The Truth

[reconeil]

THE TRUTH
by N.R. Filidei (September 8, 2005)


Even though quite despicable of American Officials or notables no doubt much the reason why our enemies despise and ridicule democracy so much, such is quite understandable. "The Carpetbaggers" and/or what Democrats in authority during The Reconstruction Period after The Civil War were once called,...still deceivingly do what they do Today, just as done way-back-when.

Such is truly A National Shame since not only done during wartime (bad enough), such political underminings are now apparently common during National Disasters ALSO.

Regardless, and what never will be understandable, are why The Press/Media overwhelmingly go along with and thus validate such daily Public Dupings,...by the daily played: "Republican ONLY Blame Game".

Don't The Press know (I'm quite certain they do.) that: "The Party of Lincoln" and/or The Republicans have ONLY had total control in America for ONLY about the last 5 years out of over a-half-century? Therefore, why so deceptively and quite foolishly blame all ailling, attacking or befalling America on President Bush and The Republicans? Must think The Public in general quite stupid or just don't know how to add up the years very well?

Also, makes no sense at all blaming President Bush, Administration and The Federal Agencies for not immediately and speedily from the very onset, responding to: "Katrina".
Democrat Senators and Congressmen and even The Press/Media know much better than that, and/or that such just aren't how disasters are addressed at all.

Want some factual and historical truths about how most National Disasters are normally handled, instead of all the current and daily pontificated political-bull on the matter,...for-a-change? Well then, just open your minds to some few actual realities (purposefully kept from The Public) about when Natural Disasters occur, and as listed below.

1. Day One: All pre-planned for Disaster Resources (re, Fire, Police, Emergency Services, Medical, Evacuation Transport and other contingencies) are deployed by Towns, Municipalities, Cities and Counties.

2. Day Two: If finding that all previously mentioned are overwhelmed by catastophic events, not prepared adequately, nor can cope with the safety and well-being of their populations, The Governor of same State is contacted for assistance.

3. Day Three: If The Governor's State Police, State Emergency Services and The State's National Guard combined with Local Services cannot handle The Tragedy,...then the very last resort is called upon for assistance. Such being The U.S Federal Government and The United States Military.

4. Day Four: The U.S. Military takes over, and despite Nature's Devastation and both Local and State political or command of resources ineptness at handling important survival matters for such populations,...DO THEIR VERY BEST (as usual and since not politically hindered) to save lives, feed people and restore order.

Whatever, only fools could believe all the many zealot antagonizers, babbling non-stop that all Four Days alluded to should've been condensed INTO ONE. Or, even quite more foolishly believe that The Federal Government and all its assets should've been the first ones on scene. Never happens and never will happen. Local and State People would not allow such.

Just because The Press/Media and: "Their Darlings" and/or The Democrat Underminers in collusion and fanatically keep belaboring their contrary nonsense,...means absolutely nothing. Plus, such never serves any good or worthwhile purpose FOR THE PEOPLE, anyway. For politicos, political oneupsmanships and grabbing votes,...of course such nonsense is worthwhile.

Still, one must admit that such politically-purposeful perversions of realities are downright sick,...and even by the standards (if any?) of the career deceivers and/or politicians daily doing so. Don't you think?

Hey,...truth is truth is truth.
Whereas, politics is politics is political BS,...as The 9/11 Commission quite adequately proved.

Hey again,...no Democrats OR EVEN terrorists were held accountable or blamed for: "9/11". Only Republican Officials were. So then, how-on-earth could any in their right minds seriously believe that: "Madam Hillary's" Commission on: "Katrina" would differently serve any good for The American People, or be any different than the irrelevent and/or solve nothing 9/11 Commission.

The End

Neil

[SuperScout]

That paragon of pre-planning, Gov. Blanco of Louisiana, by her own admission, prohibited relief trucks from the Red Cross from entering NO and bringing food and water to the Super Dome, because, in her own words, she didn't want it to become a magnet that would draw people tothat location. In other words, "How long can you tread water, really filthy water, Tyrone?"

I for one hope they have a very thorough investigation of what went wrong, and then we'll see for starters that Louisiana is the most corrupt place in America, and has been for decades. What went wrong in NO is a microcosmic example of what's wrong with the welfare state brought on by the liberals. When people have been living in with an entitlement mentality for generations, they can easily believe that the guvmint teat will solve all their problems, including how to magically make the flood waters disappear.

[Seascamp]

And in the spirit of bad breath is better than no breath at all, it seems Hizhonordamayor stood down the New Orleans school busses because he reckoned it best for the Grayhound bus company to ?get off their butts? and get the US Grayhound fleet to New Orleans to do the evacuation. Huh, is fact stranger than fiction or what? :ek:

Scamp

[Jerry D]

"Pravda" is spoken thanks Neil, Brice and Scamp et all. Some good statements and facts presented!

[Seascamp]

And I think it rather remarkable that New Orleans 2005 and New York 1860?s can be compared and the match up is uncanny. At the time there was ?Boss? Tweed, Tammany Hall, Cops and Robbers were one in the same, brutal street gangs thrived in the then version of the ?projects? and ruled their turf with steel fists.

Politics and the attendant flow of illicit manna were in great abundance and uncorrupted governance was an uncommon and rare thing to be found, if found at all. Then came the Civil War draft riots that soon morphed into looting, raping, murdering, lynching, and ruthless gang violence, all of it. Then came in the Union Army and Union Navy to restore order, untold numbers of dead piled up and at the end of the day, you know who caught the heat and the blame.

Scamp

[SuperScout]

While we're searching for The Truth, has anyone heard of other cities or towns in the path of Katrina where rapes, murders, arson and other crimes accompanied the ever-present looting? Is this lawless phenomena confined to New Orleans?

Did any other first responders encounter gunfire from the would-be rescuees?

[Advisor]

Most of the political yada yada out there is from professional politicians who are either trying to shift blame, bury an opponent, gain an advantage or set the stage for a run at a higher office.
Close note should be kept of those who seek to advance themselves & their careers & when the time comes, vote 'em out, give 'em waders & put them to work REALLY helping people & not themselves. Might make 'em better human beings & just a tad more humble.
My motto is "if you are not part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem..and if you are part of the problem, SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gimpy]

You wouldn't know the TRUTH if it jumped up and bit you on your ass!

You want the TRUTH................here it is!

Here's the lead of a recent article that was 'buried' in the NYT:

"On the issue of whether the military could be deployed without the invitation of state officials, the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit within the Justice Department that provides legal advice to federal agencies, concluded that the federal government did possess authority to move in even over the objection of local officials ."

Bush had no excuses . The failure is his. Blanco had nothing to do with it.

In this awfully written and edited story, the New York Times demonstrates that its love for high level government sources trumps its news judgment. Consider this excerpt:

"After the hurricane passed New Orleans and the levees broke, flooding the city, it became increasingly evident that disaster response efforts were badly bogged down. Justice Department lawyers, who were receiving harrowing reports from the area, considered whether active-duty military units could be brought into relief operations even if state authorities gave their consent - or even if they refused. "

"The issue of federalizing the response was one of a number of legal issues considered in a flurry of meetings at the Justice Department, the White House and other agencies, administration officials said. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales urged Justice lawyers to interpret the federal law creatively to assist local authorities. For example, federal prosecutors prepared to expand their enforcement of some criminal statutes like anti-carjacking laws that can be prosecuted by either state or federal authorities."

"On the issue of whether the military could be deployed without the invitation of state officials, the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit within the Justice Department that provides legal advice to federal agencies, concluded that the federal government did possess authority to move in even over the objection of local officials."

"The[ Insurrection Act] was last invoked in 1992 for the Los Angeles riots, but at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson of California, and bhas not been invoked over a governor's objections since the civil rights era - and before that, to the time of the Civil War, according to administration officials. Bush administration, Pentagon and senior military officials warned that such an extreme measure would have serious legal and political implications."


Excuse me? What legal implications? Blanco said "give me everything you got." The Insurrection Act was invoked in 1992!!! This was not a novel legal issue. This was settled. What is was about was politics.

"Political implications." That's what drove them. States rights again. Who gives a shit about political implications when people are dying? The Bush Administration, that's who. So there you have it. The real story of the failures of Bush & Co in the Katrina Aftermath.

Politics first. Always for Bush & Co. It's all they know.

You know where the excerpt I quoted starts in the New York Times story? Paragraph 9. Buried. What is the lead? This:


"As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor."

"For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge Mr. Bush to take command of the effort."

That, my friends, is called burying the lead.

What a disgraceful piece of journalism.

And, worse yet................what an absolute disgraceful example of LEADERSHIP!

Conservatives will try to convince you of anything that you are gullible enough to believe. The alternative would be having to take responsibility. This is an Administration that would sell the country out rather than take responsibility for anything.

Bush talks a good game, or at least reads somebody else's good game. But when push comes to shove, the best defense is a good offense. Blame poor impoverished New Orleans because they didn't have the wherewhithal to construct new levees. Which BTW, Bush himself would NOT fund to the dismay of the Army Corps. of Engineers!

Poor cities all over America rely on federal funds for major projects like that. Governor Blanco AND Senator Mary Landrieu did petition the Feds for the money. But when you give huge tax breaks to the filthy rich and conduct a war based on lies and deception to the tune of hundreds of billions, the states take the hit.

The dirty little secret is that this President didn't give a crap about New Orleans. No votes there. Democratic Mayor. Democratic Governor. Low on the priority list.

If he were really a proactive President, which he isn't, he would have at LEAST appointed a commission to look into the feasability of reconstructing the levees. But what was his initial response after the levees broke? "Nobody ever thought the levees would break"? ......BULLSHIT!!!!...........His OWN Army Corps. of Engineers predicted this!

This is the President of the United States talking. Glad I didn't vote for him. Why doesn't he just do the right thing and resign in disgrace like Tricky Dicky Nixon.

Like I said before, what a SORRY EXCUSE FOR A LEADER !


__________________

[SuperScout]

The quote about the levees was taken completely out of context, but what do you expect from a redneck liberal, so eaten up with hatred that his vision is occluded? The State of Louisiana receives more $$ from the Corps of Engineers than any other state, and a thorough accounting of federal monies needs to be made so we the taxpayers can see how much has been eaten up with graft and corruption.

If the federal response was slower than it should have been, perhaps one of the reasons was trying to recover from stunned disbelief that the local and state officials could really be so stupid and irresponsible. And if the Democrat mayor and the Democrat governor are such representatives of a caring pooitical party, why did they not enforce the "mandatory evacuation" they so loudly proclaimed? If they really cared about the Blacks, why not use the school buses that are currently 5' under water and ruined for further use?

Quit playing the race card, Gimpy, as it's totally unbecoming of you.

[Gimpy]

Out of context????---He SAID it.............he MEANT IT!

And you sit there have have the NERVE to make a comment about graft and corruption? After THIS administrations' piss poor record lately??

Let me REfresh your memory and show YOU and some other folks JUST HOW CORRUPT this GEE-W BUNCH has been and CONTINUES to be!

#### START ####

Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals


WASHINGTON (Reuters) 9/10/2005-----

Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root . Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

Bechtel National Inc ., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.


Experts say it has been common practice in recent Republican administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.


Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq. (talk about 'graft & corruption'---Gimp)

But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.


"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.


TWO BUSH APPOINTEES AT HALLIBURTON


Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root in February.

In lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate, Allbaugh said his goal was to "educate the congressional and executive branch on defense, disaster relief and homeland security issues affecting Kellogg Brown and Root."

Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his resume.


A few months after Allbaugh was hired by Halliburton, the company retained another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine.


Van Tine registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton six months after resigning as deputy transportation secretary, a position he held from December 2003 to December 2004 .


On Friday, Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi.


Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief executive officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the White House. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq. (kinda makes one sick to your stomach, huh???....Gimp)

Allbaugh's other major client, Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, has updated its Web site to say: "Hurricane Recovery Projects -- Apply Here!"


Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Shaw Group spokesman Chris Sammons said Allbaugh was providing the company with "general consulting on business matters," and would not say whether he played a direct role in any of the Katrina deals. "We don't comment on specific consulting activities," he said. (Well I wonder WHY????-----Damn crooks!----Gimp)