Tamara e-mails to note that last Sunday on The Laura Flanders Show, Flanders had an interview with Joan Baez from Camp Casey. Tamara has high praise for the interview and notes that Flanders and Baez discussed Camp Casey in terms of the activism in the civil rights movement and that Baez explained that she had stopped performing "We Shall Overcome" unless she was giving concerts in places like Romania but "Guess what, we qualify again."
Baez: At a time like this you're on one side of the fence or the other. I hate to paraphrase you know who. . . . I think it will get harder and harder not to be neutral. . . .
Did you miss the interview or Saturday's show? They are archived at Air America Place. You can find the archives for The Laura Flanders Show here. Or, instead of beginning next week running behind, you can listen tonight and Sunday night. (No slam on anyone who falls behind, I'm often heading over to the archives myself because, though it's on in the background on Saturday nights, we're all usually too focused on The Third Estate Sunday Review to listen closely -- or as closely as the show warrents.)
The Laura Flanders Show
Saturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ET
Saturday:
This weekend, the latest news and eyewitness reports from the Gulf Coast. We'll hear insights from Black Environmental Justice Coalition founder Damu Smith and journalist-author Jill Nelson will discuss the media's hurricane coverage, what home really means and more. Plus, Salon's Michael Scherer on why Big Business wants John Roberts on the Supreme Court.
Sunday:
The live reports continue, including Stan Tiner, editorial page editor of the Sun Herald of Biloxi, MS, and Rich Campbell, editorial page editor of the Hattiesburg American of Hattiesburg, MS. Plus, Pratap Chatterjee tells us about the political appointees who went from Iraq to FEMA; Donele Wilkins, National Co Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network on efforts to help storm victims; and in-studio historian-musicologist Ned Sublette, who's been writing a cultural history of New Orleans.
Remember, you can listen over broadcast radio (if there's an AAR in your area), via XM Satellite Radio (channel 167) or listen online.
And, so Kat doesn't take a ruler to my knuckles, remember that Joan Baez's live CD Bowery Songs is in stores on September 6th.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Altos funcionarios del Ejecutivo criticados por seguir de vacaciones
Maria: Hola. De parte de "Democracy Now!" quince cosas que vale hacer notar este fin de semana. En español, usted puede leer o puede escuchar en línea en "Democracy Now!"
Nuestros pensamientos y las oraciones están con las víctimas de Huracán Katrina. Paz.
Principal funcionario de la ciudad critica a FEMA: "Es una vergüenza nacional"
El jefe de operaciones de emergencia de Nueva Orleans, Terry Ebbert, criticó al gobierno federal y a la FEMA por la lentitud de su respuesta a la crisis.
El funcionario dijo "Es una emergencia nacional y una vergüenza nacional".
Ebbert añadió: "La FEMA ha estado aquí durante tres días, y sin embargo no tiene dominio ni control de la situación. Podemos enviar grandes cantidades de ayuda a las víctimas del tsunami, pero no podemos salvar a la ciudad de Nueva Orleans".
También dijo: "Es criminal que dentro de los límites de Estados Unidos, a una hora de viaje del lugar del huracán, no nos enviaran ayuda. Es como si la FEMA nunca hubiera estado en un huracán".
La agencia federal también fue muy criticada en Mississippi, donde algunas localidades aún esperan que llegue la ayuda federal.
James Gibson, habitante de Lakeshore, Mississippi, dijo: "No hay FEMA. No hay Cruz Roja. No hay ayuda. La gente está enferma. El agua es como un caldo tóxico. Somos el pequeño pueblo olvidado que fue destruido".
El estado de Mississippi informa que en un área de 80 kilómetros a lo largo de la costa, el 90 por ciento de las edificaciones fueron destruidas.
Recién comienza a sentirse gran parte de los esfuerzos de ayuda del gobierno federal. El Wall Street Journal informa que el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos prometió establecer 40 estaciones de ayuda de emergencia. Al día de ayer, sólo una funcionaba, y estaba ubicada a 130 kilómetros de Nueva Orleans. Recién el miércoles el Pentágono activó un importante buque hospital de la Armada, pero ese barco podría demorar días en llegar a la región devastada.
Altos funcionarios del Ejecutivo criticados por seguir de vacaciones
Por otra parte, aumentan las críticas al modo en que el gobierno de Bush afronta la crisis. El Presidente Bush no volvió de sus vacaciones hasta el miércoles, y varios altos funcionarios siguen de vacaciones veraniegas. La Secretaria de Estado, Condoleeza Rice, estaba de vacaciones en Nueva York pero volvió a Washington el jueves. Mientras tanto, el Vicepresidente Dick Cheney ha estado en Wyoming, y el Jefe de Personal de la Casa Blanca, Andrew Card, en Maine.
Gobierno de Bush recortará gasto para control de inundaciones
Se pregunta si el gobierno federal podría haber hecho más para proteger a la región de las mortales inundaciones. En 1995, el Congreso autorizó el Proyecto Urbano de Control de Inundaciones del Sureste de Louisiana, y el Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército gastó 430 millones de dólares en levantar represas y construir estaciones de bombeo de agua en la última década. Pero faltaron obras por valor de otros 250 millones de dólares. Según informes periodísticos, el financiamiento federal se congeló en 2003. En los últimos dos años, el diario Times-Picayune publicó por lo menos nueve artículos que mencionaron el costo de la invasión de Irak como un motivo de que faltaran fondos para controlar los efectos de huracanes e inundaciones. A principios de este año, el Presidente Bush propuso reducir significativamente, a 10 millones de dólares, la cantidad de dinero federal destinada al proyecto. Funcionarios locales dijeron que se necesitaba seis veces más.
Seis mil miembros de la Guardia Nacional local están en Irak
La Guardia Nacional ha participado en operaciones de rescate y mantenimiento del orden en la zona del desastre, pero unos seis mil miembros de la Guardia de Louisiana y Mississippi tuvieron que ver la catástrofe desde 11.200 kilómetros de distancia, en Irak. El cuarenta por ciento de la Guardia Nacional de Mississippi y el 35 por ciento de la Guardia de Louisiana están en Irak. En los últimos ocho meses, 23 miembros de la Guardia Nacional de Louisiana murieron en Irak. Sólo la unidad de la Guardia de Nueva York ha sufrido tantas bajas en Irak.
Equipamiento de la Guardia Nacional de Louisiana está en Irak
La guerra en Irak también estuvo relacionada con la recuperación y limpieza del huracán. A principios de este mes, la Guardia Nacional de Louisiana se quejó públicamente de que la mayoría de su equipamiento estaba en Irak. La filial local de la cadena de noticias ABC informó que decenas de vehículos anfibios, jeeps Humvee, unidades abastecedoras de aeronaves y generadores están fuera del país.
Alcalde de Nueva Orleans envía desesperado mensaje de auxilio al país
Decenas de miles de refugiados permanecen en Nueva Orleans, cuatro días después de que el huracán Katrina devastara la región de la costa del Golfo de México. El jueves, el alcalde de Nueva Orleans, Ray Nagin, envió un desesperado mensaje de auxilio al país, solicitando más ayuda.
La ciudad reconoce que algunos sobrevivientes no han ingerido alimentos ni bebido agua por tres o cuatro días. Los cadáveres flotan en el agua de la inundación. Miles de personas en todo el país buscan a sus familiares y amigos, y desconocen si han sobrevivido a la catástrofe.
Casi dos millones de personas aún carecen de energía eléctrica. La Guardia Costera informó que todavía hay habitantes de la ciudad atrapados sobre techos, a la espera de ser rescatados.
Funcionarios temen que haya miles de muertos.
El titular principal de la edición de hoy del diario Time-Picayune es: "Por favor, ayúdennos".
Aumenta número de muertes causadas por Katrina
El número de muertes por el Huracán Katrina sigue en dramático aumento. El alcalde de Nueva Orleans calcula que el número de muertos en la ciudad podría contarse en miles. Señaló que los cadáveres que aún no han sido recuperados flotan en las calles inundadas de Nueva Orleans. La Casa Blanca declaró una emergencia de salud pública en toda la costa del Golfo de México, mientras que el secretario del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Estados Unidos, Mike Leavitt, advirtió acerca de posibles brotes de epidemias de cólera y fiebre tifoidea. El presidente Bush acortó sus vacaciones en Crawford, Texas. De regreso en Washington, se dirigió al país en un discurso transmitido por televisión:
El Presidente dijo: "Mientras nos dirigíamos en avión aquí, le pedí al piloto que sobrevolara la región de la Costa del Golfo, para poder ver directamente el alcance y la magnitud de la destrucción. La gran mayoría de Nueva Orleans, Louisiana, está bajo agua. Decenas de miles de hogares y comercios sufrieron daños irreparables. Gran parte de la Costa del Golfo en Mississippi se destruyó por completo. La ciudad de Mobile está inundada. Hacemos frente a uno de los peores desastres naturales en la historia del país".
Nueva Orleans tóxica: "el peor de los casos"
El Washington Post señala que Nueva Orleans está inundada por aguas que contienen toneladas de sustancias químicas tóxicas y otros contaminantes, desde metales pesados e hidrocarburos a desechos industriales, materias fecales y restos humanos y animales. Los especialistas dicen que la contaminación afectará a la región del Golfo de México por más de una década. Un analista de políticas de alta jerarquía de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental dijo al Post "Es el peor de los casos... No hay suficiente dinero en el producto interno bruto de Estados Unidos para disponer de la suma de material contaminante en el área".
Aumenta número de muertos en Mississippi
Mientras tanto, en el estado vecino de Mississippi, las autoridades dicen que al menos 185 personas murieron. Sólo en el condado de Hancock, el comisario Eddie Jennings calculó que las muertes fueron 85, con 60 en Pearlington, 22 en Waveland, dos en la Bahía de Saint Louis, y un cuerpo que se halló flotando en la playa. En el condado cercano de Harrison, donde se encuentran las ciudades de Gulfport y Biloxi, funcionarios dicen que se encontraron 100 personas muertas. Se prevé que estas cifras aumentarán a medida que continúen las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate. La ciudad de Gulfport está prácticamente destruida, y Biloxi sufrió daños graves. Decenas de pacientes de un hospital de Biloxi fueron evacuados el miércoles por la Fuerza Aérea estadounidense. Los pacientes, entre ellos mujeres con embarazos de alto riesgo, fueron llevados de la zona más afectada a San Antonio, Texas, en aviones de carga de la Fuerza Aérea. El gobernador de Mississippi, Haley Barbour, sobrevoló la costa del estado, que sufrió graves daños, y la comparó con Hiroshima en 1945. En Alabama, más de 400.000 hogares y comercios carecen de energía eléctrica, mientras que Florida informó sobre 11 muertes.
Combustible alcanza el precio más alto en la historia
Los precios del combustible en muchas ciudades de Estados Unidos superan los anteriores máximos, alcanzados en 1981. Algunos conductores de Atlanta tienen que pagar más de cinco dólares por un galón de gasolina (3,8 litros). Los precios aumentaron pese a que el secretario de Energía, Samuel Bodman, dijo el miércoles a CNBC que el gobierno estaba extrayendo crudo de la Reserva Estratégica de Petróleo, donde más de 700 millones de barriles de crudo, de 159 litros, están almacenados en cavernas para uso de emergencia. El Departamento del Interior calcula que el 95 por ciento de la producción del Golfo de México fue suspendida a causa del huracán. Algunos analistas prevén que los precios del combustible en todo el país podrían superar los cuatro dólares por galón.
Crean nueva coalición antirreclutamiento en Los Ángeles
En Los Ángeles, una nueva coalición anunció sus planes para realizar una campaña nacional contra el reclutamiento militar de estudiantes de color en las escuelas. Entre los integrantes de la alianza están los grupos Latinos por la Paz y la Coalición Contra el Militarismo en las Escuelas. El anuncio se realizó en el Parque Salazar, en el 35 aniversario de la Moratoria Chicana, cuando 20.000 manifestantes tomaron las calles de Los Ángeles para protestar contra el número desproporcionado de latinos que morían en la Guerra de Vietnam. El Parque Salazar fue nombrado en honor al periodista Ruben Salazar, que cubría la Moratoria y murió tras recibir un disparo de la policía. La coalición convoca a los estudiantes a que firmen formularios para impedir que los militares reciban su información personal, y para evitar que se les someta a la batería de pruebas de aptitud vocacional de los servicios armados.
Comisión de Derechos Humanos pide investigación de tortura policial en Chicago
En Chicago, víctimas de maltrato policial solicitan a la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos que investigue las acusaciones de que la policía de Chicago golpeó y torturó sistemáticamente a estadounidenses afrodescendientes para lograr confesiones. Casi 140 víctimas alegaron haber sido maltratadas y torturadas por la policía de Chicago en las últimas décadas. Los abogados de las víctimas se quejaron de que un fiscal especial ha demorado demasiado en realizar procesamientos penales por las acusaciones de tortura. Los abogados solicitan a la Comisión Interamericana que examine las pruebas en su sesión de octubre. Esa comisión tiene el cometido de investigar casos de violación de derechos humanos, por mandato de la Organización de Estados Americanos y de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos.
Periodista de Reuters asesinado por fuerzas estadounidenses es sepultado en Irak
En Irak, el lunes se realizó el funeral de Waleed Khaled, el técnico de sonido que trabajaba para la agencia de noticias Reuters y fue asesinado el domingo por las fuerzas estadounidenses. Khaled, de 35 años de edad, recibió disparos en la cara y al menos otros cuatro en el pecho. Según Reuters, se escuchó a soldados estadounidenses burlarse cuando la familia de Waleed Khaled apareció en la escena del crimen. Mientras que los familiares acongojados inspeccionaban el cadáver, un soldado estadounidense dijo "No se molesten. No vale la pena." Otros soldados hacían chistes entre sí a unos metros del cadáver. Según Reporteros Sin Fronteras, Khaled es el periodista número 66 que muere en Irak desde que comenzó la invasión en marzo de 2003. En toda la Guerra de Vietnam murieron 63 periodistas.
Reuters exige liberación de segundo periodista detenido por fuerzas estadounidenses
Un colega de Waleed Khaled, el camarógrafo Haider Kadhem, de Reuters, permanece detenido por las fuerzas estadounidenses. El también recibió un disparo de un francotirador estadounidense y fue el único testigo de la muerte de Khaled. Reuters exige su liberación inmediata. El editor mundial de la agencia, David Schlesinger, dijo: "No podemos entender qué razón existe para mantener a este periodista detenido por más de veinticuatro horas, luego de que fuera víctima inocente de un hecho en que su colega fue asesinado". El Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas también exigió la liberación inmediata de Khadem. Mientras tanto, un tercer periodista iraquí que trabaja para Reuters lleva tres semanas incomunicado en la prisión de Abu Ghraib, sin que se hayan presentado acusaciones en su contra.
Funcionaria del Pentágono destituida por criticar acuerdo de Halliburton
Una funcionaria de alta jerarquía del Pentágono fue destituida luego de criticar públicamente la decisión del Pentágono de otorgar contratos millonarios a Halliburton en Irak, sin llamar a licitación. La funcionaria, Bunnatine Greenhouse, había trabajado 20 años en el Pentágono. Desde 1998 se desempeñaba como jefa supervisora de contratos en el Cuerpo de Ingenieros de Ejército. El año pasado, Greenhouse criticó públicamente los contratos con Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), una filial de Halliburton. Dijo "Puedo decir sin equivocarme que el abuso relacionado con los contratos otorgados a KBR es el más descarado y deshonesto que he visto".
Maria: Hello, in English, here are sixteen reports from Democracy Now! Remember you can listen or read Headlines in Spanish online at Democracy Now! Please get the word out. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Peace.
Top City Official Blasts FEMA: "This Is A National Disgrace"
The head of New Orleans' emergency operations blasted the federal government and FEMA for its slow response. The official Terry Ebbert said "This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace." Ebbert went on to say "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans." Ebbert said "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane."
No FEMA Officials Reported in Mississippi
FEMA has also been widely criticized in Mississippi where some towns are still waiting for federal aid to arrive. Lakeshore, Mississippi resident James Gibson said "There's no FEMA. No Red Cross. No help. People are sick. The water is like toxic gumbo. We're the forgotten little town that got blown away." The state of Mississippi is reporting that there is a 50 mile stretch of coastline where 90 percent of the structures are destroyed.
Bush Officials Criticized For Staying On Vacation
Criticism is also mounting over the Bush administration's handling of the crisis. President Bush didn't return from his vacation until Wednesday and several other top officials remain on summer breaks. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been vacationing in New York City but returned to Washington on Thursday. Meanwhile Vice President Dick Cheney has been in Wyoming and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has been in Maine.
Bush Administration Cut Back Flood Control Spending
Questions are also being raised if the federal government could have done more to protect the region from the deadly flooding. In 1995 Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. Over the past decade the Army Corps of Engineers has spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations. But another $250 million in work remained. According to press accounts, the federal funding largely froze up in 2003. Over the past two years the Times-Picayune paper has run at least nine articles that cite the cost of the Iraq invasion as a reason for the lack of hurricane and flood control funding. Earlier this year President Bush proposed significantly reducing the amount of federal money for the project. He proposed spending $10 million. Local officials said six times as much money was needed.
6,000 Local National Guard Members In Iraq
While the National Guard has been taking part in rescue operations and law enforcement, some 6,000 members of the Louisiana and Mississippi Guard have been forced to watch the catastrophe from 7,000 miles away in Iraq. 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard force and 35 percent of Louisiana's is in Iraq. Over the past eight months 23 members of the Louisiana National Guard have died in Iraq - only New York's Guard unit has suffered as many deaths.
Louisiana National Guard Equipment in Iraq
The war in Iraq may also play a role in the recovery and cleanup of the hurricane. Earlier this month the Louisiana National Guard publicly complained that too much of its equipment was in Iraq. The local ABC news affiliate reported dozens of high water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad.
New Orleans Mayor Sends "Desperate SOS" To Nation
Tens of thousands of refugees remain in New Orleans - four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region. On Thursday New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sent a desperate SOS to the country for more aid. The city is admitting that some survivors have not eaten or had water in three or four days. Corpses are floating in the floodwater. Thousands of people across the country are searching for relatives and friends -- not knowing if they have survived the catastrophoe Nearly 2 million people remain without power. The Coast Guard reports there are still many residents stuck on their roofs seeking to be rescued. Officials fear thousands may be dead. The banner headline in this morning's Time-Picayune newspaper reads "Help Us, Please."
Katrina Death Toll Rising
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina continues to climb dramatically with the mayor of New Orleans estimating that the number of dead in his city could well be in the thousands. He described dead bodies yet to be recovered floating through the water-soaked streets of New Orleans. The White House has declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast, as the US Department of Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt warned of potential outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. President Bush cut short his vacation in Crawford, Texas. Upon his return to Washington, he addressed the nation on television: "As we flew here today, I also asked the pilot to fly over the Gulf Coast region so I could see firsthand the scope and magnitude of the devastation. The vast majority of New Orleans, Louisiana is under water. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are beyond repair. A lot of the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been completely destroyed. Mobile is flooded. We are dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history."
Toxic New Orleans: 'The Worst Case'
The Washington Post points out that New Orleans is now flooded by water spiked with tons of toxic chemicals and contaminants ranging from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed remains of humans and animals. Experts say the contamination will continue to poison the Gulf of Mexico region for more than a decade. A senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency told the Post "This is the worst case...There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."
Mississippi Death Toll Rises
Meanwhile, in neighboring Mississippi, authorities now say that at least 185 people have died. In Hancock County alone, Sheriff Eddie Jennings put the death toll at 85, with 60 people dead in Pearlington, 22 in Waveland, two in Bay St. Louis and one body that had washed up on the beach. In neighboring Harrison County, which is home to Gulfport and Biloxi, officials say that 100 bodies have been found. All of these numbers are expected to grow as search and rescue operations continue. The city of Gulfport was almost destroyed, and Biloxi was heavily damaged. Dozens of patients from a Biloxi hospital were evacuated by the U.S. Air Force on Wednesday. Patients including a ward full of women with high-risk pregnancies were transported from the hard-hit area by Air Force cargo planes to San Antonio, Texas. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour flew over his state's ravaged coastline and likened it to Hiroshima in 1945. In Alabama more than 400,000 homes and businesses are without power, while Florida reported 11 deaths.
Gas Prices Hit Highest Price Ever
This comes as gasoline prices in many U.S. cities spiked past the all-time highs set in 1981 with some drivers in Atlanta facing prices above $5 a gallon. Prices also rose significantly in many populated urban centers across the nation. Prices jumped just as Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday on CNBC that the government was releasing crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, where more than 700 million barrels of crude oil are stored in caverns for emergency use. The Department of Interior estimates that 95 percent of Gulf of Mexico production has been shutdown by Katrina. Some analysts are now predicting that gas prices nationwide could soar to more than $4 a gallon.
New Anti-Recruiting Coalition Forms in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, a new coalition announced plans for a national campaign to fight military recruitment of students of color in the nation's schools. Members of the coalition include Latinos for Peace and the Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools. The groups made the announcement at Salazar Park on the 35th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, when 20,000 protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the disproportionate number of Latinos being killed in the Vietnam War. Salazar Park is named after journalist Ruben Salazar who was shot dead by police after covering the Moratorium. The coalition is calling on students to sign forms that would block the military from receiving personal information about them as well as not to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test.
Human Rights Commission Asked to Investigate Police Torture in Chicago
In Chicago, victims of police abuse are asking the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate their claims that the Chicago police routinely beat and tortured African Americans to get confessions. Nearly 140 different victims have alleged abuse and torture at the hands of the Chicago police over the past few decades. Attorneys for the victims have complained that a special prosecutor has taken too long to launch any criminal prosecutions into the torture claims. The Attorneys are asking the international commission to hear evidence during its October session. The commission is mandated by the Organization of American States and the American Convention on Human Rights to investigate human rights violations across the world.
Reuters Journalist Killed By U.S. Buried In Iraq
In Iraq, a funeral was held Monday for Waleed Khaled, the sound technician working for the Reuters news agency who was shot dead by U.S. forces on Sunday. The 35-year-old Khaled, was shot in the face and took at least four bullets to the chest. According to Reuters, U.S. soldiers were heard joking around when Waleed Khaled's family came to the scene of the shooting. As his tearful relatives inspected his corpse, a U.S. soldier said "Don't bother. It's not worth it." A few other soldiers joked among themselves just a few feet from the body. According to Reporters Without Borders Khaled is the 66th journalist to be killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. In comparison, a total of 63 journalists were killed in the Vietnam War.
Reuters Demands Release of Journalists from U.S. Detention
Waleed Khaled's colleague -- Reuters cameraman Haider Kadhem -- remains in U.S. detention. He too was shot by an American sniper and was the only eyewitness to the killing of Khaled. Reuters is calling for his immediate release. Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger said, "We fail to understand what reason there can be for his continued detention more than a day after he was the innocent victim of an incident in which his colleague was killed." The Committee to Protect Journalists also called for Khadem's immediate release. Meanwhile a third Iraqi journalist working for Reuters has now been held incommunicado in the Abu Ghraib prison for three weeks without facing charges.
Pentagon Official Demoted After Criticizing Halliburton Deal
A high-level Pentagon official has been demoted after she publicly criticized the Pentagon's decision to give Halliburton no-bid contracts in Iraq worth billions of dollars. The officer -- Bunnatine Greenhouse -- had worked at the Pentagon for 20 years. Since 1998 she has served as the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers. Last year Greenhouse went public to criticize the contracts involving Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root. She said, "I can unequivocally state that the abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR represents the most blatant and improper abuse I have witnessed."
Nuestros pensamientos y las oraciones están con las víctimas de Huracán Katrina. Paz.
Principal funcionario de la ciudad critica a FEMA: "Es una vergüenza nacional"
El jefe de operaciones de emergencia de Nueva Orleans, Terry Ebbert, criticó al gobierno federal y a la FEMA por la lentitud de su respuesta a la crisis.
El funcionario dijo "Es una emergencia nacional y una vergüenza nacional".
Ebbert añadió: "La FEMA ha estado aquí durante tres días, y sin embargo no tiene dominio ni control de la situación. Podemos enviar grandes cantidades de ayuda a las víctimas del tsunami, pero no podemos salvar a la ciudad de Nueva Orleans".
También dijo: "Es criminal que dentro de los límites de Estados Unidos, a una hora de viaje del lugar del huracán, no nos enviaran ayuda. Es como si la FEMA nunca hubiera estado en un huracán".
La agencia federal también fue muy criticada en Mississippi, donde algunas localidades aún esperan que llegue la ayuda federal.
James Gibson, habitante de Lakeshore, Mississippi, dijo: "No hay FEMA. No hay Cruz Roja. No hay ayuda. La gente está enferma. El agua es como un caldo tóxico. Somos el pequeño pueblo olvidado que fue destruido".
El estado de Mississippi informa que en un área de 80 kilómetros a lo largo de la costa, el 90 por ciento de las edificaciones fueron destruidas.
Recién comienza a sentirse gran parte de los esfuerzos de ayuda del gobierno federal. El Wall Street Journal informa que el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos prometió establecer 40 estaciones de ayuda de emergencia. Al día de ayer, sólo una funcionaba, y estaba ubicada a 130 kilómetros de Nueva Orleans. Recién el miércoles el Pentágono activó un importante buque hospital de la Armada, pero ese barco podría demorar días en llegar a la región devastada.
Altos funcionarios del Ejecutivo criticados por seguir de vacaciones
Por otra parte, aumentan las críticas al modo en que el gobierno de Bush afronta la crisis. El Presidente Bush no volvió de sus vacaciones hasta el miércoles, y varios altos funcionarios siguen de vacaciones veraniegas. La Secretaria de Estado, Condoleeza Rice, estaba de vacaciones en Nueva York pero volvió a Washington el jueves. Mientras tanto, el Vicepresidente Dick Cheney ha estado en Wyoming, y el Jefe de Personal de la Casa Blanca, Andrew Card, en Maine.
Gobierno de Bush recortará gasto para control de inundaciones
Se pregunta si el gobierno federal podría haber hecho más para proteger a la región de las mortales inundaciones. En 1995, el Congreso autorizó el Proyecto Urbano de Control de Inundaciones del Sureste de Louisiana, y el Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército gastó 430 millones de dólares en levantar represas y construir estaciones de bombeo de agua en la última década. Pero faltaron obras por valor de otros 250 millones de dólares. Según informes periodísticos, el financiamiento federal se congeló en 2003. En los últimos dos años, el diario Times-Picayune publicó por lo menos nueve artículos que mencionaron el costo de la invasión de Irak como un motivo de que faltaran fondos para controlar los efectos de huracanes e inundaciones. A principios de este año, el Presidente Bush propuso reducir significativamente, a 10 millones de dólares, la cantidad de dinero federal destinada al proyecto. Funcionarios locales dijeron que se necesitaba seis veces más.
Seis mil miembros de la Guardia Nacional local están en Irak
La Guardia Nacional ha participado en operaciones de rescate y mantenimiento del orden en la zona del desastre, pero unos seis mil miembros de la Guardia de Louisiana y Mississippi tuvieron que ver la catástrofe desde 11.200 kilómetros de distancia, en Irak. El cuarenta por ciento de la Guardia Nacional de Mississippi y el 35 por ciento de la Guardia de Louisiana están en Irak. En los últimos ocho meses, 23 miembros de la Guardia Nacional de Louisiana murieron en Irak. Sólo la unidad de la Guardia de Nueva York ha sufrido tantas bajas en Irak.
Equipamiento de la Guardia Nacional de Louisiana está en Irak
La guerra en Irak también estuvo relacionada con la recuperación y limpieza del huracán. A principios de este mes, la Guardia Nacional de Louisiana se quejó públicamente de que la mayoría de su equipamiento estaba en Irak. La filial local de la cadena de noticias ABC informó que decenas de vehículos anfibios, jeeps Humvee, unidades abastecedoras de aeronaves y generadores están fuera del país.
Alcalde de Nueva Orleans envía desesperado mensaje de auxilio al país
Decenas de miles de refugiados permanecen en Nueva Orleans, cuatro días después de que el huracán Katrina devastara la región de la costa del Golfo de México. El jueves, el alcalde de Nueva Orleans, Ray Nagin, envió un desesperado mensaje de auxilio al país, solicitando más ayuda.
La ciudad reconoce que algunos sobrevivientes no han ingerido alimentos ni bebido agua por tres o cuatro días. Los cadáveres flotan en el agua de la inundación. Miles de personas en todo el país buscan a sus familiares y amigos, y desconocen si han sobrevivido a la catástrofe.
Casi dos millones de personas aún carecen de energía eléctrica. La Guardia Costera informó que todavía hay habitantes de la ciudad atrapados sobre techos, a la espera de ser rescatados.
Funcionarios temen que haya miles de muertos.
El titular principal de la edición de hoy del diario Time-Picayune es: "Por favor, ayúdennos".
Aumenta número de muertes causadas por Katrina
El número de muertes por el Huracán Katrina sigue en dramático aumento. El alcalde de Nueva Orleans calcula que el número de muertos en la ciudad podría contarse en miles. Señaló que los cadáveres que aún no han sido recuperados flotan en las calles inundadas de Nueva Orleans. La Casa Blanca declaró una emergencia de salud pública en toda la costa del Golfo de México, mientras que el secretario del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Estados Unidos, Mike Leavitt, advirtió acerca de posibles brotes de epidemias de cólera y fiebre tifoidea. El presidente Bush acortó sus vacaciones en Crawford, Texas. De regreso en Washington, se dirigió al país en un discurso transmitido por televisión:
El Presidente dijo: "Mientras nos dirigíamos en avión aquí, le pedí al piloto que sobrevolara la región de la Costa del Golfo, para poder ver directamente el alcance y la magnitud de la destrucción. La gran mayoría de Nueva Orleans, Louisiana, está bajo agua. Decenas de miles de hogares y comercios sufrieron daños irreparables. Gran parte de la Costa del Golfo en Mississippi se destruyó por completo. La ciudad de Mobile está inundada. Hacemos frente a uno de los peores desastres naturales en la historia del país".
Nueva Orleans tóxica: "el peor de los casos"
El Washington Post señala que Nueva Orleans está inundada por aguas que contienen toneladas de sustancias químicas tóxicas y otros contaminantes, desde metales pesados e hidrocarburos a desechos industriales, materias fecales y restos humanos y animales. Los especialistas dicen que la contaminación afectará a la región del Golfo de México por más de una década. Un analista de políticas de alta jerarquía de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental dijo al Post "Es el peor de los casos... No hay suficiente dinero en el producto interno bruto de Estados Unidos para disponer de la suma de material contaminante en el área".
Aumenta número de muertos en Mississippi
Mientras tanto, en el estado vecino de Mississippi, las autoridades dicen que al menos 185 personas murieron. Sólo en el condado de Hancock, el comisario Eddie Jennings calculó que las muertes fueron 85, con 60 en Pearlington, 22 en Waveland, dos en la Bahía de Saint Louis, y un cuerpo que se halló flotando en la playa. En el condado cercano de Harrison, donde se encuentran las ciudades de Gulfport y Biloxi, funcionarios dicen que se encontraron 100 personas muertas. Se prevé que estas cifras aumentarán a medida que continúen las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate. La ciudad de Gulfport está prácticamente destruida, y Biloxi sufrió daños graves. Decenas de pacientes de un hospital de Biloxi fueron evacuados el miércoles por la Fuerza Aérea estadounidense. Los pacientes, entre ellos mujeres con embarazos de alto riesgo, fueron llevados de la zona más afectada a San Antonio, Texas, en aviones de carga de la Fuerza Aérea. El gobernador de Mississippi, Haley Barbour, sobrevoló la costa del estado, que sufrió graves daños, y la comparó con Hiroshima en 1945. En Alabama, más de 400.000 hogares y comercios carecen de energía eléctrica, mientras que Florida informó sobre 11 muertes.
Combustible alcanza el precio más alto en la historia
Los precios del combustible en muchas ciudades de Estados Unidos superan los anteriores máximos, alcanzados en 1981. Algunos conductores de Atlanta tienen que pagar más de cinco dólares por un galón de gasolina (3,8 litros). Los precios aumentaron pese a que el secretario de Energía, Samuel Bodman, dijo el miércoles a CNBC que el gobierno estaba extrayendo crudo de la Reserva Estratégica de Petróleo, donde más de 700 millones de barriles de crudo, de 159 litros, están almacenados en cavernas para uso de emergencia. El Departamento del Interior calcula que el 95 por ciento de la producción del Golfo de México fue suspendida a causa del huracán. Algunos analistas prevén que los precios del combustible en todo el país podrían superar los cuatro dólares por galón.
Crean nueva coalición antirreclutamiento en Los Ángeles
En Los Ángeles, una nueva coalición anunció sus planes para realizar una campaña nacional contra el reclutamiento militar de estudiantes de color en las escuelas. Entre los integrantes de la alianza están los grupos Latinos por la Paz y la Coalición Contra el Militarismo en las Escuelas. El anuncio se realizó en el Parque Salazar, en el 35 aniversario de la Moratoria Chicana, cuando 20.000 manifestantes tomaron las calles de Los Ángeles para protestar contra el número desproporcionado de latinos que morían en la Guerra de Vietnam. El Parque Salazar fue nombrado en honor al periodista Ruben Salazar, que cubría la Moratoria y murió tras recibir un disparo de la policía. La coalición convoca a los estudiantes a que firmen formularios para impedir que los militares reciban su información personal, y para evitar que se les someta a la batería de pruebas de aptitud vocacional de los servicios armados.
Comisión de Derechos Humanos pide investigación de tortura policial en Chicago
En Chicago, víctimas de maltrato policial solicitan a la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos que investigue las acusaciones de que la policía de Chicago golpeó y torturó sistemáticamente a estadounidenses afrodescendientes para lograr confesiones. Casi 140 víctimas alegaron haber sido maltratadas y torturadas por la policía de Chicago en las últimas décadas. Los abogados de las víctimas se quejaron de que un fiscal especial ha demorado demasiado en realizar procesamientos penales por las acusaciones de tortura. Los abogados solicitan a la Comisión Interamericana que examine las pruebas en su sesión de octubre. Esa comisión tiene el cometido de investigar casos de violación de derechos humanos, por mandato de la Organización de Estados Americanos y de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos.
Periodista de Reuters asesinado por fuerzas estadounidenses es sepultado en Irak
En Irak, el lunes se realizó el funeral de Waleed Khaled, el técnico de sonido que trabajaba para la agencia de noticias Reuters y fue asesinado el domingo por las fuerzas estadounidenses. Khaled, de 35 años de edad, recibió disparos en la cara y al menos otros cuatro en el pecho. Según Reuters, se escuchó a soldados estadounidenses burlarse cuando la familia de Waleed Khaled apareció en la escena del crimen. Mientras que los familiares acongojados inspeccionaban el cadáver, un soldado estadounidense dijo "No se molesten. No vale la pena." Otros soldados hacían chistes entre sí a unos metros del cadáver. Según Reporteros Sin Fronteras, Khaled es el periodista número 66 que muere en Irak desde que comenzó la invasión en marzo de 2003. En toda la Guerra de Vietnam murieron 63 periodistas.
Reuters exige liberación de segundo periodista detenido por fuerzas estadounidenses
Un colega de Waleed Khaled, el camarógrafo Haider Kadhem, de Reuters, permanece detenido por las fuerzas estadounidenses. El también recibió un disparo de un francotirador estadounidense y fue el único testigo de la muerte de Khaled. Reuters exige su liberación inmediata. El editor mundial de la agencia, David Schlesinger, dijo: "No podemos entender qué razón existe para mantener a este periodista detenido por más de veinticuatro horas, luego de que fuera víctima inocente de un hecho en que su colega fue asesinado". El Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas también exigió la liberación inmediata de Khadem. Mientras tanto, un tercer periodista iraquí que trabaja para Reuters lleva tres semanas incomunicado en la prisión de Abu Ghraib, sin que se hayan presentado acusaciones en su contra.
Funcionaria del Pentágono destituida por criticar acuerdo de Halliburton
Una funcionaria de alta jerarquía del Pentágono fue destituida luego de criticar públicamente la decisión del Pentágono de otorgar contratos millonarios a Halliburton en Irak, sin llamar a licitación. La funcionaria, Bunnatine Greenhouse, había trabajado 20 años en el Pentágono. Desde 1998 se desempeñaba como jefa supervisora de contratos en el Cuerpo de Ingenieros de Ejército. El año pasado, Greenhouse criticó públicamente los contratos con Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), una filial de Halliburton. Dijo "Puedo decir sin equivocarme que el abuso relacionado con los contratos otorgados a KBR es el más descarado y deshonesto que he visto".
Maria: Hello, in English, here are sixteen reports from Democracy Now! Remember you can listen or read Headlines in Spanish online at Democracy Now! Please get the word out. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Peace.
Top City Official Blasts FEMA: "This Is A National Disgrace"
The head of New Orleans' emergency operations blasted the federal government and FEMA for its slow response. The official Terry Ebbert said "This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace." Ebbert went on to say "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans." Ebbert said "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane."
No FEMA Officials Reported in Mississippi
FEMA has also been widely criticized in Mississippi where some towns are still waiting for federal aid to arrive. Lakeshore, Mississippi resident James Gibson said "There's no FEMA. No Red Cross. No help. People are sick. The water is like toxic gumbo. We're the forgotten little town that got blown away." The state of Mississippi is reporting that there is a 50 mile stretch of coastline where 90 percent of the structures are destroyed.
Bush Officials Criticized For Staying On Vacation
Criticism is also mounting over the Bush administration's handling of the crisis. President Bush didn't return from his vacation until Wednesday and several other top officials remain on summer breaks. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been vacationing in New York City but returned to Washington on Thursday. Meanwhile Vice President Dick Cheney has been in Wyoming and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has been in Maine.
Bush Administration Cut Back Flood Control Spending
Questions are also being raised if the federal government could have done more to protect the region from the deadly flooding. In 1995 Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. Over the past decade the Army Corps of Engineers has spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations. But another $250 million in work remained. According to press accounts, the federal funding largely froze up in 2003. Over the past two years the Times-Picayune paper has run at least nine articles that cite the cost of the Iraq invasion as a reason for the lack of hurricane and flood control funding. Earlier this year President Bush proposed significantly reducing the amount of federal money for the project. He proposed spending $10 million. Local officials said six times as much money was needed.
6,000 Local National Guard Members In Iraq
While the National Guard has been taking part in rescue operations and law enforcement, some 6,000 members of the Louisiana and Mississippi Guard have been forced to watch the catastrophe from 7,000 miles away in Iraq. 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard force and 35 percent of Louisiana's is in Iraq. Over the past eight months 23 members of the Louisiana National Guard have died in Iraq - only New York's Guard unit has suffered as many deaths.
Louisiana National Guard Equipment in Iraq
The war in Iraq may also play a role in the recovery and cleanup of the hurricane. Earlier this month the Louisiana National Guard publicly complained that too much of its equipment was in Iraq. The local ABC news affiliate reported dozens of high water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad.
New Orleans Mayor Sends "Desperate SOS" To Nation
Tens of thousands of refugees remain in New Orleans - four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region. On Thursday New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sent a desperate SOS to the country for more aid. The city is admitting that some survivors have not eaten or had water in three or four days. Corpses are floating in the floodwater. Thousands of people across the country are searching for relatives and friends -- not knowing if they have survived the catastrophoe Nearly 2 million people remain without power. The Coast Guard reports there are still many residents stuck on their roofs seeking to be rescued. Officials fear thousands may be dead. The banner headline in this morning's Time-Picayune newspaper reads "Help Us, Please."
Katrina Death Toll Rising
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina continues to climb dramatically with the mayor of New Orleans estimating that the number of dead in his city could well be in the thousands. He described dead bodies yet to be recovered floating through the water-soaked streets of New Orleans. The White House has declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast, as the US Department of Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt warned of potential outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. President Bush cut short his vacation in Crawford, Texas. Upon his return to Washington, he addressed the nation on television: "As we flew here today, I also asked the pilot to fly over the Gulf Coast region so I could see firsthand the scope and magnitude of the devastation. The vast majority of New Orleans, Louisiana is under water. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are beyond repair. A lot of the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been completely destroyed. Mobile is flooded. We are dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history."
Toxic New Orleans: 'The Worst Case'
The Washington Post points out that New Orleans is now flooded by water spiked with tons of toxic chemicals and contaminants ranging from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed remains of humans and animals. Experts say the contamination will continue to poison the Gulf of Mexico region for more than a decade. A senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency told the Post "This is the worst case...There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."
Mississippi Death Toll Rises
Meanwhile, in neighboring Mississippi, authorities now say that at least 185 people have died. In Hancock County alone, Sheriff Eddie Jennings put the death toll at 85, with 60 people dead in Pearlington, 22 in Waveland, two in Bay St. Louis and one body that had washed up on the beach. In neighboring Harrison County, which is home to Gulfport and Biloxi, officials say that 100 bodies have been found. All of these numbers are expected to grow as search and rescue operations continue. The city of Gulfport was almost destroyed, and Biloxi was heavily damaged. Dozens of patients from a Biloxi hospital were evacuated by the U.S. Air Force on Wednesday. Patients including a ward full of women with high-risk pregnancies were transported from the hard-hit area by Air Force cargo planes to San Antonio, Texas. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour flew over his state's ravaged coastline and likened it to Hiroshima in 1945. In Alabama more than 400,000 homes and businesses are without power, while Florida reported 11 deaths.
Gas Prices Hit Highest Price Ever
This comes as gasoline prices in many U.S. cities spiked past the all-time highs set in 1981 with some drivers in Atlanta facing prices above $5 a gallon. Prices also rose significantly in many populated urban centers across the nation. Prices jumped just as Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday on CNBC that the government was releasing crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, where more than 700 million barrels of crude oil are stored in caverns for emergency use. The Department of Interior estimates that 95 percent of Gulf of Mexico production has been shutdown by Katrina. Some analysts are now predicting that gas prices nationwide could soar to more than $4 a gallon.
New Anti-Recruiting Coalition Forms in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, a new coalition announced plans for a national campaign to fight military recruitment of students of color in the nation's schools. Members of the coalition include Latinos for Peace and the Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools. The groups made the announcement at Salazar Park on the 35th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, when 20,000 protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the disproportionate number of Latinos being killed in the Vietnam War. Salazar Park is named after journalist Ruben Salazar who was shot dead by police after covering the Moratorium. The coalition is calling on students to sign forms that would block the military from receiving personal information about them as well as not to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test.
Human Rights Commission Asked to Investigate Police Torture in Chicago
In Chicago, victims of police abuse are asking the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate their claims that the Chicago police routinely beat and tortured African Americans to get confessions. Nearly 140 different victims have alleged abuse and torture at the hands of the Chicago police over the past few decades. Attorneys for the victims have complained that a special prosecutor has taken too long to launch any criminal prosecutions into the torture claims. The Attorneys are asking the international commission to hear evidence during its October session. The commission is mandated by the Organization of American States and the American Convention on Human Rights to investigate human rights violations across the world.
Reuters Journalist Killed By U.S. Buried In Iraq
In Iraq, a funeral was held Monday for Waleed Khaled, the sound technician working for the Reuters news agency who was shot dead by U.S. forces on Sunday. The 35-year-old Khaled, was shot in the face and took at least four bullets to the chest. According to Reuters, U.S. soldiers were heard joking around when Waleed Khaled's family came to the scene of the shooting. As his tearful relatives inspected his corpse, a U.S. soldier said "Don't bother. It's not worth it." A few other soldiers joked among themselves just a few feet from the body. According to Reporters Without Borders Khaled is the 66th journalist to be killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. In comparison, a total of 63 journalists were killed in the Vietnam War.
Reuters Demands Release of Journalists from U.S. Detention
Waleed Khaled's colleague -- Reuters cameraman Haider Kadhem -- remains in U.S. detention. He too was shot by an American sniper and was the only eyewitness to the killing of Khaled. Reuters is calling for his immediate release. Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger said, "We fail to understand what reason there can be for his continued detention more than a day after he was the innocent victim of an incident in which his colleague was killed." The Committee to Protect Journalists also called for Khadem's immediate release. Meanwhile a third Iraqi journalist working for Reuters has now been held incommunicado in the Abu Ghraib prison for three weeks without facing charges.
Pentagon Official Demoted After Criticizing Halliburton Deal
A high-level Pentagon official has been demoted after she publicly criticized the Pentagon's decision to give Halliburton no-bid contracts in Iraq worth billions of dollars. The officer -- Bunnatine Greenhouse -- had worked at the Pentagon for 20 years. Since 1998 she has served as the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers. Last year Greenhouse went public to criticize the contracts involving Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root. She said, "I can unequivocally state that the abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR represents the most blatant and improper abuse I have witnessed."
Ruth's Morning Edition Report
Ruth: NPR's Morning Edition got off to a really bad start in their coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. Monday's broadcast was probably the worst of the week. It included a commentary by Chris Rose that hopefully was taped ahead of time and a story on a "human cannonball." A disaster was taking place in this country but Morning Edition was trying to do their high brow version of comedy mixed with moments of seriousness. On that note, Steve Inskeep really should work on losing the entertained lilt in his voice when asking questions.
Tuesday's broadcast was not an improvement, not even by comparison.
It is true that Steve and seemed to grasp that this tragedy wasn't another story they could jaw bone over with amusing anecdotes and the occassional voiced with concern remark but the realization seemed to come slowly. Once again, the broadcast featured a commentary that was pointless but in keeping with Morning Edition's desire to be "pithy." The "news" of a Dutch version of Big Brother with a pregnant house mate didn't belong on Morning Edition in a slow news week and it certainly didn't belong amidst a national tragedy. These type of "chuckle stories" waste listeners' time during a slow news week and they are appalling when a tragedy is occurring. The story of a Florida business owner depositing her candies in a bank was also far from the reality of what was going on.
By Wednesday, Morning Edition finally seemed aware that their mixtures of pith, whimsy and actual news reporting was a sour blend. Perhaps, like the Bully Boy, they were just a little slow on the take and failed to grasp the horror that the country was witnessing?
By Friday, they did a solid broadcast and one they can be proud of. They cannot, however, erase the memories of earlier shows in the week and it's time Morning Edition stopped aspiring to be an educated version of Live with Regis and Kelli! The best reporting was done on Friday and I would select Pam Fessler's "Why Wasn't New Orleans Better Prepared?" report as the best of the best.
The tone Morning Edition was struggling to achieve for most of the week could be found in Friday's half-hour broadcast of CounterSpin which I listened to on Pacifica's WBAI out of New York.)
Sonali Kolhatkar's Uprising on Los Angeles' KPFK was one of the shows I sampled this week and it is a favorite of community member Cindy. This hourly show broadcasts Monday through Friday from eight to nine a.m. Pacific Time (eleven to noon Eastern Standard Time). Uprising is a serious program that hit hard all week in half the time Morning Edition had but still provided at least three times the information found in NPR's flagship morning show.
I also strongly recommend Lila Garrett's Connect the Dots which airs Mondays on KPFK (seven a.m. Pacific Time, ten a.m. Eastern Standard Time). Monday's program featured Mark Manning who reported on Falluja, non Dexter Filkins reporting. [Note Manning is the director of Caught in the Crossfire, a short documentary film that's being shown across the country.]
I had problems with the online stream from Houston's KPFT (and also with KPFK's Feminist Magazine which airs Wednesday nights from ten to eleven Eastern Standard Time). When problems occurred, I picked up programs I'd enjoyed from WBAI. The KPFK Evening News, broadcast Monday through Friday six to seven p.m. Pacific Time, at eight to nine, Central Time, nine to ten EST, remains my favorite evening news broadcast (radio or television).
Thursday's weekly First Voices, hosted by Tiokasin Ghosthorse and Mattie Harper, remains a favorite of mine. The program, which airs from ten to eleven Eastern Standard Time, focuses on Indigenous people. Thursday's program included a discussion of Native American's views on abortion. Public radio is supposed to provide a platform for voices that are left out of the mainstream media and as NPR moves further and further from that mission statement, I continue to enjoy hearing the perspectives that are missing from not only commercial broadcast radio but also from NPR.
Thursday brought the Christmas Coup Players, Pacifica WBAI's monthly comedy program. This is an original radio program, a sketch comedy program, and you're not getting anything like it on NPR. Now it is true that Cokie and the Gaskateers often provide unintended belly laughs on Morning Edition, but the Christmas Coup Players actually set out to make you laugh.
Have you listened to them? If not, you're missing comedy that provides laughs and commentary. See if you don't laugh as "Pat Robertson" explains that "Christ was born a market capitalist" and then vows to become "the Pinochet to those people." Or the CCNN sketch, a send up of CNN, which included Rush Limbaugh's complaint that, as with the coverage from Iraq, the media is only showing "the bad things" happening in New Orleans. In addition to the sketches, The Christmas Coup Players provide song parodies and the hour moves quickly from one laugh to another. If you're older enough to remember the TV show Laugh In, that's the sort of brisk pace the Christmas Coup Players moves at.
The program broadcasts on the first Thursday of each month and WBAI is archiving all of its programming. C.I.'s going to add the Christmas Coup Players' own web site to the permalinks and you can also listen to archived programs via their own web site so I hope you'll sample the program. [Note: Permalink additions will be added either Sunday or Monday.]
Otherwise you might miss Condi Rice and Dick Cheney attempting to make sense of the crayon messages left by the Bully Boy. Here's a sample.
Ms. Rice: He wants lawn chairs outlawed?
Mr. Cheney: Well Cindy Sheehan came to Crawford with a lawn chair.
Ms. Rice: And she almost ruined the president's vacation.
[. . .]
Mr. Cheney: Terrorist children are the enemy and should be sent to bed without dessert or a tongue.
Ms. Rice: I see you've been reading the new Iraqi draft constitution, Dick.
I believe most of the Pacifica stations will be interrupting programming this week to broadcast the John Roberts, Jr. Supreme Court confirmation hearings live. Houston's KPFT has this announcement posted:
Hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts
Tuesday-Thursday, September 6-8
Tuesday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday: TBA; shows may go on, but hearings could continue.
Those are Central Times. Tuesday's live coverage will begin at noon EST, eleven a.m. Central and nine Pacific continuing through six EST, five Central and three p.m. Pacific. Wednesday's live broadcast will begin at nine EST, eight Central and six in the morning Pacific continuing through six p.m. EST, five p.m. Central and three p.m. Pacific.
If you'd like to listen, you can tune into your local Pacifica station over the air waves or listen online at the station's website or at the Pacifica home page.
I don't usually comment on Pacifica's Democracy Now! which broadcasts on radio, television and the web, due to the fact that is already covered here Monday through Friday in the mid-day entries as well as in the weekend entries done by Maria, Francisco or Miguel. However, I would like to note that Democracy Now!'s coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, like other coverage in the past, provided me with the issues that would later be picked up in the coverage of the mainstream media, much later in the case of Morning Edition, as well as issues that would have been otherwise ignored.
I'd like to close with Democracy Now!'s "Desperately Seeking Loved Ones Missing in New Orleans" in full. I think the voices heard bring perspective and, possibly, someone reading might have information on one or more of the missing persons:
JUAN GONZALEZ: We go now to people around the country who are searching for any word of loved ones that were in the path of hurricane Katrina. These are some of the voices of those who were desperately reaching out to family and friends lost in the destruction's wake.
"My name is Diana Rouchamp. I'm seeking information regarding Bereita Scott, a 87 -- 88-year-old woman from New Orleans, Louisiana, who lived in Ponchartrain Park. Please give me any information that you can where she is now, and give her my phone number. My number is (773) 613-6608. I love you. I'm so worried. Please -- please contact me. Have somebody tell me that you are okay."
"My name is Sally Tranin, and I'm looking for Jimmy Cahn. He lives in the French Quarter in a one-story house. I'm looking for his brother, Richard Cahn, who lives on DeSoto. We have three extra bedrooms, and we would like them to come and stay with us. Our phone number is area code (816) 753-0033, room 315."
"My name is Laurie Passer, and I am looking for my brother, Arthur Pastor. He lives in the New Orleans area either in New Orleans or somewhere surrounding. If anyone has any kind of information on his whereabouts, phone number, I don't have any information on him right now. So, if you could give me a call, my name is Laurie. My telephone number is 949 area code, 285-2554. That's for Arthur Pastor. Thank you."
"My name is Judy Landsey, I'm looking for my sister, Victoria Lenza, she lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans. She was last spoken to by telephone on Saturday. I do not know if she evacuated or if she waited out the storm. Anyone with any information regarding her whereabouts or her safety, please contact me at (630) 202-6970. Thank you."
"My name is Christina Lagman. I reside in California. We're looking for family around – both in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, and Gulfport, Mississippi. The surnames of family, is Lagman and Bryant, If anyone has any information of both families. We're missing approximately 50-plus family members. Please get a hold of us. Our family is very worried. You can contact us either by email at racechick99@aol.com. Or you call us directly at area code (951) 750-0104. Thank you very much. Any information will help. We do have houses, and assistance is available for our family. Please give us a call."
"My name is Steve Saucier. I'm looking for my brother. My brother is Denis Saucier. His was last at this address – 4131C Loire Drive in Chateau Estates, which is a section of Kenner, Louisiana. Dennis is approximately six feet tall, about 220 pounds, 54 years of age. Gray or black hair, thinning. He recently suffered strokes, and his vision is impaired as a result. Could you please contact Steve at (828) 289-4404."
"My name is Hilda White Singleton and I'm looking for my brother Arthur White, Edna White, August White Al White and my sister Gilda Cosby White and also, Ginell Sarin. From the night wall area. My brother was seen on the first clipping of CNN, the one on the roof with the green shirt. You can contact me at area code (972) 230-7070. Any information you could give me, I appreciate it. Thank you."
Tuesday's broadcast was not an improvement, not even by comparison.
It is true that Steve and seemed to grasp that this tragedy wasn't another story they could jaw bone over with amusing anecdotes and the occassional voiced with concern remark but the realization seemed to come slowly. Once again, the broadcast featured a commentary that was pointless but in keeping with Morning Edition's desire to be "pithy." The "news" of a Dutch version of Big Brother with a pregnant house mate didn't belong on Morning Edition in a slow news week and it certainly didn't belong amidst a national tragedy. These type of "chuckle stories" waste listeners' time during a slow news week and they are appalling when a tragedy is occurring. The story of a Florida business owner depositing her candies in a bank was also far from the reality of what was going on.
By Wednesday, Morning Edition finally seemed aware that their mixtures of pith, whimsy and actual news reporting was a sour blend. Perhaps, like the Bully Boy, they were just a little slow on the take and failed to grasp the horror that the country was witnessing?
By Friday, they did a solid broadcast and one they can be proud of. They cannot, however, erase the memories of earlier shows in the week and it's time Morning Edition stopped aspiring to be an educated version of Live with Regis and Kelli! The best reporting was done on Friday and I would select Pam Fessler's "Why Wasn't New Orleans Better Prepared?" report as the best of the best.
The tone Morning Edition was struggling to achieve for most of the week could be found in Friday's half-hour broadcast of CounterSpin which I listened to on Pacifica's WBAI out of New York.)
Sonali Kolhatkar's Uprising on Los Angeles' KPFK was one of the shows I sampled this week and it is a favorite of community member Cindy. This hourly show broadcasts Monday through Friday from eight to nine a.m. Pacific Time (eleven to noon Eastern Standard Time). Uprising is a serious program that hit hard all week in half the time Morning Edition had but still provided at least three times the information found in NPR's flagship morning show.
I also strongly recommend Lila Garrett's Connect the Dots which airs Mondays on KPFK (seven a.m. Pacific Time, ten a.m. Eastern Standard Time). Monday's program featured Mark Manning who reported on Falluja, non Dexter Filkins reporting. [Note Manning is the director of Caught in the Crossfire, a short documentary film that's being shown across the country.]
I had problems with the online stream from Houston's KPFT (and also with KPFK's Feminist Magazine which airs Wednesday nights from ten to eleven Eastern Standard Time). When problems occurred, I picked up programs I'd enjoyed from WBAI. The KPFK Evening News, broadcast Monday through Friday six to seven p.m. Pacific Time, at eight to nine, Central Time, nine to ten EST, remains my favorite evening news broadcast (radio or television).
Thursday's weekly First Voices, hosted by Tiokasin Ghosthorse and Mattie Harper, remains a favorite of mine. The program, which airs from ten to eleven Eastern Standard Time, focuses on Indigenous people. Thursday's program included a discussion of Native American's views on abortion. Public radio is supposed to provide a platform for voices that are left out of the mainstream media and as NPR moves further and further from that mission statement, I continue to enjoy hearing the perspectives that are missing from not only commercial broadcast radio but also from NPR.
Thursday brought the Christmas Coup Players, Pacifica WBAI's monthly comedy program. This is an original radio program, a sketch comedy program, and you're not getting anything like it on NPR. Now it is true that Cokie and the Gaskateers often provide unintended belly laughs on Morning Edition, but the Christmas Coup Players actually set out to make you laugh.
Have you listened to them? If not, you're missing comedy that provides laughs and commentary. See if you don't laugh as "Pat Robertson" explains that "Christ was born a market capitalist" and then vows to become "the Pinochet to those people." Or the CCNN sketch, a send up of CNN, which included Rush Limbaugh's complaint that, as with the coverage from Iraq, the media is only showing "the bad things" happening in New Orleans. In addition to the sketches, The Christmas Coup Players provide song parodies and the hour moves quickly from one laugh to another. If you're older enough to remember the TV show Laugh In, that's the sort of brisk pace the Christmas Coup Players moves at.
The program broadcasts on the first Thursday of each month and WBAI is archiving all of its programming. C.I.'s going to add the Christmas Coup Players' own web site to the permalinks and you can also listen to archived programs via their own web site so I hope you'll sample the program. [Note: Permalink additions will be added either Sunday or Monday.]
Otherwise you might miss Condi Rice and Dick Cheney attempting to make sense of the crayon messages left by the Bully Boy. Here's a sample.
Ms. Rice: He wants lawn chairs outlawed?
Mr. Cheney: Well Cindy Sheehan came to Crawford with a lawn chair.
Ms. Rice: And she almost ruined the president's vacation.
[. . .]
Mr. Cheney: Terrorist children are the enemy and should be sent to bed without dessert or a tongue.
Ms. Rice: I see you've been reading the new Iraqi draft constitution, Dick.
I believe most of the Pacifica stations will be interrupting programming this week to broadcast the John Roberts, Jr. Supreme Court confirmation hearings live. Houston's KPFT has this announcement posted:
Hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts
Tuesday-Thursday, September 6-8
Tuesday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday: TBA; shows may go on, but hearings could continue.
Those are Central Times. Tuesday's live coverage will begin at noon EST, eleven a.m. Central and nine Pacific continuing through six EST, five Central and three p.m. Pacific. Wednesday's live broadcast will begin at nine EST, eight Central and six in the morning Pacific continuing through six p.m. EST, five p.m. Central and three p.m. Pacific.
If you'd like to listen, you can tune into your local Pacifica station over the air waves or listen online at the station's website or at the Pacifica home page.
I don't usually comment on Pacifica's Democracy Now! which broadcasts on radio, television and the web, due to the fact that is already covered here Monday through Friday in the mid-day entries as well as in the weekend entries done by Maria, Francisco or Miguel. However, I would like to note that Democracy Now!'s coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, like other coverage in the past, provided me with the issues that would later be picked up in the coverage of the mainstream media, much later in the case of Morning Edition, as well as issues that would have been otherwise ignored.
I'd like to close with Democracy Now!'s "Desperately Seeking Loved Ones Missing in New Orleans" in full. I think the voices heard bring perspective and, possibly, someone reading might have information on one or more of the missing persons:
JUAN GONZALEZ: We go now to people around the country who are searching for any word of loved ones that were in the path of hurricane Katrina. These are some of the voices of those who were desperately reaching out to family and friends lost in the destruction's wake.
"My name is Diana Rouchamp. I'm seeking information regarding Bereita Scott, a 87 -- 88-year-old woman from New Orleans, Louisiana, who lived in Ponchartrain Park. Please give me any information that you can where she is now, and give her my phone number. My number is (773) 613-6608. I love you. I'm so worried. Please -- please contact me. Have somebody tell me that you are okay."
"My name is Sally Tranin, and I'm looking for Jimmy Cahn. He lives in the French Quarter in a one-story house. I'm looking for his brother, Richard Cahn, who lives on DeSoto. We have three extra bedrooms, and we would like them to come and stay with us. Our phone number is area code (816) 753-0033, room 315."
"My name is Laurie Passer, and I am looking for my brother, Arthur Pastor. He lives in the New Orleans area either in New Orleans or somewhere surrounding. If anyone has any kind of information on his whereabouts, phone number, I don't have any information on him right now. So, if you could give me a call, my name is Laurie. My telephone number is 949 area code, 285-2554. That's for Arthur Pastor. Thank you."
"My name is Judy Landsey, I'm looking for my sister, Victoria Lenza, she lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans. She was last spoken to by telephone on Saturday. I do not know if she evacuated or if she waited out the storm. Anyone with any information regarding her whereabouts or her safety, please contact me at (630) 202-6970. Thank you."
"My name is Christina Lagman. I reside in California. We're looking for family around – both in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, and Gulfport, Mississippi. The surnames of family, is Lagman and Bryant, If anyone has any information of both families. We're missing approximately 50-plus family members. Please get a hold of us. Our family is very worried. You can contact us either by email at racechick99@aol.com. Or you call us directly at area code (951) 750-0104. Thank you very much. Any information will help. We do have houses, and assistance is available for our family. Please give us a call."
"My name is Steve Saucier. I'm looking for my brother. My brother is Denis Saucier. His was last at this address – 4131C Loire Drive in Chateau Estates, which is a section of Kenner, Louisiana. Dennis is approximately six feet tall, about 220 pounds, 54 years of age. Gray or black hair, thinning. He recently suffered strokes, and his vision is impaired as a result. Could you please contact Steve at (828) 289-4404."
"My name is Hilda White Singleton and I'm looking for my brother Arthur White, Edna White, August White Al White and my sister Gilda Cosby White and also, Ginell Sarin. From the night wall area. My brother was seen on the first clipping of CNN, the one on the roof with the green shirt. You can contact me at area code (972) 230-7070. Any information you could give me, I appreciate it. Thank you."
Other items
Members of Congress from both parties acknowledged on Friday that the federal response to Hurricane Katrina had fallen far short and promised hearings into what had gone wrong.
[. . .]
Before the House action, members of the Congressional Black Caucus strongly criticized the federal response to the hurricane, saying the government had abandoned many poor and frail victims, most of them members of minorities.
"Shame, shame on America," said Representative Diane Watson, Democrat of California. "We were put to the test, and we have failed."
Republican lawmakers were also critical, with Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana choking up during a news conference.
The above is from Carl Hulse's "Lawmakers of Both Parties Criticize U.S. Response" in this morning's New York Times and since Pat Roberts isn't cited as one of the Congressional members promising hearings, there's a good chance that they may happen. (A jab at the hearings on Iraq intell that we're all still waiting on.)
Eli e-mails to note Steven Greenhouse's "Wal-Mart Workers Are Finding a Voice Without a Union:"
Having failed to unionize any Wal-Marts, American labor unions have helped form a new and unusual type of workers' association to press Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to improve its wages and working conditions.
With its first beachhead in Central Florida, the two-month-old group is already battling Wal-Mart, the nation's largest corporation, over what it says is the company's practice of reducing the hours that many employees work, often from 40 a week to 34, 30 or even fewer, jeopardizing some workers' health benefits.
[. . .]
The association says it has nearly 200 current and former Wal-Mart workers and is growing by 30 workers a week. Members pay dues of $5 a month. In Florida, its membership includes workers from 30 stores in the Tampa, Orlando and St. Petersburg areas, and it is also seeking to enlist Wal-Mart employees in Texas.
Patrick e-mails to note Raymond Hernandez's "In Contrast to Rival, Clinton Has Her Man Stand by Her:"
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton brought her husband along to the New York State Fair on Friday, drawing a sharp contrast with her likeliest Republican rival in next year's Senate race, who has mostly kept her scandal-plagued husband out of public view since announcing her candidacy.
"I'm basically here because the senator told me to be here, and I do what I am told," the former president playfully told a luncheon crowd gathered in a banquet hall on the fairgrounds.
The carefully staged visit by the Clintons - which drew huge and enthusiastic crowds - was more than just another photo opportunity. It foreshadowed the active role that her advisers say Mr. Clinton will almost certainly play in his wife's re-election campaign, at a time when many Democrats are expressing a measure of nostalgia about his presidency in this period of Republican dominance in Washington.
Lily e-mails to note the Associated Press article entitled "Judge Allows Suits Against Bank for Paying Bombers' Relatives:"
A federal judge in Brooklyn yesterday upheld the validity of three lawsuits accusing Arab Bank, a Jordan-based bank with a branch in Manhattan, of promoting Palestinian suicide bombers by funneling Saudi money to bombers' families.
The judge, Nina Gershon of United States District Court, denied almost all of Arab Bank's motion to dismiss the litigation, allowing survivors of the bombings and victims' families to pursue suits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
The suits claim Arab Bank aided terrorism by acting as the administrator of an "insurance plan" by the Saudi Committee in Support of the Intifada Al Quds, which paid $5,300 to the families of Palestinian bombers.
The plaintiffs are United States citizens.
Moving outside the Times, Karen e-mails to note Michael Tisserand's "Living Like a Refugee" (The Nation):
Being a middle-class, white New Orleanian meant being constantly reminded of poverty. Unlike some other cities, New Orleans had no major geographical boundaries between wealth and ghetto; the city was an economic, racial and cultural patchwork. I never imagined those distinctions would someday dictate who would live and who would die.
A French Quarter bar manager named Bigfoot rode out Hurricane Katrina in the Iberville Project, the substandard public housing development that many of the French Quarter's waiters and busboys, dishwashers and maids called home.
He writes on his blog (www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor) that attempts by Iberville residents to flag down police resulted in guns being aimed. Here's what else he says: "The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single-file lines with the elderly in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians. The buses never stop."
And let's note Joel Bleifuss and Brian Cook's "Unnatural Disaster: How policy decisions doomed New Orleans" (In These Times):
White House Press Spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in response to questions about the devastating havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, "This is not a time for politics."
But with New Orleans now underwater, hundreds--if not thousands--dead and tens of thousands in desperate need of food, shelter and water, the natural question is: What could the federal government have done to lessen this catastrophe? The answer is all about politics.
The Bush administration, having done its best to realize Grover Norquist's dream of cutting government "to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub," for days watched impotently as citizens of New Orleans were drowned. It is a disaster that is largely the consequence of the policy decisions that the White House has made over the past five years.
Think of it as the article the New York Times should have run on Thursday.
Brady e-mails to note Danny Schechter's Friday News Dissector:
DAY 5: No more water; the fire this time. Explosions rock and illuminate the darkness of New Orleans -- some from exploding gas lines and some from gunfire. Another night in a wet and dangerous town that is quickly coming to resemble a war zone in the Third World. It is a place filled with angry and hungry people, people who have felt abandoned and been abandoned for a long time-- even as help is said to be finally on the way.
Was it global warming or a global warning or both? As a great poet once put it, when the center will not hold, things fall apart. And fall apart they have. Suddenly, the people thought to be sympathetic victims are being rebranded as predators. Protecting property and rescue workers seems to have become more of a priority than saving the beleagured in a town that is drowning -- literally.
And, yes, some of those people are in revolt, or acting out, or getting what they can, fighting back, sometimes in violent ways. The Washington Post speaks of a "city of despair and lawlessness." And what was it before the hurricane? Answer: a city of despair and lawlessness, one of the poorest and most violent cities in America, with a high unemployment, crime and murder rate, all "diseases" of poverty. One can acknowledge realities without endorsing them. Only now, these problems are out in the open as a new "insurgency" comes home.
Is not the chaos and fury in the streets in some way a reflection of the chaos in the suites of the agencies that have been so slow to respond? Of course, security is important. By all means. So is food.So is a government that cares.
Traumatized people can become savage in a savage situation so outside their control. What would you do when desperation amidst a sense of Armageddon strikes in an environment suffocating in all that heat and with all that fear?
The Bush people keep referencing the Bible -- and so, poof! We now have a Biblical moment to behold. It ain't pretty.
And Sharon e-mails to note, from Christine's Ms. Musing, Crystal Lander's "A Response and a Challenge to Leaders:"
I also cannot watch the news or read the papers without noticing the blatant racism in the portrayal of the people in New Orleans. White people walking out of stores with items are categorized as "searching for food," while Black people were "looting everything in sight."
Those lucky enough to get out the horrid conditions at the Superdome and Convention Center were only transferred to another disaster waiting to happen, the Houston Astrodome. Why were these people taken to just another large dome facility? Families cannot stay in a place like this very long. Toilets will back up and older people cannot sleep on cots. Many survivors are sick and distraught, and they need privacy. This is inhuman, and like one of the survivors said, "they are being treated like animals."
Houston has hundreds of motels and hotels. Why can't the richest government in the world pay for displaced Americans to stay in hotels, motel, or real temporary housing with showers and beds? The so-called refugees are displaced Americans with a government who should help.
I challenge the hotel chains to offer their empty rooms to Katrina's survivors and the owners of the apartment complexes to offer up their empty apartments and the government and non-profits should subsidize the cost with all the money they have raised. It will take months for the water to drain from New Orleans and even longer for residents to be able to return. Katrina's survivors need long-term solutions to their living conditions, not short-term stays at an old athletic stadium that has primarily served as an arena for rodeos and circuses in recent years (in fact my cousin and her church group helped to clean up the horse manure left behind to prepare for the survivors). Is this what the federal government thinks of the people of New Orleans, that only a place like this is good enough for them?
We've got Ruth's Morning Edition Report and Maria's Democracy Now! news summary that will be going up shortly. There have been problems with the Blogger program all morning. (The previous post was lost three times so if reads more disjointed than usual, that's why.) Before those go up, I'm going to take a shower and do some cross posting to the mirror site which is about six entries behind.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[. . .]
Before the House action, members of the Congressional Black Caucus strongly criticized the federal response to the hurricane, saying the government had abandoned many poor and frail victims, most of them members of minorities.
"Shame, shame on America," said Representative Diane Watson, Democrat of California. "We were put to the test, and we have failed."
Republican lawmakers were also critical, with Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana choking up during a news conference.
The above is from Carl Hulse's "Lawmakers of Both Parties Criticize U.S. Response" in this morning's New York Times and since Pat Roberts isn't cited as one of the Congressional members promising hearings, there's a good chance that they may happen. (A jab at the hearings on Iraq intell that we're all still waiting on.)
Eli e-mails to note Steven Greenhouse's "Wal-Mart Workers Are Finding a Voice Without a Union:"
Having failed to unionize any Wal-Marts, American labor unions have helped form a new and unusual type of workers' association to press Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to improve its wages and working conditions.
With its first beachhead in Central Florida, the two-month-old group is already battling Wal-Mart, the nation's largest corporation, over what it says is the company's practice of reducing the hours that many employees work, often from 40 a week to 34, 30 or even fewer, jeopardizing some workers' health benefits.
[. . .]
The association says it has nearly 200 current and former Wal-Mart workers and is growing by 30 workers a week. Members pay dues of $5 a month. In Florida, its membership includes workers from 30 stores in the Tampa, Orlando and St. Petersburg areas, and it is also seeking to enlist Wal-Mart employees in Texas.
Patrick e-mails to note Raymond Hernandez's "In Contrast to Rival, Clinton Has Her Man Stand by Her:"
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton brought her husband along to the New York State Fair on Friday, drawing a sharp contrast with her likeliest Republican rival in next year's Senate race, who has mostly kept her scandal-plagued husband out of public view since announcing her candidacy.
"I'm basically here because the senator told me to be here, and I do what I am told," the former president playfully told a luncheon crowd gathered in a banquet hall on the fairgrounds.
The carefully staged visit by the Clintons - which drew huge and enthusiastic crowds - was more than just another photo opportunity. It foreshadowed the active role that her advisers say Mr. Clinton will almost certainly play in his wife's re-election campaign, at a time when many Democrats are expressing a measure of nostalgia about his presidency in this period of Republican dominance in Washington.
Lily e-mails to note the Associated Press article entitled "Judge Allows Suits Against Bank for Paying Bombers' Relatives:"
A federal judge in Brooklyn yesterday upheld the validity of three lawsuits accusing Arab Bank, a Jordan-based bank with a branch in Manhattan, of promoting Palestinian suicide bombers by funneling Saudi money to bombers' families.
The judge, Nina Gershon of United States District Court, denied almost all of Arab Bank's motion to dismiss the litigation, allowing survivors of the bombings and victims' families to pursue suits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
The suits claim Arab Bank aided terrorism by acting as the administrator of an "insurance plan" by the Saudi Committee in Support of the Intifada Al Quds, which paid $5,300 to the families of Palestinian bombers.
The plaintiffs are United States citizens.
Moving outside the Times, Karen e-mails to note Michael Tisserand's "Living Like a Refugee" (The Nation):
Being a middle-class, white New Orleanian meant being constantly reminded of poverty. Unlike some other cities, New Orleans had no major geographical boundaries between wealth and ghetto; the city was an economic, racial and cultural patchwork. I never imagined those distinctions would someday dictate who would live and who would die.
A French Quarter bar manager named Bigfoot rode out Hurricane Katrina in the Iberville Project, the substandard public housing development that many of the French Quarter's waiters and busboys, dishwashers and maids called home.
He writes on his blog (www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor) that attempts by Iberville residents to flag down police resulted in guns being aimed. Here's what else he says: "The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single-file lines with the elderly in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians. The buses never stop."
And let's note Joel Bleifuss and Brian Cook's "Unnatural Disaster: How policy decisions doomed New Orleans" (In These Times):
White House Press Spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in response to questions about the devastating havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, "This is not a time for politics."
But with New Orleans now underwater, hundreds--if not thousands--dead and tens of thousands in desperate need of food, shelter and water, the natural question is: What could the federal government have done to lessen this catastrophe? The answer is all about politics.
The Bush administration, having done its best to realize Grover Norquist's dream of cutting government "to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub," for days watched impotently as citizens of New Orleans were drowned. It is a disaster that is largely the consequence of the policy decisions that the White House has made over the past five years.
Think of it as the article the New York Times should have run on Thursday.
Brady e-mails to note Danny Schechter's Friday News Dissector:
DAY 5: No more water; the fire this time. Explosions rock and illuminate the darkness of New Orleans -- some from exploding gas lines and some from gunfire. Another night in a wet and dangerous town that is quickly coming to resemble a war zone in the Third World. It is a place filled with angry and hungry people, people who have felt abandoned and been abandoned for a long time-- even as help is said to be finally on the way.
Was it global warming or a global warning or both? As a great poet once put it, when the center will not hold, things fall apart. And fall apart they have. Suddenly, the people thought to be sympathetic victims are being rebranded as predators. Protecting property and rescue workers seems to have become more of a priority than saving the beleagured in a town that is drowning -- literally.
And, yes, some of those people are in revolt, or acting out, or getting what they can, fighting back, sometimes in violent ways. The Washington Post speaks of a "city of despair and lawlessness." And what was it before the hurricane? Answer: a city of despair and lawlessness, one of the poorest and most violent cities in America, with a high unemployment, crime and murder rate, all "diseases" of poverty. One can acknowledge realities without endorsing them. Only now, these problems are out in the open as a new "insurgency" comes home.
Is not the chaos and fury in the streets in some way a reflection of the chaos in the suites of the agencies that have been so slow to respond? Of course, security is important. By all means. So is food.So is a government that cares.
Traumatized people can become savage in a savage situation so outside their control. What would you do when desperation amidst a sense of Armageddon strikes in an environment suffocating in all that heat and with all that fear?
The Bush people keep referencing the Bible -- and so, poof! We now have a Biblical moment to behold. It ain't pretty.
And Sharon e-mails to note, from Christine's Ms. Musing, Crystal Lander's "A Response and a Challenge to Leaders:"
I also cannot watch the news or read the papers without noticing the blatant racism in the portrayal of the people in New Orleans. White people walking out of stores with items are categorized as "searching for food," while Black people were "looting everything in sight."
Those lucky enough to get out the horrid conditions at the Superdome and Convention Center were only transferred to another disaster waiting to happen, the Houston Astrodome. Why were these people taken to just another large dome facility? Families cannot stay in a place like this very long. Toilets will back up and older people cannot sleep on cots. Many survivors are sick and distraught, and they need privacy. This is inhuman, and like one of the survivors said, "they are being treated like animals."
Houston has hundreds of motels and hotels. Why can't the richest government in the world pay for displaced Americans to stay in hotels, motel, or real temporary housing with showers and beds? The so-called refugees are displaced Americans with a government who should help.
I challenge the hotel chains to offer their empty rooms to Katrina's survivors and the owners of the apartment complexes to offer up their empty apartments and the government and non-profits should subsidize the cost with all the money they have raised. It will take months for the water to drain from New Orleans and even longer for residents to be able to return. Katrina's survivors need long-term solutions to their living conditions, not short-term stays at an old athletic stadium that has primarily served as an arena for rodeos and circuses in recent years (in fact my cousin and her church group helped to clean up the horse manure left behind to prepare for the survivors). Is this what the federal government thinks of the people of New Orleans, that only a place like this is good enough for them?
We've got Ruth's Morning Edition Report and Maria's Democracy Now! news summary that will be going up shortly. There have been problems with the Blogger program all morning. (The previous post was lost three times so if reads more disjointed than usual, that's why.) Before those go up, I'm going to take a shower and do some cross posting to the mirror site which is about six entries behind.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
NYT: Too busy planning cookouts to focus on the actual paper (I'm referring to the Times, not myself)
Former Senator Bob Dole issued a plea on Friday from Judith Miller, the reporter for The New York Times, her first public statement since being jailed in early July. After a luncheon address at the National Press Club, Mr. Dole read a letter given to him last week by Ms. Miller in which she repeated calls for the passage of a federal shield law that would enable journalists to protect their sources.
In her brief statement, Ms. Miller said that "the battle for freedom has many fronts" and mentioned that she was just one of more than 20 American journalists facing possible jail sentences for refusing to identify confidential sources.
The above is from Lynette Clemetson's "Bob Dole Issues Jailed Reporter's Plea"
in this morning's New York Times and we're spotlighting it for a reason. No, not just because, to put in language that the Times can understand, if Dole's their designated hitter, it's going to be a long nine innings.
Clemetson's presumably attempting to portray Judith Miller's case in a light that adds something new (it doesn't) and that makes you feel something for Miller (ditto). How she manages to miss Evonne Coutros' "Jailed reporter to miss tribute for her father" (North Jersey Media Giant) says a great deal about how badly the Times has mishandled the p.r.
Miller as dutiful daughter denied the right to see her late father honored wouldn't play universally. But the Times will never be able to reach some critics (and that's between them and Miller -- I'm not judging them). But the people the Times needs to reach are the ones who haven't been following the story closely and have had little interest in it. The apethetic and uninformed. A heart tugging tale (which, honestly, Clemetson might have been embarrassed to write but I'm sure there's someone at the paper who would grab it) about a daughter missing out on a tribute to her late father because she was standing on principle and being punished for it (I'm noting the way the article should be handled, not making my own personal case for Miller) would tug at the hearts. It's the sort of sob-story twist that maintains Miller iconic status (the I-Judy quality that infurates or delights) while also humanizing her in a way that casual readers would respond to.
The same people who get swept away in the "drama" of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston -- "It could be us, honey!" -- would relate to that angle.
But this is the same paper that also this morning files "U.N. Official Urges China to Deepen Commitment to Rights" (by Chris Buckley) without ever mentioning their own imprisoned employee. That an editor caught neither omission speaks to the fact that the paper's in holiday mode and not real concerned about what they print today.
It may also explain why Elisabeth Bumiller gets a solo byline on "Promises by Bush Amid the Tears." That's not a slam at Bumiller (note there's no intended humor in the following). Here's an excerpt from the article:
Mr. Bush flew back to Washington from New Orleans without paying a visit to the chaotic makeshift trauma center set up in one terminal at the airport, where many patients evacuated from the city's hospitals were dying before they could be airlifted to other cities.
For the first time, Mr. Bush acknowledged that the government response to the catastrophe had fallen short. "The results are not acceptable," the president said as he left the White House about 9 a.m., his face grim.
Later, however, after a walking tour of Point Cadet, a poor neighborhood of flattened one-story bungalows in Biloxi, Miss., Mr. Bush amended his remark to say, "I'm certainly not denigrating the efforts of anybody." He added, "I am satisfied with the response, I'm not satisfied with all the results."
[. . .]
Throughout his day, Mr. Bush did not address the shocking images of the desperate and dying on television, even when he was asked by a reporter in Biloxi "why the richest nation on earth can't get food and water to those people that need it."
Biloxi is a good portion of this article. But Bumiller's got a solo byline with a confusing end credit:
"Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Washington for this article. Kate Zernike contributed reporting from Biloxi, Miss." Due to the emphasis on Biloxi in the article (the second half of the article relies heavily on details from Biloxi), Zernike should have shared the byline. But the end credit makes it appear that Bumiller was in D.C. If so, are her observations of Bully Boy's New Orleans activities (or, more to the point, lack of activities) based on what she saw on TV?
I'm not saying that's the case, I am saying that's how the end credit makes it appear. Everyone's on holiday today and the paper isn't real concerned with how they portray themselves in text or credit apparently.
That's apparently also why there's no report in the paper regarding an event on television. Cedric e-mailed this Associated Press story (he found it at AOL) entitled "Rapper Takes Bush to Task During NBC Telethon: TV Networks Join Forces, Set Date to Air Hurricane Fundraiser:"
Rapper Kanye West surprised viewers of an NBC benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims on Friday by accusing President George W. Bush of racism.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said from New York during the show aired live on the East Coast on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, just before cameras cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
If you're new to the topic (no, I'm not referring to members), you can check out Democracy Now!'s "Race in New Orleans: Shaping the Response to Katrina?:"
JUAN GONZALEZ: Dr. Beverly Wright, while it is indeed true that federal officials had some major responsibility in this, there's also, I have been seeing reports statements from the governors of Mississippi and Louisiana that have shocked me in the way that they seem to be out of touch with even the reality going on in their own state.
DR. BEVERLY WRIGHT: I would say that this is true but I really believe that part of that is because communication is just not working. Nobody can communicate with anyone. My voice at this time, however, is, I'm of two minds. First there is the academic side of this voice, because I work at an historically black college and university. And I also worked as director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. We have been working with people for the last 15 years dealing with what we call environmental injustice. So, I see it in two ways as a person who was born and raised in New Orleans and loves the city very much, and on the other hand looking at what the response has been, not only to the tragedy of Katrina, but what the response has been now for years, the toxic exposure for people living in the Mississippi river chemical corridor. We have no emergency response for that. So, it's not surprising that the emergency response for this catastrophic situation seems to be non-existing. But what I really see happening is that people are not taking into consideration -- when I say people, I'm talking about the government. The pre-hurricane conditions of the city. Then we have to deal with what the post-hurricane conditions are, which are intrinsically tied to the pre-hurricane conditions. And then moving on to what we call the rebuilding stage, there are so many factors directly related to class and race, for those of us who live in New Orleans, it's mostly race and class follows race. It's because of our race that our class is what it is. People forget that New Orleans is 67% black. That's of the ones that are being counted. More than 50% of that 67% live below poverty. This is mostly driven by the economic base of the city, which is tourism. That means that low-paying jobs as waiters, dishwashers and cooks. Literally I would say that there's been a huge resistance to raising the minimum wage that would raise the quality of life for most of the people in New Orleans. A second part of that is that the poverty in New Orleans for the most part has been hidden. Because the people in New Orleans have a very long history they have been there since it was under control bit French and Spanish. So the history is long. That's why the culture in New Orleans is such -- is just so enticing, people want to come from all over the world for the music and the food. It has to do specifically with that history. But I am very concerned about what is happening since the hurricane.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
In her brief statement, Ms. Miller said that "the battle for freedom has many fronts" and mentioned that she was just one of more than 20 American journalists facing possible jail sentences for refusing to identify confidential sources.
The above is from Lynette Clemetson's "Bob Dole Issues Jailed Reporter's Plea"
in this morning's New York Times and we're spotlighting it for a reason. No, not just because, to put in language that the Times can understand, if Dole's their designated hitter, it's going to be a long nine innings.
Clemetson's presumably attempting to portray Judith Miller's case in a light that adds something new (it doesn't) and that makes you feel something for Miller (ditto). How she manages to miss Evonne Coutros' "Jailed reporter to miss tribute for her father" (North Jersey Media Giant) says a great deal about how badly the Times has mishandled the p.r.
Miller as dutiful daughter denied the right to see her late father honored wouldn't play universally. But the Times will never be able to reach some critics (and that's between them and Miller -- I'm not judging them). But the people the Times needs to reach are the ones who haven't been following the story closely and have had little interest in it. The apethetic and uninformed. A heart tugging tale (which, honestly, Clemetson might have been embarrassed to write but I'm sure there's someone at the paper who would grab it) about a daughter missing out on a tribute to her late father because she was standing on principle and being punished for it (I'm noting the way the article should be handled, not making my own personal case for Miller) would tug at the hearts. It's the sort of sob-story twist that maintains Miller iconic status (the I-Judy quality that infurates or delights) while also humanizing her in a way that casual readers would respond to.
The same people who get swept away in the "drama" of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston -- "It could be us, honey!" -- would relate to that angle.
But this is the same paper that also this morning files "U.N. Official Urges China to Deepen Commitment to Rights" (by Chris Buckley) without ever mentioning their own imprisoned employee. That an editor caught neither omission speaks to the fact that the paper's in holiday mode and not real concerned about what they print today.
It may also explain why Elisabeth Bumiller gets a solo byline on "Promises by Bush Amid the Tears." That's not a slam at Bumiller (note there's no intended humor in the following). Here's an excerpt from the article:
Mr. Bush flew back to Washington from New Orleans without paying a visit to the chaotic makeshift trauma center set up in one terminal at the airport, where many patients evacuated from the city's hospitals were dying before they could be airlifted to other cities.
For the first time, Mr. Bush acknowledged that the government response to the catastrophe had fallen short. "The results are not acceptable," the president said as he left the White House about 9 a.m., his face grim.
Later, however, after a walking tour of Point Cadet, a poor neighborhood of flattened one-story bungalows in Biloxi, Miss., Mr. Bush amended his remark to say, "I'm certainly not denigrating the efforts of anybody." He added, "I am satisfied with the response, I'm not satisfied with all the results."
[. . .]
Throughout his day, Mr. Bush did not address the shocking images of the desperate and dying on television, even when he was asked by a reporter in Biloxi "why the richest nation on earth can't get food and water to those people that need it."
Biloxi is a good portion of this article. But Bumiller's got a solo byline with a confusing end credit:
"Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Washington for this article. Kate Zernike contributed reporting from Biloxi, Miss." Due to the emphasis on Biloxi in the article (the second half of the article relies heavily on details from Biloxi), Zernike should have shared the byline. But the end credit makes it appear that Bumiller was in D.C. If so, are her observations of Bully Boy's New Orleans activities (or, more to the point, lack of activities) based on what she saw on TV?
I'm not saying that's the case, I am saying that's how the end credit makes it appear. Everyone's on holiday today and the paper isn't real concerned with how they portray themselves in text or credit apparently.
That's apparently also why there's no report in the paper regarding an event on television. Cedric e-mailed this Associated Press story (he found it at AOL) entitled "Rapper Takes Bush to Task During NBC Telethon: TV Networks Join Forces, Set Date to Air Hurricane Fundraiser:"
Rapper Kanye West surprised viewers of an NBC benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims on Friday by accusing President George W. Bush of racism.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said from New York during the show aired live on the East Coast on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, just before cameras cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
If you're new to the topic (no, I'm not referring to members), you can check out Democracy Now!'s "Race in New Orleans: Shaping the Response to Katrina?:"
JUAN GONZALEZ: Dr. Beverly Wright, while it is indeed true that federal officials had some major responsibility in this, there's also, I have been seeing reports statements from the governors of Mississippi and Louisiana that have shocked me in the way that they seem to be out of touch with even the reality going on in their own state.
DR. BEVERLY WRIGHT: I would say that this is true but I really believe that part of that is because communication is just not working. Nobody can communicate with anyone. My voice at this time, however, is, I'm of two minds. First there is the academic side of this voice, because I work at an historically black college and university. And I also worked as director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. We have been working with people for the last 15 years dealing with what we call environmental injustice. So, I see it in two ways as a person who was born and raised in New Orleans and loves the city very much, and on the other hand looking at what the response has been, not only to the tragedy of Katrina, but what the response has been now for years, the toxic exposure for people living in the Mississippi river chemical corridor. We have no emergency response for that. So, it's not surprising that the emergency response for this catastrophic situation seems to be non-existing. But what I really see happening is that people are not taking into consideration -- when I say people, I'm talking about the government. The pre-hurricane conditions of the city. Then we have to deal with what the post-hurricane conditions are, which are intrinsically tied to the pre-hurricane conditions. And then moving on to what we call the rebuilding stage, there are so many factors directly related to class and race, for those of us who live in New Orleans, it's mostly race and class follows race. It's because of our race that our class is what it is. People forget that New Orleans is 67% black. That's of the ones that are being counted. More than 50% of that 67% live below poverty. This is mostly driven by the economic base of the city, which is tourism. That means that low-paying jobs as waiters, dishwashers and cooks. Literally I would say that there's been a huge resistance to raising the minimum wage that would raise the quality of life for most of the people in New Orleans. A second part of that is that the poverty in New Orleans for the most part has been hidden. Because the people in New Orleans have a very long history they have been there since it was under control bit French and Spanish. So the history is long. That's why the culture in New Orleans is such -- is just so enticing, people want to come from all over the world for the music and the food. It has to do specifically with that history. But I am very concerned about what is happening since the hurricane.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Air America weekend line up: Ted Kennedy, Jill Nelson, Herbie Hancock, Marianne Williamson, Donele Wilkins, Loudon Wainwright III ....
Here's the Air America Radio weekend schedule (from their home page):
Liberal Arts
Saturday 1pm-2pm ET.
It's the final show in this summer series of Liberal Arts and host Katherine Lanpher is joined by two artists who are meticulous in their craft: best-selling author Melissa Bank ("The Wonder Spot") and songsmith legend Jimmy Webb ("Twilight of the Renegades").
Ring of Fire
Saturdays 5pm-7pm ET. Rebroadcast Sundays 3pm-5pm
It's Labor Day weekend, but what does the American worker have to celebrate? Stewart Acuff, national organizing director of the AFL-CIO, joins Mike to look for the pulse of the labor movement. Plus, former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy" on the battle against factory farms; and Susan Jacoby, author of a recent article in the American Prospect magazine called "Reason Before Religion," on neo-cons.The Pap Attack: Bad Luck Bush
The Laura Flanders Show
Saturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ET
Saturday: This weekend, the latest news and eyewitness reports from the Gulf Coast. We'll hear insights from Black Environmental Justice Coalition founder Damu Smith and journalist-author Jill Nelson will discuss the media's hurricane coverage, what home really means and more. Plus, Salon's Michael Scherer on why Big Business wants John Roberts on the Supreme Court.
Sunday: The live reports continue, including Stan Tiner, editorial page editor of the Sun Herald of Biloxi, MS, and Rich Campbell, editorial page editor of the Hattiesburg American of Hattiesburg, MS. Plus, Pratap Chatterjee tells us about the political appointees who went from Iraq to FEMA; Donele Wilkins, National Co Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network on efforts to help storm victims; and in-studio historian-musicologist Ned Sublette, who's been writing a cultural history of New Orleans.
The Kyle Jason Show
Saturdays 10pm-Midnight ET
This Saturday night, Kyle hones in on one of the most important and influential jazz piansts and composers: Herbie Hancock.
Ecotalk
Sundays 7-8 am ET
Besty continues with Part 2 of the Sierra Summit Preview series with guests Larry Fahn, immediate past-president of the Club, Marshal Ganz, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, and William McDonough, Summit keynoter, eco-architect, author and status quo challenger.
So What Else is News?
Sunday 8am-10am ET
Join host Marty Kaplan for his final show this Sunday.
Mother Jones Radio
Sundays 1pm-2pm ET
Guest Hosted by Peter Laufer and Jay Harris, publisher of Mother Jones magazine.
Despite what President Bush says, a disaster on the Gulf Coast has been predicted for years. We'll talk to journalist William Bunch, who says the Iraq war pulled funds away from flood prevention programs in New Orleans, and Mike Dunne of the Baton Rouge Advocate, who has written for two decades about Louisiana's vulnerability to hurricanes and flooding. Then, Ginger Ferguson, director of the Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless of Brevard County, FL, tells us about the difficulty of providing aid after natural disasters and Lainey Poche, a Louisiana National Guard sergeant stationed in Baghdad, is watching the crisis on TV, wishing she were home.
Politically Direct
Sundays 2pm-3pm ETIt's a full house this Sunday on Politically Direct: an exclusive interview with Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the catastrophe along the Gulf Coast, the war in Iraq and the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the John Roberts nomination. Also, David talks with author and activist Marianne Williamson about her proposal for a cabinet-level Department of Peace and with Air America's own Chuck D, host of On The Real.
Ring of Fire
Rebroadcast Sundays 3pm-5pm
It's Labor Day weekend, but what does the American worker have to celebrate? Stewart Acuff, national organizing director of the AFL-CIO, joins Mike to look for the pulse of the labor movement. Plus, former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy" on the battle against factory farms; and Susan Jacoby, author of a recent article in the American Prospect magazine called "Reason Before Religion," on neo-cons.The Pap Attack: Bad Luck Bush
The Laura Flanders Show
Saturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ET
Sunday: The live reports continue, including Stan Tiner, editorial page editor of the Sun Herald of Biloxi, MS, and Rich Campbell, editorial page editor of the Hattiesburg American of Hattiesburg, MS. Plus, Pratap Chatterjee tells us about the political appointees who went from Iraq to FEMA; Donele Wilkins, National Co Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network on efforts to help storm victims; and in-studio historian-musicologist Ned Sublette, who's been writing a cultural history of New Orleans.
The Revolution Starts...Now
Sundays 10pm-11pm ET
Steve sits down with Loudon Wainwright III, who's latest album is "Here come the Choppers." Picks include: Tom Leherer, Peter Blegvad, Iris Dement, Townes Van Zandt and Paul Siebel.
On the Real
Sundays 11pm -1 am ET
[No information provided on Chuck D and Gia'na Garel's show at the home page.]
Remember, you can listen over broadcast radio (if there's an AAR in your area), via XM Satellite Radio (channel 167) or listen online.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Liberal Arts
Saturday 1pm-2pm ET.
It's the final show in this summer series of Liberal Arts and host Katherine Lanpher is joined by two artists who are meticulous in their craft: best-selling author Melissa Bank ("The Wonder Spot") and songsmith legend Jimmy Webb ("Twilight of the Renegades").
Ring of Fire
Saturdays 5pm-7pm ET. Rebroadcast Sundays 3pm-5pm
It's Labor Day weekend, but what does the American worker have to celebrate? Stewart Acuff, national organizing director of the AFL-CIO, joins Mike to look for the pulse of the labor movement. Plus, former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy" on the battle against factory farms; and Susan Jacoby, author of a recent article in the American Prospect magazine called "Reason Before Religion," on neo-cons.The Pap Attack: Bad Luck Bush
The Laura Flanders Show
Saturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ET
Saturday: This weekend, the latest news and eyewitness reports from the Gulf Coast. We'll hear insights from Black Environmental Justice Coalition founder Damu Smith and journalist-author Jill Nelson will discuss the media's hurricane coverage, what home really means and more. Plus, Salon's Michael Scherer on why Big Business wants John Roberts on the Supreme Court.
Sunday: The live reports continue, including Stan Tiner, editorial page editor of the Sun Herald of Biloxi, MS, and Rich Campbell, editorial page editor of the Hattiesburg American of Hattiesburg, MS. Plus, Pratap Chatterjee tells us about the political appointees who went from Iraq to FEMA; Donele Wilkins, National Co Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network on efforts to help storm victims; and in-studio historian-musicologist Ned Sublette, who's been writing a cultural history of New Orleans.
The Kyle Jason Show
Saturdays 10pm-Midnight ET
This Saturday night, Kyle hones in on one of the most important and influential jazz piansts and composers: Herbie Hancock.
Ecotalk
Sundays 7-8 am ET
Besty continues with Part 2 of the Sierra Summit Preview series with guests Larry Fahn, immediate past-president of the Club, Marshal Ganz, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, and William McDonough, Summit keynoter, eco-architect, author and status quo challenger.
So What Else is News?
Sunday 8am-10am ET
Join host Marty Kaplan for his final show this Sunday.
Mother Jones Radio
Sundays 1pm-2pm ET
Guest Hosted by Peter Laufer and Jay Harris, publisher of Mother Jones magazine.
Despite what President Bush says, a disaster on the Gulf Coast has been predicted for years. We'll talk to journalist William Bunch, who says the Iraq war pulled funds away from flood prevention programs in New Orleans, and Mike Dunne of the Baton Rouge Advocate, who has written for two decades about Louisiana's vulnerability to hurricanes and flooding. Then, Ginger Ferguson, director of the Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless of Brevard County, FL, tells us about the difficulty of providing aid after natural disasters and Lainey Poche, a Louisiana National Guard sergeant stationed in Baghdad, is watching the crisis on TV, wishing she were home.
Politically Direct
Sundays 2pm-3pm ETIt's a full house this Sunday on Politically Direct: an exclusive interview with Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the catastrophe along the Gulf Coast, the war in Iraq and the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the John Roberts nomination. Also, David talks with author and activist Marianne Williamson about her proposal for a cabinet-level Department of Peace and with Air America's own Chuck D, host of On The Real.
Ring of Fire
Rebroadcast Sundays 3pm-5pm
It's Labor Day weekend, but what does the American worker have to celebrate? Stewart Acuff, national organizing director of the AFL-CIO, joins Mike to look for the pulse of the labor movement. Plus, former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy" on the battle against factory farms; and Susan Jacoby, author of a recent article in the American Prospect magazine called "Reason Before Religion," on neo-cons.The Pap Attack: Bad Luck Bush
The Laura Flanders Show
Saturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ET
Sunday: The live reports continue, including Stan Tiner, editorial page editor of the Sun Herald of Biloxi, MS, and Rich Campbell, editorial page editor of the Hattiesburg American of Hattiesburg, MS. Plus, Pratap Chatterjee tells us about the political appointees who went from Iraq to FEMA; Donele Wilkins, National Co Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network on efforts to help storm victims; and in-studio historian-musicologist Ned Sublette, who's been writing a cultural history of New Orleans.
The Revolution Starts...Now
Sundays 10pm-11pm ET
Steve sits down with Loudon Wainwright III, who's latest album is "Here come the Choppers." Picks include: Tom Leherer, Peter Blegvad, Iris Dement, Townes Van Zandt and Paul Siebel.
On the Real
Sundays 11pm -1 am ET
[No information provided on Chuck D and Gia'na Garel's show at the home page.]
Remember, you can listen over broadcast radio (if there's an AAR in your area), via XM Satellite Radio (channel 167) or listen online.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Sunday Chat & Chews
Sunday Chat & Chews, can't trust those shows.
Sunday Chat & Chews, puts you to sleep even on NoDoz
(Sing it to the tune of John Phillips' "Monday, Monday" available on many Mamas & Papas collections as well as on their debut album: If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears.)
Check your local listings . . . to find out whether Lost World, Beast Master or Antique Road Show air at the same times. (Sunday morning competition is just so fierce!)
For a change, ABC's This Week was the first out of the gate so we'll start with them. Joining the Georges will be:
Sen. Mary Landrieu, Louis. Dem
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security
Rick Bragg, reporter
Howell Raines, former editor of the New York Times ("and a New Orleans native" -- I believe they forgot to put in the multiple exclamation points)
The roundtable will consist of dueling Georges, Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cokie Roberts (who discovered this week, apparently, that she wasn't a "kid" although she was still apparently immature enough to attempt to hide behind Mommy to justify her lack of interest in covering New Orleans).
NBC is billing their upcoming Meet the Press as a "Special Edition." Awww. But aren't they all?
Really now, aren't they all? A special show can have challenges but, judging by the fact that so many still watch, they can have their own rewards as well. Such as witnessing, with each passing year, the ever increasing resemblance Tim Russert bears to Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame.
I think they should bill the episode not as a "Special Edition" but as an "Extra Special Edition."
After all, they're bringing you the same topics as This Week. (No fair claiming otherwise, This Week was first out of the gate and beat Meet the Press by over three hours.) They also, as they continue to attempt to see who blinks first, give you Michael Chertoff.
Stop drooling on those silk screen pillow cases with the jeans clad, bare chested photos of Chertoff, everybody -- Mr. No Stuff will be front and center on your TV screens on two, count 'em two, of the Sunday Chat & Chews!
Joining him on Meet the Press will be:
MARK FISCHETTI
Contributing Editor, Scientific American
Author, "Drowning New Orleans"
MARC MORIAL
President and CEO,
National Urban League
Former Mayor, City of New Orleans
MIKE TIDWELL
Author,
"Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life & Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast"
DAVID WESSEL
Deputy Washington Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal
Note that unlike This Week (which sports two females in the roundtable), Meet the Press declares permanent membership on the security council of Spanky's Women Haters club by devoting yet another hour to an all male group of guests. As Bette Davis once told a whimpering, runny nosed Tim Russert, "It ain't for sissies!" (Well, she should have told him that.)
Over at Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer devotes the half-hour to the under-reported story of the impetus behind Brad Pitt's pursuit of the Billy Idol look. Join Bob, the pitted Brad and Jose Eber for tips on conditioners, gels and hot oil treatments as Jose beseeches Schieffer to just "Shake your head, darling."
I joke. I kid. But why? Well Dallas went to the site and reports when you click on "Who's Next on Face" ("Face" -- they kill us!) not only do they not provide you with any information on this week's guest, they still haven't updated the listing since August 21st.
You read that correctly. In this age of "accelerated information" Face the Nation is running two weeks behind. (Don't blame the Manny. He's working on the Public Eye.) (And Natalie, your "Dear Penthouse Forum"-esque e-mails pondering what sort of a show it would be if it starred The Manny and was called the Pubic Eye, though filled with an abundance of detail, are probably better left to your own late night fantasies!) (I will, however, forward them to Rebecca when she returns from her vacation this weekend.)
Doubting Dallas, are you? Click here and read:
August 21, 2005
Host:
CBS Evening News Anchor Bob Schieffer
Topics:
Gas Prices, Real Estate Bubble, Economy
Guests:
Glenn Hubbard
Dean, Columbia Business School
Former Chairman, White House Council Of Economic Advisers
Robert Reich
Professor Of Social And Economic Policy, Brandeis University
Former Secretary of Labor
Mike Allen
The Washington Post
Anne Kornblut
The New York Times
There is behind the times and then there is prehistoric. While others traverse the "information highway," "Face" sticks to tooling down the service roads. ("Face," "Public Eye," Natalie do not even bother e-mailing to venture what a CBS show entitled "Crotch" and starring Montopoli would be like. Consider those thoughts the lambada of the fantasy world -- e.g. "forbidden.")
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: I'm joking re: Natalie, with her permission. Note also that I've corrected the typos Shirley caught. Thank you, Shirley.]
Sunday Chat & Chews, puts you to sleep even on NoDoz
(Sing it to the tune of John Phillips' "Monday, Monday" available on many Mamas & Papas collections as well as on their debut album: If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears.)
Check your local listings . . . to find out whether Lost World, Beast Master or Antique Road Show air at the same times. (Sunday morning competition is just so fierce!)
For a change, ABC's This Week was the first out of the gate so we'll start with them. Joining the Georges will be:
Sen. Mary Landrieu, Louis. Dem
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security
Rick Bragg, reporter
Howell Raines, former editor of the New York Times ("and a New Orleans native" -- I believe they forgot to put in the multiple exclamation points)
The roundtable will consist of dueling Georges, Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cokie Roberts (who discovered this week, apparently, that she wasn't a "kid" although she was still apparently immature enough to attempt to hide behind Mommy to justify her lack of interest in covering New Orleans).
NBC is billing their upcoming Meet the Press as a "Special Edition." Awww. But aren't they all?
Really now, aren't they all? A special show can have challenges but, judging by the fact that so many still watch, they can have their own rewards as well. Such as witnessing, with each passing year, the ever increasing resemblance Tim Russert bears to Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame.
I think they should bill the episode not as a "Special Edition" but as an "Extra Special Edition."
After all, they're bringing you the same topics as This Week. (No fair claiming otherwise, This Week was first out of the gate and beat Meet the Press by over three hours.) They also, as they continue to attempt to see who blinks first, give you Michael Chertoff.
Stop drooling on those silk screen pillow cases with the jeans clad, bare chested photos of Chertoff, everybody -- Mr. No Stuff will be front and center on your TV screens on two, count 'em two, of the Sunday Chat & Chews!
Joining him on Meet the Press will be:
MARK FISCHETTI
Contributing Editor, Scientific American
Author, "Drowning New Orleans"
MARC MORIAL
President and CEO,
National Urban League
Former Mayor, City of New Orleans
MIKE TIDWELL
Author,
"Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life & Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast"
DAVID WESSEL
Deputy Washington Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal
Note that unlike This Week (which sports two females in the roundtable), Meet the Press declares permanent membership on the security council of Spanky's Women Haters club by devoting yet another hour to an all male group of guests. As Bette Davis once told a whimpering, runny nosed Tim Russert, "It ain't for sissies!" (Well, she should have told him that.)
Over at Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer devotes the half-hour to the under-reported story of the impetus behind Brad Pitt's pursuit of the Billy Idol look. Join Bob, the pitted Brad and Jose Eber for tips on conditioners, gels and hot oil treatments as Jose beseeches Schieffer to just "Shake your head, darling."
I joke. I kid. But why? Well Dallas went to the site and reports when you click on "Who's Next on Face" ("Face" -- they kill us!) not only do they not provide you with any information on this week's guest, they still haven't updated the listing since August 21st.
You read that correctly. In this age of "accelerated information" Face the Nation is running two weeks behind. (Don't blame the Manny. He's working on the Public Eye.) (And Natalie, your "Dear Penthouse Forum"-esque e-mails pondering what sort of a show it would be if it starred The Manny and was called the Pubic Eye, though filled with an abundance of detail, are probably better left to your own late night fantasies!) (I will, however, forward them to Rebecca when she returns from her vacation this weekend.)
Doubting Dallas, are you? Click here and read:
August 21, 2005
Host:
CBS Evening News Anchor Bob Schieffer
Topics:
Gas Prices, Real Estate Bubble, Economy
Guests:
Glenn Hubbard
Dean, Columbia Business School
Former Chairman, White House Council Of Economic Advisers
Robert Reich
Professor Of Social And Economic Policy, Brandeis University
Former Secretary of Labor
Mike Allen
The Washington Post
Anne Kornblut
The New York Times
There is behind the times and then there is prehistoric. While others traverse the "information highway," "Face" sticks to tooling down the service roads. ("Face," "Public Eye," Natalie do not even bother e-mailing to venture what a CBS show entitled "Crotch" and starring Montopoli would be like. Consider those thoughts the lambada of the fantasy world -- e.g. "forbidden.")
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: I'm joking re: Natalie, with her permission. Note also that I've corrected the typos Shirley caught. Thank you, Shirley.]
The Times In House Poet (Somini Sengupta) offered new verse Friday
Community member P.J. (Professional Journalist) as usual caught what I missed in today's New York Times, the return to form of the Times own in-house poet: Somini Sengupta.
The Times poet laureate teams with Hari Kumar to offer a free verse, tome poem, "Unending Civil Conflict Makes Life Grim in Indian State," from a fugue state (state of mind, people, state of mind -- the physical dateline reads India):
A garland of red hibiscus
adorned the dead man's portrait,
and provisions for the afterlife
were laid out
for the mourners to see:
new slippers and towel,
a white undershirt,
dessert plates
piled high with bananas
and sugar-cane
candy.
Rameshwar Ahanthem, 26,
a day laborer
mistaken for a guerrilla,
was beaten to death
by Indian troops.
His killing came
under the aegis of a law
that gives Indian troops
extraordinary powers
to quash
ethnic insurgencies
in this part of the country.
His funeral rite
on a midsummer afternoon
offered a snapshot
of the routine,
gnawing anguish
of daily life
in the remote
and forgotten
state of Manipur.
P.J. notes that among the poetic license taken is the brush off/dismissal of two-hundred deaths a year:
The conflict here is more remarkable for its stamina than its death toll: roughly 200 people a year have been killed in the last few years, according to official statistics, far fewer than in Kashmir, for instance.
I like to think of it as toying with concrete examples to make the intangible even more obscure.
More Sengupta poetry can be found in "Somini Sengupta, the New York Times in house poet" and "Clubbing with the New York Times."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
The Times poet laureate teams with Hari Kumar to offer a free verse, tome poem, "Unending Civil Conflict Makes Life Grim in Indian State," from a fugue state (state of mind, people, state of mind -- the physical dateline reads India):
A garland of red hibiscus
adorned the dead man's portrait,
and provisions for the afterlife
were laid out
for the mourners to see:
new slippers and towel,
a white undershirt,
dessert plates
piled high with bananas
and sugar-cane
candy.
Rameshwar Ahanthem, 26,
a day laborer
mistaken for a guerrilla,
was beaten to death
by Indian troops.
His killing came
under the aegis of a law
that gives Indian troops
extraordinary powers
to quash
ethnic insurgencies
in this part of the country.
His funeral rite
on a midsummer afternoon
offered a snapshot
of the routine,
gnawing anguish
of daily life
in the remote
and forgotten
state of Manipur.
P.J. notes that among the poetic license taken is the brush off/dismissal of two-hundred deaths a year:
The conflict here is more remarkable for its stamina than its death toll: roughly 200 people a year have been killed in the last few years, according to official statistics, far fewer than in Kashmir, for instance.
I like to think of it as toying with concrete examples to make the intangible even more obscure.
More Sengupta poetry can be found in "Somini Sengupta, the New York Times in house poet" and "Clubbing with the New York Times."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Democracy Now: Hurricane Katrina; Norman Solomon, Christine Cupaiuolo, Lenora (Musings & Migraines), Roland S. Martin ...
Top City Official Blasts FEMA: "This Is A National Disgrace"
The head of New Orleans' emergency operations blasted the federal government and FEMA for its slow response. The official Terry Ebbert said "This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace." Ebbert went on to say "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans." Ebbert said "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane."
The head of New Orleans' emergency operations blasted the federal government and FEMA for its slow response. The official Terry Ebbert said "This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace." Ebbert went on to say "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans." Ebbert said "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane."
Bush Officials Criticized For Staying On Vacation
Criticism is also mounting over the Bush administration's handling of the crisis. President Bush didn't return from his vacation until Wednesday and several other top officials remain on summer breaks. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been vacationing in New York City but returned to Washington on Thursday. Meanwhile Vice President Dick Cheney has been in Wyoming and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has been in Maine.
Criticism is also mounting over the Bush administration's handling of the crisis. President Bush didn't return from his vacation until Wednesday and several other top officials remain on summer breaks. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been vacationing in New York City but returned to Washington on Thursday. Meanwhile Vice President Dick Cheney has been in Wyoming and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has been in Maine.
The two items above are from today's Democracy Now!'s Headlines and were selected by Kendrick, Denise and Marci (Kendrick and Marci both selected the second item). Democracy Now! ("always worth watching," as Marcia says):
Headlines for September 2, 2005
- New Orleans Mayor Sends "Desperate SOS" To Nation
- Federal Aid Arrives Days Late In Biloxi, MS
- Nightmarish Conditions Reported at City Convention Center
- Top City Official Blasts FEMA: "This Is A National Disgrace"
- Governor Gives Troops Shoot-to-Kill Orders
- White House: National Guard Won't Return From Iraq
- FEMA Suggests Donor Gives To Pat Robertson's Charity
- New Orleans Mayor Sends "Desperate SOS" To Nation
- Federal Aid Arrives Days Late In Biloxi, MS
- Nightmarish Conditions Reported at City Convention Center
- Top City Official Blasts FEMA: "This Is A National Disgrace"
- Governor Gives Troops Shoot-to-Kill Orders
- White House: National Guard Won't Return From Iraq
- FEMA Suggests Donor Gives To Pat Robertson's Charity
Nightmarish Scenes at New Orleans Convention Center
We begin our special coverage of Hurricane Katrina by going to New Orleans to hear the voices of refugees stranded outside the city's Convention Center. As camera crews passed by on Thursday hundreds of stranded people started chanting for help.
We begin our special coverage of Hurricane Katrina by going to New Orleans to hear the voices of refugees stranded outside the city's Convention Center. As camera crews passed by on Thursday hundreds of stranded people started chanting for help.
Daily News Reporter in New Orleans: Scope of Destruction Much Worse Than 9/11
We go to New Orleans to speak with New York Daily News reporter Tamer El-Ghobashy. He reports from outside one of the main refugee centers in New Orleans - the Super Dome, where as many as 30,000 people sought shelter.
We go to New Orleans to speak with New York Daily News reporter Tamer El-Ghobashy. He reports from outside one of the main refugee centers in New Orleans - the Super Dome, where as many as 30,000 people sought shelter.
White House Response to Gulf Coast Disaster Sparks Criticism
President Bush is coming under increasing criticism for his slow response to what is now being described as one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history. We play some of the president's remarks as well as excerpts from a White House news conference.
President Bush is coming under increasing criticism for his slow response to what is now being described as one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history. We play some of the president's remarks as well as excerpts from a White House news conference.
Race in New Orleans: Shaping the Response to Katrina?
Race and class loom large in the critical discussion of the federal response to the impact of hurricane Katrina. We speak with two African-American activists about the poor communities that have been hit hardest by the hurricane.
Race and class loom large in the critical discussion of the federal response to the impact of hurricane Katrina. We speak with two African-American activists about the poor communities that have been hit hardest by the hurricane.
Desperately Seeking Loved Ones Missing in New Orleans
With communication lines down in the areas hit by the hurricane, there are thousands of people with no word about their loved ones in the area. We hear the voices of worried family and friends broadcasting their messages to those missing. [includes rush transcript]
With communication lines down in the areas hit by the hurricane, there are thousands of people with no word about their loved ones in the area. We hear the voices of worried family and friends broadcasting their messages to those missing. [includes rush transcript]
Historian: Government Relief Efforts to 1927 Mississippi Flood Faster Than Katrina
We go back to the spring of 1927 when the Mississippi River flooded after weeks of incessant rains. While the federal government response was well-coordinated, African Americans were rounded into work camps by land owners and prevented from leaving as the waters rose.
We go back to the spring of 1927 when the Mississippi River flooded after weeks of incessant rains. While the federal government response was well-coordinated, African Americans were rounded into work camps by land owners and prevented from leaving as the waters rose.
Tim e-mails to note Norman Solomon's "Ending the Impunity of the Bush White House" (CounterPunch):
The man in the Oval Office is fond of condemning "killers." But his administration continues to kill with impunity.
"They can go into Iraq and do this and do that," Martha Madden, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said Thursday, "but they can't drop some food on Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now? It's just mind-boggling."
The policies are matters of priorities. And the priorities of the Bush White House are clear. For killing in Iraq, they spare no expense. For protecting and sustaining life, the cupboards go bare.
The problem is not incompetence. It's inhumanity, cruelty and greed.
Media outlets have popularized some tactical critiques of U.S. military operations in Iraq. But the administration is competent enough to keep the military-industrial complex humming. It's good at generating huge profits for "defense" contractors, oil companies and the like. First things first, and first things last.
Why shore up levees when the precious money it would take can be better used for war in Iraq? Why allow National Guard units to remain home when they can be useful, killing and being killed, in a faraway war based on lies?
And when catastrophe hits people close to home, why should the president respond with urgency or adequacy if their lives don't figure as truly important in his political calculus?
It's time to end the impunity of President George W. Bush.
Susan e-mails to note Christine's "Class, Race and Katrina: A Perfect Storm" (Ms. Musing):
Frustrated at the news coverage of Katrina on Monday night, Bernie at PopPolitics wrote about the two things missing most: "The context that no one dares report is that this is about race and class." It's something that's been bothering a lot of us who are trying to make sense of the images we're seeing and the narratives that are constructed.
Over at Slate, Jack Schaefer asks the same questions and responds with some apparently provocative ideas (see reader reaction) as to why the majority of the media isn't discussing what is obvious to anyone watching.
Race remains largely untouchable for TV because broadcasters sense that they can't make an error without destroying careers. That's a true pity. If the subject were a little less taboo, one of last night's anchors could have asked a reporter, "Can you explain to our viewers, who by now have surely noticed, why 99 percent of the New Orleans evacuees we're seeing are African-American? I suppose our viewers have noticed, too, that the provocative looting footage we're airing and re-airing seems to depict mostly African-Americans."
If the reporter on the ground couldn't answer the questions, a researcher could have Nexised the New Orleans Times-Picayune five-parter from 2002, "Washing Away," which reported that the city's 100,000 residents without private transportation were likely to be stranded by a big storm. In other words, what's happening is what was expected to happen: The poor didn't get out in time.
Even the mention of class and race is enough to throw some readers into a flurry. On the Slate message boards, the piece has been dismissed as "race-obsessed liberal commentary" and one poster suggests that Schaefer thinks Katrina itself was racist. What they refuse to acknowledge is they are participating in a long conservative history of denying race -- which is of course intertwined with class -- as a determining factor in American life. But Katrina exposed that perspective for what it is: a lie. Race matters. Often tragically so.
Over at The Daily Howler . . . Bob Somerby writes:
We've spent a lot of time watching the coverage--and observing the commentary on the web. No, one photo caption which used the word "finding" doesn't tell you how news orgs have handled the topic of looting. But it feels very good to make the claim, and as our liberal intelligence continued to be breached, this silly (but pleasing) claim spread all through the provinces.
We didn't note what he's talking about here largely because everyone was talking about so I assume everyone knows of it. But to recap, Associated Press ran two photos. In fact, Danny Schechter has an e-mail about that today at News Dissector, so let's go there:
Dahni-El Giles writes to his "friends in the news:"
" I hope this is brief message is worth your time. If possible, I am hoping to get attention of someone who has ready access to news outlets.
"There are two pictures being spun of people ravaging for food in theaftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In the attached document are pictures from Associated Press at the Yahoo News. In the document, a picture of a 'white' couple is shown wading in the water having foraged forfood and supplies in a grocery store. There is also a picture of a 'black' couple shown wading in the water after having 'looted' a store.
"Fact: I am unaware of the basis of either party's venture to the store. Within the captions, there is no discernible difference between the two trips except for the word 'loot.' With no other information provided about the pictures, how are they different? In my opinion, the connotations of the captions under are serious. In a time of extreme emergency, a story should not be spun in this manner.
"If this struggle for survival is being depicted falsely, we cannot allow this to occur. Global and local sympathy should not be curtailed by misrepresenting the intentions of people fighting for their lives. Obviously, if the situation was depicted accurately, we would hope that sympathy of the audience would not wain for the many people in need due to the actions of a few."
These captions have been widely discussed and apparently changed -- after the fact.
To give credit, I first heard of the issue Wednesday via a letter to Jim Romenesko sent by Christine Pazzanese. That's Pazzanese of The Boston Globe.
Pazzanese meet the "liberal intelligence" which is, apparently, you. All hail Pazzanese, presumably. And all hail Dahni-El Giles as well.
I'm sorry that this the photo captions are an example that Somerby apparently feels is minor (albiet "pleasing"). It's interesting because this issue does have racial factors (as well as economic ones and .. .) Having heard coverage on the radio (Pacifica and NPR -- on the latter, especially Tavis Smiley's program) for the last few days, I'm surprised that Somerby's dismissive of the race issue.
But I'm not in the mood to bite my tongue and suffer through countless e-mails over something I strongly disagree with. I feel that the captions are an example of media portrayals that the topic is worth anyone exploring if they have the time or desire. (Not because it's "pleasing" but because it's a serious issue.) That said, media portrayals aren't the focus of The Daily Howler.
Oh wait, that is the focus of The Daily Howler.
Take that comment however and wherever you want to. Or just see Somerby as Lindsey Buckingham, tearing into the guitar and hollering, "You can go your own way . . ." ("Go Your Own Way" -- one of the few Mac songs Buckingham wrote that ended up a hit -- can be found originally on Fleetwood Mac's Rumors.) Shred those chords, Lindsey, while we look for a Stevie to please the crowds. (Somerby appears to be entering his punk phase, Buckingham circa 1978-1979. Which should make for interesting reading; however, I strongly disagree with him re: the photos.)
In the brief Howler today, Somerby notes that he's on a break until Tuesday which is too bad because there are e-mails to this site complaining about wall to wall coverage of the topic all over the net. (Many citing wall to wall argue that the last thing we need to do is to note the Times' coverage of the hurricane and the aftermath on Saturday. I am factoring that in and unless there's a swell of e-mails in the other direction, we'll probably skip it.)
There are other issues (we're on the second day of September and the fatality count for the month thus far of US troops in Iraq is . . . two). So I'm honestly surprised by Somerby's decision to put the series on hold. If he stops blogging, the hurricane has won! That must be how Condi Rice feels -- that she needs just to carry on with life as usual.
For instance, while disaster and injustice continue in parts of the United States, Condi goes
. . . Wait, let's Lenora (Musings & Migraines) tell it:
..Condi was doing WHAT?
There's got to be a special corner in hell where this kind of callousness is punished. I hope when Condi gets there, she's wearing those shoes so Satan can shove them down her throat.
Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.
There's got to be a special corner in hell where this kind of callousness is punished. I hope when Condi gets there, she's wearing those shoes so Satan can shove them down her throat.
(To check out Isaiah's earlier take on the "fashionable" Condi Rice, click here.)
We'll note "Tom Joyner announces BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund" (The Chicago Defender; article credited to "Chicago Defender Staff Report"):
Nationally syndicated radio show host Tom Joyner announced Thursday the creation of the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund, which will assist those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
"Hurricane Katrina hit the heart and soul of Black America," Joyner said in a news statement. "This is our Tsunami and we want to take care of those people who now may have family or friends who are going to be in their homes for an extended period of time. We know its hard and we want to make it a little easier on everybody."
[. . .]
Joyner Morning Show commentator, Tavis Smiley, and personalities Sybil Wilkes and J Anthony Brown, have each pledged $1,000.
For more information about how the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund will provide relief to families helping families, visit www.blackamericaweb.com/relief
The BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund will accept donations at www.blackamericaweb.com and by mail at:
BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund
P.O. Box 803209
Dallas, Texas 75240
All relief requests must be submitted by the church or partner organization administrator. Companies, sponsors and potential partners interested in providing matching funds or resources are encouraged to contact Katrina Witherspoon, president and CEO of the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund, at (972) 371-5850. You can also call toll free at (888) 866-1741 to get the information on how to make a donation and how to receive relief assistance.
We'll also note Roland S. Martin's "Tragedy affects us all" (The Chicago Defender):
President George W. Bush has stated that the devastation along the Gulf Coast wreaked by Hurricane Katrina is a national tragedy, yet in many ways, it is being played out as a southern coastal problem that doesn't require the attention of the rest of the nation.
As CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, devoted hours upon hours of coverage to the unfolding events, my heart grew angry by the minute at the lack of perspective or coverage offered by ABC, NBC, CBS and yes, Fox's national network.
When terrorists attacked our nation on Sept. 11, 2001, our sense of collective outrage was furthered by the images being shown on every major network and multiple cable stations. Yet when we all should be witnessing the worst natural disaster in our nation's history, we can count on the usual fare - soap operas, game shows and infomercials - taking up our time.
Should this have just been a cable story? Absolutely not. Had the networks taken the time to adequately jump on this story - remember how they were all over the blackout in New York and along the East Coast? - maybe the people in Wyoming, the state of Washington, California, Indiana, Maine and other non-affected states would have responded in a much more concerted way than what we have seen up until this point.
Lucy e-mails to note this BuzzFlash editorial entitled "Incompetence, Lying and the Betrayal of a Nation: It's Deja Vu All Over Again -- And More Death and Chaos from 'The Master of Disaster,' George W. Bush:"
Our thoughts are with the victims of Hurricane Katrina -- and with those who suffered needlessly because of the incompetence of the Bush Administration. Not one FEMA or National Guard or Military shipment came to the rescue of thousands of people at the New Orleans Convention Center for four days, where some died of thirst and lack of medical attention. Not one helicopter, not one truckload of food, not one medic.
The head of FEMA also said that he didn't know there were people stranded at the Superdome until Thursday, even though this was broadcast widely and covered in the newspapers all week.
What does this say about Bush's wasteful use of billions of our tax dollars allegedly on "homeland security." This could have been a terrorist attack. The Busheviks weren't prepared at all, even after days of warning about the storm. With a terrorist attack, they wouldn't have even seen it coming, so their incompetence would have been even worse in not responding, which is hard to imagine.
This is inexcusable. If Bush is a man of God, God must have his head in his hands today, cursing his doltish, feckless self-anointed follower. People have been dying in American streets because the American government can't get water or food to them, even though reporters could get into the city.
Brandon e-mails to note Greg Palast's "Bush Strafes New Orleans, Where is our Huey Long?" (www.gregpalast.com):
There is nothing new under the sun. In 1927, a Republican President had his photo taken as the Mississippi rolled over New Orleans. Calvin Coolidge, "a little fat man
with a notebook in his hand," promised to rebuild the state. He didn't. Instead, he left to play golf with Ken Lay or the Ken Lay railroad baron equivalent of his day.
In 1927, the Democratic Party had died and was awaiting burial. As depression approached, the coma-Dems, like Franklin Roosevelt, called for balancing the budget.
Then, as the waters rose, one politician finally said, roughly, "Screw this! They're lying! The President's lying! The rich fat cats that are drowning you will do it again and again and again. They lead you into imperialist wars for profit, they take away your schools and your hope and when you complain, they blame Blacks and Jews and immigrants. Then they push your kids under. I say, Kick'm in the ass and take your rightful share!"
with a notebook in his hand," promised to rebuild the state. He didn't. Instead, he left to play golf with Ken Lay or the Ken Lay railroad baron equivalent of his day.
In 1927, the Democratic Party had died and was awaiting burial. As depression approached, the coma-Dems, like Franklin Roosevelt, called for balancing the budget.
Then, as the waters rose, one politician finally said, roughly, "Screw this! They're lying! The President's lying! The rich fat cats that are drowning you will do it again and again and again. They lead you into imperialist wars for profit, they take away your schools and your hope and when you complain, they blame Blacks and Jews and immigrants. Then they push your kids under. I say, Kick'm in the ass and take your rightful share!"
Huey Long laid out a plan: a progressive income tax, real money for education, public works to rebuild Louisiana and America, an end to wars for empire, and an end to financial oligarchy. The waters receded, the anger did not, and Huey "Kingfish" Long was elected Governor of Louisiana in 1928.
At the time, Louisiana schools were free, but not the textbooks. Governor Long taxed Big Oil to pay for the books. Rockefeller's oil companies refused pay the textbook tax, so Long ordered the National Guard to seize Standard Oil's fields in the Delta.
Huey Long was called a "demagogue" and a "dictator." Of course. Because it was Huey Long who established the concept that a government of the people must protect the people, school, house, and feed them and give every man or woman a job who needs one.
Government, he said, "We The People," not plutocrats nor Halliburtons, must build bridges and levies to keep the waters from rising over our heads. All we had to do was share the nation's wealth we created as a nation. But that meant facing down what he called the "concentrations of monopoly power" to finance the needs of the public.
At the time, Louisiana schools were free, but not the textbooks. Governor Long taxed Big Oil to pay for the books. Rockefeller's oil companies refused pay the textbook tax, so Long ordered the National Guard to seize Standard Oil's fields in the Delta.
Huey Long was called a "demagogue" and a "dictator." Of course. Because it was Huey Long who established the concept that a government of the people must protect the people, school, house, and feed them and give every man or woman a job who needs one.
Government, he said, "We The People," not plutocrats nor Halliburtons, must build bridges and levies to keep the waters from rising over our heads. All we had to do was share the nation's wealth we created as a nation. But that meant facing down what he called the "concentrations of monopoly power" to finance the needs of the public.
Brenda had a question and it's a good one. In this morning's New York Times, Carlo Rotella has a review entitled "Answering Call of America's Weirdness." There's a huge photo (we're talking a TV show and we're talking the Times, it's a huge photo in the print version). Brenda wondered if it was okay for the Times to push a show with one of their reporters anchoring/hosting it (Charlie LeDuff)?
It's a good question. Here's something to add to the question : The Discovery Times. The show airs on that network which is a partnership between the New York Times and Discovery Communications. I e-mailed Brenda to ask her if she was aware of that and she wasn't. I don't think it's obvious from Rotella's article. No other TV show is reviewed. Movies reviewed don't get photos this large in today's paper (we're excluding advertising and perhaps that's wrong because the Times is advertising their own wares).
Rotella notes LeDuff's connection to the New York Times, he doesn't note the paper's connection to Discovery Times. Perhaps he considered the connection (partnership) well known and not anything requiring a mention?
Ruth asks to note that CounterSpin's latest radio show is playing today (and you can hear it online here) and to note you can hear this month's comedy program from WBAI's Christmas Coup Players by clicking here. (Ruth's Morning Edition Report is running on Saturday. Due to members' e-mails from this week, tomorrow's will be reposted in full on Monday.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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