CNN/New Orleans:"Mayor blasts failure to patch levee breeches" and that's

[Nothing Without Hope]

only the beginning:

The failure to drop those sandbags and patch the levees was a catastrophe - it's resulted in the major flooding of downtown NO that may well have been avoidable. Mayor Nagin tried desperately to reach Bush, but he was unable to do so. Guess * had other priorities, like getting a manicure perhaps. To my knowledge, the fact that Bush wasn't answering the phone from the mayor of New Orleans requesting urgent, life-and-death assistance has so far not showed up in any of the major media - it was heard by people listening to Nagin's announcement and was reported here at DU.

But Nagin's fury at the failure to patch the levees in time to avert greatly intensified catastrophe and more deaths is in a CNN article this morning:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/31/katrina.levees/index.html

Mayor blasts failure to patch levee breaches

Wednesday, August 31, 2005; Posted: 7:21 a.m. EDT (11:21 GMT)

(snip)

According to the mayor, Black Hawk helicopters were scheduled to pick up and drop massive 3,000-pound sandbags in the 17th Street Canal breach, but were diverted on rescue missions. Nagin said neglecting to fix the problem has set the city behind by at least a month.

"I had laid out like an eight-week to ten-week timeline where we could get the city back in semblance of order. It's probably been pushed back another four weeks as a result of this," Nagin said.

"That four weeks is going to stop all commerce in the city of New Orleans. It also impacts the nation, because no domestic oil production will happen in southeast Louisiana."

Nagin said he expects relief efforts in the city to improve as New Orleans, the National Guard and FEMA combine their command centers for better communication, followup and accountability.

FEMA is a real mess, both from cut funds and from the fallout from a Bolton clone, Albaugh, being sent in by the Bush Administration. He was so insanely abusive and disruptive, many of the career FEMA management personnel left. The disastrously mismanaged mission in New Orleans has cost lives and according to Mayor Nagin, set back by a month the schedule for reopening New Orleans. Here's a post on the Bolton Clone dispatched to FEMA:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4520347&mesg_id=4520775
YES ! Joe Albaugh, 1 of Bush's campaign managers & nutcase.

This man has a truly violent temper and short trigger to go with it. At one of his first meetings with career FEMA high level staff, one woman who was called on to make a report started out by introducing herself to Albaugh with her name and title. He went ballistic, screaming and raging - DID SHE THINK HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO SHE WAS?!?!?!? HOW DARE SHE PRESUME SUCH A THING??? . . .yada, yada, yada along the same line for minutes to the dead silence of everyone else in the room who had never seen such a display of temper. In other words, someone following standard business etiquette was screamed at and berated in front of her peers.

This was typical behavior for Albaugh, and one result was that many, many of the top level FEMA people left for other jobs or took early retirement because Albaugh wouldn't allow them to do the jobs they were trained to do. This was a tremendous loss of institutional knowledge for the relatively small federal agency. Albaugh hated being at FEMA and left after about a year. Although he had zip experience with disaster relief or any kind of government/public service before his explosive period with FEMA, when he left there he started a very high priced consulting firm on counter-terrorism.

Bush initially put Albaugh in place to gut FEMA - I mean why should all that federal money go to people in trouble and need through some natural disaster. Bush's attitude was that if you weren't wealthy enough to private pay someone to help you handle a disaster, you deserved whatever befell you. Anyway, when 9/11 occurred, he couldn't outwardly gut FEMA, but he pretty much emasculated it by putting it under DHS.

And then there is the cut in funding. For example:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x151655
Thread title: 9/28/04 La should have received FEMA disaster mitigation grants, but got 0
From the information in this thread, it looks like the plan to allow New Orleans to be devastated by storms and floods has in effect for at least several years.

Here are some other threads on how all the different sources of funding that was supposed to be used to protect the city and provide relief efforts has been systematically gutted:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4482567
Thread title: Bush has slashed Clinton's Disaster Mitigation Program. (unbelievable)
Posted by barbaraann GD Forum Sun Aug-28-05 12:23 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2042880
Thread title: New Orleans district, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cut by Bush
Posted by usregimechange GD-P Mon Aug-29-05 12:25 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4490119
Thread title: Bush Cut Hurricane, Flood Protection Funding to New Orleans
Posted by Lori Price CLG GD Forum Sun Aug-28-05 09:59 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2042922
Thread title: DU media Blast Bush's cuts to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
sregimechange GD-P Mon Aug-29-05 12:54 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2045974
thread title: Hold Bush accountable for the flooding of New Orleans!
saracat GD-P Tue Aug-30-05 04:36 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4517048
thread title: Cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers... not a politicization, just
4MoronicYears GD Forum Tue Aug-30-05 08:44 PM

Is all of this just incompetence, callousness and greed? Maybe - but maybe not. I am beginning to suspect LIWOP - Let It Worsen On Purpose. Those levees were not repaired, when they were the highest priority. Funding was not there. And then there is the shipment of the people who SHOULD have been pitching in, OUR National Guard, overseas as cannon fodder in Bush's war of choice. Even the paltry 3500 who were supposed to arrive didn't make it yesterday, according to this thread;
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4520347
Thread title: FEMA not doing so good in N.O - National Guard never showed up today

Finally, and far from least, there really are larger, scarier reasons to be concerned about a conspiracy in which what has been happening to the National Guard and FEMA is a part. Read through this thread and think about it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4519574
Thread title: Think about the implications of this: Nat'l Guard in Iraq, NorthCom HERE.

[jackster]

1. excellent post

KICKED

[ramapo]

2. That's our President!

And to think he was "rewarded" with reelection. So whose fault is this,
"President" Bush or American voters?

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. He was not elected by the American voters in 2000 or in 2004. He took

office by coup, not election. No wonder he doesn't represent us.

[Peace Patriot]

37. Well, American voters may be at fault for being asleep at the wheel when

Bushite corporations--Diebold and ES&S--took over our election system, with SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code for the tabulation of our votes, but the voters are not the most culpable party in that coup, given the complicity of corrupt local election officials of both political parties (who signed those "trade secret" contracts!), the catastrophic SILENCE of Democratic Party leaders on the Bush Cartel gaining control over the counting of our votes (probably due to their support for Bush's war), and the collusion of the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, who not only FAILED to inform voters about WHO was counting their votes in secret, behind closed doors, but FALSIFIED their own exit polls on everybody's TV screens late on election day--polls showing that Kerry won, and that Diebold's and ES&S's secret tabulation was WRONG--thus denying the American people major evidence of election fraud.

American voters did their part. They came out in record numbers to throw the Bush Cartel out of the White House. They were foiled. Yeah, maybe they should have wised up a long time ago, but the forces trying to keep them stupid and uninformed, and trying to disempower and DISENFRANCHISE them, and trying to prevent their will from being done, and trying to change them from a justice-loving, tolerant, progressive, generous and fair-minded people into slaves and cannon fodder, have been just a bit overwhelming for any people to handle. Give them a break! Who is REALLY responsible for this coup?

The Bush Cartel?
Diebold and ES&S?
The war profiteering corporate news monopolies?
Corrupt and collusive Democratic Party leaders?

Or disempowered, disinformed, disenfranchised people who have to work three low-paying jobs to put food on the table, and whose children's only hope for higher job training and employment is the U.S. military?

They were not about to let the American people vote.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

82. Try blaming the electronic voting machines instead of the voters.

[benburch]

3. Bush only talks to donors.

Not mothers of dead soldiers or mayors of dying cities.

[PSPS]

5. When does the freeper chorus of "we don't care" begin?

[benburch]

7. They are already warming up. nt

[Tesla]

4. Impeachment would be too nice, let's give him sewer duty in NO

for the mext 2 months.
He can be the pooper-scooper.

Maybe that would be too good a job for him........

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Considering all the shit he's rained down on us these past five years

that would be an excellent job for him.

[mondo joe]

6. Fundies probably have no interest in helping NO anyway.

Bush is probably celebrating.

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. Oh yeah. dicksteele has produced some great images for that:

This and more, including the original August 30 party picture this was taken from, are in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4521301
Thread title: I'm trying to see to it that B*sh CHOKES on that cake! (politically)

Then there was the one with the guitar - you've got to see the sequence of thought balloons added to the animated photo by dxstone at this link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4515325&mesg_id=4516826
Don't miss the presidential seal on the guitar - I don't think dxstone added that, it must have been a kiss-up gift. He was having a hopping good time, was our caring and compassionate p(Resident).

[Lorien]

8. The DU activist's corps needs to get involved in this

we must INSIST that the media cover this issue. Hurricane season is only half over, and no doubt disaster relief funding has been slashed across the country. The National Guard situation is a tragedy. Nothing will change unless the people wake up and scream about it!

[underpants]

9. NO Mayor Nagin on The Today Show

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4523299

[Swamp Rat]

10. Why is Bush letting my city die a slow death?

He could have ordered the US military on MONDAY to plug up the holes in the levee with barges filled with sand, but he didn't... why?

I want to know WHY the president of the United States of America did not act to save New Orleans. I want to know why my mother is still lost and not rescued by now.

[Karenina]

12. SWAMPERS!!!

:hug::loveya::hug:

[Swamp Rat]

21. viel angst

:cry:

[Nothing Without Hope]

35. Ah Swampy, I remember enough of my college German for that.

:hug: :hug: :hug: to our beloved Swamp Rat, creator of disturbing green bumpy versions of very bad people - which look more like them than they do before the adjustment - and a treasured member of our DU community.

I hope re-establishment of phone communication with your mom happens soon. I don't think you've slept much at all and even at the beginnng of this ordeal you were ill. Please take care of yourself as if it were a friend you were caring for. And please keep us posted with updates.

(((((Swamp Rat)))))

[Trevelyan]

103. Swamp Rat, glad to hear from you, sorry you haven't heard yet from

your mother. I will pray for both of you. Keep well.

:pals: :grouphug: :hug:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. Why?

"That four weeks is going to stop all commerce in the city of New Orleans. It also impacts the nation, because no domestic oil production will happen in southeast Louisiana."

[NYC]

69. Higher prices result.

Some places today were up 50 cents a gallon.

[benburch]

18. Swamp Rat!

If there is anything I can do to help you or your folks, just let me know.

[Swamp Rat]

27. thanks... you can help us... all of us from New Orleans

Please help me raise the issue with Thom Hartmann, Mike Malloy, Guy James, Randi Rhodes, et al: Why didn't Bush act to save New Orleans? He could have, but he did NOT.

I spent all night writing the above group, among others, raising this question... and why mom hasn't been found and evacuated. She was in the Monteleone Hotel in the Quarter... no word since Monday. :cry:

Why has our president forsaken the Crescent City? He could have ordered the holes in the levee to be plugged up on Monday, but he did not act. Why? I want to know WHY???

[benburch]

32. I shall. nt

[mom cat]

95. These issues also need to be media blasted.

I am so sorry that you haven't heard yet about your mom. :hug:

[geomon666]

25. I'm so sorry Swamp

I don't know what to say man.

[Swamp Rat]

34. say something ... write something to anyone in the MSM or Malloy, et al

Please, raise the question "why has Bush forsaken New Orleans?"

:hug:

[ralps]

43. Hey Swamp Rat, Stephanie Miller just read your e-mail!!! I'm glad you are

Ok and I hope you get in touch with your mom soon. :hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo: :cry:

[AllieB]

44. I'm so sorry about your mother!

:hug:

That is just awful...

Bush doesn't care about Nawlins because it's a blue city full of poor folk who didn't vote for him. He can only relate to the rich.

[bear425]

47. Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom! I will keep you in my

thoughts. Please keep us informed when you are reunited. :hug:

[Pooka Fey]

49. Swamp Rat you and your family are in my prayers.

My heart is breaking for New Orleans. My rage at ** is beyond measure for his failure and contempt for this nation. :hug:

[lonestarnot]

11. We are going down... some one needs to lead that has some damn sense.

[KittyWampus]

14. This is a devastating post. LIWOP has been coined. Maybe they look forward

to manipulating this disaster for all its worth.

fucking bastards.

[seabeyond]

15. kick ass. lets eat these repufgs alive. they fucked up all over

big time

i say go for the neck. that ole pit. and dont let go

[Triana]

16. I have to wonder if the failure to patch the levees was somehow...

...intentional? We know NO is a hugely Democratic area. We know FReepers hate it and it is full of poor, black people. You KNOW the Republican Party would as soon see it - and them - gone. The place is meaningless to them. All they care about is making $ for oil companies, defense contractors, big business via war in Iraq and elsewhere. Nothing else - including poor N.O. or LA, matters. Period. Obviously!

Who diverted those Blackhawks and why? That is what prevented the levees from being sandbagged - the copters which were to lift the bags into place - never showed up. :wtf:

Of course this is a guess - a conspiracy theory - call it whatever but knowing the ATTITUDE of bu$hco, the Republican Party and the FReepers towards N.O. - would YOU put it past them? I wouldn't and that's all I'm saying.

[Karenina]

31. NO, I WOULD NOT PUT ANYTHING PAST THEM.

[Nothing Without Hope]

36. Oh, I'll give you a conspiracy theory that will curl your hair. Read the

entire thread at the last link in the opening post. Look at all of it, follow the links.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4519574
Thread title: Think about the implications of this: Nat'l Guard in Iraq, NorthCom HERE.

[Triana]

41. Holy Crap

I had skimmed over that, but couldn't indulge my fear enough to read it all. It's just too...coincidental?

:scared:

[Peace Patriot]

51. Wow! Just wow! I hadn't put two and two together on this one. Great

thread! I was wondering about all this, when half of California's Guard was sent off to Iraq, and they had to pull the Guards off the Golden Gate Bridge, due to lack of personnel (they didn't admit this, but that's why). I was thinking, what the hell? Our Guard is off to occupy Iraq, and to subdue, and possibly kill and torture, Iraqis, with no justification whatsoever, and we can't even guard the GG Bridge? Then I was thinking about it re: Katrina. Louisiana's Guard and its equipment over in Iraq, when they are most needed HERE.

It just hadn't occurred to me that the REASON for all this may be to REPLACE our National Guards with permanent U.S. military who DON'T LIVE IN the places where they may be called upon to control crowds and aim their weapons at people. The Guard are our neighbors, friends and family members--familiar people in our communities, often local professionals--less likely to get trigger happy in tense situations. Less prone to robotic obedience to unlawful or inhumane orders. Because it's their HOME, their community, and because they are NOT permanent military.

Well, the upshot may be that WE end up feeling just like the Iraqis--shoved around, brutalized, humiliated, "detained," imprisoned without charge or hope of trial, shot at, wounded, tortured and killed, and our neighborhoods invaded, sacked and bombed--by people we don't know, and who don't know us.

Who was it who said that injustice toward one is injustice toward all? And if we ignore the injustices in Iraq--and other places like Guantanamo Bay--those injustices will come home to us, and have already harmed us from a distance. Their loss of human rights is our loss of human rights. And the agent of injustice is "our own" government, which, of course, will have to brutalize US to stay in power, and will need obedient robots who are trained, not to keep order, but to kill whoever the government says is "the enemy."

Chilling, indeed.

I have never thought that the Bush Cartel was incompetent. They may seem to be--and, indeed, they sometimes seem to be more than incompetent. Their behavior seems insane at times. But I think that our perception of incompetence or insanity is based on our own notions of what the goal is. WE would think, okay, if you're going to invade Iraq and liberate its people, the FIRST THING you would do--the most important plan you would have--is civil order. Not so Donald Rumsfeld--who, as Baghdad was looted, seemed to relish it, and even equated looting with freedom. To us this seemed insane. Not to him. Because the goal wasn't liberation (which requires civil order); the goal was to utterly destroy any sense of civic duty in Iraq, to smash their infrastructure to smithereens, and to make them completely dependent on Bush Cartel largess, and probably also--in Rumsfeld's diabolical mind--to give the more hoodlum element among Iraqis a taste for predatory capitalism.

If we set aside our common sense, and our own ethical and democratic values, and understand what the Bush Cartel's goals really are, then we will be better able to figure out the way to defeat them. I've been trying to make this point about election reform. Their goal all along has been direct control over the vote totals in elections. Their goal with the "Help America Vote Act" NEVER WAS reform of the election system after the mess in Florida (that put Bush in the White House!). Their goal with this legislation was just the opposite--to gain MORE control over elections for the purposes of fraud; to gain ABSOLUTE control over them, with Bushite electronic voting machine companies recording and counting all the votes using SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code WITH NO PAPER TRAIL. They further had the goal of corrupting the election system almost beyond repair--which is why they permitted the lavish lobbying of companies like Diebold and ES&S (even as recently as at the Beverly Hilton this August--a week of fun, sun and high-ending shopping for election officials from around the country--sponsored by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia). And it is why they appropriated $4 billion for the purchase of new election systems--not to improve democracy, but to destroy it forever.

Democrats (of the honest variety) who got involved with electronic voting, thinking it would be more efficient or more reliable (or whatever they thought) than the debacle of "hanging chads" and Republican riots in Florida, were absolutely HOODWINKED--because they didn't understand the Bush Cartel's true GOAL. (And the corrupt Dems--such as state/local election officials and the War Democrats--may have understood it, and didn't care.)

That is not incompetence. That is not insanity. That is brilliant, masterminded evil.

This year, the Bush Cartel cooked up a new official-sounding "National Commission on Elections," co-chaired by James Baker (!!!) (architect of FLA '00), and Jimmy Carter, and what I think this phony "commission" is going to do is recommend the federalization of our elections (which Bush's "pod people" and some stupid or corrupt Democrats in Congress will embrace), in order to destroy our power in state/local venues to reform the election system (get rid of Diebold, ES&S and all non-transparent voting systems). Although many of our state/local election officials are corrupt, the power over election systems still resides at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. The Bush Cartel wants to stop this local election reform movement. (I don't know if Jimmy Carter understands what they are up to, or can prevent it; but the presence of James Baker tells us all we need to know about this commission--and they have also proceeded in a way that indicates they are up to no good.)

We need to understand their true goals, and not get hoodwinked by their lies and "talking points" into thinking that they and their minions desire civil discourse. And we need to be really smart about this--including understanding their current plan to install a War Democrat in the White House--among other things to get a Draft (which George Bush cannot do) and to expand the war in the Middle East. We cannot stop them cold, but we CAN maneuver within their game plan, to gain strategic objectives: prime among them, in my opinion, ELECTION REFORM.

We need...

Paper ballots hand-counted at the precinct level (--Canada does it in one day, although speed should not even be a consideration, just accuracy and verifiability)

or, at the least...

Paper ballot (not "paper trail") backup of all electronic voting, a 10% audit (automatic recount), strict security, and NO SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code! (...jeez!).

We may be able to pressure a War Democrat on the progressive policy of transparent elections--as we meanwhile work from the bottom up, in state/local venues, to remove corrupt officials and begin restoring integrity to the counting of our votes.

Understand their true goal. Find the strategy that will counter and defeat it. I don't think we can do much about the Cartel's true goal in sending the state National Guards to Iraq, until we have transparent elections in some states--and begin electing state governors and other state officers who will fight it. It's interesting that both the right and the left agree that the 2nd amendment empowers peoples' militias such as the state National Guards as a RIGHT of the people. Perhaps we can unite on this issue. In any case, Bush's misuse of the National Guard--and his culpability in the New Orleans disaster--should bring some focus on this matter, while we work on ELECTION REFORM!!!!!!, in order to regain the power to correct it.

[Nothing Without Hope]

54. I agree! And do you see how the plan for massive reorganization and

consolidation of the US military bases, mostly into Southern areas and areas dominated by GOP voters, may fit into this? It's certainly NOT for the avowed purpose of saving a modest (for the Pentagon) amount of money over 20 years - that's been shown to be a LIE. So why are they so keen to do it? Pork and payoffs, yes, but I don't think they'd be so exercised about it if it weren't part of a bigger plan.

I think that's part of the groundwork to facilitate military control of US citizens. Martial law enforced by the military. It's already happening now because the Guard has been banished as cannon fodder.

I do suspect the constant drumbeat about LOOTERS LOOTERS LOOTERS that we are hearing may also be related to the desire of the neocon cabal for "justification" for martial law. No wonder they wanted citizens to keep guns - it's not just to placate the NRA, it's to give an excuse for more forceful suppression as violence breaks out.

Since you've come with me this far, there's another thread that I think we should all read through. It's about the attack of Iran. They sure do want to do it, and so does the Hawk faction of the Likud that is so close to the US neocons. Don't know when, but the desire is strong and the preparations have been in progress. PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE THREAD PLUS THE INFORMATION AT THE LINKS. Note: so far as I know - as is noted later in the thread - the business of the "cancelled military leaves after Sept 7" looks to be only a rumor. If anyone here knows different, they should post about it. Here's this vitally important thread - there are more pieces to the picture in it like the seemingly pointless banishment of General Byrnes and much more. Whether or not the attack on Iranian sovereignty is imminent, the information in this thread is important to add to the total picture:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2037110
Thread title: All the pieces are on the board, folks....time to get worried.

[NYC]

71. I don't see how the plan for massive reorganization and consolidation

of U.S. military bases, mostly in southern areas, fits into this.

How?

(It's meaningless to me. Please enlighten.)

[Nothing Without Hope]

75. I started writing out a full reply and realized it needs to be a synthesis

thread of its own. I just can't do it right now - too tired. I'll post a new thread on that tomorrow evening and put a link to it here.

In the meantime, here are older threads with some of the pieces in them but not put together and organized to make the full argument as I (ignorant as I am of the military and political forces involved in this) see it.

Unfortunately in the oldest threads some of the links to full online newspaper articles no longer work. But many do and there is still a lot of info and excerpts. Especially important are the maps - which bases are being moved where? Where is the military presence going to be if the neocons behind this get their way? How does it tie in to politics and to their plans for domination and - I believe - wish to develop a domestic Pentagon-directed military force to stifle dissent and enforce their edicts?

Here's the original thread I set up on the base moving plan.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1782877&mesg_id=1782877
Thread title: LAT: Military base closings will shift troops to the South- POLITICS!!!
Nothing Without Hope GD-P Forum Sat May-14-05 04:29 AM

and here's a recent thread on Ellsworth and a New Mexico base: .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2039290
Thread title: LA Times: Ellsworth AF Base in S Dakota to remain open, Thune's ass saved
Nothing Without Hope GD-P Forum Sat Aug-27-05 06:12 AM

Both of these threads have lots of good links. Here's another older thread that hints of these possible connections I'm going to be pointing out:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1787395&mesg_id=1787395
Thread title: Colorado Springs is the "New Nuremberg" for The Religious Right (pre 1945)
IChing GD-P Forum Mon May-16-05 07:29 PM

I'll write some kind of synthesis thread to try to show what I'm thinking about this tomorrow and link to it here. I am hoping that we can get a good dialog going with input from some of the experts here at DU. The weird, sudden, massive base closing/moving/reorganization plan CRIES FOR EXPLANATION. We know they are lying, and we need to find out the truth.

[NYC]

78. Moving soldiers to the south will help

the south economically. There will still be northern soldiers even if they are located in the south.

I think if they made an army of all southerners I would be far more worried.

Let me know when you post. Thanks.

[Nothing Without Hope]

56. Yes, getting a corrupt War Democrat as POTUS in 2008 may suit the Rethugs

very well indeed, with, of course, the final entrenchment of hackable, untraceable electronic vote counting and records. That is it. The end. And "regime change" in Iran is part of the plan sooner or later too. (Please digest the thread I recommended to you about that - it's important and gives more pieces to the picture:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4519574
Thread title: Think about the implications of this: Nat'l Guard in Iraq, NorthCom HERE.

The Bush cabal will be very pleased with the next major earthquake in California. You can bet the National Guard will be nowhere near.

In fact, I suspect the neocons are PLEASED that National Guard recruitment is down. I suspect they have intended all along to send them out of the country, use them up, and throw them away. If there IS no National Guard - for it would no longer exist as a separate entity if they could get away with this - then there will be no way to complain that the US civilian population is under the "protection" of Pentagon-directed regular military troops. There would be no other kind.

[cascadiance]

100. The Bush Regime has already screwed California twice in this way...

The first incident was when FEMA sat on a request to clean up national parklands of fire hazard bark beetle infested timber, which made the wildfires that much worse in impact down here in Southern California a few years ago. Many months earlier Gray Davis and a bipartisan group of California politicians had requested emergency assistance in clearing out these fire hazard trees. They got a response the week before the wildfires came that they were turned down. Had at least they turned it down more immediately, perhaps the state could have done something about it.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/31/MNG3S2NI081.DTL

Secondly, think back to when Bush's feds did nothing to stop Enron and it's buddies rape California (and many other western states) with their criminal energy trading schemes. That was another example of us all paying for their gross negligence to do their duty of protecting the American public. They are all about protecting their cronies, not the public!

We should be grouping all of the other incidences of criminal negligence by this administration to go along with a comprehensive report on their responsibility for the Katrina disaster, and have a copy of it ready for impeachment hearings too, when they start up later.

Governors of the northwest had already expressed concerns that their national guard units and helicopters were put into Iraq too heavily for them to be able to respond to any big fires that might have started. They could have been just as easily another big disaster too!

[Nothing Without Hope]

105. MUST get OUR National Guard back and let them into the relief efforts.

Last I heard, * wouldn't even allow home leaves for Guards to look for and aid their own families in LA, AL, MS.

[earth mom]

88. I'll don my hat on that one...

:tinfoilhat:

Does *Co care if the people of N.O. live or die? No. :puke:

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. I really hope a lot of you read through the entire thread at that last

link. I think there are some very, very important issues that we have not been considering.

I even think the planned military base closings, which would NOT save the rather modest (for the Pentagon) amount of money that was claimed as the reason for the huge reorganization, are part of this larger picture. I posted on that aspect in that final linked thread as well - in one of the replies. Again, here's the link to the thread;
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4519574
Thread title: Think about the implications of this: Nat'l Guard in Iraq, NorthCom HERE.

[oasis]

19. The proportions of this disaster required a major response from the feds.

I guess Homeland Security funds can only be spent chasing down people wearing turbans.

[Nothing Without Hope]

40. Oh, they wouldn't mind using DHS funds to stifle domestic dissent:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1735413
Thread title: ACLU: FBI labeled peace, affirmative action group 'terrorist'
Posted by rawstory LBN Forum Mon Aug-29-05 04:18 PM

One of my fears is that part of the larger picture of which this is one episode is setting the stage for martial law. That's discussed in the thread at the last link in the OP.

[unblock]

22. regarding albaugh -- this is how you purge an agency

you make everyone miserable so that the career people quit and you can replace them with your own people. if there's anyone you actually want to keep, you pull them aside and tell them there will be an upside for them if they play ball and oh by the way, the temper thing is just an act.


yelling at someone for introducing themselves REAKS of AGENDA. albaugh was on a mission to impress people with his temper. it wasn't an accident or any lack of control. that sort of thing is deliberate, designed to get people to cowtow or quit.

[Bonhomme Richard]

23. Why don't they move some derelict ships into

the breach areas and sink them?

[benburch]

26. Barges would be more effective.

But the reason is that there is a total lack of leadership in Washington.

[Bonhomme Richard]

28. I agree about barges but I don't know if.................

the draft of a barge is deep enough. But yeah, drag a flotilla of them into the breach and sink them.

[benburch]

30. I think we should sink some politicians in the breach. nt

[Nothing Without Hope]

33. Nah, wouldn't work. Most of them are too fat to sink and Bush's hollow

head and heart would keep him afloat. They'd just add to the pollution problem.

dang! - ed:typo

[Drewskie]

62. canal

the canal on 17th st is just a drainage canal even shallower than the lake, which is 15 feet deep.

[aquart]

94. That's what I was wondering.

[understandinglife]

38. Very helpful, as always, Hope!

Peace.

[Roland99]

39. Nagin said that * wouldn't answer the phone?!?!

[Nothing Without Hope]

42. Yeah. Here's one place I heard about it. It's discussed in the

the replies, starting at Reply #5.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1738491
Thread title: WWL: New Orleans Levee Pump Has Failed Completely; Even Uptown will flood.
That's a good thread, by the way.

[Roland99]

45. Ah...they were trying to reach the WH

didn't seem to elaborate on that. Wonder if he will in the future?

[mom cat]

99. Outrageous...This should be blasted everywhere!

[paineinthearse]

46. Thank you for this synthesis

On its own, DU was uncovering bits and pieces, but it took NWH to put the pieces together.

Every day this vile administration gives us so much information to ponder and digest. I have nothing but contempt for their work.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

48. Diverted for use ...

...in rescue operations? NOT believable. MSM will never question it though.

[Nothing Without Hope]

77. Doesn't matter if the MSM questions it. The failure to patch the breaches

most probably will result in many more deaths than could possibly have been saved by those specialized BlackHawk helicopters - and boats and less specialized helicopters could have rescued people instead. But only the BlackHawks could move those huge sandbags and try to patch the breach. But they didn't come and now New Orleans must suffer much, much more and for a longer time because the levees were not patched. I have no doubt that this will result in far more deaths.

[DemReadingDU]

50. thanks for putting all these together

[Nothing Without Hope]

52. kick - just realized I misspelled "breaches" as "breeches" in the OP title

Breeches is a pair of pants, so "failing to patch breeches" has a whole different meaning from what the mayor was talking about, which was breaches in the levee. He was doubtless wearing a pair of breeches when he said it. (The term can be applied informally to all trousers though it usually means knee-length pants.)

:blush: This is what happens when I stay up all night, I make involuntarily creative typos that pass through spellcheck. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. Now I am getting so loopy, I'm definitely going to break for some sleep. I hope somebody kicks the thread from time to time, because GD is running faster than * on a mountain bike:

[Trevelyan]

104. Nominated KICK Thank you for discovering this Hope

I will read your work putting the pieces of the NWO, PNAC,Bilderberg World Dominion plans together and post it on many sites including "neutral" ones like AOL and Yahoo Messageboards for people who have not discovered the political side of the Internet yet.

Rovian paid character assassins cannot keep up with the people who are questioning why people are being held hostage, why no news coverage in important areas where people have loved ones, why no water or food delivered, why, why, why and maybe your threads can give them some answers.

:kick: :dem: :thumbsup:

[Nothing Without Hope]

111. Now Scott McClellan refuses to answer questions about underfunding

levee reinforcement/maintenance projects, calling it partisan, and asked again about a specific project, said "Flood control has been a priority for this administration from day 1."

Looks like they plan to just LIE LIE LIE and ride this one out, counting on the Poodle Press to let them get away with it as usual. I posted the transcript of this and the link downthread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4523783#4563322

Meanwhile, FEMA is directing donations to Patwa Robertson's own personal goldmine (actually, his private African mines are diamond mines, as I recall) "Operation Blessing." Right with the Red Cross on their list for cash donations. Patwa will make a bundle, but the hurricane victims won't get much if any. Some of the "Operation Blessing" money has been shown to go into Pat's personal entrepreneurial empire - like paying for airplanes for his mining projects in Zaire. FEMA directing donations to him sure shows that pervasive Bush Administrating stench. I'll post downthread on this later. Here's the FEMA donation page:
http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/katrinadonations.shtm

If you look at that donations page, you'll see that "Operation Blessing" is NOT identified as Pat Robertson's moneymaker.

(I found out about this outrage in this DU thread, which has a link to an excerpt about Patwa's mining planes paid for by "Operation Blessing.":
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4558552)

[Nothing Without Hope]

53. NY Times says "helicopters have been dropping 3000 lb sandbags"

Has this actually, FINALLY started, or is the Times wrong? Reports from NO Mayor Nagin's own mouth yesterday and in the CNN article about it this AM said "no sandbags" and that Nagin was FURIOUS about it and was blasting the feds for what this delay had done to his city. But here's the rather limper quote from the NYT article, which totally bypasses these important charges:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/national/nationalspecial/31storm.html?th&emc=th
Mayor Nagin said that one of the levee breaches was two to three blocks long, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been dropping 3,000-pound sandbags into the opening from helicopters, as well as sea-land containers with sand, to try to seal the break. Late Tuesday night, there were reports that the rising waters had caused a nearby station that pumps water out of the city to fail.

The NYT article somehow fails to mention that the sandbags and other aid were needed desperately yesterday and WERE NOT THERE though they were promised. So I am suspecting that this report of the sandbags being dropped from the helicopters might be a mistake. Either that, or these drops have just started. We'll have to check. Even if they've finally started, it's unconscionable that the NYT failed to admit the monumental, catastrophic mistakes(?) that DELAYED these levee patching efforts until so much damage and deaths had occurred. Mayor Nagin has stated, and the NYT failed to report, that the delay added a month to the timeline for the city's recovery. And of course it has caused much more suffering and surely additional deaths.

[Nothing Without Hope]

55. My chosen 4 paragraphs from the NY Times article on NO today:

Please note my comments above (Post #53) about the incomplete and possibly inaccurate reporting by the NYT of Mayor Nagin's statements about the sandbag drops (possibly an error, or else it JUST started) and Nagin's fury at the feds for the delay in the sandbag drops that he says set his city back by a month in its recovery (not mentioned at all in the NYT article).

The presumed leader of us all, whom Nagin desperately and unsuccessfully tried to reach to beg for the sandbag drops yesterday (also not reported in the NYT), is mentioned as briefly as possible. Just one sentence 7 paragraphs down to the effect that he had "cut short his month-long summer vacation" (but not that it was almost done anyway). Apparently Bush will be meeting today (Wednesday) with "a task force established to coordinate the efforts of 14 federal agencies that will be involved in responding to the disaster." Surely, it seems to me, the job could have been done much better with a fully manned and prepared National Guard. And no mention is made of the Red Cross being part of the coordination process. This sounds like a disaster. Can you imagine BUSH "coordinating the efforts of 14 federal agencies" in a meeting? Not if it takes more than 5 minutes and words of more than 2 syllables.

And why the hell is this meeting on how to deal with this ongoing crisis only happening NOW? It should have happened BEFORE the hurricane struck; indeed there should have been a plan in place already that only needed to be fine-tuned. No explanation or criticism of this glaring, obvious question is given in the NYT article.

So now I'll pick four paragraphs of this rather long article to excerpt. I recommend you read the whole thing yourself and draw your own conclusions. There are also a number of related articles in this NYT issue on Public Health and other matters as well as more photos.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/national/nationalspecial/31storm.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Caption: A view along Canal Street in New Orleans Tuesday as floodwaters rose, threatening the French Quarter. --Rick Wilking/Reuters

New Orleans Is Now Off Limits; Pentagon Joins in Relief Effort

By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and N. R. KLEINFIELD
Published: August 31, 2005

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 30 - A day after New Orleans thought it had narrowly escaped the worst of Hurricane Katrina's wrath, water broke through two levees on Tuesday and virtually submerged and isolated the city, causing incalculable destruction and rendering it uninhabitable for weeks to come.

(snip)

The situation was so dire that late in the day the Pentagon ordered five Navy ships and eight Navy maritime rescue teams to the Gulf Coast to bolster relief operations. It also planned to fly in Swift boat rescue teams from California.

(snip)

Mayor Nagin said that one of the levee breaches was two to three blocks long, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been dropping 3,000-pound sandbags into the opening from helicopters, as well as sea-land containers with sand, to try to seal the break. Late Tuesday night, there were reports that the rising waters had caused a nearby station that pumps water out of the city to fail. {Note my comments about this paragraph in the preceding post.}

(snip)

Officials at the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security confirmed that officials in Plaquemines and Jefferson Parishes had tried to call for martial law, which is not authorized by the State Constitution.

(snip)

There is a great deal about looting, with Col. Ebbert, the LA head of Homeland Security saying that a police officer was shot and critically wounded. ""These are not individuals looting," he said. "These are large groups of armed individuals."

Well, folks - looks like the stage is set for martial law, administered by the Pentagon with military troops. Am I the only one that finds the title of this article creepy? And note that the article omits all mention of how Mayor Nagin blames the Feds for botching and delaying levee patching so badly that it has set back the recovery by a full month and surely cost more lives. His fury and any possible responsibility for the deadly mistake(s) that allowed the city to be sunk deep in toxic water when this could have been avoided, are not mentioned at all.

[Nothing Without Hope]

57. I suspect the neocons are PLEASED at decreased Nat'l Guard recruitment

Please read what I just realized and wrote in the previous post upthread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4523783&mesg_id=4529681

What if the neocons are PLEASED that National Guard recruitment is down? What if they have intended all along to send them out of the country, use them up, and throw them away? If there IS no more National Guard - for I believe it will no longer exist as a separate entity as soon as they can get away with this - then there will be no way to complain that the US civilian population is under the "protection" of Pentagon-directed regular military troops. ALL troops would be under the control of the Pentagon.

What do you people think of this idea? Am I off the deep end here?

[Nothing Without Hope]

58. I'm heading off for a long sleep break. Please, if you have an update

that adds to the synthesis or you have agreements, disagreements, or additional thoughts about all of this (this thread and the other two synthesis threads I've linked to above), share them in this discussion!

And thanks for your contributions!

[Nothing Without Hope]

59. "20 Million Cut in Levee Work Will Cost around 25 Billion, 5000 Dead"

Poweful and true statement by Hissyspit in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2048234&mesg_id=2048234

[Nothing Without Hope]

60. Another piece? Anybody know more about this statement from another

thread? I've asked the poster (TWiley) for links, but perhaps you people already know the full story. It's news to me and it sure fits what this synthesis seems to be leading to:

Before the last election, shrub wanted to use the military to police America. He asked a team of lawyers to explain "why he could not use the military as a domestic police force". It looks like they may have found a way to circmvent the law.....again.

[Nothing Without Hope]

76. I NEED YOUR HELP HERE, PEOPLE: CAN ANYONE GIVE LINKS TO ARTICLES

ON THIS STATEMENT BY TWILEY ABOUT BUSH ARGUING FOR A DOMESTIC MILITARY POLICE FORCE BEFORE THE LAST ELECTION? It's news to me and if it is confirmed it is another piece in the story that fits very well indeed - they want a domestic Pentagon-directed military police force to control US citizens.

[Nothing Without Hope]

61. kick n/t

[G_j]

63. Article: Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

also at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0831-04.htm

Published on Wednesday, August 31, 2005 by the Editor & Publisher

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?
'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

By Will Bunch

PHILADELPHIA - Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
<snip>

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."


..more..

[Nothing Without Hope]

66. Excellent. This has good numbers and a summary. They also gutted

FEMA personnel and funding, as discussed upthread. Thanks for this!

[Mabus]

64. This is negligence

Not a priority despite the number and intensity of hurricanes last year. Did he/they forget that hurricanes hit the Gulf states? This is negligence pure and simple. He's been asleep at the wheel.

This drunken frat boy not only managed to drive this country in the ditch, he managed to gun the engine and is driving us towards the cliff.

[Nothing Without Hope]

67. Yeah - and let's not take the ride with him:

[Nothing Without Hope]

65. And we should remember: greed, callousness and carelessness ARE part

of whatever this group of evil fools schemes to do. Yes, they are clever, ruthless, and ambitious, but they are also, at base, narrow, selfish, ignorant, arrogant, and willfully blind. They don't realize those are weaknesses.

They have gutted FEMA, divided and demoralized the National Guard, starved communities and the Army Corps of Engineers for vital disaster protection and relief funding, and I'm willing to bet they are NOT on good terms with the Red Cross either.

They don't know any more about how to run an efficient, effective disaster relief effort than they know how to run a country. They crave the power, but they don't have the comprehension, the knowledge, the generosity, the experience, or the ability to mesh with others to make a collaborative project happen.

So while I do think that at least some of the schemes I've described as possible neocon plans are real goals of theirs that should be guarded against, their ability for practical, real management is very poor. Think Bolton. Think Arbaugh. They can disrupt, betray, corrupt and coerce, but they cannot truly collaborate and share expertise to achieve a common goal outside their experience, like saving New Orleans. Their lack of caring is also a block of effectiveness, for they are not driven do the best for the suffering people and the engineering and cleanup needs. They're good at force and devious manipulation. They're lousy at good management and personal relationships.

These points need to be added to the rest of the picture as part of the synthesis. It's another reason why they are the worst possible people to attempt real disaster relief. I do think that this thread plus the other two synthesis threads I've linked to - which contain other pieces of the larger picture - represent something of the reality of what the neocons are after.

Forewarned is forearmed, my friends.

In case it wasn't clear, here are the other two synthesis threads which each - taken with the info at their links - provide more pieces to the total picture. The first is closely related to this thread and starts with the question of why the National Guard is over THERE and NorthCom is over HERE:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4519574
Thread title: Think about the implications of this: Nat'l Guard in Iraq, NorthCom HERE.
posted by scarletwoman GD Forum Tue Aug-30-05 11:02 PM

The second major synthesis thread is primarily about the neocons' powerful desire for "regime change" in Iran. That also has major repercussions and there have been plenty of warnings that they are serious about achieving it by whatever means:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2037110
Thread title: All the pieces are on the board, folks....time to get worried.
posted by Lerkfish GD-P Fri Aug-26-05 09:37 AM

Note: in the second of these two links, there is an allusion to a rumor that all military leaves are going to be cancelled after Sept 7 - this does appear to be just an unsubstantiated rumor. If any of you know differently, please speak up.)

[understandinglife]

72. You are doing enormous good by the thorough, compelling nature ...

... of your research and posts, Hope.

Thank you!


Peace.

[One_Life_To_Give]

68. Drop Sand vs. Rescue People?

If it had been my call to make. I probably would have kept rescueing people with those helicopters, just as they did. Property can be replaced lives can't.

[Nothing Without Hope]

74. Repairing the levee breach had to be the TOP priority precisely because

it would likely save MANY lives. The idea was to prevent catastrophic flooding of larger areas, whereby many more people would not drown or be killed by other flood-related causes. It's not just the massive delay of recovery and increase of damage that the survivors would have to endure. Patching that breach WOULD have been a major lifesaver.The Blackhawk helicopter could move those giant sandbags; other lighter copters couldn't. There SHOULD have been a huge, organized SWARM of helicopters and boats out there rescuing people. But the Blackhawk helicopter was specifically and desperately needed for this primary mission - and failed to show. There will be many more deaths because of it.

[MnFats]

70. let me get this straight..Bush refused to take Nagin's call?

Impeach him. Drive him from office.
I'm not sure what statute that would fall under.....abuse of power?
There must be a sustained, urgent drive to get this sumbitch out of office. His negligence is absolutely criminal.

[Nothing Without Hope]

73. WE NEED TO GET THE EXACT WORDS OF MAYOR NAGIN. What was said in

another thread was that he complained about being frustrated trying to reach the president - this was when the promised helicopter(s) with the breach-patching sandbags didn't show up and the floodwaters were pouring in. It was discussed in another thread, and I linked to that discusson upthread here in Reply # 42:

Yeah. Here's one place I heard about it. It's discussed in the replies, starting at Reply #5.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1738491
Thread title: WWL: New Orleans Levee Pump Has Failed Completely; Even Uptown will flood.
That's a good thread, by the way.

There was not an exact quote in that thread, and we need to get one. But the DUers in that thread were saying Nagin was angry and frustrated in trying to reach the President when the missing helicopter was needed so desperately.

I have not yet seen any mention of Nagin's trying to reach Bush in corporate media articles - but Nagin's statement was heard by DUers who were talking about it in that other thread. We need to get a recording or a confirmed transcript and use that to blast that POS Bush.

[Trevelyan]

107. AfterDowningStreet site has a page with a ton of email addresses of MSM

Swamp Rat asked us to deluge (no pun, this is too serious) the media to tell the truth about the deliberate mess and abandonment of their responsibility to the people of New Orleans. They have responded a little to massive outpouring from US citizens on Downing Street and some may be worried for their own families if Bushco, PNAC, and NWO get their way.

[paineinthearse]

79. John Conyers' latest blog links Iraq and NO...

...in terms of stretching resources. Maybe more?

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2049693&mesg_id=2049693

[Nothing Without Hope]

80. KICK! GD is really zipping!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

81. Herr Busch had a wrestling match with another pretzel...that's hard work!!

[Nothing Without Hope]

83. kick n/t

[dchill]

84. Recommended &

kick.

[Nothing Without Hope]

85. The money needed for levee reinforcement was moved into DHS and Iraq

funding;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2050029

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.

ABSOLUTELY DAMNING.

[SuniSurf]

86. US Won't Let Canada Help New Orleans

Read this link

http://www.dailykos.com/


A specialized urban search and rescue team from Vancouver will be joining the rescue efforts in Louisiana in the wake of hurricane Katrina.

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said the province decided to send Vancouver Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) after officials in Louisiana asked for help.

"We're the first non-U.S.-based team to be requested," said Les. "They're going to be helping as many people as they can."

CTV Vancouver has learned that the team will board a plane Wednesday night heading to Lafayette, Louisiana, where local authorities will direct them to devastated areas.


AND THEN THIS:



On tonight's news, CTV (Canadian TV) said that support was offered from Canada. Planes are ready to load with food and medical supplies and a system called "DART" which can provide fresh water and medical supplies is standing by. Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina. So, everything here is grounded. Prime Minister Paul Martin is reportedly trying to speak to President Bush tonight or tomorrow to ask him why the U.S. federal government will not allow aid from Canada into Louisiana and Mississippi. That said, the Canadian Red Cross is reportedly allowed into the area.

Canadian agencies are saying that foreign aid is probably not being permitted into Louisiana and Mississippi because of "mass confusion" at the U.S. federal level in the wake of the storm.

[Nothing Without Hope]

87. Horrible - important post - here is the dKos permalink:

Here is the permalink of this important dKos posts from Markos hiimself:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/31/235829/261

You don't have many DU posts - can you post your own DU threads yet? If not, I'd like to post this as a new DU thread and cite you as the person who found it. If I don't hear from you within a short time, I'll go ahead and post it - this needs to be out there and seen!

And :hi: WELCOME TO DU!!! It's a sad time, but we're stronger because we're a community. Glad that you're part of it now, looking forward to more excellent posts.

From your post:

Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina. So, everything here is grounded. Prime Minister Paul Martin is reportedly trying to speak to President Bush tonight or tomorrow to ask him why the U.S. federal government will not allow aid from Canada into Louisiana and Mississippi. That said, the Canadian Red Cross is reportedly allowed into the area.

Canadian agencies are saying that foreign aid is probably not being permitted into Louisiana and Mississippi because of "mass confusion" at the U.S. federal level in the wake of the storm.

OH. MY. GOD. This is totally beyond belief. They don't want to lose their "power" by allowing the Canadians to save and relieve the suffering people they won't help themselves. And even the Canadians can see the total confusion of the Bush Admnistration over what to do. Meanwhile, OUR National Guard is out being shot at and denied leaves to go home and help search for their own familes.

[Nothing Without Hope]

89. Fooj has posted this important dKos story here;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4543972
Thread title: US won't let Canada aid hurricane victims.

Again, the permalink to the dKos article is here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/31/235829/261
US won't let Canada help Katrina victims
by kos
Wed Aug 31st, 2005 at 20:58:29 PDT

[Nothing Without Hope]

90. WHY IS BUSH BEING ALLOWED TO REFUSE AID AND CHOOSE DEATH FOR

OUR SUFFERING PEOPLE? Congress must must must convene and IMMEDIATELY take steps to address this horrible and worsening crisis!!

[Nothing Without Hope]

91. Hell and death in S Mississippi - and NO AID. They beg for help:

cited in this DU thread from Editor & Publisher;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1742076
The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Miss., in an editorial today, criticized the relief effort in its ravaged area so far, and told officials and the nation-at-large: "South Mississippi needs your help."

It angrily revealed: "While the flow of information is frustratingly difficult, our reporters have yet to find evidence of a coordinated approach to relieve pain and hunger or to secure property and maintain order. People are hurting and people are being vandalized.
"Yet where is the National Guard, why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in South Mississippi been pressed into service?"

Pointedly, it declared that earlier today, "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics."

Sounds just like what is NOT happening in New Orleans. But nobody is even hearing about Mississippi and these people are suffering and dying with no aid at all.

[Nothing Without Hope]

92. FEMA warned in early 2001 that a New Orleans hurricane was one of three

most likely catastrophes likely to hit the US. A terrorist attack on New York or an earthquake in San Francisco were he other two. Hey, two out of three, and you can't say the Bushies weren't warned.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2047833
.
..the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report in early 2001 that identified the three catastrophes most likely to hit the United States: a terrorist attack on New York, an earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane in New Orleans.

The article goes on to show how instead of acting on the warning, the Bush Administration CUT funding for hurricane protection and WEAKENED preparedness. It's compelling and good to see. Let's hope the corporate media start figuring out that the American people finally want some truth for a change.

[Rabrrrrrr]

106. Hey, maybe AWOL McFuckHead will hit the trifecta again!

[Nothing Without Hope]

93. "The True Ramifications of Katrina on New Orleans" - excellent and

heartbreaking piece by Kevin Mace;
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4541188

And remember, New Orleans did not have to drown. The Bush Administration is reponsible for that. We must hold them accountable, though that will not bring back all the dead to life and give homes to the displaced.

The Bush Administration has made no plans at all for the poor people in AL, MS and LA who are homeless and helpless now. Clearly, they'd just as soon all those people just hurry up and DIE, and I'm not exaggerating.

[mom cat]

96. Can someone format an article for the media blaster with this info?

This looks like a comprehensive list and we have to get the info out there. Much of this disaster could have been prevented.

[Nothing Without Hope]

102. WE NEED TO GET A TRANSCRIPT OR RECORDING OF MAYOR NAGIN'S

EXACT WORDS in his statement - I think on the 30th -he was frustrated when he could not reach Bush when he was desperately trying to find out what happened to the missing military helicopters that were supposed to be dropping huge sandbags into the newly breached levees. He could not reach Bush, the helicopters did not come, and New Orleans drowned.

This is one more incident in a long story of how protection of these southern areas was blatantly neglected by the Bush Admnistration in favor of their favorite projects - like Homeland Security (part of their fascist dream of a domestic military police force) and the Iraq War. The money - as little as 20 million - would have saved New Orleans but went to these other neocon projects instead. This in spite of the fact that in early 2001 FEMA warned that two of the three most likely major potential US catastrophes were A HURRICANE IN NEW ORLEANS or an earthquake in San Francisco. The third was a terrorist attack in New York.

Need exact words and links for Nagin's words. Will try to find and assemble.

[Window]

97. Excellent work.

Thanks for sharing. KICK!

[Witchy_Dem]

98. Drilling Alaska mandatory now.

[Sanity Claws]

101. Why? So we can another environmental disaster?

Go back to Free Republic where you belong

[Nothing Without Hope]

108. Kevin Drum gives a timeline for the gutting of FEMA and flood control

programs. He thinks this will be the end of Bush.

I think what the priority must be is to ACT NOW and get food, water and relief to those suffering people in our South.

I can't drive there, but I'm going to be collecting adult and child clothing and other mailable essentials at yard sales and such - I'm a pro at this - and watching for specific addresses posted here at DU where they can be sent. Need the postal service delivery as well as the knowledgable distribution on-site. Don't want to just dump it on the Red Cross. There will be local sites that spring up as centers for relief - Churches, other community groups, individuals. We can ALL do something.

But it's very true that New Orleans never had to drown. And I'm sure there are similar stories all through LA, MS, AL.

Bush is now irrelevant. What's important is getting those people HELP and finding that great American heart again. Compassion, kindness, generosity, the can-do attitude - it's there, though it's been pushed down. We have to find it and make it beat again.

Here's the thread on Kevin Drum's FEMA/flood prevention timeline. It will break your heart and infuriate you so much you may not be able to finish it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4552583

[Nothing Without Hope]

109. WH press briefing, McClellan: "Flood control has been a priority of this

administration from day one." He also REFUSED to answer questions about lack of funding for levee rebuilding, claiming they are partisan and "now is not a time for finger-pointing." Just politics, eh, you bootlicking smarmy bastard?

Looks like they're just going to LIE about it and hope nobody notices, like they've been able to do so many times before. This is absolutely nauseating. He may as well have a big sign on him that says HEARTLESS, CONSCIENCELESS LIAR

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/01/mcclellan-refuses
{From today's White House press briefing}

REPORTER: There’s a lot of discussion going on about the funding of projects prior to this, whether projects in New Orleans in particular were underfunded because of the Iraq war or for other reasons. Do you find any of this criticism legitimate? Do you think there is any second guessing to be done now about priorities given that New Orleans was sort of obvious to a lot of the experts?

MCCLELLAN: As I have indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for the nation to come together for those in the Gulf Coast region and that’s where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or politics. And I think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington. So if that’s what you’re talking about, that’s one thing. Now, if you’re talking about specific areas, I would be glad to talk about some of those, if that’s what you want.

REPORTER: I’m talking about policy

REPORTER: One project, for instance, is the one where people felt they needed $60 million in the current ‘06 fiscal year, and they were given $10 million. Those types of projects. And a lot —

MCCLELLAN: Which project is this?

REPORTER: Southeast Louisiana Flood Control.

MCCLELLAN: Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

"Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one."

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[mzmolly]

110. Recommended - bookmarked.

thanks.

[Nothing Without Hope]

112. NEW OUTRAGE!!! FEMA is directing cash donations to PAT ROBERTSON's

"charity," Operation Blessing. But of course they don't TELL you it's Patwa's place - they just give you a phone number to call to donate cash. Patwa will make a bundle, but I doubt the hurricane victims will get much real help from it. In the past, Patwa's "Operation Blessing" money has been shown to go into his personal entrepreneurial empire - like paying for airplanes for his private diamond-mining projects in Zaire. (Praise the Lord!!!) (more info from Greg Palast on this Zaire "Operation Blessing" scam is given below.) FEMA's directing donations to him - but not revealing what "Operation Blessing" really is - sure shows that pervasive Bush Administration stench.

Here's the FEMA donation page so you can see for yourself. :
http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/katrinadonations.shtm
If you look at this FEMA donations page, you'll see that "Operation Blessing" is NOT identified as Pat Robertson's moneymaker.

(I found out about this outrage in this DU thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4558552)

Greg Palast tells us more about Pat Robinson's enormous personal wealth and money raised for desperate Rwandans via a passionate Operation Blessing fundraising drive was actually used instead for airplanes for Robertson's own diamond mines in Zaire. Yes, he knew about it, too – Pat Robertson has' ridden in one of those diamond mining planes himself.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=49&row=0

Pat Robertson: 'I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist'

Observer, London - reprint
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
by Greg Palast

(snip - much more and it should all be read)

The combination of ministry and Mammon has provided Robertson with a net worth estimated at between $200m and $1 billion. He himself would not confirm his wealth, except to tell me that his share of the reported $50m start-up capital for the bank is 'just a small investment for me'.

Neil Volder, president of Robertson Financial and director of the new bank venture, emphasises that Robertson selflessly donated between 65 and 75 per cent of his salary as head of International Family Entertainment. But that amounted to only a few hundred thousand dollars a year - pocket change for a man of Robertson's means.

There was also, says Volder, the $7m he gave to 'Operation Blessing' to alleviate the woes of refugees fleeing genocide in Rwanda. Robertson's press operation puts the sum at only $1.2m. More interesting is the way the Operation Blessing funds were used in Africa. Through an emotional fundraising drive on his TV station, Robertson raised several million dollars for the tax-free charitable trust. Operation Blessing bought planes to shuttle medical supplies in and out of the refugee camp in Goma, Congo (then Zaire).

But investigative reporter Bill Sizemore of the Virginian Pilot discovered that over a six-month period - except for one medical flight - the planes were used to haul equipment for something called African Development Corporation, a diamond mining operation a long way from Goma. African Development is owned by Pat Robertson.

(snip)

Greg Palast's article details more of the "miracles" by which Pat Robertson made huge amounts of money from investments purchased with tax-exempt donations. Read through them and your blood will boil. One of them was a deal in which a cable channel (and some old sitcoms) financed this way were sold to RUPERT MURDOCH FOR 1.82 BILLION DOLLARS.

I doubt a lot of the money being sent through the FEMA donation site to Patwa’s Operation Blessing will be going to give real help to the hurricane victims any more than it did those Rwandans.

The Virginia State Attorney General is conducting an investigation into Operation Blessing that is looking into the use of the charity's equipment.

But he's obviously a pal of FEMA's Bush Administration bosses!

[Nothing Without Hope]

113. House Speaker Dennis Hastert: "rebuilding New Orleans "doesn't make sense"

This is the sorry subject of this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1744292

Ole Dennis is scheming on how to be the next president of the US. He must believe that the majority of American voters - at least enough that election fraud could skew into a "victory" - would believe this to be a "brave and honest and true" statement.

Heaven help us all if he is right. We cannot accept it and must fight it.

His legislative body is the financing part of Congress. It's because of THEM that the levees were neglected. And it's because of the Feds' failure to SHOW THE F**K UP with the Black Hawk helicopters to patch the levee breaches that New Orleans was drowned. And then there's the Bush Administration's overseeing massive draining of thousands of acres of vital wetlands around New Orleans that have always served as flood buffers.

This needs to be publicized. He cannot be allowed to say this unopposed. I can't think of a word strong enough - "outrage" does not come NEAR to what I feel - to describe what this unspeakable subhuman soulless POS has dared to say.

[Nothing Without Hope]

114. Here is the video clip of Bush saying that nobody anticipated levee breaks

Links are in the opening post of this thread;
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2052207
Thread title: Bush GMA video clip. The UNCUT "I don't think anybody anticipated" clip.



In answer, why weren't the levees patched even AFTER the hurricane? But in fact, of course Bush knew - there were clear warnings. Here's a another good thread to sum this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4545852
Thread title: FACTS: Bush was told about NO , he funded a study to confirm & then CUT $$

[Nothing Without Hope]

115. MUST-READ thread on what is REALLY happening in NO now - horror

This eyewitness report has many impllications, all of them horrible and all too consistent with what we have been suspecting. And yes, racism in how the victims are being directed and treated is blatant. It may be literally life and death.

There are bodies everywhere. People are dying every day all around them.

Read this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4571563
Thread title: Friends alive! N.O. "a horror show"

[Nothing Without Hope]

116. New Orleans' head of emergency ops: "I haven't seen a single FEMA guy."

I'd say "unbelievable, but unfortunately this is running true to form: It's passive - and I am coming to believe deliberate - GENOCIDE by the Bush Administraton.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4558845
Thread title: ""This is a national disgrace,”, head of New Orleans’ emergency operations"

"We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking but we’re not getting supplies,” he said. He said the evacuation was almost entirely a Louisiana operation. “This is not a FEMA operation. I haven’t seen a single FEMA guy.”

The link given in the thread is to an msnbc article.

[Nothing Without Hope]

117. THE NEXT STEP: "Iraq-tested soldiers in New Orleans with shoot to kill

orders"

So they think they've brainwashed the Guard so that they can be part of their dreamed-of fascist Pentagon-directed military domestic "police" force.

Read this thread and see the bigger picture:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4519574
Thread title: DU- Think about the implications of this: Nat'l Guard in Iraq, NorthCom HERE.

Read the whole thread. This is part of the truth they are hiding, and it will chill you. NorthCom is a MAJOR piece. It was initially headed by the same general who was the NORAD chief who oversaw the amazing string of "coincidences" by which interceptor fighter jets were called off during the very long flights of the hijacked planes on 9/11. Read about the horror of NorthCom here in an article written by a Canadian:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO411C.html

Don't be put off by the title. Read the NorthCom article and that thread and you will understand more.

Guess I was partly wrong - I thought they sent the Guard to Iraq to use them up and destroy them so that NorthCom could take over as they work toward martial law in the US. As the Chinese discovered during the student protests in Beijing some years ago, local troops just don't want to shoot their familiar fellow citizens. So the Chinese imported troops from thousands of miles away, people who had a totally different cultural background. It worked. The protest was most brutally crushed by hardened soldiers without any compunction. Dissent was silenced again.

Looks like turning OUR National Guard into hardened soldiers without any compunction was part of the goal after all. Besides, they don't want to unveil NorthCom as a military domestic enforcer cadre until they have to.