded. Apparently they used too much dynamite, thus flooding part of the Bywater. So now I know who is responsible for flooding my house - not Katrina, but our government.

Another article talks of genocide:
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/3943.php


Just talked to the gentleman at the number above and am now contacting the media here in florida. The situation there in N.O. is absolutely a night mare. He said that thousands of people are dying and many thousands dead and no one can get in the city, he also said that he is now getting a van and supplies and is going to try and go back into the city to get some of his friends out. You can reach him at 1 254 640 8441. Please contact your local stations and let them know what is happening, now!


Informant: Dani Djinn

By William Rivers Pitt t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 02 September 2005

All last night sat on the levee and moaned, All last night sat on the levee and moaned, Thinkin' about my baby and my happy home. -- Led Zeppelin, "When the Levee Breaks"

This will come as no surprise, but columnist Molly Ivins has again nailed it to the wall. "Government policies have real consequences in people's lives," Ivins wrote in her Thursday column. "This is not 'just politics' or blaming for political advantage. This is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies."

Try this timeline on for size. In January of 2001, George W. Bush appointed Texas crony Joe Allbaugh to head FEMA, despite the fact that Allbaugh had exactly zero experience in disaster management. By April of 2001, the Bush administration announced that much of FEMA's work would be privatized and downsized. Allbaugh that month described FEMA as, "an oversized entitlement program."

In December 2002, Allbaugh quit as head of FEMA to create a consulting firm whose purpose was to advise and assist companies looking to do business in occupied Iraq. He was replaced by Michael D. Brown, whose experience in disaster management was gathered while working as an estate planning lawyer in Colorado, and while serving as counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association legal department. In other words, Bush chose back-to-back FEMA heads whose collective ability to work that position could fit inside a thimble with room to spare.

By March of 2003, FEMA was no longer a Cabinet-level position, and was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its primary mission was recast towards fighting acts of terrorism. In June of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction in New Orleans was cut by a record $71.2 million. Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri said at the time, "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

And then the storm came, and the sea rose, and the levees failed. Filthy sewage-laced water began to fill the bowl of New Orleans. Tens of thousands of poor people who did not have the resources to flee the storm became trapped in a slowly deteriorating city without food, water or electricity. The entire nation has since been glued to their televisions, watching footage of an apocalyptic human tragedy unfold before their eyes. Anyone who has put gasoline in their car since Tuesday has come to know what happens when the port that handles 40% of our national petroleum distribution becomes unusable.

And the response? "Bush mugs for the cameras," says Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly, "cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden."

Newsweek described it this way: "For all the president's statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans - a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city's Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore - on Navy ships for instance - in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city."

Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert twisted the knife on Thursday by bluntly suggesting that we should not bother rebuilding the city of New Orleans. "It doesn't make sense to me," Hastert said to the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask. We help replace, we help relieve disaster. But I think federal insurance and everything that goes along with it ... we ought to take a second look at that." This sentiment was echoed by the Republican-American newspaper out of Waterbury, CT: "If the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property."

This is it, right here, right now. This is the Bush administration in a nutshell.

The decision to invade Iraq based on lies has left the federal government's budget woefully, and I daresay deliberately, unprepared for a disaster of this magnitude, despite the fact that decades worth of warnings have been put forth about what would happen to New Orleans should a storm like this hit. Louisiana National Guard soldiers and equipment, such as high-water Humvees for example, are sitting today in Iraq while hundreds or even thousands die because there are not enough hands to reach out and pull them from the water. FEMA - downsized, redirected, budget-slashed and incompetently led - has thus far failed utterly to cope with the scope of the catastrophe.

Actions have consequences. What you see on your television today is not some wild accident, but is a disaster that could have been averted had the priorities of this government been more in line with the needs of the people it pretends to serve. The city of New Orleans, home to so much of the culture that makes America unique and beautiful, is today drowning underneath an avalanche of polluted, diseased water. This, simply, did not have to happen.

Remember that the next time you hear Bush talk about noble causes, national priorities and responsibility. This has been an administration of death, disaster, fear and woe. The whole pack of them should be run out of Washington on a rail. Better yet, they should be air-dropped into the center of New Orleans and made to see and smell and touch and taste the newest disaster they have helped to create.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090205Z.shtml


Informant: Andrea Ball

Another Angle on Katrina

Steven Leser, August 31, 2005
Elite TV

I'm guessing that when most Americans read the title of this article, they will be offended at the suggestion. We Americans pride ourselves on being humanitarians, willing to do whatever necessary to alleviate the suffering of our fellow man and resorting to war only when absolutely necessary. I know we like to think of ourselves that way, and I think those thoughts and feelings are genuine, but do we and our government respond according to those values with our wallets?

In 2005, the US will spend approximately 80 Billion dollars on the war in Iraq, bringing our total expenditures on that war to over 200 Billion. In contrast, the total requested 2005 budget for USAID, the US Agency responsible for doling out assistance to foreign countries for disaster relief, health and economic growth concerns, is only 3.6 Billion Dollars. FEMA, The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the government body tasked with responding to, planning for, recovering from and mitigating against disasters has a 2005 budget of only 7.3 Billion Dollars. [...] Read it all at
http://www.elitestv.com/pub/2005/Aug/EEN4315fea4a829f.html


© Virginia Metze

This is not such a secret to many of us....Have known about this for years now.... Tesla and his Technology.

Date: 09/01/05 16:59:36

Subject: SCALAR weather & storm modification---secret government weapons ----webwulf]

*They can control the eye of the storm from a satellite, they just move it on the edge of the eye of the storm and can guide it anywhere they want it. I was being facetious when I said Bush should call Putin, after he steered a cyclone away from Brazil, which was documented. Our technology is suppose to be superior to Russia's, and five other countries have it too. We spend billions on this technology. There is no reason this event should have happened, and could have been prevented.*

*The US has absolute control over air, sea, and space. It happened because it was meant to happen.*

*Dr. Bearden knows it, and everyone in this scientific disciplaine knows it too!*

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

*Sent:* Thursday, September 01, 2005 3:23 PM
*Subject:* Re: SCALAR weather & storm modification---secret government weapons ----webwulf

*New York Times excoriates Bush*
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/New_York_Times_excoriates_B_0901.html

/*Wednesday, August 31st, 2005* /*Report from Inside New Orleans Hospital: "Who is Left Behind?...The Sickest, The Oldest, The Poorest, The Youngest"*

*Another foreign journalist killed by our military, and another jailed without charges, but let go later, after protest. Video:
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2005/aug/video/dnB20050831a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=2:03>

*There could be several reasons Tesla Toys were used:*

*1) Another mock drill for wider spread Martial Law in the US, the theme for the last 6 months.*

*2) Practicing for an Earthquake attack on Iran, if military attack is impossible, and lack coalition forces.*

*3) Rebuilding costing billions, taking years and a band-aid on the high unemployment, but make him look like a hero. *

*4) A cash cow for Halliburton if they rebuild the oil rigs, platforms, and gasoline refineries. *

*5) Take the heat and focus off Bush for Iraqgate now by outraged Americans.*

*6) Distraction from the investigations by the Secret Grand Jury in Chicago.*

*7) To get rid of 50,000 to 500,000 /"Useless Eaters"/ who probably didn't vote for Bush anyway, while grandstanding, with 12 foreign nations who offered help, even made by his axis of evil nations.*

*8) Increase the price of oil. Bush using reserves sounds good, but instead oil prices higher, not lower to enrich his cronies. They were pledge against US debt, so in reality they are probably not being used, and it's more double-speak. Where are his good Saudi buddies now? Iran offered 5,000,000 barrels at $35/barrel.*

*9) Seize property worth billions from those who can't pay taxes, because they have no money, homes, jobs, or anyway to recover. They will suddenly pump it out and build shopping malls, casinos, hotels, as they do after fires out West.*

*The "clean" break in the levee was very suspicious, which had just been reinforced and strengthen by a contractor. Why was the funding cut -- we have billions for Iraq? Last year, Russia steered a cyclone away from a S. America country for a small fee. Why didn't Bush call Putin? Nero twiddles his thumbs while New Orleans drowns.*

*From Stu:/ "Hello Mr. Bush, this is for our OWN people. How dare you ask us to send our money to the Red Cross. Take the money out of your own pocket, Halliburton, and the Oil companies with their obscene profits."/ -- Barry*

----- Original Message -----
*From:* MWlfg
*To:* *Media above redacted*
*Sent:* Thursday, September 01, 2005 1:00 PM
*Subject:* SCALAR weather & storm modification---secret government weapons ----webwulf

A quote from an article available on this link:
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=77&contentid=2660&page=2>

Source of foregoing quote by Tom Bearden:
http://www.cheniere.org/books/ferdelance/s64.htm

Today, weather engineering is also part of the Pentagon's military arsenal and is at the command of America's public enemy Nr. 1, the shadow government.

Basically, the U.S.A. lost the cold war - contrary to all newspaper allegations - against the Soviet Union because of scalar weapons and weather controlling technology. This is one of the key reasons for the multi-trillion dollar Pentagon black budget and secret arms program, namely to catch up in the scalar arms race. The main part of this technology was developed for the Pentagon by Israel and its ultra-secret scalar weapons program and is the reason why the U.S.A. has basically lost its sovereignty to a clique of internationalist scalar terrorists with hyper-tech abilities (such as also demonstrated in the "plane" deceptions on 9-11-1).

Much fine print would need to be added here to explain the exact meaning of the terms "Israel" and "Pentagon" in the foregoing context. The terms are not identical with the alleged constitutional governments of Israel and the U.S.A. Essentially, the body of people involved is one and the same. It has close ties with the international central banking cabal (Bank of England, Vatican/Jesuits, Federal Reserve Bank/Alan Greenspan, AIG/Starr International/Maurice Greenberg, Citibank/David Rockefeller, Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group/Henry Kissinger/Maurice Greenberg/Pete Petersen, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group, World Bank, Neocon cabal, et al., also with alleged Rothschild banking interests involved from the European side). Politically, there is a tight control group with its center being, purportedly, the four: Kissinger, Bush Sr., Hillary Clinton, William Rockefeller-Clinton. In brief, the Bush-Rockefeller Crime Syndicate (if Bill's family name "Clinton" is corrected, according to the alleged fatherhood [Winthrop Rockefeller, former Arkansas governor and some say Clinton look-alike], into "Rockefeller"). Many details are omitted here due to time and space restrictions.

For specific (but not all) analytical details, see book by Tom Bearden, Fer de Lance (updated 2nd edition 2002),
http://www.cheniere.org/books/ferdelance/index.html

For insightful details of the multi-trillion dollar Pentagon black budget as a secret second Manhattan Project see especially:
http://www.janes.com/regional_news/americas/news/jidr/jidr000105_01_n.shtml

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0401/S00151.htm

Gradually, we are finding out which weaponized horror of Satanic control freaks these many shiploads of money have gone to pay over decades!

3. Category 5 mega-hurricane Katrina bears signature marks of being rigged and magnified using scalar weather engineering. There has been a suspicious increase in frequency of otherwise very rare category 5 hurricanes. Before hurricane Andrew (1992, apparently a time when scalar technology was available) there were only two recorded category 5 hurricanes in the U.S.A. Katrina is actually moe than category 5; it is category 5+ (the scale has no category 6). It originated as a small medium hurricane, but suddenly and inexplicably over the Gulf of Mexico it exploded into a monster of category 5 (allegedly due to the warm Gulf waters that have never behaved this way any time before). Then, the next item of suspicion is the target: New Orleans, shaped like a basin and beneath sea level, also conveniently a center of oil refining for the U.S.A. and located near the Gulf of Mexico oil production.

The mainstream media have turned away from normal news reporting and are hypnotized by the orchestrated mega-hurricane. A well-known pattern of diversion and orchestrated tragedy is once more staged with a chilling routine.

The oil price has risen steeply over $70 dollars a barrel due to the hurricane Katrina news reports. The city is being evacuated, a large volume of domestic American crude oil and gas production has been shut down.

4. The war on the American people is ongoing. 11-22-63, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia and 9-11-1 were merely episodes to break the force of the Republic. Traitors are manipulating the events from behind the screen. Vigilant networks of concerned citizens have watched for the usual "mock drills" as reported recently by Webster G. Tarpley, and have most likely blocked this customary venue for the shadow regime's orchestrated routine tragedies. The regime is upping the ante by resorting to its secret weapons of stealth and deception in its frantic death fight.

*MANKIND IS FIGHTING DEADLY MONSTERS---posing as ordinary human beings----"leaders" and "officials" !!!!*


Informant: Karana777

Pat Ormsby (our EHS reporter in Japan) has asked me to send you in her update "Comparing Japan and America" for posting. She said she emailed it to you a few weeks ago but you may not have got it.

Best, Imelda, Cork.



Comparing Japan and America

Busy with projects, I have been out of touch with Japan's Gauss Network [Japan's EHS support network] for several months, but the major topics appear to be the problem of cellphone use on trains, especially with regard to people with pacemakers, with the barrier-free concept being brought up; the insane and probably illegal push by electric utilities and household electronics makers for all-electric housing (electric heating, induction heater cooking which involves high levels of EMF); and imprudent placement of high tension lines.

The June Gauss Tsushin newsletter had a good article by Hitoshi Ariizumi on harmful effects of low-frequency sound waves and electromagnetic waves, which I will have to sit down and read through. (I have scanned through it, and he is comparing the two because they involve sensitivity to phenomena which our traditional five senses don't catch.)

My annual trips to America used to be somewhat of a break from the constant cell phonery of Japan, but no longer. In fact, it seems to be worse than in Japan, because nobody has even heard of a problem with EMF in America. They have no idea what I am talking about. It used to be just the jet-set that had them, but now far more people are getting cell phones, and public transportation is hell for me. Worse than that, it seems to me that the phones in America are more harmful than those in Japan. This is subjective. But I always felt a distance of about two meters from phones to be okay in Japan, and in April, I heard another electrosensitive lady at the Gauss Network meeting say the same thing. This contrasts with the four meters I hear about from the ES in Europe. I also felt a problem at about four meters in America. If you are in a crowd, say shopping, this means that you will deal with far more effects of radiation. People tend to stay about a meter or more from strangers if they can, so at two meters, you'll have a few exposures now and then to the radiation, but at four meters if half of the people are carrying phones, the exposure will be nearly constant.

But let me stop griping here. I went to Chicago to the clinic of Dr. Joseph Mercola, an alternative practitioner whom I learned about via Omega's newsletters. Now here is a really positive contrast: while I carefully choose my words in Japan to describe my reactions to EMF and try to alert my doctors to what I regard as a dangerous situation for the public, only to be ignored repeatedly, the staff at Dr. Mercola's clinic were polite and helpful, asking me to describe my condition and countermeasures. Far from belittling me or suggesting that this was psychosomatic, they provided literature, as they do to all their patients, suggesting everyone should avoid exposure to EMF. They perform useful testing, and make dietary and lifestyle suggestions to help improve the quality of life. I highly recommend them to anyone with ES or other environment-related conditions.

My husband and I both turned out to have high levels of mercury, which should be no surprise as we eat so much fish in Japan. I have heard that some ES have gotten relief through mercury detoxification, so the next step for my husband and me will be to get our amalgams removed and we will probably have to do that overseas. But we are experiencing good effects from following the recommendations of the clinic, and anticipate further action to be very worth while.

Dr. Mercola is an admitted fan of new technology, but he also has an open mind. One of his latest newsletters had an in-depth article on the dangers of EMF. I recommend checking out his site at http://www.mercola.com

Regarding the proposal I mentioned earlier this year for a Union of Mobile Non-Users, the last I heard was that the details are still being hammered out. Swearing never to use a cell phone is probably extreme, and at the same time, probably realistic. I mean, do we really expect industry ever to get its act together and make a cell phone that is actually harmless?

I wouldn't hold my breath, and we will probably run out of oil in the meantime and be sent back to the stone age, but yes, never is a very long time. I think it would be better to put forth the challenge to industry to make something even the most sensitive can accept. The late Dr. Neil Cherry proposed very low levels of radiation, and said it was possible to achieve.

On the other hand, the Union of Mobile Non-Users is proposed not only for the ES, but also for everyone with other ethical objections to the technology: the social disruption, the pollution, resource wars, etc. These are problems that would not be solved by further technological refinement. However, extreme stances will guarantee a small union, and I hope we can make it open to anyone with any objection whatsoever to cellphone technology as it exists, and use it as an instrument to lobby for the most essential ameliorations.

I will attempt to brave the radiation of central Tokyo for the next Gauss Network meeting, and have a better report early in September.

Yours truly, Pat Ormsby

PS I just talked to Arthur Firstenberg, who is now in Santa Fe, where he says he is experiencing effects from phones at two meters rather than the usual four, and that this makes a huge difference in his health. We speculate it may be due to geomagnetic anomalies.

01. September 2005

Zum so genannten Wechselgipfel von Union und FDP erklärt Bundeswahlkampfleiter Bodo Ramelow:

Union und FDP wollen die Verhältnisse in Deutschland ändern. Wer sich ihre Wahlprogramme anschaut und die Kirchhofsche Begleitmusik dazu anhört, kann dies nur als Drohung verstehen. Die Totengräber des Sozialstaates wollen ohne Zaudern ans Werk gehen. Das Werkzeug hat ihnen Rot-Grün geliefert, doch sie wollen noch ein ganzes Stück tiefer graben. Mehrwertsteuererhöhung, weitere Entlastung der Besserverdienenden, keine Angleichung des ALG II, Kopfpauschale in der Krankenversicherung, Einschränkung des Kündigungsschutzes, Verlängerung der Arbeitszeit ohne Lohnausgleich was da Arbeitsmarktprobleme lösen und Familien fördern soll, wird genau das Gegenteil bewirken und die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich in Deutschland noch weiter vertiefen. Es ist eine höhere Dosis der gleichen Medizin, die in den letzten Jahren von Rot-Grün verabreicht wurde und Deutschland einen neuen Rekord bei der Arbeitslosigkeit und bei der Kinderarmut gebracht hat. Wer diesen Weg in den Unsozialstaat verhindern will, hat nur eine Alternative: die Linkspartei. Nur sie kann Schwarz-Gelb noch verhindern und den neoliberalen Zeitgeist stoppen.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=29697

Wouldn't want him to get his shoes dirty...

Wed Aug 31, 2005 2:48 PM ET
Reuters

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's plane swooped low over three states on Wednesday, giving him a somber view of the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina as he returned to Washington to oversee the U.S. government's response.

Air Force One descended to less than 3,000 feet (900 meters) over Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to allow Bush to see some of the worst damage.

At 2,500 feet over New Orleans, the president and his aides could see the skin of the Superdome roof peeled back by the storm's fury.

"It's totally wiped out," Bush remarked as the modified Boeing 747 moved east past Slidell, a Louisiana community reduced to a pile of rubble and sticks.

"It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground," Bush said, according to his spokesman Scott McClellan. [...] Doubly devastating on the ground? You don't say... To read the rest, go to the Reuters web page, http://tinyurl.com/8ggsm


© Virginia Metze

Believe it or not, my first communication from New Orleans area came from Chef Paul Prudhomme today. I am a customer, and he sent out a very full report on what is happening. It is good that one of my icons is still alive and functional.

A note from a reader who makes an excellent point:

"[...] Last night, while I was watching the horrors in the south from Hurricane Katrina, I thought, not only how Bush has made it worse for those people because of our National Guard is gone, with their equipment destroying Iraq, and not being here to help; but that his policies have led to increased global warning which have created these increased intensity storms. I fear that we shall be referring to New Orleans in the future as New Atlantis - the city that once was!"

It is good to see that Bush IS getting criticism, finally. Though of course his administration is trying to blame the New Orleans leaders. The man has no feelings, none, for anyone other than himself. He should be removed under the 25th amendment... (I think it is the 25th)

© Virginia Metze



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3359/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001788.htm


Informant: NHNE

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/02krugman.html


Informant: NHNE

Sign the Green Party petition to support Cindy Sheehan's efforts to meet with President Bush.

The Green Party of the United States through its Peace Committee (GPAX) invites you to sign a petition to support Cindy Sheehan's efforts to meet with President Bush to get answers to many unanswered questions.

Now, especially, with the imminent disbanding of Camp Casey, we need to keep the pressure on.

The petition can be found at this link:
http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/Greens/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=103

Thanks for your support. Together we can change the world.


Sent by Care2 Connect member: Nizzy NB



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

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article308783.ece


Informant: Lew Rockwell

On Jul 26, 2005, at 10:45 AM, Redneck RN wrote:

- Another site you need to check out is actually a company that sells vet medicine/supplies. They will sell you antibiotics used for animals (SAME stuff we humans take & pay a premium for). Their site is http://www.lambriarvet.com/Antibiotics.php . Remember that something catastrophic DOES happen, chances are that --

1. ANY medical services will be so overloaded just taking care of the critically ill & dying, that the chance of getting ANY medical treatment is going to be slim to none.

2. We may have NO means of even getting TO a doctor due to the very real possibility of the declaration of martial law.

3. You MUST be able to treat yourself & family in times of disaster --- there may be NO other resources available.

4. Remember: even the common flu can turn into pneumonia which if untreated CAN KILL YOU!!

5. What appears to be a minor injury can also kill you if infection sets in & YOU DO NOT HAVE THE MEANS TO TREAT IT!

FOLKS WAKE UP -- THE VERY REAL THREAT OF MULTIPLE CATASTROPHE IS KNOCKING AT OUR DOOR!!! PLEASE, PLEASE TAKE HEED & GET WHAT YOU NEED TO KEEP YOU & YOURS ALIVE & HEALTHY!!!

--------

Mary, I'm reading back over this post you made back on 7/26 and a chill is running up my spine. Yes, you were preaching to the choir here...but maybe someone shared this email with someone who listened and is now sitting warm and dry in a motel room somewhere with a full belly rather than at the Convention Center in New Orleans starving to death.

Thanks for your post Mary. Peace - Anna

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=NEWS

Background Intelligence on the American Red Cross

Founded in 1881 by American humanitarian Clara Barton, the American Red Cross (officially named The American National Red Cross) was first chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1900. A second charter, still in force, was granted in 1905. Not long after, however, John D. Rockefeller pirated the entire blood banking industry, along with the administrative leadership of the ARC. As you will soon learn, this quintessential coup de tats represented more than a glorious economic opportunity. The takeover of the ARC, and the entire blood industry, was apparently required to fulfill a far more sinister, even occult-linked, political objective-eugenics management for a racially purified planet.

To begin, during this time, John D. Rockefeller and his associates were making a concerted effort to control the entire field of medicine in America. During the 1890s, Rockefeller interests in medical education and "scientific medicine" were spearheaded by Frederick T. Gates, John D. Rockefeller's investment manager. 1901 saw the founding of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. In 1902, Rockefeller's General Education Board was founded with a mission to annihilate the causes of racial discords. This agenda was clarified two years later with the publication of John D. Rockefeller's Occasional Letter No. 1 in which he detailed his plans to mold Americans to his concept of "perfect human nature." This, he claimed, might best be accomplished by destroying parental influence, traditions and customs, while reducing national intelligence levels.

http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/apocalypse/red_double_cross.html


Informant: Debi Clark

--------

Still flaring like mad, the latest image is getting old, though... http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/

And this is the latest high res image of the Atlantic/Florida region and WHY have they stopped putting in the outline of the lower states? Hard to tell exactly how far these new storms are from land.
http://tinyurl.com/6jxkn

Di

--------

Hi Di,

try this http://www.intellicast.com/Local/USNationalWide.asp?loc=usa&seg=IntlSat&prodgrp=World&product=AtlanticHIRES&prodnav=none

Take care, V

(excerpt)

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct
Thomas Carlyle

Congress Knows Virtually Nothing About Codex! Congressional Codex Briefing 9/20/05!

Summer is just about over. After one last weekend of frolic and fun, it's back to the routine of school, work and schedule.

And that's true for Congress, too. It's back to the same old, same old of special interest groups, lobbyists and, for those who indulge, corruption and influence peddling in seedy, greedy Washington . This Year, Health Freedom is the New Special Interest Group!

You and I, Americans who believe that our health belongs to us, not to the illness industry, are about to tell Congress what they need to hear, starting with Codex. Believe it or not, virtually no one in Congress has any idea what Codex is. We are about to change that.

There will be a Congressional Briefing on Codex Alimentarius on September 20, 2005 in Room 2220 Rayburn.

We can thank Congressman Ron Paul and his Senior Aide Norman Singleton for taking a leadership role in arranging this briefing. And I will be there to tell Congressmen and women the same shocking, outrageous facts about Codex that you can find on our website. There will be two other physicians (Dr. Julian Whitaker and Dr. Charles Simone) and two attorneys (Jim Turner of Citizens for Health and Jonathan Emord) to tell the members of Congress and their staffers what Codex is, how they and their families will suffer if the US is not kept Codex-free and what they need to do to protect us all.

That is, if there if anyone shows up. It's Up to Us to Get Congress to Our Codex Briefing

Here's how it works: there are lots and lots and lots of briefings on Capitol Hill. And every briefing is important enough to someone to go to the trouble of setting it up. Staffers and Congress people are overworked so they pay attention to what is right in front of them without much time or attention to spare for anything else. So the only way to get our message to Congress is to get Congress to the briefing.

The way to make sure that we have the full house we need to make the impact we need to make is for all of us to take a few simple steps and then pass this email along to your circle of influence and urge them to take these steps, too.
4 Simple Steps to Urge Congress to Attend Codex Briefing

Step 1: Email Congre ss: Cut and paste a letter that says something like:

"I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation to urge you to attend the Congressional Briefing on Codex Alimentarius on Tuesday, September 20, 2005, room 2220 Rayburn. Codex Alimentarius, a UN Trade Commission, is a serious threat to the health and health freedom of this country. Although it is billed as "Consumer Protection" nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Codex is poised to degrade both the food supply and the health of all Americans if we allow our protective legislation to be overridden in favor of corporate profits at the expense of excess deaths and needless suffering.

These subjects are vitally important to me and I look to you to protect my health and health freedom from the damage they will sustain through harmonization with the pro-illness standards and guidelines of Codex Alimentarius."

Step 2: Call Congress: The Congressional Switchboard will transfer you to the offices of your Congressional Members. The number is 202-224-3121. Just call and tell your member's Congressional offices that you urge them to attend the Congressional Briefing on Codex Alimentarius on Tuesday, September 20, 2005, room 2220 Rayburn.

Step 3: Visit your Congressmen and Women in their local offices: Take a group of friends and tell your Congressmen and women that you want them to go to the Congressional Briefing on Codex Alimentarius on Tuesday, September 20, 2005, room 2220 Rayburn. Tell them you also expect them to protect DSHEA and other protective legislation for our health and our health freedom. Tell them how you expect them to vote: take a copy of the Natural Solutions Foundation's legislative action page.

Step 4: Pass this email along: Grass roots advocacy is still the most powerful force in our political system. When Congress sees an email in the in-box, they count it as the opinion of 13,000 voters. Think about that for a moment. We, the health freedom advocates of America , are the new special interest group. If you suggest to everyone in your circle of influence that they follow these steps suddenly, we are a force to be reckoned with, a voting force! What Qualifies Us As a Special Interest Group? Numbers!

Between 82 and 90% of all Americans take Nutritional Supplements (depending on which survey you count on). And of those, 60 million people in America are committed to the LOHAS values (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). LOHAS are active in protecting what they believe in. The rest of America can be, too. There are about 297 million people in the US . Do the math: it's pretty encouraging.

We, the Health Advocacy forces are 238 million strong. We can vote and we have friends who can vote, too! Congress knows that and they know that when we to gather our influence, they had better listen of they are not going to get elected again! They know that they must get through the primary elections and then the general election each time they want to go back to their jobs in Washington. And they know that if you are interested enough to take these steps, they had better listen up because you are serious and so are your friends.

Yours in Health and Freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical
Director Natural Solutions Foundation
rima.laibow@healthfreedomusa.org

http://www.mayeticvillage.fr/QuickPlace/antennes-relais/Main.nsf/B3D7CA96A8743F76C1256C800045D85B/F56DDB0528839AC6C125706F005CEA14/?OpenDocument


Informant: NO LOGO

Acton Institute
by Robert A. Sirico

08/31/05

Pat Robertson speaks his mind on his television show The 700 Club, often with an unpolished spontaneity that is missing from network news. Viewers evidently like this, and assume that he speaks from the heart. But every now and then, this unvarnished approach causes an explosion that reveals more than we really wanted to know about the heart of evangelical politics in this country. Thus did a firestorm of outrage greet Robertson’s casual but very sincere call for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Chavez, a sworn enemy of President Bush, often proclaims that U.S. officials are plotting to kill him...

http://tinyurl.com/aq985


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Frontiers of Freedom
by Kaye Grogan

09/01/05

It's unfortunate many people practice trying to beat the voting system by conjuring up ways to conduct massive voter fraud, so their favorite candidate can have a better chance of winning at all cost. This is not the American way -- it's the crook's way. Where were these people when the importance of being honest was being instilled in others? Voter fraud is certainly nothing new, but stopping the abuse in its tracks can go a long way in helping to clean up fraudulent behavior at the voting polls. It seems somewhat archaic that a fail proof voting machine has evaded the modern high-tech industry. After spending millions to create the touch screen voting technique, voting problems intensified instead of lessening...

http://tinyurl.com/8wpst


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Chip Giller & David Roberts

09/01/05

It's the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine. Let us explain. The last few months have seen a surge of stories on so-called 'peak oil.' That's the moment when we're pulling as much oil out of the ground as we'll ever be able to pump. Supply hits its peak and begins an inexorable decline, regardless of demand. Hurricane Katrina has shown what kind of damage short-term supply disruptions can do; peak oil represents long-term and permanent supply disruption. But peak oil is not a matter of economics or politics. It's cold, hard geology. Nobody knows for sure when the peak will occur. Estimates range from a few years ago to 50 years hence. But expert consensus is closing in on the next five to 15 years. This isn't a Y2K bug situation; the exact moment we hit the peak isn't that important. What really matters is how we handle the descent...

http://tinyurl.com/9ga8f


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Christian Science Monitor
by Pat M. Holt

Disagreements with President Johnson over the Vietnam War drove Congress to circumscribe the powers of the presidency so much that when Johnson left the White House in 1969, it was said it would take until the end of the century to restore those lost powers. Thanks to a succession of weak presidents, the end of the century arrived without much having been done in this respect. Richard Nixon, impeached by the House over Watergate, resigned to avoid trial by the Senate. Gerald Ford was unable to deal with the mess Nixon left. ... Jimmy Carter was weakened by the hostage crisis in Iran and the botched rescue attempt. Ronald Reagan and his vice president, George H.W. Bush, had the Iran-contra scandal. For Bill Clinton, it was Monica Lewinsky and an impeachment trial (he was acquitted)...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0901/p09s01-coop.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson

09/01/05

What I want to know is, who walked the Earth first: the dinosaurs or Strom Thurmond? It seems that the advocates of fast-forward 'intelligent design' -- the folks who, by totaling up the biblical begats, believe that the universe was created in 4004 B.C. -- are erecting mini-theme-parks that feature secondhand dinosaur sculptures they've acquired in their scavengings. By putting such Tyrannosaurus Wrecks on display, they mean to prove to the public that people and dinosaurs once roamed the world together, just as their biblical time-clock and that old Raquel Welch movie clearly demonstrated. Silly stuff, certainly, but at the rate we're going, it may make it into the 2008 or 2012 Republican platform...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10187


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Will Bunch

09/01/05

Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq. ... New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. ... When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. ... Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain...

http://alternet.org/story/24871/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Strike the Root
by Doug Herman

09/01/05

But most folks forget, in their patriotic self-absorption, that we brought the devastation on Iraq. Suddenly the shock of being on the receiving end of some equally powerful and devastating force -- 'Hell on earth' -- stuns them...

http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/herman/herman10.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Lynn Gonzales

09/01/05

What strikes me most about Camp Casey and its inhabitants is how very centrist, mainstream and organic this movement is. One would not be hard pressed to call it divine intervention. The euphoria and unity among Democrats, disenfranchised Republicans, people of faith, previously a-political military families, rural heartland people, as well as seasoned anti-war activists is absolutely palpable. Time and time again people told me that they had never been a part of a protest before. That they had opposed the war in Iraq in silence; voiceless and isolated in their perceived powerlessness to stop it. And then Cindy's story moved them, and they felt compelled to come to Crawford...

http://www.counterpunch.org/gonzalez09012005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Common Dreams
by Cynthia Bogard

09/01/05

It's harrowing enough to leave town in one's reliable vehicle armed with luggage, credit cards and cash, bound for some well-heeled friend or relative who lives at a higher elevation. It's quite another thing to leave with no cash, no car, no credit and no out of town relatives with room to spare. Poor people without employment typically depend on very local resources for their survival, especially when money and food stamps run out. Even in the most generous northern states, public assistance checks usually run out in the middle of the third week of the month no matter how good at budgeting a mother may be. The last ten days of the month are spent trading what resources you have for what you need, calling on those who owe you a favor, asking for leniency in paying for necessities and pawning the few worthy possessions you own. And waiting for the check." [Editor's note: The true nature of the welfare state is laid bare. And all the government (left and right) is concerned with is 'keeping order', while thousands die - MLS]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0901-31.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Chicago Tribune
by Molly Ivins

09/01/05

This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever said, 'I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics,' or, 'There's nothing I can do about it,' or, 'Eh, they're all crooks anyway.' Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National Rifle Association would argue, 'Government policies don't kill people, hurricanes kill people.' Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill people...

http://tinyurl.com/8pbew


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Conservative
by James Howard Kunstler

Among the strange delusions and hallucinations gripping the body politic these days is the idea that the so-called global economy is a permanent fixture of the human condition. The seemingly unanimous embrace of this idea in the power circles of America is a marvelous illustration of the madness of crowds, for nothing could be farther from the truth. The global economy is, in fact, nothing more than a transient set of trade and financial relations based on a particular set of transient, special sociopolitical conditions, namely a few decades of relative world peace between the great powers along with substantial, reliable supplies of predictably cheap fossil fuels. The result, as far as America is concerned, has been an extended fiesta based on suburban comfort, easy motoring, fried food in abundance, universal air conditioning, and bargain-priced imported merchandise acquired on promises to pay later -- a way of life described by Vice President Cheney as 'non-negotiable'... (for publication 09/12/05)

http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_09_12/cover.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

from Reason to Freedom
by Sandra Price

09/02/05

President Bush has made it very clear that his appointees for Supreme Court Justices will be 'Conservative' choices. I read this as meaning more personal choices will be removed from the American citizens and the Courts will take over how we are born, who we are allowed to marry, how many children we have, and how we are allowed to die. Religion will be taught in our public schools as an academic subject but that will be the only item of discussion over the quality of the schools themselves. To me this is the most insulting attack on our individual rights ever imagined by any President. But it seems as if this is what the American voters want...

http://www.reasontofreedom.com/Supreme_Court_Appointees.html

Free Market News Network
by Dr. Hans Sennholz

09/01/05

The connection between economics and politics is clearly visible. Economic production sustains human life which, for most people, is the most important concern in life. The prestige of democratic government, its rise and fall, usually depend on its economic performance. Economic policies must please the greatest number of people who decide democratic elections and reelections. But voters, as well as the representatives they elect, may also be guided by economic notions and doctrines that are popular rather than fitting and exact. Public opinion may be swayed by appeals to emotion and preconception rather than reason and common sense. Political writers and speakers may dwell on controversy and conflict rather than on theoretical correctness; periodicals, newspapers, broadcasts on radio, television, and other forms of communication may follow suit. Articulate politicians usually add their explanations and interpretations. They may prefer to be popular rather than correct...

http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5963/2483/html/index.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

09/02/05

Instead of protecting New Orleans from the relentless assault of the Gulf, the erosion-control equipment purchased by the U.S. government is over in 'liberated' Iraq, being used to shield our troops from the deadly accolades of a grateful populace. A more dramatic -- and tragic -- demonstration of the principle of how war (and State action) diverts resources away from rational uses would be hard to find. The know-it-alls in Washington, D.C., know nothing -- and, worse than that, they don't know that, either. Instead, sitting comfortably in their offices a good distance from the disaster they unleashed -- either directly, in the case of Iraq, or indirectly, as in New Orleans -- they remain supremely indifferent to the commoners' fate...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7137


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Remain silent!
Salon
by Joe Conason

09/02/05

For the third time since George W. Bush became president, Americans are paying a catastrophic price for bad government. As the costs are tallied once more in death and dollars, we are being told that the wise and patriotic thing to do is shut up -- as if good citizens are obliged to remain silent about unwise and incompetent leadership. Honest political debate over how and why we lost the great city of New Orleans, according to the latest dictates from the right, means 'an excess of recrimination,' 'finger-pointing' and 'villain hunting.' Such a 'vulgar' exercise risks overshadowing our normal national unity and generosity in confronting disaster with 'divisiveness' and 'partisanship.' We are piously advised instead to do good and find common ground, to 'be humble, compassionate and helpful.' Thus speak the sages of the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal. In short, we must simply write checks to the Red Cross and choke off any critical impulse... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/09/02/criticizing_bush/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Slate
by Tim Naftali

09/01/05

The response to Katrina thus far indicates two flaws in the Bush administration's thinking about homeland security. The federal government hasn't learned how to plan for a tragedy that demands putting a city on sustained life-support, as opposed to a one-moment-in-time attack that requires recovering the dead and injured from debris and then quickly rebuilding. And DHS appears unwilling to plan for the early use of the U.S. military to cope with a civilian tragedy. Presidential administrations have perennially underestimated the difficulty of the latter task...

http://www.slate.com/id/2125494/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

LewRockwell.Com
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

09/02/05

'No one can escape the influence of a prevailing ideology,' wrote Ludwig von Mises, and Gulf Coast residents know precisely what it means to be trapped -- ostensibly by a flood but actually by statist policies and ideological commitments that put the government in charge of crisis management and public infrastructure. For what we are seeing in New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast region is the most egregious example of government failure in the United States since September 11, 2001. Mother Nature can be cruel, but even at her worst, she is no match for government. It was the glorified public sector, the one we are always told is protecting us, that is responsible for this. And though our public servants and a sycophantic media will do their darn best to present this calamity as an act of nature, it was not and is not...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/flood.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Cincinnati Enquirer

09/01/05

New Orleans descended into anarchy [sic] Thursday as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out, cops turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear. 'They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded,' Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. 'These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will'...

http://tinyurl.com/9how8


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

US Department of Defense

09/02/05

[Editor's note: Yes, this entire entry is an editor's note, and the link is to the Defense Department's news release page. American media seems to go through periods of not reporting on US casualties in Iraq. For whatever reason -- other, more pressing stories such as Hurricane Katrina, or bloodier, more sensational event in Iraq itself come to mind -- these deaths simply go unmentioned or barely mentioned. Rational Review, on the other hand, has had continuing coverage of casualties in Iraq as a plank in its editorial policy since the beginning of the war. So, instead of to the media, let's go to the source: The US Army has thus far reported losing two soldiers killed in action on August 29th and one on the 30th. This is something we believe our readers should know, and keep in mind - TLK]

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3360/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



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

Veranstaltungshinweis der ödp München:

"Modell Porto Alegre - Bessere Politik durch Bürgerbeteiligung" Referentin: Sue Dürr, attac München

Am Donnerstag, 08. September 2005, 19.30 Uhr in der Gregor-Louisoder-Umweltstiftung in der Brienner Str. 46, U 1/7 und Tram 20/21 Stiglmaierplatz (3 min zu Fuß) U 2/8 Königsplatz (5 min zu Fuß)

Schon seit 16 Jahren trägt der partizipative Bürgerhaushalt in Porto Alegre, Brasilien, zu einer besseren Politik und einer lebenswerteren Stadt bei. Dieses Modell soll im Vortrag von Sue Dürr, attac München, näher beleuchtet werden. Es kann auch bei uns ein Einstieg sein in eine bessere, gerechtere und zukunftsfähige Welt.

Bestechend an dem Modell ist nicht nur die hohe Beteiligung der Bürger an der Stadtpolitik, sondern auch die erstaunlichen Ergebnisse bei der Verbesserung der Infrastruktur und Bildung sowie bei der Sanierung der Elendsviertel. Porto Alegre, eine 1,6-Millionen-Stadt, war vor der Einführung des Modells pleite - nun konnte die Pleite abgewendet werden. Korruption hat stark abgenommen. Frauen nehmen vermehrt teil an politischen Entscheidungen.

Das Modell hat viele Nachahmer gefunden. In Brasilien haben 200 Städte partizipative Bürgerhaushalte eingeführt, zahlreiche weitere Städte in Lateinamerika ebenso. Bei der UNO-Konferenz "Habitat" im Jahr 1996 bekam Porto Alegre den Titel, "Hauptstadt der Demokratie". Und die Funke springt jetzt über nach Europa: Barcelona, St. Denis ... In mehreren deutschen Städten sind Projekte im Gange, um dieses Modell auch bei uns einzuführen.

Der Vortrag wird folgende Fragen klären: Was sind die Voraussetzungen für die Einführung eines solchen Systems? Wie funktioniert es in Porto Alegre? Wie könnte es bei uns umgesetzt werden?

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Markus Hollemann Regionalbeauftragter

Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (ödp)
Stadtverband München
Fon 089/45 24 74 15 × Fax 089/244 365 397
E-Mail m.hollemann@oedp-muenchen.de http://www.oedp-muenchen.de

Veranstaltungen der Münchner ödp in der Gregor-Lousioder-Umweltstiftung, Briennerstr. 46, Eintritt frei:

Do., 13. Okt. 2005, 19.30 Uhr "Sollen Eltern für ihre Kinder zur Wahl gehen?" Referent: Priv. Doz. Dr. K. Peter Merk, Rechtsanwalt

Do., 10. Nov. 2005, 19.30 Uhr "Der GRÜNE Abschied von Ökologie und Demokratie" Referent: Jean Fuchs, Buchautor