Some Urge Greater Use of Troops in Major DisastersThe breakdown of local and state agencies that tried to respond to Hurricane Katrina has spurred fresh debate about whether disasters of such magnitude ought to be turned over to the U.S. military and other federal authorities to manage at the outset.
National plans developed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks rest on the notion that police, fire and other emergency groups are best positioned to serve as first responders. Federal agencies are supposed to function as backu... (more)
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Bush surrounds Louisiana with armed Mexican troopsAs the White House unsuccessfully insists on seizing control of the Louisiana National Guard to institute full-blown martial law in New Orleans, it has brought in foreign troops moving on the Western and Eastern borders of the state.
Washington Post/AP Thursday, September 8, 2005; 4:31 PM is peddling the government line that the soldiers are unarmed, but does note that the Mexican Navy has brought hardware to the Mississippi Gulf Coast:
LAREDO, Texas -- A Mexican army convo... (more)
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Flood survivors expelled by forceMost of the hurricane survivors who volunteered to leave New Orleans have now gone from the city, officials say.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 people are believed to remain, despite the mayor's compulsory evacuation order.
Police officers have denied using force to clear the flooded city, but say they may start to do so.
Meanwhile, an opinion poll suggests that two-thirds of Americans think the president could have done more in the aftermath of Hurricane K... (more)
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State checks out Glasgow base as evacuee siteMontana's Commerce Department director flew to Glasgow Tuesday afternoon for an on-site assessment of the housing and ancillary facilities at the former Glasgow Air Force base.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer has offered the base as a possible relocation center for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Tony Preite said his first purpose was to assess the number of available dwellings that might be used as temporary homes for the thousands of people displaced by the storm that decimated... (more)
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UK firm picketed over Guantánamo 'torture' shacklesIn the late 18th century the company made "Nigger collars" for restraining slaves in America. Today, it makes the shackles that hold the inmates of Guantánamo Bay.
Yesterday, the Birmingham handcuff and baton manufacturer Hiatt & Company was picketed by human rights activists wearing orange jumpsuits in protest at its continued export to the US of handcuffs and other products used to hold prisoners at Camp X-Ray on the US naval base at Guantánamo, Cuba.
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Taser gun arrest video circulatedCANTON — The brother of a man who died after police used a Taser gun during his arrest gathered reporters at the Stark County Courthouse on Thursday to voice his family’s disapproval of last week’s grand jury decision not to indict the officers.
Two police officers were called to the home of Shawn Pirolozzi on June 13 after residents reported seeing a bloody and naked man running into traffic and jumping on cars. Police said that when the officers arrived, he att... (more)
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Concern at effects on civil libertiesPROPOSED counter-terrorism laws had the potential to undermine free speech and propel the nation towards a police state, civil libertarians warned yesterday.
Australian Council for Civil Liberties chairman Terry O'Gorman cautiously supported some measures in the Howard Government's package, including greater access to airline passenger information and increased stop, search and question powers for police.
But he expressed concern about the introduction of control orders and... (more)
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Big Brother on Hamburg's Reeperbahn?Hamburg wants to install surveillance cameras on the city's red-light drag, the Reeperbahn, to fight violent crime. The plan comes at a time when Germany is mulling expanding existing security measures.
Better known for its strip joints, bordellos, casinos and smoky watering holes, Hamburg's notorious Reeperbahn is also a hotbed of violent crime.
Last year, incidents of bodily harm jumped by 19 percent in the port city's St Pauli district while drug-related crimes w... (more)
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Scientists win right to create human embryo with three genetic parentsBRITISH scientists have been given permission to create human embryos that will have three genetic parents.
The fertility watchdog cleared a team at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne yesterday to conduct an experiment to prevent genetic disease by merging single-cell embryos with donated eggs.
The decision to approve the procedure on appeal, after two previous applications were rejected, is controversial because it could eventually lead to the birth of children ... (more)
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Crude oil supplies overwhelm refineries The US and Europe are releasing more emergency crude oil than refineries in the Gulf of Mexico can handle, reinforcing suspicions that governments are using the crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina to cap record oil prices.
US refineries will on Friday begin to bid for the 30m barrels of crude oil that the US government is releasing from the its emergency reserves but, with many refineries disabled, analysts say the additional supply may not be needed.
“I w... (more)
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UK.gov ditches 'Big Brother'-style e-votingThe Government has ditched plans for electronic voting at next year's local elections, it emerged today.
The news was slipped out in a written answer during the summer recess prompting the Tories to describe plans for "widespread electronic voting and an 'e-enabled general election' by next year" as "a shambles".
Rounding on the Government Oliver Heald MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, described the Government's e-voting plans as "reckless" a... (more)
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Flood survivors cuffed as evacuation beginsARMED police have begun to handcuff hurricane survivors who refuse to leave their homes in New Orleans.
As many as 10,000 people have stayed put in the devastated city despite orders to evacuate.
Many are now said to be going voluntarily, but others are being detained and taken to evacuation centres.
The job of carrying out Mayor Ray Nagin's forcible evacuation order has been left largely to the 1000 or so remaining members of New Orleans' police forc... (more)
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Congressman: Hurricane 'finally cleaned out public housing in New Orleans'From the paid-restricted Wall Street Journal's Washington wire: "LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS aim to cope with political fallout."
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Sen. Landrieu, in spotlight now, could find margins squeezed if thousands of Democratic-leaning African-Americans don't return by her 2008 re-election. Louisiana political analyst John Maginnis says state could even lose one of seven House seats in next redistricting.
Two shaky House incumbents, Democrat Melancon and Republican Boustany,... (more)
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Some Iraq Projects Running Out of Money, U.S. SaysWASHINGTON — The U.S. will halt construction work on some water and power plants in Iraq because it is running out of money for projects, officials said Wednesday.
Security costs have cut into the money available to complete some major infrastructure projects that were started under the $18.4-billion U.S. plan to rebuild Iraq. As a result, the United States is funding only those projects deemed essential by the Iraqi government.
Although no overall figures are... (more)
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Military Occupation in America and the Prospects for LibertyThe government response to Katrina, aside from being riddled with error and incompetence, has been downright cruel – forcing people to leave their pets and property behind, keeping charity out of the city, turning away private volunteers and assistance, treating people who might only be scavenging for abandoned and rotting food like dangerous criminals, disrupting private transportation and burdening flights out of the city with ludicrous post-9/11 security measures, expropriating private ... (more)
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New Orleans becomes a war zone: A dress rehearsal for martial law?The disaster that struck New Orleans and the southern Gulf Coast has given rise to the largest military mobilization in modern history on US soil. Nearly 65,000 US military personnel are now deployed in disaster area, transforming the devastated port city into a war zone.
Squads of combat-equipped troops toting assault rifles and columns of humvees with gunners at the ready crisscross its flooded streets. Soldiers with bayonets mounted have begun house-to-house canvassing of the c... (more)
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Hunger strikers pledge to die in GuantánamoMore than 200 detainees in Guantánamo Bay are in their fifth week of a hunger strike, the Guardian has been told.
Statements from prisoners in the camp which were declassified by the US government on Wednesday reveal that the men are starving themselves in protest at the conditions in the camp and at their alleged maltreatment - including desecration of the Qur'an - by American guards.
The statements, written on August 11, have just been given to the British ... (more)
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Tight Constraints on Pentagon's Freedom Walk: Event Remembering 9/11, Troops to Be Kept 'Sterile,' Limited to PreregisteredOrganizers of the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial Freedom Walk on Sunday are taking extraordinary measures to control participation in the march and concert, with the route fenced off and lined with police and the event closed to anyone who does not register online by 4:30 p.m. today.
The march, sponsored by the Department of Defense, will wend its way from the Pentagon to the Mall along a route that has not been specified but will be lined with four-foot-high snow fencing to keep it clo... (more)
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How Reliable Is Brown's Resume?: A TIME investigation reveals discrepancies in the FEMA chief's official biographies When President Bush nominated Michael Brown to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2003, Brown's boss at the time, Joe Allbaugh, declared, "the President couldn't have chosen a better man to help...prepare and protect the nation." But how well was he prepared for the job? Since Hurricane Katrina, the FEMA director has come under heavy criticism for his performance and scrutiny of his background. Now, an investigation by TIME has found discrepancies in his online legal profile... (more)
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FEMA Chief Taken Off Hurricane Relief EffortsWASHINGTON — Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Brown is being sent back to Washington from Baton Rouge, where he was the primary official overseeing the federal government's response to the disaster, FOX News has confirmed. Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.
Homeland Security Se... (more)
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FEMA Nixes Grassroots Radio Station for Hurricane EvacueesSeptember 8th, 2005 - Although the effort was trumpeted in the media as an example of grassroots ingenuity in the face of disaster, local officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency have nixed an attempt by Houston activists to set up a low-power radio station at the Astrodome that would have broadcast Hurricane Katrina relief information for evacuees.
The project was unplugged even though it had key support. On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission quickly gran... (more)
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New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms as Water RecedesNEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8 - Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.
No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.
B... (more)
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FEMA: Corrupt, Negligent, Criminal and In ChargeSteve Watson | September 8 2005
FEMA is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. It has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress.
It has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transpor... (more)
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