Darryl and Natalia,
Quote:
‘Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was
playing down the need
for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the
core White House
group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been
cut and inept
political hacks have been put in key positions,"
Mr Kaufman said. "All
the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns
and cowboys -
which don't do anything when a hurricane hits.’
So, Bush is responsible and the war is responsible.
Quote:
‘Pollution has been a major problem in Louisiana for decades
before
Hurricane Katrina hit. Reporter Ron Nixon coined the term "toxic
gumbo" to describe the potent mix of waste that
courses through the
state. The Big Easy, perched at the mouth of the Mississippi River, is
located at the narrow end of a funnel siphoning
immense amounts of
industrial, agricultural and human waste every day.’
Apparently, this is a decades old problem. Why didn’t Clinton handle it –
or Jimmy Carter.
Quote:
‘Elder says the many heavy industries based in Louisiana have been
leaching chemicals into the soil and groundwater for
decades.’
Maybe the finger should be pointed to the Mayor of New Orleans or the
various Democratic Governors of LA.
But then, as we know, Bush is responsible for everything – even when
he was a kid.
Harry
********************************
Henry George School of Social Science
of Los
Angeles
Box
655 Tujunga CA 91042
818 352-4141
********************************
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Darryl and Natalia
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005
12:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Futurework] N.O. Love
Canals & Secular
Inclusion
Also, at the same site, an important look at how the
world of politics ignores the fourth largest faith group. It's titled:
HIDDEN LOVE CANALS?
GEOFFREY LEAN, INDEPENDENT, UK - Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans
flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a
decade, a US
government official has told The Independent on Sunday.
And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.
In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and
responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental
Protection Agency, said the way the polluted water was being pumped
out was increasing the danger to health.
The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because
his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make
public the results of those it had analyzed. . .
Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need
for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House
group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept
political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said.
"All
the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys -
which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared
for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001." He said the
water being pumped out of the city was not being tested for pollution
and would damage Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi
river, and
endanger people using it downstream.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece
NICOLE MAKRIS, ALTERNET - As the government drags its feet, the
unknown number of human bodies decomposing in the New Orleans
floodwaters are becoming hosts for a horde of diseases. The bodies
continue to fester and rot, potentially contaminating the city they
used to call home. . .
The Centers for Disease Control has reported four fatal instances of
vibrio vulnificus, a cousin of cholera. Red Cross and other relief
workers are struggling to prevent outbreaks related to salmonella, e.
coli and other bacteria that cause nausea, diarrhea, and can lead to
severe dehydration. There is also cause to fear the spread of
hepatitis A, a virus that causes liver disease. But a real plan to
assess the health problems that could plague the Gulf Coast
for
decades is noticeably absent.
Pollution has been a major problem in Louisiana
for decades before
Hurricane Katrina hit. Reporter Ron Nixon coined the term "toxic
gumbo" to describe the potent mix of waste that courses through the
state. The Big Easy, perched at the mouth of the Mississippi
River, is
located at the narrow end of a funnel siphoning immense amounts of
industrial, agricultural and human waste every day.
"Virtually anything could be in the water," said Jim Elder, the EPA's
former National Director of Drinking Water and Groundwater. "I'm not
sure that anywhere has ever seen all these chemicals put together in
the same place. That's why people are referring to this as a toxic
soup. I think that's a simple but apt description."
Elder says the many heavy industries based in Louisiana have been
leaching chemicals into the soil and groundwater for decades. But
Katrina stirred up an even deadlier mix of waste: submerged
automobiles are leaking oil, gasoline and other chemicals into the
floodwater; asbestos that may have been contained in old buildings has
been released by the flooding and the collapse of buildings; raw
sewage, decaying body parts, offshore oil rigs and possibly ruptured
pipelines all pave the way for a myriad of serious and potentially
fatal medical conditions.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/25552/
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WORST NEWS OF THE DAY
Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and
Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort
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MICHAEL BROWN EXPLAINS IT ALL
NY TIMES - Mr. Brown acknowledged that he had been criticized for not
ordering a complete evacuation or calling in federal troops sooner.
But he said the storm made it hard to communicate and assess the
situation. "Until you have been there," he said, "you don't
realize it
is the middle of a hurricane."
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AP -
