News 2 -- September 6, 2005

Murder and rape - fact or fiction? - "There were two babies who had their throats slit. The seven-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in the Superdome. And the corpses laid out amid the excrement in the convention centre. In a week filled with dreadful scenes of desperation and anger from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina some stories stood out. But as time goes on many remain unsubstantiated and may yet prove to be apocryphal. New Orleans police have been unable to confirm the tale of the raped child, or indeed any of the reports of rapes, in the Superdome and convention centre."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1563532,00.html

Storm Survivors Told To 'Expose Themselves' - "A group of female hurricane survivors were told to show their breasts if they wanted to be rescued, a British holidaymaker has revealed.Ged Scott watched as American rescuers turned their boat around and sped off when the the women refused. The account was just another example of the horror stories emerging from the hurricane disaster zone."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/06092005/140/storm-survivors-told-expose-themselves.html

The city where the dead are left lying on the streets - "In a makeshift grave on the streets of New Orleans lies the body of Vera Smith. She was an ordinary woman who, like thousands of her neighbours, died because she was poor. Abandoned to her fate as the waters rose around her, Vera's tragedy symbolises the great divide in America today."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article310554.ece

Why does the US need our money? - "The Red Cross is appealing for people overseas to contribute money to its Hurricane Katrina Appeal. But why does the world's richest nation need handouts?"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4215336.stm

Last of the Big Time Spenders - "U.S. Military Budget is the World's Largest, and Still Growing." -- This is a chart showing military budgets for many countries.
http://64.177.207.201/static/budget/annual/fy05/world.htm

Hurricane Katrina Blows Bush Away - "Hurricane Katrina has shredded what was left of the Bush Administration's credibility. Now we watch the slow train wreck of America."
http://groups.google.com/group/Coalitionforfreethoughtinmedia/browse_thread/thread/a463498c243feca/4ae11bf89afc24d4?lnk=st&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.interventionmag.com%2Fcms%2Fmodules.php%3Fop%3Dmodload%26name%3DNews%26file%3Darticle%26sid%3D1163&rnum=2&hl=en#4ae11bf89afc24d4

UNDER WATER - "One of the creepier vanities of most political leaders is the private yearning to be tested on a historical scale. Bill Clinton used to confide that, no matter what else he did as President, without a major war to fight he could never join the ranks of Lincoln and F.D.R. During the Presidential debates in 2000, George W. Bush informed his opponent, Al Gore, that natural catastrophes are “a time to test your mettle.” Bush had seen his father falter after a hurricane in South Florida. But now he has done far worse. Over five days last week, from the onset of the hurricane on the Gulf Coast on Monday morning to his belated visit to the region on Friday, Bush’s mettle was tested—and he failed in almost every respect."
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/050912ta_talk_remnick

FEMA chief fired from previous job - "Michael Brown oversaw horse shows, had no significant disaster experience. ... And before joining FEMA as a deputy director in 2001, Mike Brown, the Republican Party activist, had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position. But the Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA. ... Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado. ... "This was his full-time job ... for 11 years,'' she added. Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures." -- And he is in charge of FEMA! The Bush administration does nothing but reward failures!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46155

Firing Michael Brown Is Not Enough. How About Bush and Cheney? - "Calls for firing Michael Brown are understandable. Aptly described as "the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA" by columnist Maureen Dowd a few days ago, he's an easy and appropriate target. President Bush met with Brown last Friday and publicly told him: "You're doing a heck of a job." In the grisly wake of the hurricane, Brown's job performance cannot be separated from Bush's job performance. To similar deadly effect, the president has brought to bear on people in New Orleans the same qualities that he has inflicted on people in Iraq -- refusal to acknowledge basic realities, lethally misplaced priorities, lack of compassion (cue the guitar), and overarching arrogance. The Bush administration is guilty of criminal negligence that killed thousands of people last week."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0906-29.htm

Americans open to teaching creationism, poll says - "Forty-eight percent of Americans said human beings and other life-forms evolved over time, but 42 percent said they believed that life-forms have remained the same since the dawn of time. Thirty-eight percent of poll takers said creationism should replace evolution in public-school curricula. Meanwhile, 64 percent said creationism should be taught in schools alongside evolution." -- The new dark ages are upon us.
http://news.com.com/Americans+open+to+teaching+creationism%2C+poll+says/2100-7337_3-5851178.html?tag=nefd.top