by Starman » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:26 pm
Early in the unfolding Katrina tragedy, I did some web research into the disease potential for the many bodies resulting from the flooding. What I learned, from Disaster Relief and World Health organizations is that uncollected bodies are NOT in themselves a vector for the spread of disease -- contaminated water and crowded, dense living conditions are FAR more dangerous. As far as water-borne bacteria, the most dangerous kinds are from sewage waste. <br><br>I too wonder what is behind the apparant non-collection of corpses is about. I learned that for at least 12 days, FEMA dithered with negotiations for morgue services -- another instance of impossible-to-rationalize ineptitude and bureaucratic failure -- Didn't anyone in FEMA ever consider the need to streamline and organize prompt morgue services? WQhat kind of incredibly incompetant bullshit is FEMSA about, anyway? I think the whole top management of FEMA needs to be held accountable for massive criminal negligence and misfeasance, with hefty prison-sentances. Good Christ! The US busts recreational drug-users and shoplifters whose actions haven't contributed to the death and suffering of thousands!<br><br>I really don't know why the N.O. bodies have been left in-situ for so long -- it's another inexplicable bit of contemptable indifference that might be related to the indoctrinated conditioning that the victims and survivors are 'others', not one's 'own'. Even in the most beleagured, devastated areas of Iraq, bodies are quickly retreived and even buried when they can't be taken to a hospital or morgue. I guess this shows how full-circle America has come under the criminal, destructive policies of its corrupt 'leadership', aligned with military, drug and arms smuggling, criminal and racketeering interests that have now targetted our own citizens as 'the enemy'. The sheer numbers of armed troops and private guns now in Iraq providing an arrogant show of force has to be seen in the context of the militarization of domestic US policy -- esp. since the milotarization of US Foreign Policy has been shown to be so tremendously lucrative.<br><br>Perhaps there's a psychological component to the uncollected bodies, as a way of underscoring the consequences when State Governors don't concede to Federal pressure for complete control. The squabbling for authority and blackmail by impeding timely response is another sign of how thoroughly rotton and calculatingly hard-hearted the Federal Government under neocon control has become, directly resulting in hundreds if not thousands of preventable deaths. This SHOULD be a major scandal -- but the media=whores and brain-dead public are apparently going to let this unconscionable betrayal slide also. It all makes me reflect on the saying <br>-- The public gets the Government they deserve. For more than a generation, the US has made an industry out of profitting from the death and suffering and destruction of peoples and nations around the world, which to an appalling extent most people are either unconcerned about or oblivious to. It's likely in that in the next disasters, Governors will be tempted to concede Federal authority rather than be blamed for being incompetant.<br><br>A much greater health danger in N.O. is that the area has been contaminated by huge amonts of industrial wastes and poisons as well as raw sewage, that could render most of the city a toxic wasteland, as well as destroying the ecosystems and fisheries of Lake Pontchetrain and the lower Missisissippi River and Gulf -- an incalculable danger being downplayed by all relevant Government officials. The EPA is NOT being involved to any significant extent.<br><br>In that Congress as well as Federal Officials dropped the ball in preventing the huge disaster of N.O.'s flooding by underfunding levee maintenance and disaster preparedness, there's plenty of responsibility to go around. But, as usual, I guess they'll excuse themselves and it will be Business as usual.<br><br>To which I'm too disgusted to think of an appropriate rejoinder.<br>Starman<br><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=108955Title:">www.libertypost.org/cgi-b...8955Title:</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade' <br>URL Source: <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece">news.independent.co.uk/wo...311818.ece</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Published: Sep 11, 2005<br>Author: Geoffrey Lean<br><br>Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger. <br><br>In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health. <br><br>The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work. <br><br>His intervention came as President Bush's approval ratings fell below 40 per cent for the first time. Yesterday, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, turned the screw by criticising the US President's opposition to the Kyoto protocol on global warming. He compared New Orleans to island nations such as the Maldives, which are threatened by rising sea levels. <br><br>Other US sources spelt out the extent of the danger from one of America's most polluted industrial areas, known locally as "Cancer Alley". The 66 chemical plants, refineries and petroleum storage depots churn out 600m lb of toxic waste each year. Other dangerous substances are in site storage tanks or at the port of New Orleans. No one knows how much pollution has escaped through damaged plants and leaking pipes into the "toxic gumbo" now drowning the city. Mr Kaufman says no one is trying to find out. <br><br>Few people are better qualified to judge the extent of the problem. Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste programme. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be "the most massive public works exercise ever done", adding: "It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe." <br><br>Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001." <br><br>He said the water being pumped out of the city was not being tested for pollution and would damage Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi river, and endanger people using it downstream. <br> <p></p><i></i>
