As the aftermath of hurricane Katrina continues to wreak mayhem and havoc amid reports of mass looting, shooting at rescue helicopters, rapes and murders, establishment media organs are promoting the Red Cross as a worthy organization to give donations to.

The biggest website in the world, Yahoo.com, displays a Red Cross donation link prominently on its front page.

Every time there is a major catastrophe the Red Cross and similar organizations like United Way are given all the media attention while other charities are left in the shadows. This is not to say that the vast majority of Red Cross workers are not decent people who simply want to help those in need.

But what the media fails consistently to remember in their promotion of the organization is that the Red Cross have been caught time and time again withholding money in the wake of horrible disasters that require immediate release of funds.

The Red Cross, under the Liberty Fund, collected $564 million in donations after 9/11. Months after the event, the Red Cross had distributed only $154 million. The Red Cross’ explanation for keeping the majority of the money was that it would be used to help ‘fight the war on terror’. To the victims, this meant that the money was going towards bombing broken backed third world countries like Afghanistan and setting up surveillance cameras and expanding the police state in US cities, and not towards helping them rebuild their lives.
prisonplanet.com

I have been listening to BBC and NPR reports: about the Louisiana governor’s ‘shoot-to-kill’ orders against ‘armed thugs,’ about hospitals yards away from National Guard and relief stations, in dry areas, filthy and stinking with dead bodies stacked in stairwells who have not received a scrap of help. The mayor of New Orleans:”Where’s the beef? Cause I don’t see no beef.”

This morning we’re told the relief efforts are being held up by these same ‘armed thugs.’ Why are we being treated to the same 30 seconds of ‘armed thug’ footage on every tv channel if the problem is so widespread? Only 1/3 of the usual number of National Guard troops, whose intended function is to respond to civil emergencies, remains to respond to this one. Yesterday a bunch of them were lying in the shade on the West Bank of the Mississippi waiting for Red Cross food and water that has still not come. People there had walked for days in the choking heat with their few possessions, their children in their arms, propelled by the promise of relief on the other side of the bridge: buses, food, water…there was nothing there.

The people remaining in the Superdome have not had food or water for five days. The dead are stacking up. The ‘shelter of last resort’ is turning into a death camp.

This morning I wake to the news of huge explosions and raging fires spreading a toxic pall over this dying city.

After years of the deepest suspicions about the motives and actions of my government, I have to admit I cannot imagine what these terrible people have in mind. I know they have been eager for the chance to practice their FEMA/martial law scenario, but you’d think they’d at least take a page out of Hitler’s book and offer bread along with the boot in the face. Are they just going to start shooting black people?

One thing is certain, in the ‘new city’ that will rise from the muck of the old one, these ‘poorest of the poor’ suffering in New Orleans and displaced throughout the South, will not be welcomed back.

They think to get away with this because it’s just poor blacks, just ‘thugs’ who are the sufferers here. But I wonder. I wonder if it’s sinking into the white American consciousness that what is being done here to ‘the least’ is also a crime being perpetrated against them, against their own humanity. I wonder if, as they contemplate their missing Guards, they recall that they are over in Iraq participating in the daily, unnatural devastations taking place there, paid for by their tax dollars.

There are thousands of troops there who have been directly impacted by this disaster. What are they thinking about now, in the desert 5000 miles away? Visiting suffering on other people’s mothers and kids, are they thinking this morning of their own?

Local officials forcibly evacuated from New Orleans

Example of Racist Media Caught by Web Surfer During Hurricane Katrina Coverage

Al-Jazeera aired snippets of a video tape attributed to Al-Qaeda, in which it said the network’s number two Ayman al-Zawahiri claims responsibility for the July 7 London bombings.

The Qatar-based Arab television station said the video, more of which was to be broadcast later in the evening, also showed footage of one of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, outlining the reasons for his action.

Al-Zawahiri describes the rush-hour bombings on underground trains and a bus as a “slap for the policy” of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the channel said.

Al-Jazeera aired footage of a turbaned man alleged to be Sidique and said he explained the reasons for his action.

He blamed Western citizens for the bombings in London and last year in Madrid, as well as for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, “because they elect governments which perpetrate crimes against humanity.”

Sidique Khan, a 30-year-old British national of Pakistani origin, was named as one of the four suicide bombers who killed 52 people in coordinated attacks in the British capital.
news.yahoo.com

Yeah right. A video appears with BOTH Zwahiri and Khan on it. The SAME video. Zwahiri appears to be the same sort of fabricated boogie-man as al Zarqawi in Iraq, and indeed Osama himself.

The United States have offered to Sunni representatives USD 75 Million to sign the draft Constitution of Iraq, RIA Novosti announced, citing information of source close to the Constitutional Committee of the country, published in the Saudi daily Al Vatan.
focus-fen.net

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said on Monday his government plans to sell as much as 66,000 barrels per day of heating fuel from its U.S. Citgo refinery to poor communities in the United States.

The offer, made after populist Chavez held talks with U.S. civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, would represent 10 percent of the 660,000 bpd of refined products processed by Citgo. The deals would cut consumer costs by direct sales.

Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said officials were still working on the details on how the oil would be sold from Citgo, a unit of the state oil firm PDVSA.

“We are going to direct as much as 10 percent of the production, that means 66,000 barrels, without intermediaries, to poor communities, hospitals, religious communities, schools,” Chavez told reporters at a press conference.
reuters.com

Nearly seven years after extensive “lay downs” of lingering and spreading white plumes were first reported smearing skies over across North America, Europe is in an uproar and Washington could be close to coming clean about chemtrails.

At least the Bush White house will soon have a legitimate weather control agency to finally “launder” one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated.

Introduced in the US Senate on March 1, 2005, Bill S517 calls for a US “Weather Modification Advisory and Research Board” to officially commence operations in October 2005. When passed as expected, this law will make large-scale chemical alteration of the atmosphere legal across a formerly free and beautiful land called America.

It’s already happening. Less than two weeks before the bill was introduced, Linda wrote from “up here in the mountains of northeast Georgia” of the worst spray day she had ever seen. “Not one day in the past two months have we had a blue sky with normal clouds,” Linda wrote. Even normal clouds “are ‘laced’ with whatever the hell is coming out of those white planes that have no engine sounds, even when they fly low enough to see there is no printing anywhere on the planes.”

Several years ago the US Air Force stated that it was repainting its silver aircraft white, and retrofitting its jet tanker fleet with “hush kits” to silence their engines.

DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THE WEATHER

Whatever fresh environmental disaster Bill S517 accomplishes, this bill will ease the way for admission of a project suspected by many and confirmed by air traffic controllers at America’s biggest airports. When and if the US public demands that their government “do something” about the extreme weather pummeling their neighborhoods, Washington will be able to officially reply, “We are.”

Intended to “develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated national weather modification policy,” the board is tasked with coordinating state and federal weather modification efforts. It’s direct mandate is stepped-up research and development aimed at developing experimental “models, devices, equipment, materials, and processes” to change or control, “by artificial methods” the development of clouds and/or precipitation in the troposphere. This weather-forming region of the atmosphere lies between Earth’s surface and the stratosphere, starting around 35,000 feet.

The federal weather modifiers will now directly oversee the cloud-seeding operations currently being carried out over dozens of states to increase rain and snowfall for irrigation, electrical power and winter recreation purposes. As droughts intensify under an onslaught of moisture-absorbing chemicals dispensed behind ozone-destroying jet tankers, and future towns wash away in sudden flash floods triggered by rain-inducing atmospheric tinkering, these unnatural disasters and other “inadvertent” effects of weather modification will be closely “studied” by the newly created board.

But no studies have been released on the implications of wide-scale alteration of regional atmospheric heat balances.
rense.com

Now that the US president has announced that he has not ruled out an attack on Iran, if it does not abandon its nuclear programme, the Middle East faces a crisis that could dwarf even the dangers arising from the war in Iraq.

Even a conventional weapon fired at a nuclear research centre – whether or not a bomb was being made there – would almost certainly release radioactivity into the atmosphere, with consequences seen worldwide as a mini-Hiroshima.

We would be told that it had been done to uphold the principles of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) – an argument that does not stand up to a moment’s examination.

The moral and legal basis of the NPT convention, which the International Atomic Energy Agency is there to uphold, was based on the agreement of non-nuclear nations not to acquire nuclear weapons if nuclear powers undertook not to extend nuclear arsenals and negotiate to secure their abolition.

Since then, the Americans have launched a programme that would allow them to use nuclear weapons in space, nuclear bunker-busting bombs are being developed, and depleted uranium has been used in Iraq – all of which are clear breaches of the NPT. Israel, which has a massive nuclear weapons programme, is accepted as a close ally of the US, which still arms and funds it.

Even those who are opposed, as I am, to nuclear weapons in every country including Iran, North Korea, Britain and the US, accept that nuclear power for electricity generation need not necessarily lead to the acquisition of the bomb.

Indeed, many years ago, when the shah – who had been put on the throne by the US – was in power in Iran, enormous pressure was put on me, as secretary of state for energy, to agree to sell nuclear power stations to him. That pressure came from the Atomic Energy Authority, in conjunction with Westinghouse, who were anxious to promote their own design of reactor.

It is easy to understand why president Bush might see the bombing of Iran as a way to regain some of the political credibility he has lost as a result of the growing hostility in America to the Iraq war due to the heavy casualties suffered by US forces there .

It is inconceivable that the White House can be contemplating an invasion of Iran, and what must be intended is a US airstrike, or airstrikes, on Iranian nuclear installations, comparable to Israel’s bombing of Iraq in 1981. Israel has publicly hinted that it might do the same again to prevent Iran developing nuclear nuclear weapons.

Such an attack, whether by the US or Israel, would be in breach of the UN Charter, as was the invasion of Iraq. But neither Bush, Sharon nor Blair would take any notice of that.

Some influential Americans appear to be convinced that the US will attack Iran. Whether they are right or not, the build-up to a new war is taking exactly the same form as it did in 2002. First we are being told that Iran poses a military threat, because it may be developing nuclear weapons. We are assured that the President is hoping that diplomacy might succeed through the European negotiations which have been in progress for some months.

This is just what we were told when Hans Blix was in Baghdad talking to Saddam on behalf of the UN, but we now know, from a Downing Street memorandum leaked some months ago, that the decision to invade had been taken long before that.
informationclearinghouse.info

It’s time for white Americans to fully acknowledge that in the racial arena, they are the problem.

Editor’s Note: This essay is excerpted from The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege, forthcoming from City Lights, September 2005.

The United States is a white country. By that I don’t just mean that the majority of its citizens are white, though they are (for now but not forever). What makes the United States white is not the fact that most Americans are white but the assumption — especially by people with power — that American equals white. Those people don’t say it outright. It comes out in subtle ways. Or, sometimes, in ways not so subtle.
alternet.org

New Orleans is Sinking, But… “Hey, Shoot that Black Guy Running Off with the Bottled Water from Wal-Mart!”

WASHINGTON – From Navy ships and Army helicopters to the USNS Comfort hospital ship, the Pentagon is mobilizing possibly an unprecedented U.S. rescue-and-relief mission for areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

…Largely coordinated by a newly created military Joint Task Force Katrina, based at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, all of the armed services are participating in what many say is the largest domestic disaster relief effort in years. The military is mainly providing search and rescue, medical help and sending in supplies in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

…National Guard troops from at least eight states are going into the region to provide law enforcement support, communications, medical help, debris removal and other assistance.
news.yahoo.com

The Prospect of Martial Law: “Transformation” and the Beginning of Global Resistance
The changes that are taking place within the military under the deceptive name of “transformation” have nothing to do with national defense or preparedness for terrorist attack. Rather, the military is being converted into a taxpayer subsidized security apparatus for multinational corporations that will seize foreign resources through force of arms and then crush the indigenous elements that resist US aggression. On the home front, the changes are equally dramatic. “Transformation” is a conspicuous attempt to weaken traditional defenses provided by the National Guard so that the Pentagon can insert itself into domestic affairs and establish an ongoing military presence within the United States. Donald Rumsfeld has already suggested that the military will play a greater role in dealing with the aftereffects of any future attack. There’s no doubt that he will honor that commitment.

The media has predictably echoed the government line that transformation is simply intended to revamp the military for the wars of the next century. They have highlighted the effects of base closures on local economies and unemployment. They have also emphasized the Pentagon’s intention to create smaller, more agile military units that can be quickly deployed anywhere around the world in less than 48 hours. But, the media have scrupulously avoided any analysis of the objectives in these changes or discussion of Rumsfeld’s attacks on homeland security. Rumsfeld has already savaged the National Guard; 40% of who are now serving in Iraq. That means, that the American people are 40% “less safe” in the event of terrorist attack no matter how one chooses to look at it. Instead of strengthening the damaged Guard, Rumsfeld is executing a plan that will wreak havoc on domestic preparedness and expose the American public to even greater risk. For example, “Rumsfeld called for 30 Air Guard units scattered around many states to lose their aircraft and flying missions.” (Liz Sidot; Ass Press 8-27-05) How can the states be expected to conduct routine patrols or reconnaissance missions if their planes have been seized by Washington?

In Pennsylvania Rumsfeld tried to “dissolve the Pennsylvania Air National Guard division without the Governor’s authority”. (Ass Press) The move was a conspicuous attempt to undermine homeland defenses and put more power under the direct control of the Defense Dept. Rumsfeld also tried to “transfer” all 15 “Pacific Northwest and Oregon National Guard fighter jets that patrolled Seattle’s skies after 9-11″; leaving the region with no protection from aerial assault. (Northwest’s F-15’s Should Stay Put” Seattle PI staff, 8-27-05) Consider the risk to a “target-rich” area like the Pacific Northwest, with its industry, harbors and nuclear power plants, if it was stripped of its first line of defense? Rumsfeld’s behavior has been the same everywhere across the country. He is determined to undermine the National Guard and limit the states’ ability to protect themselves against attack. His intention is to smash America’s internal defenses, which are under control of the states’ governors, and introduce the military into homeland security. It is a clear attempt to centralize authority and further militarize the country. By weakening America’s defenses, Rumsfeld has paved the way for deploying troops and aircraft within the country and setting the precedent for a permanent military presence within the nation. It is one giant step towards direct military rule.

Secret, judge-only courts where the accused has no access to the ‘evidence’? Changes to the law will include making it illegal to advocate violence to further a person’s belief, justifying or validating such violence, or fostering hatred.

Under the Lords Chancellor Cardinal Wolsey and Archbishop Cranmer (1515-1529), the Court of Star Chamber became a political weapon for bringing actions against opponents to the policies of Henry VIII, his Ministers and his Parliament. Then, under James the 1st and Charles the 1st, the Star Chamber Court sessions were held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. Evidence was presented in writing. On October 17, 1632, the Court of Star Chamber banned all “news books”.[1] Sound familiar?

This is a moment to seize. The Kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order this world around us.”
Tony Blair @ the Labour Party Conference, October 1st 2001

Tony Blair tells us that “Let no one be in any doubt. The rules of the game are changing”, but whose changing them and whose ‘game’ is it? [2]

The cry of ‘Treason’, is after all, the logical conclusion to a policy based upon demonisation of the ‘other’ and the latest sign of a ruling class in desperate need to justify not only its onslaught on the people of Iraq but the attacks on our rights and liberties. Not surprisingly, the bombings of July 7 and the ‘topping up’ of July 21 came in very handy in the run-up to the cry of ‘treason!’

The terrible irony of our current situation is that although the state is undergoing an unprecedented crisis of credibility because of its policy of allying itself with the US imperium, there is no real domestic opposition. So what is it that the state is allegedly so afraid of?

What should not be let out of our sight is the fact that unless the domestic population is presented with a ‘clear and present danger’, the state faces the real possibility of a genuine opposition developing to its policies. This is the real danger. For the reality is that it is precisely the policies of Blair’s government along with that of the US that is the cause of the current situation.
globalresearch.ca