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Catastrophes

  • "No Iraqis Left Me on a Roof to Die" Katrina and Cindy Blow into Town
    26 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    By Tom Engelhardt
    George was out of town, of course, in the "battle cab" at the U.S. Northern Command’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, checking out the latest in homeland-security technology and picking up photo ops; while White House aides, as the Washington Post wrote that morning, were attempting "to reestablish Bush’s swagger." The Democrats had largely fled town as well, leaving hardly a trace behind. Another hurricane was blasting into Texas and the media was preoccupied, but (…)

  • The GOP’s Fiscal Policies Turned a Natural Disaster into a Man-Made Catastrophe
    25 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    By Jason Leopold
    Republicans like to brag that, as a political party, they are more fiscally responsible than their Democratic counterparts. Well, thanks to President Bush’s four years in office that theory can now take up residence in the urban legend department.
    If anything, Bush’s tenure as president proves that the Republican tax cuts (which everyone knows truly benefits the wealthiest one percent), drastically slashing funds in the federal budget for much needed improvements to the (…)

  • Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming
    25 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    By Geoffrey Lean and Christopher Silvester
    Tony Blair has admitted that he is changing his views on combating global warming to mirror those of President Bush - and oppose negotiating international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol.
    His admission, which has outraged environmentalists on both sides of the Atlantic, flies in the face of his promises made in the past two years and undermines the agreement he masterminded at this summer’s Gleneagles Summit. And it endangers talks that (…)

  • Chavez nails US again-Chickens in Cuba get better treatment than US residents
    25 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    Washington - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suggested on Sunday that chickens in Cuba get better treatment from authorities than black residents of the hurricane-ravaged US city of New Orleans.
    "In Cuba, when they know a hurricane is coming, chickens, hens and people are all evacuated," Chavez said in an interview with The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine, stepping up his rhetoric against the US government.
    "A hurricane recently destroyed many towns in Cuba but not a single person (…)

  • Global warming? You better believe it
    25 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By Derrick Z. Jackson
    AS THE MEDIA screams about the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the question becomes how many more times does America need to be knocked to the canvas before we answer the bell on global warming.
    The only talk from our leaders is about rebuilding. In his address to the nation from a ghostly New Orleans, President Bush said, ’’When one resident of this city who lost his home was asked by a reporter if he would relocate, he said, ’Naw, I will rebuild but (…)

  • FEMA Chief Brown Paid Millions to Fla. Residents Unaffected by ‘04 Hurricane to Help Bush Win Majority of Votes There
    24 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By Jason Leopold
    Michael Brown, the embattled head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approved payments in excess of $31 million in taxpayer money to thousands of Florida residents who were unaffected by Hurricane Frances and three other hurricanes last year in an effort to help President Bush win a majority of votes in that state during his reelection campaign, according to a May 19 story in the Washington Post that quoted DHS sources.
    “Some Homeland Security sources said (…)

  • Letter to President Hugo Chavez
    24 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    Mr. Roraima Albornoz Press Attaché VHEADLINE.COM
    Dear Mr. Roraima Albornoz. I would like to send a big thank you to President Hugo Chavez, and the people of Venezuela, for the kindness and good will they have offered the citizens of the US who have suffered so much from Hurricane Katrina. I am from the City of Berkeley in California, known as the only city in the United States with its own foreign policy. We have adopted sister cities all over the world where US imperialism and foreign (…)

  • THE FOX AT THE HENHOUSE
    24 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    By William Fisher
    Either President Bush just doesn’t get it, or he just doesn’t care, or he thinks the people he serves are all gullible morons.
    He’s appointed his own Homeland Security Advisor, Ms. Frances Townsend, to lead the White House investigation into how the government screwed up with Hurricane Katrina ? and what to do about it.
    Does the president really believe the American people will find such an investigation credible?
    I’m sure Ms. Townsend is a very smart lady. She has (…)

  • Glover & Belafonte Speak Out on Katrina
    24 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    by Danny Glover & Harry Belafonte
    The following speeches were made during the PBS/BET-televised Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit concert on Saturday, September 17, 2005
    Danny Glover:
    John Coltrane once said "the main thing a musician would like to do, is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe." When Miles Davis asked him why he played so long, Coltrane answered, "It took that long to get it all in."
    New Orleans (…)

  • This is global warming, says environmental chief
    24 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
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    As Hurricane Rita threatens devastation, scientist blames climate change
    By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
    Super-powerful hurricanes now hitting the United States are the "smoking gun" of global warming, one of Britain’s leading scientists believes.
    The growing violence of storms such as Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans, and Rita, now threatening Texas, is very probably caused by climate change, said Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. (…)