Comments on: Economic Hit Men and the Next Drowning of New OrleansHurricane Bush Four Years Later, Part 2 http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/ Greg Palast, reporting for BBC, Harpers and more Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:16:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Joe TwelvePack http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-63752 Joe TwelvePack Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:55:07 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-63752 Thanks for doing what journalists are expected to do, Mr.Palast! 2 questions about this storyline tho... Why wasn't Professor van Heerden called as a witness by the plaintiffs in the suit? If Entergy had left the electricity on, then how many people might have accidentally been killed by contact with "juiced" water? Thanks for doing what journalists are expected to do, Mr.Palast!

2 questions about this storyline tho...

Why wasn't Professor van Heerden called as a witness by the plaintiffs in the suit?

If Entergy had left the electricity on, then how many people might have accidentally been killed by contact with "juiced" water?

]]> By: Paul Krasulski http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-61156 Paul Krasulski Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:02:07 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-61156 Chevron's hands in yet another environmental debacle??? What a shock... Chevron's hands in yet another environmental debacle??? What a shock...

]]> By: judy http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-61135 judy Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:07:23 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-61135 Every time i think there can't be anything else about the damage GW did to our nation and the world, you (or some other excellent reporter who will never be shown on major news outlets) bring to light another shocking revulsion we must quickly amend while our entire nation is broker than broke because of Phil Gramm's one o'clock surprise. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Every time i think there can't be anything else about the damage GW did to our nation and the world, you (or some other excellent reporter who will never be shown on major news outlets) bring to light another shocking revulsion we must quickly amend while our entire nation is broker than broke because of Phil Gramm's one o'clock surprise. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

]]> By: Weldon http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-60969 Weldon Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:47:31 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-60969 Thanks for keeping your eyes out on this one. I was in Katrina when it hit Miami. It was bad in Miami, but nowhere near the devastation on N.O. I didn't see the aftermath till a few weeks later when WE finally got the power turned on. I wonder if FPL had a similar sweet deal going on because we sure didn't see any power after the storm either. What the oil companies did to the Gulf, developers are doing to the Everglades. It's a constant encroachment on a natural watershed. Thanks for keeping your eyes out on this one. I was in Katrina when it hit Miami. It was bad in Miami, but nowhere near the devastation on N.O. I didn't see the aftermath till a few weeks later when WE finally got the power turned on. I wonder if FPL had a similar sweet deal going on because we sure didn't see any power after the storm either. What the oil companies did to the Gulf, developers are doing to the Everglades. It's a constant encroachment on a natural watershed.

]]> By: Weldon http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-60968 Weldon Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:45:27 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-60968 Thanks for keeping your eyes out on this one. I was in Katrina when it hit Miami. It was bad in Miami, but nowhere near the devastation on N.O. I didn't see the aftermath till a few weeks later when we finally got the power turned on. I wonder if FPL had a similar sweet deal going on because we sure didn't see any power after the storm either. I've been following your work since 2005. Thanks for keeping your eyes out on this one. I was in Katrina when it hit Miami. It was bad in Miami, but nowhere near the devastation on N.O. I didn't see the aftermath till a few weeks later when we finally got the power turned on. I wonder if FPL had a similar sweet deal going on because we sure didn't see any power after the storm either. I've been following your work since 2005.

]]> By: The Oracle http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-60839 The Oracle Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:19:31 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-60839 As soon as New Orleans flooded, the Bush administration decided to do two coordinated things: 1) they launched a smear campaign (through their right-wing talking "pointy" heads) against the Democratic Party leaders in Louisiana, primarily Gov. Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Nagin, and 2) they deliberately stopped or impeded federal emergency disaster aid (and rescue personnel) from reaching Louisiana and New Orleans. The second was essential to making the first more effective in discrediting the Democratic Party leaders in that Katrina-ravaged state. Up until when New Orleans flooded, it was just another typical preparedness and response hurricane event, but as soon as New Orleans flooded the Bush administration saw it as a political opportunity to weaken the Democratic Party in Louisiana. Thus, the Republican smear campaign coordinated with the Bush administration withholding federal emergency aid and personnel from Louisiana and New Orleans, essentially to make matters worse so their smear campaign against Democrats would be more effective. At the same time this coordinated attack was occurring in Louisiana, the Bush administration made certain that the two Republican governors in neighboring, Katrina-ravaged Mississippi and Alabama were getting all the federal aid they needed. How do we know this? Because of the eyewitness account by one of the Pensacola-based U.S. helicopter pilots who was sent on a resupply mission to a base outside New Orleans. Per David S. Cloud's 9/7/05 NY Times article, this pilot saw lots of rescue activity in the air and on the ground as his helicopter, heading west, overflew the coasts of Alabama and Mississippi, but once his helicopter passed into Louisiana, all this flurry of activity stopped. This lone helicopter, in response to a Coast Guard distress call, helped save the lives of over a hundred people in New Orleans, but upon their return to their Pensacola base they were reprimanded. (Hmmmm, wasn't it reported earlier this year that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered all U.S. military search-and-rescue helicopter squadrons to stand-down? Apparently, one helicopter got through this blockade, for which the pilots were reprimanded.) All the evidence points to the Bush administration deliberately withholding or stopping federal emergency disaster aid from reaching Louisiana and New Orleans. In fact, Gov. Blanco finally resorted to calling for help from other state governors, as it became evident in those first critical days that the "politics all the time" Bush administration wasn't going to help. The criminal Bush administration committed a crime of enormous proportions during Katrina, a crime against all U.S. citizens living in Louisiana and New Orleans, to go along with all the other crimes they committed over eight years, of course. And all top Bush crime family officials were involved. As soon as New Orleans flooded, the Bush administration decided to do two coordinated things: 1) they launched a smear campaign (through their right-wing talking "pointy" heads) against the Democratic Party leaders in Louisiana, primarily Gov. Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Nagin, and 2) they deliberately stopped or impeded federal emergency disaster aid (and rescue personnel) from reaching Louisiana and New Orleans. The second was essential to making the first more effective in discrediting the Democratic Party leaders in that Katrina-ravaged state.

Up until when New Orleans flooded, it was just another typical preparedness and response hurricane event, but as soon as New Orleans flooded the Bush administration saw it as a political opportunity to weaken the Democratic Party in Louisiana. Thus, the Republican smear campaign coordinated with the Bush administration withholding federal emergency aid and personnel from Louisiana and New Orleans, essentially to make matters worse so their smear campaign against Democrats would be more effective.

At the same time this coordinated attack was occurring in Louisiana, the Bush administration made certain that the two Republican governors in neighboring, Katrina-ravaged Mississippi and Alabama were getting all the federal aid they needed. How do we know this? Because of the eyewitness account by one of the Pensacola-based U.S. helicopter pilots who was sent on a resupply mission to a base outside New Orleans. Per David S. Cloud's 9/7/05 NY Times article, this pilot saw lots of rescue activity in the air and on the ground as his helicopter, heading west, overflew the coasts of Alabama and Mississippi, but once his helicopter passed into Louisiana, all this flurry of activity stopped. This lone helicopter, in response to a Coast Guard distress call, helped save the lives of over a hundred people in New Orleans, but upon their return to their Pensacola base they were reprimanded. (Hmmmm, wasn't it reported earlier this year that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered all U.S. military search-and-rescue helicopter squadrons to stand-down? Apparently, one helicopter got through this blockade, for which the pilots were reprimanded.)

All the evidence points to the Bush administration deliberately withholding or stopping federal emergency disaster aid from reaching Louisiana and New Orleans. In fact, Gov. Blanco finally resorted to calling for help from other state governors, as it became evident in those first critical days that the "politics all the time" Bush administration wasn't going to help.

The criminal Bush administration committed a crime of enormous proportions during Katrina, a crime against all U.S. citizens living in Louisiana and New Orleans, to go along with all the other crimes they committed over eight years, of course. And all top Bush crime family officials were involved.

]]> By: Carolyn Carpenter http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-60739 Carolyn Carpenter Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:45:21 +0000 http://www.gregpalast.com/?p=2761#comment-60739 Artist Mel Chin has started the Fundred Dollar Bill Project (www.fundred.com) to help clean lead out of the New Orleans soil, post-Katrina. The goal is to create and collect three million artworks by children across the U.S., which will be delivered to Washington, D.C. Downloads of templates and directions are available at the website. Artist Mel Chin has started the Fundred Dollar Bill Project (www.fundred.com) to help clean lead out of the New Orleans soil, post-Katrina. The goal is to create and collect three million artworks by children across the U.S., which will be delivered to Washington, D.C. Downloads of templates and directions are available at the website.

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