'Katrinagate' fury spreads

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Hurricane_Katrina/0,,2-10-1942_1766111,00.html

Washington - "For God's sake, are you blind?," a woman shouts at the head of the federal emergency management agency (FEMA), Michael Brown.

"You're patting each other on the back, while people here are dying."

The woman is not a victim of Hurricane Katrina. She is a reporter with US television network MSNBC who is so affected by the misery she has witnessed she can hold back no longer.

"Katrinagate" is the term being used by the media to describe the biggest challenge facing the political establishment in the US since the Watergate affair in the 1970s toppled Richard Nixon.

Not for decades has there been such merciless questioning of the president and his administration by the US media.

[Helga Scow Stern]

1. Nominated! As the spin piles up and the evidence is compromised,

we need to keep the truth front and center.

[truedelphi]

4. We Saved Berlin With An Air Drop in 1948 -

Why couldn't we Air Drop to New Orleans in 2005

Carol Sterritt

[imperialismispasse]

10. I can not understand this.

How could they let people starve and not airdrop food and water? I dont understand. There is no answer they can spin that will make me understand that.

[DBoon]

22. An airdrop was unnecessary

all they had to do was lift the blockade and left the private charities (Red Cross, etc.) enter.

FEMA was refusing to allow these organizations entry !!

[imperialismispasse]

29. It is totally insane.

[saigon68]

69. Joe Limpmann having been Neutered is strangely SILENT on this one.

[Catrina]

77. No, he's not silent

I saw him on Fox, I think it was, last night. I believe his committee is going to be in charge of the 'investigation' (substitute 'whitewash') he was whining about 'accountability or something and I just gave up, when I saw him.

[saigon68]

105. Yes, I was told that in a PM too

He is beyond hope, his whinny voice, and submisisve attitude are pathetic. He was elevated, I believe, to help Gore lose the election.

[leesa]

116. Didn't he chair the committee that approved Brown?

He's investigating his choice?

[DLnyc]

84. BushCo = Image Before Lives, true. But actions better than words for us.

Makes me sick, but it seems quite possible that someone calculated that the ideal image for pukehead would be to have aid begin arriving AFTER aforementioned pukehead arrived for his photo-op last Friday (9/2). Or, perhaps they were refusing to let the aid through until the state and local governments agreed to giving complete control over to the feds. Don't know of cold proof of either of these (or both), but loads of stuff makes it abundantly clear that this administration is much more focused on image management and power than on managing the most basic functions of government.

The important point, I think, is not to prove one or another criminally negligent (or outright criminal) charge against these guys. Rather, I think we need to wake up more and more American citizens to the reality that these guys have focused, are focusing and will be focusing almost exclusively on image management and power and, therefore, trainwrecks have, are and will continue to occur virtually every time the federal government is needed to perform some vital function.

Although BushCo is certainly inept and/or criminally negligent in the performance of what most people would think of as relatively uncontroversial functions of government (e.g. assuring Social Security survives, policing corporate crime, deciding when and where (let alone if) war should be declared, assuring that prescription drugs and food items are not contaminated, assuring flu vaccines are available, coming up with a national energy policy, etc.), they are DAMN GOOD at image management and stealing. I think crying 'blame game' will work quite well for them: large numbers of Americans will tune out if BushCo can get the dialogue to degenerate into a 'he said, she said' thing.

I, personally, would rather see Democrats and disaffected Republicans (there are quite a few right now, I think) in Congress focus on ramming through emergency bills forcing the administration to perform its basic functions. For instance, closed military bases NEAR NO could be converted to temporary housing for evacuees. A law should be immediately passed making it a crime to restrict press access to ANYONE, and in particular to victims of the hurricane (and of pukehead's administration). Open hearings should be held NOW to hear from LA and NO groups as to what course of action THEY would like to pursue for rebuilding (or not) THEIR city. Working groups in Congress should immediately analyze existing disaster plans for other cities and localities in the US and correct flaws such as insufficient planning for evacuation before a disaster and inadequate shelter and supplies during and after any disaster.

The 'blame game' only works if Dems and the media continue to focus on criticizing the blatant and abundant failures of this administration without proposing any solution. The solution I would propose is to take our government back from these criminals, and I think the best way to do that is to come up with specific immediate and future actions that any even marginally functional government would perform as a matter of course (but which this government never even considers), and then either force the administration to perform these functions, or impeach them (ALL, not just Bush) and put in a new bunch.

This may sound like dreaming, but my sense is that millions of disaffected Republicans and non-voters would get on board if they felt there was a chance of real progress being made.

Sorry to go on so long, it just makes me sick to think of all this totally justified outrage going to waste!

[pokercat999]

119. Gee what you say makes sense but...

this must occur in the "Through the Looking Glass" world of DC. The Dino's there are afraid to suggest or demand the actions you outline less they be accused of being "tax and spenders". The repugs are hard at work wasting millions on Halliburton in Iraq and now in the US. Meanwhile Blackwater mercenaries have been hired at $350.00 per day (their individual pay so the actual price PAID for their "work" is probably at least three times that), all is well in repug land.

There is only one answer for me, it must go unstated lest I find myself a resident of gitmo.

[0007]

109. The media had no problem getting into the effected areas.

bush is trying to blame the Mayor and the Governor for the tragedy. When in fact FEMA has nothing but incompetent clowns.

[Skittles]

27. I just don't get it either

the fact is they COULD - they just DIDN'T.........I cannot understand

[belle]

33. Simple. Control freak + no empathy = that.

Everything's run from the top down under Bush, try and spin that though they will. And the top doesn't really give a flying fuck; they're more worried about LOOKING like they give a flying fuck, or at least doing whatever it is they think will make them look that way (photo ops, blame-shifting, etc.) Meanwhile, everyone who knows what they're doing and/or might question the wisdom of letting people starve or drown because they don't have the correct forms signed in triplicate has been purged from the ranks...and the correct forms aren't forthcoming, because, well, the top is busy. QED.

[DaveT]

63. Remember Condi referring to the "non-specific" threat

of hijacked planes being flown into tall buildings mentioned in that Daily Briefing?

Spouting off corporate bullshit with a straight face and a subtle hint at exasperated condescension is what passes for "talent" in the world of the Bush Administration and its financial backers.

Remember Rumsfeld scoffing about how stuff happens when chaos broke out under the Stars and Stripes in Iraq?

The key for them is never conceiving of the possibility that they will ever relinquish power.

Kind of a challenge, folks.

Think we're up to it?

[MisterP]

36. they actually said it would cause riots!

the "leadership," that is

[Zhade]

45. Yeah, because starving people are so much calmer...

And again, the answer? DROP A TON OF STUFF. DONE.

[me b zola]

61. They went in treating the citizens of NO as if they were the enemy

I am pissed off beyond words.

The people were dying. Dying.

And these bastards thought the correct response was to go into NO in massive force with locked & loaded weapons. People are *still* being treated as prisoners even though they have been moved to other cities.

This is so outragious I have no words. FUCK YOU GWB!!!!!!!:grr: :grr:

[Blaq Dem]

65. In St. Louis, some evacuees will be placed in an old prison called GUMBO

[me b zola]

78. I saw 3 survivors who were evacuated to DC interviewed

They said that there were armed guards, and they had to check in & out. These men were pissed, they said they felt as though they were prisoners.

[saigon68]

106. It was done for "officers safety"

I'll bet they were black

You know those dangerous dark men from the deepest darkest recesses etc etc. </sarcasm>

[Arkansas Granny]

86. Exactly. I had seen coverage from the Convention Center for days.

People waiting for help. Reporters wondering why no food and water was being sent. If they could make it in, why were these people receiving no food and water at all. I did not hear any of the reporters saying anything about violence there, just people waiting, and waiting and waiting. Then, when the National Guard arrives, they come in with weapons, not food. They claim they have to secure the area first. It was several more hours before food and water arrived to these people.

[leftchick]

38. there is indeed an answer

they don't fucking care if poor black people die. It is really that sickeningly true.

[imperialismispasse]

51. God I can not believe I live in a country where that is the goverments

position.

[leftchick]

53. I realize it now

That is why I wasnt to get my family the fuck out!

[Greylyn58]

83. The best quote I ever heard I think applies here

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."

-The Narrator, in The Fall of the Roman Empire

That just about says it all.

Shrub and his cronies are destroying this country from within with each new obscenity they create. And make no mistake, they most definitely created what happened in NO. Not the hurricane, but with every horrific vote in Congress that was passed, with every new law that Bubbleboy signed that is deemed to eat away at our personal freedoms in this country, with every budget he slashed, taking much needed money from someone or some-part of the country that needed it just so the riches people among us could have a tax break, keeping more of their money.

These people in power are sick, twisted individuals--ghouls who feed on death and destruction. If we don't fight back now, then our country is truly doomed.

[Joe Chi Minh]

54. Oh, but they do. Just not

in the way you mean.

[Pachamama]

25. We were able to mobilize & save people in San Francisco in 1906 faster!

Last night on KGO 810AM here in SF, Ray Talioferro was talking about the actual "timeline" of how fast (literally within hours and the day) of the 1906 earthquake that there were complete evacuations of hospitals from San Francisco to the East Bay, Naval Ships and hospital ships coming up to San Francisco from San Diego etc. etc. People had food, water and even tent cities were being built for the survivors within days.

So, how does one explain that almost 100 years and 57 years ago, with much less "technology" and communications capabilities, we were able to mobilize so quickly and save people? :shrug:

How, how after an event like 9/11, can an administration constantly claim that they are making us safer when they can't even figure out how to get water and food etc. to survivors and victims of a natural disaster for 4 f*cking days? :shrug:

Also, the world is going to forever have the images burned into their brains and memories of these people living in sewage, rotting corpses and no food water or communications and DYING, while Bush golfed, strummed a guitar and sucked John McCain's Birthday cake off his fingers. :grr:

[krkaufman]

46. Exactly. I was just thinking over the weekend...

... of how we've now gone from the country that put men on the moon... to a country that can't quickly air-drop food and water to a single location within our own country.

Just remember, it's not the government that is at fault, but the people who are currently running the government.

Government doesn't kill people, people kill people.

[DLnyc]

85. How about people who don't expect or demand more of government?

IMHO, until we can wake up large numbers of Republicans and non-voters to the fact that their government is failing them and that they have the right and the power to form a better government, we will spiral down faster and faster.

Powerful and ruthless as these guys are, I don't think they can stand up to a 70% or 80% majority demanding their impeachment and/or arrest. But as long as large numbers of people can't even imagine what a functioning society would look like, and as long as large numbers have no reason to hope that an opposition party (like Dems are SUPPOSED to be) has a better plan, I don't think fundamental change is in the cards.

I would say fully loaded governments with the safety locks removed kill large numbers of people at a rate that will increase exponentialy over time if the safety locks are not immediately replaced.

[tsuki]

56. Because Berlin was a drop to white people, NOLA would have

been a drop to non-whites. The world sees it as such.

[Hekate]

66. No, tsuki, it was because once upon a time we were the good guys

The US helped win WWII in a very big way, and it was about alot more than military might. We demonstrated to the world that our democratic way of life, our real freedoms, were what made us strong inside. People in other countries wanted what we had.

The Berlin Airlift was a way of showing the world that the USSR might be drawing an Iron Curtain over a big chunk of the world, but we still cared. The contrast between the US and the USSR could not have been more vivid in the eyes of the world.

I was a child during the Cold War, came of age during the 1960s, and I am very well aware of the shadow side of our way of life during those years. But what we had then was real, and the reason the Civil Rights movement and all the rest of it had such power was that it played on our collective conscience and sense that wrongs should be righted at home as well as abroad. The Peace Corps took hold of our imaginations because we believed we civilians could reach out to other countries and help them along -- and it was a government-sponsored program, not a privately funded charity or a faith-based missionary project.

I believed in my country not just because I was a child but because there was a lot to believe in. When I grew angry at my country it was because I had been given a big yardstick to measure it by. And I was never, ever afraid of my own government.

What has happened since the election of 2000 has shaken me to my roots. I am sickened by what my country has become and may yet become.

But the Berlin Airlift? That was all of a piece with Bundles for Britain and CARE packages, at least in the popular imagination. It meant we were the good guys and always would be.

Cry, the beloved country. :cry: How far we have fallen.

Hekate

[OldEurope]

89. Yes, you were the good guys.

But I´m afraid, you were the good guys, because the commies were the bad ones at that time.
You were the good guys to stop Hitler, you were the good guys for Berlin, but since then, I´m afraid...

[bobbieinok]

91. agree.....especially with your statement that

But what we had then was real, and the reason the Civil Rights movement and all the rest of it had such power was that it played on our collective conscience and sense that wrongs should be righted at home as well as abroad.

we had a collective conscience then, we had REAL American values then....and a national media that had the same

......the media showed the small number of black students who daily walked through and in hate to integrate Little Rock High School

......the media showed the screaming white adults yelling at one little black girl in NEW ORLEANS who daily walked through a corridor of hating white adults to go to school

and the US was ASHAMED......even the bigots and racists for a while were ashamed to express publically what they thought

[Octafish]

92. Exactly.

Bush, unfortunately, is unfamiliar with history or books.

BTW: A most hearty welcome to DU, truedelphi!

[melody]

101. They cared about the Germans, they don't give a damn about poor Yanks n/t

[truthisfreedom]

2. the administration should be left sleepless in their own filth for a week

frightened for their lives and not knowing where their families are, just to see what it's like to be a victim of this debacle.

i'm so happy that someone is finally speaking up to these corrupt weasels.

[Gunit_Sangh]

6. Sleeping in their own filth

That would be OK. Their shit don't stink!

[Oreegone]

79. They just think their shit doesn't stink

Because no one has made them smell it yet.

[moc]

3. I like it, but can't we find something else to call it other than sticking

"gate" on the end.

Honestly, it grates on my nerves that everything becomes a "gate".

[shraby]

7. The word "gate" rolls off the tongue easier

than "scandal" and brings up memories of another scandal of epic proportions. I don't like it either, but the one word points to exactly what you mean by using it.

[woodsprite]

23. Not to mention, ties in with another Repub "gate" in people's minds. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

9. Katrinistan? Abu Katrina? Katrinamo?

So many disasters to choose from...

[Catbird]

12. KatrinaDome?

After both the infamous Superdome shelter and the equally infamous Teapot Dome scandal.

[tavalon]

28. Sorry, it's in the lexicon now

and it reminds the public of another corrupt republican administration and that is a good thing.

This White House now has three gates it's juggling and one or more will take them down. I'm willing to live with the gates, no matter how cheesy it sounds.

[Joebert]

32. I normally delete stories with "gate" in them

But since we're at DEFCON 3 or whatever, I can't.

So I figured I'd see if anybody else had the intense hatred for that term.

Excellent.

[Mr Grieves]

37. I'll third that, but what are you gonna do?

"gate" it is.

[Pacifist Patriot]

34. You and me both. I hate that!

[calimary]

40. Hey, who cares? Adding the suffix "gate" is a nice little subliminal

touch. Elevates it to scandal-level. Easy for the average viewer/listener/reader to relate to.

[trekbiker]

48. I've got no problem with the "gate" suffix..

lord knows the pugs beat up Clinton with the "gate" label for years. It's now part of the language.

[fob]

52. FLOOD-GATE!

Katrina was/is an unstoppable force, the FLOODING and the incompetence that brought it about are real things with direct ties to bushy*

[Bernardo de La Paz]

99. Floodgate is to Bush as Watergate is to Nixon

What began as a third rate burglary unravelled a presidency.

What began as a third rate negligent homicide (en masse) will also unravel a presidency.

[DLnyc]

88. Yes! 'Rape of New Orleans' comes to mind. Or 'Negligent Genocide by

Depraved Indifference'. Watergate was a relatively small crime which exposed the scary underbelly of the Nixon administation. Contragate was quite a bit more significant, involving aiding a country we were at war with (when Saddam was our buddy helping us fight those who revolted against the Shah in Iran) in exchange for making Carter look bad by not releasing the hostages and smuuggling cocaine to finance a war Congress had explicitly forbidden. I think 'gate' was used partly to trivialize a pretty serious complex of crimes. To call the depraved behavior of this administration a 'gate thing', I think, trivializes crimes of unspeakable proportions.

[habitual]

5. precisely why * wanted power from gov.

so that he could immediately declare a no-media zone and stop any more people from seeing how bad it really is. They want only to protect their power and care nothing for the actual suffering. It is becoming too easy to see that though, they seem to be a couple of steps behind and things are spinning out of their control at this point. Beware, they are gonna try some crazy shit soon.... Like * declaring that he will be heading an investigation (could he be worried about ANY ONE ELSE heading one as Hillary suggested?) So now no one else needs to investigate cuz straight shooter, quick thinking * will do it himself. FUCK THAT. REBEL!

[Helga Scow Stern]

8. "FUCK THAT. REBEL!"

That says it all!

[Old and In the Way]

17. You are exactly right.

Take the media out was the underlining motivation for this authorization. Blanco was smart to decline this offer. Keeping the media on the scene keeps the Bush administration on task. I can only imagine what they might have done to start a confrontation with the remaining victims.

Yeah, I'm sure Bush wants get to the truth on the Feds colossal F-up in New Orleans....just like he did on the 9/11 investigation. Bush ought to save the taxpayers the money/time and issue the findings that exonerate him.

[Old and In the Way]

19. You are exactly right.

Take the media out was the underlining motivation for this authorization. Blanco was smart to decline this offer. Keeping the media on the scene keeps the Bush administration on task. I can only imagine what they might have done to start a confrontation with the remaining victims.

Yeah, I'm sure Bush wants get to the truth on the Fed's colossal F-up in New Orleans....just like he did on the 9/11 investigation. Bush ought to save the taxpayers the money/time and issue the findings that exonerate him.

[Straight Shooter]

39. Please don't refer to bush as a "straight shooter," even in ironic jest.

:cry:

[saigon68]

11. Don't forget "HALLIBURTON" is coming in to clean up the mess

"Champagne and "NO BID" contracts for all", proclaimed President Cheney.

[libodem]

13. the administrations alter ego

the right-wing radio pundits are busy placing the blame on the state's leadership... ass wipes...we know better! Will these people never stop placing the blame elsewhere...will they never admit wrong....will they never accept any responsibility....lie and deny...that is their deed...that is their creed....

[roguevalley]

18. I want to hug that woman.

[deadparrot]

14. Gah! This is exponentially WORSE than Watergate!

No one DIED from Watergate, slimy as the whole thing might have been.

[Lindacooks]

15. Not for 'decades' has there been such merciless questioning...??

Bullshit. The media swarmed around President Clinton just like sharks when the repukes were trying to take him down.

I'd say not for 'four and one half years' has there been such merciless questioning.

[phantom power]

20. yes, I recall PLENTY of merciless questioning about blowjobs...

[Arkansas Granny]

87. If all it takes to impeach a president is a blow job,

I'd volunteer my services.

[spacelady]

115. You are so brave. n/t

[NYC]

42. Not for decades has there been such serious questioning on such a

SERIOUS subject.

That would make it correct.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. kick......n/t

[peacetalksforall]

21. SAVE THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, OF THE

PEOPLE. KICK CHENEY AND HIS FRIENDS OUT OF THERE. Let the government of the people save our own. Do you think North Carolina or Minnesota or Michigan had to consult with the government to take these people to a new temporary or permanent new life in their States?

We've got government rounded up people playing cards and working out at luxury hotels. Who needs Cheney and his friends?

We need the helicopters, pilots, and the Army Corps of Engineers for now - the Cheney and Bush can go hunting and ride their bicycles and make speeches for Roberts.

Let them blow their words to their supporters.

We don't support them.

Bodies are being eaten by rats and government paid employees are playing cards and working out at government paid luxury hotels.

Why can't we get Cheney and his friends out of there?

We are the government - not them - the vote stealers.

[defiant1]

24. This is somewhat off topic but....

I hate how everytime some big scandal hits this country, we attach that goddamn "gate" suffix.

[Historic NY]

64. It just makes it easier to burn it into people heads........

people understand or connect "gate" to scandal, it becomes interchangable.

[katinmn]

26. I sure hope that the reporters that woke up stay awake

It's so important.:dem:

Good article.

[stevedeshazer]

30. WOW!!

Better late than never.

[Jackpine Radical]

31. Wow, just fuckin' Wow.

""Katrinagate" is the term being used by the media to describe the biggest challenge facing the political establishment in the US since the Watergate affair in the 1970s toppled Richard Nixon."

[snot]

35. Link no longer working. nt

[NYC]

43. It just worked for me. Try again.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Hurricane_Katrina/0,,2-10-1942_1766111,00.html

[krkaufman]

41. Best passage, IMO, and hopefully the case...

A number of US journalists who cover federal politics, especially television presenters, had become part of the political establishment, says Wells.

"They live in the same suburbs, go to the same parties. Their television companies are owned by large conglomerates who contribute to election campaigns."

It's a "perfect recipe" for fearful, self-censoring reportage, he says, but thinks "since last week, that's all over".

I pray that this guy is right, and that the media's aggressiveness isn't short-lived. I'm also eager to see whether the media, or any other investigative body, ends-up placing partial fault for this disaster on the US news media, since it was under their watch that BushCo was allowed to cripple the government.

[Octafish]

93. Bush Mafia stole election 2000, 2004

Media were active accomplices, this press corpse.

[donheld]

44. Some in the MSM are coming alive

It's about time. Lets just hope they keep alive.

[Peace Patriot]

47. Kudos to that MSNBC reporter (anybody know who it was?) who let her

feelings show, her humanity, and her common sense. This is a very good article! It details numerous honest outbursts of humanity and anger by news people at gov't officials.

To those here who say "I cannot understand this," I think we MUST try to understand what is going on in our gov't. There has been a lot of discussion in these threads about various causes--the 80% slash in Louisiana levee funding due to costs of the Iraq war, half their Nat'l Guard in Iraq, Bush appointing political cronies and incompetents--all good and important as background for the disaster. I think a specific set of actions--or inactions--with bad motives was at work. For instance, I think Bush/FEMA deliberately withheld and obstructed aid to extort Gov. Blanco's agreement to martial law, so they could better loot the new FEMA funds for their own purposes (setting up a high security enclave for the rich, near oil reserves, after clearing the poor out of NO). And you'll notice that Cheney was AWOL throughout, until Halliburton got the first contract, then, yesterday (I think) canceled his trip to Canada "due to Katrina." Forgive me, but I haven't studied the timeline in detail. So I will just sketch things in.

A couple of weird things happened--the photo op with Bush eating birthcake with McCain. That was unforgivable, and you have to ask, where were his handlers? How could they have let him do that--while LA was being wiped off the map, with thousands of people dying? Secondly, the press conference with Daddy Bush backing him on one side, and Clinton on the other.

I think the Bush White House is in disarray--probably because of pending indictments in the Plame case (treasongate). I think it's possible--I repeat, possible; just speculation here--that Cheney threatened a coup, and was bought off with the Halliburton contract, with total control over LA (martial law, federalization of the LA Nat'l Guard, and his pick of devastated properties, their owners dead or absent or powerless, for taxpayer funded "reconstruction") to sweeten the bargain, or that some other sort of great divide has developed, between those threatened with prosecution (Cheney first among them) and those who are not (probably Bush is not--for one thing because he really is an idiot and wouldn't have been trusted with info about the Plame thing, and also because, at least at that time, they were probably protecting him with deniability).

Meanwhile, you had Cindy Sheehan dogging Bush's vacation--and getting lots of publicity. They didn't handle that well either. (Rove & Co. must be really distracted.)

And then the worst natural disaster in our history strikes, and major fuckups begin immediately. The governor, the mayors, can't get help. Nobody's in charge at the Fed level. Bush is off--what?--at a posh Republican fundraiser in San Diego? It's as if his staff had abandoned him (or somebody was even sabotaging him). When FEMA does show up, it starts throwing out bureaucratic obstacles to aid. What's his name sends a FEMA DIRECTIVE to others states NOT TO RESPOND until AFTER official, legal requests have been made--an incredible order. Stay in your jurisdictions, he wrote. (Aid has to get on the road and in the air immediately in such a disaster--not later, NOW--and do the paper work and make the phone calls along the way, or later.)

I don't think this was incompetence by the FEMA director (I've blocked out his name!). I think this was an order that came from Bush, and he was responding to something from Cheney, to stop the aid, because Blanco was resisting Cheney's military takeover of LA (his only purpose being to clear out the dregs of the poor, kill them off or get them scattered to other states never to return, and start assessing the real estate.)

The FEMA obstruction continues (and let me say that, with LA underfunded and half its Nat'l Guard in Iraq, there was no way state/local officials could handle this disaster; Blanco saw this coming and asked for fed aid before the storm hit--they ignored her). (--or possibly I'm assessing the sequence of events wrong here, and need more information; possibly their designs upon the new FEMA loot and upon LA real estate began before that, maybe long before that--they had anticipated all this, and informal contact with Blanco indicated resistance, THEN she makes her request, the storm hits and they withhold and obstruct aid--with this scenario putting Bush more at fault, as part of an evil design, and not just a hapless nitwit of a president, abandoned by a highly distracted and divided regime (distracted by pending Plame indictments)).

Blanco's resistance gave Bush ammunition against Blanco (who was doing the right thing--as was her Nat'l Guard head Honore, who was telling his guards to stop pointing weapons at people, and was telling the press that there was no unusual amount of looting or chaos, just the opposite of the Bushites' line, that chaos reigned and martial law was needed.) And Bush proceeded right to her throat--local/state authorities were as culpable as the Feds (Rove back in charge of P.R.).

If you just maintain the rule of thumb that Bushite motivation is always thievery, their actions become more coherent. I'm thinking that they have no Nazi-like plan to declare martial law in the U.S., with LA as a precedent (as some fear)--although they understand that it would be a handy device for confiscating resources and land, and controlling certain situations. They don't have the personnel to govern this country in that way! Most of the military, and half the nation's Nat'l Guard, are in Iraq! They don't have the desire or competence to govern! They have never had any interest in governing--not even a fascist state. They want the power to get tax cut after tax cut, and to drain our coffers for themselves and their tight war profiteering group. They throw a few sops to the religious right, to maintain the illusion of some sort of support among Americans, but they really don't care. Their ideology is just window-dressing. What they are doing is looting--on a grand scale. They are not little Hitlers, or Stalins, or Mussolinis. They are just a gang of murderous thieves-- big time murderous thieves.

If you look at it this way, then things start to fall into place, and you begin to see what they're really up to.

And they did the same thing in Iraq. No interest in governing. No interest in creating order. Certainly no interest in the welfare of most people, Iraqis or Americans. No patriotism, no religion, no honor. Their only interest is in profiting from whatever disaster they come upon, or that they can create.

This may be why Bush, Cheney and the others seem so empty. Their phrases and assertions are not so much lies as they are contentless. There is no there there. It's all made up to mask the massive theft that is going on. Empty people. Empty phrases. All of it is a coverup. Play-acting.

If I'm right in this analysis, then it is utterly useless to be having arguments with rightwing Christians or Republican ideologues or neocons. (American opinion is overwhelmingly against those views anyway--as all polls show.) What we have to find is the means of removing the Bush regime from power. They only have power by virtue of Diebold and ES&S and their secret, proprietary programming code "results" for the 2004 election. So that's one place to act. (Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW! --or maybe a Louisiana levee will do!).

Diebold and ES&S also selected much of Congress, who are also not beholden to the people--so I doubt if we can get very far there. State movements to withhold taxes? Given Katrina, an assertion of states' rights might not be so infeasible. Keeping fed taxes within the states, for the time being--and, say, paying them into a state fund for disaster aid. State officials (closer to the people) are probably quite worried, at the moment, about the Feds. What would happen to their state if...?

But probably we'll just have to wait it out--and then put up with a War/Corporate Democrat for a while, as we work on getting our country back.

------

Anyway, it's good to see that the war profiteering corporate news monopolies have unmuzzled their reporters, at least on this matter, the hurricane--and that the reporters have hearts and minds inside of them--and some guts. The WPCNM never challenged the war (100,000 dead, from the initial bombing alone), the war lies, the massive thievery, the fraudulent election system, or the fraudulent election (which they helped to cover up by falsifying their own exit poll numbers)--presumably because they support all of these things--but they may now want to install a more efficient, more competent warmaker in the White House, and are permitting this criticism of the Bush regime to prepare the public for it.

[Joanne98]

49. What merciless questioning? I must have missed it.

[IA_Seth]

50. I understand the magnitude of this....

But I wish we could be a little more original with our terms here.

Blank-gate has been used so many times now that I think it allows the American public to look at it as sensationlized media instead of accurate reporting.

I suppose they can call it whatever they like, but they (the media) better not drop the effin ball on this one.

[CrackpotAmerica]

55. I take issue with the "Katrinagate" title

It seems that even the global media doesn't get it.

We are discussing the neglegent murder of tens of thousands of people here.

Let's call it what it is.

It is Institutional Murder.

I have been watching the world media trivialize the deep and woeful horror of this event and it sickens me.

What should be said in every headline is as follows:

Your President Has Failed You

Your Government Has Failed You

Your Media Has Failed You

Try to spin that.

Kicked. .

[daleo]

57. How about Drowninggate?

The word drowning is hard to strip of its impact.

[truthisfreedom]

58. i think my pet goat is to 9-11 as guitar poseur is to Katrina

the sins of the father have been visited upon the nation. if bush senior had sent georgie to treatment, or had let him go to 'Nam, we would have a truly compassionate president today. (on edit: we would have a different country today.)

someone great once said that evil and stupidity become indescernable when their results are the same.

[TankLV]

104. What do you mean "let him go"? If he would have FORCED him to

go! AWOL Bunkerboy was about as far as wanting to go as he could get - or don't you remember he checked NO for his availability to go to Nam?

STOP USING THE REPUKES SPIN even when criticizing the idiot AWOL CRIMNIAL!

[Glenda]

59. Is Gabrielle Chwallek British? WHere did this first appear?

Just wondering if she's BBC?

[ignatius 2]

60. Goddammit, we on this board have seen what maniacs these

people were from 2001 when they started dropping us from every world treaty signed by much better and brighter people than these fucks. We have watched the negligence prior to 9-11,the disastrous war based on fucking lies.We have watched them try to assassinate a senator with anthrax to keep the population scared shitless.We have seen a chickenshit cheerleader and his minions crush Kerry and Leland,2 war heroes whose boots Chimpy shouldn't even be allowed to lick.

And now,we see thousands of American citizens dying,thousands homeless,hungry,and weary. We hear Babs say how well off these underprivileged are,as if being torn away from your home,family and every damned thing you own in this world to sleep with 50,000 people in a stinky,dirty dome is one big fucking party.

Enough..what can be done to rid our country of these monsters? Impeachment with a repug congress isn't going to happen,unless,we can get such a groundswell of Americans to demand it. The Plame affair,is that going to bring indictments?

What is the answer,our country is dying.I saw a comment from Maureen Dowd's column today which left me so sad..If we cannot take care of our own,then who are we?

Who indeed?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

62. Quoth

Not for decades has there been such merciless questioning of the president and his administration by the US media.

Not that there hasn't been reason after reason.

[Hekate]

67. I cannot make the link work. Can someone please PM the article to me?

Thanks.

Hekate

#Why won't the Chickenhawk cross the road?#
#Why won't the Chickenhawk be standin' on the levee?#

[donco6]

76. Just did. eom

[Dunvegan]

68. MSM...As the scales fall...

...from their eyes...with such horrors they will finally be met.

And their long silence and fear of free speech indites them in administration complicity.

[debbierlus]

70. I don't have enough posts to start a thread - will someone post this?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/07/katrina.congress/index.html

Congressional hearings CANCELED by Delay.

Directly blames local officials - so sickening.

I would post it myself, but I don't have enough posts to start a thread. I think it is important.

Thanks everyone!

[myrna minx]

71. Welcome to DU.

Someone has posted this sickening story. :hi: These thugs know no shame.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1759675

[leftchick]

72. welcome to DU debbierlus!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1759675

Here is the link. Delay is a sick fuck.

[bostonbabs]

73. I am mad as hell

and realize that the best way I can help Katrina victims( other than cash ) is making sure the current administration is demolished. How else can we say we are sorry for what has happened to them...The injustice of it! We are better than this.

[oasis]

74. Katrinagate:criminal negligence and major incompetence combined.

heads will roll on this one.

[Patiod]

75. Even the Right is beginning to rebel

Having signal problems with Sirius, and kepts getting Sirius Right on the Sirius Left channel.

They were trying to beat back angry callers with "it was the Mayor and the Governor - lots of blame to go around" stick, but it didn't seem to be working

[aion]

80. Why can't you just go stand down in your corner?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[eyepaddle]

81. That article is an excellent read. nt

[Kurovski]

82. self-delete posted on wrong thread.

[Janice325]

90. Who was the MSNBC reporter?

Please???

[mod mom]

118. and were they canned or detained? nt

[danm8r]

94. Playing the blame game...

Here's what the cretins are saying now...

Eracus said,

"The only reason the Democrats failed to implement their own emergency plan and delayed the arrival of Federal relief agencies was to lay the resulting pain and suffering on the steps of the White House, claim "Bush failed," and trot out their minions with the usual "racism" canard."


The poster at this blog is called Eracus. Feel free to respond to this sick little freak. I can't respond because I've been banned.

http://www.shotinthedark.info/archives/006411.html

[bluesidebeckonsme]

95. I'm going Blue!

I am a repentant 2004 Bush voter. I am sooo horrified by everything I see happening here.
I am even more amazed by the ignorance by many of his supporters. I wrote a message stating my outrage on a far right forum called New Republic, and they removed my forum and banned me posting there.
I hope this tent is big enough to take me in!

[napi21]

96. Welcome to DU Bluesidebeconsme.

I hope you'll tell your friends about us, and open their eyes too!

[bluesidebeckonsme]

98. thanks

Napi21, Thank you for your warm welcome. Believe me, I have been ranting about the utter incompetence, callousness, and corruption since last week. I've spoken with several 2004 Bush voters or nonvoters that feel very strongly the same by what's happening now.
It's hard to train an old dog new tricks, but I guess a shock collar does the trick.
I've voted republican in the past because I was raised that way and they've always presented themselves as being the party of smaller government and Christian values.

At least the democrats demand ACCOUNTABILITY from their government programs.

From what I've seen, the Christian values such as compassion for the unfortunate and the poor is really coming from the left, while it seems so many of those right-wing folks only care about their gas prices.

If you remain open to others as you have been to me, I can almost guarantee there will be a democratic landslide in 2006, which will probably be an impeachment in 2007.

[napi21]

102. I sure hope you're right!

There are many here on DU that heard the "compassionate Conservative" story, and Christian values and believed it was all for show with the current political group. I think it's become apparent now, after 5 1/2 years, none of the bills they've pushed through have benefitted the middle class of the poor.

Katrina was the final blow! All that talk about "we'll keep America safe from disaster because we know how to do it" has proven WRONG!

Again, welcome. I think you'll like us. At least I hope so!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

97. Welcome to Democratic Underground, bluesidebeckonsme!

:hi:

[ThatsMyBarack]

100. That goes double for me!

:hi: :hi:

[CountAllVotes]

103. welcome to the DU

:hi: and welcome and I think this is a pretty big tent here! :D

:kick:

[BlueStateBlue]

114. Welcome to DU

Why do you think the people over there are so unwilling to listen to a different point of view?

[earth mom]

107. This must be called "KATRINAGATE".

I'm reading that some people don't like "gate", but what other name brings to mind a corrupt presidental administration?! We must keep hammering this meme in.

[Lilith Velkor]

111. Negligent homicide x~10000 = a burglary?

BULLSHIT! :grr:

[UrbScotty]

108. I'd nominate this thread, but it's too late.

Oh well. A kick will do. :kick:

[demo dutch]

110. Pretty sad it took Katrina to wake up the MSM!

[Skittles]

112. it is sick,, actually

they didn't care when it was only "coalition" troops and Iraqi civilians he was killing

[struggle4progress]

113. kick

[mod mom]

117. After experiencing Nov 2 in Columbus OH, I was so appalled at the blatant

racism used against low income African Americans that I closed my business of 17+ years to work on election investigation/reform. It was nothing less than a modern day poll tax directed at those who could not afford to wait 5 hours or more in the cold rain due to jobs, childcare or health reasons. Meanwhile in my precinct, white and affluent, less than a mile from the long lines we waited 20 minutes at the peak of morning voting. For those who say it is just socio-economic I say BS! White low income neighborhoods leaned toward bu$h and didn't see as long as lines as predominately African American. This is nothing less than ugly un-American (at least in my view of America) racism. Did we rise up and cry foul? Some of us did but our screams mainly fell on deaf ears. We swept the dirty secret under the rug.

Look at the ramifications of our inaction! What has our country become? We have sunk so low we are hardly standing upright. THIS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE! and if we continue to allow it to fester we become part of this disgrace. This is neocon fascism serving their own evil twisted agenda, and it is up to us to say NO MORE!

INDICT
IMPEACH
IMPRISON!

We feel the pain and suffering but time will not heal this wound until we decide to treat the festering infection that cripples our humanity. The John Prine song "Some Humans ain't Human" comes to mind and that is what we are up against. Sorry for the rant, but the world is watching and amazed at our inaction. Enough is enough!