Martial law in New Orleans

by **Dreams End** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:50 pm

Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will force authorities to evacuate the tens of thousands of people at city shelters, including the Superdome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was escalating. Full article here: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/30/katrina/index.html">www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/...index.html</a> Not sure what to make of the "carjacking" claims. given that people are desperate to get out, I guess I wouldnt' be surprised. but given road conditions...I'm not sure what good a car would do. Still, this is being put in the "look at those criminals taking advantage of the situation" column as opposed to the "look how desperate people are" column. I realize that most of the time in such situations there are opportunistic looters, but given the difficulty in "moving merchandise" or even getting out of New Orleans alive right now, I'm pretty sure much of this is desperation to take some action...especially given the way people were treated at the Superdome.

by **GDN01** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:56 pm

I have such mixed feelings right now. As I've said before I do crisis counseling and disaster response. I'm currently working from where I live in Texas to coordinate a response - and there is nothing we can do. No one can go in. No one can go help. And people are dying. Not just dead - they are dying because they are stranded on rooftops and trapped in their attics. There are people looting and shooting people in cars so they can hijack the car and get out alive. I don't know how to get some semblance of order established without martial law. Yes, we can argue all the things that should have been done to get these people out before the hurricane and how the poor are suffering disproportionately and how the poor are mostly people of color - but right now I'm too sad and heartbroken to do so. People are dying. The levee can't be repaired and the waters are rising. People in the superdome are going to be totally trapped. Maybe sending in a cruise ship is the answer - get those people out of there. I have friends there - I have no idea if they evacuated or are dead, or still trying to get out. I may never know. And while all this is happening - our President is still on vacation. I hope he is drug through the streets of New Orleans through the filth of the storm and the rot of the dead.

by **toscaveritas** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:56 pm

I totally agree! Had all those people been football fans, there would have been a speedy entry for all with minimal searches! During all the footage I watched, they repeated over and over, that people were being searched. I've traveled internationally, have been to huge events where people were also searched - there were 1. always enough personnel there to DO the searching, and 2. it was always very visible for all to see! Nowhere in all the TV footage I saw on the MSM did I see groups of people doing any searching or being searched. Every time they swung the camera around, all I saw was bored soldiers with bloaded chests and scores of scared people waiting patiently in line with the few belongings they could carry. What happend and is still ongoing at the SuperDome is unfathomable to me and a huge disgrace to America. And then the 'looters' theme. WTF??? Most of those looting have no fucking HOME to go to, are very likely exhausted,poor and fucking HUNGRY! Shit, if I had been given the choice between the SuperJAIL and my home , I would have stayed home too-- and if I had children to feed, no drinking water, no hope of rescue any time soon, I'd prolly end up doing whatever it took also, to feed my children!!!! It might just end up being a matter of survival, whether you have food or not, if you have something to BARTER with , since our fantastic 'relief' agencies are currently just 'assessing' and 'coordinating', while people are trapped, hungry, dehydrated and dying. thats my rant for now tosca

by **toscaveritas** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:15 pm

My heart hurts too- I'm speechless as all these pictures and stories come in. However, I'm also speechless over many things these days. I wonder, how in the world, when everyone knows that this is a hurricane -prone area, that they have to even think about what to do now! From protection (levies, etc ) to having adequate and sufficient emergency shelters, supplies. This is the biggest government apparatus currently on the face of the earth with the biggest military/security apparatus and they don't have enough helicopters, failing pumps, no clue what happend, what to do? Last year, a hurricane barely missed New Orleans-- they had YEARS to prepare for this! Cuba is hit with hurricanes every year and suffer LESS structural damage and less loss of human life- WHY? This whole disaster proves to me the following: 1. the 'government ' has NO concern for the American PEOPLE! 2. whether this hurricane was man-made or not, the total lack of prevention efforts, disaster preparation and the blatant deliberate mismanagment of the aftermath can only lead to one question: Qui bono? The U.S. military, which was created to provide for a 'common defense' and the U.S. and state governments , which have the duty to protect Americans (from harm), have both utterly proven themselves to be incomptent (at best) , if not deliberately in deriliction of duty by intent or greed. As the death toll will rise and the people will ask WHY..more people will see who really is their friend and who is their foe. sad sad days

by **manxkat** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:20 pm

Bush took New Orleans disaster funds and used them for the Iraq war and for his tax cuts <a href="http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/08/bush-took-new-orleans-disaster-funds.html">americablog.blogspot.com/...funds.html</a> "An amazing late-breaking article from Editor & Publisher. Bottom line: Experts knew this was coming, and all the preparations ground to a halt because Bush stole New Orleans' disaster preparation money so he could use it for his Iraq debacle."

by **GDN01** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:22 pm

NOTE: I was posting this at the same time that manxkat was posting - I apologize for the double post. Is there a way to delete a post? I only see an edit option. <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313">From this article</a> in Editor and Publisher:  New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside. Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars. Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming....Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation." In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness. On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: “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. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.” Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune: "The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don’t get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can’t stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn’t that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can’t raise them." The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project -- $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million -- was not enough to start any new jobs. There was, at the same time, a growing recognition that more research was needed to see what New Orleans must do to protect itself from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. But once again, the money was not there. As the Times-Picayune reported last Sept. 22: “That second study would take about four years to complete and would cost about $4 million, said Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi. About $300,000 in federal money was proposed for the 2005 fiscal-year budget, and the state had agreed to match that amount. But the cost of the Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies, and the 2005 budget no longer includes the needed money, he said.” The Senate was seeking to restore some of the SELA funding cuts for 2006. But now it's too late. One project that a contractor had been racing to finish this summer: a bridge and levee job right at the 17th Street Canal, site of the main breach on Monday. The Newhouse News Service article published Tuesday night noted that local officials were saying that had Washington heeded their warnings about the dire need for hurricane protection, including building up levees and repairing barrier islands, "the damage might not have been nearly as bad as it turned out to be." Bush can go fuck himself. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=gdn01>GDN01</A> at: 8/30/05 9:26 pm

by **albion** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:37 pm

what martial law? i dont think theres any law at all there right now, except every man for himself. via jennifer emick (<a href="http://altreligion.about.com/):">altreligion.about.com/):</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Looting by Cops and Firemen  While some did indeed carry away food and essentials, others "cleared out jewelry racks and carted out computers, TVs and appliances on handtrucks. Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a 27-inch flat screen television. "Throughout the store and parking lot, looters pushed carts and loaded trucks and vans alongside officers. One man said police directed him to Wal-Mart from Robert’s Grocery, where a similar scene was taking place. A crowd in the electronics section said one officer broke the glass DVD case so people wouldn’t cut themselves. "The police got all the best stuff. They’re crookeder than us," one man said. <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051261">www.editorandpublisher.co...1001051261</a><hr></blockquote>

by **dbeach** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:43 pm

"Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will force authorities to evacuate the tens of thousands of people at city shelters, including the Superdome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was escalating." watch how the pols exploit this disaster and federal martial law means the complete suspension of the US Constittution did'nt the pentagon just get some special rules passed regarding specifically 'civil unrest" ??and bush jr has said before he would use UN troops to quiet same. scalar Tesla weapons wre invented during his lifetime and are supposed to be devestating.. bush has no morals and would use any weapon he can to get his police state..

by **dbeach** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:51 pm

IF these weapons are available..BIG IF ..then bush /cheny would be ruthless enough to use them .. the NUKE scare of August may have been real or staged but the intent of bush/cheney is real..a dictatorship with the elites in a 1984 type control.. "if only I was the dictator..' GWBush <a href="http://www.freedomdomain.com/weather.html">www.freedomdomain.com/weather.html</a> " Is it strange how, when we are in the middle of summer, it can be raining out, and one day it is very "hot", the next day it is 15 degree cooler, and two days later, it is "hot" again? Does this seem strange? How about earthquakes in parts of the world, that are so devastating, that if they were to happen here, our whole economy could be ruined. Do you think it is "odd" that people would suggest that the government can and does control the weather? I KNOW it sounds a little paranoid, but if you do the research to investigate, you will undoubtably arrive at the same conclusions. OUR WEATHER IS CONTROLLED!! It all began with a Serbian fellow named Nikola Tesla, who came here to the United States in the late 1800's at the turn of the century. Tesla was a true "genius". Tesla had invented or discovered, the Radio, Television, Neon Lighting, Alternating Current, Partical Beams, and there is much reason to believe he was involved with building the world's first flying saucer projects equipt with Free-Energy. Tesla had figured out how to "tap" the abundant electricity generated by the earth's rotation. The same electricity which causes lightning, which we can visibly see. Tesla was also known for having developed ways to use "Scalar Electromagnetics". The use of which could be for "Good" purposes or "not so good" ones. One of the "Inventions" he had, he called the "Earthquake Machine". He claimed that with the "Press of a button", he could split the Earth in two. There are also variations of this, depending on the frequency used and the ocillating rate. A small tremor could be produced, or a huge catastrophe. "

by **mourningdove** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:55 pm

I haven't been watching the coverage for a few hours. I was disgusted after one of the CNN anchors had asked whether looters could be shot... Regarding the break at 17th St., just found this on the Huffington Post: <blockquote>Quote:<hr> “Eat the Press” is the Huffington Post’s ongoing coverage of and commentary on the media. Hosted by Harry Shearer and his band of media critics, this is where we turn our gaze on the ever-more powerful fourth estate—keeping watch on the watchdogs. 08.30.2005 This Really Just In... (2 comments ) New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin just told WWL TV in New Orleans that the project to fill the breach in the 17th St Canal flood wall with sandbags didn't fail -- the sandbags were never tried. Nagin suggested that, after repairing the breach had been made the top priority in discussions with state, federal and Orleans Parish Levee Board officials this morning, someone had apparently "reprioritized" the helicopter earmarked for the sandbag assignment. The result: unless somebody thinks of something in the next 12 to 15 hours, Nagin said, currently dry areas of New Orleans, including the French Quarter and the Garden District, will be inundated to a point three feet above sea level.<hr></blockquote> My heart hurts....

by **robertdreed** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:32 am

Unbelievable. It really is worse than I thought. In most places, control is a joke: that's to be expected. But instituting searches of the homeless, before entry into the Superdome? They think they have the time, energy, and expense to do that? That amount of control freakery smacks of satire. But, that's what apparently passes for a "relief effort" these days. I find it unimaginable that the local government authorities are acting as if the vast majority of the disaster victims and refugees can't be trusted to pull together, join together as communities, and act pro-socially. It's the only way such relief efforts have ever worked. Instead, the Nanny and Big Brother are busying themselves with searching the personal belongings of the destitute and desperate...a "drug-free" Louisiana comes first.

by **manxkat** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:47 am

Aaron Brown was on the phone with Mayor Nagin within the last hour and asked Nagin if there were plans to evacuate the people from the Superdome. Nagin said they'd have to stay there a bit longer, so Brown asked him to define "a bit" and he said a week. A WEEK? Is he crazy? Toilets overflowing -- extremely hot and humid inside, with growing tensions? A F*CKING WEEK? Nagin was really trying to put a positive spin on a completely out of control situation, so much so that it sounded ridiculous, IMHO. I can understand that he didn't want to add to the panic.... but, why the f*ck did he also suggest that New Orleans could be back to functioning in 3 months? I think they'll be lucky to have their city back in some livable form in a year. Very, very sad and heartbreaking.

by **Fearless** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:52 am

mandatory vaccinations at the Superdome. I can't begin to express how I feel.

by **jennifer** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 1:59 am

On Larry King tonite, CNN, a lady called in and said her brother was stuck in his attic in New Orleans. She had contact with him by cell phone and he was climbing to the attic. She then lost contact. What happened next was unbelievable. Larry turns it over to the "expert" on hand and asks, "Do you have any advice for this woman" and they go into a general ramble that how sad it is that so many people are stuck on roofs and in attics, blah blah blah." I couldn't believe it. I told my stepson, "I bet they hang up on her..." The Governor of, I believe Mississippi, who was also on the show, asked Larry to get the brothers address and they would send a rescue team, and of course it's "Oh, that caller's gone... If the caller will call back...." It made me want to throw up. Larry gladly used her sad story for sensationalistic purposes, and couldn't even get the location of her brother and try to pass it along to someone who could (maybe) help??? I hate CNN ========== In regards the flooding which occurred after they thought they were over the worst, I believe it can all be explained naturally. A heck of alot of rain has fallen. It will seek it's own level, flowing downhill with gravity. Lake Ponchetrain is a very large lake and serves as a drain for a large watershed area. When the lake rises, it overtopped the levies and the churning action will take out the base of the levy. Think about the action which has eroded Niagara Falls over eons. Same thing on a much smaller scale. The old pumps, some of which are electric (no electricity) cannot keep up with such a breach of the levies. What a tragedy.

by **GDN01** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 3:10 am

Jennifer - I agree, that is probably the cause of the levee failure. I heard one report explain how the water had slowly worn away the edge and when it began going over - it took out large chunks. The article manx and I both posted explains how the levees had sunk these past few years and the money had been withdrawn by Bush that should have been used to rebuild them - an ongoing process in an area that is built on a high water plane. They knew they were at risk from flooding because of this. As the hurricane went north, it dumped tons of rain that will continue to flow towards the Gulf. All the rain in Tennessee and Ohio today will do the same. I am concerned that we will see the same thing happen to the levees that keep the Mississippi River held back. We could continue to see flooding for days.

Martial law in New Orleans

Unrest in Superdome

Re: Martial Law

Re: Martial Law

Re: Martial Law

disaster funds...

Why indeed...

when it rains it pours

Re: Why indeed...

Tesla weapons are here

Re: Why indeed...

Madness...

"just a bit longer"

I'm waiting for the

Larry King tonight... SICKENING!

rising water

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