Contaminated water/toxic metals
Posted By: westcoastMT on 2008-12-23
In Reply to: First KBR gives our troops contaminated water and now... - Marmann
 As a mother of a 19-year Air Force Master Sgt., I am FURUIOUS that this has/is being done to our troops!!. If this does not constitute the mentality of a war criminal act; I don't know what does. Our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles and brothers and sisters who serve in this illegal and horrible war deserve far better than THIS. And to think; the health issues of Vietnam war veterans STILL have not been addressed/compensated - I shudder to think what lies ahead healthwise for these troops.
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First KBR gives our troops contaminated water and now...
we discover that KBR (a subsidiary of Cheney's Halliburton) knowingly exposed United States soldiers to toxic materials in Iraq.
Please watch this video. It's only three minutes long, and it's heartbreaking. Don't our troops deserve better from a commander-in-chief that claims to care about them? 
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CBS_KBR_knew_dangers_of_toxic_1223.html
Potential for toxic leach in Colorado River, drinking water for
Yummy. Someone needs to put that man under citizens' arrest until January 22nd.
Heck, our well was contaminated over a year ago.
We're not near any drilling sites, far from it.
We haul water every week. I use it for cooking and drinking. I still use the well water for washing clothes, showers, and dishes. Shame too. I paid almost $3,000 for a new well 4 years ago.
Stop drinking the toxic Kool-Aid and do some
instead of parroting the partisan talking heads who are simply attempting to play politics with history.
The majority of toxic loans were made by financial institutions that were not subject to existing regulations thanks in large part to Phil Gramm. Btw, no one forced anyone to do anything. No one forced the banks to give loans to individuals who could not afford them and no one forced those individuals to attempt to purchase a home without the means to pay for.
But lately, you;ve contributed daily to the toxic liberal posts on this board.
Brings to mind the lie the US government told about Agent Orange not being toxic...
Don't you remember the gas/toxic warfare scare and we were told to duct tape our windows? SM
So, with the bird flu plan, what kind of silly advice do you think we'll get to keep us safe?
No water.
But I will send prayers his way for the salvation of all of us in these trying times.
She's trying to keep herself out of hot water...sm
She KNOWS she is lying, but this sort of behavior is now well accepted by this administration! Sad - so, so sad!
Mmhh NO water..
Drink the water, fool, just drink a BIG COLD GLASS OF NO WATER..Please..you would do our country a BIG favor..
Water the Bushes...sm
I'm just hearing about the Water the Bushes project that will be done in remembrance of Hurricane Katrina and the response (or lack thereof) from our government.
I hope some of you got to send a bottle of water to the Pres.
You mean O can't walk on water?! Oh no
nm
OMG...I just saw him walk on water!!...nm
//
Pot, water, frog...
Over the last few years, I think I know what it feels like to be a frog that's dropped into a pot of cold water, with the temperature rise of the water being so slow that the next thing he knows, he's DEAD.
I know I'm "there," but this "evolution" has been so subtle that I don't know exactly when it began and probably won't realize when it ends (if it ends).
For starters, this bill was apparently introduced on June 26, 2007, while Bush was still President.
The way it was being hyped, it seemed to be something that was designed to encourage public service in young people in exchange for financial assistance with college tuition, etc. I thought it sounded like a good idea, something that might help to build character in young people and encourage and foster the kind of behavior we saw after 9/11, when Americans helped each other and showed the world what we're made of when it comes to helping each other. To offer a young person financial help for college in exchange for some volunteer hours, I thought, was great. Equally great, I thought, was the notion that this was voluntary and NOT mandatory.
Now, it's apparently for everyone, including seniors, which is still okay, I guess, if this is something that some seniors want to do.
However, one little sentence (shown below) is sending up a BIG RED FLAG into my little pea brain, copied below and bolded:
From: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show
OpenCongress Summary:
The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act would dramatically increase funding for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, including those for seniors and veterans. It also establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer service program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.
In its current form, the legislation does not include a mandate requiring service.
Quite frankly, I have jumped (like a frog) from link to link to link trying to research this, so I'm not sure what its "current form" is today. It apparently was passed by the House and now by the Senate just a few days ago (see http://loungedaddy.us/?p=725).
Yesterday, at first, when I heard of Rick Wagoner, GM's "sacrificial lamb," basically being fired by Obama, I felt very uncomfortable with that. After I thought about it more, though, I do agree that ANY company that accepts financial aid from Americans should be scrutinized, including, if necessary in this manner (even if Wagoner's firing, in my opinion, was merely symbolic and not substantive). What sticks in my crawl is the fact that Wall Street crooks have been treated like kings while auto industry workers are being kicked more and more every day while they're down.
I was never comfortable with any of the bailouts, and that was the one thing that Obama voted for that earned him a spot on the "negative" column of my pros and cons list.
I freely admit that my thought processes have been severely hampered recently (especially after two hospitalizations in less than a month). It's much more difficult for me to concentrate and to word-find at times. I had hoped that Obama would be the "people's" President (as opposed to Bush being the "corporation's" President.
I used to think (and frequently wrote) that the Clintons and the Bushes were merely opposite sides of the same coin. I still believe that; however, I'm starting to think that Obama's face is on that coin now.
To sum it up, on this day and at this time, all I can truly say with certainty is:
RIBBIT!!!!
Pot, water, frog...
Over the last few years, I think I know what it feels like to be a frog that's dropped into a pot of cold water, with the temperature rise of the water being so slow that the next thing he knows, he's DEAD.
I know I'm "there," but this "evolution" has been so subtle that I don't know exactly when it began and probably won't realize when it ends (if it ends).
For starters, this bill was apparently introduced on June 26, 2007, while Bush was still President.
The way it was being hyped, it seemed to be something that was designed to encourage public service in young people in exchange for financial assistance with college tuition, etc. I thought it sounded like a good idea, something that might help to build character in young people and encourage and foster the kind of behavior we saw after 9/11, when Americans helped each other and showed the world what we're made of when it comes to helping each other. To offer a young person financial help for college in exchange for some volunteer hours, I thought, was great. Equally great, I thought, was the notion that this was voluntary and NOT mandatory.
Now, it's apparently for everyone, including seniors, which is still okay, I guess, if this is something that some seniors want to do.
However, one little sentence (shown below) is sending up a BIG RED FLAG into my little pea brain, copied below and bolded:
From: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show
OpenCongress Summary:
The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act would dramatically increase funding for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, including those for seniors and veterans. It also establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer service program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.
In its current form, the legislation does not include a mandate requiring service.
Quite frankly, I have jumped (like a frog) from link to link to link trying to research this, so I'm not sure what its "current form" is today. It apparently was passed by the House and now by the Senate just a few days ago (see http://loungedaddy.us/?p=725).
Yesterday, at first, when I heard of Rick Wagoner, GM's "sacrificial lamb," basically being fired by Obama, I felt very uncomfortable with that. After I thought about it more, though, I do agree that ANY company that accepts financial aid from Americans should be scrutinized, including, if necessary in this manner (even if Wagoner's firing, in my opinion, was merely symbolic and not substantive). What sticks in my crawl is the fact that Wall Street crooks have been treated like kings while auto industry workers are being kicked more and more every day while they're down.
I was never comfortable with any of the bailouts, and that was the one thing that Obama voted for that earned him a spot on the "negative" column of my pros and cons list.
I freely admit that my thought processes have been severely hampered recently (especially after two hospitalizations in less than a month). It's much more difficult for me to concentrate and to word-find at times. I had hoped that Obama would be the "people's" President (as opposed to Bush being the "corporation's" President.
I used to think (and frequently wrote) that the Clintons and the Bushes were merely opposite sides of the same coin. I still believe that; however, I'm starting to think that Obama's face has replaced Hillary's face on that coin now.
To sum it up, on this day and at this time, all I can truly say with certainty is:
RIBBIT!!!!
Pot, water, frog...
Over the last few years, I think I know what it feels like to be a frog that's dropped into a pot of cold water, with the temperature rise of the water being so slow that the next thing he knows, he's DEAD.
I know I'm "there," but this "evolution" has been so subtle that I don't know exactly when it began and probably won't realize when it ends (if it ends).
For starters, this bill was apparently introduced on June 26, 2007, while Bush was still President.
The way it was being hyped, it seemed to be something that was designed to encourage public service in young people in exchange for financial assistance with college tuition, etc. I thought it sounded like a good idea, something that might help to build character in young people and encourage and foster the kind of behavior we saw after 9/11, when Americans helped each other and showed the world what we're made of when it comes to helping each other. To offer a young person financial help for college in exchange for some volunteer hours, I thought, was great. Equally great, I thought, was the notion that this was voluntary and NOT mandatory.
Now, it's apparently for everyone, including seniors, which is still okay, I guess, if this is something that some seniors want to do.
However, one little sentence (shown below) is sending up a BIG RED FLAG into my little pea brain, copied below and bolded:
From: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show
OpenCongress Summary:
The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act would dramatically increase funding for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, including those for seniors and veterans. It also establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer service program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.
In its current form, the legislation does not include a mandate requiring service.
Quite frankly, I have jumped (like a frog) from link to link to link trying to research this, so I'm not sure what its "current form" is today. It apparently was passed by the House and now by the Senate just a few days ago (see http://loungedaddy.us/?p=725).
Yesterday, at first, when I heard of Rick Wagoner, GM's "sacrificial lamb," basically being fired by Obama, I felt very uncomfortable with that. After I thought about it more, though, I do agree that ANY company that accepts financial aid from Americans should be scrutinized, including, if necessary in this manner (even if Wagoner's firing, in my opinion, was merely symbolic and not substantive). What sticks in my crawl is the fact that Wall Street crooks have been treated like kings while auto industry workers are being kicked more and more every day while they're down.
I was never comfortable with any of the bailouts, and that was the one thing that Obama voted for that earned him a spot on the "negative" column of my pros and cons list.
I freely admit that my thought processes have been severely hampered recently (especially after two hospitalizations in less than a month). It's much more difficult for me to concentrate and to word-find at times. I had hoped that Obama would be the "people's" President (as opposed to Bush being the "corporation's" President.
I used to think (and frequently wrote) that the Clintons and the Bushes were merely opposite sides of the same coin. I still believe that; however, I'm starting to think that Obama's face has replaced Hillary's face on that coin now.
If I'm misinformed or otherwise wrong in anything I've written in this post regarding the links I included or statements, please tell me. Seriously. I don't want to argue or fight or name-call. I just want to discuss because I'm beginning to feel almost as vulnerable and distrustful of Obama's presidency as I eventually became under Bush's.
I know discussions get heated on this board sometimes, but I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm much, much too tired for that. 
To sum it up, on this day and at this time, all I can truly say with certainty is:
RIBBIT!!!!
Pot, water, frog...
Over the last few years, I think I know what it feels like to be a frog that's dropped into a pot of cold water, with the temperature rise of the water being so slow that the next thing he knows, he's DEAD.
I know I'm "there," but this "evolution" has been so subtle that I don't know exactly when it began and probably won't realize when it ends (if it ends).
For starters, this bill was apparently introduced on June 26, 2007, while Bush was still President.
The way it was being hyped, it seemed to be something that was designed to encourage public service in young people in exchange for financial assistance with college tuition, etc. I thought it sounded like a good idea, something that might help to build character in young people and encourage and foster the kind of behavior we saw after 9/11, when Americans helped each other and showed the world what we're made of when it comes to helping each other. To offer a young person financial help for college in exchange for some volunteer hours, I thought, was great. Equally great, I thought, was the notion that this was voluntary and NOT mandatory.
Now, it's apparently for everyone, including seniors, which is still okay, I guess, if this is something that some seniors want to do.
However, one little sentence (shown below) is sending up a BIG RED FLAG into my little pea brain, copied below and bolded:
From: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1388/show
OpenCongress Summary:
The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act would dramatically increase funding for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, including those for seniors and veterans. It also establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer service program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.
In its current form, the legislation does not include a mandate requiring service.
Quite frankly, I have jumped (like a frog) from link to link to link trying to research this, so I'm not sure what its "current form" is today. It apparently was passed by the House and now by the Senate just a few days ago (see http://loungedaddy.us/?p=725).
Yesterday, at first, when I heard of Rick Wagoner, GM's "sacrificial lamb," basically being fired by Obama, I felt very uncomfortable with that. After I thought about it more, though, I do agree that ANY company that accepts financial aid from Americans should be scrutinized, including, if necessary in this manner (even if Wagoner's firing, in my opinion, was merely symbolic and not substantive). What sticks in my crawl is the fact that Wall Street crooks have been treated like kings while auto industry workers are being kicked more and more every day while they're down.
I was never comfortable with any of the bailouts, and that was the one thing that Obama voted for that earned him a spot on the "negative" column of my pros and cons list.
I freely admit that my thought processes have been severely hampered recently (especially after two hospitalizations in less than a month). It's much more difficult for me to concentrate and to word-find at times. I had hoped that Obama would be the "people's" President (as opposed to Bush being the "corporation's" President.
I used to think (and frequently wrote) that the Clintons and the Bushes were merely opposite sides of the same coin. I still believe that; however, I'm starting to think that Obama's face has replaced Hillary's face on that coin now.
If I'm misinformed or otherwise wrong in anything I've written in this post regarding the links I included or statements, please tell me. Seriously. I don't want to argue or fight or name-call. I just want to discuss because I'm beginning to feel almost as vulnerable and distrustful of Obama's presidency as I eventually became under Bush's. I know discussions get heated on this board sometimes, but I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm much, much too tired for that.
To sum it up, on this day and at this time, all I can truly say with certainty is:
RIBBIT!!!!
LOL, as if you wouldn't blow her out of the water. SM
sorry, but this board has been dead for days. It's so bad you all have taken to dive bombing the conservative board. Besides, if I am not mistaken, you all told this poster off a few threads down. I am sure she is real anxious to participate. By the way, you have no business lecturing anyone on complaining.
Pour more water in the floor? lol nm
x
in your case, maybe some holy water would help
Since you cannot be happy for anyone but yourself
You can lead a horse to water...
You can teach teenagers abstinence, but you can't make them practice it! Therefore, teaching birth control makes much more sense. If Bristol Palin had been given access to birth control, she wouldn't be in the predicament she's in.
Are you talking about Water World?
Didn't Kevin Cosner have gills in that movie? I can't remember. That movie was so stupid I could only stomach it once.
Sorry to bust yer liddle water balloon there, but SM
the onliest wun I C trashin' another board is U. How bout them taters?
How many bottles of water and food packets
did Bush bring down with him on his massive Air Force One? From what I could see, the man only handed out food that was already there. What a guy!
Your argument does not hold a drop of water.
Number one. No they wouldn't...journalists are like lawyers...they don't rat out their sources. It is a question of professional integrity. Furthermore, the LA Times went into great detail to describe precisely what was on the video. No cigar on that media bias whining. This is what happens when campaigns declare war on the media, keep their VP pick on a short leash, avoid one-on-one interviews like the plaque and squeal out loud when the rogue goes off script. The media would not be having a field day if there weren't such an abundant pool of news stories being generated daily by this pathetically mismanaged and misguided camp.
Since when is the International REPUBLICAN Institute, chaired by McCain, the REBPULICAN presidential candidate apolitical? Explain this to me, please. The Center for PALESTINIAN Research and Study...apolitial? On what planet is the subject of Palestine apolitical? Seriously, can you point out any Palestinian living either in OCCUPIED Palestine or in the diapora who is NOT political. If it weren't political, there would have been no exchange of funds. Not at all the same as what...a little incoherent here.
The "meeting" was a farewell dinner for Khalidi held at a Palestinian community center in Chicago for this American born, Yale graduate, Oxford University Doctor of Philosophy, former professor and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago, current professor at Columbia University. He is a member of the National Advisory Committee of the US INTERreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East...a national organization of Jews, Christians and Muslims. He is also a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Palestine-Israel Journal, a publication founded by prominent Palestinian and ISRAELI journalists.
Radical Israel hater? Sam, this may come as a shock to you, but Palestinians take great pride in crossing cultures and religions for the sake of garnering peace in their war-torn country. You need help interpreting what Obama meant by "showing me my own personal bias." This is what occurs when people cross cultures, talk to one another, listen to points of view other than their own and start the process of coming to terms with the ethnocentric bias they carry around from their own cultures. I know exactly what he means. It is precisely the quality an effective foreign policy leader need to have to make effective diplomatic inroads. If you want to make something suspicious and subversive out of that....be my guest. In the absence of the tape, Sam, just how is it that you claim to know precisely what transpired during that farewell dinner?
Notably absence from you post is any direct comment on the fact that Chairman McCain's IRI funded the organization that Khalidi founded for 2 years in a row. If he is the Jew hater you suggest he is, then wouldn't that mean that once again, Chairman McCain had a vetting deficit?
I bet you think Sean Hannity walks on water and
Ann Coulter is the Second Coming.
Water Rising in New Orleans....Get your tissues. OMG Katrina.
Rescuers Race to Save Katrina Victims |
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 
NEW ORLEANS — Rescuers along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pushed aside the dead to reach the living Tuesday in a race against time and rising waters, while New Orleans sank deeper into crisis and Louisiana's governor ordered storm refugees out of this drowning city.
As looters stripped stores of items, sometimes in front of police, violence broke out in the Big Easy. At around 11 p.m. EDT, two gunmen with AK-47s fired shots into a police station. No one was hurt, and the men fled into the city's French quarter section.
Meanwhile, two levees broke and sent water coursing into the streets of New Orleans a full day after the city appeared to have escaped widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped.
The situation is untenable, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. It's just heartbreaking.
One Mississippi county alone said its death toll was at least 100, and officials are very, very worried that this is going to go a lot higher, said Joe Spraggins, civil defense director for Harrison County, home to Biloxi and Gulfport.
Several victims in the county were from a beachfront apartment building that collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water as Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds. And Louisiana officials said many were feared dead there, too, making Katrina one of the most punishing storms to hit the United States in decades.
After touring the destruction by air, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said it is not of case of homes being severely damaged, they're simply not there. ... I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still be stuck on roofs and in attics, and so rescue boats were bypassing the dead.
We're not even dealing with dead bodies, Nagin said. They're just pushing them on the side.
The flooding in New Orleans grew worse by the minute, prompting the evacuation of hotels and hospitals and an audacious plan to drop huge sandbags from helicopters to close up one of the breached levees. At the same time, looting broke out in some neighborhoods, the sweltering city of 480,000 had no drinkable water, and the electricity could be out for weeks.
With water rising perilously inside the Superdome, Blanco said the tens of thousands of refugees now huddled there and other shelters in New Orleans would have to be evacuated.
She asked residents to spend Wednesday in prayer.
That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors, she said. Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild.
A helicopter view of the devastation over the New Orleans area revealed people standing on black rooftops baking in the sunshine while waiting for rescue boats. A row of desperately needed ambulances were lined up on the interstate, water blocking their path. Roller coasters jutted out from the water at a Six Flags amusement park. Hundreds of inmates were seen standing on a highway because the prison had been flooded.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record) quietly traced the sign of the cross across her head and chest as she looked out at St. Bernard Parish, where only roofs peaked out from the water.
The whole parish is gone, Landrieu said.
All day long, rescuers in boats and helicopters pulled out shellshocked and bedraggled flood refugees from rooftops and attics. Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said that 3,000 people have been rescued by boat and air, some placed shivering and wet into helicopter baskets. They were brought by the truckload into shelters, some in wheelchairs and some carrying babies, with stories of survival and of those who didn't make it.
Oh my God, it was hell, said Kioka Williams, who had to hack through the ceiling of the beauty shop where she worked as floodwaters rose in New Orleans' low-lying Ninth Ward. We were screaming, hollering, flashing lights. It was complete chaos.
Frank Mills was in a boarding house in the same neighborhood when water started swirling up toward the ceiling and he fled to the roof. Two elderly residents never made it out, and a third was washed away trying to climb onto the roof.
He was kind of on the edge of the roof, catching his breath, Mills said. Next thing I knew, he came floating past me.
Across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, more than 1 million residents remained without electricity, some without clean drinking water. An untold number who heeded evacuation orders were displaced and 40,000 were in Red Cross shelters, with officials saying it could be weeks, if not months, before most will be able to return.
Emergency medical teams from across the country were sent into the region and President Bush cut short his Texas vacation Tuesday to return to Washington to focus on the storm damage.
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown warned that structural damage to homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in floodwaters made it unsafe for residents to come home anytime soon. And a mass return also was discouraged to keep from interfering with rescue and recovery efforts.
That was made tough enough by the vast expanse of floodwaters in coastal areas that took an eight-hour pounding from Katrina's howling winds and up to 15 inches of rainfall. From the air, neighborhood after neighborhood looked like nothing but islands of rooftops surrounded by swirling, tea-colored water.
In New Orleans, the flooding actually got worse Tuesday. Failed pumps and levees apparently spilled water from Lake Pontchartrain into streets. The rising water forced hotels to evacuate, led a hospital to boatlift patients to emergency shelters, and drove the staff of New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper out of its offices.
Officials planned to use helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags and dozens of giant concrete barriers into the breach, and expressed confidence the problem could be solved. But if the water rose a couple feet higher, it could wipe out water system for whole city, said New Orleans' homeland security chief Terry Ebbert.
A clearer picture of the destruction in Alabama became to emerge Tuesday: cement slabs where homes once stood, a 100-foot shrimp boat smoldering on its side, people searching for swept-away keepsakes. The damage in some areas appears to be worse than last year's Hurricane Ivan.
In devastated Biloxi, Miss., areas that were not underwater were littered with tree trunks, downed power lines and chunks of broken concrete. Some buildings were flattened.
The string of floating barge casinos crucial to the coastal economy were a shambles. At least three of them were picked up by the storm surge and carried inland, their barnacle-covered hulls sitting up to 200 yards inland.
One of the deadliest spots appeared to be Biloxi's Quiet Water Beach apartments, where authorities estimated 30 people were washed away, although the exact toll was unknown. All that was left of the red-brick building was a concrete slab.
We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current, 55-year-old Joy Schovest said through tears. It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim.
Said Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway: This is our tsunami.
Looting became a problem in both Biloxi and in New Orleans, in some cases in full view of police and National Guardsmen. One police officer was shot in the head by a looter in New Orleans, but was expected to recover, Sgt. Paul Accardo, a police spokesman.
On New Orleans' Canal Street, which actually resembled a canal, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores, some packing plastic garbage cans with loot to float down the street. One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store.
No, the man shouted, that's EVERYBODY'S store!
Looters at a Wal-Mart brazenly loaded up shopping carts with items including micorwaves, coolers and knife sets. Others walked out of a sporting goods store on Canal Street with armfuls of shoes and football jerseys.
Outside the broken shells of Biloxi's casinos, people picked through slot machines to see if they still contained coins and ransacked other businesses.
People are just casually walking in and filling up garbage bags and walking off like they're Santa Claus, said Marty Desei, owner of a Super 8 motel.
Insurance experts estimated the storm will result in up to $25 billion in insured losses. That means Katrina could prove more costly than record-setting Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which caused an inflation-adjusted $21 billion in losses.
Oil prices jumped by more than $3 a barrel on Tuesday, climbing above $70 a barrel, amid uncertainty about the extent of the damage to the Gulf region's refineries and drilling platforms.
By midday Tuesday, Katrina was downgraded to a tropical depression, with winds around 35 mph. It was moving northeast through Tennessee at around 21 mph, with the potential to dump 8 inches of rain and spin off deadly tornadoes.
Katrina left 11 people dead in its soggy jog across South Florida last week, as a much weaker storm. |
Is separation of church and state blown out of the water?!?! sm
If Head Start is recieving federal funding, they SHOULD NOT discriminate for religious reasons in hiring. This is illegal no matter who supports it. Since Bush supports it, he is supporting an illegal, unconstitutional act.
This faith based organization wants to have their cake and eat it too. They want federal funding, which comes from all US Citizens, but they do not want to be inclusive of all US citizens. So they don't have a problem taking a non-Christian's money for funding, but they don't want to hire any non-Christians to work for them. That is hypocritical and WRONG.
US Constitution Article I:
*Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.*
Halliburton Didn't Protect Soldiers' Water
(I wonder what else they won't protect if/when they're put in charge after the Dubai deal goes through. And I believe Bush will find a way to push it through right under Americans' noses, since I believe his loyalty lies clearly with rich Arabs and not with the safety of Americans.)
Updated:2006-03-16 07:52:03
Halliburton Didn't Protect Soldiers' Water
Internal Memo Warns of 'Mass Sickness or Death'
ap
WASHINGTON (March 16) - Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused mass sickness or death, an internal company report concluded.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press, said the company failed to assemble and use its own water purification equipment, allowing contaminated water directly from the Euphrates River to be used for washing and laundry at Camp Ar Ramadi in Ramadi, Iraq.
The problems discovered last year at that site - poor training, miscommunication and lax record keeping - occurred at Halliburton's other operations throughout Iraq, the report said.
Countrywide, all camps suffer to some extent from all or some of the deficiencies noted, Wil Granger, Theatre Water Quality Manager in the war zone for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary, wrote in his May 2005 report.
AP reported earlier this year allegations from whistleblowers about the Camp Ar Ramadi incident, but Halliburton never made public Granger's internal report alleging wider problems.
The water quality expert warned Halliburton the problems will have to be dealt with at a very elevated level of management to protect health and safety of U.S. personnel.
Halliburton said Wednesday it conducted a second review last year that found no evidence of any illnesses in Iraq from water and it believes some of its earlier conclusions were incomplete and inaccurate. The company declined to release the second report.
The company said it has worked closely with the Army to develop standards and take action to ensure that the water provided in Iraq is safe and of the highest quality possible.
Halliburton was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney for several years before he ran for vice president. Its KBR subsidiary, also known as Kellogg Brown & Root, works under contract to provide a number of services to the U.S. military in Iraq, including providing water and purifying it.
The contaminated, non-chlorinated water at Ar Ramadi was discovered in March 2005 in a commode by Ben Carter, a KBR water expert at the base. In an interview, Carter said he resigned after KBR barred him from notifying the military and senior company officials about the untreated water.
A supervisor at Ar Ramadi told me to stop e-mailing company officials outside the base and warned that informing the military was none of my concern, Carter said. He said he threatened to sue if company officials didn't let him be examined to determine whether he suffered medical problems from exposure to the contaminated water.
Granger's report cited several countrywide problems:
A lack of training for key personnel. Theatre wide there is no formalized training for anyone at any level in concerns to water operations.
Confusion between KBR and military officials over their respective roles. For instance, each assumed the other would chlorinate the water at Ar Ramadi for any uses that would require the treatment.
Inadequate or nonexistent records that could have caught problems in advance. Little or no documentation was kept on water inventories, safety stand-downs, audits of water quality, deliveries, inspections and logs showing alterations or modifications to water systems.
Relying on employees the company identified as semiskilled labor, and paid as unskilled workers in the pay structure.
The report said the event at Ar Ramadi could have been prevented if KBR's Reverse Osmosis Units on the site had been assembled, instead of relying on the military's water production facilities.
This event should be considered a 'near miss' as the consequences of these actions could have been very severe resulting in mass sickness or death, Granger wrote.
The report said that KBR officials at Ar Ramadi tried to keep the contamination from senior company officials.
The event that was submitted in a report to local camp management should have been classified as a recordable occurrence and communicated to senior management in a timely manner, Granger wrote. The primary awareness to this event came through threat of domestic litigation.
Beginning last May, Halliburton said it began using its equipment to remove contaminants, bacteria, and viruses in Ar Ramadi, and disinfect the water with chlorine. The company said KBR has worked closely with the Army to develop safe water standards.
It said its subsequent review in August-September 2005 found nonpotable water used for washing was effectively filtered to remove at least 99 percent of the parasite giardia and 90 percent of viruses. The Ar Ramadi water also tested negative for bacteria, Halliburton added.
Just sour grapes because Err America is dead in the water???
Media matters wouldn't know satire if it was intelligently explained to them. Rush has fun with people like this who are so serious they look as if they never take the hangers out of their coats. Everything mediamatters spouts about him are things that Rush was saying just to get their goat.
They fall into his trap every time, and it makes them look like the humorless people they really are. He was doing the same thing with the Survivor remarks he made last week, and as you can see people took him very seriously. They play right into his hands.
You wouldn't vote for OBAMA if he walked on water.
It is senseless to talk with far right wingers. It is like talking to a rock. I blame this on the dismal education provided to the U.S. citizens for the last 20 years. Of all the unions, the teacher's union appears to be the strongest, allowing mediocre teachers to remain in their positions regardless of the obvious lack of effective teaching skills.
Bad educations, heavily indebted and unhealthy citizens make poor voters. They become SHEOPLE rather than independent voters. Wave a bible in front of them and the work PROLIFE and they'd vote for a train hopping hobo.
Was hoping you were hanging aroud the water cooler.
and of greater importance, this is just yet one more illustration of the judgment deficit that will bring them down in flames. Hat's off to JJ.
holy crap- i forgot to turn off the water in the bathtub!!!!
x
invest in a Brita Water pitcher. Plastic bottles are expensive
plastic bottles also are made with questionable chemicals...
But doesn't shale oil extraction use huge amounts of ground water? sm
I've heard there are enviromental issues that we haven't really delved into yet, such as contamination of your drinking water if you're on a well.
Halliburton and troops: Dirty water, dirty tricks
 MSNBC.com |
Report: Untreated water at U.S. base in Iraq
Halliburton denies contamination of supply to American soliders, civilians
The Associated Press
Updated: 5:42 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn’t get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.
Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.
“We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated,” said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton’s KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait.
“The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River,” Granger wrote in one of several documents. The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who will chair the session, held a number of similar inquiries last year on contracting abuses in Iraq. He said Democrats were acting on their own because they had not been able to persuade Republican committee chairmen to investigate.
The company’s former water treatment expert at Camp Junction City said that he discovered the problem last March, a statement confirmed by his e-mail the day after he tested the water.
Bottled water used only for drinking
While bottled water was available for drinking, the contaminated water was used for virtually everything else, including handwashing, laundry, bathing and making coffee, said water expert Ben Carter of Cedar City, Utah.
Another former Halliburton employee who worked at the base, Ken May of Louisville, said there were numerous instances of diarrhea and stomach cramps — problems he also suffered.
A spokeswoman for Halliburton said its own inspection found neither contaminated water nor medical evidence to substantiate reports of illnesses at the base. The company now operates its own water treatment plant there, spokeswoman Melissa Norcross said.
A military medical unit that visited Camp Ramadi in mid-April found nothing out of the ordinary in terms of water quality, said Marine Corps Maj. Tim Keefe, a military spokesman. Water-quality testing records from May 23 show the water within normal parameters, he said.
“The allegations appear not to have merit,” Keefe said.
Halliburton has contracts to provide a number of services to U.S. forces in Iraq and was responsible for the water quality at the base in Ramadi.
Year-long exposure?
Granger’s July 15 memo said the exposure had gone on for “possibly a year” and added, “I am not sure if any attempt to notify the exposed population was ever made.”
The first memo on the problem — written by Carter to Halliburton officials on March 24, 2005 — was an “incident report” from tests Carter performed the previous day.
“It is my opinion that the water source is without question contaminated with numerous micro-organisms, including Coliform bacteria,” Carter wrote. “There is little doubt that raw sewage is routinely dumped upstream of intake much less than the required 2 mile distance.
“Therefore, it is my conclusion that chlorination of our water tanks while certainly beneficial is not sufficient protection from parasitic exposure.”
Carter said he resigned in early April after Halliburton officials did not take any action to inform the camp population.
The water expert said he told company officials at the base that they would have to notify the military. “They told me it was none of my concern and to keep my mouth shut,” he said.
‘They brushed it under the carpet’
On at least one occasion, Carter said, he spoke to the chief military surgeon at the base, asking him whether he was aware of stomach problems afflicting people. He said the surgeon told him he would look into it.
“They brushed it under the carpet,” Carter said. “I told everyone, ‘Don’t take showers, use bottled water.”
A July 14, 2005, memo showed that Halliburton’s public relations department knew of the problem.
“I don’t want to turn it into a big issue right now,” staff member Jennifer Dellinger wrote in the memo, “but if we end up getting some media calls I want to make sure we have all the facts so we are ready to respond.”
Halliburton’s performance in Iraq has been criticized in a number of military audits, and congressional Democrats have contended that the Bush administration has favored the company with noncompetitive contracts.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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