FACT OR FICTION?

[LoneWolf TN]

Fact or Fiction? Hmmmm, I guess we'll be learning more on what is really taking place in the days to come...


N.O. resident: Our government is killing the people of New Orleans

Get Your Act On | September 4 2005

National Guard not allowing aid into the city

Get Your Act On! (Jeffrey and Andrea) are currently in Waco, TX. We are organizing a relief effort to bring much needed supplies directly into the City of New Orleans as almost NOTHING is getting in via 'official' channels (we have spoken to people still in the city).

Our house is still standing and should be relatively free of flood waters by now, so it will be used as a base for relief efforts as we are just 6 blocks from the lower 9th ward, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods. We will be purchasing a van or getting a large UHaul, filling it with supplies and driving it back to New Orleans.

If you can donate to our relief effort, please do so via this paypal link. If you do not wish to donate money directly, if you would like to purchase supplies that we can pick up (ie, from Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart), that would be great. A lot more info about our effort will be posted here by tonight as we get more details together. We can be reached via call at 254.640.8441 (Andrea) or 254.640.8442 (Jeffrey)

7:15PM Thurs Sept. 1 Update: It looks like the most economical thing to do is purchase a large van - we should be able to do this for $1000-$2000. If anyone has connections to people in the position to make a good sized donation, please ask them if they can help with this. Thanks!


9:30PM Thurs Sept 1. Update: Please help spread this message:

There are supplies sitting in Baton Rouge for the folks in New Orleans, but the National Guard has the city surrounded and is not letting anyone in or out. They are turning away people with s

upplies, claiming it is too dangerous. If we have planes that can drop bombs on people in Iraq, certianly we can air drop supplies into the city. Our goverment is KILLING the people of New Orleans. This is the message I am now sending to all major media sources, national and worldwide, as well as posting to email lists, blogs, etc. The story is getting out that the people there are not getting supplies, but the truth of WHY is not. Please help spread the word, we must get this story out. Please so not let any more of my friends die.

I can be reached at 254.640.8441 - feel free to call me or give my number to any media that needs a contact person to talk to.

Here is my message:

I am a resident of the Bywater in New Orleans (9th Ward). I am one of the lucky ones that was able to evacuate before the storm.

I have recently managed to speak to some friends stranded in New Orleans. They are starving and dehydrating and there is no news of when they will be receiving food and water. I have spoken to relief efforts and understand that there are plenty of supplies waiting for these people, BUT THEY ARE NOT BEING ALLOWED INTO THE CITY.

The National Guard has the city surrounded and is not letting anyone in or out, except the buses being evacuated. The excuse that they can not bring supplies into New Orleans because of the looting and gun fire is not a valid excuse - if they are too afraid to enter the streets of New Orleans, they need to be air dropping supplies into the city. If the United States is capable of sending planes that can withstand enemy fire to drop bombs in Iraq, certainly they are capable of air dropping supplies into a city where the worst of the gunfire they could encouter would be from semi-automatics.

Our government is killing the people of New Orleans. By witholding supplies, they are ensuring more deaths, and I hold them complicit.

Please bring this matter to the attention of the people of the United States. They need to know that New Orleans is deliberatly being denied food and water. Perhaps if the people there had food and water, they might not be shooting off guns.

Please feel free to call me for further information or with any questions. I appreciate your attention to this most serious matter.

I fear for my friends.

Sincerely,

Andrea Garland
Get Your Act On! (getyouracton.com)

On another note, Jeffrey and I are in the process of getting a large vehicle and loading it up with donated supplies needed for longer term cleanup efforts (generators, chain saws, solar cooking equipment, etc.). Some basic info and a paypal link is at Get Your Act On!(getyouracton.com) and more detailed info will be posted later. Please help spread the word about this, as well. We live 6 blocks from one of the hardest hit areas in New Orleans, so we intend to bring these necessary tools to our neighbors.

Also heard that part of the reason our house flooded is they dynamited part of the levee after the first section broke - they did this to prevent Uptown (the rich part of town) from being flooded. Apparently they used too much dynamite, thus flooding part of the Bywater. So now I know who is responsible for flooding my house - not Katrina, but our government .

 

[jjohnson]

You gotta be kidding!

 

[CHARLEYMARBLES]

SOMEONE TTELL ME THIS IS A BAD JOKE?


Chuck

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I like the part about "contributing" via the paypal link.Just whose pocket are you contributing too? After every disaster there is always some lowlife looking to profit from others misfortunes.It did not take long for several similar emails to circulate after the Asian tsunami.The one thing I did hear about people gaining access to the area is that a few guys showed up with several boats and were told they could not start looking for victims until the authorities sorted out whose jurisdiction it was.Apparently some local sheriff had his head up his ass and was claiming it was his jusidiction and would not allow anyone access until it was sorted out so he could call the shots.

 

[Happy_Hamer]

Perhaps if the people there had food and water, they might not be shooting off guns.

OK there was an evacuation notice how many days before?????

These people who could not leave were "smart enough" to only keep guns on hand?, not food and water?

When I lived in California they sold earthquake kits, mostly of water first-aid and dehydrated foods.

If I was told to leave because of a hurricane but for cicumstances I cant control I couldnt leave I damn sure would be getting NOT ONLY MY WEAPONS but DRINKING WATER?

Maybe I am missing something?

 

[AMPOWER]

The REAL fact is "YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO REALY HAPPEN....IN 1-3 MOS FROM NOW....
When the desieses start spreading....
Its called "Population Controll"....
SAD YES but its the truth....
you will see....

AM POWER

 

[jdchet]

It's not "Population Control" when the moron's are refusing rescue from various agencies preferring to stay put! They still haven't gotten a clue!
Everyone that is full of all this criticism..........How would you handle this disaster? If you're that talented and experienced in handling a disaster of this magnitude offer your services to the authorities!
This "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" of this disaster on this forum is the real joke!

JD :x

 

[freecell]

the incubation period for cholera is 1 - 5 days....
the incubation period for typhoid is 4 - 21 days
you won't have to wait 1 - 3 months for disease.

when thousands of previously living human beings are floating around dead in sewage that's a reduction in "population". don't forget all of the dead animals adding to the impending health risks.

incidents of cholera are already being seen and treated. haven't heard the word typhoid mentioned yet.

could refusing the immediate assistance necessary to contain the situation and limit casualties be defined as a form of "control?"

some neighborhoods are already becoming accessible by motor vehicles. engineers equipped with crews and supplies are headed in. food and water in large quantities are making their way into the area around the clock along with medicine and other necessities. people are being rescued and taken to safety.

better late than never.

 

[CDX8412]

This post is targeted at the average American citizen who visits the forum.


Don't be misled by the media's inappropriate coverage of this disaster. There are tens of thousands of people who have suffered as a result of the hurricane, and not all of them are black or poor. There is more to this event than those things going on in New Orleans. Yet, the media only wants to cover the New Orleans aspect because it makes for "good TV" and incites political commentary that stirs up emotions.


The people who are responding to this disaster, the National Guard, the police, the firefighters, the medical personnel, the Civil Air Patrol, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the members of churches, civic organizations, etc. are the real Americans that you should be thinking about. Not what Bush, or members of his cabinet are saying/doing, nor those who think the black helicopters pulling people from rooftops are infact "thinning the herd" as part of a conspiracy to control the population.

For all those left wing and right wing extremists who will use this disaster to spin their political agenda, ignore them, and support the efforts that are taking place to help those impacted by the storm.

And finally, learn that we must all take certain precautions and measures to ensure our own safety in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Don't anticipate the government, local, state or federal, to protect you.

 

[freecell]

"And finally, learn that we must all take certain precautions and measures to ensure our own safety in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Don't anticipate the government, local, state or federal, to protect you."

if you're not prepared to be the first responder then you'll have to wait for the next ones. as we have seen, the time period in between can be fatal. maybe the herd thins itself through apathy and dependence on others rather than themselves.

good post Paul.

 

[jdchet]

And finally, learn that we must all take certain precautions and measures to ensure our own safety in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Don't anticipate the government, local, state or federal, to protect you.

It's called "Personal Responsibility" something that is lacking in today's society I'm sorry to say!
Let's just hope that the progress that we ae now seeing in the rescue/rebuilding effort continues to pickup momentum!

JD :beer

PS. Some interesting reading www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/9/4/151327.shtml
I'm not saying it's gospel......just interesting!

 

[bandaid kid]

I agree with both of you. The evacs that were successfuly done were highly effective in saving many lives, but they had no plans for getting many people out.

I believe also that self prepadness goes a long way. My area has had winter storms that cut power and transportation and serious hurricanes hitting this area. We are inland, but a number of times storm track predictors have indicated a storm was possible coming into here. Ivan did a number on some parts of my county that some people still haven't been able to complete repars.

I have resources to bring up if needed but I think I'll need to enhance. I have generators, a supply of gasoline, canned food, toilet paper, propane lamps, propane cooking stoves, propane heaters and a supply of propane conainers, a fireplace with a lot of firewood, sleeping bags to lay close enough to the fire place. The fireplace is one of those sorts that sends heat from the flue into the room. I also have oil lamps and space heaters that can run off the generator. And I guess I need to secure the generators, now.

I have to take insulin every day and have enough of it to last at least two weeks with other things I have to take every day or I'll get sick.

For news and communications I have battery operated broadcast band radios, battery TVs, ham rigs with redundant power sources. I have 4 12 volt car batteries I keep charged for the radios if the gennies run out of gas plus batteries for the TVs and BCBs. Flashligts all over the house. GUNS to defend my home and supplies and have no qualms to use them.

I've got plastic tarps large enough to cover the roof if I lose it, and have tarps to cover the radios and supplies that can't get wet.

I was comfortable with my plan, but the anarcy in New Orleans means that I will have to changes some of the plan a bit.

 

[freecell]

CHRONOLOGY....Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep:

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."

December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy and former college roommate, Michael Brown, who has no previous experience in disaster management and was fired from his previous job for mismanagement.

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.

Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

 

[Sonwatcher]

In all fairness a person from the Army Corp of Engineers was interviewed about the levy and shared that the levy system is only designed for a catagory 3 hurricane and no matter if the levy was in tip top shape the levies would not have withstood this catagory 5 hurricane.

"Corps officials, said, however, that funneling more money into the agency's levee repair programs wouldn't have totally averted disaster. The infrastructure around the city was designed to withstand only a Category 3.

Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, Corps of Engineers commander, said some flooding would have occurred even if the remaining repair projects planned for the levees had been completed.

The infrastructure assumed that a storm bigger than a Category 3 has a very low probability of occurring.

When the project was designed about 30 years ago, the corps believed it was protecting the city from an event that might occur only every 200 or 300 years.

"We had an assurance that 99.5 percent this would be OK. We, unfortunately, have had that .5 percent activity here," Strock said."

Two Corps of Engineers projects were in place to control flooding and prepare for hurricane damage in southern Louisiana. One was a flood control project with channel and pumping station improvements for Southeast Louisiana; the other was a project to protect residents between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River levee from surges driven by a fast-moving category 3 storm.

And as far as putting all funding blame on Bush-

"The complaints and problems with corps funding go back to the Carter administration, and presidents since then have tried to draw money from the agency's projects to pay for other priorities.

Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who left as civilian head of the corps in 2002 after criticizing the White House budget office, said the funding problems occurred through Democratic and Republican administrations.

 

[freecell]

"The levee defenses had been designed to withstand a milder Category Three hurricane and simply were overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina, said senior project manager Al Naomi.

"The design was not adequate to protect against a storm of this nature because we were not authorized to provide a Category Four or Five protection design," he said.

A study examining a possible upgrade is under way, he said.

for what our nation, the people and the economy has at risk to the elements there in the gulf the authorization for Category Five protection should have been provided along with the necessary funding. that to me would seem to be a matter of National Security in and of itself.