Open season

The Homicides You Didn't Hear About in Hurricane Katrina
By Rebecca Solnit

What do you do when you notice that there seems to have been a killing spree? While the national and international media were working themselves and much of the public into a frenzy about imaginary hordes of murderers, rapists, snipers, marauders, and general rampagers among the stranded crowds of mostly poor, mostly black people in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, a group of white men went on a shooting spree across the river.

Their criminal acts were no secret but they never became part of the official story. The media demonized the city's black population for crimes that turned out not to have happened, and the retractions were, as always, too little too late. At one point FEMA sent a refrigerated 18-wheeler to pick up what a colonel in the National Guard expected to be 200 bodies in New Orleans's Superdome, only to find six, including four who died naturally and a suicide. Meanwhile, the media never paid attention to the real rampage that took place openly across the river, even though there were corpses lying in unflooded streets and testimony everywhere you looked—or I looked, anyway.

The widely reported violent crimes in the Superdome turned out to be little more than hysterical rumor, but they painted African-Americans as out-of-control savages at a critical moment. The result was to shift institutional responses from disaster relief to law enforcement, a decision that resulted in further deaths among the thirsty, hot, stranded multitude. Governor Kathleen Blanco announced, "I have one message for these hoodlums: These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary, and I expect they will." So would the white vigilantes, and though their exact body count remains unknown, at least 11 black men were apparently shot, some fatally.

The parish of Orleans includes both the city of New Orleans on one side of the Mississippi and a community on the other side called Algiers that can be reached via a bridge called the Crescent City Connection. That bridge comes down in another town called Gretna, and the sheriff of Gretna and a lot of his henchmen turned many of the stranded in New Orleans back at gunpoint from that bridge, trapping them in the squalor of a destroyed city, another heinous crime that was largely overlooked. On the Gretna/Algiers side of the river, the levees held and nothing flooded. Next door to Gretna, Algiers is a mostly black community, but one corner of it down by the river, Algiers Point, is a white enclave, a neighborhood of pretty little, well-kept-up wooden houses—and of killers.

Read the rest and know the truth.

Three years ago

Just a question, Mrs. Bush

It's great you are taking on Myanmar and the horrible catastrophic cyclone that killed 20,000.... But why are you so silent about the wreckage from Katrina and repairing New Orleans?

God damned America?

Is this Pastor Jeremiah Wright still talking?

No.

Apparently Katrina was sent by God to New Orleans because some of its citizens were going to have a gay parade.

The God Damning America commenter? John McCain's endorser Reverend Hagee.



Update:

Did it really take three years to ask this question?

How Much Responsibility Does Oil-Gas Industry Have in Gulf Coast's Katrina Disaster?

[snip]

The delta, formed by the accumulation of the Mississippi River's upstream mud over thousands of years, is a shadow of what it was 100 years ago. Since the 1930s, a fifth of the 10,000-square-mile delta has turned into open water, decreasing the delta's economic and ecologic value by as much as $15 billion a year, according to Louisiana State University studies.

The rate of land loss, among the highest in the world, has exposed New Orleans and hundreds of other communities to the danger of drowning. Katrina made that painfully clear.

[snip]

In Katrina's wake, the Army Corps of Engineers has gotten the brunt of the criticism for the disaster. Besides building suspect levees, the Corps' mission to control waterways with spillways, floodgates and other measures has played havoc with nature by restricting the Mississippi's sediment and fresh upriver water from replenishing the delta's wetlands.

There are other reasons for the disastrous wetlands loss: Human development, cypress logging, ill-advised farming on the coast, hurricanes, slipping-and-sliding geologic faults and even a South American semi-aquatic rodent called nutria imported to Louisiana in the 1930s.

But many scientists say the oil industry's 10,000 miles of canals - enough to stretch nearly halfway around the world - and the drilling they supported played a decisive role. Some scientists say drilling caused half of the land loss, or about 1,000 square miles.

"The whole thing was manifest destiny written large on a marshy landscape," said John Day, an LSU professor emeritus who specializes in delta ecologies.

The industry denies that and points to disagreement among scientists over who or what caused damage, and how much.

No one will ever accept responsibility. There are enough fingers to point, enough officials to quote, enough companies to blame. And nothing will be done because it costs money.

One of many that need help

Help create a Miracle.

Bush's form of diplomacy

'Ah'll crumple yer stoopid country like this coat if'n you don't let my cronies build that Star Wars Missile Shield thing!'

MOSCOW (AP) -- High-level talks Friday between the United States and Russia failed to bridge major differences over U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe and a range of strategic arms issues.

After a series of tense meetings that began with a blunt rebuff from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared to have been unable to turn around Moscow's opposition to missile defense.

Rice and Gates brought several new detailed proposals to the table meant to ease Russian concerns that the system would be aimed at Moscow, but the pair was unable to convince Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

"We see two serious problems with these proposals," Lavrov told reporters at a four-way news conference following the talks.

He said the two sides still disagree about the nature of the missile threat to Europe and that the Bush administration refuses to freeze its deployment plans while the issue is discussed.

"There is no agreement on this," Lavrov said. He said that while the initial U.S. plan to place elements of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic were small, it could grow to become a threat to Russia's deterrent force. "There is a potential threat for us here."

Serdyukov agreed.

"The principal thing to which we did not agree today is the deployment of anti-missile elements which have an anti-Russian character and which are to be placed in Europe," he said.

Rice said the ideas that she and Gates presented are "conceptual at this point" and would be handed to experts to consider further. The two sides plan to meet again in Washington in about six months.

"I know that we don't always see eye-to-eye on every element of the solutions to these issues, nonetheless, I believe we will do this in a constructive spirit, that we will make progress during these talks as we continue to pursue cooperation," Rice said.

Gates said that one idea is to have Russian personnel stationed at each missile defense site to improve coordination and openness with Moscow.

Neither Lavrov nor Serdyukov appeared impressed with the suggestion.

Meanwhile another Russian leader shows what outreach can do:

Mikhail Gorbachev drew loud cheers in New Orleans Friday when he promised to lead a local revolution if the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't keep its promise to improve levees by 2011.
"We will be coming back," the Soviet Union's last leader said, through an interpreter, during a ceremony in the Lower Garden District. "If this pledge is not fulfilled, we will start a new revolution in New Orleans."
After the applause died down, Gorbachev said that action should be a last resort, even though, he added, most Americans apparently have forgotten that their country is the result of a revolution.
"We shouldn't want another revolution," he said. "We should do our best in every (other) way."
Gorbachev, who is in New Orleans as the board chairman of a worldwide organization that promotes environmentally friendly construction, spoke at the International School of Louisiana after a quick tour of the Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th Ward.
"A few brief hours are not enough to see everything," he said, "but it is enough to appreciate the scale of the disaster that the city had to go through."

The Hurricane

Brought back to honor the fall of New Orleans. Watch the movie at Morse's The Republic of Sestakastan! Bring your friends and neighbors! You'll gasp in horror! You'll cry in shock! You'll laugh at the ending!!

In honor of New Orleans

LACHSA Katrina Benefit concert for NOCCA and The Red Cross by the students of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Wynton Marsalis on trumpet alumni of NOCCA, pictures from ap on the web.

New Orleans is still in peril

Because of greed and lies. The Bush administration strikes again:

The contract administration has been a travesty - perhaps even criminal - and there appears to have been an active effort to cover that up. MWI was writing change orders - including prices - and the Corps was sending them back to MWI with a bow on them. Duplicate payments have been made to MWI. There appears to be no written justification for most of the payments. There appear to be millions of dollars unaccounted for.

Scout Prime of First Draft has more.

Fix the pumps, you greedy arrogant indifferent bastards.

Blackwater is primed to be used within the United States

It already had a test run in New Orleans and we know how well that turned out.



Update 5/30: Via Steve Bates at The Yellow Doggerel Democrat, Jo Fish of Democratic Veteran has more:

The "contractors" in Iraq were born out of the Rumsfeldian/Norquistian drive to privatize the military and just about every other aspect of the Federal government. After all, "security contractors" who were in country could not be counted as troops, fill jobs (up to and including, no shit, MEDEVAC) that were normally done by organic assets of a fighting force (supply, medicine, REMF functionality). Contracts (and contractors) meant rewarding political supporters, as well as keeping the heat off of the 1600 Crew for ramping up troop levels (well, until the surge).

The Contractors in Iraq started as an unstructured, unaccountable force that just sort of appeared in response to what Rumsfeld seemed to want as a step in his "force transformation" strategery. They filled a need that he created for a quasi-soldier, but with no accountability to anyone but their mercenary bosses sitting back in the US or whereever. Until Fallujah, the contractors were pretty low key as far as everyone was concerned. More attention was paid to the no-bid contracts that CheneyBurton/KBR received for providing, than what was going on the streets of Baghdad with the armed security "contractors". Then came Fallujah, and the response by Mr. "I listen to my Commanders in the Field", who pretty much told Bunnypants that going into Fallujah on a Revenge Mission was a bad idea, with a capital "B".

So now, four-plus years into Mess O'Potamia we find ourselves (and I think it's really us saddled with the consequences of the actions of the "contractors". We've moved beyond Kos' "Fuck the Mercenaries" moment to a point where some examination of these extra-national (for want of a better word) contractors operate, and whether or not we want them representing our country within Iraq (and anywhere else they operate on our behalf).

Doing what Bush's administration cannot do

Helping New Orleans:

New Orleans -- Tears streamed down Hannah Huchton's face as the Brentwood teen listened to Patrina Peters recount the time she spent trapped on the roof of a floating house during Hurricane Katrina, and how the deadly 2005 storm destroyed all her worldly possessions.

The tears were of sorrow for Peters' loss and of joy at putting the finishing touches on her new home in New Orleans' devastated Ninth Ward. Huchton and 33 other students from two Brentwood high schools helped build the homes and touched lives during a four-day trip that ends today.

"I really didn't think it was going to be this much of an emotional roller-coaster," said the 17-year-old Huchton, wiping away tears on Friday, as she stood in the freshly painted entrance to Peters' 1,000-square-foot, three-bedroom home.

"If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be able to come back," said Peters, 45, who has been without a permanent home since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. "This shows we're not forgotten. There was a point in time when I felt like we were a forgotten city."

Bush's world:


(Stolen from Karen McL at Peripetia.)

Broken promises

Are a matter of course for Georgie. Promise to help fight AIDS in Africa, help bring the good life to Afghanistan and Iraq, help the poor, help the sick, show some compassion somewhere to somebody.....

Because he's the Compassionator!



That means he actually doesn't have to do anything. Just go around comforting on people....

The New York Times via Karen McL at Peripetia:

"President Bush has reneged on his promises to Katrina’s victims. Shamefully, the president has chosen the interests of bureaucracy over those of American towns on the brink of failure.

Over a year and a half later, there are 64,000 people still sleeping in trailers in Louisiana and far too many communities without schools, hospitals and other basics. These are unacceptable failures. At least part of the problem is a law that requires states to contribute 10 percent of the cost of most federally financed reconstruction projects. Mr. Bush waived that requirement after the Sept. 11 attacks (as his father did after Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki) but he refuses to do so for the Gulf Coast.
...
The State of Louisiana estimates the gap between the devastation there and the federal and private payouts at $34 billion.

Compile Georgie's promises from when he was selected prez. I can't think of one that he fulfilled in any way ... except to Cheney.

Our own forgotten

The Katrina survivors. (Via whitishrabbit at Cannablog):

Gore is full of hot air

According to this hurricane expert:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" Friday for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming.

"He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech.

Doesn't matter if Gore just happens to have science on his side, Dr. Gray. I believe you are the one filled with wind, sir.

Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor who had feuded with Gray over global warming, said Gray has wrongly "dug (his) heels in" even though there is ample evidence that the world is getting hotter.

Update: Bryan at Why Now? has more:

I’m well aware of Dr. Gray and his work. For years he provided some of the best predictions for tropical weather that were available. He built an excellent model based on the information he had, and made his name on that model. The problem is that the model doesn’t seem to work anymore. The assumptions on which the model is based are now untrustworthy.

[snip]

Dr. Gray’s model is not working, and is not likely to work unless changes are made to reflect the changes in the global climate, changes that are visible in lost sea ice and melting glaciers.

Update 4/9: Sinfonian of Blast Off! has this reaction:

Gray's views are becoming more and more isolated as the scientific evidence for global warming mounts. Clearly, any so-called expert who compares Al Gore's "fanaticism" to that of Hitler has more than a few screws loose. And yet the media, whom he attacks for their story-making, continue to publish the piss-poor prognostications that he proffers from his lab in Fort Collins, Colo., a location that, as you all know, is notorious for hurricanes. In fact, last year he had to downgrade his prediction twice during the hurricane season, which is kind of like betting on the other team at halftime when your team is down by four touchdowns.

So what if the New Orleans Bush-connected company's storm pumps don't work?

I mean, why should we waste our efforts in trying to save something that hasn't been repaired? So buy crappy pumps from a Bush donor! You're doin' a heckofajob, Georgie!


Update: Tbogg says it better.

Here, wrap yourself in this

And consider yourself comforted!

Via Think Progress, Newswatch:
One thing Bush likes to do in the Gulf Coast is hand out American flags to families rebuilding their houses. Long before he shows up, Bush’s advance team scouts the non-hostile property owners in a neighborhood, and later, the president drops by and gives the family a flag. The White House thinks this makes for good pictures — and maybe it did, a month after the storm. But a year and half later, with the region still a mess and so many people displaced, it seems a little tone-deaf to be handing out flags — politically, it does invite comparisons to what Bush isn’t doing in the region.

Update: Sinfonian of Blast Off! reminds us this is Georgie's first visit in SIX months.

Rebuking is too good for him

But it's a start:

Bush will be in New Orleans today. A Rebuke of Bush is planned at 2pm. Via Humid City is the statement of rebuke from Katrina Survivors....

JOIN THE KATRINA SURVIVORS’ REBUKE OF PRESIDENT BUSH
2:00 PM THURSDAY MARCH 1
SAMUEL GREEN SCHOOL
2319 VALENCE ST.
(Near Freret and Napoleon)
NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans Needs Federal Aid, Not Presidential Photo-Ops.
Mr. President: Katrina Survivors Do Not Welcome You, We Rebuke You!

We live in a devastated city and you are a big part of the reason why it sill sits in ruins. Your administration has abandoned our children by savaging their public schools. Your administration has tortured our working class people by refusing to reopen the city’s public housing developments. And your administration is fully complicit in placing our uninsured in harms way by ruthlessly pursuing the privatization of local public healthcare in the aftermath of Katrina. And, finally your administration is guilty of sending our sons and daughters of to war for oil and empire just when we need them most to help us rebuild our community.

Mr. President, we, Katrina Survivors all, do not welcome you to our city, we rebuke you!

Sponsored by Survivors Village, United Front For Affordable Housing.

How CAN we sleep at night?

With New Orleans ruined and neglected? The Brits remind us:

(Via Vanity Press)

Bush's legacy of neglect

Seen in this video about New Orleans.

Seen in this post by Watertiger.