Hurricane Halliburton

posted by John Nichols on 09/11/2005 @ 08:35am

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Having finished the search for a luxury vacation home on the eastern shore of Maryland – which preoccupied him during the critical initial days of what is being called the worst natural disaster in American history – Vice President Dick Cheney jetted south late last week to inspect the damage.

With the wheels rolling for the purchase of his own $2.9 million home on the east coast, the Cheney was more or less ready to commiserate with the folks who had lost their homes on the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, not all of the locals were prepared to thank the vice president for finally showing up.

Cheney was greeted in Gulfport, Mississippi, by a survivor of the disaster who – recalling the veep's blunt salutation for Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy during a visit to Capitol Hill last year – repeatedly shouted: "Go f--- yourself, Mr Cheney."

After Secret Service agents dragged the local man away, Cheney was asked by a reporter: "Are you getting a lot of that Mr. Vice President?"

Cheney answered: "First time I've heard it."

If Cheney had actually interacted with anyone on the ground, however, he would have heard a lot more. But the vice presidential visit was merely the latest in a series of photo opportunities by administration aides who are scrambling to undo the damage done by their plodding and disengaged response to a catastrophe that was made much worse by initial federal neglect and incompetence.

Gulf Coast coast residents may be in shock. But they haven't lost their sense of outrage. As Cheney posed for the cameras, Gulfport resident Lynn Lofton approached reporters and told them: "I think the media opportunity right here is a complete waste of time and taxpayer money. They should have been here last week."

In fact, Cheney arrived just in time to, as he put it, "make certain that we're doing everything that needs to be done."

The former CEO of Halliburton needn't have worried. As has been the case since the Bush-Cheney administration took office: When trouble hits, Halliburton hits it big.

The firm that has collectedjbv more than $10 billion in Iraq-war related revenues is just

One of the first corporations to be awarded a reconstruction assignment after the hurricane hit was Halliburton's KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root) subsidiary, which has been tapped to repair damaged naval facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi.

KBR, which according to the able watchdogs at HalliburtonWatch.org has an ongoing $500 million contract with the Navy, will be in thick of the reconstruction process. And don't doubt that there may be more work coming KBR's way.

Joe Allbaugh, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has a new job. He's lobbying for the Halliburton subsidiary in Washington and elsewhere. Conveniently, Allbaugh showed up in Louisiana on the day before Cheney's visit with the purpose, in the words of a Washington Post report, of "helping his clients get business."

Even if Allbaugh drops the ball, Halliburton is well covered.

The vice president can always be counted on to "make certain that we're doing everything that needs to be done."

*****************************************************************

John Nichols' book on Cheney, Dick: The Man Who Is President, was published by The New Press. Former White House counsel John Dean, the author of Worse Than Watergate, says, "This page-turner closes the case: Cheney is our de facto president." Arianna Huffington, the author of Fanatics and Fools, calls Dick, "The first full portrait of The Most Powerful Number Two in History, a scary and appalling picture. Cheney is revealed as the poster child for crony capitalism (think Halliburton's no bid, cost-plus Iraq contracts) and crony democracy (think Scalia and duck-hunting)."

Dick: The Man Who Is President is available from independent bookstores nationwide and at www.amazon.com *****************************************************************

Comments (57)

To reassure the tragic victims or a storm and to make certain relief efforts are proceeding properly OR to scope out opportunities for his buddies to make a spare billion here and there--really it's just too close to call.

I, a native of the eastern shore of MD, am equally sickened that my once pristine little hometown [two-three decades ago, a land of democrats] has been sullied by Rummy and now Cheney, who are establishing plantations on the waterfront the better to kill waterfowl. How can killing be your hobby when you do it for a living?

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 08:58am
Since today is the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. by a ragtag band of Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists and since we are still in the early throes of Hurricane Katrina's catastrophe, I offer the following observation:

1. The 9/11 attacks revealed to the American people the nation's external "evildoers"; Al Qaida and other terrorists and their supporters.

2. Hurricane Katrina revealed to the American people the nation's internal "evildoers"; Bush Administration cronyism, obtuseness and incompetence, pork barrel spending by the Congress, tax cuts to the very wealthy at the expense of necessities for the General Welfare of the nation, possible malfeasance and misfeasance at the Federal Government level (e.g., Halliburton's no-bid contracts, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunninghame, etc.), economic and racial discrimination, and the concerted effort by the Bush Administration to create excessive national debt in order to destroy the Federal Government; just to name a few internal "evildoers".

Posted by oraibi1952 at 09/11/2005 @ 09:14am
The link was too long for me to place here, but the NYTimes has a large analysis of the breakdowns that occured at all levels of govt. It does a good job of pointing out the failures of individuals, but more important the failure of the systems within which some of these people were working. It's a rather sickening read with plenty of meat for those who want to attack the feds and those who want to attack the state and locals.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 09:25am
Sorry to be the reader of news this morning, but there is also an interesting, shorter article about the lack of money being allocated to the Army Corps of Engineers and what specific projects that is hampering. Rather than relying on partisan hacks to criticize budget issues, the article quotes John Paul Woodley, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, (who oversees the Corps) extensively.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/business/11disaster.html?pagewanted=1& th&emc=th

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 09:37am
I've been wondering how the politics of this mess is going to shape up. For instance, is this going to lead to more than just lip service and commissions and token firings or reallocations of personnel? Is this going to lead to that which The Nation's Katrina wants--a New Deal era system of projects?

The Right has the quick answer for you: No. The reason is that "government tends toward bureaucracy, which means elaborate paper flow but ineffective action." So says David Brooks. And isn't that inspiring? The government can't help us because the government can't help us. Why is this? It just is. Who can change it? How can you change something that is already so bloated? Might as well just stop the madness, shut DC down, and return this country to its proper configuration: a series of states that might have a few things in common, but cooperation will not be one of them.

Feel better now that that is over? Good. Now go back to stocking up on your non-perishables and ammo.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 10:04am
Wherever Halliburton shows up to execute their plum non-compete contracts, thousands of Americans should also show up . . . to block them, and to just say "NO! This work goes to LOCAL contractors via competitive bidding, not to corrupt White House cronies!"

Posted by treeder at 09/11/2005 @ 10:32am
Reading the Nations articles and posts is a rather interesting look into the paranoid fantasies of self-appointed watchdogs of our "evil" govt as led by the current Bush Administration.

Its interesting in that all many here can do is rail non-sensically against anything Bush. It would be funny if not for the apparent fact you actually believe this ridiculous stuff being peddled.

All I can say is while the Bush Administration had made some mistakes, thankfully, we have him in charge.

On this anniversery of 9-11, I hope for at least a day you reflect on this and realize those lost and those who are actively participants in the War on Terror.

On John Nichols article, well not much can be said other than I believe the influence of Oliver Stone movies is very much in effect. In a word silly.

Posted by CPT at 09/11/2005 @ 10:37am
A question to Halliburton bashers, do you know how many employees they employ, and what other company would be acceptable to you people? Any american company? Just curious

Posted by CPT at 09/11/2005 @ 10:40am
CHERTOFF IN CHARGE:

Thus far (leaving aside the failure to prevent 9/11 - and subsequently covering up the truth), our greatest national disgraces have been the Images of US Troops torturing detainees, and the images of our citizens being allowed to drown in their attics. What do these two things have in common?

Michael Chertoff.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defending the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur.

But in fact, government officials, scientists and journalists have warned of such a scenario for years.

Chertoff, fielding questions from reporters, said government officials did not expect both a powerful hurricane and a breach of levees that would flood the city of New Orleans.

"That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight," Chertoff said.

He called the disaster "breathtaking in its surprise."

The following is from a New york Times articel, the link for which is too long to post:

Security Nominee Gave Advice to the C.I.A. on Torture Laws By DAVID JOHNSTON, NEIL A. LEWIS and DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 - Michael Chertoff, who has been picked by President Bush to be the homeland security secretary, advised the Central Intelligence Agency on the legality of coercive interrogation methods on terror suspects under the federal anti-torture statute, current and former administration officials said this week.

Depending on the circumstances, he told the intelligence agency, some coercive methods could be legal, but he advised against others, the officials said.

Mr. Chertoff's previously undisclosed involvement in evaluating how far interrogators could go took place in 2002-3 when he headed the Justice Department's criminal division. The advice came in the form of responses to agency inquiries asking whether C.I.A. employees risked being charged with crimes if particular interrogation techniques were used on specific detainees.

Mr. Chertoff's division was asked on several occasions by the intelligence agency whether its officers risked prosecution by using particular techniques. The officials said the C.I.A. wanted as much legal protection as it could obtain while the Justice Department sought to avoid giving unconditional approval.

One technique that C.I.A. officers could use under certain circumstances without fear of prosecution was strapping a subject down and making him experience a feeling of drowning.

IMMINENT DOMAIN Declarations, imminent:

Think about the passage of the law regarding imminent domain, whereby local governments are entitled to confiscate property where it can be put to a higher use (offer greater tax revenues) by a developer.

Now contemplate the unlimited greed that is about to descend on New Orleans chasing all of that "relief" money.

How many developers are presently working on plans to confiscate blocks of existing homes to convert to a "higher purpose?"

A: Allow the poor to die.

B: Force the survivors out of their homes at gunpoint.

C: Confiscate their property under the "Imminent Domain" laws.

D: Develop a completely new and improved New Orleans - absent the poor.

Chertoff is the most dangerous man in America...and the most powerful. His actions, and inactions, are purposeful. Assume the worst. Are you on the "Do not Fly List" yet? Criticise him and you will be.

Posted by plunger at 09/11/2005 @ 10:51am
Halliburton is a "de facto" government entity; they have been and are being tasked to do the job that would be better done by a National Recovery Plan board; that is, Halliburton is making political decisions on how to allocate scarce government resources.

Input must come from the local people too; giving the entire project to one company, Halliburton or some other company, would circumvent the input from the people of New Orleans and other HK disaster areas.

There are many other companies who can do what Halliburton attempts to do: GE, Shaw, various large engineering/architectural combinations that exist throughout the nation, Sundt, and so forth. Additionally, combinations of the above companies could be formed under the guidance of a National Recovery Plan Board and Local Recovery Boards to help lead the HK recovery effort.

Posted by oraibi1952 at 09/11/2005 @ 11:04am
It is a HUGE mistake to under-estimate the Psychopathic-ness of vice pResident Cheney.

Posted by wwswimming at 09/11/2005 @ 11:44am
I'm sure it will be some time yet before a complete analysis is made about the location and nature of a rebuilding of N.O. It would seem necessary to have a city in much the same location, but if the city has lost its natural buffers due to the levees, then it would seem prudent to move the city up (or down?) river somewhat.

My great fear is that if we turn over the rebuilding to the feds and their corporate allies, we will get a shangri-la ($2.9 million estates, perhaps) for those who want the Disney World experience of jazz, blues, and crawfish. Perhaps N.O. could be our first gated city, with special passes allocated to those who wash the dishes and sweep the streets to do their work after hours.

Darn it, darn it, darn it. Stupid liberal impulses to play the race card! Why can't I just be a calm, khaki wearing, solid white American male and look forward to the glorious reconstruction of The Great White Big Easy?

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 11:46am
Thanks, Zero. My eyes had swept past them this morning. In response, though not an answer, to your question about feds benefitting the upper reaches of our society, an even more perplexing issue for me is the continued yet dwindling support from the non-plutocratic sector of the country for the handouts to Bush's buddies. Do some of us just want to make believe that support for the upper crust means that we are honorary members in the club? Do we admire their brazen, cut-throat manners in the same way that John Wayne was idolized? Do we see their relentless drive for material gain as the epitomy of the American dream? I wonder how I would feel about such boys' clubs if I'd chosen to join a frat in college.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 11:59am
CPT, go to corpwatch.org and find out how your heroes at Halliburton do business behind closed doors. After you've gotten yourself informed on the subject, then write your post. It works better that way...

Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 09/11/2005 @ 12:25pm
CPT, My last post came across badly. I meant for it to sound humorous, but it comes across more like I am being a rude smartass. Sorry about that!

Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 09/11/2005 @ 12:26pm
RIO BRAVO,

Try decaf next time. I didn't talk about the article as the Gospel truth and no thoughtful person on this site would take it as such. Analysis and Evaluation--this is how we learn. You are wise to "consider the source," but you make a mistake if you discount something without actually investigating it first.

That said, can you point to specific flaws in the article? Could make for interesting discussion points.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 12:41pm
So Cheney and Haliburton are in the thick of the "reconstruction" of New Orleans. Why am I not surprised? As for those of you who still think this is a liberals vs the conservatives, or republicans vs the democrats issue, wake up. Of course the democrats have always been assisting in the looting. They're all a bunch of thieves, and we need to build an independent movement rooted in the working class majority. The more time some of you drag your feet on the work of getting out, doing the foot work, and figuring out how to displace the right wing, the harder it's going to be to defend the centrality of the democratic process to any such effort. Or, as Dickens put it at the end of "A Tale of Two Cities", "continue to twist mankind into these obscene shapes, and the tumbrils will roll again and again."

Posted by Jayarjunyah at 09/11/2005 @ 12:45pm
What are the Blackwater mercenaries from Iraq doing in NOLA? This is unacceptable. Who authorized them? These are trained killers, killers who enjoy their work. See the following report from truthout.org.

Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans     By Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo     t r u t h o u t | Report

    Saturday 10 September 2005

    New Orleans - Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

    "This is a totally new thing to have guys like us working CONUS (Continental United States)," a heavily armed Blackwater mercenary told us as we stood on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. "We're much better equipped to deal with the situation in Iraq."

    Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as 2 weeks ago.

    What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal and Louisiana state governments.

    Blackwater is one of the leading private "security" firms servicing the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It has several US government contracts and has provided security for many senior US diplomats, foreign dignitaries and corporations. The company rose to international prominence after 4 of its men were killed in Fallujah and two of their charred bodies were hung from a bridge in March 2004. Those killings sparked the massive US retaliation against the civilian population of Fallujah that resulted in scores of deaths and tens of thousands of refugees.

    As the threat of forced evictions now looms in New Orleans and the city confiscates even legally registered weapons from civilians, the private mercenaries of Blackwater patrol the streets openly wielding M-16s and other assault weapons. This despite Police Commissioner Eddie Compass' claim that "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."

    Officially, Blackwater says it forces are in New Orleans to "join the Hurricane Relief Effort." A statement on the company's website, dated September 1, advertises airlift services, security services and crowd control. The company, according to news reports, has since begun taking private contracts to guard hotels, businesses and other properties. But what has not been publicly acknowledged is the claim, made to us by 2 Blackwater mercenaries, that they are actually engaged in general law enforcement activities including "securing neighborhoods" and "confronting criminals."

    That raises a key question: under what authority are Blackwater's men operating? A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, Russ Knocke, told the Washington Post he knows of no federal plans to hire Blackwater or other private security. "We believe we've got the right mix of personnel in law enforcement for the federal government to meet the demands of public safety." he said.

    But in an hour-long conversation with several Blackwater mercenaries, we heard a different story. The men we spoke with said they are indeed on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and the Louisiana governor's office and that some of them are sleeping in camps organized by Homeland Security in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. One of them wore a gold Louisiana state law enforcement badge and said he had been "deputized" by the governor. They told us they not only had authority to make arrests but also to use lethal force. We encountered the Blackwater forces as we walked through the streets of the largely deserted French Quarter. We were talking with 2 New York Police officers when an unmarked car without license plates sped up next to us and stopped. Inside were 3 men, dressed in khaki uniforms, flak jackets and wielding automatic weapons. "Y'all know where the Blackwater guys are?" they asked. One of the police officers responded, "There are a bunch of them around here," and pointed down the road.

    "Blackwater?" we asked. "The guys who are in Iraq?"

    "Yeah," said the officer. "They're all over the place."

    A short while later, as we continued down Bourbon Street, we ran into the men from the car. They wore Blackwater ID badges on their arms.

    "When they told me New Orleans, I said, 'What country is that in?,'" said one of the Blackwater men. He was wearing his company ID around his neck in a carrying case with the phrase "Operation Iraqi Freedom" printed on it. After bragging about how he drives around Iraq in a "State Department issued level 5, explosion proof BMW," he said he was "just trying to get back to Kirkuk (in the north of Iraq) where the real action is." Later we overheard him on his cell phone complaining that Blackwater was only paying $350 a day plus per diem. That is much less than the men make serving in more dangerous conditions in Iraq. Two men we spoke with said they plan on returning to Iraq in October. But, as one mercenary said, they've been told they could be in New Orleans for up to 6 months. "This is a trend," he told us. "You're going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations."

    If Blackwater's reputation and record in Iraq are any indication of the kind of "services" the company offers, the people of New Orleans have much to fear.

    -----

    Jeremy Scahill, a correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!, and Daniela Crespo are in New Orleans. Visit www.democracynow.org for in-depth, independent, investigative reporting on Hurricane Katrina. Email: jeremy@democracynow.org.

Posted by billsheasf at 09/11/2005 @ 12:59pm
Rio Bravo, check out in today's NYT what their Public Editor has to say about pre-Katrina coverage of the levees, Corps of Engineers, etc. It's not hard hitting at all but what would you expect from a Public Editor who spent his entire journalistic career at the Wall St. Journal? It appears to be another weak mea culpa by the times. They've been having to do that a lot lately. (When the real truth comes out about heroine (sic) Judy Miller, they'll be groveling on their knees.) Perhaps the "Gray Lady" is in her death throes as a national publication and should be allowed to devolve into strictly a local paper . . . and leave serious news coverage to the blogs.

Posted by billsheasf at 09/11/2005 @ 1:07pm
CPT Yes any company without ties to the current administration. You people amaze me you get into Iraq then ask the other party if they have any ideas on how to get out. You have funneled billions of dollars to Halliburton then you refuse to even RESEARCH a company that can do the same job. If your not lining your own pockets at the expense of the American people you can't be bothered. Does the administration have any idea how to give out contracts in a upfront legal manner? Evidently not, which is telling in itself. "In other words" like Mr. Bush is prone to say YOU ARE CORRUPT.

Posted by Salunga at 09/11/2005 @ 1:07pm
TJBEHRENSI, you ask of Rumsfeld and Cheney: "How can killing be your hobby when you do it for a living?" Answer. Because they enjoy it. The huge paradox in this country is that the people who are the most "pro-life" are also the most "pro-killing" and "pro-death." Eventually the Christian Right (actually the Christian Wrong) will move to Nine Commandments. The NRA will have lobbied successfully to remove "Thou Shalt Not Kill." In a very short time, Bush and Blair combined will have killed more Iraqis in 4 or 5 years than Saddam did in 30. Obviously they are much more efficient at killing and committed to killing than he was. Bush is a murderer, a psychopath and a liar. I wish the MSM would stop engaging in euphemisms. The man at the top is a sadistic nut case. Period. Either this will be censored out or the Secret Service will be knocking on my door. To quote our Nut Case in Chief, "Bring 'em on."

Posted by billsheasf at 09/11/2005 @ 1:16pm
RIO BRAVO The administration cut funding for a wetlands hurricane buffer project from 14 billion to 2 billion? Wanted to fund levee construction at 25% what was asked by the Army Corp. of Engineers. Bash the NYTimes all you want, but everyone has had to play the political game with the yolk of the tax cut siren song hanging around their neck. Your policies are failed. Your bitterness is apparent. Please do not continue to pursue the failed neocon tax cut siren song at the nations expense.

Posted by Salunga at 09/11/2005 @ 1:17pm
Great point ZERO to add insult to misery you bring in the same thugs that have terrorized Iraqi civilians to our streets. You have insulted the citizens of this great country.

Posted by Salunga at 09/11/2005 @ 1:20pm
Rio Bravado;

I guess you never read Safire or David Brooks! I love it when you guys make blanket statements about shit that you have obviously so little knowledge of! Incidentally, Brooks - a staunch conservative - wrote an article that made it obvious that our "leaders" in Washington will have plenty to answer for! Of course he never mentioned Bush's name though!

Posted by NO-NONSENSE at 09/11/2005 @ 1:25pm
"The men we spoke with said they are indeed on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and the Louisiana governor's office and that some of them are sleeping in camps organized by Homeland Security in New Orleans and Baton Rouge."

Looks like if you ask for help from Chertoff and the DHS you have to sell your soul. Its always something with these nazi idiots and yes I do mean to sound rude. Our citizens do not need this on top of everything else they are dealing with right now. BILLSHEASF thankyou for your excellent post on Black Watch Security in N.O.

Posted by Salunga at 09/11/2005 @ 1:37pm
Innocent question: would we need hired, private guards (damn, that sounds so third world) if we weren't struggling to keep the military numbers up? How much are OUR men and women making?

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 1:44pm
If Bush can cap the wages of those workers going to be used to rebuild the devestasted areas, why does'nt he put a cap on oil companies profits. Has anyone come to the realization yet that the profits of the oil companies are going to be astronomical this quarter. PS It now cost less to produce gasoline than it did before the storm. Insurance will pay for the oil companies to fix their refineries, and oil platforms, so they get to keep the difference between what gas was selling for before Katrina and what it is selling it for after. He limits wages the contractors have to pay workers, but there is no hint of limiting Haliburton's possible profits. Is anyone else wondering why we haven't heard more about this wage stunt Bush has pulled?????

This man and all his cronies HAVE GOT TO GO. Gas at over $3 a gallon is outragous, and we as a nation should be sickened at the way this administration supports corporate America while the citizens foot the bill. The simple answer of supply and demand is irrelivant because the oil companies don't want an abundance of oil. At a time of crisis our government should be on the peoples side, not Exxon, Texaco, Haliburton, and Bectel.

Posted by bbrizzy at 09/11/2005 @ 2:04pm
BBRIZZY asked: "If Bush can cap the wages of those workers going to be used to rebuild the devestasted areas, why does'nt he put a cap on oil companies profits."

In jest, I answer: Interfering with a company's profits is commie talk, BBRIZZY. Profits are what keep this country's economy purring with high-octane efficiency. How do you think jobs are created anyway? If the workers of this country aren't willing to make sacrifices in the name of Profit, then they are un-American and should be shunned. After all, those Indian call centers and Chinese garment workers aren't subject to "prevailing wage" issues. They don't complain either about Wal-Mart's huge profits or those of the tech industries. We will be a stronger country when we learn to trust the masters of our economy and play our ever shrinking role in its success.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 2:17pm
Jeez CPT needshelp. He has his head so far up Bush's ass he can't see the forest for the trees. Bush is the reason 9/11 happen he ignored any warnings, becuase he more worried about tax cuts for the nations wealthy. Ask yourself this simple question

Who feels safer with this man as President??

Maybe I should ask only those making under $200,000 a year Or are not connected to the war machine.

Posted by bbrizzy at 09/11/2005 @ 2:21pm
TJBEHRENS have you been taking that on line Rush communications class again?

Posted by bbrizzy at 09/11/2005 @ 2:26pm
"In jest, I answer"!!! :-)

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 2:35pm
I wonder what Diamond Dick is going to do for a living after he retires from Government. I wonder do you think he will go back to Haliburton?

Posted by bbrizzy at 09/11/2005 @ 2:40pm
It's not hard to figure out what Bush will do, he'll go back to what he did before NOTHING

Posted by bbrizzy at 09/11/2005 @ 2:41pm
By the way, in thinking of other ways in which the little guy gets screwed, there are stories out this weekend that local homeless shelters are suffering because many of their usual benefactors have turned their attention to the larger charities dealing with Katrina survivors. Check such agencies in your area and see if they aren't running low on food and milk. A quick run to the store can make a big difference for these people.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/11/2005 @ 2:42pm
Whine, pout, cry, moan, shake fist with outrage, curse evil conservatives, special curses to Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, big oil, all corporations, and taxcuts.

AS the Four Tops sang long ago, "It's the same old song".

Will check back in to see if anything remotely resembling positive and constructive thoughts about the U.S. suddenly appear.

Posted by love liberty at 09/12/2005 @ 10:32am
Just waiting for the 06 elections and the inquirys will come!

Posted by dycel8r at 09/12/2005 @ 10:55am
ILOVE.

No problem, while I have no doubt that Halliburton does error in handing out sub-contracts, I do not however, condemn them as to being a hopelessly corrupt organization, with no other purpose than to swindle tax dollars while providing little or no service.

Having benefited first hand, by their services in Afghan, i.e. food contractors, sanitation contractors, and the all-important air-conditioning/heating units they provided and serviced, I know they do their job.

BBRIZZY

Thank you for your astute analysis, but I will keep the views I have since they are rooted in real world experience as well as a Liberal Arts college education. Yes I said liberal. And yes I myself WAS once a liberal.

SALUNGA

While I suspect you would not want to accept the following statment, but I while submit it to you anyway.

HALLIBURTON has experience, long standing with the Department of Defense in providing services, in a WAR ZONE, key phrase, remember between 37-57 HALLIBURTON employees have been killed in IRAQ/AFGHAN. And while I heard one prominent liberal, I believe the guy who runs the daily kos though not sure, remark when 4 where killed and burned in FALLUJAH, that they deserved it due to them being "war profiteers."

I would say that Halliburton SHOULD be given special consideration, for all their deficiencies, and yes I know they have some.

And may I say from personal stand point I am grateful to all the Halliburton employees whom I have come into contact with, they too take great risk, and its for reasons that go beyond a paycheck, to do what they do. Thanks

Posted by CPT at 09/12/2005 @ 11:01am
All I can say is while the Bush Administration had made some mistakes, thankfully, we have him in charge.

Because of Bush and his cronies, their incompetence has caused these 2 catastrophes..

Posted by djmarch at 09/12/2005 @ 11:08am
P.S....By the way...Where is Osami Bin Laden ????

Posted by djmarch at 09/12/2005 @ 11:11am
DJMARCH,

Perhaps you ought to go the Hindu-Kush mountains or the terrain which borders PAK/Afghan, this will NO doubt answer your query as to where Osama is.

And he is most likely squat-pissing in some cave, probably still brooding the loss of his base of operations in Afghan, the loss of 75% of his mid-level leaders, which he no doubt invested time and resources training, a dedicated well-trained terrorists does not grow on trees, the loss of his military advisor/second in command Muhammend Atef, courtesy of a U.S. Army .50 caliber bullet moving at at least 1400ft per second, plus the loss of his operations chief and 911 planner, Kalid Shiek Muhammend, who no doubt, has a some wires attached to his manhood running to a car battery, thanks to the Paks. Well one can only hope, this is the case.

Sorry for the candor, but I do get annoyed with those questions and the inference that the 20000 US troops are not doing their job, which they are doing as we speak, 24/7/365

Posted by CPT at 09/12/2005 @ 11:33am
Jack Kelly: No shame The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed

Sunday, September 11, 2005

It is settled wisdom among journalists that the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was unconscionably slow.

Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio (jkelly@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1476).

"Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever during a dire national emergency," wrote New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in a somewhat more strident expression of the conventional wisdom.

But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the truth.

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 2002. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

So they libel as a "national disgrace" the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world history.

I write this column a week and a day after the main levee protecting New Orleans breached. In the course of that week:

More than 32,000 people have been rescued, many plucked from rooftops by Coast Guard helicopters.

The Army Corps of Engineers has all but repaired the breaches and begun pumping water out of New Orleans.

Shelter, food and medical care have been provided to more than 180,000 refugees.

Journalists complain that it took a whole week to do this. A former Air Force logistics officer had some words of advice for us in the Fourth Estate on his blog, Moltenthought:

"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying engineering.

"The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network.

"You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by prepositioning assets (in the affected areas) since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region.

"No amount of yelling, crying and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above."

"You cannot just snap your fingers and make the military appear somewhere," van Steenwyk said.

Guardsmen need to receive mobilization orders; report to their armories; draw equipment; receive orders and convoy to the disaster area. Guardsmen driving down from Pennsylvania or Navy ships sailing from Norfolk can't be on the scene immediately.

Relief efforts must be planned. Other than prepositioning supplies near the area likely to be afflicted (which was done quite efficiently), this cannot be done until the hurricane has struck and a damage assessment can be made. There must be a route reconnaissance to determine if roads are open, and bridges along the way can bear the weight of heavily laden trucks.

And federal troops and Guardsmen from other states cannot be sent to a disaster area until their presence has been requested by the governors of the afflicted states.

Exhibit A on the bill of indictment of federal sluggishness is that it took four days before most people were evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome.

The levee broke Tuesday morning. Buses had to be rounded up and driven from Houston to New Orleans across debris-strewn roads. The first ones arrived Wednesday evening. That seems pretty fast to me.

A better question -- which few journalists ask -- is why weren't the roughly 2,000 municipal and school buses in New Orleans utilized to take people out of the city before Katrina struck?

Posted by LIBSARENUTS at 09/12/2005 @ 11:47am
LIBSARENUTS's post included the following quote:

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

And that settles it? A guy from Florida who doesn't even know that it was Hurricane "Frances"?

The more I hear the more I realize that every stage of governmental assistance was awful: the mayor, governor, and president. I don't think it's possible anymore to defend any of these people. Meanwhile the fingerpointing is precisely the distraction that All the President's Men are hoping for as the big money issues will soon be decided and the people who are suffering will almost certainly receive little while carpetbagging Bush cronies will live with even finer Cognac and Cuban cigars.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/12/2005 @ 12:03pm
Rio Bravado;

"stop worshipping at their altar of bias and misinformation seething in bitterness and hatred! " ...... Are you talking about FOX? ......

Take a lesson from Mark Twain would ya, he said, "better to keep your mouth shut and have everyone assume your a fool than to open it and eleviate all doudt ".........

Incidentally, it wasn't the Libs that spread the racist rumours about all the supposed rapes and murders occuring - it was your heroes Shaun Hannity ( Mr. BIAS ) himself and George Will. So any assertions about NYT bias are relative. No media outlet is more biased than FOX. The New York Times is down right academic, and objective compared to Fox.

Posted by NO-NONSENSE at 09/12/2005 @ 12:03pm
I'd like a rightwinger's response to the reports that Blackwater mercenaries have set up shop in N.O. and have been deputized to serve as a security force.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/12/2005 @ 12:05pm
A related issue is the mandatoriness (almost certainly not a word, but, oh well) of the N.O. evacuation. The mayor has sited the potential health risk. But is the potential of a health risk as significant as the much higher risk that leaving your property in N.O. is leaving it to the dogs? With planning already begun, I would want to stay in my house until the bulldozers were at my front porch. A full-blown city in the United States left as a ghost town under complete control of politicians? What a nightmare.

I listened to Democracy Now! this morning and heard a tale (could be isolated, I recognize) of homeowners having their house invaded in the middle of the night by some police/military force and told to leave; they refused because their house received little damage. Doesn't really sound as if the N.O. people have the residents' best interests in mind.

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/12/2005 @ 12:49pm
SCHUMER'S SHAME

September 10, 2005 -- So, while many Americans were busy contributing money, clothing and other necessities for hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast residents, what was Sen. Chuck Schumer up to?

Raising money off the backs of Katrina's victims -- for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

In one of the more cynical tricks we've seen lately, Schumer's DSCC urged visitors to its Web site to sign a petition urging the firing of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the focus of much of the criticism of the federal response to Katrina.

Posted by LIBSARENUTS at 09/12/2005 @ 1:20pm
Pathetic Liberal network.....

CNN PRODUCERS TOLD ON-AIR GUESTS: GET ANGRY Mon Sep 12 2005 12:42:11 ET

After weeks of intense Katrina coverage from the main press, LA TIMES guru and former CNN host Michael Kinsley divulges that CNN was coaching guests to artificially enhance emotions!

Kinsley writes:

"The TV news networks, which only a few months ago were piously suppressing emotional fireworks by their pundits, are now piously encouraging their news anchors to break out of the emotional straitjackets and express outrage. A Los Angeles Times colleague of mine, appearing on CNN last week to talk about Katrina, was told by a producer to 'get angry.

Posted by LIBSARENUTS at 09/12/2005 @ 1:24pm
Exhbits A and B on why we should all add Libsarenuts to our ignore lists.

Posted by Hman23 at 09/12/2005 @ 1:31pm
Whine, pout, cry, moan, shake fist with outrage, curse evil conservatives, special curses to Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, big oil, all corporations, and taxcuts.

AS the Four Tops sang long ago, "It's the same old song".

Will check back in to see if anything remotely resembling positive and constructive thoughts about the U.S. suddenly appear.

Posted by LOVE LIBERTY 09/12/2005 @ 10:32am

Yes, LL, go stick your head in the sand. Of course it is unamerican to admit that there are any problems in this country and even more so to try and fix them. By the way, next time your floors need to be vacuumed, just refuse to acknowledge it and sit around bragging about how nice the lawn looks...

Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 09/12/2005 @ 1:59pm
CPT how does asking where Osama is have anything to do with infering troops are not doing there jobs?

Posted by hvmiller at 09/12/2005 @ 2:08pm
This is all part of the Bush IN YOUR FACE, AMERICA! strategy. Three scams were pulled off over the weekend....the Halliburton deal is only one. We've had nearly five years of this. Wanna end it?

IN YOUR FACE, AMERICA: The Buscho Scams (and what we can do).

CLICK HERE [tvnewslies.org]

Posted by Reg at 09/12/2005 @ 2:22pm
HVMILLER,

Taken into the context of DJMARCH's comments, one could well derive the inference.

REG

I ususally dont, but since its lunch for me, I clicked on the "Three Scams of Bush", very amusing. But as a point of FACT, since Mike Brown just resigned, SCAM 3, is irrelevant and false now. I wonder what new outlandish assertion you will use to compensate for SCAM 3 being voided.

With sites like these in mind, is any wonder why the "NEW LEFT" is oftened questioned as to its loyalties, unfortunate, there are alot of decent liberals, just they dont get the press.

Posted by CPT at 09/12/2005 @ 3:22pm
ZERO,

Where is the op-ed piece?

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/12/2005 @ 5:12pm
Daily Kos, got it!

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/12/2005 @ 5:13pm
CPT:

I am going to ask you a couple of questions. If you don't answer them, then you have NO RIGHT to complain when we progressives show outrage regarding corporate America, because these questions go to the very heart of why progressives have such moral dilemmas with megacorps.

Question #1:

Do you believe that the negative externalities imposed on a society, community, world, etc. that are direct results of the actions of corporations (or their proxies) should be ameliorated by the corporation in question, or is that the task and burden of society, the community, world, etc. at large?

Question #2:

Do you think that corporations have an unlimited right to pursue profit, regardless of the social, environmental, political repercussions of that pursuit?

Question #3:

Do you think that there is some point at which the aglomeration of wealth becomes detrimental to the proper function of a democratic society?

Answer these 3 questions. These are just a handful which speak to the very heart of the matter at hand, but I feel they cover the largest, most important issues being discussed here. Anyone else besides CPT care to weigh in? CPT, don't forget, these are directed specifically at you, and to a lesser degree at RIO BRAVO, LOVES LIBERTY, et al.

Posted by jorcheim at 09/12/2005 @ 5:40pm
This blog is ending, but I just discovered this, a five-page article about the detachment of Bush from the real world. Conservatives, don't read this; its title is "How Bush Blew It"?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/site/newsweek

Posted by tjbehrens1 at 09/12/2005 @ 5:50pm
JORCHIEM,

In the interests of brevity here are your answers:

To Question 1

To the extent that it could be proven that the damage incurred is beyond a reasonable doubt, the sed corporations fault, then yes the corporation should be held to account, but relative to the INTENT of the action that caused damage.

To Question 2:

NO, Only IF those interests you decribe show an undisputed claim to the significant detriment of the common good.

To Question 3:

Yes, at SOME point, but that is not the case today, nor will it be for awhile, perhaps if some corporation has the aggregate wealth equal to that of the US Federal Budget, around 2.2 trillion, but unless I am missing something, no corporations has reached that level.

Such loaded questions, but I do not think you will be satisfied with my answers.

Posted by CPT at 09/12/2005 @ 9:00pm