(I’ll be travelling this weekend and may not be able to go online until late Sunday.)
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September 9, 2005
Weekend Open Thread
Comments
Oh my god. FEMA had a plan:
The Hurricane Pam simulation predicted 61,290 dead and the necessity for federal officials to intervened regardless of go-ahead from the locals.
And here it is.
Documentary evidence. Criminal negligence. Can we impeach them now?
Posted by: Hamburger | Sep 9 2005 17:25 utc | 1
Sorry for bad link with is. Everything is at TPM link with plan.
Posted by: Hamburger | Sep 9 2005 17:35 utc | 2
They let Katrina happen. There was more than sufficient info. None of their excuses hold up.
My hair is on fire.
Posted by: Hamburger | Sep 9 2005 17:55 utc | 3
“I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp”
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/fema.html
Posted by: Welcome to Krakow | Sep 9 2005 18:39 utc | 4
philip agee series, “How United States Intervention Against Venezuela Works”:
Summary, CIA Electoral Interventions, and Nicaragua as a Model for Venezuela (Pt 1 of 3)
Some Examples of the Current U.S. Intervention Against the Bolivarian Revolution (Pt 2 of 3)
Pt 3 is not avail yet
Posted by: b real | Sep 9 2005 19:26 utc | 5
philip agee series on u.s. actions against venezuela :
“How United States Intervention Against Venezuela Works” (Pt 1 of 3)
Use of a Private U.S. Corporate Structure to Disguise a Government Program (Pt 2 of 3)
Pt 3 is not avail yet
Posted by: b real | Sep 9 2005 19:29 utc | 6
I used to work in Georgetown on a support-contract for a Federal agency, working with members of Congress to draft new legislation.
Sort of a droogie-grunt version of being a high-priced lobbyist.
The best and the brightest, but only as lowly, underpaid interns.
Still, it was great to hang out in congressmen’s front offices,
and occasionally one of them would walk through and wave. We got
to rub shoulders with Ted Kennedy, and survived an all-out riot
along the reflecting pool, during the War in Cambodia. Long ago.
The one thing that really stuck with me all these years is the
number of high-strung totally-focused power-junkies that I met,
not the greedsters, the contractor-schmucks who suck off power,
but the control freaks, the demons, wikkans and walking dead.
If Katrina is any indication domestically, given the Pam memo,
and Iraq is any indication, given the Downing Street memo, then
you can bet there’s a memo, and a WADC wikkan coven, for every
inhabitant on earth. That’s where you’re $500,000,000,000 goes.
Sign on a *formerly* Christian Republican free-way billboard:
“Since when did grand larceny become legal in Washington, DC?”
When even the Republicans are starting-up from their soma nap,
it’s time for all-out tax revolt and a total house-cleaning!
“$500,000,000 a day, and
all FEMA gave me was this
crappy Church Camp T-shirt.”
Posted by: tante aime | Sep 9 2005 20:59 utc | 7
WASHINGTON (AP) — Military housing, airport hangars, equipment and power lines were heavily damaged at six military bases across Louisiana and Mississippi, forcing nearly $1 billion in emergency repairs, according to base personnel and other defense officials.
If you divide $1,000,000,000 by six bases, by the ten days since anyone could get into these bases to make assessments and perform emergency repairs, that’s $16,666,666 per base per day, *spent*.
Now if you assume that all the materials for those repairs were already magically there in inventory, and using the standard rule of thumb for construction costs ratios of 12% assessment, 33% labor and 50% materials, then that leaves you with nearly $10,000,000 per base ***per day*** just for engineering and construction staff, *spent*.
Now, let’s really go out on a limb and say they were working 16 hour days, and making an average $50,000 a year, plus 25% for benefits.
That means each base had 17,500 people working full-time on emergency repairs, just on the assessments and the construction labor, *spent*.
17,500 people, when many of those people would have been diverted to helping rescues, or were simply flooded out themselves and unable to report to duty. Now, the equipment is already paid for out of the base support operations, the helicopters and bulldozers, so the only extra un-budgeted expense was the fuel and the flight time, and any outside contractors they had to call in.
Except there were no outside contractors available on short notice.
I’ve worked in military base support here and overseas, and I’ll tell you flat out, it usually takes an entire year, or two, for a base to actually construct that kind of capital. This $1,000,000,000 claim is pure, 100% bilge swill. And it’s gonna get worse, now that BushCo is raining $50,000,000,000 of our taxes down on those reconstruction contractors, claims reformulators, and eager lawyers.
Sort of a BIA on steroids scenario. 95% to “administrative costs”.
Now that FEMA has backed out of what they never entered into, and the US Coast Guard is in charge of emergency services and reconstruction, just *where the hell* is our $500,000,000 a day into FEMA going to!”
Posted by: Kevin Inting | Sep 9 2005 21:44 utc | 9
Physician who told Cheney to go Fuck Himself Lost his Home in Katrina, Detained, Cuffed by Cheney’s M-16-carrying Goons “For those who don’t know, Mr. Cheney is infamous for telling Senator [Pat] Leahy ‘go fu** yourself’ on the Senate floor.”
p.s. any word on what the problem was this am W/
the ghost posts from way back??
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 10 2005 0:14 utc | 11
“Rep. Baker of Baton Rouge is overheard telling lobbyists: ‘We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.’
[Wall Street Journal – requires subscription | September 8, 2005]
And the WSJ has the following update on their website:
“Baker explains later he didn’t intend flippancy but has long wanted to improve low-income housing.”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 10 2005 0:43 utc | 12
Even more!
DeLay to evacuees: ‘Is this kind of fun?’
“U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s visit to Reliant Park this morning offered him a glimpse of what it’s like to be living in shelter.
While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.
The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, ‘Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?’
[Houston Chronicle’s DomeBlog | | September 8, 2005]
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 10 2005 0:48 utc | 13
FEMA = Failure to Effectively Manage Anything. I thought this was funny, though, I’m of the same mind as Monolycus in that
I feel these people are systemic and methodical. Further, they are molding herding shaping us and are taking us to a dark dark place, and by the time the masses figure it out it will be to late. Just ask Gustaw Herling
By the way, New Orleans is now confiscating guns whether stolen or not.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 10 2005 1:23 utc | 14
Sovreignty
‘Iraq’s government sent troops today to try and reopen Baghdad’s main airport, which closed earlier in the day because of a pay row with British security contractors.
However, the Iraqi troops retreated before reaching the airport after coming across an American military checkpoint.’
Posted by: biklett | Sep 10 2005 1:25 utc | 15
Juan Cole has posted an essay by William Polk demolishing Another Winning Formula for Iraq proposed by an Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr. in Foreign Affairs.
Polk ends with an observation of his own.
When the foreigners leave, the target is removed. Then terrorists either become government officials (as happened in Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Algeria, and in incipient United States after our own Revolution which was also mainly a guerrilla war against foreigners) or they become merely outlaws without popular support — Mao’s fish without their supporting sea — and quickly are hunted down. History should teach us, if we were willing learn from it, that changing the context is the only feasible way out of the mess we got ourselves into in Iraq.
Of course, there will be a period of confusion, of fighting, of atrocities – as there are now, every day. That is the price that must be paid for our decision to go into Iraq in the first place.
Cindy Sheehan’s common sense is backed up by a man with good credentials.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Sep 10 2005 3:09 utc | 16
Don’t have time for long post, or have a WSJ subscription, but Xymphora has Katrina nailed. Both Wed & Thurs.
From Wed:
“OK, let’s get this straight: Michael Brown is most likely an incompetent stooge but the fact of the matter is that when he refused to release supplies, National Guard troops, and construction equipment, and then ordered the Superdome locked and checkpoints set up along the roads leading out of New Orleans to turn back anyone trying to escape the destruction, he was following orders. None of it was accidental, none of it was a matter of poor decision-making or the wrong priorities. It was a deliberate attempt by the Bush Administration to blackmail the state of Louisiana into handing the city over to the Federal government.
On Friday, four days after Katrina hit, National Guard troops finally arrived, supposedly bringing food and water to those trapped in the Superdome. It’s true that there was an initial delivery of emergency supplies, but it was hardly adequate. Everyone assumed more would be coming. But the NG came armed, supposedly to defend itself against bands of looters with handguns and rifles. Soon after, it became clear that the NG’s real orders were to lock down the Superdome and prevent anyone from leaving.
Between Wednesday morning and Friday night, ships loaded with food, water, and medical supplies arrived. FEMA refused to allow them to be off-loaded. Michael Brown then ordered the communications lines cut that tied emergency workers together.
Shortly before midnight, the Bush Administration essentially delivered an ultimatum to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco: before they released the emergency supplies, they wanted her to sign the city of New Orleans over to the Federal government.”
Thurs. post is from WSJ art. that’s prob. one Uncle mentioned above. This is NOT INCOMPETENCE. IT’S ELITE PLANNING. Read article Xymph links from WSJ (via Commondreams) & you see immed. that White Elite had plans in place w/National Repugs to let it flood & do nothing to drive out ’em po’ folks so they could build metropolis of their dreams…White, Repug, Headquarters for Corportocracy. (The Mayor was merely the necessary black face who was adopted by aristos & put into office by them to carry out their designs.)
Here is a report from the Wall Street Journal on the plans of the white elites of New Orleans for the rebuilding (my emphasis in bold; we all know what he means by ‘poor people’):
“The power elite of New Orleans – whether they are still in the city or have moved temporarily to enclaves such as Destin, Fla., and Vail, Colo. – insist the remade city won’t simply restore the old order. New Orleans before the flood was burdened by a teeming underclass, substandard schools and a high crime rate. The city has few corporate headquarters.
The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. ‘Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically,’ he says. “I’m not just speaking for myself here. The way we’ve been living is not going to happen again, or we’re out.”
The plan is to use the ethnic cleansing to return the city to Republican party control.
Posted by: jj | Sep 10 2005 4:02 utc | 17
On Truthout : The Outer Limits of Empire: An Interview with Howard Zinn
‘ I also came to the conclusion that, given the technology of modern warfare, war is inevitably a war against children, against civilians. When you look at the ratio of civilian to military dead, it changes from 50-50 in World War II to 80-20 in Vietnam, maybe as high as 90-10 today.
Do you know this Italian war surgeon, Gino Strada? He wrote Green Parrots: A War Surgeon’s Diary.
He was doing war surgery in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places. Ninety percent of the people he operated on were civilians.
When you face that fact, war is now always a war against civilians, and so against children. No political goal can justify it, and so the great challenge before the human race in our time is to solve the problems of tyranny and aggression, and do it without war.
[He laughs quietly.] A very complex and difficult job, but something that has to be faced – and that’s what accounts for my becoming involved in antiwar movements ever since the end of World War II. ‘
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Sep 10 2005 5:13 utc | 18
BURN
DHS T-O
T-H-E GROUND!
FREE THE FEMA TO
LEARN, OR DIE *TRYING*!
FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY IS STALINISM,
AND I DON’T CARE IF IT WEARS $3,000 BOOTS!
Posted by: lash marks | Sep 10 2005 6:11 utc | 19
I don’t know if this article at the Soldiers for the Truth site has
already been signalled here. Although the incident reported is not confirmed, the analysis coming from this
anything-but-leftist source is worth reading. It’s also of interest that (traditional) conservatives are now talking about
Bush administration lies, and using “the l-word” rather than
mushy mouthed euphemisms like “mislead” or “spin”.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Sep 10 2005 6:17 utc | 20
A few links that may be of interest:
The Anthropology of Disaster – Anthropologists on Katrina and SS Deep Dixie
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 10 2005 12:31 utc | 22
Not everyone is afraid to speak out. Link
Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad triggered a diplomatic walkout from a human rights conference on Friday when he accused the United States and Britain of killing innocent civilians in Iraq. Mr Mahathir, who is famous for his anti-Western rhetoric, described Britain and the United States as liars, terrorists and murderers, prompting diplomats, including British High Commissioner Bruce Cleghorn, to leave the venue
Posted by: dan of steele | Sep 10 2005 16:51 utc | 23
Am I the only one that thinks this is a shakedown? Three million pounds a month seems a bit steep for baggage checkers and whatever else the Brits are doing at the Baghdad airport.
Pretty clever though, award the contract and then stick it to the Iraqis to pick up the tab.
Posted by: dan of steele | Sep 10 2005 20:11 utc | 24
EXCLUSIVE!!! FEMA Chief Brown Paid Millions in False Claims to Help Bush Win Fla. Votes in ’04
Michael Brown, the embattled head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approved payments in excess of $31 million in taxpayer money to thousands of Florida residents who were unaffected by Hurricane Frances and three other hurricanes last year in an effort to help President Bush win a majority of votes in that state during his reelection campaign, according to published reports.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 11 2005 1:40 utc | 25
& meanwhile back at the buthchershop american armed forces are committing murder in a new series of terrorist strikes against the iraqi people on the border of syria
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 11 2005 2:10 utc | 26
Katrina and the Constitution: the Rules Have Changed
Brian Williams, writing for MSNBC: “While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won’t be any pictures of this particular group of Guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States.”
Williams may not know it, but New Orleans is “separate from the United States.” It is now a testing ground for the sort of incremental military dictatorship our elitist rulers have in mind for us. In the new New Orleans, parts of the Bill of Rights were hacked off over the last week—first the Fourth Amendment (cops and National Guard kicking in doors) and then the Second Amendment (same bunch confiscating guns) and, as Williams reveals, finally the First Amendment.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 11 2005 2:17 utc | 27
@remembereringgiap
that’s not the half of it..rumor is Iraqi Red Crescent doctor: US used poisoned gas, chemical bombs against Resistance in Tall ‘Afar. .
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 11 2005 2:22 utc | 28
Tal Afar Residents Send Out SOS
“The Americans are seemingly bombing the city with chemical weapons,” he said, adding Tal Afar residents are speaking of suffocations and other health problems upon exposure to any hit area
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 11 2005 2:51 utc | 29
fwiw- for all the talk of camps in OK and other horrifics, I know for a fact, because I’m peripherally involved, that where I live and another city an hour away are going to be housing people from the hurricane starting next week.
about 100 students from 3 universities in N.O. have already registered and are attending school here…the entire process of registration, etc. was done in one day.
the first group will have about 60 people…we don’t yet know if they’re families or single people…and they’ll stay in dorm rooms provided for free for about a week. there’s a cookout planned for them when they arrive which is being done by students.
The same goes, as far as I know, for the other city, too.
During that week, local rental properties will match people with housing, again, making space available for families or whatever the make up of the population. These local biz people came forward immediately, so I have to give them some respect, even tho I mostly want to curse them for jacking up rental prices in a college town.
A local trucker has made his semis available at no charge to carry supplies anywhere in the U.S. Collections are going on all over the city…clothes, toiletries, books for kids, toys…
Some kids who had family members nearby have already relocated and have already started elementary school. There is a highly transient population here b/c of the U, so these kids are like many others who come here from other places and cultures…obviously most of the others haven’t had the same trauma, although some have, since we have families from 39 nations with kids in school here.
After this first group, there will be another group that will come in and go through the same process…a week in the dorm until they can be matched up with suitable housing.
Some of these people may decide to stay here permanently. or maybe not.
On a related note…I was in a talk where someone was talking about the issues of access to public facilities…libraries, etc. Someone said that she, as a taxpayer, wondered about the homeless having access, since they didn’t pay any taxes.
The person sitting next to me and I mumbled…why don’t we just kill them…and babies, too. They don’t pay taxes either.
but I said, some rich people shelter their income and don’t pay taxes. should we allow them access to public facilities too?
because everyone knows the issue isn’t whether someone pays taxes, it’s whether they’re poor or not.
another person whose voice trembled as she spoke, said that she didn’t pay taxes just for herself. she said she also paid taxes for others, to help others.
I wanted to ask the person (woman) who first raised the question if she should be able to drive on state roads in other places, since she didn’t pay any taxes to create them.
I have just about had it with the (mostly) white people I’ve heard who raise this issue. What do they think it means to be part of a community, or a nation? I suppose these are the same people who think only property owners should be allowed to vote, too.
It was stunning to me that the original person (a preggers woman, btw) could even mention this topic just days after poor people had been left to die and forced to stay in place, not allowed to walk out of the city, forced to live with their children in a death and shit-filled convention hall. And this was shown on national tv, and the majority of americans were appalled by this situation.
If poor people don’t pay taxes, should they be left to die if they can’t evacuate on their own during a disaster? Apparently, if you’re a fiscal conservative (libertarian or republican) the answer might just be yes, even in the face of the worst disaster in the US in our lifetimes.
Posted by: fauxreal | Sep 11 2005 3:57 utc | 30
Not to forget the other desaster. Riverbend has been blogging again.
Back to Blogging…
The electrical situation deteriorated this summer in Baghdad. We’ve gone from a solid 8 – 10 hours daily to around six. During the winter, we have generators in the area providing electricity when it goes off. In the summer, however, with the heat and the heavy electrical load from air-conditioners AND the fuel shortage, many generators have to be turned off for most of the day.
We’re also having water difficulties, though people have grown accustomed to that. You can tell first thing in the morning that the water is cut off. I woke up this morning and knew it even before I had gotten out of bed. The house just sounds… dry. You strain your ears for the familiar house sounds and they aren’t there- there’s no drip-drip-drip from the faucet in the bathroom down the hall. There’s no sound of dishes being washed in the kitchen downstairs. There’s no sound of a toilet being flushed, and certainly no sound of a shower. The house is dry.
The dryness and heat are a stark contrast to the images we see on television of Mississippi and Louisiana. Daily, we watch the havoc Katrina left in its wake and try to determine which are more difficult to bear- man-made catastrophes like wars and occupations, or natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.
…
I’ve been reading and re-reading the draft constitution. It’s alarming. At times it feels like only a summary of what a constitution should be with articles that don’t seem very well thought out- a cut and paste job if there ever was one. It doesn’t seem complete and while in some places it comes across as too vague, in others it comes across as disturbingly elaborate. I’ll have a whole blog about the draft constitution tomorrow- or at least what I’ve understood of it.
Posted by: Fran | Sep 11 2005 8:43 utc | 31
I have been trying to develop some understanding of what really happened in NO.
This slide show – 197 pictures – is excellent.
Link
Posted by: Noisette | Sep 11 2005 9:04 utc | 32
Sattelite Flood level maps. Pumping. Slide show. Links:
Link
——
I have come to the conclusion that there was no real plan for evacuating NO. Just a lot of words, paperwork, bureaucracy, projected coordination (e.g. with the Animal Protection people to save pets!), etc. At first blush, the plan looks very serious, but it was slapdash effort.
What was done was more or less exactly what was planned.
This is from the State EOP:
“The definition of Last Resort Refuge is a place for persons to be protected from the high winds and heavy rains from the storm. Unlike a shelter, there may be little or no water or food and possibly no utilities. A Last Resort Refuge is intended to provide best available survival protection for the duration of the hurricane only. 1. Once evacuation routes are closed, people who were unable to evacuate the risk area will be directed to last resort refuge and /or staging areas. 2. When it is determined that weather conditions permit, rescue teams will be sent into areas designated for Last Resort Refuge to transport evacuees to designated shelters.”
State EOP
Parrish EOP
For a quick impression, see the Parrish EOP.
Posted by: Noisette | Sep 11 2005 9:47 utc | 33
The Pentagon seriously discusses preventive nuclear strikes against rogue states???
Am I surprised? Absolutely not. Sorry if this is old news.
Posted by: teuton | Sep 11 2005 11:20 utc | 34
from FEMA news, their website, on Aug. 29:
First Responders Urged Not To Respond To Hurricane Impact Areas Unless Dispatched By State, Local Authorities
Link
Posted by: Noisette | Sep 11 2005 14:33 utc | 35
My conclusions for the moment, from reading the official documents:
NO descended into chaos because:
a) preparation for evacuation was insufficient or illusory.
b) no proper plans for sheltering and housing those who could not leave were made; those plans that existed, were projected, or might possibly have worked, could not be implemented because there were not enough coordinated law-and-order / emergency / etc. people on the ground. Had there been enough, and proper coordination, either during the event or prior, there would have been no difficulty whatsoever. None. Possibly just a few lives lost.
c) NO survived the direct impact of Katrina, so the evacuation was after all ‘unecessary’ – The warning of the FLOODS (which began on Monday morning) were too slow, inefficient. People were taken by surprise, and it was each to his own.
Looting and disorder set in quickly and confused the situation. Again, not enough law enforcement, civil protection, etc. there.
d) The levees held. As they were expected to and supposed to. Newspaper articles are very unclear, and they call floodwalls, dikes and levees leeves. This turns all the discussion about funding, repairing, etc. the levees into a cacophony. These were floodwalls (or containment walls) that burst or broke or otherwise gave way. They are made of steel and concrete, resting on an earthen base. This earth base is also called a levee. Those responsible for them are the Levee Board (NO).
Picture of a floodwall
Explanation of how a floodwall breaks:
Kramer
(more good stuff on that site.) Many will know all this, but some may not, I don’t watch TV…
The rumors about bombs in or on the floodwalls seem either slim or obviously invented to me. The stories about the ‘loose barge’ are not comprehensible – speculations.
Posted by: Noisette | Sep 11 2005 14:56 utc | 36
This came in my morning email today – Tom Flocco posits that the Clintons and George H.W. and George W. Bush were behind the death of JFK, Jr. He also suggests Bush 41 connections to JFK’s assasination. And he sounds fairly confident that this will be addressed as part of Patrick Fitzgerald’s Grand Jury inquiry. Sorry if this is old news to some, and like Billmon, I have no idea who Tom Flocco is, or what style hat he is wearing, but in this frightening world we inhabit, it sounds seriously probable. If so, Fitzgerald and his team have quite a full plate.
Posted by: conchita | Sep 11 2005 17:58 utc | 37
@Noisette – the Kramer link
That link explains that the floodwall on top of the leeves broke where they are attached to each other – the weak joint.
But that does not explain why they broke in the channel and not at the sea side. I discussed this with a friend of mine who does some waterwork simulations. The gist:
17th street channel has one opening to the sea. The other and of channel is essentially blocked by pumping station no.6. So a long waterway with high boarders left and right.
When a wave of water flows in from the open seaside, the wave travels down the channel and is reflected at pumping station 6. It the travels the channel the other way back to the open sea.
On its way back to the sea it meets the next way coming from the sea. The meeting watermasses of both waves nearly double the high of one wave at the point of the channel, overtaking the floodwalls.
Waves in storms come with a certain quite frequent time distance to each other. The meeting point of the reflected wave and new wave would have been nearly the same point in the channel for each wave meeting, providing for some time that water would swap over the flood wall at the same point several times weakening the earth of the levee on the land side of the floodwall. After some time the flood wall at that point had no more standingground and broke away from the neighboring walls. The next waves water could flood over the earthen levees and wash them away.
Lesson:
Never allow for “resonating” waterways like that deadend channel. Close them off with movable flooddoors. This also shortens the line of defense. There were several miles along the channels in NO that would not have needed levees at all, if the proper flooddoors would have been there to close them off in case of storms.
We have wondered if the Corps of Engineers has ever done proper simulation of the channels with waves coming north to south ofver the lake. It should have been obvious that the channel walls are doomed in such a scenario while the leeves dircetly towards the lake would be able to stand.
Okay folks, just got this in e-mail from 911CITIZENATCH.ORG
MEDIA BREAKTHROUGH: ABC News to Air Program Challenging Official Narrative for 9/11 attacks
Today, Sunday, September 11th at 7:06PM E.S.T., ABC News Radio Affiliates on the east coast will air a 1 hour pre-recorded special featuring author and theologian David Ray Griffin, 9/11 survivor and RICO suit plaintiff William Rodgriquez and 9/11 widow Lorie Van Auken, who recently presented at Congresswoman McKinney’s Congressional Briefing on July 22. The program will for the first time on a major new news network give voice to the those who have challenged the 9/11 Commission’s findings, who have suggested a pervasive cover-up or the involvement of government conspirators.
The program will re-air hourly at 8:06, 9:06, 10:06, etc. this evening. It has already been aired by two affiliates and is now available to over 3000 affiliates nationally.
Please tune in, record the show, and let ABC know that you are interested in similar programs digging deeper into the challenges posed to the official narrative for the events of September 11th.
Please take a moment now to email your friends and colleagues and let them know about this encouraging breakthrough.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 11 2005 19:57 utc | 40
Just received a Tom Flocco update. I apologize for posting the entire thing, but it is in email form and did not include a link. Does anyone know how credible Flocco is? If he is truly quoting an ex Division 4 agent, and if what he says about the intelligence agencies in the US is accurate – 60% wanting to see justice done, 30% still supporting the adminsitration, and 10% too frightened to take a position – and the Grand Jury investigations, this could fortell the moment that many of us have given up hoping for.
Date: Sunday, 11 September 2005, 6:55 a.m.
Tom Flocco: Update on Grand Juries
Here is an update from Tom Flocco on the Grand Juries investigating crimes at the highest level of government.
================================================
To: Wolfram
From: Tom Flocco http://www.tomflocco.com/
Re: Grand jury investigations of White House crime familes
1. Good to hear from you. Yes, I have been offline for 10 days. As a matter of fact, I will pass this reply to you on to a few others to keep everyone up to date, since I have been out of circulation for a fair length of time. My computer crashed just minutes after I started to send email regarding the JFK Jr. story; and I had to get the hard drive repaired, etc…..quite a mess…..phones tapped, phones turned off for 36 hours on four separate occasions in last three weeks….the Department of Defense continuously port-scanning and trying to break into my computer 24/7….still have not sent out any emails on new stories for the last two weeks. The violations of personal rights are a lesson for all to observe–and for what is coming IF criminal administrations are not prosecuted.
2. The JFK Jr. story received at least 20 million hits and counting at my site, so people somehow found and read it around the world. Jeff Rense and David Icke played a major roll in promoting that story around the web since my computer had problems. Those two are great patriots and took on some personal risk like some of us. I was told the CIA in Langley, VA is VERY appreciative of their help in promoting the JFK Jr story. I am still shocked by Delbert’s interviews for that piece and the gravity of it all. It caused a second grand jury to investigate the evidence. Most don’t know the story was finished long before it was released to the public. I had to wait about two weeks to get the approval of some nine witness families who are in physical jeopardy for what they saw and heard regarding the murder plot involving the Bushes and Clintons. But the witnesses know probes are ongoing in multiple states; so “Delbert” gave the final approval as the key source for the story and we went
with it. U.S. Intelligence told me Bushes 41, 43, Bill 42, and Sen. Clinton met together in the White House and discussed the story on the evening of the day it was released.
3. The Chicago grand JURY the mainstream sometimes writes about is really at LEAST six or seven grand juries. I know they exist in several states; and I am personally aware of a couple people who have already testified and others who have presented evidence and/or additional grand jury demands to Mr. Fitzgerald. All those grand juries are probing White House(s) past and present–regarding murder, 9/11 and related financial issues at the minimum. The most important story I have ever written is the recent Cash payoffs, bonds and murder linked to White House 911 finance . The financial issues in that 9-11 related story have the juice to place congressmen and senators in prison. Don’t miss the evidence document links either, as the documents have already been presented and evaluated by one of the grand juries.
4. One caveat. Just as in the past, a few things could stop the wheels of justice from completely turning this time around: little things like bribery, murder, bombings and/or marshal law–all of which are quite possible, given this coterie of criminals. But even then, I have been told that U.S. intelligence is closely monitoring the probes and will go after Fitzgerald if he and the other prosecutors fail to do their job. I have heard that elements of the military and intelligence have refused to obey presidential orders over the past couple weeks. That is astonishing in and of itself.
5. This could be a very interesting fall; and I will be shocked if the President, members of his cabinet, agency officials and some members of Congress have not already inquired about seeking asylum in Australia or another similar English-speaking country to flee potential charges of treason, murder, obstruction of justice and other crimes. I have also been told there is evidence proving the Supreme Court is dirty and their law clerks and one Justice on the Court have already testified against other Justices regarding 2000 election fraud after an attempt to bribe the Justice testifying against other members. Quite incredible stuff. And can you imagine the implications: a five-year fraudulent presidency which sent troops to die and be maimed for life based on lies!
6. The crimes are so great that executions are a distinct possiblity, IF the officials involved are successfully brought to trial. The stakes are high and powerful officials will attempt anything to avoid justice–even destroying U.S. cities. In the wake of my JFK Jr. story, there are now grand juries in separate states probing information and evaluating evidence. I have sat with my mouth wide open while listening to other stories which are widespread among the intelligence community. I have been told that 60% of the intelligence community is ready to see the administration removed from office and fully prosecuted, 10% are too timid to take sides and the other 30% are loyal to the administration.
7. So, it’s a very difficult situation for the country. But think of the example which could be set for the rest of the world if three presidents and a senator were severely punished for their crimes against America. The cleansing would be dramatic; and it would open the way for prosecution against the media and Congress for ongoing obstruction of justice with accompanying prison terms.
There you have it: my current–albeit short–take on the grand juries no one wants to talk about, and with the fall just about upon us. But God is in control of what happens to America. This all goes back to events surrounding our forefathers at the outset of U.S. independence. And remember, French sons who helped America in the past are buried on U.S. soil from 1776, 1812 and very recently–in 2005. The crime has to stop. Period. Thanks to all for your support and to those who bought “Loose Change” 9/11 DVDs to help keep the site up online and pay band-width/website expenses.
For honest government–in our lifetime,
Tom Flocco
Tom Flocco .com
Posted by: conchita | Sep 11 2005 20:45 utc | 41
Explain to me, please, what in the holy hell is wrong with these people?
Posted by: Monolycus | Sep 11 2005 21:07 utc | 42
I see now that teuton had already posted the German version of this story from Spiegel Online at 7:20. I wasn’t trying to step on anyone’s toes by reposting; I just missed it.
Posted by: Monolycus | Sep 11 2005 21:28 utc | 43
No problem, Monolycus. I couldn’t find an English version at the time, so it wasn’t even a reposting.
Posted by: teuton | Sep 11 2005 22:16 utc | 44
Explain to me, please, what in the holy hell is wrong with these people?
Out of money, out of troops, out of ideas. Same thing happened in Vietnam – top brass argued repeatedly for “tactical” nuclear attacks to cut enemy supply lines.
Posted by: Wolf DeVoon | Sep 11 2005 23:19 utc | 45
A positive note. One that will not sound in the NYTimes.
Surrealism in Bil’in
“We are witnessing an attempt to make the village of Bil’in into a sort of `counterbalance’ for the settlements evacuated in the Gaza Strip, and to use brutal force against the Palestinians here. We, Israeli peace activists, reject out of hand such a balancing act” say the organizers of the solidarity action which took place today in the village in spite of the army’s effort to prevent it.
The settlers in Gaza have taken by force land which did not belong to them, while violating international law. The people of Bil’in just want to preserve the land which they inherited and which is their only source of livelihood, land which the government of Israel tries to confiscate through the “Separation Fence” and pass it on to settlement extension.
This morning at five o’clock army and border police forces entered Bil’in, declared a curfew, prohibited the weekly demonstration and ordered the eight Israelis, who had stayed the night in Bil’in, to leave. When they refused they were all arrested.
Meanwhile Bil’in inhabitants came out of their homes, thereby breaking the curfew, and started to drum on pots and pans in the village streets. Only when soldiers started to shoot rubber bullets, tear gas and concussion grenades, did part of the village youth start throwing stones.
Meanwhile, about three hundred Israeli activists, supporters of Gush Shalom, Ta’ayush and Anarchists against the Wall and others went on their way to Bil’in in a bus convoy from Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. The army sealed tightly all roads to Bil’in but the demonstrators arrived through the ultra-Orthodox settlement Modi’in Illit (Kiryat Sefer) which was created on the lands of Bil’in and its neighboring villages.
Through the building site where a new settlement neighborhood is being added, the protestors gained access to the olive groves and canyons in Bil’in village lands which are earmarked for further extension of the settlement.
An army officer who arrived on the spot called over the megaphone: “Stop! Stop! You are entering a closed military zone, but demonstrators ignored him and continued descending into the rocky canyon.
Walking several kilometers in difficult terrain during the hottest hour the demonstrator column succeeded in arriving at the Separation Fence site from the western (“Israeli”) side.
Military and police forces which waited there started shooting tear gas and tried to arrest them.
Demonstrators divided into small groups and most of them succeeded to arrive at the Bil’in built-up area, with soldiers and police persuing them through the village back alleys.
The Bil’in people received the Israelis with great enthusiasm, offering refuge in their homes – and cold water.
Some 25 Israelis were arrested, among them Dr Anat Matar of the Tel-Aviv University, Philosophy Department, and veteran Meretz activist Latif Dori.
Some of them were dragged into the police cars after passively resisting arrest.
The people, united, can never be defeated.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Sep 12 2005 0:29 utc | 46
Cover-up: toxic waters ‘will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade’
In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health.
The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analyzed.”Inept political hacks” running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.
Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste program. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA’s ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be “the most massive public works exercise ever done”, adding: “It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe.”
Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. “Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions,” Mr Kaufman said. “All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys – which don’t do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001.”
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Sep 12 2005 2:15 utc | 47
Letter from a friend :
America’s Battered Wife Syndrome
It’s chillingly effective.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Sep 12 2005 3:00 utc | 48
@John F. Lee
I made the identical observation regarding spousal abuse/BushCo a few threads ago. With the pathological level of denial/excuse-making in both situations, the analogy is fairly inescapable. I don’t know how optimistic I am anymore that the status quo is any less escapable.
Posted by: Monolycus | Sep 12 2005 3:27 utc | 49
@b
a couple nasty spammers over the w/e. two at the bottom of blogroll and another one at an old open one thread
Posted by: b real | Sep 12 2005 15:14 utc | 51
The Australian city of Melbourne and Los Angeles in the United States have been named as targets in a videotape purportedly from a US-born member of the radical al-Qaeda group.
‘AL-QAEDA THREAT’ TO MELBOURNE
***
Have you seen this video? It looks like 3rd class Hollywood production too me…
Looks like they all are “US-born “…
Posted by: vbo | Sep 12 2005 15:31 utc | 52
Blame Game
Saying “there will be plenty of time to lay blame later” is a standard professional arbitration tactic used all the time, to move agreements and actions forward between two parties. Think of a divorce settlement, for example. Having said that, there never *is* plenty of time later, it all gets swept away as things move forward. In the ambassadorial world, these blame games are often a tactic, so it’s fair to say, let’s move forward. In this case, Katrina, you have to ask yourself, what are we moving forward into? The total incompetence of DHS/FEMA, the total incompetence of the Bush Administration not even asking for forgiveness, just, let’s move along into the most colossal crony-welfare scam in the history of America, the reconstruction of New Orleans by HAL-KBR and Shaw Group, under Bush’s emergency declaration suspending prevailing wages, and the SCOTUS declaration supporting eminent domain. Two years from now, those Democrats who would have laid the blame where it belongs will be even more out of power, and those Republicans who are to blame will have cemented their authority over one more formerly Democrat region, assuring them of victory in 2008, and the third term of a Thousand Year Reich.
Posted by: tante aime | Sep 12 2005 15:50 utc | 53
it all gets swept away as things move forward
Forward to:
– Repugs Refused to exempt Katrina survivors from new bankruptcy law, but are moving forward to prevent Billy Gates et. al from ever having to pay estate tax.
– To Lifting provision that required contractors rebuilding NO to pay prevailing wages. Will they import slaves from Latin America to whom they can pay minimum wages & put up in temporary barracks, while Helliburton steals a fortune?
– Putting SCOTUS in hands of sicko cabal of Opus Dei Fascists. Proposed chief Sicko is open fascist & corrupt – offered position in exchange for his vote on Gitmo case. (An impeachable offense – Cheney, Gonzo, Libby & bush all met w/him in advance of decision, and some in advance of hearing the case. See Ellsberg case in Nixon era.)
– Bankrupting the Nation.
– Into Iran. Joint Chiefs putting new doctrine on his desk this week, allowing for “pre-emptive” use of Nuclear weapons.
– Racing Onward into the Abyss. Are any members of Congress Americans? Do they give a shit about our country?
Posted by: jj | Sep 12 2005 18:35 utc | 54
over at narco news, stephen peacock points out that recently the state dept has stepped up activity to plan
to purchase and distribute many thousands of replacement parts for weaponry designed for “close-quarters battle” situations, in addition to acquiring thousands of articles of U.S. Army-specification hot-weather combat uniforms.
including “2,400 pairs of jungle boots” on their way to fayetteville’s ft. bragg, home of special ops forces.
Posted by: b real | Sep 12 2005 18:38 utc | 55
pacifica radio is saying that “heck-uffa-job” brown has resigned
Posted by: b real | Sep 12 2005 19:05 utc | 56
@b real w/regards to your narco news post…
maybe,the’re headed down South soon…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 12 2005 19:15 utc | 57
Fasten Your Seat Belts.
First they came for the “terrorists”…Now they’re coming for those w/the audacity to work against war.
A small group of protesters upset at the possible deportation of a US peace activist has gathered outside a Melbourne jail.
American teacher Scott Parkin came to Australia in June on a six-month visitor’s visa.
He was arrested yesterday after the Department of Immigration (DIMIA) revoked his visa because, the Anti-Deportation Alliance says, he is considered a threat to national security.
link
Posted by: jj | Sep 12 2005 19:18 utc | 58
FEMA’s Brown Resigns Post in Wake of Hurricane Katrina Response
That’s what puppet leaders are for. Take orders, read speeches,
then fall on your sword if the cabal masters in Riyahd order it.
Chertoff is still “in charge” of the largest super-agency in the
history of the world, since the Politburo’s own wheels spun off.
And who does Chertoff answer to? Follow the money to Saudi Arabia.
Same s–t, different day.
Posted by: lash marks | Sep 12 2005 20:03 utc | 59
And who does Chertoff answer to? Follow the money to Saudi Arabia.
Lash marks, would you elaborate?
Posted by: jj | Sep 12 2005 20:13 utc | 60
Sometimes events just shatter our world-view. Generally I find that on the surface I feel shocked, then angry; but below the surface my biological organism automatically works to adjust itself to a new environment. It is a protective mechanism. I cannot live in a world about which I have no narrative of how to cope with the circumstances. I’ve found myself struggling in that way as the details of the New Orleans criminal fiasco roll in and my world-view must adapt once again.
The process so far: I was fooled about the elections and 911 and even Iraq. I thought the Cheney administration merely incredibly incompetent and so not dangerous to me and mine so long as I compensated for that. When WMD didn’t show up I started paying more attention to my sources of information and realised that the MSM and government had been lying about the elections, 911 and Iraq all along. I began treating all that spin as what it was and looking for good information. As a result I concluded that in addition to being incompetent the administration was completely corrupt; but they still only seemed to be dangerous in the way a rotten building can be dangerous when it falls. I can avoid a rotten building, and I can disbelieve the lies pronouncing it sound. I also knew that there were many precedents in US history for this ugliness – Mark Twain’s comments being an example – and the US somehow always muddled through on the decency of the average person.
With New Orleans I find myself confronting overwhelming evidence that CheneyCo are not dumb, incompetent, or corrupt (in the usual sense that they can simply be bought off). After the anguish, after the anger, after the frustration; my conclusion at this point is that they are completely amoral, extremely clever, and absolutely unshakeable from their goal of simply endlessly increasing their power.
This does make them dangerous to me and mine, and all of us who are not willing to become part of the apparatus.
While I consider the right/wrong, good/bad morality of all this a deeply personal matter for each of us; I was lying awake the other night looking at the purely practical side of how I need to revise my assumptions about dealing with the USA is in order to protect myself. I still must visit the USA from time to time, and seeing that California is the third disaster on the FEMA list and we are now two for three, being caught in a major earthquake has been weighing on my mind. Here are my thoughts, and I’d appreciate any practical, and even philosophical, tips from others trying to work this out. It sort of takes the form of an update to the Lonely Planet or Maher’s New Rules…
Notes on getting caught in a natural (or other) disaster in the USA:
1) If you need help, you will be assumed guilty of purposefully making yourself a victim and will be meet with suspicion.
2) Get access to a vehicle. Mass transit won’t work. See 1.
3) Get as far as possible from the problem, as soon as possible. See 2.
4) Communications will be down or jammed in the vicinity. See 3.
5) Civil order may break down. Don’t be elderly, female or young.
6) Authorities may not be there to help. Don’t be non-white. Don’t look poor.
7) Failing all of the above, your best strategy is to organise with fellow victims so you can control how the situation develops. Don’t give up your autonomy under any circumstances.
Posted by: PeeDee | Sep 12 2005 22:02 utc | 62
PeeDee
terribly funny & apropos; am copying
& sending on to some friends(if that’s ok?)
With New Orleans I find myself confronting overwhelming evidence that CheneyCo are not dumb, incompetent, or corrupt (in the usual sense that they can simply be bought off). After the anguish, after the anger, after the frustration; my conclusion at this point is that they are completely amoral, extremely clever, and absolutely unshakeable from their goal of simply endlessly increasing their power.
This does make them dangerous to me and mine, and all of us who are not willing to become part of the apparatus.
The only addition to make here would be the adjective
extremely as a modifier for dangerous.
There y’have it.
….
So what’s with billmon’s site today? DoS attack from some frustrated LGFers?
Posted by: DeAnander | Sep 12 2005 23:24 utc | 64
DeA, I asked that lastweek, never heard anything…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 12 2005 23:41 utc | 65
It seems to me that whole bunch is just exhibiting the typical behavior of being trapped and cornered.
Posted by: jm | Sep 13 2005 0:47 utc | 66
This is strictly an adults only
conspiracy theory speculation based on distinguishing
anti-Likkudism from generic anti-semitism, and is too plausible to be taken seriously.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 13 2005 14:42 utc | 70