WTC7 seems to be a classic controlled demolition. WTC 1 &2 destruction appears to have been enhanced by thermate (a variation of thermite) in addition. Pentagon was not struck by a passenger aircraft. It was a drone or missle.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Wayne Madsen Report (Bush and bin Laden)
Wayne Madsen Report
September 17, 2005 -- More revelations emerge that Bush administration is protecting Osama Bin Laden. Intelligence sources are reporting that reports that Osama Bin Laden is seriously ill and requires medical attention are part of a neo-con disinformation campaign to divert attention away from the fact that the crafty "Al Qaeda" leader is never far away from his ex-U.S. Air Force T-39 twin engine Sabreliner, bought in 1993 from the Davis Monthan Air Force Base "boneyard" outside of Tucson, Arizona. The plane was purchased for $200,000 by Essam al Ridi to be used to ship missiles between Bin Laden's home base of Sudan and Pakistan. French intelligence documents show that in 1993 Bin Laden was still under "operational control" of U.S. and British intelligence. Furthermore, the plane sale was made to Bin Laden after National Security Agency intercepts of the Sudanese mission to the U.N. proved that two Sudanese diplomats were working with Bin Laden to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993.
The Three Amigos: More details of Bin Laden and his U.S.-provided plane emerge
Bin Laden's Sabreliner was, according to an ex-CIA source, retrofitted at an ex-CIA base in Marana, Arizona by Evergreen International, an airline company with close ties to the CIA. Evergreen currently operates the base as the "Evergreen Air Center."
Bin Laden's Sabreliner is now reportedly secretly stashed at a Pakistani military airbase, which means that Bin Laden is in Pakistan with the knowledge of President Pervez Musharraf (and likely his close "ally" George W. Bush). The ex-CIA source also revealed that, as the late British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook revealed shortly before his untimely death, "Al Qaeda" is nothing more than a CIA list of arms dealers, mercenaries, drug dealers, and terrorists used by the United States and the Saudis in the Mujaheddin war against the USSR. One of the most notorious heroin and cocaine dealers was Mohammed Atta, the lead 911 hijacker and someone frequently used as a prized and reliable courier by U.S., British, and Saudi intelligence.
September 17, 2005 -- More revelations emerge that Bush administration is protecting Osama Bin Laden. Intelligence sources are reporting that reports that Osama Bin Laden is seriously ill and requires medical attention are part of a neo-con disinformation campaign to divert attention away from the fact that the crafty "Al Qaeda" leader is never far away from his ex-U.S. Air Force T-39 twin engine Sabreliner, bought in 1993 from the Davis Monthan Air Force Base "boneyard" outside of Tucson, Arizona. The plane was purchased for $200,000 by Essam al Ridi to be used to ship missiles between Bin Laden's home base of Sudan and Pakistan. French intelligence documents show that in 1993 Bin Laden was still under "operational control" of U.S. and British intelligence. Furthermore, the plane sale was made to Bin Laden after National Security Agency intercepts of the Sudanese mission to the U.N. proved that two Sudanese diplomats were working with Bin Laden to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993.
The Three Amigos: More details of Bin Laden and his U.S.-provided plane emerge
Bin Laden's Sabreliner was, according to an ex-CIA source, retrofitted at an ex-CIA base in Marana, Arizona by Evergreen International, an airline company with close ties to the CIA. Evergreen currently operates the base as the "Evergreen Air Center."
Bin Laden's Sabreliner is now reportedly secretly stashed at a Pakistani military airbase, which means that Bin Laden is in Pakistan with the knowledge of President Pervez Musharraf (and likely his close "ally" George W. Bush). The ex-CIA source also revealed that, as the late British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook revealed shortly before his untimely death, "Al Qaeda" is nothing more than a CIA list of arms dealers, mercenaries, drug dealers, and terrorists used by the United States and the Saudis in the Mujaheddin war against the USSR. One of the most notorious heroin and cocaine dealers was Mohammed Atta, the lead 911 hijacker and someone frequently used as a prized and reliable courier by U.S., British, and Saudi intelligence.
GALLOWAY: DEADLY ANTI-ABORTION THREATS FROM REPUBLICAN'S FAVORITE "LEFTIST"
GALLOWAY: DEADLY ANTI-ABORTION THREATS FROM REPUBLICAN'S FAVORITE "LEFTIST": "GALLOWAY: DEADLY ANTI-ABORTION THREATS FROM REPUBLICAN'S FAVORITE 'LEFTIST'"
The Strata-Sphere � Blog Archive � Able Danger, More Weldon, 09/17/05
The Strata-Sphere � Blog Archive � Able Danger, More Weldon, 09/17/05
Strata-Sphere shows no real knowledge of what we have here. I have to respect that they are reporting on it. If they take the time to see the big picture, what an ally they could be!
Strata-Sphere shows no real knowledge of what we have here. I have to respect that they are reporting on it. If they take the time to see the big picture, what an ally they could be!
Down the Rabbit Hole (Patsies and 9/11)
Yahoo! Groups : WarOnFreedom Messages : Message 2552 of 2557
From: NoSpamDate: Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:07 pm Subject: interesting stuff about patsies
Reply: ISI is involved in the poppy trade, as was Mohammed Atta and the Flying Dutch Boys. This is plenty reason to send Atta money.In his video, Hopsicker is very negative toward the notion these were "fundamentalist hijackers", despite his public pronouncements to the contrary.Mohammed Atta's daddy was an important functionary in the Islamic Brotherhood at Cairo University, the one founded in 1927 by British Intelligence.They espouse an extremely strict form of Islam but don't feel so bound for themselves, like the Saudi Royals and Barry Seal Wannabe drugrunners.
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Egyptian-Islamic-Jihad
Where they say "Al Qaeda" or "Al Zaquari" insert British Intelligence, Mossad, ISI, or any other alternate name for Mystery Babylon.The many names effect was seeded by Tavistock long ago,during Palmerston's Zoo and Milner's Kintergarden.
http://www.ciajfk.com/zero.html
This author's research found that in 1964, Mohamed Al Fayed went toPort-au-Prince as the agent of Emir Atta, of El Sabat, Kuwait. This is aninteresting connection for the lead hijacker of September 11, 2001 Mohamed Atta, used the following alias: Mohammed El Amir; Muhammad Atta; Muhammad Al Amir. In fact, Atta's father's name is Mohamed El-Amir Atta.
http://thewebfairy.com/911/cia-drugs/Msg02505.html
Atta's father is an international banker, and member of the University of Cairo Islamic Brotherhood founded by freemason Lawrence of Arabia, and taught by none less than Alister Crowley.Atta's father had business dealings with Mohammed Al Fayed
http://ciajfk.com/zero.html
Here's Atta's father (and some other interesting video clips)http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/video/
Mohammed el-Amir AttaReporter Liz Jackson approaches Mohamed Atta's father in a street in Cairo.
http://abc.net.au/4corners/av/20011112fourcorners09.ram
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/
oneyearon/story/0,12361,784541,00.html
Monday September 2, 2002The Guardian
http://thewebfairy.com/911/cia-drugs/Msg01684.html
8). On April 11, 1963, Prescott Bush left the Senate and returned to work atBrown Brothers & Harriman while George de Mohrenschildt was hanging out with the future assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
http://ciajfk.com/images/PRES-3.jpg
Mr. Sensenbrenner never did act on this matter and now I find a possibleconnection to George H.W. Bush and Mohamed Atta's father El-Amir Atta.The connection is that Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed met with George De Mohrenschildt in 1964 and was pretending to be a Kuwaitian oilman when he was in reality an Egyptian from Cairo reprensenting one Mohamed El-Amir Atta.Both de Mohrenschildt and Bush have ties to Mohamed Al Fayed. Mr. Al Fayed lost a lawsuit against the CIA and the Pentagon on Jully 13, 2001 five days before you wrote to Mr. Sensenbrenner and two months before the September 11, 2001conspiracy.jeff strahl wrote:> Why would the ISI have sent Atta all that money right before 9/11, for > a last supper? I suspect if there's any truth to it, it was to set up > a false evidence trail, implicating the ISI as a secondary scapegoat > should some of the first lines of defense unravel.> Hopsicker was really nasty to 9/11 researchers even speculating about > remote control of planes, he's totally wedded to "hijackers", it's > *his* story, and hell if he's gonna let it go.> Both those are "alternative legends", well-discussed by Chaim > Kupferberg at>
http://globalresearch.ca/
> And i am totally skeptical of a NORAD standdown, which becomes > completely unnecessary once it is revealed that no planes were > actually hijacked.>>> on 9/11/05 2:51 PM, Lynn Ertell wrote:>> Rosalee thinks it useful to examine the building of a legend for the> patsies, and whether there is structured manipulation (through> threats,> money or mind-control) of the patsies to help in propaganda> preparation for> the event and its aftermath.>> We went through this kind of discussion around the so-called DC> Beltway> snipers, when details of their background (Ft.Lewis, observed> relationship> between Malvo and his adopted father-figure), and especially the> possible> creation of background serial-killer noise - to obscure the> targeting of> the FBI clerk who was one of the victims.>> But the problem is that large swaths of the public have a mythical> notion of> free-will when it comes to the motivation of the patsies, which is> what the> official legend is built to reinforce. If people generally> understood how a> purported free-will can be hijacked and manipulated into a> false-flag patsy> for a black-op; then they would presumably be capable of making the> conceptual leap to understanding how THEY themselves are already being> controlled and manipulated on an hourly basis by a totalitarian media.> How can they see a patsy as programmed, until they can grasp that they> themselves are programmed ?>> Of course we all know how simple it is to profile, recruit and> behaviorally> condition Delta-style killers. It is now standard TRADOC for> regular as> well as Special Ops units. Big deal.>> It's like exploring the military background of McVeigh.> It all gets washed out when we locate him at Elohim City, in the> company of> Andreas Strassmeir and other known intelligence operatives and> assorted> confidential BATF or FBI informants like Carol Howe.> Whatever profiling or special treatment McVeigh and Nichols got> when they> were in the military, is interesting from a hypothetical,> speculative point> of view - but impossible to document because the sources of that> documentation are engineering whatever legend is retailed to begin> with.> So why bother deconstructing the legend to show how these> patsies/fallguys/sleepers are actually being manipulated by others.> Merely to join the military, with the open intention of becoming> trained as> a professional special operator - as was McVeigh's ambition -> shows us they> already had their patsy. It was only a question of which legend they> should use to position him to take the rap for the operation.>> Ditto Oswald .... Maj.John Newman shows us how they typically> delete or> manufacture or plant elements of the official legend into the> government,> FBI and military intelligence files - so we can waste our time in a> wilderness of mirrors. Peter Dale Scott shows how the planting of> Track1> plotline elements, as opposed to Track2 plotlines, are used to> blackmail> other factions within the> military/intelligence/corporate/political/gangster> milieu - so that everyone finds it in their best interest to> accommodate the> official consensus (Big Lie) that ultimately gets canonized as a> Warren> Commission Report, Report on the Liberty attack - or our own> celebrated 9/11> Commission legend.>> I say, in cases like these, unless we can prove simple and obvious> use of> mind-control (as in the case of military/intelligence sponsored> pedophile> and sex slavery operations like DynCorps, or the documented history of> MK-Ultra experiments, the famous Frank Olsen case, etc.); it is> better to> use Occams Razor and the principle of Locality of Reference.>> McVeigh's association with Elohim City is a much more fertile> ground for> exposing his role as a patsy, than his somewhat patchy-documented> background> in the military. Likewise, there were more fruitful fields to> explore> behind Oswald's fake legend-building in New Orleans;> rather than trying to expose his role as a fake-defector from the> Marines a> few years earlier - sure to lead one down a more difficult hall of> mirrors.>> Similarly with the DC Beltway snipers. John Allen Muhammed's military> record would obviously be carefully crafted to misdirect and waste> time.>> I raise all this because I am concerned about the way everyone> jumps and> sneezes every time the controlled media projects another detail> about Atta> and company. How much of what Daniel Hopsicker supposedly> uncovered, was> part of the legend anyway ?> South Florida is such a cloudy, opaque swamp of crime and> corruption - its> easy to get lost in those details.>> On the other hand; a NORAD stand-down and controlled demolition of> buildings, along with the ensuing cover-up and its endorsement by> the media> - cut to the chase - the essence of why 9/11 was engineered and> who did it.>> The details about the patsies (if they were even on the planes) do> come to> seem like red herrings, distractions and reduction of 9/11 to a> tabloidized> collection of entertaining details.> They only become meaningful in understanding the propaganda> preparation> (psy-op battlefield terrain) of the event itself.> It is all made up.>> So we bring up the money wired to Atta on behalf of Gen.Mahmoud Ahmad.> That takes us down the Pakistani ISI rathole.> Sure, we know it implicates Goss and Graham - if and when we have the> muscle to bring them to trial.> But that assumes that our target audience already understands the> relationship between gangster families and their dependents (CIA> to ISI)> ...which is difficult to explain to the average American still> dreaming the> fantasy that meaningful boundaries exist between nation-states.> Here again, they get lost in the details.> Which is where I think Hopsicker ended up.
From: NoSpam
Reply: ISI is involved in the poppy trade, as was Mohammed Atta and the Flying Dutch Boys. This is plenty reason to send Atta money.In his video, Hopsicker is very negative toward the notion these were "fundamentalist hijackers", despite his public pronouncements to the contrary.Mohammed Atta's daddy was an important functionary in the Islamic Brotherhood at Cairo University, the one founded in 1927 by British Intelligence.They espouse an extremely strict form of Islam but don't feel so bound for themselves, like the Saudi Royals and Barry Seal Wannabe drugrunners.
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Egyptian-Islamic-Jihad
Where they say "Al Qaeda" or "Al Zaquari" insert British Intelligence, Mossad, ISI, or any other alternate name for Mystery Babylon.The many names effect was seeded by Tavistock long ago,during Palmerston's Zoo and Milner's Kintergarden.
http://www.ciajfk.com/zero.html
This author's research found that in 1964, Mohamed Al Fayed went toPort-au-Prince as the agent of Emir Atta, of El Sabat, Kuwait. This is aninteresting connection for the lead hijacker of September 11, 2001 Mohamed Atta, used the following alias: Mohammed El Amir; Muhammad Atta; Muhammad Al Amir. In fact, Atta's father's name is Mohamed El-Amir Atta.
http://thewebfairy.com/911/cia-drugs/Msg02505.html
Atta's father is an international banker, and member of the University of Cairo Islamic Brotherhood founded by freemason Lawrence of Arabia, and taught by none less than Alister Crowley.Atta's father had business dealings with Mohammed Al Fayed
http://ciajfk.com/zero.html
Here's Atta's father (and some other interesting video clips)http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/video/
Mohammed el-Amir AttaReporter Liz Jackson approaches Mohamed Atta's father in a street in Cairo.
http://abc.net.au/4corners/av/20011112fourcorners09.ram
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/
oneyearon/story/0,12361,784541,00.html
Monday September 2, 2002The Guardian
http://thewebfairy.com/911/cia-drugs/Msg01684.html
8). On April 11, 1963, Prescott Bush left the Senate and returned to work atBrown Brothers & Harriman while George de Mohrenschildt was hanging out with the future assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
http://ciajfk.com/images/PRES-3.jpg
Mr. Sensenbrenner never did act on this matter and now I find a possibleconnection to George H.W. Bush and Mohamed Atta's father El-Amir Atta.The connection is that Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed met with George De Mohrenschildt in 1964 and was pretending to be a Kuwaitian oilman when he was in reality an Egyptian from Cairo reprensenting one Mohamed El-Amir Atta.Both de Mohrenschildt and Bush have ties to Mohamed Al Fayed. Mr. Al Fayed lost a lawsuit against the CIA and the Pentagon on Jully 13, 2001 five days before you wrote to Mr. Sensenbrenner and two months before the September 11, 2001conspiracy.jeff strahl wrote:> Why would the ISI have sent Atta all that money right before 9/11, for > a last supper? I suspect if there's any truth to it, it was to set up > a false evidence trail, implicating the ISI as a secondary scapegoat > should some of the first lines of defense unravel.> Hopsicker was really nasty to 9/11 researchers even speculating about > remote control of planes, he's totally wedded to "hijackers", it's > *his* story, and hell if he's gonna let it go.> Both those are "alternative legends", well-discussed by Chaim > Kupferberg at>
http://globalresearch.ca/
> And i am totally skeptical of a NORAD standdown, which becomes > completely unnecessary once it is revealed that no planes were > actually hijacked.>>> on 9/11/05 2:51 PM, Lynn Ertell wrote:>> Rosalee thinks it useful to examine the building of a legend for the> patsies, and whether there is structured manipulation (through> threats,> money or mind-control) of the patsies to help in propaganda> preparation for> the event and its aftermath.>> We went through this kind of discussion around the so-called DC> Beltway> snipers, when details of their background (Ft.Lewis, observed> relationship> between Malvo and his adopted father-figure), and especially the> possible> creation of background serial-killer noise - to obscure the> targeting of> the FBI clerk who was one of the victims.>> But the problem is that large swaths of the public have a mythical> notion of> free-will when it comes to the motivation of the patsies, which is> what the> official legend is built to reinforce. If people generally> understood how a> purported free-will can be hijacked and manipulated into a> false-flag patsy> for a black-op; then they would presumably be capable of making the> conceptual leap to understanding how THEY themselves are already being> controlled and manipulated on an hourly basis by a totalitarian media.> How can they see a patsy as programmed, until they can grasp that they> themselves are programmed ?>> Of course we all know how simple it is to profile, recruit and> behaviorally> condition Delta-style killers. It is now standard TRADOC for> regular as> well as Special Ops units. Big deal.>> It's like exploring the military background of McVeigh.> It all gets washed out when we locate him at Elohim City, in the> company of> Andreas Strassmeir and other known intelligence operatives and> assorted> confidential BATF or FBI informants like Carol Howe.> Whatever profiling or special treatment McVeigh and Nichols got> when they> were in the military, is interesting from a hypothetical,> speculative point> of view - but impossible to document because the sources of that> documentation are engineering whatever legend is retailed to begin> with.> So why bother deconstructing the legend to show how these> patsies/fallguys/sleepers are actually being manipulated by others.> Merely to join the military, with the open intention of becoming> trained as> a professional special operator - as was McVeigh's ambition -> shows us they> already had their patsy. It was only a question of which legend they> should use to position him to take the rap for the operation.>> Ditto Oswald .... Maj.John Newman shows us how they typically> delete or> manufacture or plant elements of the official legend into the> government,> FBI and military intelligence files - so we can waste our time in a> wilderness of mirrors. Peter Dale Scott shows how the planting of> Track1> plotline elements, as opposed to Track2 plotlines, are used to> blackmail> other factions within the> military/intelligence/corporate/political/gangster> milieu - so that everyone finds it in their best interest to> accommodate the> official consensus (Big Lie) that ultimately gets canonized as a> Warren> Commission Report, Report on the Liberty attack - or our own> celebrated 9/11> Commission legend.>> I say, in cases like these, unless we can prove simple and obvious> use of> mind-control (as in the case of military/intelligence sponsored> pedophile> and sex slavery operations like DynCorps, or the documented history of> MK-Ultra experiments, the famous Frank Olsen case, etc.); it is> better to> use Occams Razor and the principle of Locality of Reference.>> McVeigh's association with Elohim City is a much more fertile> ground for> exposing his role as a patsy, than his somewhat patchy-documented> background> in the military. Likewise, there were more fruitful fields to> explore> behind Oswald's fake legend-building in New Orleans;> rather than trying to expose his role as a fake-defector from the> Marines a> few years earlier - sure to lead one down a more difficult hall of> mirrors.>> Similarly with the DC Beltway snipers. John Allen Muhammed's military> record would obviously be carefully crafted to misdirect and waste> time.>> I raise all this because I am concerned about the way everyone> jumps and> sneezes every time the controlled media projects another detail> about Atta> and company. How much of what Daniel Hopsicker supposedly> uncovered, was> part of the legend anyway ?> South Florida is such a cloudy, opaque swamp of crime and> corruption - its> easy to get lost in those details.>> On the other hand; a NORAD stand-down and controlled demolition of> buildings, along with the ensuing cover-up and its endorsement by> the media> - cut to the chase - the essence of why 9/11 was engineered and> who did it.>> The details about the patsies (if they were even on the planes) do> come to> seem like red herrings, distractions and reduction of 9/11 to a> tabloidized> collection of entertaining details.> They only become meaningful in understanding the propaganda> preparation> (psy-op battlefield terrain) of the event itself.> It is all made up.>> So we bring up the money wired to Atta on behalf of Gen.Mahmoud Ahmad.> That takes us down the Pakistani ISI rathole.> Sure, we know it implicates Goss and Graham - if and when we have the> muscle to bring them to trial.> But that assumes that our target audience already understands the> relationship between gangster families and their dependents (CIA> to ISI)> ...which is difficult to explain to the average American still> dreaming the> fantasy that meaningful boundaries exist between nation-states.> Here again, they get lost in the details.> Which is where I think Hopsicker ended up.
Yellow Fighter
He was not sure what I was trying to do .. looks quite annoyed with me ..
- My Fixation Entry.
- My Fixation Entry.
Salon.com | Blame God, not me
Salon.com | Blame God, not me
Blame God, not me
After weeks of blaming others for the disastrous response to Katrina, Bush used the pulpit at the National Prayer Service to blame the biggest scapegoat of all: God.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Amy Sullivan
Sept. 17, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- There must be such a thing as divine mercy because the God who sends plagues of locusts and zaps people into pillars of salt would have surely struck down George W. Bush at the pulpit Friday morning. The administration's multipronged strategy to repair the damage wrought to cherished areas of the president's reputation was on full display at the National Prayer Service, which Bush called to remember victims of the hurricane. Bused-in evacuees from New Orleans? Check. Promotion of faith-based organizations? Check. Shifting blame to others? Check. This time, however, after weeks of laying blame at the doorsteps of Louisiana state officials and the mayor of New Orleans and even some of the victims themselves, Bush chose a bigger target: He blamed God.
As in much of what we've heard from Bush over the past few weeks, there was a whiff of the surreal. He bemoaned the "arbitrary harm" caused by the hurricane, the unanswerable question of why God allows bad things to happen, and noted that "the greatest hardship fell upon citizens already facing lives of struggle" -- as if that were merely a coincidence. The service was filled with references to the fury of natural disaster and the shock of unexpected devastation.
But Americans weren't shocked by the death and despair caused by Hurricane Katrina -- we've seen enough scenes of winds whipping tattered coastlines to know what can result, and we've even witnessed massive flooding, although never concentrated in one major city like this. What did shock Americans was the death and despair caused by human inaction. When T.D. Jakes, Bush's handpicked preacher for the event, reflected on the story of the Good Samaritan, the story could have been illustrated in many minds with images of New Orleans residents left to suffer by the side of the road as rescue passed them by.
We can ask why God allows disasters like hurricanes to happen (although God might fairly answer in return: "It says very clearly in the Bible that you should 'build your house upon a rock, not upon the sand'"). It is, after all, one of the oldest theological questions, one that has tested faith and tormented believers for centuries. The more pertinent question in this case, however, is not why God allowed bad things to happen but why the government did.
The chance to avoid, for a few hours, such inquiries may have been the real purpose of the prayer service. It's not the first time a president has called the country together for religious purposes. The Washington National Cathedral -- which was established by a charter of Congress in 1893, although it receives no public money -- is officially the nation's church and serves as host for these events. In 1981, a service of celebration was held when American hostages returned from Iran; after the space shuttle Columbia exploded in 2003, a national memorial took place there; and most recently, the state funeral of Ronald Reagan was held at the cathedral. (Woodrow Wilson is actually buried in a crypt within the building.)
The service that we should compare with this one, however, is the National Day of Prayer that was held on Sept. 14, 2001, just three days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. At the time, we were a country in shock, unified in grief and anger. Something terrible had happened, and while rescue efforts were taking place on the ground, what the rest of us needed most was comfort. The sight of the entire government, Republican and Democrat, gathered under one roof in solidarity provided simple reassurance. We prayed for strength and for healing. And for the many Americans who rely on religious faith, the president's eloquent words brought some measure of peace: "As we have been assured, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, can separate us from God's love. May he bless the souls of the departed. May he comfort our own."
This time, however, it's far from clear what the purpose of the service was. The hurricane is now nearly three weeks past. The country is not united in grief so much as in frustration at the failure of the government's response. Even those involved with the religious side of planning the service were unsure about its mission. "The idea that it's somehow a balm on the nerves of a shattered nation is not the case," one such official told me.
This isn't to say that Americans aren't struggling to comes to terms with the loss of life and livelihood, but they don't necessarily need a preacher in chief to help them cope. Some of the most moving images the weekend after the hurricane struck came from services held in the ruins of former church buildings, and from a Mass held on the beach amid debris. Residents of the Gulf Coast are taking care of their faith; what they could use from the administration is not another hymn but single-minded attention to repair and recovery efforts.
Instead what they -- and we -- got was a suggestion that perhaps faith-based organizations are best suited to deal with evacuee needs (the Samaritan, Jakes said, was helped by "resources, not by revenue"); we heard praise from Bush of rescuers that sounded less like an acknowledgment of their heroism than a hope it would rub off. And we were reminded that at the root of all the suffering is a divine "mystery" that we may never grasp.
Sneaked into the service, though, was one rebuke to the president, delivered by Bishop John Chane of Washington's Episcopal Diocese, the official host of the event and a man who has not hesitated to criticize Bush in the past. Before he led the opening prayer, Chane reminded the audience, "Our Lord Jesus reminds us that faith without works is nothing."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer
Amy Sullivan is an editor at the Washington Monthly.
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Too much God?
When the Rev. Jerry Falwell blamed the ACLU and other liberals for Tuesday's attack, he proved he's America's answer to the Taliban. But that doesn't mean there's no place for God in our expressions of national mourning.
By Joan Walsh
09/14/01
Blame God, not me
After weeks of blaming others for the disastrous response to Katrina, Bush used the pulpit at the National Prayer Service to blame the biggest scapegoat of all: God.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Amy Sullivan
Sept. 17, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- There must be such a thing as divine mercy because the God who sends plagues of locusts and zaps people into pillars of salt would have surely struck down George W. Bush at the pulpit Friday morning. The administration's multipronged strategy to repair the damage wrought to cherished areas of the president's reputation was on full display at the National Prayer Service, which Bush called to remember victims of the hurricane. Bused-in evacuees from New Orleans? Check. Promotion of faith-based organizations? Check. Shifting blame to others? Check. This time, however, after weeks of laying blame at the doorsteps of Louisiana state officials and the mayor of New Orleans and even some of the victims themselves, Bush chose a bigger target: He blamed God.
As in much of what we've heard from Bush over the past few weeks, there was a whiff of the surreal. He bemoaned the "arbitrary harm" caused by the hurricane, the unanswerable question of why God allows bad things to happen, and noted that "the greatest hardship fell upon citizens already facing lives of struggle" -- as if that were merely a coincidence. The service was filled with references to the fury of natural disaster and the shock of unexpected devastation.
But Americans weren't shocked by the death and despair caused by Hurricane Katrina -- we've seen enough scenes of winds whipping tattered coastlines to know what can result, and we've even witnessed massive flooding, although never concentrated in one major city like this. What did shock Americans was the death and despair caused by human inaction. When T.D. Jakes, Bush's handpicked preacher for the event, reflected on the story of the Good Samaritan, the story could have been illustrated in many minds with images of New Orleans residents left to suffer by the side of the road as rescue passed them by.
We can ask why God allows disasters like hurricanes to happen (although God might fairly answer in return: "It says very clearly in the Bible that you should 'build your house upon a rock, not upon the sand'"). It is, after all, one of the oldest theological questions, one that has tested faith and tormented believers for centuries. The more pertinent question in this case, however, is not why God allowed bad things to happen but why the government did.
The chance to avoid, for a few hours, such inquiries may have been the real purpose of the prayer service. It's not the first time a president has called the country together for religious purposes. The Washington National Cathedral -- which was established by a charter of Congress in 1893, although it receives no public money -- is officially the nation's church and serves as host for these events. In 1981, a service of celebration was held when American hostages returned from Iran; after the space shuttle Columbia exploded in 2003, a national memorial took place there; and most recently, the state funeral of Ronald Reagan was held at the cathedral. (Woodrow Wilson is actually buried in a crypt within the building.)
The service that we should compare with this one, however, is the National Day of Prayer that was held on Sept. 14, 2001, just three days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. At the time, we were a country in shock, unified in grief and anger. Something terrible had happened, and while rescue efforts were taking place on the ground, what the rest of us needed most was comfort. The sight of the entire government, Republican and Democrat, gathered under one roof in solidarity provided simple reassurance. We prayed for strength and for healing. And for the many Americans who rely on religious faith, the president's eloquent words brought some measure of peace: "As we have been assured, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, can separate us from God's love. May he bless the souls of the departed. May he comfort our own."
This time, however, it's far from clear what the purpose of the service was. The hurricane is now nearly three weeks past. The country is not united in grief so much as in frustration at the failure of the government's response. Even those involved with the religious side of planning the service were unsure about its mission. "The idea that it's somehow a balm on the nerves of a shattered nation is not the case," one such official told me.
This isn't to say that Americans aren't struggling to comes to terms with the loss of life and livelihood, but they don't necessarily need a preacher in chief to help them cope. Some of the most moving images the weekend after the hurricane struck came from services held in the ruins of former church buildings, and from a Mass held on the beach amid debris. Residents of the Gulf Coast are taking care of their faith; what they could use from the administration is not another hymn but single-minded attention to repair and recovery efforts.
Instead what they -- and we -- got was a suggestion that perhaps faith-based organizations are best suited to deal with evacuee needs (the Samaritan, Jakes said, was helped by "resources, not by revenue"); we heard praise from Bush of rescuers that sounded less like an acknowledgment of their heroism than a hope it would rub off. And we were reminded that at the root of all the suffering is a divine "mystery" that we may never grasp.
Sneaked into the service, though, was one rebuke to the president, delivered by Bishop John Chane of Washington's Episcopal Diocese, the official host of the event and a man who has not hesitated to criticize Bush in the past. Before he led the opening prayer, Chane reminded the audience, "Our Lord Jesus reminds us that faith without works is nothing."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer
Amy Sullivan is an editor at the Washington Monthly.
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Too much God?
When the Rev. Jerry Falwell blamed the ACLU and other liberals for Tuesday's attack, he proved he's America's answer to the Taliban. But that doesn't mean there's no place for God in our expressions of national mourning.
By Joan Walsh
09/14/01
In 4-Year Anthrax Hunt, F.B.I. Finds Itself Stymied, and Sued - New York Times
In 4-Year Anthrax Hunt, F.B.I. Finds Itself Stymied, and Sued - New York Times
Blogger Thoughts: Two Words: Inside Job. Just like 9/11
Blogger Thoughts: Two Words: Inside Job. Just like 9/11
PERRspectives Blog: Bush's Katrina Cop Out
PERRspectives Blog: Bush's Katrina Cop Out: "Primarily designed to help him, and not the Gulf States, recover from his administration's disastrous bungling of the Katrina response, Bush's speech offered to shower money on the devastated South"
It's not about truth or honesty, it's whether a person "turn[s] his back on the Bush administration"
Power Line: Is it Hugh or is it Sid?: "turn his back on the Bush administration"
Lindsey Graham's Smear - No, Ruth Bader Ginsburg does not advocate pederasty. By Timothy�Noah
Lindsey Graham's Smear - No, Ruth Bader Ginsburg does not advocate pederasty. By Timothy�Noah
In additon to exposing Lindsey Graham false statement, the author could have also offered this information about age of consent in Europe.
For example, here the info for Germany:
18 years in dependency relationships (teacher/student etc.)
16 years if the older partner is over 18 and coerces the younger partner into sex other than by physical means, or if the older partner pays the younger partner to have sex (prostitution)
16 years if the older partner is over 21 and exploits "lack of sexual self-determination" of the younger partner (only prosecuted after complaints or “public interest", in practice rarely prosecuted with little or no punishment)
14 years for all other sexual relationships
In additon to exposing Lindsey Graham false statement, the author could have also offered this information about age of consent in Europe.
For example, here the info for Germany:
18 years in dependency relationships (teacher/student etc.)
16 years if the older partner is over 18 and coerces the younger partner into sex other than by physical means, or if the older partner pays the younger partner to have sex (prostitution)
16 years if the older partner is over 21 and exploits "lack of sexual self-determination" of the younger partner (only prosecuted after complaints or “public interest", in practice rarely prosecuted with little or no punishment)
14 years for all other sexual relationships
It seems to all come back to FEMA Failure/Homeland Security Failure
La. Police Chief Defends Turning Back Evacuees: "'We all of a sudden were receiving hundreds of people who were being told, 'If you cross over the bridge, there was food, shelter, water and buses,' which we had none of,' Lawson said Thursday. 'Basically, we had people thrust at our doorstep, and we were unprepared.'"
Orange bag 3
He looks more expectant in this one, maybe more that than ponderous. I can't remember if someone was walking down towards him, but looks like it.
Internet Archive: Details: Behind the Freedom Curtain
Internet Archive: Details: Behind the Freedom Curtain
Blogger Thoughts: Are we still behind the freedom curtain?
Blogger Thoughts: Are we still behind the freedom curtain?
CNN.com - Chavez: U.S. is fueling terrorism - Sep 15, 2005
CNN.com - Chavez: U.S. is fueling terrorism - Sep 15, 2005: "Chavez: U.S. is fueling terrorism"
Exceptions in new EPA rules would allow testing pesticides on children - baltimoresun.com
Exceptions in new EPA rules would allow testing pesticides on children - baltimoresun.com: "Exceptions in new EPA rules would allow testing pesticides on children"
Review of New Orleans Evac.
TheInd.com - News | Business | Culture - Weekly - Lafayette LA
On the Bridge
Waiting in the shadow of the Superdome.
By Burk Foster | 9/14/2005
Photo by Burk Foster
“I don’t want to spend my birthday on this bridge,” said Ricky Brown (pictured).
Photo by Burk Foster
Late Thursday afternoon, Aug. 31, three days after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, about 2,000 people are gathered on the bridge above floodwaters at the intersection of Highway 90 East with I-10 facing the northwest corner of the Superdome. The oaks and pines hanging over the canal formerly known as West Stadium Drive appear undamaged after the storm. The water surrounding the Dome is pale brown and placid in the late afternoon, except when someone wades through it. Guardsmen on break are relaxing on the veranda directly across from the bridge; a woman dressed in a brown T-shirt and fatigue pants waves when she sees a camera.
The people on the bridge have so far survived the post-Katrina flooding, and they have made their way to the bridge — swimming, wading, walking, being dropped off by rescue boats — to await evacuation from the city. They are full of questions about their future and the future of their city, but the question they ask most often is, “Where are the buses?”
They were directed to this point to be picked up by buses that have never come. They can see buses going into the Superdome, the primary evacuation center, and helicopters are carrying out medical airlifts from a makeshift landing zone on a Dome patio right across the canal in front of them. But many up here now believe they are waiting in the wrong bus terminal.
Several of them were inside the Dome but found the conditions so deplorable that sleeping outside in the open air on concrete seems a better choice. Sharon Robinson, washed out of her home on Lafreniere Street near Gentilly Boulevard and Dillard University, has spent two days on the bridge — “two days too long,” she says. Her 4-year-old is sick with a fever, and her diabetic grandfather is too weak to walk. She is angry at the lack of relief promised by public officials. She cries as she walks away to rejoin her family.
Nearby, Joyce Hyde and her husband and son have found a spot next to the railing to spend the night. Joyce says they only left their home on North Miro Street today, when the city shut off the water. “I was in Los Angeles for the earthquake, New York for the World Trade Center bombing, and now New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina,” she says. “I will get through this one, too.”
So begins another night on the bridge. A police outpost has been set up nearby. The police merely look on, offering no information or assistance. While rumors circulate of chaos in the Dome, there is no violence or unruliness on the bridge.
Yet.
Meals and bottles of water are provided, but no toilets. People have been walking down the ramps to relieve themselves, but as night falls they stay clustered in family units, reluctant to wander away in search of privacy. At 8 p.m. a convoy of buses comes through but does not stop at this station. Some people are spending their fourth night on the bridge. Word gets around that more buses will be coming soon.
Saturday morning, 36 hours later, the buses have still not arrived. The crowd is slightly smaller, as the more able-bodied have walked down the expressway to the Convention Center or waded into the Dome, but the ones who are left are angry and desperate for help. They are not only the poorest of New Orleans’ poor but also the least mobile. They are the elderly, the babies and children, the disabled, the near-dead and the men and women who have stayed to protect their families.
Police zip from one spot to another in convoys of SUVs and pickups, their automatic weapons at the ready. They honk and yell, “Get the f—k out of the way”; otherwise they have nothing to say. A woman says, “They think we’re the enemy.”
Most of these people, like Alice Franklin, have been out on the street for five days. “Buses never stop for us,” she says. “There are no toilets, not enough food and water, and dead bodies floating in the water.” They are sick, exhausted and severely dehydrated. Food and water have run out, police have disappeared, and the midmorning sun is baking everyone dry. When a few bottles of water are delivered, young women in the crowd fight over the water.
A middle-aged black man walks by. He has spent five nights on the bridge and is walking to the Convention Center. “I got tired of waiting to be rescued,” he says.
Ricky Brown, who waited through the storm in Baton Rouge and then walked to New Orleans to try to find his family, is now trapped on the bridge. He finds a bicycle and plans to ride over the Crescent City Connection, around to Airline Highway and all the way to Baton Rouge. He will be 47 tomorrow. “I don’t want to spend my birthday on this bridge,” he says.
A convoy of a dozen police vehicles pulls up, and one officer leans over the railing to shoot at a water truck on the ramp below, firing seven rounds in three bursts. “The men in the truck were going around offering water but actually raping and killing,” another officer explains. No one appears to be hit. The men run off, and the police drive away. Some in the crowd say the men in the truck were just delivering water. Who knows? One of the few white men in the crowd says, “The police did not help us. The federals dropped the ball. The state dropped the ball. The city doesn’t have the resources.”
Government failing them, families and friends do their best to take care of each other. Around 11 a.m. half a dozen New Orleans police set up another outpost just beyond the interstate highway signs. A few minutes later a 15-man squad of National Guard Special Forces under the command of Master Sergeant Carl Baker of Tampa, Fla., arrives. Sgt. Baker tells the senior N.O.P.D. officer, “We are going to take control of this city today.”
Within the next half hour, the troops set up a landing zone for helicopters to evacuate the neediest people on the bridge. Mazerow Ratliff, one of the countless Ninth Ward residents on the bridge, has stayed with his girlfriend and her son, 7-year-old Eric Mukhtar. Ratliff picks up debris to clear the zone.
The trash is both official — brown M.R.E. wrappers, snack foods, juice and water bottles of every size — and personal, mostly clothing, medication, bedding and whatever valuables could be stuffed in plastic bags as people fled their homes. They have discarded nonessentials day by day. Some wait now completely empty-handed.
The first evacuee is a gray-haired, one-legged black woman, eyes barely blinking, wrapped in a urine-soaked comforter. Her family drags her to the helicopter on a sled made of tied-together water cartons. The sled goes back for another load — an unconscious older man. Others come forward in shopping carts, wheelchairs, anything that will roll — like Annette, who has been off dialysis for a week and has to be rolled to the helicopter in an office chair.
With no EMTs, aid workers or rescue personnel on site, other private citizens and a handful of military personnel do the loading. The law enforcement officers on site do not lift a hand to help anyone.
Over the next three hours, in two parallel landing zones on either side of the median, Sgt. Baker’s troops oversee the helicopter airlift of 200 of the sickest evacuees and their family members to the airport. Some are too dazed to speak. One old thin black man — who must be 90 years old — hobbles along with his cane, refusing assistance until he cannot make the step up into the helicopter. “Thank you. Thank you for helping,” some say, with tears in their eyes, so relieved to be leaving this concrete hell.
People wait in two long lines along the railings, looks of pain and resignation set on their faces. They are grimy in ways unimagined seven days ago. They smell of sweat and urine and worse. “Finally,” Alice Franklin says, “I’ll get some cold water, a shower — and maybe some mashed potatoes.”
They cannot believe it has taken so long to find the 50 buses needed to take them all to safety. Empty ambulances and supply trucks continue to roll by, and truckloads of police cruise through like big-game hunters on safari with rifles and cameras — in air-conditioned comfort. A mile-long convoy of rescue and emergency vehicles has passed through the crowd earlier. The road to the bridge is clear all the way to Baton Rouge. Why is it easier to find helicopters than buses?
By 2:30 p.m., the worst of the sick — or at least the ones who have family or friends to speak up for them — have been removed from the bridge. A convoy of six school buses led by Louisiana State Police Sergeant Eddie Lewis arrives. It takes 200 more people off the bridge. The other major collection centers — the Superdome, the Convention Center and the Causeway — are empty by now, but several hundred people are still standing in two lines under the broiling afternoon sun. Five days after Katrina left town, they are waiting for the bus that will remove them from the bridge and deliver them from the disaster that is New Orleans.
--------------------------------------------
Burk Foster is retired from the Criminal Justice Department at UL Lafayette and was on assignment with Swiss journalist Jean-Cosme Delaloye in New Orleans after Katrina. He can be reached at burk@burkfoster.com.
On the Bridge
Waiting in the shadow of the Superdome.
By Burk Foster | 9/14/2005
Photo by Burk Foster
“I don’t want to spend my birthday on this bridge,” said Ricky Brown (pictured).
Photo by Burk Foster
Late Thursday afternoon, Aug. 31, three days after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, about 2,000 people are gathered on the bridge above floodwaters at the intersection of Highway 90 East with I-10 facing the northwest corner of the Superdome. The oaks and pines hanging over the canal formerly known as West Stadium Drive appear undamaged after the storm. The water surrounding the Dome is pale brown and placid in the late afternoon, except when someone wades through it. Guardsmen on break are relaxing on the veranda directly across from the bridge; a woman dressed in a brown T-shirt and fatigue pants waves when she sees a camera.
The people on the bridge have so far survived the post-Katrina flooding, and they have made their way to the bridge — swimming, wading, walking, being dropped off by rescue boats — to await evacuation from the city. They are full of questions about their future and the future of their city, but the question they ask most often is, “Where are the buses?”
They were directed to this point to be picked up by buses that have never come. They can see buses going into the Superdome, the primary evacuation center, and helicopters are carrying out medical airlifts from a makeshift landing zone on a Dome patio right across the canal in front of them. But many up here now believe they are waiting in the wrong bus terminal.
Several of them were inside the Dome but found the conditions so deplorable that sleeping outside in the open air on concrete seems a better choice. Sharon Robinson, washed out of her home on Lafreniere Street near Gentilly Boulevard and Dillard University, has spent two days on the bridge — “two days too long,” she says. Her 4-year-old is sick with a fever, and her diabetic grandfather is too weak to walk. She is angry at the lack of relief promised by public officials. She cries as she walks away to rejoin her family.
Nearby, Joyce Hyde and her husband and son have found a spot next to the railing to spend the night. Joyce says they only left their home on North Miro Street today, when the city shut off the water. “I was in Los Angeles for the earthquake, New York for the World Trade Center bombing, and now New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina,” she says. “I will get through this one, too.”
So begins another night on the bridge. A police outpost has been set up nearby. The police merely look on, offering no information or assistance. While rumors circulate of chaos in the Dome, there is no violence or unruliness on the bridge.
Yet.
Meals and bottles of water are provided, but no toilets. People have been walking down the ramps to relieve themselves, but as night falls they stay clustered in family units, reluctant to wander away in search of privacy. At 8 p.m. a convoy of buses comes through but does not stop at this station. Some people are spending their fourth night on the bridge. Word gets around that more buses will be coming soon.
Saturday morning, 36 hours later, the buses have still not arrived. The crowd is slightly smaller, as the more able-bodied have walked down the expressway to the Convention Center or waded into the Dome, but the ones who are left are angry and desperate for help. They are not only the poorest of New Orleans’ poor but also the least mobile. They are the elderly, the babies and children, the disabled, the near-dead and the men and women who have stayed to protect their families.
Police zip from one spot to another in convoys of SUVs and pickups, their automatic weapons at the ready. They honk and yell, “Get the f—k out of the way”; otherwise they have nothing to say. A woman says, “They think we’re the enemy.”
Most of these people, like Alice Franklin, have been out on the street for five days. “Buses never stop for us,” she says. “There are no toilets, not enough food and water, and dead bodies floating in the water.” They are sick, exhausted and severely dehydrated. Food and water have run out, police have disappeared, and the midmorning sun is baking everyone dry. When a few bottles of water are delivered, young women in the crowd fight over the water.
A middle-aged black man walks by. He has spent five nights on the bridge and is walking to the Convention Center. “I got tired of waiting to be rescued,” he says.
Ricky Brown, who waited through the storm in Baton Rouge and then walked to New Orleans to try to find his family, is now trapped on the bridge. He finds a bicycle and plans to ride over the Crescent City Connection, around to Airline Highway and all the way to Baton Rouge. He will be 47 tomorrow. “I don’t want to spend my birthday on this bridge,” he says.
A convoy of a dozen police vehicles pulls up, and one officer leans over the railing to shoot at a water truck on the ramp below, firing seven rounds in three bursts. “The men in the truck were going around offering water but actually raping and killing,” another officer explains. No one appears to be hit. The men run off, and the police drive away. Some in the crowd say the men in the truck were just delivering water. Who knows? One of the few white men in the crowd says, “The police did not help us. The federals dropped the ball. The state dropped the ball. The city doesn’t have the resources.”
Government failing them, families and friends do their best to take care of each other. Around 11 a.m. half a dozen New Orleans police set up another outpost just beyond the interstate highway signs. A few minutes later a 15-man squad of National Guard Special Forces under the command of Master Sergeant Carl Baker of Tampa, Fla., arrives. Sgt. Baker tells the senior N.O.P.D. officer, “We are going to take control of this city today.”
Within the next half hour, the troops set up a landing zone for helicopters to evacuate the neediest people on the bridge. Mazerow Ratliff, one of the countless Ninth Ward residents on the bridge, has stayed with his girlfriend and her son, 7-year-old Eric Mukhtar. Ratliff picks up debris to clear the zone.
The trash is both official — brown M.R.E. wrappers, snack foods, juice and water bottles of every size — and personal, mostly clothing, medication, bedding and whatever valuables could be stuffed in plastic bags as people fled their homes. They have discarded nonessentials day by day. Some wait now completely empty-handed.
The first evacuee is a gray-haired, one-legged black woman, eyes barely blinking, wrapped in a urine-soaked comforter. Her family drags her to the helicopter on a sled made of tied-together water cartons. The sled goes back for another load — an unconscious older man. Others come forward in shopping carts, wheelchairs, anything that will roll — like Annette, who has been off dialysis for a week and has to be rolled to the helicopter in an office chair.
With no EMTs, aid workers or rescue personnel on site, other private citizens and a handful of military personnel do the loading. The law enforcement officers on site do not lift a hand to help anyone.
Over the next three hours, in two parallel landing zones on either side of the median, Sgt. Baker’s troops oversee the helicopter airlift of 200 of the sickest evacuees and their family members to the airport. Some are too dazed to speak. One old thin black man — who must be 90 years old — hobbles along with his cane, refusing assistance until he cannot make the step up into the helicopter. “Thank you. Thank you for helping,” some say, with tears in their eyes, so relieved to be leaving this concrete hell.
People wait in two long lines along the railings, looks of pain and resignation set on their faces. They are grimy in ways unimagined seven days ago. They smell of sweat and urine and worse. “Finally,” Alice Franklin says, “I’ll get some cold water, a shower — and maybe some mashed potatoes.”
They cannot believe it has taken so long to find the 50 buses needed to take them all to safety. Empty ambulances and supply trucks continue to roll by, and truckloads of police cruise through like big-game hunters on safari with rifles and cameras — in air-conditioned comfort. A mile-long convoy of rescue and emergency vehicles has passed through the crowd earlier. The road to the bridge is clear all the way to Baton Rouge. Why is it easier to find helicopters than buses?
By 2:30 p.m., the worst of the sick — or at least the ones who have family or friends to speak up for them — have been removed from the bridge. A convoy of six school buses led by Louisiana State Police Sergeant Eddie Lewis arrives. It takes 200 more people off the bridge. The other major collection centers — the Superdome, the Convention Center and the Causeway — are empty by now, but several hundred people are still standing in two lines under the broiling afternoon sun. Five days after Katrina left town, they are waiting for the bus that will remove them from the bridge and deliver them from the disaster that is New Orleans.
--------------------------------------------
Burk Foster is retired from the Criminal Justice Department at UL Lafayette and was on assignment with Swiss journalist Jean-Cosme Delaloye in New Orleans after Katrina. He can be reached at burk@burkfoster.com.
Plame Case: Possible nonsense, but worth watching...
CLOAK EXCLUSIVE
SECRET MEETINGS ON BUSH INDICTMENT
FILED 9/15 2:00 AM CDT
Chicago--Clandestine sessions have been held by Federal Judges, including those of U.S. District Court and the Chicago Federal Appeals Court, 7th Circuit, as well as their step-sisters, some of the Bankruptcy Court. The complex grand jury inquiry started as the CIA Leak Case.
Closed door topic? What to do about the Federal Grand Jury True Bill, criminal Indictment, naming as defendants for various criminal offenses, George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, and top media types, together with reputed Bush vs Gore high court "bagman" Theodore B. Olson, and as unindicted co-conspirators U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and subsequently deceased Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Drafted into a role to embargo and/or secretly quash the indictment has been former federal prosecutor and law clerk/crony of Scalia, District Judge Mark R. Filip (312) 435-5667. As a partner of the Skadden, Arps law firm, Filip was ostensibly involved in bribing high-level Florida Democrats, to stop the recount of the Gore ballots, opening the way to the big fix in the high court in D.C.
The now secret-plan judges, while armor-plating Filip, are ever-mindful of how the Chicago FBI, tight with the Russian mafiya, murdered the family, in February, 2005, of District Judge Joan H. Lefkow, formerly of the American CIA; she was supposedly going to quietly assist ironing out Grand Jury legal problems for Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald on the outs with most of the federal courthouse gang.
Will the pro-Bush corrupt federal judges get away with their dirty tricks? Stay tuned.
SECRET MEETINGS ON BUSH INDICTMENT
FILED 9/15 2:00 AM CDT
Chicago--Clandestine sessions have been held by Federal Judges, including those of U.S. District Court and the Chicago Federal Appeals Court, 7th Circuit, as well as their step-sisters, some of the Bankruptcy Court. The complex grand jury inquiry started as the CIA Leak Case.
Closed door topic? What to do about the Federal Grand Jury True Bill, criminal Indictment, naming as defendants for various criminal offenses, George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, and top media types, together with reputed Bush vs Gore high court "bagman" Theodore B. Olson, and as unindicted co-conspirators U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and subsequently deceased Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Drafted into a role to embargo and/or secretly quash the indictment has been former federal prosecutor and law clerk/crony of Scalia, District Judge Mark R. Filip (312) 435-5667. As a partner of the Skadden, Arps law firm, Filip was ostensibly involved in bribing high-level Florida Democrats, to stop the recount of the Gore ballots, opening the way to the big fix in the high court in D.C.
The now secret-plan judges, while armor-plating Filip, are ever-mindful of how the Chicago FBI, tight with the Russian mafiya, murdered the family, in February, 2005, of District Judge Joan H. Lefkow, formerly of the American CIA; she was supposedly going to quietly assist ironing out Grand Jury legal problems for Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald on the outs with most of the federal courthouse gang.
Will the pro-Bush corrupt federal judges get away with their dirty tricks? Stay tuned.
FT.com / World / UK - Murdoch tells of PM's shock at BBC
FT.com / World / UK - Murdoch tells of PM's shock at BBC
By Joshua Chaffin and Aline van Duyn in New York
Published: September 17 2005 03:00 | Last updated: September 17 2005 03:00
Tony Blair was shocked by the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina, describing it as "full of hatred of America", Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, said last night.
Mr Murdoch, a long-time critic of the BBC who controls rival Sky News, said the prime minister recounted his feelings in a private conversation this week in New York.
Bill Clinton, the former US president, and Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony Corporation, also criticised the tone of the BBC's coverage during a seminar on the media at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York.
Mr Murdoch said Mr Blair was in New Delhi when he turned on the BBC coverage of New Orleans: "He said it was just full of hatred of America and gloating at our troubles."
Mr Clinton said the corporation's coverage had been "stacked up" to criticise the federal government's slow response.
Sir Howard, a former head of CBS News, said he had been "nervous about the slight level of gloating" in the BBC coverage.
Mr Clinton invited Sir Howard and Mr Murdoch to discuss the media in a global economy as part of a three-day gathering.
Mr Murdoch referred to Mr Blair's remarks during a discussion of US foreign aid. The tycoon chuckled: "I probably shouldn't be telling you this" before recounting his conversation with Mr Blair.
The BBC in America was unavailable for comment.
By Joshua Chaffin and Aline van Duyn in New York
Published: September 17 2005 03:00 | Last updated: September 17 2005 03:00
Tony Blair was shocked by the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina, describing it as "full of hatred of America", Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, said last night.
Mr Murdoch, a long-time critic of the BBC who controls rival Sky News, said the prime minister recounted his feelings in a private conversation this week in New York.
Bill Clinton, the former US president, and Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony Corporation, also criticised the tone of the BBC's coverage during a seminar on the media at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York.
Mr Murdoch said Mr Blair was in New Delhi when he turned on the BBC coverage of New Orleans: "He said it was just full of hatred of America and gloating at our troubles."
Mr Clinton said the corporation's coverage had been "stacked up" to criticise the federal government's slow response.
Sir Howard, a former head of CBS News, said he had been "nervous about the slight level of gloating" in the BBC coverage.
Mr Clinton invited Sir Howard and Mr Murdoch to discuss the media in a global economy as part of a three-day gathering.
Mr Murdoch referred to Mr Blair's remarks during a discussion of US foreign aid. The tycoon chuckled: "I probably shouldn't be telling you this" before recounting his conversation with Mr Blair.
The BBC in America was unavailable for comment.
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