[APR-news] Alternative Press Review -- September 7 - 9, 2005

Fri Sep 9 19:08:45 GMT 2005

Alternative Press Review - Your Guide Beyond the Mainstream
www.altpr.org
September 7 - 9, 2005

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -
George Orwell

"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of
extremists will we be?" - Martin Luther King

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http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=474&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Private Security and Mercenary Companies Patrol New Orleans
By Larry Chin

According to Rahim, mercenaries from Blackwater USA are rumbling through the
New Orleans streets, armed to the teeth and in full battle gear. Blackwater
USA is a private mercenary firm, one of many "war outsourcing" outfits
working for the Pentagon. In the spring 2004 Fallujah assault, Blackwater
was involved with combat as well as logistics (food shipments, etc.).

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=475&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Second Amendment Nixed in New Orleans
By Kurt Nimmo

New Orleans is no longer part of America. It is a brave new world devised by
FEMA and the Ministry of Homeland Security. In the new New Orleans, there
are no constitutional rights. Not only are soldiers allowed to break down
doors (as they do in Iraq) in violation of the Fourth Amendment and even
"shoot to kill" if they believe they are threatened (as soldiers in Iraq
"shoot to kill" grandmothers and kids at Israeli-styled checkpoints), now
the Second Amendment no longer exists.

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Other articles of interest

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:72509
Censored Stories: Project Censored presents the 10 stories the mainstream
media ignored over the past year
Camille T. Taiara, Tucson Weekly

Just four days before the 2004 presidential election, a prestigious British
medical journal published the results of a rigorous study by Dr. Les
Roberts, a widely respected researcher. Roberts concluded that close to
100,000 people had died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Most were
noncombatant civilians. Many were children. But that news didn't make the
front pages of the major newspapers. It wasn't on the network news.

http://www.alternet.org/story/25227/
Eight Big Lies About Katrina
Jeremy Schulman and Raphael Schweber-Koren, AlterNet

In the past week, Bush administration officials and conservative
commentators have repeatedly used the national media to spread
misinformation about the federal government's widely criticized response to
the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Goldsmith0909.htm
The Green Zone
Patricia Goldsmith, Dissident Voice

The chickenhawks have put the war back in class warfare. Under
globalization, Baghdad and New Orleans really are interchangeable. It's not
just the American worker, but the American citizen, who is being brought
down to the same level as a citizen of the Third World. Apparently, human
rights are only for those with the money to buy them -- and the price is
going up, up, up, right along with oil.

http://www.countercurrents.org/us-sheehan090905.htm
What Kind of Extremist Will You Be?
Cindy Sheehan, CounterCurrents

I can feel my son's presence urging me on to save his buddies. I can hear
him whispering in my ear and in my dreams: "Mom, finish my mission. Bring my
buddies home alive" I can hear Dr. King's words similarly challenging me to
action: "The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of
extremists will we be?" Well, Casey, my son, my hero. Well, Dr. King, the
hero of millions, I pledge to be the kind of extremist who works for peace
with justice and who will never take "No" for an answer.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory90.html
Military Occupation in America and the Prospects for Liberty
Anthony Gregory, LewRockwell.com

Last week, Governor Kathleen Blanco described the National Guard troops
arriving "fresh back from Iraq" to impose order in the Gulf States as
"locked and loaded" and ready to "shoot to kill." Military personnel,
recently stationed in Iraq, have described what they see on the ground in
New Orleans. A Washington Post article quotes one troop saying, "It's just
so much like Iraq, it's not funny. . . except for all the water, and they
speak English." Another called the situation "like Baghdad on a bad day."

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2005/09/new-orleans-hostage-crisis.html
The New Orleans hostage crisis
Xymphora

Michael Brown is most likely an incompetent stooge but the fact of the
matter is that when he refused to release supplies, National Guard troops,
and construction equipment, and then ordered the Superdome locked and
checkpoints set up along the roads leading out of New Orleans to turn back
anyone trying to escape the destruction, *he was following orders*. None of
it was accidental, none of it was a matter of poor decision-making or the
wrong priorities. It was a deliberate attempt by the Bush Administration to
blackmail the state of Louisiana into handing the city over to the Federal
government.

http://crimesofthestate.blogspot.com/2005/09/bushco-nukes-new-orleans.html
BushCo. Nukes New Orleans
Crimes of the State blog

This is the true story of the premeditated murder of the great city of New
Orleans and many of its poverty-stricken inhabitants.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=PET20050908&articleId=902
The Militarization of New Orleans
James Petras, Global Research

Nothing captures the "revised line" of the media better than the prominent
place given to the government's order to "Shoot to kill looters". Not a
whimper of protest, not a critical voice: The media converted the destitute
city into a war zone: New Orleans became Fallujah. The media dredged up
every rumor, hearsay, un-substantiated third hand report of child rape and
murder to provide a "context" for the "new reality" - the militarization of
a devastated American city. The media are well prepared for that scenario:
Embedded journalist featured soldiers handing out concentrated military
field rations (totally useless for small children and dehydrated elderly)
while the beating of blacks carrying groceries (blacks 'loot' food; whites
'find' food) was omitted.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0909-30.htm
The Uses of Disaster: Notes on Bad Weather and Good Government
Rebecca Solnit, Common Dreams

As the water subsides and the truth filters out, we may be left with another
version of human nature. I have heard innumerable stories of rescue, aid,
and care by doctors, neighbors, strangers, and volunteers who arrived on
their own boats, and in helicopters, buses, and trucks-stories substantiated
by real names and real faces.

http://www.alternet.org/story/25175/
The Long Emergency Ahead
James Howard Kunstler, AlterNet

The suburban project, which has preoccupied us since the end of the Second
World War, can be seen now in light of the gathering global energy
predicament as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the
world. Having put so much of our post-war wealth into this massive
infrastructure for daily living, we are captives of it, subject to a
corrosive psychology of previous investment, which does not permit us to
imagine letting go of this way of life, or even reforming it.

http://www.fcnp.com/527/peakoil.htm
The Peak-Oil Crisis: The Storms of August
Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press

What does the hurricane damage have to do with peak oil? World production
and consumption are currently balanced at around 84 million barrels a day.
Losing a million plus of this for an indefinite period certainly doesn't
help increase production. This time, there is no sign of our Saudi friends
coming to the rescue as in past oil crises. Given the decline of production
taking place in most of the world's major oil fields, it is becoming
increasing difficult to make a case for significantly higher levels of world
oil production are on the horizon.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/090705Pfeiffer/090705pfeiffer.html
The story of a hurricane
Dale Allen Pfeiffer, Online Journal

This is the story of how a storm brewed in the Atlantic Ocean could spell
the end of the most powerful nation in recorded history. It is a story that
will continue long after the storm that started it has lost all of its fury.
It is the story of untold tragedy and destruction.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=20027
Sucker's Bets for the New Century
Bill McKibben, TomDispatch

If the images of skyscrapers collapsed in heaps of ash were the end of one
story -- the U.S. safe on its isolated continent from the turmoil of the
world -- then the picture of the sodden Superdome with its peeling roof
marks the beginning of the next story, the one that will dominate our
politics in the coming decades of this century: America befuddled about how
to cope with a planet suddenly turned unstable and unpredictable.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/nola-s08.shtml
New Orleans becomes a war zone - A dress rehearsal for martial law?
Bill Van Auken, WSWS

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.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7303
How the US occupation is murdering the truth
Dahr Jamail, Socialist Worker

According to Reporters Without Borders, 67 journalists have died so far in
the conflict, more than in 20 years of the Vietnam War. The leading cause of
deaths is the US military and "security contractors".

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=8685
Bob Geldof: The man who betrayed the poor
George Monbiot, ZNet

"We are very critical of what Bob Geldof did during the G8 Summit", Demba
Moussa Dembele of the African Forum on Alternatives tells me. "He did it for
his self-promotion. This is why he marginalized African singers, putting the
limelight on himself and Bono, rather than on the issues. . The objectives
of the whole Live8 campaign had little to do with poverty reduction in
Africa. It was a scheme intended to project Geldof and Blair as humanitarian
figures coming to the rescue of "poor and helpless" Africans."

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/19248
Disaster Creates Compassion
Christine Rose, Media Monitors

It's a complete gifting society with no commerce and no money exchanged.
People just look out for each other in a celebration of not only radical
self-expression, but also radical self-reliance. Participation is the key,
and spectators are discouraged. Only one thing outside this crazy
life-extravaganza on the Black Rock Desert can bring out the best in human
nature: a disaster.

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NewsWire

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm
Yahoo helped jail Chinese journalist

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050908/NEWS01/509080451&SearchID=73219753165786
Student Web post advocating that people defend themselves brings out Secret
Service

http://www.rense.com/general67/femwont.htm
FEMA's Blocking Relief Efforts - An Amazing List

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10179.htm
US agency blocks photos of New Orleans dead

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/09/1411231
Is the Government Trying to Stem the Tide of Images From New Orleans by
Threatening Journalists?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/09/MNGIJEKPNJ1.DTL
Armed govt. thugs take aim at journalists in New Orleans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090802121.html
Authorities blocking journalists from reporting

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16543241%255E1702,00.html
Katrina cover-up alleged

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/bush_orleans_photos.html
Bush staged New Orleans photo op

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/8/123441/6549
Go Fuck Yourself, Mr. Cheney!" - LIVE on CNN

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0907-28.htm
Barbara "let them eat cake" Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1913892005
Flood survivors cuffed as evacuation begins

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/national/nationalspecial/07navy.html
Navy Pilots Who Rescued New Orleans Victims Are Reprimanded

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050907/katrina_oil_production_hk3.html?.v=2
Gulf Oil Production Faces High Hurdles After Hurricane Katrina

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07187618.htm
Another storm would devastate U.S. oil and natural gas supplies

http://www.energybulletin.net/8743.html
UK Gas Resources are in a Precarious State

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/090605EA.shtml
Hurricane Destroys Last of Nature's Speed Bumps

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article310814.ece
After Katrina: A toxic timebomb as contaminated waters threaten an
environmental disaster

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050905/NEWS03/109050059/-1/HEALTH
Experts: Planet is growing more unsafe

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4217480.stm
Climate food crisis 'to deepen'

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/agu-vgm090205.php
Vegetation growth may quickly raise Arctic temperatures

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050907/D8CF3HR80.html
Too many people using too much energy and natural resources make it
inevitable that wild Pacific salmon will become extinct

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8720
Water Crisis Looms as Himalayan Glaciers Melt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1566198,00.html
Hunger strikers pledge to die in Guantánamo

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/iraq-s08.shtml
Is the US military preparing another massacre in Tal Afar?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090905I.shtml
Yes, US preparing for massive terrorist assault on Tal Afar

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/622612.html
Experts: Most likely cause for Arafat's death was poison

http://www.mediarights.org/news/2005/09/08/palestinian_film_looks_at_suicide_bombers.php
Palestinian film examines motivations of suicide bombers

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/nyc-s09.shtml
New York City police continue arrests of bicyclists

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2005/09/07/notes090705.DTL&nl=fix
Burning Man: In the wake of epic tragedy, how can a massive, feral party in
the desert possibly matter?

http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=29691
Graeber appeals decision: Some speculate refusal to renew contract was based
on his political opinions

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