http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_1903.shtml


Informant: John Perna

http://www.rense.com/general67/painful.htm

"By the time the water is pumped out the city, all of those waterlogged houses will have to be condemned and torn down.

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent eminent domain decision on private property, the City of New Orleans can easily condemn all of those destroyed properties and seize the land under eminent domain when the city is rebuilt."


Informant: maintzger

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#076771

OUR OPINIONS: An open letter to the President

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.


Informant: Debi Clark

The Longer Bush Stays in the White House, The More That the National Security of the United States is Endangered

September 5, 2005
BuzzFlash Editorial

The irony of the 2004 election is that it was the last-minute release of an alleged Osama bin Laden tape that John Kerry believes lost him the election. Whatever the merits of Kerry's judgment, the irony is that bin Laden ended up with the candidate he undoubtedly preferred: George W. Bush.

Beginning with 9/11 -- and Bush's failure to protect America against hijackings that he and Condoleezza were warned about in advance, but took no security actions to stop, resulting in the September 11th hijackings -- George W. Bush has weakened national security and the U.S. government's ability to protect its citizens at almost every level. This is just a fact.

Bush, under the tutelage of Rove, gets high ratings for PR stunts, intimidation of the media, and the appearance of being the "paternal protector." But the reality is just the opposite.

In fact if Osama bin Laden wanted to invent a leader to bring America to its knees, it would be hard to imagine a more effective role model than George W. Bush. [...] Read more at
http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/09/edi05063.html


© Virginia Metze

"Here's some disturbing news. They have much of the communications in New Orleans jammed using a military ship. Basically after martial law is declared, it's to keep certain "unsavory" information from getting out... like how horrible things are there. It could also be used to make sure material exposing the government as criminals would be suppressed." -- end message

NOTE: They do not need MILITARY RULE to handle this emergency. We are all Americans here. If Bush has declared martial law, CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN. They are just using that to treat people exactly as they want to, no matter the facts.

I have not yet found verification of this but it is certainly true that communications are still not working.

You can be sure that this thing will be dragged out forever. Drying out should not take as long as that money hungry Halliburton firm will make it last. This contract should be cancelled.

Privatization results in worse service and outrageous prices. The constitution makes clear what the tasks are that government should do, and the people, through their government, try to see to it that it is done. To privatize government responsibilities is ridiculous. Privatized police? Privatized prisons? Just asking for trouble.


© Virginia Metze

While George W. Bush is weakened by his own surprising inertia, absence of responsiveness, and lack of speed in gauging the measure of the Louisiana catastrophe (we will remember that he needed the same amount of time to react following the Asian tsunami last December), the administration could not allow the post of Chief Justice to remain vacant for three reasons.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705H.shtml

Already under fire for its woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, the federal disaster agency appears to have turned hurricane relief donations into a political payoff - until it was challenged. The New York Daily News says that all last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705F.shtml

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/main.php?param=dernieresinfos&date_news=2005-09-09

COMMUNIQUÉ d’ASL: First TRIAL

It is not merely an emotional outburst when a top rap singer says on national television that George Bush doesn’t care about black people; Max J. Castro says it’s a solid argument backed not just by the evidence of the past few days but also by the policies of the last five and a half years.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805P.shtml

In 1990, the Federal Communications Commission asked the first Bush administration to defend a policy aimed at encouraging more minority ownership of broadcast stations. As the number two man in the solicitor general's office, John G. Roberts Jr. played a critical role in the government's decision to reject the request, according to documents that came to light yesterday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805O.shtml

"It's impossible for me to imagine how you report a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images of the subject of the story," Larry Siems of the PEN American Center told Reuters.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805N.shtml

The Bush administration's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina stands as the pluperfect case study of the Republican Party's theory and practice of government. Sidney Blumenthal reminds us that for decades conservatives have funded think tanks, filled libraries and conducted political campaigns to promote the idea of limited government. Now, in New Orleans, the theory has been tested. The floodwaters have rolled over the rhetoric.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805M.shtml

Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805L.shtml

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805J.shtml

Democratic leaders unleashed a burst of attacks on the White House on Wednesday, saying the wreckage in New Orleans raised doubts about the country's readiness to endure a terrorist attack and exposed ominous economic rifts that they said had worsened under five years of Republican rule.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090805I.shtml

(excerpt)

VICTORY - and THANKS to all supporters !!!

Judge Overrules Brussels Ban on Vitamins EU Supplements Directive
9-7-5

http://www.rense.com/general67/euu.htm


A controversial EU directive that could ban thousands of popular vitamin and mineral supplements has been declared illegal by a European Advocate.

The judgment is a victory for health food manufacturers and retailers who appealed to the European Court of Justice to overturn the proposed law.

The new rules governing vitamins and minerals are due to come into effect on 1 August and are designed to improve the safety and efficacy of products sold by the industry, worth millions of pounds. Only named ingredients with proven scientific benefits have been included on an EU "positive" list of approved substances that would be allowed in health supplements.

More than 300 different vitamins and minerals are not on the positive list, meaning that 5,000 supplements will be banned if the proposals become law, according to campaigners, who have been led by Carole Caplin, Cherie Blair's former lifestyle adviser. Popular supplements that will be outlawed include certain vitamin C brands, some calcium capsules and copper tablets.

The legal case against the directive was brought by the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), a Europe-wide association of more than 300 manufacturers, retailers, consumers and doctors opposed to the legislation.

The advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave an advisory opinion that the directive, as it stands, infringes basic EU principles.

He said that the current proposals lacked clear rules for the European Commission to follow when deciding whether or not to include an ingredient on the positive list. The advocate general's opinion that the directive is "invalid" is not binding, and the full ECJ will rule on the case in July, but the court normally follows his opinion.

More than 20 million people in the UK spend £335m a year on vitamins and supplements in the belief that they bolster health and well-being. One in three women and one in four men takes supplements, and campaigners said the legislation would lead to inferior ingredients being used because more beneficial ones had been left off the positive list.

David Hinde, legal director at the ANH, said: "This is a very significant opinion in a landmark case. What we want to see in the EU is the food supplements directive doing the job for which it was created, which is to provide a 'safe harbour' for food supplements so that they are not classified as drugs, and to promote their availability across the EU. We are optimistic the ECJ will adopt the recommendations of the advocate general."

Under the directive, manufacturers could apply for products to be added to the "positive" list by submitting scientific evidence about the benefits of the supplements. But the high cost of producing such dossiers - up to £250,000 - would have meant that smaller manufacturers and health stores were most at risk from the new rules.

Sara Novakovic, the owner of Oliver's Wholefood Store in Richmond, south-west London, welcomed yesterday's ruling. She said: "At last it is now highly likely that we can continue to offer the products that our customers ask for and want, rather than have to remove them all from the shelves for no good reason and supply them with inferior quality alternatives."

However, the industry faces a continuing fight against EU legislation over health supplements and vitamins. The advocate general upheld the concept of EU legislation on health supplements, saying that the proposals needed to be reworked rather than scrapped.

Further directives on the maximum doses of vitamins and rules governing herbal remedies are due to be brought in over the next two years.

SUPPLEMENTS REPRIEVED?

BORON

A mineral found naturally in nuts, raisins and leafy green vegetables, and included in supplements such as Boots A-Z multivitamins. It is needed for the absorption of calcium, and deficiency is linked to osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

VITAMIN E

An antioxidant that can protect against free radicals associated with degenerative disease. Naturally occurring versions of the compounds that make up vitamin E would be banned.

SELENIUM YEAST

Antioxidant that can help boost immune response and improve heart function, and is linked to sperm function. Certain types are on the positive list, but yeast form is said to be the most easily absorbed.

IRON

Vital for the production of haemoglobin, the pigment in red blood cells that transports oxygen around the body. Organic forms of iron that are easily absorbed by the body would be banned.

CHROMIUM

A mineral that balances blood sugar levels and is widely used by diabetics to help control their condition. Chromium picolinate supplement, which is not on the "positive list", is seen by health professionals as a safe and effective nutritional supplement for people with insulin resistance and those at risk of diabetes.

CALCIUM

"Bio" forms of calcium that are the most easily absorbed by the body would be banned. Calcium works with vitamin D and is needed to build bones and teeth, and can help regulate heartbeat.

POTASSIUM

A diet low in potassium can be a factor in high blood pressure, and supplements can help with fluid balance, heart rhythm and nerve impulses. More than 20 forms would be outlawed.

SILICA

All forms would be banned, yet it can help maintain flexible joints, supple skin and strong nails and hair. Silica levels in the body deplete with age, and many elderly people take supplements.

© Copyright 2005 by 1stvitality.com


It's an info war!

Forward this to the world! henrithecelt@gci.net

distributed via: namaste publishing
info@namastepublishing.co.uk


ECOTERRA Intl.

Nicht zukunftstauglich: Deutsche Autohersteller ignorieren Zeichen der Zeit (08.09.05)

Wenige Tage vor der Internationalen Automobilausstellung (IAA) in Frankfurt/M. hat die Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (DUH) die Autoindustrie zu einem "radikalen Strategiewechsel" aufgefordert. Angesichts des immer offensichtlicher wirkenden Klimawandels und der verheerenden Folgen des Wirbelsturms Katrina im Süden der USA müssten die deutschen Hersteller "in einer konzertierten Aktion alle entwicklungstechnischen Anstrengungen ihrer Ingenieure auf die Entwicklung spritsparender und sauberer Antriebe lenken", sagte DUH Bundesgeschäftsführer Jürgen Resch.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11810

Ökonomie ohne Ökologie: DIHT fordert Rückschritte in der Umweltpolitik bei Regierungswechsel (08.09.05)

Der Naturschutzbund NABU hat die vom Deutschen-Industrie und Handelskammertag (DIHK) formulierten Erwartungen an die Umweltpolitik einer zukünftigen Regierung scharf zurückgewiesen. "Positionen von vorgestern werden auch durch stetige Wiederholung nicht besser", sagte NABU-Bundesgeschäftsführer Leif Miller. Das DIHK-Papier sei voller alter Forderungen und unter dem Strich viel dummes Geschwätz. Auch vor dem Hintergrund der verheerenden Folgen des Hurrikans Katrina, müsste allmählich auch der DIHK begreifen, dass die - auch ökonomische - Zukunftsfrage nicht mehr heißt, was uns Klimaschutz kostet, sondern was uns unterlassener Klimaschutz kosten wird.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11813

Ölförderung: Konzerninteressen vor Menschenrechtsschutz im Tschad? (08.09.05)

Seit Juli 2003 wird im Tschad Erdöl gefördert und über eine 1100 Kilometer langen Pipeline an die Küste Kameruns transportiert. Das von einem Konsortium der Ölkonzerne Exxon Mobile, Chevron-Texaco und Petronas mit Hilfe der Weltbank durchgeführte größte Investitionsprojekt in Afrika hatte heftige Kritik durch Umweltschutz- und entwicklungspolitischen Gruppen hervorgerufen. Nun hat amnesty international einen Bericht veröffentlicht, der die kontroverse Diskussion wieder entfachen könnte. Er kommt nach der Analyse der Investitionsvereinbarungen zwischen dem Konsortium und den Regierungen von Tschad und Kamerun zu dem Schluss, dass diese auf Jahrzehnte den Menschenrechtsschutz in den beiden Ländern beeinträchtigen könnten.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11814

Giftcocktail per Nabelschnur: Umweltgifte werden schon im Mutterleib auf Babys übertragen (08.09.05)

Ungeborenes Leben ist bereits einer Vielzahl von Chemikalien ausgesetzt. Die heute veröffentlichte Studie "A Present for Life" ("Geschenk fürs Leben") von Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) und Greenpeace belegt, dass Industriechemikalien über die Nabelschnur direkt in den Körper des ungeborenen Kindes gelangen können. Die in Blutproben gefundenen Substanzen können für Mutter und Kind gesundheitsschädlich sein oder die körperliche und geistige Entwicklung des Kindes beeinträchtigen. Greenpeace und der WWF fordern, dass durch das neue EU-Chemikaliengesetz REACH gefährliche Chemikalien duch sichere Alternativen ersetzt werden. Die erste Lesung des Gesetzestextes für REACH (Registrierung, Evaluierung und Autorisierung von Chemikalien) soll im November im EU-Parlament stattfinden.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11812

Heftige Kritik an den USA im neuen UN-Bericht, Zwangsräumungen in New Orleans und die PR-Arbeit der Regierung Bush.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20888/1.html

Der Lauschangriff auf einen Dresdner Journalisten ist nicht nur ein politischer Skandal.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20889/1.html

Here's an update to the last email SUBJECT: Transport Provided to Anywhere - ... thank you so much for your patience. i am new at network messaging and will not abuse the privilege.

lynda has been asked not to take anymore messages on her cel and apparently her emailbox is clogged from an overwhelming response to the email i just out to you all.

there seems to be alot of confusion as many people are trying to help in this desperate situation. my apologies; i wish i knew more, but the news seems to be changing on a dime.

the the best link i have found so far:
http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=specialreports&mode=cat&catid=04061773-BDB9-396E-9001EF6EC01318A4&stid=4

thank you!

ana


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Ana S.

Newscasters, sick of official lies and stonewalling, finally start snarling. In the last couple of days, many of the broadcasters reporting from the bowl-shaped toxic waste dump that was once the city of New Orleans have stopped playing the role of wind-swept wet men facing down a big storm to become public advocates for the poor, the displaced, the starving, the dying, and the dead.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705C.shtml

The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely a scratch. Not this time. Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing, already shaken by the war in Iraq and a death toll exceeding 1,880.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705B.shtml

Scott Galindez asserts that if Osama is still alive, he is now George W. Bush's #1 supporter. Galindez reminds us that once again, on Sunday, the Bush administration will be exploiting 9/11 to justify a war that there is no justification for. A war based on lies and evidence fixed to meet the policy. A war that accomplished many of Osama bin Laden's goals.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705A.shtml

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.

"Given the available information, we do not believe there can be any doubt that the U.S. government has intervened to support the stock market. Yet virtually no one ever mentions government intervention publicly, preferring instead to pretend as if such activities have never taken place and never would.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10163.htm

Senators need to ask these pointed questions of John G. Roberts Jr. at the upcoming confirmation hearings.

http://snipurl.com/hii1


From Information Clearing House

Critics charge Bush political patronage, focus on terror hurt FEMA's effectiveness.

http://snipurl.com/hihx


From Information Clearing House

Ten buses sent from Washington to help evacuate victims of Hurricane Katrina returned nearly empty on Wednesday after volunteers could find only one person willing to come to the U.S. capital, a city official said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07165370.htm


From Information Clearing House

Iran has offered to send 20 million barrels of crude oil to the US to help with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4218986.stm


From Information Clearing House

An offer of aid from the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, which included two mobile hospital units, 120 rescue and first aid experts and 50 tonnes of food, has been rejected, according to the civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson.

http://snipurl.com/hii5


From Information Clearing House

A Swedish plane laden with aid was waiting to take off but had not got U.S. approval to enter the United States.

http://snipurl.com/hih7


From Information Clearing House

- Warning - Disturbing images
http://snipurl.com/hihp


From Information Clearing House

World press:

In newspapers across the world, commentators believe Hurricane Katrina marks a profound change in the way the US is perceived at home and abroad. Some speak of the American "myth" being shattered by the poverty and racial divisions which they say the disaster has revealed.

http://snipurl.com/hiho


From Information Clearing House

The first rule of the social fabric - that in times of crisis you protect the vulnerable - was trampled. Leaving the poor in New Orleans was the moral equivalent of leaving the injured on the battlefield. No wonder confidence in civic institutions is plummeting.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10164.htm

Present-day US fears about an Iranian-dominated super-state embracing southern Iraq and the Gulf have a basis in historical fact.

http://snipurl.com/hihk


From Information Clearing House

Iraqi MPs on Tuesday debated sweeping anti-terror legislation that would make even crimes such as vandalism subject to the death penalty in a bid to quell the raging insurgency.

http://snipurl.com/hihj


From Information Clearing House

By Brian Thevenot
Staff writer

"Don't step in that blood - it's contaminated," he said. "That one with his arm sticking up in the air, he's an old man." Then he shined the light on the smaller human figure under the white sheet next to the elderly man. That's a kid," he said. "There's another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat cut."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10167.htm

SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY BULLETIN #05- 8
2005 September 07 at 01:31 p.m. MDT (2005 September 07 1931 UTC)

**** POWERFUL SOLAR FLARE ERUPTS ****

One of the largest solar flares on record occurred today, September 07. Very active Region 808 produced a powerful X17 flare (R4 on the NOAA Scale) observed on the NOAA GOES satellite at 07/1740 UTC (September 07, 1:40 p.m. EDT). This flare, the 4th largest in the last 15 years, erupted just as the Region 808 sunspot cluster was rotating onto the visible disk of the sun. Intense radio emissions were also associated with this flare. A very bright and fast coronal mass ejection was observed on coronagraph imagery; however, the material was not Earth directed. An S1 - S2 radiation storm is expected following this eruption, but is not expected to begin until late on September 07 or early September 08. This event created a complete blackout of high frequency communications on the daylit side of Earth. Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low frequency navigation systems may also have experienced a period of significant degradation. Over the past two weeks, this active region produced a series of significant solar eruptions as it made its passage around the back side of the Sun. Significant eruptions are expected in the coming days.

Agencies impacted by space weather storms may experience disruptions over the next two weeks. These include spacecraft operations, electric power systems, HF communications, and low-frequency navigations systems. CME confirm: http://mlso.hao.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/mlso_homepage.cgi


Informant: Dani Djinn

From: "Dan Jacobson, Environment California Legislative Director" DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org Date: September 7, 2005 3:55:42 PM PDT To: gmvye@pacbell.net Subject: Environment California : Three Days to Pass the Million Solar Roofs Bill


We have just three days left to pass the Million Solar Roofs bill. Over the past six months, dozens of people have helped us lobby in Sacramento, thousands of people have called their legislators, and over 60,000 Californians have sent emails or signed a postcard in support of this solar bill. Now we're down to the wire, and we need your help again.

Please make one more call to your Assemblymember RIGHT NOW and urge your Assemblymember to support the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this email to them.

You can call your Assemblymember, Pedro Nava, at 916-319-2035

Here is a sample message you can leave: "Hi, my name is _____ and I live in _______ (your city). Please support SB 1, the Million Solar Roofs bill, and do everything you can to help it pass."

Then let us know you called. This is an important part of our work! It lets us track how many people each legislator is hearing from.

To report your call, click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
http://environmentcalifornia.org/envirocalifenergy.asp?id=234&id4=ES


Background

Environment California is working to make California the nation's solar power leader by passing the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1, which would be the nation's largest solar power policy.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would build a million solar power systems over 10 years including building half of all new homes with solar panels. These goals would grow California's solar market 30- fold, cutting the cost of solar power in half and bringing clean air and energy independence to all Californians.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would accomplish these goals by:

* Creating a $2.5 billion fund to provide one-time rebates to homeowners of both new and existing homes as well as businesses, farms and schools over 10 years. The fund would come from a small surcharge on ratepayer bills of around 55 cents per month. Low- income ratepayers would be exempt from paying into the fund and 10 percent of the fund would go specifically to installing solar on affordable and low-income housing.

* Raising the current cap on a program called net metering, in which solar customers are given a credit on their electric bill for excess power generated by their solar system. State law currently caps this program at 0.5 percent of a utility's peak load. SB 1 would raise this cap five fold, up to 2.5 percent.

* Requiring new, large single-family housing developers to make solar panels a standard offer, similar to marble counter tops.

We have just three days left to pass the Million Solar Roofs bill. Over the past six months, dozens of you have helped us lobby in Sacramento, thousands have made a personal phone call, and over
60,000 California residents have sent emails or signed a postcard in support of this solar bill. Now we're down to the wire, and we need your help again.

Please make one more call to your Assemblymember RIGHT NOW and urge your Assemblymember to support the Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this email to them.

You can call your Assemblymember, Pedro Nava, at 916-319-2035

Here is a sample message you can leave: "Hi, my name is _____ and I live in _______ (your city). Please support SB 1, the Million Solar Roofs bill, and do everything you can to help it pass."

Then let us know you called. This is an important part of our work! It lets us track how many people each legislator is hearing from.

To report your call, click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
http://environmentcalifornia.org/envirocalifenergy.asp?id=234&id4=ES

Sincerely,

Dan Jacobson Environment California Legislative Director DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org http://www.EnvironmentCalifornia.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.


Informant: Hopedance

September 4th, 2005 3:32 am

Antiwar Groups Hope to Pack 100,000 Around White House

By Petula Dvorak / Washington Post

From the Ellipse to Lafayette Square, including the streets and sidewalks in between, the public parks encircling the White House can hold about 100,000 people, according to the National Park Service.

Antiwar groups hope to bring that many people to fill the spaces with their rally Sept. 24, the first time in more than a decade that demonstrators will be allowed to surround the White House.

At a news conference yesterday, two major antiwar coalitions announced a demonstration and march that could be the largest since the Iraq war began, according to Bill Dobbs, a spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, one of the groups organizing three days of events.

The Park Service and the groups are negotiating the fine points of a permit, such as electrical cord routes and riser placement, but "in all likelihood," the permit will be issued to the groups' specifications, Park Service spokesman Bill Line said.

The rally has been in the works for months, but public sentiment about the war has soured, which has "marked a turning point for the antiwar movement," said Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, which is partnering with Dobbs's group.

The response to the disaster in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has fueled antiwar sentiment, because many believe the U.S. military presence in Iraq is "hampering efforts in New Orleans," said Mounzer Sleiman, an independent political and military analyst working with ANSWER.

And antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan's camp-out last month as she sought an audience with the president outside his Texas ranch spurred a level of support from military families that similar events have not had, said Leslie Cagan, an organizer with United for Peace and Justice.

U.S. veterans from generations of wars "are now speaking out loud and clear" against the war and are joining the peace movement, Cagan said.

The coalitions are organizing buses, vans and carpools from across the country and said groups are coming from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Texas, New York, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Florida and North Carolina.

The groups have obtained preliminary permits for the area around the White House that day, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder and an attorney with the Partnership for Civil Justice, who has been negotiating for months to get approval for the rally.

Counter-demonstrators are having difficulty finding space because the antiwar groups' permits are so widespread, said Kristinn Taylor of FreeRepublic.com, a group that often rallies against antiwar demonstrations.

The umbrella groups staging the event say they represent thousands of people and hundreds of causes. They include the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice, Grandmothers for Peace, Historians Against the War, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Kalamazoo Non-Violent Opponents of War, Texans for Peace, Korea Truth Commission and dozens more.

Often, such protests encompass a variety of issues, from U.S. policy in Haiti to the practices of the World Bank. Activists say it's important to show how U.S. policies around the world and at home are interlocked.

But at yesterday's news conference, which had nearly a dozen speakers, the activists edited one another, fighting to stay on their primary message.

"Bring the troops home now," Dobbs said.

He and others said that because the organizations are getting so much support from citizens who are not members of an activist group, they are trying to keep the message clear.

"The people themselves -- ordinary, average people -- will be the decisive factor," Becker said.

He and others said they are also fighting the perception that being antiwar means that they are anti-soldier. That is why the involvement of military families and veterans is so important.

"We're not against the troops," said Mehdi Bray, who is with ANSWER. "We don't oppose the troops; we love them. That's why we want to bring them home."


Informant: Hopedance

Despite reporting five deaths from a bacteria-caused illness, public health officials said they are more concerned about the possibility of toxic chemicals in the water covering New Orleans than they are about a cholera outbreak. But more than a week after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, health officials still don't know what kind of toxic chemicals are in the water.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090705HA.shtml

Too many people using too much energy and natural resources make it inevitable that wild Pacific salmon will become extinct over the next century without a major overhaul in the way people live their lives, a group of 30 scientists, policy analysts and advocates concluded.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090705EC.shtml

In the state's first major assessment of the environmental havoc in southern Louisiana, Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Mike McDaniel said large quantities of hazardous materials in damaged industrial plants, the danger of explosions and fires and water pollution were his main concerns eight days after the storm struck. "It's almost unimaginable, the things we are going to have to deal with," he said.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090705EA.shtml

John Sugg writes from Atlanta: Much as 9/11 shifted the nation's discourse rightward - pushing values like privacy and open discourse aside for national security - Katrina may revive an appreciation for dealing with the natural world in a way that doesn't invite so many problems. Perhaps this trauma will begin to cleanse our lenses a bit and allow us to view things as they really are, rather than as part of some vast fantasyland to be lobbied and spun for political expediency.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705R.shtml

Cuts to Medicaid have been delayed by lawmakers concerned about bad PR in the wake of a hurricane. So it's okay to cut health care for poor people when there's no televised crisis?

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6091

by Michael T. Klare, TomPaine.com

The Bush energy policy, signed only two months ago, has collapsed. It's now time to start over.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050908/energy_policy_doa.php

by Frank O'Donnell, TomPaine.com

The Senate will soon hold a vote challenging the Bush administration's lies about mercury pollution.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050908/heavy_metal_holdup.php

by Terry Lynn Karl, TomPaine.com

A Stanford political science professor says the Bush administration's obsession with terrorism and privatization sapped FEMA's ability to prevent crisis.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050908/bushs_second_gulf_disaster.php

Von: Aktionsbündnis Münsterland gegen Atomanlagen AB.MS-Land@web.de
Datum: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 16:41:36 +0200
An: boesenzwerge@t-online.de
Betreff: PE zu den Bußgeldverfahren gegen AtomkraftgegnerInnen

Anbei eine Presseerklärung vom 7.9.05 der Bürgerinitiative "Kein Atommüll in Ahaus" zu den Bußgeldverfahren gegen AtomkraftgegnerInnen.

Bahnhofstr. 51
48683 Ahaus
Postfach 1165
48661 Ahaus
Vorwahl: 02561 Tel.: 961791 FAX: 961792 INFOLINE: 961799 Homepage: http://www.bi-ahaus.de
E-mail: mail@bi-ahaus.de


Pressemeldung vom 7.9.2005

Atomstaat gleich Polizeistaat!

Diesen Eindruck hatten die ca. 60 Teilnehmer der Informationsveranstaltung der BI-Ahaus am Montag, den 5. August in Ahaus. Die juristische Aufarbeitung der Demonstrationen der vergangenen Castortransporte wirft dunkle Schatten auf die Arbeit der Polizei. Gegen 270 Demonstranten wurde jetzt von der Kreispolizeibehörde ein Bußgeldverfahren eingeleitet. Die nachträglichen Kriminalisierungsversuche des Kreises Borken sind aus Sicht der Anwälte völlig überzogen und absolut ungerechtfertigt. Auch die BI wertet diese Verfahren als pauschalen Einschüchterungsversuch von politisch unliebsamen Demonstranten. Die unbegründete Räumung der Kreuzung am Schumacherring beim ersten Transport war selbst mit Taktik nicht zu begründen. Als besonders ungerechtfertigt und undifferenziert wurde die Polizeiarbeit beim zweiten Castortransport eingestuft. Da wurden willkürlich unbeteiligte Teilnehmer der genehmigten Mahnwache rechtswidrig über mehrere Stunden festgehalten. Gegen alle wurde mit gleichlautenden aber falschen Anschuldigungen ein Bußgeldverfahren eröffnet. Nach Auskunft des Rechtsanwaltes W. Achelpöhler aus Münster kann die Polizei mögliche Ordnungswidrigkeiten verfolgen, muss es aber nicht! Gerade die fragwürdige Polizeiarbeit sollte zur unverzüglichen Einzustellung aller Verfahren führen, meint Felix Ruwe, Sprecher der BI-Ahaus.

Die oft stundenlangen Vernehmungen der Ahauser Schüler, die in Eigenregie eine Schülerdemo organisiert hatten offenbaren erhebliche Mängel beim Demokratieverständnis der Polizei. Da wurden Schüler und deren Eltern vom "Staatsschutz" zur Vernehmung vorgeladen. Sie mussten seitenlange Protokolle unterschreiben ohne eine Durchschrift erhalten zu haben. Nach Ansicht des Anwaltes W. Achelpöhler "wurde hier mit Kanonen auf Schüler geschossen!" Eigentlich sollten wir uns freuen, wenn junge Menschen politisch tätig werden und sich für die Erhaltung der Umwelt einsetzen, meint Ruwe, aber jetzt müssen wir unbedingt dem Polizei- und Atomstaat die rote Karte zeigen. An Ahaus wird deutlich, dass es keine friedliche Nutzung der Atomenergie gibt.

Felix Ruwe
BI-Ahaus

The Bush Administration has tried its very best, from the beginning, not to show coffins and body bags, lest people understand the horrors they are involved in.

I believe we must demand that FEMA allow the press into the city, and that no more cases of shooting of news reporters and photographers being shot must happen.

And when we are calling, we should demand that the truth about the Republicans be told. They do not care for any non-millionaire types. And the first thought is always oil.

Further, they have once again given Halliburton non bid contract for cleanups in this country. How gross can they get? We have poured billions into Halliburton and have not even demanded a valid accounting!

Ginny


© Virginia Metze

Time Lines of What Bush Knew and When He Knew it & What Bush Didn't Do and When He Didn't Do It !!

IMPORTANT -- Pass it ON !!

This could bring him Down

Visual Timeline: Katrina versus Bush
http://www.basetree.com/articles/katrina-versus-bush.html

Think Progress » KATRINA TIMELINE
http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

Timeline of Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Hurricane_Katrina

Hurricane Katrina timeline - dKosopedia
http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Hurricane_Katrina_Chronology


Informant: ranger116

120 Ein-€-JobberInnen im Möbelverbund: Die ARGE zerstört in Köln selbstverwaltete Betriebe und Selbsthilfestrukturen

„Die Kölner ARGE will in verschiedenen Projekten des Kölner "Möbelverbund" (Verbund gemeinnütziger Kölner Möbellager e.V.) 120 MAE-Stellen einrichten (Arbeitsgelegenheiten mit Mehraufwandsentschädigung - besser bekannt als "1€Jobs"). Die Arbeitslosen sollen u.a. bei Umzügen und Entrümpelungen eingesetzt werden. Den Projekten entstehen für diese ArbeiterInnen keine Lohnkosten, und sie bekommen für die Arbeit der Arbeitslosen sogar noch zusätzliche Gelder von der ARGE ("Arbeitsgemeinschaft", der Zusammenschluss von Arbeitsamt und Sozialamt zwecks Verwaltung der EmpfängerInnen von Arbeitslosengeld 2). Von den Kunden brauchen diese Entrümpler dann nicht mehr viel zu verlangen - ist ja alles schon aus öffentlichen Geldern bezahlt. Die ARGE betreibt damit Lohndumping; die Löhne in diesem Bereich werden noch weiter gedrückt werden. Für Selbsthilfegruppen wie SSK und SSM könnte das ökonomisch das Ende bedeuten. Die ARGE schafft keine Arbeitsplätze, im Gegenteil: sie zerstört vorhandene…“ Presseerklärung der Sozialistischen Selbsthilfe Köln vom 05.09.2005 http://www.ssk-bleibt.de/


Aus: LabourNet, 8. September 2005

http://links.net-hh.de?lid=22634

Der Bezirksdirektor der Nachbargemeinde von New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, erklärt in der US-Talkshow "Meet the Press", wie er die Rettungsmassnahmen nach dem Durchzug des Hurricans erlebte und meint, man müsste die US-Regierung wegen vielfachen Mordes verklagen. (Video)

http://websrvr20.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/Broussard512K.mov
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002348.html

By George Lakoff

Katrina's tragic consequences were not just due to incompetence, natural disaster, or Bush policies (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy.

It is impossible for me, as it is for most Americans, to watch the horror and suffering from Hurricane Katrina and not feel physically sore, pained, bereft, empty, heartbroken. And angry.

The Katrina tragedy should become a watershed in American politics. This was when the usually invisible people suddenly appeared in all the anguish of their lives -- the impoverished, the old, the infirm, the kids and the low-wage workers with no cars, TVs or credit cards. They showed up on America's doorsteps, entered the living rooms and stayed. Katrina will not go away soon, and she has the power to change America.

The moral of Katrina is mostly being missed. It is not just a failure of execution (William Kristol), or that bad things just happen (Laura Bush). It was not just indifference by the President, or a lack of accountability, or a failure of federal-state communication, or corrupt appointments in FEMA, or the cutting of budgets for fixing levees, or the inexcusable absence of the National Guard off in Iraq. It was all of these and more, but they are the effects, not the cause.

The cause was political through and through -- a matter of values and principles. The progressive-liberal values are America's values, and we need to go back to them. The heart of progressive-liberal values is simple: empathy (caring about and for people) and responsibility (acting responsibly on that empathy). These values translate into a simple principle: Use the common wealth for the common good to better all our lives. In short, promoting the common good is the central role of government.

The right-wing conservatives now in power have the opposite values and principles. Their main value is Rely on individual discipline and initiative. The central principle: Government has no useful role. The only common good is the sum of individual goods. It's the difference between We're all in this together and You're on your own, buddy. It's the difference between Every citizen is entitled to protection and You're only entitled to what you can afford. It's the difference between connection and separation. It is this difference in moral and political philosophy that lies behind the tragedy of Katrina.

A lack of empathy and responsibility accounts for Bush's indifference and the government's delay in response, as well as the failure to plan for the security of the most vulnerable: the poor, the infirm, the aged, the children.

Eliminating as much as possible of the role of government accounts for the demotion of FEMA from cabinet rank, for Michael Brown's view that FEMA was a federal entitlement program to be cut, for the budget cuts in levee repair, for placing more responsibility on state and local government than they could handle, for the failure to fully employ the military, and for the lax regulation of toxic waste dumps contributing to a "toxic stew."

This was not just incompetence (though there was plenty of it), not just a natural disaster (though nature played its part), not just Bush (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy -- a deadly failure. That is the deep truth behind this human tragedy, humanly caused.

It is a truth that needs to be told, starting now -- over and over. There can be no delay. The Bush administration is busy framing it in its own way: bad things just happen, it's no one's fault; the federal government did the best it could -- the problem was at the state and local level; we'll rebuild and everything will be okay; the people being shipped out will have better lives elsewhere, and jobs in Wal-Mart!

Unless the real truth is told starting now, the American people will accept it for lack of an alternative. The Democratic response so far is playing right into Bush's framing. By delaying a response for fear it will be called "partisan," the Democratic leadership is allowing Bush to frame the tragedy. And once it is framed, it is hard to reframe! It is time to start now.

Hurricane Katrina should also form the context in which to judge whether John Roberts is fit to be chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. The reason is simple: The Katrina Tragedy raises the most central issues of moral and political principles that will govern the future of this country. Katrina stands to be even more traumatic to America than 9/11. The failure of conservative principles in the Katrina Tragedy should, in the post-Katrina era, invalidate those principles -- and it should invalidate the right of George Bush to foist them on the country for the next 30 years.

John Roberts, as chief justice of a conservative court, would have enormous powers to impose on the nation those invalid principles. Do not be fooled by the arguments of "strict construction," "narrow interpretation" and the avoidance of "judicial activism" that will be brought forth in the hearings. What Roberts is brilliant at is the use of "narrow interpretations" to have maximal causal effect. Narrow interpretation, in his hands, can serve the purpose of radical conservative judicial activism.

Consider a small example, the Case of the Hapless Toad. The Constitution empowers Congress to regulate "commerce ... among the several states." This clause has been interpreted by the Court to make it the constitutional basis for much of civil rights legislation and all major environmental laws.

Over the past decade, the Court has been diminishing the powers of the federal government over the environment by limiting the scope of that clause, even limiting the application of the Clean Water Act. A completely narrow interpretation could eliminate all environmental laws (e.g., clean water and air, habitat protection) and threaten our civil rights. Roberts has written in favor such a narrow interpretation.

The case concerned a developer who wanted to build a large housing tract in California that would destroy one of the last remaining breeding grounds of the arroyo southwestern toad, threatening its continued existence. The U.S. Courts of Appeals on Washington, D.C., upheld the right to life of the toad species under the Endangered Species Act. But Roberts, in a July 2003 opinion, wrote that the Interstate Commerce Clause, on which the Endangered Species act is based, should not apply to "a hapless toad that, for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California."

Such a narrowing would threaten the legal basis of the Endangered Species Act. Anti-discrimination legislation is also based on the Interstate Commerce Clause. What about discrimination wholly within one state? Were Roberts to apply a similar narrowing criterion, much of anti-discrimination law would go out the window.

The point is simple. Narrow interpretations can have massive causal effects and be a form of radical judicial activism in the conservative cause. After the Katrina Tragedy, we cannot afford a radically activist Chief Justice with the same philosophy that has failed America so badly. The ultimate moral and political issues apply in both cases. John Roberts as Chief Justice would be a danger to our democracy and possibly to our very lives.

George Lakoff is the author of Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate' (Chelsea Green). He is Professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and a Senior Fellow of the Rockridge Institute.


Informant: Dawn Ortiz Legg

THIS IS EXCELLENT!!

PLEASE PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS ...FAMILY AND ....LISTS!!

YOUR AID WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THOSE IN NEED!

THANKS!!

ANNIE



----- Forwarded message from treet@myway.com ----- Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 13:31:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Reply-To: treet
Subject: [Wakeup Call] Special Message from Michael Moore
To: wakeupcall@voidzero.net


Friends, There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can't. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes, wars, and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show. So, in the next few days, I will write to you about what must be done about Bush and Co. But today I want you to join with me in bypassing the colossally inept and incompetent Bush administration and get help DIRECTLY to the people of the New Orleans area -- right now. A lot of you have written me to ask what you can do. Many don't know who to trust. Many want to do more than write a check. You are right to think that writing checks to relief agencies will not get water and aid to people in the next 48 hours. Checks will be needed later and can be written later. I have a way, though, for each and every one of us to do something today that can affect people's lives TODAY. For the past few days I've been working with a group that, I guarantee you, will get direct aid to the people who need it most. Cindy Sheehan, the brave woman who dared to challenge Mr. Bush at his summer home, has now sent her Camp Casey from in front of Bush's ranch to the outskirts of New Orleans. The Veterans for Peace have taken all the equipment and staff of volunteers and set up camp in Covington, Louisiana, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. They are accepting materials and personally distributing them to those in need. This is where we come in. We need to ship supplies to them immediately. Today they need the following: Paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper, baby diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, Pedialyte, baby items in general, powder, lotion, handy wipes, sterile gloves, electrolytes, LARGE cans of veggies, school supplies, and anything else to lift people's spirits. You can ship these items by following the instructions on VFPRoadTrips.org. Or you can deliver them there in person. The roads to Covington are open. Here's how to get there. You can drop them off or you can stay and participate (if you stay, you'll be camping so bring your own tent and gear and mosquito spray). If you can't ship these items or go there in person, then go to VFPRoadTrips.org and make an immediate donation through PayPal. Camp Casey-Covington will have immediate access to this cash and can buy the items themselves from stores that are open in Louisiana (all donations to Veterans for Peace, are tax deductible). Each day I will post up-to-the minute information as to what is needed and the progress Camp Casey is making. Please visit MichaelMoore.com often and do what you can to help. Many other groups are also doing good work. MoveOn.org has set up a system for people to offer rooms in their homes to the survivors. There is no time to waste. People are suffering and dying. Each of us can do something. There is no other alternative. Thank you in advance for your help. Tomorrow, we will take care of the other work we need to do about the ideologically hamstrung incompetents in charge.

Yours, Michael Moore
Mike@MichaelMoore.com
MichaelMoore.com

http://www.democrats.com/node/5960


Informant: Friends

From: WantToKnow.info

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Published: 8th September 2005

CONTROVERSIAL plans to erect a mobile mast on Manchester Old Road have been refused by Middleton’s councillors.

At a meeting of the Middleton Township Planning Sub-Committee planning permission to build a T-Mobile mast on ground in front of the West Croft Industrial Estate were knocked back on the grounds that such an erection could have an adverse effect on the local area.

However, not all members agreed with the decision. Councillor Ian Robertson, representing Middleton North, pointed out that many of those objecting to the mast on health grounds are more than happy to use televisions and mobile phones, both of which emit radiation.

He said: “On the one hand you want the technology, but on the other hand you don't want the mast in your back garden.”

A representative from T-Mobile also told the committee that the proposed mast would fit in with local street furniture, standing in between existing streetlamps of a similar height, and that the company had also rejected other proposed sites as they were closer to residential areas.

It was pointed out that erecting this mast near an existing one that already stands just 30m from the proposed site would not encourage further masts to be built, but instead decrease the likelihood as phone companies could come together and use each other’s technology.

Nevertheless, an entourage of approximately 15 objectors put forward a case that helped to convince the committee that such a mast was not wanted in Rhodes, due to fears that it may affect both the health of locals and house prices.

Objectors also expressed concern Rochdale Council had not adequately consulted locals, although a planning officer stated that the council had actually gone beyond its requirements by sending letters to the most-affected residents.

Speaking against the plans, Councillor Peter Williams said: “The issue should be that the committee believes that the concentration of masts in areas such as this would be detrimental to the street scene and detrimental to the area.

“This site is right adjacent to a local amenity, in Alkrington Woods, and I don't believe that the developer has looked at other sites properly.”


First published by the Middleton Guardian

In a book that documents the distribution and mortality of cancer from the geographical (geology and hydrology) perspective, I learnt that consistenly esophagus cancer appears in areas that are deficient in calcium.

I didn't read the book with relation to the radiation, but it immediately rang a bell: TETRA and esophagus cancer in British policemen----> TETRA and calcium efflux ------> TETRA and esophagus cancer. Can the calcium efflux be the explanation to esophagus cancer that Bary Trower predicted several years ago among British policemen?

I wrote him asking him what he thinks about it, and this is what he wrote me: "I think you are correct in your hypotheses concerning calcium/ oesophagus. I think notes on calcium efflux appear in http://www.starwave.com . ..... if you affect one part of a body- all others are involved"...

Iris Atzmon


A Critical Overview into the death of Officer Neil Dring
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/308367/

I'm going to pass along a few first hand accounts of the horrors of New orleans.

These stories make clear that there is A LOT more to the story that we haven't heard yet. Specifically, the inability of people to voluntarily leave New Orleans after the storm.

Geraldo Rivera on FOX news (of all places) was in tears one night begging to let the people at the convention center to just walk across the bridge out of New Orleans. The authorities wouldn't let them.

The accounts I will be sending you seem to bear this out. Oh, how I hope we can actually find out the whole truth.

Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 10:13 AM Subject: a survivor's story: Katrina in New Orleans

I heard from my aunt last night that my cousin Denise made it out of New Orleans; she's at her brother's in Baton Rouge. from what she told me:

Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, was called in to work on Sunday night at Memorial Hospital (historically known as Baptist Hospital to those of us from N.O.). Denise decided to stay with her mother, her niece and grandniece (who is 2 years old); she figured they'd be safe at the hospital. They went to Baptist, and had to wait hours to be assigned a room to sleep in; after they were finally assigned a room, two white nurses suddenly arrived after the cut-off time (time to be assigned a room), and Denise and her family were booted out; their room was given up to the new nurses. Denise was furious, and rather than stay at Baptist, decided to walk home
(several blocks away) to ride out the storm at her mother's apartment. Her mother stayed at the hospital.

She described it as the scariest time in her life. 3 of the rooms in the apartment (there are only 4) caved in. Ceilings caved in, walls caved in. She huddled under a mattress in the hall. She thought she would die from either the storm or a heart attack. After the storm passed, she went back to Baptist to seek shelter (this was Monday). it was also scary at Baptist; the electricity was out, they were running on generators, there was no air conditioning. Tuesday the levees broke, and water began rising. They moved patients upstairs, saw boats pass by on what used to be streets. They were told that they would be evacuated, that buses were coming. Then they were told they would have to walk to the nearest intersection, Napoleon and S. Claiborne, to await the buses. They waded out in hip-deep water, only to stand at the intersection, on the neutral ground (what y'all call the median) for 3 1/2 hours. The buses came and took them to the Ernest Memorial Convention Center. (Yes, the convention center you've all seen on TV.)

Denise said she thought she was in hell. They were there for 2 days, with no water, no food. no shelter. Denise, her mother (63 years old), her niece (21 years old), and 2-year-old grandniece. When they arrived, there were already thousands of people there. They were told that buses were coming. Police drove by, windows rolled up, thumbs up signs. National guard trucks rolled by, completely empty, soldiers with guns cocked and aimed at them. Nobody stopped to drop off water. A helicopter dropped a load of water, but all the bottles exploded on impact due to the height of the helicopter.

The first day (Wednesday) 4 people died next to her. The second day (Thursday) 6 people died next to her. Denise told me the people around her all thought they had been sent there to die. Again, nobody stopped. The only buses that came were full; they dropped off more and more people, but nobody was being picked up and taken away. They found out that those being dropped off had been rescued from rooftops and attics; they got off the buses delirious from lack of water and food. Completely dehydrated. The crowd tried to keep them all in one area; Denise said the new arrivals had mostly lost their minds. They had gone crazy.

Inside the convention center, the place was one huge bathroom. In order to shit, you had to stand in other people's shit. The floors were black and slick with shit. Most people stayed outside because the smell was so bad. But outside wasn't much better: between the heat, the humidity, the lack of water, the old and very young dying from dehydration... and there was no place to lay down, not even room on the sidewalk. They slept outside Wednesday night, under an overpass.

Denise said yes, there were young men with guns there. But they organized the crowd. They went to Canal Street and "looted," and brought back food and water for the old people and the babies, because nobody had eaten in days. When the police rolled down windows and yelled out "the buses are coming," the young men with guns organized the crowd in order: old people in front, women and children next, men in the back. Just so that when the buses came, there would be priorities of who got out first.

Denise said the fights she saw between the young men with guns were fist fights. She saw them put their guns down and fight rather than shoot up the crowd. But she said that there were a handful of people shot in the convention center; their bodies were left inside, along with other dead babies and old people.

Denise said the people thought there were being sent there to die. Lots of people being dropped off, nobody being picked up. Cops passing by, speeding off. National guard rolling by with guns aimed at them. And yes, a few men shot at the police, because at a certain point all the people thought the cops were coming to hurt them, to kill them all. She saw a young man who had stolen a car speed past, cops in pursuit; he crashed the car, got out and ran, and the cops shot him in the back. In front of the whole crowd. She saw many groups of people decide that they were going to walk across the bridge to the west bank, and those same groups would return, saying that they were met at the top of the bridge by armed police ordering them to turn around, that they weren't allowed to leave.

So they all believed they were sent there to die. Denise's niece found a pay phone, and kept trying to call her mother's boyfriend in Baton Rouge, and finally got through and told him where they were. The boyfriend, and Denise's brother, drove down from Baton Rouge and came and got them. They had to bribe a few cops, and talk a few into letting them into the city ("come on, man, my 2-year-old niece is at the Convention Center!"), then they took back roads to get to them.

After arriving at my other cousin's apartment in Baton Rouge, they saw the images on TV, and couldn't believe how the media was portraying the people of New Orleans. She kept repeating to me on the phone last night: make sure you tell everybody that they left us there to die. Nobody came. Those young men with guns were protecting us. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have had the little water and food they had found.

That's Denise Moore's story.

Incredible, simply unbelievable, but I know it is true!!! I will send it all around!!!


Best Regards,

Alan Dicey
Miami, Florida

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/3/131934/7503


Informant: Michael Novick

Next week I am meeting my MP, Lynne Featherstone LibDem and her researcher to talk about masts etc.

She is very keen to understand the issue and raise questions in parliament.

Is there anything specifically that anyone thinks I should ask her to do or say?

What is the current official Mast Sanity line on planning and exclusion zones around schools? Does Mast Sanity have an official line on WLAN specifically in schools apart from that it shouldn't be there!?

Thanks

sarah

--------

Dear Sarah,

I think the most important is recognising and helping the victims, queer against the coming instructions of the World Health Organisation (I just sent an article about these instructions). It is an absolute shame that society leaves the victims, without any health care, without any compensation, they need radiation free zones and support to be able to live and work urgently. For some reason the whole thing is seen as kind of sideline debate, a discussion about opinions. Sickness is not an opinion. A-specific complaints throughout a whole population is not a debate (I think changing focus of the lense and decreasing blood cholinesterase is specific, if diabetes and overexposure to pesticides is excluded).

Second is epidemiology (not only mapping the relatively few seriously radiation sick people, but also all the unwell-being consequences like headache, sleep disturbance etc. for lots of people) and assess risks (the risks are high, because risk is chance times consequences. Small chance times huge consequences for individuals; high chance times small consequences for all citizens, society; so, the risks are really high).

Frans

If I calculate the damage already done to me, my employer and society, and the damage that will be, it outreaches the 120.000 pounds. It is time the councillors open their eyes and understand the damage is huge (small consequences for almost everybody; dramatic consequences for the people who develop radiation sickness).



Extra bill for taxpayers?

07 September 2005 BARKING and Dagenham Council could be forced to stump up £120,000 of taxpayers' money to break two mobile phone mast contracts, the POST can reveal.

T-Mobile and O2 both have masts on Cadiz Court, which is set to be knocked down in the next few years.

As a result, the council now has to decide whether to refund cash to the mobile phone companies for cutting the contracts short, or find new homes for the masts.

But both organisations have refused to reveal how much the local authority could be made to pay if the contracts are cancelled early.

However, according to campaign group Mast Sanity, the council could be forced to fork out £60,000 compensation to both T-Mobile and 02 if their masts are not relocated elsewhere in the borough.

And in another twist, as public space is running out to site the masts, the councily could also decide to break its current policy of not locating them on council-owned properties in order to find them new homes.

A council spokesman said: "In these cases, the council will re-examine the contractual arrangements with the individual companies. If both parties agree, the option remains to terminate the affected contracts."

T-Mobile has posted a letter on the walls of neighbouring Thaxted House, informing families of its intention to site a mast there.

Planning chiefs may justify such a decision because the mobile mast contracts were drawn up before the so-called 'mast moratorium' was imposed in 2000.

The mobile phone operator is hoping to install three antennae and an equipment cabin on the roof of Thaxted House.

The POST reported last week how families had been left confused by the situation and had demanded explanations.

Many wanted an assurance from the council that the tower block was not going to be a 'dumping ground' for the mast.

Village councillor Lee Waker has told families that the matter is far from decided.

He has also urged them to oppose the plans if they are formally submitted.

But the POST has also revealed that the council is powerless to take down mobile masts installed on local authority land before 2000.

We also reported how mobile phone operators are unwilling to terminate contracts drawn up with local authorities.

The council refuses to accept there is any health risk associated with masts, and a comprehensive study led by Sir William Stewart on behalf of the Government in 2002 concluded that there were no proved general risks associated with living next to a mast.

Omega there is much health risk associated with masts. 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

But he called for a more 'precautionary approach' to the siting of base stations.

http://tinyurl.com/azna9

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8086


Informant: John Johnson

http://www.lewrockwell.com/sheehan/sheehan15.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Fox News
by Adam Nossiter

09/07/05

You could live in a kind of dream-state in New Orleans, lulled into ignoring the crumbling houses you drove past, and their destitute inhabitants. In a city so beautifully green, so full of beguiling architecture, so appealingly laid-back, how easy it was. I've been there for nearly 15 years now, all the while participating in one of the city's great unspoken rituals: locking out the world of the other New Orleanians, those who were poor and more often than not black. ... Even before the storm, you were dimly aware that to ... awaken from the old New Orleans dream -- would be to go half-mad. Last week, all that changed. The reality of what New Orleans actually is, was thrown up in our faces: We couldn't turn away now, we couldn't deny that those fellow residents we'd never really known or understood had become refugees, milling and dazed or angry...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168635,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by LaNitra Walker

09/07/05

When Hurricane Katrina bombarded the Gulf Coast last week, she blew open a Pandora's box of race and class issues that Americans thought they had packed away. In the wake of a destruction of the hurricane, we simply weren't prepared to see how poor Americans in the South really are, and how many of the poorest are black. The media focused on the tired and desperate victims in the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center pleading for aid in the hours after the storm, and television audiences could see that they were almost all black. Journalists were too busy covering the dramatic rescue efforts to ask why only black Americans had become victims of the storm. Instead, the media focused on how federal and local officials were handling the disaster. Then, after much footage of Army helicopters shown plucking entire black families off of rooftops, the questions turned to whether or not the victims' race played a role in the slow relief response...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10227


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Foundation for Economic Education
by Becky Akers

09/07/05

We already know government doesn't want anyone competing with its everyday functions, but apparently it harbors the same hostility towards competition in emergency relief work. Given the agony in New Orleans after the levees broke, and the state's utter inability to help in even the most elemental ways, you might think folks rushing to the victims' aid would be welcomed. But agencies from the Red Cross to the Canadian government tell a different story...

http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=7176


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

09/07/05

Among the most tragic scenes in the Hurricane Katrina disaster was that of the thousands of poor people -- almost all of whom were African Americans -- who were stranded at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center, desperately waiting for the federal government to come and save them. Why were they stuck there when thousands of others had already left the city? Because they were too poor to save themselves from death and disaster. They lacked the money to drive out of town and get a motel room for a few days before the hurricane struck...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0509a.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Niranjan Ramakrishnan

09/07/05

There has never been any dearth of reasons to throw out this cabal. But now it has done the ultimate -- destroyed America's most unique city, allowed thousands of its citizens to die, scattered half-a-million people in a twenty-first century exodus of biblical proportions, and set off an environmental and medical holocaust. Will some Cromwell from the Senate or the House give the call that seems tailor-made for a faith-crazed administration: 'In the name of God, Go!'?

http://www.counterpunch.org/ramakrishnan09072005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Chris Floyd

09/07/05

Let's be clear about one thing. Nothing that has happened in the past week -- the mass destruction in the Mississippi Delta, the obliteration of the city of New Orleans, the murderous abandonment of thousands of people to death, chaos and disease will change the Bush Administration or American politics at all. ... There will be no real change, and the bitter corrosion of injustice, indifference and inhumanity that is consuming American society will go on as before. One proof of this can be found in the first polls coming out after the disaster, which show that a full 46 percent of the American people approve of Bush's handling of the relief effort. It seems inconceivable that any sentient being could witness the agonizing results of the Bush team's dithering, dilatory response an agony played out in the full glare of non-stop media coverage and not come away with a sense of towering anger at this criminal incompetence. But it's obvious that nearly half the American people have now left the 'reality-based community' altogether; they see only what they want to see, a world bathed in the hazy, golden nimbus of the Leader. The fact the undeniable truth that behind this carefully-concocted mirage lies nothing more than a steaming pile of rancid, rotting offal means nothing to these true believers. The Lie is better, the Lie is more comforting, the Lie lets them keep feeding on the suffering of others without guilt or shame...

http://www.counterpunch.org/ramakrishnan09072005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Michael Donnelly

09/07/05

Like most, I've been transfixed watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.And, like many, I'm astounded at the response of government at all levels. Most of the criticism leveled has rightly been focused on the Bush Administration's monumental, yet predictable and easily fathomable incompetence. But, ineptitude is on display at all levels of bureaucracy. I can't look at those pictures of hundreds of school busses flooded in their parking lots and wonder how they could not have been used to evacuate those without an automobile before the storm made landfall? Surely, someone had a plan to use them. A heroic seventeen-year-old understood and commandeered one of the busses and picked up desperate refugees and drove them to Houston. He was accused of theft!

http://www.counterpunch.org/donnelly09072005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Daytona Beach News Journal
by Pierre Tristam

09/07/05

It's nice to point out the outpouring of good samaritanism. But those in power are doing so to ride on the Samaritans' coattails. The back-patting is out of place considering the extent of the betrayal of New Orleans and its consequences. For every donated million after the fact there'll still be two, three or more deaths that should have been prevented and thousands of lives unnecessarily uprooted and demolished, maybe for good...

http://tinyurl.com/9gywc


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Ether Zone
by John LeBoutillier

09/08/05

Hurricane Katrina is yet the latest example of 'government' -- at all levels -- failing the people ‘it’ is supposed to serve. This is not a matter of Republican or Democrat; it is a matter of the expected arrogance, aloofness, diffidence, innate corruption, coldness -- and sheer incompetence -- that always permeates all levels of government. Katrina is just the latest example...

http://www.etherzone.com/2005/lebo090805.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Slate
by Bruce Reed

09/07/05

Earlier this week, neo-con Bill Kristol told the Washington Post that almost every Republican he had spoken to was disappointed in Bush's performance. By evoking broad disdain for the administration's response from Republicans and Democrats alike, Bush has finally kept his promise to be a uniter, not a divider. Usually, the blame game is a loser for both parties. However, when Republicans and Democrats can make common cause against a common enemy, like the federal government or hapless FEMA Director Michael Brown, there is more than enough blame game to go around. Among the many illusions that washed away over the past week is one that was particularly precious to Bush: the long-lost and perhaps now never-to-be-seen-again political philosophy of compassionate conservatism...

http://www.slate.com/id/2125802/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Liberty For All
by Jessi Winchester

09/08/05

Mr. Bush's motto seems to be, 'Do as I say; not as I do.' The hypocritical difference between the quote above and his failure to do exactly what he criticized President Clinton for, is blinding. When President Clinton left office the deficit was in the black for the first time in many years. The domestic economy was healthy and foreign relations were stable. The former president is a man who loves people and forged friendships with leaders all over the globe during his term in office. Despite doing a good job for America, Congress brought impeachment proceedings against him for issues related to sex...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/sept11/honor.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers17.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

09/07/05

The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely a scratch. Not this time. Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing, already shaken by the war in Iraq and its death toll exceeding 1,880. ... Bush had raised eyebrows on his first trip by, among other things, picking Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. -- instead of the thousands of mostly poor and black storm victims -- as an example of loss. 'Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch,' Bush said with a laugh...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9232927/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Guardian [UK]

09/08/05

Huntingdon Life Sciences, the controversial animal testing company, has been forced to postpone a listing on the New York Stock Exchange after animal rights extremists stepped up their activity in the US. The parent company, Life Sciences Research, was due to upgrade its listing to the NYSE yesterday but was asked by the exchange to delay the move. The exchange offered no explanation and refused to comment on the request. Huntingdon has been the subject of a violent campaign by animal rights activists in the UK but the activity appears to have shifted to the US. A New York yacht club was recently covered in red paint by the US branch of the Animal Liberation Front. The group said members of the club worked for a company that traded in Huntingdon shares...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1565018,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Detroit Free Press

09/07/05

Time is running out for world leaders to keep their promises to roll back poverty and millions of people will die needlessly over the next decade without drastic changes, the U.N. warned in a major report Wednesday. The stark findings were presented to the 191 U.N. member nations a week before they meet in New York for a summit to review progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. The targets set in 2000 include halving extreme poverty, reducing child deaths by two-thirds and achieving universal primary education by 2015...

http://tinyurl.com/cwmpb


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

Democrats, divided over President Bush's handling of Iraq, are coming down hard on his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. Some of the harshest words are coming from 2008 presidential hopefuls. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York ridiculed relief coordinator Michael Brown's suggestions. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said the hurricane's aftermath underscores the 'two Americas' theme of his presidential campaign last year... [editor's note: Like it wasn't open season on Bush before? Yeah, right - TLK] (09/07/05)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9245785/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Please Sign Petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/840979272

"The Administration yesterday said that no one anticipated the breach of the levees. Did the Administration not see or care about the 2001 FEMA warning about the risk of a devastating hurricane hitting the people of New Orleans?" Dennis Kucinich asks, "Did it not know or care that civil and army engineers were warning for years about the consequences of failure to strengthen the flood control system? Was it aware or did it care that the very same Administration which decries the plight of the people today, cut from the budget tens of millions needed for Gulf-area flood control projects?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705O.shtml

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina has created a vast toxic soup that stretches across south-eastern Louisiana and Mississippi, and portends the arrival of an environmental disaster to rival the awe-inspiring destruction of property and human life over the past week.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705N.shtml

Ideologically opposed to a strong federal role in disaster relief and obsessed with terrorism, the Bush administration let a once-admired agency fall apart.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705L.shtml

Instead of the much-celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people abroad, we have seen a callous official incompetence that puts even Third World rulers to shame. Robert Scheer states that the well-reported litany of mistakes by the Bush administration in failing to prevent and respond to Katrina's destruction grew longer with each hour's grim revelation from the streets of an apocalyptic New Orleans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090705K.shtml

http://www.mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=346534


Informant: Iris Atzmon

Enclosed latest info from Dr John Walker:
http://www.omega-news.info/is_there_any_effect_of_mobile_telephone.doc


From: Eileen O'Connor
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 3:38 PM


Informant: Iris Atzmon

From: Meria Heller
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 7:53 AM Subject: Fw: "Declaration of New Orleans" - I like this forwarded this am - Meria

Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 8:20 PM Subject: "Declaration of New Orleans"

EVERY PATRIOT SHOULD BE PUTTING A HUGE PART OF HIS/HER EFFORTS TOWARD A CALL FOR RESIGNATION OF ALL BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS.

AND IF THEY DON'T RESIGN, THEY SHOULD BE IMPEACHED, TRIED, and SENTENCED FOR THEIR CRIMES AGAINST THIS AND OTHER COUNTRIES.

Please see the "Declaration Of New Orleans" below:

Declaration of New Orleans

by Charles Montesquieu Saturday, Sep. 03, 2005 at 3:24 AM charliemontesquieu@yahoo.com


A Declaration of The People of the United States of America Concerning the Present Crisis In The City Of New Orleans.

In The Name Of The People Of The United States Of America, We Declare:

That for the last four and a half years the President and his administration have served the interests of a few wealthy citizens and not the interests of the American People.

That he has acted with contempt for the People and for the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

That an edict of the Supreme Court made him President in 2000 and fraud made him President again in 2004.

That the President has pursued an unprecedented expansion of Executive powers that are a grave threat to the rights and liberties of the American People.

That he has made war on sovereign nations that are no threat to the American People.

That his "War on Terror" has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives without bringing those responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to justice.

That the failure of his leadership in the present crisis in the City of New Orleans has resulted in the deaths of thousands more.

That he is derelict in every duty of his office.

Therefore, we resolve:

That President George W. Bush and his administration are illegitimate.

That he should resign from office and new elections should be held immediately.

That if he does not resign, the Congress of the United States should act to remove him from office.

That if the Congress should fail to act, the People will exercise their right to abolish this state and will establish a new government that will better secure their rights and liberties.


COPY AND DISTRIBUTE

Kimberly Hughes

SOCIAL ACTION BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
NEW YORK CITY


Informant: Friends

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=20027


Informant: Hopedance

Recent pics

What´s with the perfect circle dead-center?
http://cyberspaceorbit.com/hurr_nt1.jpg


http://cyberspaceorbit.com/hurr_nt1trop1602.jpg

Source:
http://vortex.plymouth.edu/hur_dir/hurr_nt1.gif

Note from Scott Stevens:

"What we witnessing is the manufactured development of Ophelia. Watch it closely as this will become the next shot across the state Florida in this continuing war in the skies."

http://cyberspaceorbit.com/scottoph.html

Weatherman Scott Stevens audio: "The global weather has been digitized!"

http://www.radiorbit.com/audio/062005scottstevens.m3u
http://www.radiorbit.com/audio/010905scottstevens.wma
http://www.radiorbit.com/audio/121204kentscottstevens.wma

Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthens off Florida

07 Sep 2005 13:12:37 GMT

Source: Reuters

MIAMI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened slightly off Florida´s Atlantic Coast on Wednesday and seemed likely to turn away from land but its path was too uncertain to rule out a strike on Florida or Georgia, forecasters said.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for a 120-mile (190 km) stretch of shoreline from Sebastian Inlet to Flagler Beach in Florida, alerting residents to expect the storm within 24 hours.

Ophelia coalesced overnight from a loose swirling mass of thunderstorms and had top winds of 45 mph (72 kph). Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said it could dump 3 to 8 inches (8 to 20 cm) of rain on parts of central and north Florida and southeastern Georgia.

At 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), Ophelia was centered about 80 miles (130 km) east of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and moving north-northwest.

It was expected to slowly strengthen into a hurricane, with winds of at least 74 mph (118 kph) and loop to the northeast away from the U.S. coast by Monday.

However, the hurricane center said its forecasting models differed greatly on Ophelia´s potential path and, "Given the uncertainty in the longer time periods, possible landfall across northern Florida or Georgia during the next five days can not be ruled out at this time."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N97478826.htm Soon to be a hurricane...

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/FLOAT/IR4/20.jpg ! Where are the people that wait on the NHC to predict and that they are so right and blah blah! And everything is predictable huh?

Have you guys ever seen them say this?

MODELS ARE IN GREAT DISAGREEMENT MAKING THE FORECAST HIGHLY UNCERTAIN.

Whats up with this????????


Informant: Dani Djinn


‘Operation Ophelia’ Begins In The United States
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=90770;show_parent=1

Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthens off Florida
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=90811;show_parent=1

--------

Ophelia Update

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened into a hurricane as it stalled 70 miles off the northeast Florida coast Thursday, churning up waves that caused beach erosion and drenching Kennedy Space Center with rain.

Thursday night, Ophelia had top sustained winds of 75 mph, just over the threshold to be classified as a hurricane, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said.

But forecasters said it was still unclear where Ophelia was headed.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050909/D8CGFL500.html



Ophelia on course for FL

OPHELIA live radar link
http://radar.weather.gov/radar/loop/DS.p20-r/si.kmlb.shtml


Informant: Dani Djinn

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050907/hurricane_katrina_hall_of_shame.php

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" is just one example.

Add yours now!

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6078

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090601363_pf.html

by Harold Meyerson, The Washington Post

The Republicans profess belief in trickle-down, but what they've given us is the Flood.

http://www.tompaine.com/

by Bill McKibben, TomPaine.com

New Orleans doesn't look like the America we've lived in. But it resembles the planet we will inhabit the rest of our lives.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050907/not_our_america.php

by Kate Michelman, TomPaine.com

For Democrats evaluating the Roberts nomination, there is a middle ground between all-out battle and collective surrender. It is called principled opposition.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050907/after_rehnquist.php

HURRICANE ARMAGEDDON - EYEWITNESS' ACCT -20,000 DEAD- GOV'T MISMANAGEMENT - SABOTAGE

From: Walter Buller Tuesday, September 06, 2005 11:48 AM Katrin in USA

We live about 85 miles north of New Orleans. The eye of the storm passed right over Washington Parish, which is a neighboring parish of ours to the east a little ways. All the media attention has been on New Orleans because of the size of the city and it's notoriety, but cities like Bogalusa in Washington Parish were hit by even higher winds than New Orleans was, consequently it is hard to recognize them anymore. Worse yet, there was no official federal response to the plight of the people there. A number of private convoys enroute to Washington Parish with very badly needed supplies of water, food, and medical stuff were stopped by FEMA personnel and had all their supplies confiscated, ostensibly for the people in New Orleans. I have been listening to the radio ever since the storm came through. Caller after caller who has been in New Orleans lately has painted a mental picture of conditions there that is impossible to describe, except maybe with the word "hell". Human waste floating in the same water the people are standing in waiting to be rescued. Alligators eating the bodies of dead babies. Sharks seen swimming down Canal Street. Estimates of approximately 20,000 dead. Policemen committing suicide from the stress and fear caused from being outgunned on the streets by the black gangs who now have AK-47's and such looted from sporting goods stores. Darkness everywhere. A number of National Guard troops are there now so some semblence of order is being restored. The sheriff of St.Bernard Parish hired 100 additional deputies, issued assault rifles to them, and gave them orders to shoot looters on sight. About 10 of them have been killed the past few days. Experts predict a timetable of 30 to 80 days before the water can be pumped back out into Lake Ponchatrain. By that time the houses and businesses there will hardly be worth trying to save. Those who have been allowed back in to retrieve some personnel items were saying on the radio this morning that the stench is unbearable. Nobody knows yet how many people drowned in their attics trying to get above the rising water. The smart ones brought axes or something with them which they used to chop a hole in the roof big enough to crawl through so they could stand on their rooftops and hope to be rescued. Lots of people have been critical of the poor performance of FEMA in responding quickly enough to the needs of the people in the area, so I called the main radio station, got on the air, and explained to the listeners that FEMA is not what they think it is. It is not so much a disaster relief agency as a quasi-military arm of the Federal Government, equivalent to having martial law declared when they are present. Of course the self-serving talk from all the politicians is that they will rebuild New Orleans. But the wise thing to do, which is not politically correct, is to realize that with New Orleans already 15 feet below sea-level and sinking more and more every year, and the chances good that another hurricane will wipe it out again in the future, we ought to abandon the cesspool of crime, corruption, sin and degradation that New Orleans has become, relocate the people or build the city on higher ground someplace. But meanwhile the population of Baton Rouge has doubled overnight from all the refugees from New Orleans, with the resultant strain on police personnel, city services, charities, and roadways. This is the worst disaster in our nations history and I fear that my cousins prophecy about the worst being yet to come will turn out to be true, just as did her vision of a huge storm hitting New Orleans and flooding the whole city before the end of August. She had this vision several weeks before there even was a hurricane Katrina. We are still without power, but my generator gets us by. We have become an electricity dependent society, It was only about 80 years ago that almost nobody in this country even knew what electricity was, and got along quite well without it. We need to once again develop that kind of self reliance.



Informant: Be Kind Whenever Possible

http://www.etherzone.com/2006/stang112406.shtml


Informant: ranger116



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Kissinger

by Brandy Baker

The shock of seeing non-violent Black students being beaten in Birmingham for non-violent action resembles the shock of Americans today who see thousands of poor, majority Black, New Orleans residents waiting days for help that keeps promising to arrive. The only crime of most of these residents: not having the means to leave or not having anywhere to go. The horrific images of those at the Superdome and the Convention Center (and now at the Louis Armstrong airport) are not the New Orleans that America envisioned before this hurricane. Jazz music, big mansions, and Mardi Gras were synonymous with this famous city. Like the Easter marches of Birmingham, Americans now see the regard that our "leaders" truly have for Black people in the South. Millions of Americans of all political persuasions are horrified at the very slow response of the federal government, so it would seem that no would feel like partying after seeing the aftermath of Katrina. Well, a few did....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Baker0907.htm

by Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky

Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky are emergency medical services (EMS) workers from San Francisco and contributors to Socialist Worker. They were attending an EMS conference in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck. They spent most of the next week trapped by the flooding -- and the martial law cordon around the city. Their story is incredible in so many ways, but most of all because they show how people went out of their way, often risking a lot, to help each other. A total contrast to the media's looter/animals/uncomprehending victim stereotype. Here, they tell their story....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Bradshaw-Slonsky0907.htm

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/septmobe

Dear Friends and Supporters of Peace,

On August 31st, we closed down Camp Casey on the outskirts of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. In the three and a half weeks that we were in Crawford, thousands of people passed through - some for just a few hours and some for days or weeks. Throughout the country, hundreds of thousands of people responded to my vigil, calling on the President to meet with me and, just as importantly, adding their voices to the growing cry for an end to the war in Iraq.

The horrific events that have unfolded in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, in the wake of the deadly hurricane Katrina are stark reminders of just how lop-sided our nation's priorities are. Resources that could have been used to save lives are instead tied up in a war that continues to kill Iraqis and U.S. servicepeople. Our nation is at a crossroads: will we continue to squander resources and take lives in a war that never should have happened, or will we commit ourselves to the re-building of the Gulf Coast and the lives torn asunder by Katrina? It is clear that both cannot happen at the same time, and in this context our urgent call to end the war in Iraq must be as clear and strong as ever.

The same day Camp Casey closed two important initiatives were launched. Gold Star Families for Peace kicked off a campaign to hold Congress accountable for taking us into war, and also for ending this war. I sent a letter to every member of Congress - all 435 representatives and 100 senators - asking the same questions I've been asking President Bush. At the same time, three buses left Camp Casey to head North, East and South carrying members of Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace to dozens of cities. The buses will converge on Washington, DC September 21, just days before the national anti-war protest being organized for the weekend of September 24-26. In addition to community forums and other events, on the road we will visit members of Congress asking for a meeting and answers to my questions. You can join this campaign as the buses pass through your community, or become a part of a delegation being organized in your Congressional district.

In case you have not already made plans to be there, I want to encourage you to join me in Washington, DC that weekend. I'll be marching on Saturday, September 24 with United for Peace and Justice, and later that same day will be speaking at the "Operation Ceasefire" free concert at the Washington Monument.

You know as well as I do that the majority of the people of this country oppose the war. As we talk to people from every part of the country, it is clear that the time is right for this demonstration in the nation's capital. You do not want to miss this crucial event - it's looking like the September 24-26 weekend will be the largest gathering so far of the movement to end the war in Iraq. It will also be the first opportunity since Katrina hit our shores to raise our voices in a call for new priorities.

Most importantly, I urge you to come to Washington on September 24, to tell President Bush and Congress in the strongest possible way that it's time to bring the troops home. But don't come alone - bring your friends and family, bring your co-workers, your classmates, your neighbors. Visit the United for Peace and Justice website for details about the day's events, and for information about the interfaith service, grassroots lobby day, and nonviolent civil disobedience action at the White House being planned for September 25 and 26.

And your help is needed in another way. To reach the potential of what will be a history-making event, United for Peace and Justice needs your financial support. Please take a moment right now to make the largest donation possible. I know that many of you have given and will continue to give to Katrina relief efforts, and it's important that we each do what we can to help out. But hopefully you also understand how important it is to lend your financial support to the Sept. 24-26 Mobilization.

I want to thank all of you who gave so much to support my efforts while I was in Texas. Now, as we all move into the next phase of our efforts to end the war in Iraq, I look forward to seeing you in Washington, DC on September 24.

Your friend, Cindy Sheehan


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

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


Informant: Mofmars3



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

http://www.newshounds.us/2005/09/02/condoleezza_rice_cuts_nyc_vacation_short_to_do_her_job.php
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/342712p-292600c.html


Informant: beefree

Dr. Zogby points out that Hurricane Katrina forced President George W. Bush to do what Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, could not. Four days into the worst natural disaster to hit the US, the President cancelled his month-long vacation and returned to Washington.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090505G.shtml

Trying to force authorities to open an Air Force base as a shelter, Jesse Jackson and other black leaders picked up 150 evacuees at the squalid New Orleans Airport and headed into the night.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090505E.shtml

James Ridgeway: The very first thing George W. Bush did in response to Hurricane Katrina was to offer a helping hand - not to the people stranded on rooftops in New Orleans, but to his friends in the oil industry. These were the same people who gave him $52 million in his last campaign.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090505D.shtml

President Bush has evaded Cindy Sheehan's question, "What was the noble cause that my son died for?" But he provided a partial answer on the day that the New Orleans levees gave way.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090505B.shtml



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

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=action.SS&item=050721_commongood


Informant: Bigraccoon

by Gene C. Gerard

Last month was the fortieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. This was one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. It finally made it possible for African-Americans to exercise their right to vote in the South. The act did what a constitutional amendment could not. Following the Civil War, co-called “Radical Republicans” (ironically enough) in Congress attempted to extend to former slaves the same rights that whites enjoyed. This included vigorous lobbying for ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which extended the right to vote to black men. But for nearly the next 100 years, the amendment had little effect on the South. Most African-Americans found it all but impossible to vote....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Gerard0905.htm

Just Another Day in the Life of a US Worker.

by Rosemarie Jackowski

A Top 10 list of things many of us laboring Janes and Joes hear from the boss every day in the capitalist paradise that is America . . . "love it or leave it!"....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Jackowski0905.htm

(The Anti-Empire Report)

Empire is Harmful to Your Health
by William Blum

William Blum ruminates on New Orleans and "zero tolerance," Pat Robertson's fatwah on Hugo Chavez, the myopia of liberal anti-war protestors, "conspiracy theories" and the PanAm 103 bombing, saving Japan from pacifism, and the dangers of pot and water....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Blum0905.htm

The All-Too American Tragedy of New Orleans:

Empire, Inequality, Race and Oil

by Paul Street

“This is not the America that I grew up in.” “This is not the America I know and love.” “I can’t believe this is happening in America; it seems more like something from the Third World, like Baghdad or Bangladesh.” Such is the incredulous commentary of three corporate media talking heads I’ve heard reflecting on the terrible events occurring in New Orleans in the tragic wake of tropical storm Katrina. The talking heads are off base. The historic events unfolding in New Orleans are very much about what the (to be a little more specific) United States of America has become. They are the predictable outcome of steep societal disparities and related perverse political and policy priorities that reflect the interrelated and petroleum-soaked imperatives of “American” Empire and Inequality....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Street0905.htm

The imminent effects of the flooding of New Orleans upon America's economy and lifestyle are horrendous.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10138.htm

In this article we look at how just because developed economies are not suffering like they did during the 1970s that the oil crisis has not already begun. The final oil crisis has begun, silent to us, but dangerously there.

http://www.countercurrents.org/po-howard050905.htm


From Information Clearing House

Video:

The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy. "Amy Goodman, makes a compelling argument that the commercial news media have failed to represent the "true face of war."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10133.htm

U.S. influence in the process of drafting a constitution for Iraq is excessive and "highly inappropriate", a United Nations official says.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30141


From Information Clearing House

The dispossessed of New Orleans tell of their medieval nightmare:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article310194.ece


From Information Clearing House

Perhaps now, following the disaster on the Gulf coast, the people of the US will wake up to the fact the current administration is not and never has been primarily concerned with the welfare of its citizens.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1562655,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Without a commitment by our government and all employers to the dignity and worth of all workers, and to the basic human rights that promote social progress and better standards of life for all, the American dream is at risk of going down in history as an experiment that couldn't last. And with it, democracy itself.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10137.htm

The lessons of hurricane Katrina and its terrible aftermath are not about disaster management but about exposing the falsehoods at the very heart of modern America.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10126.htm

Video:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10131.htm

"We're living like dogs," Lee said. "And we're being left to die like dogs."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10125.htm

By Mike Whitney

Americans have been patting themselves on the back for years about the great strides that have been made in civil rights and social justice. It's all rubbish. Just take a look at the faces of the people who were left to drown in the noxious soup of a force-4 hurricane. We all know who these people are; they are the "other America".

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10128.htm

By Jerry Ghinelli

George Bush has it right. We Iraqis hate America because it is “free” and because it is a "perfect" society, just ask the people of New Orleans.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10135.htm

Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 16:17:40 -0700
From: Zepp
Subject: # The Potemkin Photo Op

The Potemkin Photo Op Saturday, September 03 2005 @ 09:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time Contributed by: Stranger
http://www.blah3.com/users.php?mode=profile&uid=2

Initally spotted at Bartcop.com

I was tuning in and out of Bush's massive photo op on the Gulf Coast yesterday, and everything at the time seemed just a little too pat for me.

From the 'briefing' that went on in a hangar full of helicopters to his walking down a street in Biloxi and having three regular citizens walk up to him for comforting to the last press availiability of the day when he announced that the Convention Center was secure and the levees were being repaired, it was clear that the game plan from the White House was for Bush to go to the region, look decisive, comfort a few citizens, and announce at the end of the day that all was well.

It was a full-on effort to change the subject of discussion from the utter failure of the Bush administration to handle the crisis with even a hint of competency, and in true Bush fashion, he wrapped it up at 5:00 PM and announced that he was 'Flyin' out of (t)here.'

But from beginning to end, the entire exercise was a series of lies - a Potemkin photo op designed to fool those Americans who were not bothering to look closely at what was going on.

Let's look at key aspects of Bush's trip that were covered by television.

*The Briefing:*

There were a lot of questions asked yesterday morning about the phony briefing that Bush got in that hangar, featuring a backdrop of Coast Guard helicopters.

People were wondering why those choppers were not out picking up flood victims or delivering supplies.

The reason why is simple - Bush had the majority of helcopter traffic stopped while Marine One was in the Gulf Coast region. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported this Via AmericaBlog
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/breaking-bush-visit-to-new-orleans.html
Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush's visit to New Orleans, officials said.

The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm, said Melancon's chief of staff, Casey O'Shea.

"We had arrangements to airlift food by helicopter to these folks, and now the food is sitting in trucks because they won't let helicopters fly," O'Shea said Friday afternoon.

The food was expected to be in the hands of storm survivors after the president left the devastated region Friday night, he said.

This leaves me wondering how many people died while Bush was playing Decisive Leader.

*The First 'Comforting Session':*

Then it was off to Biloxi, MS to survey the damage.

As Bush, Haley Barbour and others walked down a street,
2 women appeared seemingly out of nowhere for Bush to 'comfort' them.

But it turns out that the two women didn't even/ live/ in Biloxi, and had just come down for the day to try to 'salvage' clothes from the area for one of the women's son (were they looters?).

But they were apparently reasonably telegenic and happened to be in the area, so they were recruited to represent an area where they didn't even live.

A number of threads at Democratic Underground http://tinyurl.com/cp9eu discuss the weirdness of these women showing up in a disaster area.

And a trandcript of the conversation between Bush and the women reads like a bad comedy skit:

Bush to women:

"There's a Salvation Army center that I want to, that I'll tell you where it is, and they'll get you some help. I'm sorry.... They'll help you.....

Woman 1:

"I came here looking for clothes..."

Bush: "They'll get you some clothes, at the Salvation Army center..."

Woman 1: "We don't have anything..."

Bush: "I understand.... Do you know where the center is, that I'm talking to you about?"

Guy with shades: "There's no center there, sir, it's a truck."

Bush: "There's trucks?"

Guy: "There's a school, a school about two miles away....."

Bush: "But isn't there a Salvation center down there?"

Guy: "No that's wiped out...."

Bush: "A temporary center? "

Guy: "No sir they've got a truck there, for food."

Bush: "That's what I'm saying, for food and water."

Bush turns to the sister who's been saying how she needs clothes.

Bush to sister: "You need food and water."

*The 'Recovery Efforts':*

Wherever Bush went yesterday, it seemed as though people were already hard at work rebuilding the affected areas.

Unfortunately for Bush, there were a few foreign journalists at his photo ops, and they pulled back the curtain on what we saw on TV to reveal that the 'work' was staged for the media.

Here's a translation from the German news show web site http://tinyurl.com/caz2g.

Christine Adelhardt live from Biloxi:

"Two minutes ago the President drove by with his convoy.

What happened here in Biloxi during the day is really unbelievable. All of a sudden the rescue troops finally showed up, the clean-up vehicles; we didn't see those over the last days here. In an area where it really isn't urgent, there is nobody around, all the remaining people went to the city center.

The President is traveling with a press convoy, so they get wonderful pictures saying the president was here and the help will follow. The amount of this catastrophe shocked me, but the amount of set-up that happened here today is at least equally shocking for me.

And there's more, this time on the 'recovery efforts' in New Orleans, from War And Piece http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002485.html

There was a striking dicrepancy between the CNN International report on the Bush visit to the New Orleans disaster zone, yesterday, and reports of the same event by German TV.

ZDF News reported that the president's visit was a completely staged event.

Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.

The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.

*Levee Repairs in New Orleans:*

As Bush flew around the skies above New Orleans, CNN began showing footage of a bulldozer and dump trucks working on the 17th Street levee, which was the maqin source of the flood waters in New Orleans.

When Bush got ready to leave, he crowed that 'progress is flowing.'

But according to Sen. Mary Landrieu, the crew that was working so hard yesterday left and apparently never came back:

But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee.

Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe.*

Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.*

The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor, young and old - deserve far better from their national government.

*Control of the Convention Center:*

Bush made a big deal of telling the nation
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/02/ldt.01.html that the icon for unrest and chaos in New Orleans this week - the New Orleans Convention Center - was secured by the time of his statement yesterday.

I'm pleased to report, thanks to the good work of the adjutant general from Louisiana and the troops that have been called in that the convention center is secure.

But as was pointed out this morning, a report by CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr directly contradicted Bush's statement
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

CNN's Barbara Starr reports that there is "no indication" the convention center in New Orleans is secure.

She reports there is still much unrest.

And the now-famous Fox News video
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/02.html#a4763

of Geraldo Rivera inside the Convention Center showed how Bush's idea of 'securing' the center was/ locking the people in/.

All of this information has turned up in one spot or another on the web since yesterday, but I wanted to put it all together in one spot for a reason.

Bit by bit, parts of Bush's trip were shown to be less truthful than we deserved.

But when you look at the entire trip - and all of the deceit that went into each part of it - it's an inescapable fact that from beginning to end the trip was a menu of lies and self-serving actions that didn't do the region any good.

In some instances, like the helicopter groundings halting rescue ops, the trip could conceivably actually/ killed more people/.

And that's the bottom line with this administration.

It always has been.

Bush, Rove, and the rest of them will go to any measures to get their version of the truth out and if a few of the little people happen to die in the process, it's no skin off their noses.

All of America should know what the true bottom line is.

*You are being lied to, and lives have been lost because of it.*


Informant: Friends

Part 2: http://www.omega-news.info/ending_regulation.htm

RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #824 http://www.rachel.org August 18, 2005

Part 1: ENDING GOVERNMENT REGULATION BY MANUFACTURING DOUBT

By Peter Montague

Thirty years ago, scientists began reporting birth defects and unusual homosexual behavior in wildlife, which they couldn't explain. (See Rachel's #146 , #263 .) By the late 1980s, Theo Colborn -- an expert on the Great Lakes -- thought she saw a pattern, and she pulled together a scientific meeting in July 1991 to discuss it. The result was the "Wingspread Statement" on hormone-disrupting chemicals which began:

"We are certain of the following:

"A large number of man-made chemicals that have been released into the environment, as well as a few natural ones, have the potential to disrupt the endocrine [hormone] system of animals, including humans.... Many wildlife populations are already affected by these compounds." ( Rachel's #263 )

Five years later, Colborn, joined by biologist Pete Myers and journalist Dianne Dumanoski, popularized the idea that industrial chemicals at low levels can interfere with hormones in wildlife and quite possibly in humans. Their book, "Our Stolen Future," caused New York Times science writer Gina Kolata to go ballistic. Reviewing the book, Kolata scoffed at the main hypothesis, that industrial chemicals may be interfering with the hormones that control and regulate growth, health and behavior in wildlife and humans, leading to increases in birth defects, problems of sexual development, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and even mental problems like attention deficit disorder, reduced IQ, and violent behavior.

Kolata said "the factual basis of the book's alarms... have been refuted by careful studies," though she did not cite a single study as evidence. To be fair, Ms. Kolata was merely reflecting the views of the chemical industry on the question of hormone disruption. The industry had a great deal at stake. If the theory of hormone disruption were true, the chemical industry could only be viewed as a major menace to public health and the natural environment.

Now, almost 10 years later, the debate over hormone disruption seems to be over. The Wall Street Journal conceded this summer that low levels of industrial chemicals are linked to rising rates of childhood cancer and brain disorders, among other maladies.

Here's the opening paragraph of the Journal's front-page story July
25, 2005:

"For years, scientists have struggled to explain rising rates of some cancers and childhood brain disorders. Something about modern living has driven a steady rise of certain maladies, from breast and prostate cancer to autism and learning disabilities.

"One suspect now is drawing intense scrutiny: the prevalence in the environment of certain industrial chemicals at extremely low levels. A growing body of animal research suggests to some scientists that even minute traces of some chemicals, always assumed to be biologically insignificant, can affect such processes as gene activation and the brain development of newborns.

"An especially striking finding: It appears that some substances may have effects at the very lowest exposures that are absent at higher levels.... This challenges an axiom of toxicology stated by the Swiss chemist Paracelsus nearly 500 years ago: The dose makes the poison."[ 1 ] [See Rachel's #754 , #755 .]

The Journal went on to point out that many scientists are now convinced that insignificant levels of several individual chemicals can combine to produce significant effects.

The Journal explained: The harm from low-level exposure to a single hormone-disrupting chemical "will always be small," said Andreas Kortenkamp, who directs scientific research on hormone-disrupting chemicals for the European Union (EU). But exposure to low levels of many chemicals simultaneously will produce a cumulative effect on the human hormone system "that is likely to be very large," Kortenkamp told the Journal.

Given these facts, it seems safe to say that the chemical industry is now widely acknowledged as a major menace to public health and the natural environment. This presents the industry with an uncomfortable problem of financial liability.

Naturally, as a matter of self-preservation, the industry has developed a defensive response. Of course the industry has been studying these problems at least as long as Theo Colborn has been studying them. Industry scientists and lawyers knew the truth long before it made its way onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal -- just as the tobacco industry knew the truth about tobacco at least
50 years before they publicly acknowledged the problem of lung cancer.

The chemical industry response has been complex and exceedingly clever, intended to make it impossible for government to effectively regulate any industry. The strategy has succeeded in spades.

In the "old days" -- say, around 1975 -- a chemical like DDT could be banned because government scientists examined the scientific literature, balanced "the weight of the evidence," and concluded that DDT was probably causing serious harm to wildlife, such as the bald eagle, our national emblem.

Today it would be impossible to ban a chemical on such grounds because a series of laws and regulations passed during the past 20 years have changed the standards for scientific "proof" that government regulators must meet.

Industry's main strategy for ending government regulation is the manufacture of uncertainty and doubt. "If, for example, studies show that a company is exposing its workers to dangerous levels of a certain chemical, the business typically responds by hiring its own researchers to cast doubt on the studies," writes David Michaels in Scientific American.[ 2 ]

Increasingly, the U.S. regulatory system can be paralyzed by doubt. The system assumes that anyone can do anything they want to do (so long as it is legal), until harm can be proven. Until harm can be proven, anything goes. If I move into your town and set up a small shop and start belching bright blue smoke into the sky, it is up to you to prove that blue smoke causes harm before anyone can question my operation.

Once suspicion of harm is raised, the burden is still on the government and the public to prove harm. If one study shows that blue smoke causes asthma in children, the government may begin to examine all studies of blue smoke and eventually act on the weight of the evidence. (If government ever takes action to control blue smoke, we blue smoke producers can demand our day in court, but that's a later chapter in this story.)

Given the way the system works, as a blue smoke producer, it pays me to discredit previous blue smoke studies, to change "the weight of the evidence." With blue smoke studies in doubt, regulators will be paralyzed. "On the one hand we have studies showing harm from blue smoke, on the other hand those studies have been questioned by the Blue Smoke Association. Until this scientific dispute is resolved, we can't take action." This is how the regulatory system works.

"Doubt is our product."

It was the tobacco industry that discovered the power of doubt in a regulatory system that can be paralyzed by uncertainty. In 1969, an executive of Brown & Williamson (now owned by R.J. Reynolds) actually described the strategy in a memo: "Doubt is our product since it is the best means for competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public."[ 2 ]

It turns out that creating doubt is remarkably easy to do. Take the example of atrazine, the potent weed killer that has been used for nearly 50 years. An estimated 80 million pounds of atrazine are spread into the environment each year in the U.S. In some environments, it persists and retains its toxicity for decades.

The initial concern about atrazine was cancer. Atrazine clearly causes cancer in laboratory rats. And the workers in a Louisiana atrazine factory have unusually high rates of prostate cancer. But Syngenta -- the Swiss firm that makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year selling atrazine in the U.S. -- has successfully cast doubt on these facts, paralyzing regulators. Syngenta argues that atrazine affects rats via biological mechanisms that do not exist in humans, and they say their workers have high rates of prostate cancer only because the company is extra vigilant looking for cancers among its workers.

Meanwhile, for years evidence has been accumulating, showing that atrazine scrambles the sex hormones of frogs, turning males into hermaphrodites. A hermaphrodite has sex organs of both genders. To prove otherwise, Syngenta hired a biologist named Tyrone B. Hayes, a biology professor at University of California, Berkeley. But Professor Hayes's experiments came out wrong and showed unmistakably that atrazine "demasculinizes" male frogs. Compared to unexposed frogs, males frogs exposed to atrazine have smaller larynxes (voice boxes), male hormone (testosterone) levels that are one-tenth of normal, and a mix of male and female traits -- they are hermaphrodites. Syngenta would not give Professor Hayes permission to publish his studies, so he ran a series of his own experiments on a wider variety of frogs, and published his results in prestigious journals (Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). "We showed that these animals are chemically castrated," Professor Hayes said. Four other groups of independent researchers in three countries reached similar conclusions.[ 3 ]

Syngenta solved this problem by creating doubt about Professor Hayes's studies. They hired scientists to reproduce the studies, but those scientists did sloppy work and were not able to reach the same conclusions that Hayes reached. An EPA panel of outside experts found numerous flaws and mistakes in the Syngenta studies. In at least two of the studies, the "unexposed" group of frogs had actually been exposed to atrazine. Not surprisingly, those studies did not find a significant difference between the "exposed" and "unexposed" frogs. In another of the studies, no conclusion could be reached because 80-90% of the frogs died, apparently as a result of inadequate care. As Professor Hayes summarized the situation, what Syngenta scientists did "was produce a number of studies that were purposefully flawed and misleading, and that changed the weight of the evidence."[ 3 ]

So it is rather easy to cast doubt on a scientific study -- simply try to reproduce the study using methods that are sloppy enough to assure that the results will not be reproduced. "On the one hand we have a study showing harm, on the other hand some scientists have been unable to reproduce these results." So regulators are paralyzed.

As David Michaels told a Texas reporter, "corporations and others who manufacture dangerous products and pollutants have realized that by adding manufactured uncertainty to the equation, they can essentially stop the regulatory process from moving forward."[ 4 ]

[To be continued.]


[1] Peter Waldman, " Common Industrial Chemicals in Tiny Doses Raise Health Issue ," Wall Street Journal July 25, 2005, pg. 1.

[2] David Michaels, " Doubt is Their Product ," Scientific American Vol.
292, No. 6 (June 1, 2005), pgs. 96-101.

[3] Rick Weiss, " 'Data Quality' Law is Nemesis of Regulation ," Washington Post August 26, 2004.

[4] Jeff Nesmith, " New product for U.S. industry: 'manufactured doubt' ," Austin (Tex.) Statesman June 26, 2005.


RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS Environmental Research Foundation P.O. Box 160 New Brunswick, N.J. 08903 Fax (732) 791-4603; E-mail: erf@rachel.org


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Permission to reprint Rachel's is hereby granted to everyone, though we ask that you not change the contents and we ask that you provide proper attribution.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes.

Some of this material may be copyrighted by others. We believe we are making "fair use" of the material under Title 17, but if you choose to use it for your own purposes, you will need to consider "fair use" in your own case. --Peter Montague, editor

http://www.peoplespetition.org/peoplespetition/


Informant: Rory Winter

q/depesche 2005-09-07T13:57:46

Wenn man glaubt, noch durch/geknallt/er geht es nicht, dann findet sich ein Brite, der es versteht, noch einen draufzusetzen.


Vor dem Treffen der europäischen Innen- und Justizminister zur so genannten Vorratsdatenspeicherung von Telefon- und Internet-Verbindungen stellt der britische Innenminister Charles Clarke die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention in Frage.

Die EU-Staaten müssten das zu Gunsten des Schutzes vor organisiertem Verbrechen und Terrorangriffen akzeptieren. Das Recht zu leben überwiege Bedenken zur Beschneidung von Datenschutzrechten, so Clarke.

Sowohl die englischen wie die Richter am EU-Gerichtshof müssten verstehen, dass die Europäer nicht mehr lange akzeptierten, dass gegen Menschen, die eine Bedrohung darstellen, wegen Menschenrechtsbedenken nichts unternommen werden dürfe, so Clarke weiter. Dabei geht es laut britischen Medien um die Abschiebung von Terrorverdächtigen.

"Ich sage, Zweifel an den Bürgerrechten einer Person, die von einer Überwachungskamera gefilmt wird [...], oder einer Person, die mit einer anderen telefoniert hat, sind klein im Vergleich zum übergreifenden Bürgerrecht, nicht in die Luft gesprengt zu werden", so Clarke, der zudem Überwachungskameras für die Behörden, international standardisierte biometrische Daten für Pässe und Visa und die Speicherung von Verbindungsdaten auf ein Jahr forderte.

Mehr dazu
http://futurezone.orf.at/futurezone.orf?read=detail&id=274187


relayed by

More about how vulnerable the New Orleans area is.

After Centuries of 'Controlling' Land, Gulf Learns Who's the Boss

By CORNELIA DEAN
and ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: August 30, 2005
The New York Times

The Gulf Coast has always been vulnerable to coastal storms, but over the years people have made things worse, particularly in Louisiana, where Hurricane Katrina struck yesterday. Since the 18th century, when French colonial administrators required land claimants to establish ownership by building levees along bayous, streams and rivers, people have been trying to dominate the region's landscape and the forces of its nature.

As long as people could control floods, they could do business. But, as people learned too late, the landscape of South Louisiana depends on floods: it is made of loose Mississippi River silt, and the ground subsides as this silt consolidates. Only regular floods of muddy water can replenish the sediment and keep the landscape above water. But flood control projects channel the river's nourishing sediment to the end of the birdfoot delta and out into the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico. [...] Read the rest at the New York Times web site: http://tinyurl.com/73at9

If you enjoy the occasional really good editorials in the New York Times, don't miss this one: Nature's Revenge , published August 30, 2005 http://tinyurl.com/8c9xt



Shrinking La. Coastline Contributes To Flooding

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A07

Two months ago, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told an audience of congressional staffers and scientific experts the federal government needs to spend billions of dollars over the next two decades to restore her state's wetlands. She warned that intentional rerouting of the Mississippi River over the past century, coupled with rising sea levels due to climate change, had eroded Louisiana's natural buffer against massive storms.

"This is not Disneyland. This is the real deal," Landrieu said, referring to New Orleans's vulnerability to hurricanes. "The French Quarter could be under 18 feet of water. It would be lost forever." [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/b35zl

Be sure to check out TruthOut and Buzzflash, who are great publishers and re-publishers. There are so many other sites that have news on a continuing basis that it is impossible to list them. I mention those two because they have been around "for years" in computer time, and work feverishly to help keep people basically informed. http://truthout.org/ and http://buzzflash.com/ Two other great sites are Alternet ( http://www.alternet.org/ ) and http://www.Democrats.com


© Virginia Metze

By Eric Holdeman
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A17
The Washington Post

SEATTLE -- In the days to come, as the nation and the people along the Gulf Coast work to cope with the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we will be reminded anew, how important it is to have a federal agency capable of dealing with natural catastrophes of this sort. This is an immense human tragedy, one that will work hardship on millions of people. It is beyond the capabilities of state and local government to deal with. It requires a national response.

Which makes it all the more difficult to understand why, at this moment, the country's premier agency for dealing with such events -- FEMA -- is being, in effect, systematically downgraded and all but dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security.

Apparently homeland security now consists almost entirely of protection against terrorist acts. How else to explain why the Federal Emergency Management Agency will no longer be responsible for disaster preparedness? Given our country's long record of natural disasters, how much sense does this make? [...] Read the rest at the Washington Post web site: http://tinyurl.com/as299


© Virginia Metze

Josh Marshall
September 03, 2005 -- 10:46 AM EDT

Earlier we asked who would track down the story about FEMA Chief Michael Brown's apparent firing from his last pre-FEMA employment.

The Boston Herald is on the case. The lede from this morning's piece by Brett Arends ...

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

And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position.

The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA.

The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster. Read the rest of the Boston Herald piece at http://tinyurl.com/9ro5p If you have the time, browse the rest of many articles about the hurricane on the Talking Points Memo site.


© Virginia Metze

I wish the present government of this country actually LOVED this country and didn't hate 99% of the people in it! We MUST IMPEACH BUSH ... and there are Republicans who will agree.

Bob Fertik's "action list:

Fix America Now

I couldn't seem to be able to cut and paste the introductory part of this post. See it at http://www.democrats.com/


© Virginia Metze



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

By ERIC LIPTON and SCOTT SHANE
The New York Times
Published: September 3, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 - On Thursday night, Michael D. Brown, the federal government's point man for managing the response to Hurricane Katrina, made a remarkable confession on live television.

Speaking of the thousands stranded at the convention center in New Orleans without food or water, Mr. Brown said that his agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had just learned of their plight.

CNN's Paula Zahn was incredulous. "Sir," she said, "you aren't just telling me you just learned that the folks at the convention center didn't have food and water until today, are you? You had no idea they were completely cut off?"

"Paula," Mr. Brown replied unequivocally, "the federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today."

The comment symbolized what some have described as a deeply flawed federal response. President Bush praised Mr. Brown's performance on Friday, but Mr. Brown's remarks prompted Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi , the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, to call on President Bush to fire Mr. Brown or Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. [...] Read the rest at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/national/nationalspecial/03fema.html


© Virginia Metze

Another oldie being dredged up to indicate that NO ONE should be surprised at this disaster: Scientific American, October, 2001

Drowning New Orleans

By Mark Fischetti
October 01, 2001
Scientific American.com

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

The boxes are stacked eight feet high and line the walls of the large, windowless room. Inside them are new body bags, 10,000 in all. If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water. "As the water recedes," says Walter Maestri, a local emergency management director, "we expect to find a lot of dead bodies."

New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen. The city lies below sea level, in a bowl bordered by levees that fend off Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to the south and west. And because of a damning confluence of factors, the city is sinking further, putting it at increasing flood risk after even minor storms. The low-lying Mississippi Delta, which buffers the city from the gulf, is also rapidly disappearing. A year from now another 25 to 30 square miles of delta marsh--an area the size of Manhattan--will have vanished. [...] Read it all at the Scientific American web page and get a guilty conscience: http://tinyurl.com/8739v


© Virginia Metze

Tim Rutten
September 2, 2005
Los Angeles Times calendarlive.com

As commentators and public officials survey the morass of loss and desolation that once was a great American city called New Orleans, one of the words we hear and read over and over again is "unimaginable."

In fact, the tragedy that this week destroyed a vibrant metropolitan area that was home to 1.4 million people and the city proper that was a national cultural treasure was not simply imagined but foreseen with a prescience that now seems eerily precise.

[...]

Three years ago, New Orleans' leading local newspaper, the Times-Picayune, National Public Radio's signature nightly news program, "All Things Considered," and the New York Times each methodically and compellingly reported that the very existence of south Louisiana's leading city was at risk and hundreds of thousands of lives imperiled by exactly the sequence of events that occurred this week. All three news organizations also made clear that the danger was growing because of a series of public policy decisions and failure to allocate government funds to alleviate the danger.

[...] Read the rest at the Los Angeles Times' calendarlive.com: http://tinyurl.com/7pk6w

An October 2004 article in the National Geographic magazine, Gone with the Water, was among the many articles dredged up in order for environmentalists to say "I told you so." Well, they did, and they were right. Here's the URL to the article: http://tinyurl.com/7oarm


© Virginia Metze

Michael Albert
September 3, 2005
Znet

The growing outrage over the willful ignoring of warnings and overt cutting of local expenditures that paved the way for New Orleans' disaster is of course valid. The growing outrage over the unavailability of resources spent on immoral imperial violence is also valid. Corpses floating by warrant both tears and recrimination, but I want to address something slightly different.

[...] fast forward to the end:

Just to clarify the point, for those who take seriously the admonition to shoot the looters to kill - the main looters in our society are corporate owners who accrue the products of working people's labor. The shooting gallery, if fulfilling this instruction were to become popular, would be far more upscale than the swamp that is New Orleans.

Bush has bloody hands, but beyond Bush, the larger system of business as usual guaranteed a catastrophic response to this catastrophe. The accurate Katrina headline is: Storm Hits, Capitalism Preserves Profits, Humanity Drowns. [...] Read the rest at Znet: http://tinyurl.com/crqru


© Virginia Metze

The David Sirota blog is at http://www.davidsirota.com/ There is a very long column of comments on the New Orleans disaster. His most recent column is posted to Working for a Change blog. http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/

Olbermann on the 'city of Louisiana'

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann does a terrific job of summing up who's responsible for our government's colossal failure to respond to the tragedy on the Gulf Coast.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/


Posted by David Sirota at 7:10 PM September 5, 2005
Tomgram: Iraq in America
At the Front of Nowhere at All
The Perfect Storm and the Feral City
By Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch.com, a project of the Nation Institute

The headline was: "Direct hit in New Orleans could mean a modern Atlantis," and the first paragraph of the story read: "More than 1.2 million people in metropolitan New Orleans were warned to get out Tuesday as [the] 140-mph hurricane churned toward the Gulf Coast, threatening to submerge this below-sea-level city in what could be the most disastrous storm to hit in nearly 40 years." That was USA Today and the only catch was -- the piece had been written on September 14, 2004 as Hurricane Ivan seemed to be barreling toward New Orleans.

I commented at the time: " When ‘Ivan the Terrible' threatened New Orleans, correspondents there had a field day discussing whether the city might literally disappear beneath the waves -- this was referred to as the ‘Atlantis scenario.'" I was then trying to point out that we might indeed be entering a new, globally warmed world of Xtreme weather and no connections whatsoever were being made in the media. At the time, global warming, if discussed at all, was a captive of the far north (melting glaciers, unnerved Inuit, robins making miraculous appearances in Alaska), and "Atlantis scenarios" were the property of distant islands like the atolls that make up the tiny South Pacific nation of Tuvalu, threatened with abandonment due to rising ocean waters and ever fiercer, ever less seasonal storms And yet just short of a year ago, not only! was it well known that New Orleans' levees weren't fit for a class 5 hurricane or that the Bush administration was slashing the budget of the Army Corps of Engineers, but the "Atlantis scenario" was already somewhere on the collective mind. Now, it has been upon us for almost a week. [...] Read it all at TomDispatch.com http://www.tomdispatch.com/


© Virginia Metze

So President Bush has finally made it to the scene -- only four days after the storm. Unfortunately, there was no "bullhorn moment" a la his post-9/11 tour of Ground Zero -- no stirring rhetoric. Indeed, his staged briefing with the governors of Alabama and Mississippi did not inspire confidence or hope in anyone -- except maybe Trent Lott.

And Lott's realtor. "The good news," said the president, "is that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubble of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's gong to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." Yes, he actually said that. Way to look on the bright side, Mr. President. "Fantastic!"

The president's sunny-side-up take on the Gulf Coast's Extreme Makeover came after Alabama Governor Bob Riley announced that he was launching "Operation Golden Rule." Uh, Governor... given what the authorities have been "doing unto" the beleaguered victims of Katrina, do you really think that's such a good idea? [...] Read it all at http://tinyurl.com/amgax


© Virginia Metze

Iraq war didn't cause the hurricane, just drained resources from flooded city

Molly Ivins
Creators Syndicate
September 1, 2005

AUSTIN, Texas -- Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner, glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.

To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that government policies have real consequences in people's lives.

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. [...] Read the rest at the Working for Change web site: http://tinyurl.com/ajzcv


© Virginia Metze

http://rs.net-hh.de/archiv/22628.htm?PHPSESSID=181c8f8ac8f7f91455f19bb42fa8c8ec

Ein Bericht von Besuchern der Stadt, die vom Hurrican und seinen Folgen überrascht wurden, offenbart die Brutalität der Behörden im Umgang mit den Opfern, wenn diese arm oder schwarz waren: ihnen wurde vielfach nicht nur die Hilfe verweigert. Sie wurden darüberhinaus auch daran gehindert, sich selbst zu helfen und aus der Stadt zu entkommen.

http://links.net-hh.de?lid=22628

Marjorie Cohn's documentation of Roberts' record reveals a callous disregard for the rights of people very much like the tens of thousands who have died and been rendered homeless by Katrina. John Roberts' career has established his credentials as an uncompassionate conservative. A Roberts Court, Cohn warns, would threaten the rights of all but the rich and powerful. It is time for the Democrats to utter the "f" word: Filibuster.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605Y.shtml

As the nation watches stunned by the images of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, an Indian tribe has opened its doors to shelter victims while individual Natives are heading to the damaged areas to help out.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605Q.shtml

The US Congress session beginning September 6 is set to discuss legislative changes that the recent US-India nuclear deal will need. India will be watching the Congress proceedings in this connection with interest. The concern of some Indians, however, will be about whether the US lawmakers will consider at all the consequences of the deal for peace and stability in South Asia and in a larger part of Asia.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605O.shtml

Tom Engelhardt comments that in the last week we've seen many of the black poor of New Orleans not only left behind in a new Atlantis, but thousands upon thousands of them - those who didn't die in their wheelchairs, or on highway overpasses, or in the ill-fated convention center, or unattended and forgotten in their homes - sent off on what looked very much like a new trail of tears.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605M.shtml

The stakes are high: Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans must not waiver or compromise. They must warn Bush: They will not confirm an ideologue to the court or elevate a conservative activist - justices Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas - as chief justice.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605L.shtml

Mr Bush's visit was his second to the disaster zone in four days, as more reports of government incompetence surfaced amid calls for the dismissal of top officials, particularly at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605I.shtml

Resurrected from their patriotic torpor after the shocks of the September 11 attacks and their recruitment into the Army on the battlefield in Iraq, American television networks revealed the drama that unfolded in Louisiana, their journalists discovering and living the disaster of 200,000 people abandoned to their fate.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605H.shtml

The wretchedness coming across our television screens from Louisiana has illuminated the way children sometimes pay with their lives, even in America, for being born to poor families. It has also underscored the Bush administration's ongoing reluctance or ineptitude in helping the poorest Americans, Kristof remarks. But Hurricane Katrina also underscores a much larger problem: the growing number of Americans trapped in a never-ending cyclone of poverty.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605D.shtml

Pressed by constituents alarmed by skyrocketing gasoline prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) accused oil companies of manipulating energy markets to enhance profits and decried a lack of national leadership for a plan to free the country from dependence on foreign oil.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605B.shtml

William Rivers Pitt argues that what we are seeing in New Orleans is the end result of what can be best described as extended Reaganomics. Small government, budget cuts across the board, tax cuts meant to financially strangle the ability of federal agencies to function, the diversion of billions of what is left in the budget into military spending: This has been the aim and desire of the conservative movement for decades now. The house of cards has fallen in. A generation of conservative thinking, combined with five years of neoconservative thrashing, has finally come to an unavoidable head.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090605A.shtml

(excerpt)

Why is FEMA so incompetent? It was turned into a political patronage agency by Bush for Bush's campaign.

Urgent International Appeal. U.S. troops in New Orleans are treating hurricane victims as members of "Al Qaeda."

"From Deep Inside the Washington Beltway"

RESIGN

Bush on the Gulf Coast in his role as Slim Witless.

When the recovery is over, we must make a list of these people and when "we the people" take over Congress next year, we must hound them out of media (you reading this Wolf Blitzer?) and the government, especially the Pentagon.

September 6, 2005 --


For communications technicians in New Orleans and Gulf Coast region. How to beat the communications jammers. (Thanks to "M").

Click here:
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/Jammers.htm


"Team Bush" still refusing international aid.

Russian rescue crews on four cargo planes with helicopters on board sit idle at an airport near Moscow waiting for green light, Cuba has 1500 doctors with 26 tons of medical supplies and Bush is refusing them entry to U.S., Venezuelan disaster rescue teams wait for a "go," Dominican Republic crews with hurricane recovery experience wait and wait and wait. It's the same scene at airports around the world. Meanwhile, FEMA turned back 8 buses from Washington, DC that were to bring 400 evacuees to the DC Armory which has been stockpiled with just about every need. The Bush regime has finally reached the crescendo of evil.

And why is FEMA so incompetent? It was turned into a political patronage agency by Bush. This from a disaster recovery specialist with inside contacts at FEMA:

Mike Brown was Joe Allbaugh's college roommate. (Allbaugh was Bush's first FEMA director). Allbaugh is now a consultant who makes tons of money for greasing the skids for companies to get business with the federal government in Iraq and with FEMA. Note to Federal law enforcement. You might want to investigate the relationship between Allbaugh and IEM, Dewberry, and URS -- the companies that took $500,000 to develop a "Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana," a plan they never delivered and a project for they fraudulently included James Lee Witt Associates as one of their team partners. The sleazy revolving door spewing out money spins very fast with the Bush administration.

Mike Brown had absolutely no experience in disaster management. When Allbaugh became director in January, 2001, he politically cleansed FEMA of anyone who was associated with outgoing director James Lee Witt, who had done an excellent during the Clinton administration. Allbaugh was charged with cleaning out of FEMA because of the neocon desire to rid the Federal bureaucracy of FEMA and replace it with charitable giving as a means of disaster relief.

So Allbaugh's first priority was to gut FEMA. This became an even greater priority after the Democrats (especially Joe Lieberman) forced Bush to create a Department of Homeland Security. FEMA was rolled into DHS. Allbaugh was caught by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) using the FEMA Boeing 737 aircraft for private purposes, including numerous personal trips to Florida and political trips around the country. The Republican National Committee reimbursed FEMA for the political junkets, but the embarrassing trips hit the pages of the New York Times and Allbaugh chose at that time to leave and set up his own consulting business. He left without any pressure from the White House.

In early 2001, The American Arabian Horse Association fired current FEMA director Mike Brown as its executive secretary after a non-productive period of employment. Admittedly, Mike Brown had spent a large part of 2000 campaigning for Bush rather than doing his job, but the bottom line for the horse association was that Brown neglected his duties and day to day responsibilities.

Brown was lucky. His old college roommate, Allbaugh, appointed Brown as his number 2 within days of his firing by the horse association. This cozy relationship was noted throughout the Allbaugh period. Upon Allbaugh's departure, Brown was designated by Bush to succeed him as FEMA director. He is called "Brownie" by Bush.

"Brownie" has few supporters in FEMA. In fact, the general commentary is that he lacks basic organizational and management skills, not a leader.

September 5, 2005 --


Urgent International Appeal. U.S. troops in New Orleans are treating hurricane victims as members of "Al Qaeda."

Reports coming to WMR report that the greater New Orleans area has been turned into a virtual military zone where troops threaten bewildered and hungry survivors who approach them for help.

One resident of the unflooded Algiers section of New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River reports that the 65,000 population of the neighborhood has been reduced by forced evacuations to 2000 even though there are relatively undamaged schools, parks, and churches available to house the homeless. The remaining population of Algiers is in urgent need of medical supplies. The same situation exists in Jefferson Parish and other areas in the greater New Orleans area. U.S. troops are treating the remaining people in New Orleans and its suburbs as "suicide bombers," according to the Algiers resident. FEMA's operations are nothing more than a ruse to depopulate the poor African-American and whites from the metropolitan area. A natural disaster has now turned into a human rights catastrophe in the making. Our corporate news media is totally controlled by the Bush administration with an information embargo now in force from the Gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Thecable news channels are now praising the White House's response. This is a blatant lie from a dictatorship that controls the media through financial control and intimidation. The web is our only way to get the news out to the rest of the world.

As a U.S. human rights activist who has reported on genocide in Rwanda, Sudan, West Papua and other parts of the world, I am appealing to my human rights and civil liberties contacts around the world -- Africa, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Canada, Asia and the Pacific -- to immediately bring this humanitarian crisis to the attention of your elected representatives, your governments, and international organizations. They must make immediate demarches to the American diplomatic embassies and offices in your countries. The United States is under the control of a despotic regime that is permitting American citizens and legal residents to die from starvation and disease. This is why the Bush regime refused offers of international assistance -- they are depopulating an entire city that before the storm was 70 percent African American, with the remaining 30 percent largely comprised of those of Creole, French Acadian, and American Indian descent. The United Nations must take this up as an urgent unfolding crisis that has an international impact. Please help our people.

Meanwhile, the communications jamming in the New Orleans area continues. it is now being reported by truck drivers on Interstate-10 as affecting the Citizens' Band (CB) frequencies.

September 5, 2005 -- President Bush has nominated John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taking advantage of a nation reeling and preoccupied with an immediate task of saving hurricane victims and recovering thousands of bodies after its worst natural disaster, George W. Bush early this morning announced he was nominating controversial Judge John Roberts to be the next Chief Justice, replacing the late William Rehnquist for whom Roberts once clerked. The White House has withheld from Congress hundreds of documents regarding Roberts' role in the Iran-Contra scandal and other affairs while he was a counsel for President Reagan. Other documents on Roberts' role in President George H. W. Bush's pardon of Iran-contra felons while serving under Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr at the Justice Department have also been withheld from Congress. There are also questions about Roberts' view of civil rights. It has been revealed from released memos that he was an ardent supporter of South Africa's apartheid regime during the Reagan administration.

As reported on WMR yesterday, Sen. Orrin Hatch was tipping the hand on Bush's intentions when he said he wanted a quick confirmation of both Roberts and a Chief Justice. What he didn't say was that Bush would combine the two processes. Bush said that he expects Roberts to be sitting as Chief Justice when the Supreme Court meets publicly for its Fall session on October 3. Bush said he will announce a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor "in a timely manner." Bush only deals with things in a timely manner when its part and parcel of his plans to radically change the United States as a corporate fascist state. When its hurricane relief, timely manner is not in Bush's lexicon.

Nominated for Chief Justice -- John Roberts. The Bush coup continues: From two years on the Federal bench to the Chief Justice of the United States.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/


Informant: Our bill of rights

NPR has for quite a while, cornered the market on intellectual compassion. However as the charade of political duality in the media becomes more evident. They are further exposed as frauds, if not a fifth column for a neocon-corporate-media.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10148.htm

Much of New Orleans has become the Atlantis from hell, a toxic sludge pool of a looted former city, filled with dead bodies, burning in places, threatened with diseases like cholera and typhus that haven't visited the Big Easy since early in the last century.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=19806


From Information Clearing House

You know you have been lied to.

http://www.gratefulchild.org/projects/gcweb/gc/html/audio/


From Information Clearing House

If you’re not pissed off, you’re not paying attention.

Warning - Item contains language, which may offend some readers.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10154.htm

Well, all I can say is if a terrorist blows up Chicago or a major earthquake decimates Los Angeles, make sure you have batteries in your flashlights and learn to drink sewage with a smile because the Bush administration is otherwise distracted, dismissive and disinterested.

http://www.bettybowers.com/nl_090205.html


From Information Clearing House

U.S.President George Bush may have gone down in the American poll ratings because of his administrations lackadaisical approach and ineptitude in dealing with the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf States, but what has appalled most people, is Washington's decision to approach Third World countries for aid.

http://snipurl.com/hhgg


From Information Clearing House

The Red Cross is appealing for people overseas to contribute money to its Hurricane Katrina Appeal. But why does the world's richest nation need handouts?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4215336.stm


From Information Clearing House

What this tragedy has exposed is far more than the nature of the Bush regime, but the sick nature of the very "American Way of Life" of which they are all so self-righteously proud. Uncaring, class-divided, race-divided, prejudiced, exploitive, steal-from-the-poor-to-protect-the-rich focused, bureaucratic, and incompetent.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10150.htm

Bush announced today in Washington, according to the Wall Street Journal, that "he will personally lead an investigation into what went wrong with the response to Hurricane Katrina." What the heck! Does he think we are all stupid?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10158.htm

There are people dying and (the US government are) not putting the boats in the water, I think that's criminal negligence. I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10149.htm

WARNING: Graphic Images

http://snipurl.com/hhgf


From Information Clearing House

"The choreographed events I've seen here today shocked me".

http://snipurl.com/hhgc


From Information Clearing House

Police officers had taken "souvenir" photographs of stranded people begging for help, he added.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10144.htm

"Mayfield said the strength of the storm and the potential disaster it could bring were made clear during both the briefings and in formal advisories".

http://snipurl.com/hhga


From Information Clearing House

pdf file

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10152.htm

"DMort is telling us to expect up to 40,000 bodies," Dan Buckner said, quoting officials with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, a volunteer arm of Homeland Security.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10159.htm

An Iraqi alternative to US occupation

http://snipurl.com/hhg8


From Information Clearing House

A British soldier who shot dead an Iraqi civilian at a checkpoint will not face any charges, the office of Attorney General has confirmed.

http://snipurl.com/hhg5


From Information Clearing House

SEVEN British paratroops murdered an unarmed civilian in a “brutal and unprovoked” attack eleven days after the war in Iraq had been declared over, a court martial was told yesterday.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10142.htm

You have to watch this video to fully understand, how little regard our government has for the welfare of its own citizens.

Click here to view. Windows Media
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10121.htm

By Manuel Valenzuela

Americans have been slapped in the face by Katrina, forced to confront the vulnerability of our character and the impotence of our wealth, seeing the incompetence of our highest leaders and the ineptitude of our sacred government. - How can America fail when it is the greatest nation on Earth?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10147.htm

Everybody should be concerned about what we are seeing unfold before our eyes.

Look around you. Have you created the society you want for yourself and your children? Do you have the social support you need? Do you know where food and water would come from if a disaster would strike?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10146.htm

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=184


Informant: NHNE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4216508.stm


Informant: NHNE

Study
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0906-07.htm

Each week, teens from Hillsborough and Pinellas join antiwar protesters at BayWalk. They tell why.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0906-03.htm

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread167902/pg1

--------

Eleven-year-old Trenace Tyler, who stands outside her Camp Dawson living quarters, is looking forward to getting back in school.

http://tinyurl.com/b6ra4

Tyler is among the refugees from Hurricane Katrina being sheltered at the West Virginia National Guard training center at Camp Dawson near Kingwood, W.Va. in Preston County, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005. Her family is among the first group of what could be 500 refugees from New Orleans who will be housed at the 4,177-acre camp along the Cheat River. (AP Photo/Dale Sparks)

Its on the list of FEMA camps for West Virginia.
http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1062

WEST VIRGINIA Beckley - Alderson - Lewisburg - Former WWII detention camps that are now converted into active federal prison complexes capable of holding several times their current populations. Alderson is presently a women´s federal reformatory. Morgantown - Federal prison camp located in northern WV; just north of Kingwood. Mill Creek - FEMA detention facility. Kingwood - Newly built detention camp at Camp Dawson Army Reservation. More data needed on Camp Dawson.


Informant: Dani Djinn



FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: Locations and Executive Orders
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/386951/

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2005/060905femasabotaging.htm


ranger116

More on Politically Correct Speech
http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2003/0708.html

From The US Declaration of Independence
http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, Laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

The Government that Governs Least Governs Best !!

The Keyboard Is Mightier Than The Sword
©1999 tlb

Thomas Lee Buyea
Florida News Service


Informant: ranger116

http://www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

Informant: Amy Hendrickson

From ufpj-news

Bath Chronicle

11:00 - 06 September 2005

A Planning inquiry will now decide the fate of a controversial phone mast scheme in Bath. Earlier this year, Bath and North East Somerset Council delayed a decision on the mobile phone base station and antennae planned for a site at Wellsway.

Now operator Hutchinson 3G has appealed against the authority's failure to reach a verdict over the mast earmarked for the roof of the Smile store.

The Planning Inspectorate will now appoint an inspector to look at the case for and against the mast and recommend whether permission should be given.

Councillors had argued that inadequate research had been done into whether the mast could be located elsewhere, and said more time should be spent examining whether Hutchinson could share the same site as a rival phone company.

Campaigners opposed to the scheme have recently set up a new action group claiming the mast would be too close to homes.

They had celebrated when an application in the same area by phone company O2 was withdrawn and the company agreed to work on a plan for a mast site in nearby Alexandra Park.

But within months, Hutchinson 3G had submitted its application for the site at Wellsway.

The inspector will look at written submissions from each side and visit the site before making a recommendation for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Any comments sent by residents to B &NES will be forwarded to the inspectorate.

Anyone wanting to comment is asked to write to The Planning Inspectorate, 3/25 Hawk Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN, sending three copies of their letter.

They should quote the reference number APP/F0114/A/05/1187757.

http://www.sirc.org/articles/birds_on_the_wire.shtml

From Karen Barratt

FYI Re: Bird on a Wire James Harkin - an Adam Burgess clone ! Maybe there is a mad scientist (in the pay of the telecoms) somewhere creating these "replicants."

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments: Shortcut to: http://www.sirc.org/about/james.shtml

--------

Hear hear! Just sent him this:

Dear Mr Harkin,

It comes as no surprise to me that the aforementioned article does not mention the effect of masts on homing pigeons, who lose their sense of direction and fly to the wrong places, often going missing never to be seen again. Perhaps you have evidence that these pigeons are acting this way because they merely perceive masts to be dangerous?

What does surprise me is that Demos, (erroneously, obviously) referred to by some as a 'left wing think tank', should publish a misinformed article that serves the interests of the industry over the general population, when there is more than enough scientific evidence already available to anyone with a knowledge of scientific studies and research. The MOA use terms like 'review after review' when they are citing their 'reasssurances' about the safety of masts. Anyone with a Bsc knows that a review is exactly what it says, it is NOT based on new research. Someone looks at the research, picks out the bits that support their argument, compiles them into a group of studies, and viola! -they have a review of the literature! Someone else with the same interests comes along and does the same, and then there are two reviews, of the SAME literature, saying the same as the previous one. And so it goes.

Meanwhile, genuine research by independent scientists is starved of funding, and the studies identifying effects that the Industry and Government do not want us to know about are brushed aside. The usual strategy is to claim that science finding adverse effects is 'inconclusive' or unreplicated. Well, guess what! So is the 'science' the government use!

Do you not find it strange that the Government's 'science' is accepted without question, despite its flaws? Or that Professors of Sociology, such as Adam Burgess, are encouraged to put forward erroneous views on the subject as though he were an actual scientist with more knowledge than eminent scientists around the world? Or that the late Richard Doll, extolled by the Government and Industry as one of the scientists to be relied upon for information, was the same man who deemed x-rays safe for pregnant women?

Amanda Wesley (Bsc)

--------

Omega see "Pulsed microwave radiation and wildlife" under:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/926007/

http://members.iinet.net.au/~holmgren/truth.html


Informant: Neo Mulder

http://cbs5.com/specialreports/local_story_249213006.html

CALIF. lawmakers worried that FEMA couldn't handle earthquake San Jose Mercury News - United States ... Katrina as California lawmakers wondered if the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency could handle the aftermath of a major California earthquake...
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12575789.htm

From: Meria Heller
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 8:43 PM
Subject: Fw: Fw: Ion Beam Controlling Katrina] - interesting

WEATHER CONTROL AND WEATHER WARFARE http://www.weatherwars.info/

SCOTT STEVENS' SITE "WEATHER WARS"
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=78106

Lets see if we are so wrong so a picture is a million words...

-- Original Message Subject: Fw: Ion Beam Controlling Katrina Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2005 18:30:36 -0700
From: Godsmystery
To: David Monte*

Original Message - From: AvenueOfLight Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 4:57 PM Subject: Ion Beam Controlling Katrina

http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.net/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=97351

Bush's comment clearly points to the fact that he knows Katrina was a result of weather warfare - but by whom - our own Gov't ION BEAM CONTROLLING KATRINA *PIC*.

What the heck is this anomaly which appears to be targeting the exact center of hurricane Katrina's eye?

Was this truly an engineered hurricane? Or, is this apparent beam directing the hurricane to it's target?

Is this what Bush meant when he ascribed all the hurricane's damage to being like the result of "the most powerful weapon imaginable?"

It's hard for me to fathom, but then again, so was the H-Bomb hard to fathom to the ordinary citizen not all that long ago.

Kent at Cyberspaceorbit.com has some information as does the link below to RumorMillNews.com.

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/


LINK TO MORE INFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Indication of Scalar Weather Engineering?

Deconstructing Katrina: Scalar Signatures

Kent Steadman has found a remarkable photo of Katrina which shows a very strange anomaly which MAY be indication of weather engineering.

He suggests it is some kind of "ion beam."

Kent has always done excellent work in following the scalar weather wars. Here is the picture he uncovered:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=78103

What IS that thing? It is time for us all to start educating ourselves on these matters because Tom Bearden says he imagines that EVERY major weather event from now on will probably be partially engineered.

In the case of Katrina he estimates a 70% chance it was "pumped up" to category 5 status with longitudinal wave interferometers ("Tesla howitzers").

The picture above is still at its souce site at NOAA:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2496.htm
(Rich - It's the 2nd picture on the right)

http://www.weatherwars.info/
Scott Stevens Weather Wars link


Informant: Friends

http://www.unknownnews.org/0509090906CampWilliams.html


Informant: Michael Novick

Los Angeles Times
by Peter G. Gosselin and Alan C. Miller

09/05/05

While the federal government has spent much of the last quarter-century trimming the safety nets it provides Americans, it has dramatically expanded its promise of protection in one area -- disaster. ... But the government's stumbling response to the storm that devastated the nation's Gulf Coast reveals that the federal agency singularly most responsible for making good on Washington's expanded promise has been hobbled by cutbacks and a bureaucratic downgrading. The Federal Emergency Management Agency once speedily delivered food, water, shelter and medical care to disaster areas, and paid to quickly rebuild damaged roads and schools and get businesses and people back on their feet. ... But in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, FEMA lost its Cabinet-level status as it was folded into the giant new Department of Homeland Security. And in recent years it has suffered budget cuts, the elimination or reduction of key programs and an exodus of experienced staffers... [editor's note: Excuses mostly, but also some explanation? - SAT]

http://tinyurl.com/7oqhg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Sierra Times
by Al Benson Jr.

09/06/05

Katrina has come and gone, but the results she left with us will be here for some time to come. One thing this storm did was to reveal the 'Southern strategy' of George W., which basically to get the South to help him get re-elected and then tell that region to go and take a flying leap -- now that they had helped put him back into office he didn't need them anymore, and to make sure they didn't let the door hit them in the backside on the way out. ... [T]he South ... is, in Washington, really considered to be the bastard child of the rest of the country -- except during election years of course. Associated Press articles have noted that it was common knowledge that the levees contructed to prevent New Orleans from flooding wouldn't be able to withstand a major hurricane. Be that as it may, the movers and shakers in Washington, somehow, never quite got around to appropriating enough money to correct that little problem...

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/09/06/64_12_116_12_19165.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

America's Future Foundation
by James N. Markels

09/05/05

The old saying goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' Such is the case if disaster strikes when you're unprepared. Now, with New Orleans damaged far worse than New York City after 9/11, Americans are left wondering exactly who has to be in charge in order to keep these disasters from happening. And they are looking, fairly or unfairly, at President Bush...)

http://www.affbrainwash.com/archives/020273.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Matthew Yglesias

09/06/05

Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath have focused public attention as never before (in my memory) on the twin scandals of George W. Bush's proclivity for incompetence laced with dishonesty and the persistence of mass poverty in America. The scandals are not unrelated. When on the campaign trail in 2000 Bush proclaimed himself a 'compassionate conservative' different from his predecessors, nobody quite knew what he meant. The idea seemed to be, however, that he was like a regular conservative, but also cared about poor people. Whether or not that's what the slogan was supposed to have meant, the reality turned out quite differently. Bush has become famous for his casual disregard of the basic elements of conservative philosophy ... Spending has gone up -- way up -- nearly across the board even while tax cuts have been lavished on the wealthy. Less noted is that one very small portion of the federal government's activities really has been curtailed: the spending of money on efforts to help poor people...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10216


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Richard Morrison

08/30/05

The disruption to oil and gas operations off the coast of Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina this week has raised concern that the oil processing facilities in the rest of the country may be unable to maintain supplies, leading to dramatically higher gas prices. The threat of those price increases emphasizes the need to throw off government restrictions and disincentives to investment in new energy infrastructure...

http://www.cei.org/gencon/003,04797.cfm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Frontiers of Freedom
by John T. Plecnik

09/06/05

The national debate on Supreme Court nominations is dominated by a larger debate over the most controversial social issues of our time. More specifically, the debate is dominated by a disagreement as to who has the final word on these issues. Who should decide whether abortion or gay marriage is legal in the United States? Congress or the courts? Generally speaking, strict constructionists say that congress or a state legislature should decide. The judicial philosophy of strict constructionism advocates for judicial restraint. Judges should strictly construe and apply the law as it is...

http://tinyurl.com/bxo2l


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Dan La Botz

09/06/05

Government failed utterly. Homeland Security secured nothing. FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Administration -- managed nothing. The President, finally tearing himself away from his vacation, first dawdled and then dithered while people died. Only after almost a week of tragedy, suffering and shame did government being [sic] to respond. But the people of New Orleans, poor African American people mostly, didn't fail. They gave us a model to live by. They helped each other. Ordinary men and women carried children and the elderly to high ground, built camps in the driest, most secure place, formed bands to forage for food and dry clothing. The strong helped the weak, as all helped each other. They also spoke out in righteous anger to the television cameras telling the world that the government had, after long neglecting them, now deserted them. They demanded to be treated with the dignity they deserved. Not all were steadfast it's true. Some behaved like our society taught them to behave: competed for resources, beggared their neighbors, hoarded their wealth. But most, the vast majority, stood together. The rejected competition and embraced cooperation and collective action...

http://www.counterpunch.org/labotz09062005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by Jack Duggan

09/05/05

Watching news coverage of the refugees trying to enter the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans for safety from the approaching force-five Hurricane Katrina, I was incredulous how the people attempting to enter the stadium were being treated by the national guard troops and local police. The people were made to stand for hours outside in the awful Louisiana climate while they were admitted one or two adults at a time so they could be searched 'for firearms and alcohol.' ... There were thousands of poor, mostly black citizens of the lower Louisiana area, many of them little children and sickly elderly, being forced to stand for hours while the government violated their civil rights with forced searches that were patently unconstitutional, unjust and unreasonable under the dire circumstances. 'Don't want to be searched? That's okay ... now turn around, go outside and die!' Big choice...

http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle335-20050904-04.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Bill Davis

09/06/05

I read somewhere that real news is what they hide from us -- everything else is advertising. The advertising campaign is on -- real news slipped out for a few days and even the journalists who usually do most of the advertising, were stunned and emotional. They will be put back in place soon by the bombast of General Honore and the earnest level-headed drama of Clinton and the threat of Bush the Matriarch. But what the journalists saw in New Orleans was not just grisly images -- they saw the barbaric consequences of the policy drift of America -- a drift they must wonder if they had a hand in creating...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0906-20.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

LewRockwell.Com
by Bill Barnwell

09/07/05

It's either a pure dishonesty or an illogical mind that says that a person can't support the troops without supporting the war. If by 'support' it means to keep them in harm's way forever fighting battles where they never needed to be in the first place, then I guess no, no anti-war person can 'support the troops.' But if by 'support' it means to actually care about the lives of these people, desire that they get out of harms way, be back with their families, and demand that they actually be used for national defense and not for politicians' imperialistic impulses, then yes, we can and do support them just fine. The fact is that 'The Troops' have become political footballs for individuals on both sides of the war debate, but more shamelessly so by hyper pro-war zealots. They use the troop card to silence and stifle debate. Since they can't debate the facts and surrounding circumstances of this war they resort to vilifying dissenters with scare tactics which seek to prevent them from speaking out unless they want their humanity and patriotism questioned...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/barnwell/barnwell51.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

09/07/05

The myths of American impregnability have been debunked, one by one, first by 9/11, then by the disastrous aftermath of our glorious 'victory' in Iraq, and now, with Katrina, by the very forces of Nature. It's as if, on the road to Benevolent Global Hegemony, a giant Invisible Hand had appeared on the horizon, commanding us to "Stop!" These failures, enumerated above, are all the failures of government -- and, in spite of a concerted effort by the liberal-left and the neocon right to cast these events as pointing to the need for more governmental authority, the observant empiricist will insist quite the contrary...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7173


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Reason
by Matt Welch

09/06/05

All along Hurricane Katrina's Evacuation Belt, in cities from Houston to Baton Rouge to Leesville, Louisiana, the exact same rumors are spreading faster than red ants at a picnic. The refugees from the United States' worst-ever natural disaster, it is repeatedly said, are bringing with them the worst of New Orleans' now-notorious lawlessness: looting, armed carjacking, and even the rape of children. 'By Thursday,' the Chicago Tribune's Howard Witt reported, 'local TV and radio stations in Baton Rouge ...were breezily passing along reports of cars being hijacked at gunpoint by New Orleans refugees, riots breaking out in the shelters set up in Baton Rouge to house the displaced, and guns and knives being seized.' The only problem -- none of the reports were true...

http://www.reason.com/links/links090605.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

WBIR-TV

09/06/05

Hurricane Katrina has become the Homeland Security Department's first big test. Since the department was created after the 9/11 attacks to prevent and respond to catastrophes, it has spent tens of billions of dollars, studied disaster scenarios of every imaginable kind and run some of the nation's biggest emergency response drills. It should have been ready for just about anything. But it wasn't ready for the power of Katrina. Today, as workers struggle to provide better relief for survivors, Congress will begin investigating why the government's response was so slow. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., leaders of the Senate Homeland Security committee, will discuss their committee's plan for an inquiry into the response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The agency is the disaster-response division of the Homeland Security Department. 'We intend to demand answers as to how this immense failure occurred,' the senators said in a statement...

http://www.wbir.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=28429&provider=rss


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

09/05/05

Volunteer physicians are pouring in to care for the sick, but red tape is keeping hundreds of others from caring for Hurricane Katrina survivors while health problems rise. Among the doctors stymied from helping out are 100 surgeons and paramedics in a state-of-the-art mobile hospital, developed with millions of tax dollars for just such emergencies, marooned in rural Mississippi. 'The bell was rung, the e-mails were sent off. ...We all got off work and deployed,' said one of the frustrated surgeons, Dr. Preston 'Chip' Rich of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 'We have tried so hard to do the right thing. It took us 30 hours to get here,' he said. That government officials can't straighten out the mess and get them assigned to a relief effort now that they're just a few miles away 'is just mind-boggling,' he said." [Editor's note: Reminds me of another story that I only saw on my local news, a team of medical personnel from the Medical College of Georgia, waiting since LAST Tuesday to be 'deployed' to the disaster area - MLS]

http://tinyurl.com/bamrk


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.weatherwars.info/

Katrina

"I'm not looking forward to this trip," Bush said as he toured Alabama and Mississippi and headed for Louisiana. "It's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by the worst kind of weapon you can imagine," he said.

Read it Now

August 2005 Video

A mixture of hand held video and time-lapse shot in and around Pocatello, Idaho this year.


Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.

Find some pieces of the puzzle

"Others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.

So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations.

It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our efforts, and that's why this is so important."

-[Secretary of Defense William Cohen at an April 1997 counterterrorism conference sponsored by former Senator Sam Nunn. Quoted from DoD News Briefing, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Q&A at the Conference on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S. Strategy, University of Georgia , Athens , Apr. 28, 1997].

A battle in the skies is waged daily. Some battles are won and others lost. We yet know not which.

For years this massive global project has been under way, but only now is it making it to the forefront of the consciousness of those with curious minds.

These open minds know that every belief system fails; and only fails, under the weight of new truthful information. This is how progress is made, slowly and often only with the passing of a generation of humankind.

The Truth

It would appear to be an indelible human trait that the 'truth' about most issues usually goes through three distinct phases known colloquially as "the three stages of truth".

During the first stage, the issue goes unnoticed and is ignored.

The second stage is characterized by a period of vehement denial.

The third stage witnesses the truth about the issue being recognized as self-evident.

The intent of my work here is to skip directly to this third stage of truth. Time does not allow for us to bicker over the obvious.

Visit the site of Tom Bearden. His work is pioneering in this field. His latest paper is absolutely essential in understanding how this scalar technology works, how long it has been active, who runs it and why and finally what it is immediately capable of.

He also discusses what kinds of events are planned for the U.S. in the coming two to three years. This man deserves the Prize for his research.

The following is a brief excerpt from his most recent paper dated October 13, 2004.

So in early 1990, the weather engineering operations over North America were assumed from the FSB/KGB by the Yakuza/Aum Shinrikyo teams, and operations continued with the Yakuza's leased giant scalar interferometers.

The weather engineering against the United States continues today under the rogue Japanese teams on site in Russia, with direct FSB/KGB supervision.

In 2004 we have entered the 2-year "final preparation phase". These operations have been intensified and will continue to be intense, wreaking great economic damage.

Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, etc. have been no exception to the Yakuza weather engineering, which included directly influencing and controlling each hurricane's power and behavior, as well as directing its course and speed so as to choose its targeting path. Indeed, Ivan did a 180 degree turn, and Jeanne did a 360 degree loop before reaching Florida, demonstrating the degree of control available.

Meteorologists do recognize periods of increased or decreased hurricane activity for various reasons, but they do not consider deliberate human induction of hurricanes or human control over their direction, power, and progress.

Indeed, in latter March of 2004, Hurricane Catarina -- the first-ever recorded hurricane in the South Atlantic-- formed and came ashore in Brazil on March 28 with 90 mph winds, doing substantial damage.

So while the conventional wisdom is that hurricanes cannot form (naturally) in the South Atlantic; this one did and "broke all the records".

It appears to have been a "deliberate probe" by the Yakuza:

Produce and drive ashore a hurricane where the textbooks state one is impossible, to test whether Western governments and scientists recognize the artificial weather engineering .

The answer, of course, is that -- as expected -- the West did not recognize its importance, or that it was a deliberate "stimulus."

Western meteorologists and governments simply shrugged off Hurricane Catarina as an interesting little phenomenon but of no great concern.

For conventional consideration of hurricane increases, see (a) Lennart Bengtsson, "Hurricane Threats," Science, Vol. 293, 20 July 2001 p. 440-441; (b) Stanley B. Goldenberg et al ., "The Recent Increase in Atlantic Hurricane Activity: Causes and Implications," Science, Vol. 293, 20 July 2001 p. 474-479.

This full 60 page paper is a MUST read! http://www.cheniere.org/articles/

As a television weatherman I first met this information with skepticism, who wouldn't?

Almost completely rejecting the concept that weather modification outside of cloud seeding possible.

Additional clues kept creeping in until I came across examples of scalar weather engineering on Tom Bearden's web site. Soon I began looking for my own examples in my own skies. Whoa! There they were! And not just occasionally, but all the time!

Examples in highs clouds were the easiest to spot, much less convective turbulence to round out the edges.

Mid level clouds. the alto cumulus are now frequently gridded and square. Odd, very odd I thought. Lower clouds, cumulus and stratus, especially in a marine layer environment seem to be the most difficult in which to see the active grid. But it is there. I must also admit living in the desert climate of the Northern Rockies, which does not afford me much opportunity to get practiced with that kind of marine air mass.

Spotting activity in clouds is but one aspect of this global war.

Evidence can be gleaned from satellite imagery; weather service doppler radars frequently give up these scalar secrets too.

Contrails and chemtrails, without question, are a big part of this game. There must be aspects as yet unknown; that some curious mind will share with us as this war game develops further and as more eyes are opened and see.

It must be understood by all that the entirety of this planet's atmospheric weather processes are now controlled. All of it, completely 24/7/365!

The paradigm shift for all weathermen is now trying to forecast some organization's intent, and not the natural meteorological processes of earth's atmosphere.

This adds yet another element of unknown to an already challenging field. The premise of this site is that you have a working understanding of basic meteorological processes.

My building this site was an inevitability.

I am just the first of a very bright group of individuals who have to look at information that is of varying reliability and quality on a day to day basis. draw conclusions from that data, then present those conclusions of that data to very large audiences.

The weather industry will convert quickly, very quickly.

Simply put this is a yes or no proposition; it is occurring or it is not. Even a cursory look at this site yields foundation-moving questions for weather guys, and moves the mind into this reality.

The end game has arrived, just as the powers that be knew it would.

My only question is whether it is later or earlier than their anticipation.

This planet's destiny is set. only the details have yet to occur.

Our branch of humanity has in its future the possibility of regaining our sovereignty; that issue yet remains to be determined.

If humanity only knew that this choice presently exists. The alarm bells are ringing, it is time to wake-up.


Informant: Friends