contributions

by Mike Liddell
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., issued the following statement this afternoon regarding her call yesterday for President Bush to appoint a cabinet-level official to oversee Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts within 24 hours.
Sen. Landrieu said:
“Yesterday, I was hoping President Bush would come away from his tour of the regional devastation triggered by Hurricane Katrina with a new understanding for the magnitude of the suffering and for the abject (…)

By Doyle McManus
It took him most of a week to get there, but President Bush accomplished several goals Friday on his tour of the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He brought comfort to some of the uncounted homeless. He lent encouragement to emergency workers battling to save those still in danger.
And, not least, he launched a rescue mission to restore his own image after mounting criticism of an apparent shortage of federal leadership. (…)

By ANNE RICE La Jolla, Calif.
WHAT do people really know about New Orleans?
Do they take away with them an awareness that it has always been not only a great white metropolis but also a great black city, a city where African-Americans have come together again and again to form the strongest African-American culture in the land?
The first literary magazine ever published in Louisiana was the work of black men, French-speaking poets and writers who brought together their work in three (…)

by Charley Allan - Morning Star
The contrast between the calls from a wealthy bible basher to assassinate Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and the south American country’s people-first policies in the region and beyond could not be larger.
So, US televangelist Pat Robertson has ordered his million-strong "brownshirt" army to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
This powerful Bush ally, who sells "miracles" on live TV to people who really believe that he has a hot-line to God, may (…)

Oil exports from Iraq’s northern fields were completely halted on Saturday following a rebel attack on a major pipeline west of the oil centre of Kirkuk, an Iraqi oil industry official said.
"We have some interruption in the pipeline. There are no exports at all right now," the official said on condition of anonymity.
He said he had "no idea" when exports might resume since the scale of the damage had not yet been assessed.
An official in charge of oil installation protection said the (…)

By DAN LA BOTZ
Hurricane Katrina’s blow to New Orleans and the failure of the government to respond have shown the United States to be a failed state.
The George W. Bush administration focused all of its resources on war and the Department of Homeland Security, yet when a major American city was attacked, albeit by the forces of nature, the government failed to respond leaving at least hundreds, probably thousands, to die, others to suffer in illness and injury, and many more thirsty and (…)

by Jordan Flaherty
Its been a day since I evacuated from New Orleans, my home, the city I love. Today I saw Governor Blanco proudly speak of troops coming in with orders to shoot to kill. Is she trying to help New Orleans, or has she declared war?
I feel like the world isn’t seeing the truth about the city I love. People outside know about Jazz Fest and Bourbon Street and beads, and now they know about looters and armed gangs and helicopter rescue.
Whats missing is the story of a city (…)

By Joseph R. Chenelly
Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. (…)

by Wayne Madsen
"Team Bush" still refusing international aid. Russian rescue crews on four cargo planes with helicopters on board sit idle at an airport near Moscow waiting for green light, Cuba has 1500 doctors with 26 tons of medical supplies and Bush is refusing them entry to U.S., Venezuelan disaster rescue teams wait for a "go," Dominican Republic crews with hurricane recovery experience wait and wait and wait. It’s the same scene at airports around the world. Meanwhile, FEMA turned (…)

Fierce criticism of President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina dominates Tuesday’s papers, amid reports of ongoing suffering among storm victims.
The Daily Mirror condemns the response as amazingly inadequate, pointing out that the richest country on Earth needs aid from poorer nations.
And the Guardian says many evacuees at a Louisiana church centre visited by Mr Bush were unimpressed by the president.
Meanwhile, the Sun likens New Orleans to a medieval wasteland.
Hurricane (…)