[Bumped by pastordan.]
Reading the Katrina Timeline I am forced to ponder the meaning of depraved indifference.
Depraved indifference is a legal designation that seeks to create a third category distinguishable from intentional murder and manslaughter. In New York State this distinction was brought forth in a case :
The 13-year old boy was killed. The court ruled that the death was nonintentional. However, they felt that playing Polish roulette with live ammo was sufficiently reckless that it created an imminent and grave risk of death. For the purpose of the statute, this was all that needed to be proven. The state of mind of the defendent (his lack of intent to kill) was insufficient to gain him a manslaughter conviction.
It’s a sad day when we have to ask whether George Bush, FEMA director Michael Brown, and other government officials should be convicted of manslaughter, or a more serious crime. But that is where we are. Reading the timeline, it is obvious that their behavior was sufficiently reckless to create an imminent and grave risk of death for thousands of American citizens. Whether or not they intended thousands of people to die is immaterial to proving the case. And the timeline proves it definitively.
Long after we were discussing the levee breach, the bad conditions at the Superdome, and the catastrophe at the Convention Center, Bush, Brown and Chertoff claim to have been unaware of those events. Their failure to make themselves aware of those crises, or their failure to act on them, constitute acts that were sufficiently reckless to not only create a grave risk, but to actually result in the death of thousands and thousands of people. Case closed.
Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish near New Orleans, said the bureaucracy ”has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area.”
”Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot,” Broussard told CBS. ”Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don’t give me the same idiot.”
How do we go about getting a case brought against them? More than any election work, this is something I would spend my time on….
Depraved Indifference — if the shoe fits, kick them in the ass with it!
is to get a hold of a branch of Congress and have investigations. In the meantime, we have to pressure the media, and both parties to disavow this administration loudly in thought and deed.
that should see Bush in shackles. Negligent homicide? Corrupt indifference?
Nagin is sure good at quotable statements. Pithy, full of righteous outrage. Too bad he didn’t think to move NOLA’s school buses so that they wouldn’t all be flooded and unable to help move people. He has almost no political experience himself. And on and on and on…. in this respect, the Republicans are correct that locals bear some responsibility, and it’s one of their own. Nagin’s a Republican in Democrat’s clothing who supported Bush’s campaign in 2000 and hated having to support Kerry in 2004.
This needs WIDE publicity immediately before Congress votes on a budget sight unseen
what is it?
I don’t understand enough about the law, particularly in the US, to know whether a criminal charge can be brought before the courts by a citizen in these circumstances.
But if that is possible, I hope someone will volunteer to drag Bush, Brown and Chertoff into a situation where they have to explain themselves.
I’m rooting for the ambulance chasers here. One of Roberts’ first cases may well be to determine whether such a class action suit against Bush and FEMA can go forward.
“Ambulance chasers” is a term I find not only personally offensive, but harmful. I work with trial lawyers, they are the last line of defense against the depraved indifference of governments, industries and individuals. I see needless death and horrific suffering and a flourishing CYA society. If you think FEMA is bad, take a look at Merck, Monsanto, Kerr-McGee. Our government routinely fails to take action and fails to protect the health and lives of its citizens. Our civil courts are the only recourse.
And, if it weren’t for trial lawyers, there would be no Brown vs. The Board of Education, a class action suit, no Roe v. Wade.
No matter your personal opinion of lawyers, I ask that you consider the consequences of deriding the only form of true democracy we have left, the American jury.
I know exactly what you’re saying.
I have so many thoughts going through my head these days that I can barely think straight. I keep thinking about how a Republican aide once said that they make their own reality, and the rest of us can study up on it later. Pick up the pieces of the wreckage is more like it.
Ignoring reality isn’t bold or visionary…it’s dangerous and, in some cases, it is evil itself. Especially when lives are hanging in the balance.
This administration is going to get away with being complicit in the deaths of these thousands of people, people who were too poor or infirm to fend for themselves. There were local and state failures, yes, but none even remotely approaching the magnitude of the federal level, whose JOB it is to step in before things got as overwhelming as they did.
More and more, I think we’re too far down the path of ruin as a country to turn back with something as simple as an election. We have a dictatorship in power now with an iron grip on every branch of government and only a thin, disinterested veneer of being the civil servants they are supposed to be. What does a civilized society do, though, to rid itself of such a deeply rooted and corrupt regime?
isn’t that what they got the Seinfeld crew on?
I just wrote a scathing letter to Boxer. She is calling for the troops to be brought home now. Ummm…that is all well and good Barbara but I think that will never happen if these criminals are left in office. I will let you know if I receive a response.
My question though is how do we call for resignations? What can WE do as we have to count on ourselves to do anything these days? Can we the people bring a suit up against these evil war/hurricane profiteers? Is anyone demanding to see the bids for the work involved in the cleanup and rebuilding? Private contractors were shot at the other day on a bridge. Who do they work for? Has this question even been raised? Private company from Houston coming in to handle the dead? Who are these people and who hired them and are they Bush contributors? We must demand that are reps start asking these questions. Right?
Have you seen THIS?
To note, before heading off to work, that Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Michigan) announced that FEMA has asked Michigan to suspend its plan to participate in housing evacuees. Something about people wanting to stay in their own region. She also announced that Michigan will change its policy of protecting the Great Lakes. State is currently in a long battle with commercial interests who want to bottle and pipe our water around the country. Michigan will now allow this distribution for Katrina relief, because they need water. New policy will expire in December. I love how disasters and crises always turn into opportunities for commercial interests to make money, and for governments to change policies protecting people and the environment.
So, what is going on with FEMA and evacuee relocation? There has to be some master plan here, but I just don’t know what it is yet.
“We have been abandoned by our own country.Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial.” Aaron Broussard
“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. George Orwell
by Mike Whitney
09/08/05 “ICH” — — Neither the Mainstream media nor the alternative-Leftist web sites have told the true story of what really happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For the people of the region it was the greatest natural catastrophe they’d ever faced. For the Bush administration it was just another opportunity to use fear and anarchy to advance their global agenda.
The administration intentionally withheld desperately needed aid to the city to force Governor Kathleen Blanco into surrendering control of the National Guard and local police to federal authority. This explains why neither FEMA, nor Homeland Security nor the Pentagon lifted a finger to help the distraught townspeople for 4 full days. The administration was using vital supplies as bargaining chips to bribe the governor into submission. The goal was to dismantle regional defenses and militarize a major port city; an ambition that persists to this day.
The Katrina disaster provided the cover for the Pentagon to launch military operations against US citizens for the first time in modern history. Their effort was badly bungled, but the attempt is chilling nonetheless.
The strategy that was applied to New Orleans has been used across the nation, although to a lesser degree. Rumsfeld has consistently tried to undermine local preparedness and state control so that he can insert the military into domestic affairs. Within this schema, we can see how the calculated destruction of the National Guard (40% of who are overseas) works perfectly with the goals of the defense establishment and the corporate oligarchy it represents.
In the next few days we can expect to see an intensive media campaign to divert attention from the activities of the Pentagon, but the facts are clear. As Mr. Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parrish, LA said on Meet the Press:
“We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back, said we didn’t need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast guard said come get the fuel right way. When we got there with our trucks, they got a word, FEMA says don’t give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, FEMA comes in and cuts all our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice.”
FEMA, which is supposed to work as a federal relief agency for major natural disasters, was functioning entirely as an intermediary for the Defense Dept to subvert relief efforts to force the Governor to capitulate. It is as close to a military-coup as we have ever seen in America.
The stories of how FEMA tried to sabotage aid and communications are too numerous to record here, but they will undoubtedly surface over time on the internet. The fact is, however, that FEMA was simply executing a larger plan to undermine operations and pave the way for a military take-over of all relief-related activities. That would serve as a tacit invitation for the first military occupation of an American city.
(Disrupting communications from the city was a major part of the operation. This explains why FEMA “cut all the communication lines” as Broussard notes above. The Pentagon clearly planned to draw a protective curtain around New Orleans so that it could execute their strategy without media scrutiny. I believe that they intended to forcefully evacuate the city to clear away vast swaths of the area earmarked for future private development without local resistance.)
The media analysis of the events following the hurricane has been superficial and diversionary. The emphasis on looting is a particularly heinous “racist” invention of the Bush administration to shift blame away from their criminal behavior. Even well-meaning liberal pundits and journalists, who have lambasted the administration for “lacking leadership” or for their ham-fisted methods of addressing the tragedy, are missing the point. New Orleans was the site of a massive military operation designed to seize and pacify a major port city in the American heartland. The people, who died waiting for federal assistance while the Governor jousted with the administration, are the casualties in the Pentagon’s plan.
The Red Cross has already admitted that they were deliberately prevented from going into the city where they could have attended to the sick and hungry. So, too, the National Guard was ordered not to give the people food or water. One Guardsman who appeared on national TV admitted to giving water to an elderly woman who refused to evacuate her home said on camera, “It’s against the rules, but I gave her water”.
FEMA deliberately withheld water to the people at the convention center because (and I paraphrase the head of the Red Cross) “If we give them water they won’t leave.”
(A note on FEMA: FEMA has been effectively gutted and has neither the ability nor the resources to address major natural catastrophes. It has been subsumed into a bureaucracy that has no intention of saving American lives or property when disaster strikes. The money has been sluiced off into other areas of Homeland Security where it is used to spy on American citizens or pay-off the constituents of the administration. This explains why Bush put an incompetent bungler like Michael Brown in charge. He has no real power. The real authority over disaster-management now falls under the Defense Dept.)
The orders from Washington (which were articulated on many of the major TV news feeds) were to “Empty the city, Cut off communications between the citizenry, and Protect private property.” Much of this has already been confirmed in the Broussard statement.
The zeal with which the Defense Dept approached the siege of New Orleans is impressive. Journalist Wayne Madsen reports that the military was involved in jamming New Orleans’s communications. “The emitter is an IF
(Intermediate Frequency) jammer that is operating south-southwest of New Orleans on board a US Navy ship, according to an anonymous source. The jamming is cross-spectrum and interfering with supereterodyne receiver components, including the emergency radios being used in New Orleans relief efforts.”
Madsen’s report coincides with another report from Democracy Now’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous in New Orleans:
“Well Amy, Saturday and Sunday, there was a large number of troops here: Marines, U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard, there’s hummers everywhere, everyone is armed with assault rifles. And I think that what many people don’t realize is that New Orleans has really become a militarized zone. I think this is the fault and the major error that has occurred with many of the relief operations here is that they weren’t relief operations. They were militarized — you know, there’s a curfew set at 6:00 p.m. in New Orleans and especially in the poorer neighborhoods. If you walked out after 6:00 p.m., you would get shot.”
Kouddous report provides an alarming insight into the reality of the New Orleans siege. The operation currently taking place is only slightly different from similar maneuvers in Baghdad or Kabul; the fundamental principles are the same. If we were to see some indication of coordinated resistance, like an armed uprising of New Orleans drug addicts firing on troops, the situation would quickly degenerate into a Falluja-type scenario, with Rumsfeld closing down the entire region to the media and devastating vast swaths of the city to crush the “indigenous terrorists”.
There’s nothing accidental about the current developments on the ground.
The orders are clear: “Empty the city, Cut off communications between the citizenry, and Protect private property.” The result is a massive ethnic cleansing operation that will displace tens of thousands of poor, black residents and pave the way for Halliburton and other major Bush contributors to rebuild the city at taxpayer expense. This is the clearest illustration of class-based warfare we have seen to date, but we expect more will follow.
The Bush administration has established its first domestic beachhead in the “Big Easy”, where 50,000 fully-armed troops now patrol the streets giving us our first unobstructed-view of New World Order.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com
I’m with you, man. I said to my husband last night: When they’re locking people down in the Superdome with no food and water, and they’re setting up checkpoints to send people back into the city. Meanwhile telling the Red Cross that they can’t set up services in the city, implying that they think people are too fucking stupid to leave… Now, is that gross negligence or genocide?
Blanco Requests Federal State of Emergency
.
From the NewsChannel 6 Storm Spotting Team:
Governor Blanco requested $9,000,000 and a federal state of emergency declared Saturday.
She sent the following letter to President Bush:
(Saturday) August 27, 2005
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Through:
Regional Director
FEMA Region VI
800 North Loop 288
Denton, Texas 76209
Dear Mr. President:
Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing.
[…] In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan and the remainder of the state to support the State Special Needs and Sheltering Plan.
[…] I have designated Mr. Art Jones as the State Coordinating Officer for this request. He will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in damage assessments and may provide further information or justification on my behalf.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Governor
Why were offers for assistance not accepted? Offers from states, nations and the Red Cross.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late Thursday.
Heavily armed Drug Enforcement Agents prepare to patrol down Canal Street in the besieged city of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. AP Photo/Dave MartinKSLA News 12 Latest Headlines Katrina Catastrophe
The governor of Texas worries that his state may not be able to take many more evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Governor Rick Perry says Texas is committed to doing everything it can to help, but wants to be sure it can provide the services needed, including medical care and education. Perry says local officials “are beginning to notify us that they are quickly approaching capacity.” Louisiana and the FEMA. have been alerted.
Texas has taken in over 220,000 evacuees, with more on the way. Nearly 19,000 are in the Houston Astrodome. Over 120,000 are in 97 shelters in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and dozens of smaller cities. Another 100,000 are in hotels and motels, with still more in churches or private homes.
Carnival Cruise Lines has canceled voyages for three of its ships so they can house victims of Hurricane Katrina. The schedules of the Ecstasy, the Sensation, and the Holiday have been cleared for the next six months. Two will dock in Galveston, Texas, and the third in Mobile, Alabama. Together, they can hold about 7,000 passengers.
The request for the cruise ships came from the FEMA. The cost of the charters was not disclosed. Carnival is apologizing to those whose cruise plans have been canceled. The number is believed to be in the tens of thousands. Anyone who re-books will get a one-hundred-dollar-per-person shipboard credit.
Latter link, reads as follows —
“With the chartering of the cruise ship Holiday to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts … “
Mmmm … housing for evacuees?
… a week later: evacuees do not want to be aboard a cruiser! Perhaps a FREE cruise for Bush’s cabinet to the Bermuda Triangle?
~~~
WAFB TV – Charmaine Neville :: Heartbreaking Story of Escape
Damion Neville, left, hugs his mother, New Orleans jazz and blues singer Charmaine Neville, who survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The two were reunited on Saturday in Baton Rouge after Damion arrived from Houston. Advocate staff photo by MARK SALTZ~~~
.
Sept. 7, 2005 — The two main pipelines Colonial and Plantation are pumping full capacity according to State Secr. of Transportation.
I couldn’t understand strategic oil pipelines dependent on electrical power and not self-generating diesel units. Emergency units were placed in pumping stations to get transport back on line. Corporate power!
~~~
Barbara Bush has heaped further pressure on the beleaguered US President by claiming refugees from Hurricane Katrina are better off thanks to the floods.
America’s former first lady and President George W Bush’s mother claimed the aftermath of the deadly hurricane is “working very well” for the many made homeless and still anxiously waiting for news of friends and relatives following the disaster.
Mrs Bush made the series of gaffes after visiting the stricken Astrodome in Texas where many evacuees from New Orleans are being housed in appalling conditions.
“What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas.
“Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.”
“And so many of the people in the arena here were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.”
NPR – her comment
Iceberg Barbara Visited the Wrong Stadium
Equal opportunity in the NOLA Superdome.
I understand some clean-up needs to be done – she could join for let’s say 24 hours – a day and a night!
Of course for such a short period of time, no meals and water is permitted. There are no buses, so perhaps some swimming is required in Crescent city. Karl can spin this event in a Cold War stint!
Son just like mom … disconnected.
All Ye Faithful
Is George Bush the Christians’ Christian?
Skull and Bones from Yale University, probably the most powerful secret society in America. Sutton explains the Hegelian-Masonic motto “order out of chaos”, an act of creating wars to create a need for peace.
25,000 EXTRA body bags brought in
The federal government has hired a private contractor from Houston to begin collecting corpses. Officials estimate it will be able to handle 500 to 1,000 bodies, which will be stored in refrigeration trucks until they can be buried.
A temporary warehouse morgue in rural St. Gabriel, La. that had been prepared to take 1,000 bodies, was being readied to handle 5,000.
… it’s not human nature
Life's End Marked "X"▼ ▼ ▼
yes I am flattered…
Ariana:
Will the Dems Ever Learn? “It’s The National Security, Stupid”
Me:
It is the SECURITY…Stupid
It’s the fifteenth named storm of the season,
Perhaps named Ophelia for a reason?
Drowning’s the fate many met,
With US plunged into debt,
From Bush/FEMA malfeasance and treason.
Geeessh … I already arrested Bush for first degree murder!
1,900 counts — Iraq
25,00-30,000 counts — the Gulf of the U.S.
I put him in my big cat cage.
Last night, I let him out on a rope because the raccoons came by and they were hungry.
This morning, it’s the crows’ turn. They’re hungry too.
(Some people shouldn’t read “Blood Meridian.”)
“String ‘m up, string ‘m high” Susan!
(heeyah!)