News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government 01 September 2005

[Guest guest]

" Lori R. Price " <lrprice

Thu, 1 Sep 2005 22:23:31 -0400

Waiting for a Leader 01 Sep 2005

 

 

 

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

01 September 2005

 

 

http://www.legitgov.org

 

 

All links to articles as summarized below are available here:

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

 

 

 

Waiting for a Leader (The New York Times) " George W. Bush gave one of

the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level

of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom.

In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president

[sic] appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address

of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long

laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to

the stricken Gulf Coast. "

 

'Cowboy' Bush failed in Katrina evacuation - Chavez 01 Sep 2005

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of the U.S.

government, on Wednesday called U.S. pResident George W. Bush a

" cowboy " who had failed to manage the Hurricane Katrina disaster and

evacuate victims.

 

Federal response called 'a national disgrace' 01 Sep 2005 Rage and

resentment reached a crescendo Thursday among victims of Hurricane

Katrina who felt the federal government had abandoned them at their

most desperate moment.

 

House Speaker: Rebuilding N.O. doesn't make sense 31 Aug 2005 House

Speaker [R-Nazi] Dennis Hastert dropped a bombshell on flood-ravaged

New Orleans on Thursday by suggesting that it isn't sensible to

rebuild the city. " It doesn't make sense to me, " Hastert told the

Daily Herald in suburban Chicago in editions published today. " And

it's a question that certainly we should ask. " [so, if your house was

flooded to the roof (which it is, with rightwing horseshit), we should

consider rebuilding it a waste of time and money. The House of

Representatives is the House that should be left for ruined and remade

out of actual citizens and not hot-air bag frauds like you, Hastert!

--M. Rectenwald]

 

Some New Orleanians resisting FEMA police state (total411info.org)

" Some good news coming from New Orleans. CNN reported late Wednesday

afternoon that 'National Guard has lost control' of the Superdome and

gave up on trying to keep people trapped inside there. Numerous

reports have indicated that many residents Uptown, where the water

level is from zero to six feet, are refusing to leave in order to keep

watch over their possessions. And workers and others inside the New

Orleans Museum of Art have refused FEMA orders to leave the building. "

 

Nagin declares Martial Law in New Orleans 31 Aug 2005 Disgusted and

furious with the lawlessness of 'looters' who have put fear into

citizens, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared Martial Law in the city

and directed the city's 1,500 person police force to do " whatever it

takes " to regain control of the city. Nagin said that Martial Law

means that officers don't have to worry about civil rights and Miranda

rights in stopping the 'looters.'

 

New Orleans Mayor Issues 'Desperate SOS' 01 Sep 2005 Fights and fires

broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law

enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended

into anarchy Thursday. " This is a desperate SOS, " the mayor said.

 

Police Chief Says Thousands Trapped in New Orleans Convention Center

01 Sep 2005 The New Orleans police chief says 15-thousand people are

trapped in the city's convention center. And he says some are being

raped and beaten.

 

Bodies, gunfire and chaos in New Orleans' streets 01 Sep 2005 Rotting

bodies littered New Orleans' streets on Thursday and troops headed in

to control 'looting' and violence, as thousands of desperate survivors

of Hurricane Katrina pleaded to be evacuated from the flooded city, or

even just fed.

 

Reported Gunfire Disrupts Evacuation 01 Sep 2005 The evacuation of

25,000 people from the Superdome on Thursday was disrupted by reported

gunfire, as National Guardsmen in armored vehicles poured into New

Orleans to help 'restore order' [incite violence] across the

increasingly lawless and desperate city.

 

Unrest Intensifies at Superdome 'Shelter' 01 Sep 2005 Fights and fires

broke out, rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot

at and anger mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National

Guardsmen poured in to help 'restore order' [foment disorder] across

this increasingly desperate and lawless city.

 

New Orleans police ordered to stop saving lives and start saving

property By Patrick Martin 01 Sep 2005 " New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin

ordered nearly the entire active police force in the flood-ravaged

city to abandon rescue operations Wednesday night and focus on efforts

to halt looting. The decision came in response to mounting pressure

from sensationalized media coverage which is increasingly placing

emphasis on the property damage done by looters, suggesting that it

has become nearly as significant a social problem as the virtual

destruction of the city by Hurricane Katrina. "

 

Nagin orders police to stop looking for survivors 31 Aug 2005 Looting

spiraled so out of control that Mayor Ray Nagin ordered virtually the

entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and focus on

the brazen packs of thieves who have turned increasingly hostile.

 

" It was suggested to me by someone that it seems like the lack of

assistance in New Orleans was meant to provoke people to extreme

violence and chaos. It certainly looks that way to me... but what if

New Orleans is being used as a test case to see, in a real world

setting, how easily a motivated, angry populace (and the military

personnel forced to do the dirty work) could be subdued and controlled

to create a working model of how to impose endless Martial Law

throughout the country while keeping those who might resist under the

lid... and those in the armed forces in line. It's a thought...

because I find it absolutely incredible how inept the response has

been, to the point of criminality on the part of the federal

government. " --c., CLG reader.

 

Changes in FEMA's role will be disastrous By Eric Holdeman 01 Sep 2005

" ...[A]t this moment, the country's premier agency for dealing with

such events – FEMA – is being, in effect, systematically downgraded

and all but dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security.

Apparently homeland security now consists almost entirely of

protection against [fomenting] terrorist acts. How else to explain why

the Federal Emergency Management Agency will no longer be responsible

for disaster preparedness? "

 

South Mississippi needs your help (Sun-Herald) 31 Aug 2005 " ...[W]here

is the National Guard, why hasn't every able-bodied member of the

armed forces in South Mississippi been pressed into service? On

Wednesday reporters listening to horrific stories of death and

survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across

Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and

performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics! "

 

Urgent plea from St. Bernard Parish 01 Sep 2005 Polly Boudreaux, clerk

of the St. Bernard Parish Council, issued an urgent plea Thursday

morning for help for the devastated parish. Boudreaux, breaking into

tears during a telephone interview with WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, said

the parish is wiped out. ... " St. Bernard has been rescuing St. Bernard

for days,'' she said. She said little outside assistance has been able

to reach the parish. " We are not seeing it. We need help,'' she said,

her voice cracking.

 

Frustration at slow emergency response grows on Mississippi coast 31

Aug 2005 Overwhelming need gripped the Mississippi Coast two days

after Hurricane Katrina dealt the region a devastating blow. In the

hardest hit areas, where hundreds of people lost their homes, cars and

everything they own, parents wandered the street Wednesday begging for

water for their babies, and local officials grew frustrated at the

slow response.

 

Mississippi coast now a stretch of rubble 01 Sep 2005 From the

coin-spitting slot machines to the stately Southern beach cottages,

Mississippi's coastline has long been the economic engine for the

entire state. But every industry along the coast has been devastated

by Hurricane Katrina in a way that will take years, if not decades, to

recover.

 

Public health emergency declared in Gulf Coast 31 Aug 2005 Federal

officials have declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf

Coast. ...Environmental Protection Agency director Stephen Johnson

says anti-pollution standards for gasoline are being eased throughout

the country until September 15th. [bush's priority: Helping ExxonMobil.]

 

Officials to Move 25,000 People --Houston Astrodome Opened for

Superdome Evacuees 31 Aug 2005 Relief officials have decided to move

25,000 people -- most of them being sheltered at the city's Superdome

-- to the Astrodome in Houston... Texas Gov. Rick Perry ® said the

schedule of the 40-year-old Astrodome has been cleared through

December [?!?] to house evacuees. [MSNBC reporter: The evacuees on the

busses have not been told where they are going. Why???]

 

Utah May House 1,000 Hurricane Refugees 31 Aug 2005 Utah is ready to

accept up to 1,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Gov. Jon

Huntsman said Wednesday. The state of Louisiana asked for help housing

the refugees, he said.

 

White House Backpedals on Flood Control 01 Sep 2005 The White House

scrambled Thursday to defend itself against criticism that it has

consistently proposed cutting the budget for Army Corps of Engineers

water and flood control projects — including several that could have

mitigated the disaster in New Orleans.

 

" No one can say they didn't see it coming " In 2001, FEMA warned that a

hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely

disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans

flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war. By Sydney

Blumenthaul 31 Aug 2005 " A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a

catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the

research not be undertaken... In early 2001, the Federal Emergency

Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking

New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S.,

including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal

funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was

drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut

funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more

than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a

total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New

Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. "

 

Why New Orleans is in deep water By Molly Ivins 01 Sep 2005

" Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation

left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard

is now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are

guardsmen... The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of

its high-water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also

been sent abroad. (I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water

vehicles in Iraq?) "

 

Lake New Orleans is Bush's Fault & I Can Prove It (Research Material)

By DWCG 31 Aug 2005 " ...I've began identifying articles that

substantiate the Bush administration's culpability to this

catastrophic event. "

 

" Eyewitness: Sec of State Condi Rice laughs it up at 'Spamalot' while

Gulf Coast lays in tatters. Theater goers on New York' City's Great

White Way were shocked to see the President's former National Security

Advisor at the Monty Python farce last night -- as the rest of the

cabinet responds to Hurricane Katrina... " (drudgrereport.com) 01 Sep 2005

 

Brace for more Katrinas, say experts 30 Aug 2005 For all its numbing

ferocity, Hurricane Katrina will not be a unique event, say

scientists, who say that global warming appears to be pumping up the

power of big Atlantic storms.

 

White House: Gas costs to rise further 01 Sep 2005 White House

economic adviser Ben Bernanke said on Thursday U.S. gasoline prices

will likely rise further because of system disruptions following

Hurricane Katrina, but will drop 'when supply lines return to normal'

[as the 2006 election season approaches].

 

Bush Bypasses Senate to Install Official 01 Sep 2005 Dictator Bush has

used a constitutional provision to bypass the Senate and fill a top

inJustice Department slot with an official whose nomination stalled

over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility. [bush is

familiar with the tactic, since he was installed as p-Resident in 2000.]

 

U.S. confirms its troops killed Reuters journalist in Iraq 01 Sep 2005

The U.S. military confirmed on Thursday that its soldiers killed a

Reuters journalist in Iraq but said their action was " appropriate. "

[Why, because they were not embedded media whores from Faux News?]

 

Scores stage hunger strike at Guantanamo 01 Sep 2005 Scores of

detainees are on hunger strike at the Guantanamo US 'war on [of]

terror' detention camp, lawyers for the detainees and US military

authorities said. " Since January 2002, the (Defense Department) has

denied prisoners access to the courts or legal counsel in an effort to

avoid justifying the basis for the detentions. This policy has driven

detainees to strike until they die or are afforded a fair hearing and

humane treatment, " said attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez, of the New

York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing

some of the prisoners.

 

Three more assert Pentagon knew of 9/11 ringleader 01 Sep 2005 Three

more people associated with a secret U.S. military intelligence team

have asserted that the program identified September 11 ringleader

Mohammed Atta as an Al Qaeda suspect inside the United States more

than a year before the 2001 attacks, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

 

U.S. Patriot Act faces legal challenge in Connecticut 31 Aug 2005 A

controversial clause in the U.S. Patriot Act that allows authorities

to search citizens' personal records faced its first public challenge

in federal court on Wednesday as a library sought to lift a gag order

on a FBI probe into its records.

 

ACLU wants gag order lifted in Patriot Act case 31 Aug 2005 The

American Civil Liberties Union urged a federal judge Wednesday to lift

a gag order on a client of whom the FBI is demanding records about

library patrons under the Patriot Act.

 

Police Shoot Teen While Serving Search Warrant 01 Sep 2005 An

investigation is under way after Cleveland police were involved in the

shooting of a 15-year-old boy on Cleveland's east side. Police say the

ninth-grader threatened them with a steak knife [?!?], and police then

fired nearly a dozen shots.

 

Life in the Bottom 80 Percent (The New York Times) 01 Sep 2005 " When

Congress returns from its monthlong summer vacation next week, two of

the leadership's top priorities include renewing the push to repeal

the estate tax, which affects only the wealthiest of families, and

extending the tax cuts for investment income, which flow largely to

the richest Americans. At the other end of the spectrum, lawmakers

have stubbornly refused to raise the minimum wage: $5.15 an hour since

1997. They will also be taking up proposals for deep budget cuts in

programs that ameliorate income inequality, like Medicaid, food stamps

and federal student loans. They should be ashamed of themselves. "

 

Official Quits on Pill Delay at the F.D.A. 01 Sept 2005 The director

of the Food and Drug Administration's office of women's health

resigned yesterday to protest the agency's decision last week to

further delay approving over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill.

 

Bill to legalize gay marriage revived in California 01 Sep 2005 A bill

that would legalize same-sex marriage in the most populated US state

got the backing of legislators in a milestone triumph for gay rights,

according to its author.

 

U.N. warns deadly bird flu is likely to migrate west 01 Sep 2005 The

bird flu virus that has hit several Asian countries is likely to

spread to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the U.N. Food and

Agriculture Organization warned Wednesday, urging nations at risk to

step up surveillance and prepare national emergency plans.

http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html

 

[31 Aug lead stories:] Secret Tribunal Orders Journalist Held Without

Charge at Abu Ghraib --Reuters cameraman held indefinitely, another

freed 31 Aug 2005 A cameraman for Reuters in Iraq has been ordered by

a secret tribunal to be held without charge in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib

prison until his case is reviewed within six months, a U.S. military

spokesman said on Wednesday... Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani was

arrested by U.S. forces on August 8 after a search of his home in the

city of Ramadi. The U.S. military has refused Reuters' requests to

disclose why he is being held. He has not been charged.

 

Bush gives new reason for Iraq war --Says US must prevent oil fields

from falling into hands of terrorists 31 Aug 2005 Dictator Bush

answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US

troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast

oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of

terrorist extremists. [uh, the oil fields are *already* under the

control of terrorist extremists - US oil companies.]

 

Iraq stampede toll to hit 1000 01 Sep 2005 The death toll in a

stampede on a Baghdad bridge is expected to reach 1000, a general

manager at Iraq's Health Ministry said early this morning. " An hour

ago the death toll was 695 killed, but we expect it to hit 1000, " Dr

Jaseb Latif Ali told Reuters.

 

CLGers: Please contribute for September's expenses, thank you! And,

thank you to all who have donated previously!!

http://www.legitgov.org/#contribute

 

Address to receive newsletter: http://www.legitgov.org/#_clg

Please write to: signup for inquiries. lrp/mdr

 

CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, General Manager. 2005,

Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder

and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.

 

 

All links to articles as summarized above are available here:

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news