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 Disaster
relief? Call in the Marines. csmonitor.com 9/20/5 ["As
Washington picks through the lessons learned from hurricane
Katrina, there is a growing conviction that the only
organization with the skills, expertise, and resources needed
to respond quickly to a catastrophe of such magnitude is the
American military. ...This framework rests on Posse
Comitatus as well as the Insurrection Act, which together bar
active-duty troops from engaging in domestic law-enforcement
activities, unless there is essentially an open rebellion.
...Posse Comitatus goes even further, giving only National
Guard units the authority to act as law enforcement, because
they are under the control of governors. "]
RFID
tags used to track Hurricane Katrina dead networks.silicon.com 9/19/5
["The US Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team and
health officials in Mississippi's Harrison County are
implanting human cadavers with RFID chips from VeriChip in an
effort to speed up the process of identifying victims and
providing information to families, VeriChip said on Friday."]
Bush's Katrina pledge rattles right theage.com.au 9/17/5 ["The
promise of possibly the biggest federal project since Franklin
Roosevelt's New Deal elicited criticism from fiscal and
"small-government" conservatives. ...Broad and deep tax
cuts in the Bush Administration's first term, coupled with the
occupation of Iraq, took the federal budget from surplus to a
$US412 billion deficit in 2004. Higher tax revenues had the
White House predicting the deficit would drop to $US333
billion this year, but those hopes have now been dashed."]
Orders for Military Aid Delayed military.com 9/17/5 [""If
the 1st Cav and 82nd Airborne had gotten there on time, I
think we would have saved some lives," said Gen. Julius Becton
Jr., who was the director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency under President Reagan from 1985 to 1989. "We
recognized we had to get people out, and they had helicopters
to do that.""]
Bush says he may need more power in disasters thestate.com
9/16/5 ["...Order mandatory civilian evacuations
...Dispatch U.S.-based armed forces for emergency
search-and-rescue operations ...Grant wider leeway for
active-duty U.S. military personnel to carry out law
enforcement operations."]
Bush Pledges Historic Effort To Help Gulf Coast Recover
washingtonpost.com 9/16/5 ["Although Bush cited no price tag,
he committed the nation to a plan that officials and lawmakers
believe could top $200 billion, roughly the cost of the Iraq
war and reconstruction, and which promises to reorient
government for the balance of the Bush presidency. It will
create much larger deficits in the short term, siphon off
money that would have been spent on other programs and
dramatically shift the focus of the White House, Congress and
many state governments for the indefinite future.
...calling in particular for "a broader role for the armed
forces" in future domestic crises."]
Deficit? What Deficit? forbes.com 9/14/5
["Between supplemental spending for Katrina and Iraq, he
predicts, the U.S. budget deficit for fiscal year 2006
(beginning Oct 1.) will easily top $500 billion. "The
deficit," he concludes "is now even less of an issue in
Washington than it was before Katrina.""]
Delta, Northwest Airlines File for Bankruptcy latimes.com 9/14/5
["in the face of massive losses, meaning that four of the
seven largest U.S. carriers are now flying in Chapter 11
bankruptcy. ...The price of fuel — an airline's
second-biggest expense after labor — surged above $2.30 a
gallon after Hurricane Katrina disrupted the Gulf Coast's
refining operations, and it helped push Delta and Northwest
into bankruptcy. Before the storm, fuel cost less than $1.90 a
gallon."]
Bush Takes Responsibility for Blunders news.yahoo.com 9/13/5
["Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco,
accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of moving too
slowly in recovering the bodies. The dead "deserve more
respect than they have received," she said at state police
headquarters in Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, R. David
Paulison, in his first full day on the job as acting FEMA
director, told reporters in Washington the government would
step up its efforts to find more permanent housing for the
tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors now in
shelters."]
Mexico, Holland send troops to Biloxi duluthsuperior.com 9/13/5
["For the first time since the 19th Century, Mexican
troops landed Friday on U.S. soil"]
Bush defensive over government aid to hurricane victims
news.scotsman.com 9/13/5
["Mr Bush also said it was "preposterous" to claim that
the Iraq war had drained military resources, leaving too few
troops to help out with the hurricane. "We've got plenty of
troops to do both," Mr Bush said during a tour of the areas of
the city ravaged by the hurricane."]
U.S. Senator sees third hurricane aid request soon
alertnet.org 9/12/5
["The U.S. Congress is likely to receive a request within
a month from the Bush administration for an additional $50
billion in emergency hurricane aid, Senate Budget Committee
Chairman Judd Gregg said on Monday."]
Katrina May Lead to Miss. Casino Debate news.yahoo.com 9/11/5
["Whether to allow casinos on land rather than over
water, where the threat of monster storms is a constant
gamble. ...The storm ripped jagged holes in some
casinos and beached others, crippling the area's thriving
tourist trade and erasing half a million dollars a day in tax
revenue. ..."This might be a good time to revisit
the entire subject of legalized gambling in Mississippi," said
William Perkins, spokesman for the Mississippi Baptist
Convention"]
Big toll seen for budget from Katrina reuters.com 9/11/5
["An estimated $150 billion price tag for Hurricane
Katrina recovery will keep the U.S. budget deficit in record
territory for at least a few years, budget watchers say, and
there may be more red ink as lawmakers seek to tie other
initiatives to the relief package. ... The 2005 deficit
should be within the range of the $333 billion forecast in
July by the White House"]
Rehnquist court left much unsettled boston.com 9/11/5
["The divided court was unable or unwilling to say what
kind of hearings prisoners should have; whether they are
entitled to a lawyer; whether prisoner-of-war treaties should
apply; or what kinds of evidence must be shown. ...A
review of recent Supreme Court decisions reveals that the
court has had unusual difficulty reaching consensus on major
issues and instead has resolved cases one by one, applying
complicated balancing tests that give lower-court judges room
to fill in the gaps with their own interpretations. As a
result, the same issues -- abortion, affirmative action, and
separation of church and state -- are constantly churning
through the federal system..."]
Mexico's Fox Says U.S. to Give Disaster Aid to Illegal
Migrants bloomberg.com 9/11/5
[" The U.S. has also said it won't sanction companies
that hire workers displaced by Hurricane Katrina who cannot
present appropriate documents. Mexicans living in the
U.S. sent home $16.6 billion in 2004, second in foreign
currency earnings behind oil exports, according to the central
bank. ...number of Mexican migrants in the U.S. have grown
15-fold to more than 11 million in 2004 from 760,000 in 1970,
an average annual growth rate of 8 percent, according to a
study by the Washington- based Pew Hispanic Center. "]
Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan washingtonpost.com 9/11/5
["The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use
of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting
presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a
nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction.
The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to
destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or
chemical weapons."]
Summit challenge for world leaders peopleandplanet.net 9/11/5
["In a meeting that is billed as the largest gathering of
world leaders in history, more than 170 Heads of State and
Government will gather at United Nations headquarters in New
York next week for the 2005 World Summit a special gathering
of the UN General Assembly to mark the 60th anniversary of the
founding of the United Nations. ...More recently,
the Secretary-General has called on governments to conclude a
comprehensive convention on terrorism that would unambiguously
denounce all attempts to kill or maim civilians and
non-combatants for political ends."]
SRI International
sri.com 9/11/5
["Gakona, Alaska Deployment - With the addition of eight
panels purchased by HAARP, 16 panels will soon be operational.
Initial experiments will look for PMSEs."]
SRI-Designed Radar System Signals New Age in Atmospheric
Research; Prototypes in Peru and Alaska Help Scientists
Understand Complex and Changing Upper Atmosphere
businesswire.com 9/11/5
["Chief among those milestones was the testing of the
AMISR prototype systems at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO)
in Peru and at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research
Program (HAARP) Observatory in Alaska."]
Guard Stretched Between Katrina, Wars guardian.co.uk
9/10/5 ["About 41,000 Guard members are scattered across
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, along with 17,000
active-duty troops. About 30,000 Guard members are serving in
Iraq, with smaller numbers in Afghanistan, Kosovo and
elsewhere overseas. ..The head of the National Guard
Bureau said Friday the assignment of thousands of Guard troops
from Mississippi and Louisiana to Iraq delayed those states'
initial hurricane response by about a day."]
FEMA to Halt Debit Cards, Use Bank Deposit breitbart.com
9/10/5 [" Around Houston, poor people who heard that the
government was giving out money tried to get into the
Astrodome complex for cards, prompting officials to lock the
gates. By Thursday evening, electronic freeway signs in
Houston were flashing, "There are no debit cards at the
Astrodome.""]
Total Gun Confiscation of Law Abiding Citizens Begins
infowars.com
9/9/5 ["This is a precedent setting case for national gun
confiscation. This is a clear declaration of war by the
Federal Government against the American people. This is
exactly how Lexington and Concord started the Revolutionary
War in 1775.'"]
Armed Mexican Troops Invade US infowars.com
9/9/5 ["Under cover of aid, combat ready soldiers roll
into Texas ...This is absolutely a conditioning exercise
to get the American people to accept the presence of foreign
troops on American soil.'"]
Some Urge Greater Use of Troops in Major Disasters
washingtonpost.com
9/9/5 ["'The breakdown of local and state agencies that
tried to respond to Hurricane Katrina has spurred fresh debate
about whether disasters of such magnitude ought to be turned
over to the U.S. military and other federal authorities to
manage at the outset."]
Another homosexual parade after hurricane devastation
worldnetdaily.com
9/9/5 [""Every gay home in town is filled to the rafters
with friends and relatives from New Orleans," ...the
33-year tradition'"]
Truckers strike imminent? worldnetdaily.com 9/8/5
["Mention of a possible strike began even before Katrina
damaged some oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and forced
some refineries and pipelines to temporally shut down."]
US Has Accepted One Billion Dollars In International Aid:
Official terradaily.com 9/8/5 ["The United States has
accepted one billion dollars in cash and material goods from
45 countries and is weighing other offers of aid for Hurricane
Katrina victims, a State Department official said Wednesday."]
Mexico donates aid in show of friendship
seattletimes.nwsource.com 9/8/5 ["The 40-vehicle convoy,
loaded with mobile kitchens, water-treatment facilities and
195 engineers, doctors and other army personnel, would be the
first Mexican army unit to set foot on soil that is now the
United States since at least 1846."]
FEMA accused of censorship reuters.myway.com 9/8/5 [""The
notion that, when there's very little information from FEMA,
that they would even spend the time to be concerned about
whether the reporting effort is up to its standards of taste
is simply mind-boggling," Daugherty said. "You cannot report
on the disaster and give the public a realistic idea of how
horrible it is if you don't see that there are bodies as
well." ...Let's not make a common decency issue into a
censorship issue"]
New
Orleans floodwaters riskier than feared post-gazette.com
9/8/5 ["Floodwaters in New Orleans contain levels of
sewage-related bacteria that are at least 10 times higher than
acceptable safety limits, endangering rescue workers and
remaining residents who even walk in it, federal officials
said yesterday."]
Gas retailers squeezed by high prices, too boston.com
9/8/5 ["'They don't want to continue raising prices for their
customers, or they don't have the cash to purchase fuel,
because it's upwards of $3.50 per gallon for them to buy and
then resell,""]
Katrina Victims to Get $2K Debit Cards news.yahoo.com 9/7/5
["The available money — $13 billion in all — will be
distributed from the federal Disaster Relief Fund, said FEMA
spokeswoman Natalie Rule. She said FEMA was setting up
registration centers in shelters in Houston and Dallas where
evacuees could obtain the cards."]
Bush Seeks $51.8B In Katrina Aid cbsnews.com 9/7/5
["U.S. Marines in New Orleans say they will not forcibly
evacuate anyone; they are not law enforcement, reports CBS
News correspondent Cami McCormick. That's correct, says
CBSNews.com legal analyst Andrew Cohen: Marines and other
military personnel cannot engage in law enforcement activities
unless Congress specifically repeals the Posse Comitatus Act. "
Editor: hmmm....]
Mayor orders everyone out of poisoned city smh.com.au 9/7/5
["Those who have refused to leave have been warned that
they will no longer receive water or food from emergency
personnel. The US military estimates that, based on an aerial
surveillance, there could be 10,000 people still in the city,
and many of those cannot be persuaded to go. ... the
water flowing back into the lake is so contaminated that even
casual contact is hazardous and safe drinking water may not be
available for years, Louisiana officials said."]
Party
Is Over for Now, but Don't Count Mardi Gras Out in New Orleans
ap.tbo.com 9/6/5
["In 2001, more than 1,000 floats, 500 marching bands and
135,000 people paraded through the streets. One university
study estimates the celebration brings in $1 billion a year to
New Orleans. Hardy, who has been publishing his guide
for 30 years and is one of the foremost experts on Mardi Gras,
said next year's celebration is also important because it's
the 150th anniversary of the first formal parades in the city.
"]
Half
of Refineries Knocked Out by Katrina Are Close to Restarting
ap.tbo.com 9/6/5
["Almost 70 percent of normal oil production and half of
the natural gas output remains shut down"]
Bush to Seek $40B for Next Katrina Phase news.yahoo.com 9/6/5
["...flood that left an unknown number of people dead,
uncounted thousands of homes and businesses damaged or
destroyed and drove hundreds of thousands of Americans from
their homes. Many are poor and normally receive welfare."]
Russia to send humanitarian aid to U.S. Tuesday rian.ru 9/6/5
["plane would deliver 17 metric tons of humanitarian
cargo, including individual food rations and blankets. The
second plane, carrying cargo weighing more than 27 tons, will
deliver 121 tents that can accommodate 20-30 people each. In
all, the Il-76s will be loaded with 18 different types of
cargo."]
With
Modern Life Swept Away, New Orleans Residents Survive With
Stone Age Skills ap.tbo.com 9/6/5
["They're all getting a lesson in how to live without."]
Evacuees Strain States' Social Programs news.yahoo.com 9/6/5
["And states are counting on significant help from the
federal government, which approved a $10.5 billion down
payment for hurricane relief last week. Congress is likely to
approve far more in the days ahead, including assistance
targeted for housing, health care, education and other
needs."]
Tumult in Gulf Region but Little Early Effect Across the
Nation nytimes.com 9/4/5 ["The flooding has displaced
about one million workers in the Gulf Coast region, many of
whom will not be able to resume their jobs anytime soon. While
some employees of large companies are still receiving
paychecks, Wal-Mart stopped paying workers in the area four
days after shutting its stores, and McDonald's and UPS have
not paid regular wages to idled employees since the storm hit.
The hurricane has also bottled up grain shipments on the
Mississippi River, hurting farmers and grain exporters, and
saddled households with even higher energy costs."]
12
lessons that S.C. can learn from Katrina thestate.com 9/4/5
["In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the
most likely and deadly disasters that could befall the United
States. The top three were a terrorist attack on New York, an
earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane in New Orleans.
The list was announced at a conference on Sept. 10. The next
day was 9/11."]
Storm's
Formation, Path Went Against Convention news.tbo.com 9/4/5
["Katrina was a jack-in-the- box, popping up east of the
Bahamas, growing from tropical depression to hurricane and
hitting Florida in two days, then pounding Louisiana and
Mississippi four days later."]
EU officials at odds over oil aid to U.S. alertnet.org 9/3/5 ["Straw,
who was chairing the meeting since Britain holds the EU's
rotating presidency, told reporters that the 25-nation bloc
was considering disaster relief and humanitarian aid rather
than providing gasoline. ... The U.S. government holds
huge volumes of crude for emergencies but has no gasoline in
state reserves."]
Carnival Sending Three Ships for Refugees news.yahoo.com 9/3/5 ["The
Ecstasy, the Sensation and the Holiday will be pulled from
regular use starting Monday at the request of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency. The cost of the charters was not
disclosed."]
The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans and Biloxi, Not
Baghdad palestinechronicle.com 9/3/5 [Arab point of view]
Gulf Coast Jobless Rate Could Be 25 Pct. news.yahoo.com 9/3/5 ["28
percent of the local population in the New Orleans area living
below the poverty line ...The situation probably will
propel area unemployment rates into double digits in coming
months, even when accounting for employment gains from
rebuilding efforts ...To help ease the economic pain,
the
Department of Labor announced Friday that it is providing an
emergency grant of up to $50 million to create 10,000
temporary cleanup and recovery jobs for displaced workers in
Mississippi."]
Bush Sends More Than 7,000 Troops to Gulf news.yahoo.com 9/3/5 ["In
addition to the active duty forces, 10,000 additional National
Guard troops were being sent to the Gulf Coast. That raises
the number of Guard personnel in the stricken states to about
40,000. ...Bush immediately signed a $10.5 billion
disaster aid package passed by Congress — an amount he
repeatedly called "just the beginning" of federal expenditures
for storm relief. He issued a memorandum saying Hurricane
Katrina had created a "severe energy supply interruption" that
could damage the national economy, and he formally authorized
the release of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve."]
Katrina Deployments Add to Military Strain news.yahoo.com 9/3/5 ["Lt.
Gen. Joseph Inge, deputy commander of Northern Command, told
reporters at the Pentagon on Saturday that the Katrina mission
would have no negative effect on executing the missions in
Iraq or Afghanistan."]
World stunned as US struggles with Katrina breitbart.com
9/2/5 ["the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in
American society. ... "I am absolutely disgusted. After
the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything,
wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa
Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri
Lanka. "Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was
mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily
see where the civilized part of the world's population is." "]
Iraq-tested soldiers in New Orleans with shoot to kill orders
spacewar.com 9/2/5 [""Three hundred of the Arkansas National
Guard have landed in the city of New Orleans," said Blanco.
"These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained,
experienced, battle tested and under my orders to restore
order in the streets," Blanco said. "They have M-16s and
they are locked and loaded. "These troops know how to
shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if
necessary and I expect they will," said Blanco."]
US needs world's help, Annan says abc.net.au 9/2/5 [""The
American people who have always been the most generous in
responding to disasters in other parts of the world have now
themselves suffered a grievous blow. ....the sheer size
of this emergency makes it possible that we can supplement the
American response with supplies from other countries, or with
experience we have gained in other relief operations."
Editor: For the next disaster, will he add the
phrase, "and supplement them with armed troops"?]
Vatican Warns
Countries About Pro-Abortion "Catholic" UN Campaign
lifenews.com 9/2/5 ["run by a pro-abortion "Catholic" group
masquerading as an effort to support women's health."]
U.S. Border Patrol Moved to Katrina Area, Border Vulnerable
newsmax.com 9/2/5 ["U.S. Border Patrol officers are being
shifted away from their posts guarding the U.S.-Mexico border
to aid in the Katrina Hurricane disaster, leaving the country
vulnerable to illegals and terrorists attempting to enter the
U.S., NewsMax has learned."]
Planned
Parenthood "Helps" Hurricane Katrina Victims With Free Morning
After Pills lifenews.com 9/2/5 ["offer one free month of
birth control or one free emergency contraception kit"]
Planned Parenthood Solicits Funds to Offer Chemical abortion
for Hurricane Victims lifesite.net 9/2/5 ["Planned
Parenthood is the recipient of funds from the nearly
bottomless pockets of organizations interested in eugenics and
population control such as the Ford and Rockefeller
Foundations and makes huge annual profits from its hundreds of
abortion mills across the US. It also receives upwards of US
$100 million a year from Title X program and from Medicaid. In
2002, Planned Parenthood reported total income of $766.6
million, of which $288.2 million was from “Clinic Operation”.
...If Planned Parenthood really wants to help, it should
donate a portion of the millions of dollars in profits it
makes every year to aid in the victims' plights"]
Oil price drops as Europe promises US oil aid
reuters.co.uk 9/2/5 ["it will be more than three weeks before
the oil from Europe reaches U.S. shores." Europe has
already booked up to 30 cargoes of gasoline to ship to the
United States, leading brokers to warn of an impending vessel
shortage."]
Superdome evacuation suspended because of fires and gunshots
signonsandiego.com 9/1/5 ["The mayor said that it will be two
or three months before the city is functioning again and that
people would not be allowed back into their homes for at least
a month or two. With New Orleans sinking deeper into
desperation, Nagin also ordered virtually the entire police
force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts Wednesday and stop
the increasingly brazen thieves. "]
Gasoline Reserves Near Record Low smartmoney.com 9/1/5 ["
Last week, commercial stocks of gasoline slid nearer to the
record low of 185.6 million of August 1997, falling 500,000
barrels to 194.4 million barrels, according to the federal
Energy Information Administration."]
Airlines Cancel More Flights, Prepare for Possible Fuel
Shortages ap.tbo.com 9/1/5 ["Daily jet fuel production
nationwide has been cut 13 percent because of damage from the
hurricane to Gulf Coast refineries, according to Jack Evans of
the Air Transport Association."]
'Martial law' in Big Easy? wnd.com 9/1/5 ["When martial
law is in effect, military officials take over the
administration of justice in times of emergency when
traditional law enforcement are in capable of meeting demands.
Totalitarian governments often impose martial law, sometimes
permanently, imposing military tribunals in place of courts. "]
NASA Funds Sci-Fi Technology wired.com 9/1/5 ["Ross
Hoffman has had a vision: to use tiny changes in the
environment to alter the paths of hurricanes, slow down snow
storms and turn dark days bright. ...Hoffman tweaked a
weather-prediction program to show that moving a hurricane was
possible -- at least in theory. Here's how: You need a ring of
satellites in orbit, channeling the sun's energy, stretching
around the Earth. The machines would beam power to the planet,
using microwaves. But, tuned to 183 GHz, they could also heat
up small regions of the atmosphere by a degree or two. Those
small changes could have enormous impact, Hoffman's simulation
showed." Editor: Or, existing HAARP
technology could do the same thing.]
Officials throw up hands as looters ransack city
signonsandiego.com 8/310/5 ["New Orleans' homeland
security chief, Terry Ebbert, said looters were breaking into
stores all over town and stealing guns. He said there are
gangs of armed men moving around the city. At one point,
officers stranded on the roof of a hotel were fired at by
criminals on the street."]
Shell says US facilities, pipeline hit by Hurricane Katrina
remain shut forbes.com 8/310/5 ["he Capline crude oil
pipeline, though unscathed from the hurricane, is down due to
power failure. It ferries over 1 mln barrels of oil per
day (bopd) from the Gulf of Mexico, which supplies 25 pct of
the US oil requirements. The four refined products
pipelines between New Orleans and Baton Rouge were intact, but
are not operating due to power outages."]
Situation Deteriorating In Hurricane Aftermath wben.com 8/30/5 ["Martial
Law has been declared in parts of New Orleans as conditions
continued to deteriorate. Water levels in The Big Easy and
it's suburbs are rising at dangerous levels and officials
stated they don't know where the water is coming from.
Residents are being urged to get out of New Orleans in any way
they can as officials fear "life will be unsustainable" for
days or even weeks."]
Oil Prices Spike After Refinery Shutdowns latimes.com 8/30/5 ["But
the biggest economic fears focused on the oil industry. The
gulf region supplies between a quarter and a third of U.S.
production. The New Orleans area alone accounts for about 12%
of the domestic refining capacity, including gasoline and
heating oil. Damage has been reported to several oil
plants, including Royal Dutch Shell's on the Mars platform in
the gulf 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. In all, Katrina
has closed down about 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day
and roughly 1 million barrels a day of refining capacity."]
Katrina may be strongest hurricane ever seen in Gulf
nzherald.co.nz 8/28/5 ["Ending a week of extreme weather
worldwide... Florida has been pummelled by six
powerful hurricanes since last August, in what forecasters
describe as an "unusually active season".... Europeans
have been assaulted by weather extremes unknown for
generations. ...The World Wildlife Fund goes
further. "Global warming has started to exacerbate the
frequency and intensity of meteorological catastrophes," a WWF
spokesman said on Friday."]
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