NightBlogger

Thu, 09/04/2008 - 13:19 — rich2010
Surge or Purge?

The most complete exposition of a social myth often comes when the myth itself is waning – Robert M. MacIver

As hurricane Gustav petered out from Category 2 to Category 1 status I had the dubious opportunity to view what might be a much larger crisis for not only New Orleans, but the entire US, the Republican National Convention. Viewers were spared the words from on high, as Cheney/Bush canceled their speeches to convince the American public of the efficacy of their own leadership. Their bloody presences were substituted with the visage of Cindy McCain and Laura Bush. The latter’s face appears to be made of some sort of space age plastic, and looked remarkably life-like. The creepiest part of their joint performance was their attempt of make amends for the Katrina disaster by appearing to care about Gustav’s effects on the Gulf coast’s residents.

Katrina was spun to the American public as a natural disaster, but anyone familiar with event knows that it was the biggest engineering failure in the history of the world, save Chernobyl. Both FEMA and the Bush administration were aware of the levee failures for 24 hours before the information was shared with anyone associated with emergency services in Louisiana. The Federal response was delayed by a week while the Bush administration wrested signing authority from Louisiana’s democratic governor Kathleen Blanco in order to issue a sole source contract for cleanup to…you guessed it, Halliburton.

As a result of these Federal “business” decisions, over 1600 American citizens, mostly poor and black died, and US taxpayers were saddled with $100 billion dollars in losses. Their blood was dried on the hands of the Bush Administration and Army Corp of Engineers before the ink was applied to the contract for Halliburton. Luckily no one noticed the blood of the Katrina victims because it blended in so well with that of American soldiers, and Iraqi, Afghani, Pakistani, and Somali soldiers and citizens. All this blood, shed in just under eight years with nothing to show, save the trials of Osama Bin Laden’s driver.

Now in the waning days of the Cheney/Bush administration, the dream of Pipelinestan is failing on all fronts. In Iraq the vaunted democratic speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has served little more than aid and abet the failing illegal resource wars. The Cheney/Bush policy of pushing through a hydrocarbon law to open up Iraq’s oil deposits to exploitation by Exxon/Chevron/Arco/BP has been defeated last week by an oil services contract awarded by the Iraqi government to China. So much for being greeted as “liberators”. Great Britain occupied Iraq in 1929 with the intent of controlling the oil resources. Their failed efforts resulted in the death of the pound sterling as the world’s reserve currency. Nearly 80 years later it is difficult to make an argument against the US dollar following the downward trajectory of the pound.

Cheney/Bush maintains the myth that 47,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan will stave off the return of the Taliban spawned by the Pakistani ISI, who were spawned by the CIA. They ignore the fact that 300,000 Russian troops were unable to “pacify” the Afghanis. Nor were the British troops during the Opium Wars motivated by the Great Game. Students of history understand that the last person to accomplish this task was Alexander the Great over 2300 years ago. Somewhere Osama Bin Laden is smiling from beyond the grave.

Now Americans faces the visage of John McCain, who is offering up more of the Cheney/Bush smorgasbord of death, destruction and debt spawned by the most incompetent implementation of a foreign policy since the inception of American republic.

As an alternative to Obama’s alleged lack of experience McCain has selected Sarah Palin, mother of five, including a pregnant 17 year old (now that’s pro-life) for his V.P. Palin who hired a lobbyist while mayor of Wasilla to garner Federal earmarks is now apparently anti-earmarks. She supported the bridge to nowhere, before declaring her opposition to it. She has also run a 527 group to raise money for disgraced Senator Ted Stevens. She also has something in common with her fellow Alaska Republicans Ted Stevens and Doug Young, as she is under investigation by the Alaska legislature for the firing of the Alaska’s top public safety officer over his refusal to fire a state trooper, who is the ex-husband of her sister. Latest word is that a private attorney has been hired to defend against her charges of abusing the powers of the office of the governor. More

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Source: WorldNetDaily
A Wall Street Journal columnist has advised people to “start stockpiling food” and an ABC News Report says “there are worrying signs appearing in the United States where some … locals are beginning to hoard supplies.” Now there’s concern that the U.S. government may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food. “We’re told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit the California docks. (Something’s up!),” said officials at Best Prices Storable Foods in an advisory to customers. Spokesman Bruce Hopkins told WND he also has had trouble obtaining No. 10 cans of various products from one of the world’s larger suppliers of food stores, Oregon Freeze Dry.

He said a company official told him on the telephone when he discussed the status of his order that it was because the government had purchased massive quantities of products, leaving none for other customers. That, however, was denied by Oregon Freeze Dry. In a website statement, the company confirmed it cannot assure supplying some items to customers. “We regret to inform you Oregon Freeze Dry cannot satisfy all Mountain House #10 can orders and we have removed #10 cans from our website temporarily,” the company tells frustrated customers. “The reason for this is sales of #10 cans have continued to increase. OFD is allocating as much production capacity as possible to this market segment, but we must maintain capacity for our other market segments as well.”

The company statement continues, “We want to clarify inaccurate information we’ve seen on the Internet. This situation is not due to sales to the government domestically or in Iraq. We do sell products to this market, but we also sell other market segments … The reason for this decision is solely due to an unprecedented sales spike in #10 cans sales. “We expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn’t a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future,” the company statement said. But Hopkins wasn’t backing away from his concerns. “The government just came in and said they’re buying it. They did pay for it,” he told WND about the summertime shipment of long-term storage butter. “They took it and no one else could have it.

“We don’t know why. The feds then went to freeze dried companies, and bought most of their canned stock,” he said. A spokeswoman for Oregon Freeze Dry, sales manager Melanie Cornutt, told WND that the increasing demand for food that can be stored has been on the rise since Hurricane Katrina devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast, cutting off ordinary supply routes. “We are currently out of stock on our cans. We are not selling any of our cans,” she confirmed. She then raised the issue of government purchases herself. “We do sell to the government [but] it is not the reason [for company sales limits],” she said. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told WND whatever government agency is buying in a surge it isn’t them. They reported a stockpile of about six million meals which has not changed significantly in an extended period. But Hopkins said it was his opinion the government is purchasing huge quantities of food for stockpiles, and Americans will have to surmise why.

“We don’t have shelters that [are being] stocked with food. We’re not doing this for the public. My only conclusion is that they’re stocking up for themselves,” he said of government officials. Blogger Holly Deyo issued an alert this week announcing, “Unprecedented demand cleans out major storable food supplier through 2009.” “It came to our attention today, that the world’s largest producer of storable foods, Mountain House, is currently out of stock of ALL #10 cans of freeze dried foods, not just the Turkey Tetrazzini. They will NOT have product now through 2009,” she said. “This information was learned by a Mountain House dealer who shared it with me this morning. In personally talking with the company immediately after, Mountain House verified the information is true. Customer service stated, ‘I’m surprised they don’t have this posted on the website yet.’ She said they have such a backlog of orders, Mountain House will not be taking any #10 can food requests through the remainder of this year and all of the next.

“Mountain House claims this situation is due to a backlog of orders, which may very well be true, but who is purchasing all of their food? This is a massive global corporation. “One idea: the military. Tensions are ramping up with Iran and news segments debate whether or not we will implement a preemptive strike in conjunction with Israel,” she wrote. Hopkins raised some of the same concerns, suggesting a military conflict could cause oil supplies to plummet, triggering a huge increase in the cost of food – when it would be available – because of the transportation issues. The ABC report from just a few weeks ago quoted Jim Rawles, a former U.S. intelligence officer who runs a survival blog, saying food shortages soon could become a matter of survival in the U.S. “I think that families should be prepared for times of crisis, whether it’s a man-made disaster or a natural disaster, and I think it’s wise and prudent to stock up on food,” he told ABC.

“If you get into a situation where fuel supplies are disrupted or even if the power grid were to go down for short periods of time, people can work around that,” he said. “But you can’t work around a lack of food – people starve, people panic and you end up with chaos in the streets.” At his California ranch, the location of which is kept secret, he said, “We have more than a three-year supply of food here.” In the Wall Street Journal, columnist Brett Arends warned, “Maybe it’s time for Americans to start stockpiling food. “No, this is not a drill,” he wrote. His concern was about various food shortages around the globe, and the fact that in a global market, prices in the U.S. reflect difficulties in other parts of the world quickly.

Professor Lawrence F. Roberge, a biologist who has worked with a number of universities and has taught online courses, told WND he’s been following the growing concern over food supplies. He also confirmed to WND reports of the government purchasing vast quantities of long-term storable foods. He said that naturally would be kept secret to avoid panicking the public, such as when word leaks out to customers that a bank may be insolvent, and depositors frantically try to retrieve their cash.
Also See: US, UK, France, prepare to attack Iran?

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked a federal judge Wednesday for immunity from lawsuits over potentially dangerous fumes in government-issued trailers that have housed tens of thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims. Lawyers for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita accuse FEMA of negligence for sheltering them in trailers with elevated levels of formaldehyde, a preservative used in construction materials that can cause health problems. But a government attorney told U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt that the FEMA’s decisions in responding to a disaster, including its use of travel trailers after Katrina, are legally protected from “judicial second-guessing.” More
Also See: FEMA crimes: formaldehyde trailers sicken tens of thousands

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The government may house disaster victims in trailers this hurricane season as a last resort, despite promises never to use them again because of high levels of formaldehyde found in trailers used after the Katrina catastrophe. Currently some 500 families remain in trailers, according to FEMA. FEMA Director R. David Paulison has said there will be no more trailers while he is in office. But his deputy says that’s not a sure thing should there be another catastrophic disaster. More

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