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How many more of our children will have to die before our border laws are taken seriously by those sworn?

February 9th, 2010 5 comments

How many more of our children will have to die before our border our laws are taken seriously by those sworn defend both?

Illegal alien Francis Hernandez is on trial this week in Arapahoe County District Court for an automobile crash that resulted in the deaths of three people, including a 3-year-old boy.

Francis Hernandez, faces a total of 19 charges, including vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving death, and child abuse resulting in death.

On September 10, 2008, the parents of 3-year-old Marten Kudlis buried their son at Fairmount Cemetery, a few days earlier, he was killed while waiting for his ice cream in an Aurora Baskin and Robbins.

An SUV speeding through the intersection of Havana and Mississippi, with Guatemalan national Francis Hernandez at the wheel, slammed into a pickup truck, which was then pushed into the ice cream shop´s window. The toddler was sitting at a table in front of that window, and was sent flying as the truck came crashing through it.

Police say that Hernandez was traveling at a speed of at least 70 mph.

After the crash, police say Hernandez jumped from his Chevy Suburban and fled the scene. He was later apprehended without incident.

Marten was taken to the hospital, but died a short time later due to massive internal injuries.

The two women in the pickup truck struck by Hernandez were Patricia Guntharp, 49, and Debra Serecky, 51. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.

KMGH of Denver covered the child´s funeral and reported that the first song heard during the service was Eric Clapton´s "Tears in Heaven."

In a heart wrenching display of grief and anger, Marten´s mother Marat Kudlis shouted: “That bastard!,” referring to the illegal alien believed responsible for killing her son. Between the tears, Marten´s father cried out: “I really loved him.”

The rabbi conducting the service told the heartbroken family and friends: “This burden feels like more than we can bear because it is so sudden. It´s a parent´s worst nightmare. It does not seem fair and it is not fair to lose someone so young.”

A teddy bear was placed in the tiny open casket which held Marten´s body.

Following the funeral, many of the mourners returned to the crash site, which became a makeshift memorial, filled with flowers, stuffed animals, and cards with expressions of sympathy and support for the Kudlis family.

One of those mourners, Duane Stokes, told a KMGH reporter: “I helped pull Marten out of the building. I was right there with him. He squeezed my hand. I held his hand until he passed on. My fiance and I were just saying a prayer to Marten and just getting one last glimpse of everything around here. Just to say goodbye to him.”

Marten´s death hit the community hard and his funeral was attended by many people who had never even met him, but were saddened and angered by his senseless death.

Hernandez who has 12 aliases and two dates of birth, has been arrested an astonishing 19 times since 2003. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has also, confirmed that Hernandez has been arrested by nine different police departments. Despite his lengthy arrest record and illegal status in this country, Hernandez has never been deported, nor have deportation proceedings ever been started against him.

The police report shows that after Hernandez ran from the scene, he phoned his girlfriend, Brenda Aleman, asking her to come pick him up at a local Hooter´s restaurant. The report reads: “(He) stated after the accident he was scared and fled the scene, he was afraid he would be taken to jail because he had no insurance, no driver’s license and that would prevent him from seeing his kids.”

Hernandez and Aleman have two small children.

It should be noted that the Congressional Research Service has classified both Aurora and nearby Denver, CO, as a “sanctuary cities.” The term refers to a policy taken by cities which refuse to inquire into an arrestee´s immigration status, or a refusal to inform federal authorities when a suspect in custody is believed to be or known to be an illegal alien.

Shortly after little Marten‘s death, retired Congressman (R-CO) and former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo said that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, as well as Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter "have blood on their hands."

While both Hickenlooper and Ritter have long been criticized for their opposition to enforcement of our immigration laws, Gov. Ritter tried to deflect any attention from his office onto the federal government and called Tancredo´s comments “out of bounds.”

In response, Tancredo issued the following statement: “While it might be politically expedient to blame Washington for what happened this week or to characterize my criticism of him as ´out of bounds,´ the fact remains that Gov. Ritter is in charge of enforcing and keeping Coloradans safe. It´s time for Gov. Ritter to take concrete steps to ensure that illegal aliens like Fran
why not ask the same question about the police and the rest of the local legal system, given that this fool was arrested 19 times since 2003. Are they somehow less culpable?
George do your own work and go ask why, I do not need to since I already know why.

Quote

Hernandez who has 12 aliases and two dates of birth, has been arrested an astonishing 19 times since 2003. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has also, confirmed that Hernandez has been arrested by nine different police departments. Despite his lengthy arrest record and illegal status in this country, Hernandez has never been deported, nor have deportation proceedings ever been started against him.

This is very common among illegal aliens and it doesn’t surprise me. I think the boys family has a right to start a class action lawsuit against these illegal alien sanctuaries. A major lawsuit would not be able to bring back the kid but at least it can bring about justice.

Ever since the gov started cracking down on lawsuits against cities, towns and police. This mess with illegal immigration has been growing without any thought of even slowing down. This guy should not be deported and should get the death penalty instead.

interesting facts?

February 7th, 2010 5 comments

An average ear of corn has 800 kernels, arranged in 16 rows.

An average human drinks about 16, 000 gallons of water in a lifetime.

An average human scalp has 100,00 hairs.

An average person drinks about 16,000 gallons of wate during his life time.

An average person laughs about 5 times a day.

An average person uses the bathroom 6 times per day.

An average pig squeals at a range from 100 to 115 decibels.

An average secretary’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.

An ear of corn always has an even number of rows because of the genetic formula which divides the cells.

An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows.

An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 sent the Mississippi River backwards.

An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.

An elephant can smell water 3 miles away.

An elephant could carry up to 2 gallons of water in its trunk.

An elephant has 4 knees

An elephant may consume 500 pounds of hay and 60 gallons of water in a single day.

An elephant’s trunk contains more than 50,000 muscles.

An Estee Lauder perfume called "Country Mist" had disappointing sales in Germany where the word "Mist" was slang for manure!

An estimated $1 million is lost at race tracks each year by people who lose or carelessly throw away winning tickets.

An etiquette writer of the 1840’s advised, "Ladies may wipe their lips on the tablecloth, but not blow their noses on it."

An eyelash lives about 5 months.

An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

An individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the body.

An insect exerts so much energy in one hour of flying that it may lose as much as a third of its total body weight.

An Octopus has 3 hearts!

An old law in Bellingham, Washington made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

An ordinance in Newcastle, Wyoming, specifically bans couples from having sex while standing inside a store’s walk-in-meat freezer!

An ostrich egg can make approx. eleven and a half omelets.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

An ounce of gold can be beaten up into a sheet covering 9.3 sq. meters, or drawn into 80.5 kms(50 miles) of wire.

An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.

An owl cannot move it’s eyeballs in its eye sockets.

An oyster can change it’s sex a number of times during its life.

An oyster can change its sex once every seven days.

Anagrams amused the ancient Greeks, Romans and Hebrews, and were popular during the Middle Ages.

Ancient Chinese artists freely painted scenes of nakedness and sex. However, they would absolutely never depict a bare female foot.

Ancient Chinese artists would never paint pictures of women’s feet.

Ancient Egyptian priests would pluck every hair from their bodies.

Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth. They also believed that cats were sacred animals.

Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.

Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.

Andrew Jackson spent most of his adult life with a bullet no more than two inches away from his heart as a result of a duel he fought before becoming President.

Andrew Johnson, was the only self-educated tailor. He is the only President to make his own clothes as well as his cabinet’s.

Andy Warhol based his 1964 series of silk portraits of Marilyn Monroe on a still photo from the 1952 movie Niagra.

Andy Warhol created the Rolling Stone’s emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album.

Animal gestation periods: the shortest is the American opossum, which bears its young 12 to 13 days after conception; the longest is the Asiatic elephant, taking 608 days, or just over 20 months.

Animals that lay eggs don’t have belly buttons.

Anne Boleyn had three breasts.

Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I’s mother, had six fingers on one hand.

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, had an extra finger on her left hand.

Annually, approximately 46 millions Cokes, five million pounds of French fries, and seven million hamburgers are consumed at Walt Disney World Resort.

Another law in Helena, Montana, mandates that a woman can’t dance on a table in a saloon or bar unless she has on at least three pounds, two ounces of clothing.

Another name for your pinky finger is Wanus

Antarctica has only one ATM machine.

Antarctica is the only continent without any reptiles or snakes.

Antarctica is visited by over 10,000 tourists a year.

Anteaters prefer termites to ants.

Anthropologists use a standard height of 4 feet 11 inches to determine if a group of people are pygmies. The average adult male must be less than 59 inches in height.

Ants are social insects and live in colonies which may have as many as 500,000 individuals.

Ants can live completely submerged underwater for up to 2 days.

Ants make up 1/10 of the total world animal tissue

Any free-moving liquid in outer space will form itself into a sphere, because of it’s surface tension.

Any month that starts on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th in it.

Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson’s public parties at the White House. At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing 1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of cheese for weeks.

Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. Aphids can give birth 10 days after being born themselves.

Apparently 1/3 of people with alarm clocks hit the ‘snooze’ button every morning, and from 25-34 age group, it is over 1/2. (r u 1 of them?)

Apparently there’s a law stating that if a Kurtatchi woman of the Soloman Islands unintentionally reveals her genitals, it can be expected and will be understood if any nearby man sexually assaults her.

Apparently, according to Playtex, the best selling bra sizes these days are 34B and 36B.

Apparently, I misspelled it…it’s "Sinterklaas." Thanks to the unnamed person from Holland who corrected me.

Apple pie was brought to England from France sometime around 1066 by William the Conqueror. It made it to America when the Pilgrims arrived.

Apple pits contain cyanide.

Apples are more effecient than caffeine for waking you up in the morning.

Approximate number of facial expressions dogs can make: 100.

Approximately 125 people die in the United States from an anaphylaxis to foods each year.

Approximately 20% of Americans have a passport.

Approximately 200 pets are buried in a pet cemetery out of the thousands of pets that die each day.

Approximately 25,000 workers died during the building of the Panama Canal, and approximately 20,000 of them contracted malaria and yellow fever.

Approximately 40,000 tons of meteoric dust hits the Earth each year.

Approximately 850 peanuts make a 18 oz jar of peanut butter.

Approximately one out of four injuries by athletes involve the wrist and hand.

Arabic numerals are not really Arabic; they were invented in India.

Argentineans eat more meat than any other nation in the world an average of 10 ounces per person per day.

Aristedes won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875.

Armadillos along with humans are the other creatures that can contract leprosy.

Armadillos can be house broken.

Armadillos can have up to four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex.

Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

Army doctor D.W. Bliss attended to two presidents after they were shot by assassins. In 1865 he was one of the 16 doctors who tried to save Abraham Lincoln. In 1881 he supervised the care of James Garfield.

Around 2,000 left-handed people die annually due to improper use of equipment designed only for right handed people.

Around 22% of Americans are teenagers.

Around the 16th century the Yo-Yo was used by Philipinos to stun prey from trees.

Arrowroot, an antidote for poisoned arrows, is used as a thickener in cooking.

As artists and traders in medieval cities began to form organizations, they instituted tough initiation ceremonies. For example, journeymen in Bergen, Norway, were shoved down a chimney, thrown three times into the sea, and soundly whipped.

As bananas ripen, the starch in the fruit turns to sugar. Therefore, the riper the banana the sweeter it will taste.

As late as 1820, the universe was thought to be 6,000 years old. It is now thought to be between 15 and 20 billion years old.

As mentioned, the first Fords used Dodge engines. Many ford vehicles now use Nissan engines, especially in Mini-vans.

As much as 80% of microwaves from mobile phones are absorbed by YOUR HEAD! visit microshield

As of 14.10.2003, only 0.6% of people actually sign the guestbook. Its true. Over 120,000 visitors. Yes, the statistic did go down.

As of 1996, Hee Haw holds the record for the longest running weekly first-run syndicated show in the history of television. It spanned over 4 decades, from the late ’60s to the early ’90s, airing every Saturday night at 7:00.

As of 2004, there are two men for every woman in the United Arab Emirates.

As of Dec. 31, 2000, the number of climbers summiting Mt. Everest reached 1314, and the number of deaths on the mountain reached 167.

As specified by the Christian church, the canonical hours are matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, and compline.

Aspirin was the first drug offered as a water-soluble tablet in 1900.

Aspirin went on sale as the first pharmaceutical drug in 1899, after Felix Hoffman, a German chemist at the drug company Bayer, successfully modified Salicylic Acid, a compound found in willow bark to produce Aspirin.

Assuming that all the offspring survived, 190,000,000,000,000,000,000 flies could be produced in four months by the offspring of a single pair of flies.

Astronaut John Glenn ate the first meal in space when he ate pureed applesauce squeezed from a tube aboard Friendship 7 in 1962.

Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper was so relaxed on the morning of his launch into space in May 1963 that he fell asleep in his space capsule while waiting for blastoff.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon with his left foot.

Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

Astronauts become between two and three inches taller when in space.

Astronauts brought back about 800 pounds of lunar rock to Earth. Most of it has not been analyzed.

Astronauts grow taller in space

At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal.

At 4,145 miles, the Nile River is the longest in the world.

At -40 degrees fahrenheit,a person loses about 14.4 calories per hour breathing.

At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world. It is three times the size of Texas. By comparison, Iceland is only 39,800 square miles.

At age 47, the Rolling Stones’ bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother’s blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill’s 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy’s mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father’s father-in-law and his own grandpa.

At age seventy, 73% of men are still potent.

At Andrew Jackson’s funeral in 1845, his pet parrot had to be removed because it was swearing.

At Arkansas State University two people cannot hold hands while standing in a doorway unless they belong to a union.

At birth, a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.

At birth, bear cubs weigh between 1/2 1 pound.

At its center, the sun has a density of over a hundred times that of water, and a temperature of 10-20 million degrees Celsius.

At Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, on June 26, 1985, organist Wilbur Snapp played "Three Blind Mice" following a call by umpire Keith O’Connor. The umpire was not amused, and saw to it that Mr. Snapp was ejected from the game.

At one time in India, a fiance was required to deflower his future bride if she died before the wedding. The girl could not be cremated until this ritual was carried out in front of the village priest.

At one time the earth consisted of one land mass and a huge body of water. Geologists today call the land Pangaea (from the Greek words "all land"), while the water was called Panthalassa (from the Greek words "all sea"). Between 180 and 200 million years ago, Pangaea split into two parts: Laurasia, which consisted of North America, Europe and Asia; and Gondwanaland, which consisted of Africa, South America, India, Antarctica and Australia.

At one time, there was a law in India that forbade lower-caste people from casting their shadows on a member of the Brahman (the upper class).

Cool!
I have loads about peanuts:

# Other minor peanut producers are Alabama, Florida, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma and Virginia
# An 18oz jar of peanut butter needs 850 peanuts to be made
# The USA produce about 6% of the world’s crop of peanuts: by comparison India and China, together, produce about 70%
# About 65% of those peanuts are used worldwide for the production of peanut oil; another 20% is used for the production of candy
# Peanut oil accounts for 8% of the worldwide edible oil production
# The national peanut month is March: it started as the national week in 1941 and was later "promoted" to a full month in 1974
# Two presidents of the USA, Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson, were peanut farmers
etc etc..
(many more in the link, my post would be 3 pages long lol)

Mississippi Highways and Crossroads ??

February 6th, 2010 8 comments

This is a video slideshow tribute to The Mississippi Delta region which is considered to be the birthplace of the Blues.

The most widely known legend surrounding Robert Johnson says that he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 61 and U.S. Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi in exchange for prowess in playing the guitar. Actually, the location Johnson made reference to is a short distance away from that intersection. The legend was told mainly by Son House, but finds no corroboration in any of Johnson’s work, despite titles like “Me and the Devil Blues” and “Hellhound on My Trail”. With this said, the song “Cross Road Blues” is both widely and loosely interpreted by many as a descriptive encounter of Johnson selling his soul. The older Tommy Johnson (no relation, although it is speculated that they were cousins) also claimed to have sold his soul to the Devil. The story goes that if one would go to the crossroads a little before midnight and begin to play the guitar, a large black man would come up to the aspiring guitarist, retune his guitar and then hand it back. At this point (so the legend goes) the guitarist had sold his soul to become a virtuoso (A similar legend even surrounded virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini a century before.)

Seventy or so years ago, a man who was then known as Robert Johnson passed away. He was poisoned, presumably by a houseman/barkeep whose wife had been flirting with him on an August Evening. Around the same time, a king pin of the then small, homely music industry sent out a middle man to find Johnson, in hopes of striking a record deal. It took until almost a year after Johnson’s death for word to get back to the industry that Johnson was, in fact, deceased. This is not a surprise, considering that the spread of news at the time, let alone in poor black Mississippi (or really, where ever he may have taken up residence at the time), was reserved to word of mouth.

Robert Johnson is arguably the most important, influential, and respected blues artist of all time. Back in the days when Johnson was still with us, recording equipment was sparse. Johnson recorded a grand total of forty one cuts, twelve of them alternate takes.

In 1900, Bill and Annie Patton and their 12 children took up residence at Dockery Farms. Their nine-year-old, Charlie, took to following guitarist Henry Sloan to his performances at picnics, fish-fries, and social gatherings at boarding houses where the day laborers lived. By 1910, Patton was
himself a professional musician, playing songs such as his own “Pony Blues,” often with fellow guitarist Willie Brown. Within the next five years Patton had come to influence Tommy Johnson, considered one of the best ragtime-blues guitarists of the day, who had traveled to Dockery. He had also joined the Chatmon brothers who recorded using the name the “Mississippi Sheiks” at their musical jobs throughout the area.

Even though there were no juke joints on the farm, Charlie Patton and other bluesmen, drawn to Dockery by its fame, used the plantation as their base. They would travel the network of state roads around Dockery Farms to communities large enough to support audiences that loved the blues. One of these roads, Highway 61, from Memphis to Vicksburg, was immortalized by 1960s folk/rock icon Bob Dylan. This was “blues country.” The plantation was located between the towns of Cleveland and Ruleville, just south of the state prison at Parchman and north of Indianola, the birthplace of the blues guitar great B.B. King. Shops in the area sold “race records.” These were typically blues sung by women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and produced presumably for African-American buyers. In 1929 Charlie Patton recorded 14 songs for Paramount Records, featuring his gruff voice and rhythmic, percussive plucking. They immediately became top sellers, and resulted eventually in his second recording sessions, producing 26 titles, for the ARC company in New York in 1934.

But it was Patton’s live performances that inspired and influenced fans such as Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Ed ‘Son’ House, Chester Burnett (also known as Howlin’ Wolf), and Roebuck ‘Pop’ Staples. These important artists in blues history either lived at or passed through Dockery Farms. Bluesmen Sonnyboy Williamson and Leadbelly were among ‘guests of the state’ at nearby Parchman Prison during the same era.

Besides his blues guitar playing and singing, Patton was well known for his stage moves. He danced while playing and swinging his guitar around, often playing it behind his back. These crowd-pleasing antics imitated by rock stars including Jimi Hendrix have survived today in the acts of bluesmen such as Buddy Guy.

Enjoy 🙂
Quinoacat

Duration : 0:6:48

Read more…

How would you feel if this happened in your city,county or state with illegal immigrants?

January 29th, 2010 11 comments

Mo. town outraged over killings, illegal immigrant
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/03/20/ap/us/d971tl300.txt
By JIM SALTER
HANNIBAL, Mo. – A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.

Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.

"I killed two people," he allegedly said.

Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.

But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain’s hometown aren’t just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.

Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.

Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.

"I don’t know how this happens," said Tina White-Masengill, Thomas’ sister. "My stepdad told police many times, ‘I don’t even think the guy’s a legal citizen.’"

During his three years in Hannibal, Cazares managed to avoid detection, despite a few traffic violations and a property damage conviction after an arrest for allegedly beating up Thomas and tearing up her home. Thomas had a restraining order against Cazares, who got probation in the property-damage case.

Police say his name wasn’t in a database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police and Cazares’ boss also say he had authentic-looking identification, including a Social Security card. And police noted that Cazares speaks fluent English.

Cazares’ attorney did not return phone messages seeking comment. Cazares is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Hannibal police declined several interview requests from The Associated Press, but said soon after the killing that they had received several angry calls, some with racial overtones.

Days after the killings, rocks were thrown through plate-glass windows at the Mexican restaurant where Cazares worked. The FBI decided against opening a hate-crime investigation after concluding that it was vandalism, not retaliation.

Hundreds of messages related to the case were posted on the Hannibal Courier-Post Web site, with several questioning why authorities hadn’t been able to determine Cazares’ legal status before. One suggested police should conduct raids to seek out other illegal immigrants.

"Of course we have folks who say that’s unconstitutional and racial profiling so we have to ignore the problem until this sort of terrible tragedy takes place," the posting read. The newspaper eventually took down the postings.

At a news conference, police Capt. James Hark told reporters that tracking illegal immigrants is a federal responsibility. He said the department is sympathetic to the victims’ families, "but, in retrospect, there’s nothing in the system that would have prevented this from happening."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said the agency seeks to work closely with local police to uncover illegal immigrants.

"When local law enforcement suspect that they have arrested an illegal alien on criminal charges, we encourage them to forward those suspicions to ICE, where we will make the appropriate determination whether that person is in the country legally or illegally, and whether he is deportable," Rusnok said.

The relationship between Cazares and Thomas had long been rocky, with Thomas seeking restraining orders in 2007 and again early last year. Marion County prosecutor Tom Redington said the first order was dismissed when Thomas failed to appear at a court hearing; the second was dismissed at her request.

Thomas made a third attempt around Thanksgiving and obtained a restraining order that was supposed to keep Cazares away from the small brick duplex where she lived with their 20-month-old son and a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Yet neighbors said they often saw Cazares in the area.

"We pulled up one night and he drives up the street with his car lights off and just sits there watching her house," said neighbor Charles Thomas, who is not related to the victim.

In early February, Thomas told police she thought Cazares was stalking her. White-Masengill said her sister played cell phone messages for police, including one in which he said, "No one can love you like I do."

Redington said he didn’t have Cazares arrested immediately because of the "on-again, off-again nature of their relationship." He asked Thomas to obtain records that would show that Cazares had been calling her, but she never got the records.

According to court records, Cazares offered the following a

And yet another soild reason to DEPORT ILLEGALS.

Had the government done thier job this ILELGAL INVADER would not have killed these pepoe.

If I was the victims family I would file suit against the US Government for failing to uphold the immigration laws.

Need help proofreading?

January 24th, 2010 2 comments

“The Government’s Response to Hurricane Katrina”

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster to ever hit America. Over 90,000 square miles of land was destroyed, about the size of the United Kingdom. In Mississippi, the storm obliterated coastal communities and left thousands destitute. New Orleans was overwhelmed by flooding. Along the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands suffered without basic essentials for almost a week. More than 1500 people died and not just from the storm alone. Suffering continued in the days and weeks after the storm passed because of the government’s failure at all levels to plan, prepare for and respond aggressively to the storm. In this paper, will explain how the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina greatly affected the nation and the many factors that show the government’s inability to plan, prepare for, and respond to national catastrophes lead to one of the most talked about event in history.

The first factor is the long term warnings that went unheeded. Before Hurricane Katrina, government officials knew for forty years of the potentially devastating threat of a catastrophic hurricane to the Gulf region and the destruction it could cause. Government officials had plenty of time to prepare for a catastrophic hurricane but refused to heed the warnings of past hurricanes to the gulf coast. For example when New Orleans experienced flooding in some areas of remarkably similar proportions from Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and when Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast in 1969 (NOAA/ National Weather Services). When Hurricane George hit the Gulf in 1998, the state of Louisiana to ask FEMA for assistance with catastrophic hurricane planning but little was accomplished in the six years of planning.

With six years of planning, the government should have had time to develop and test a catastrophic hurricane plan. In 2004, numerous experts and governmental officials had been anticipating an increase in violent hurricanes, and New Orleans’ special and growing vulnerability to catastrophic flooding due to changing geological and other conditions. If these facts were known, why weren’t plans made in order to prevent a disaster such as this from happening?

It seems as though that officials at every level of government did not appear to grasp the magnitude of the storm’s potential for destruction before it made landfall despite strongly worded advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and personal warnings from NHC Director Max Mayfield. Mayfield was so worried about Hurricane Katrina that he called the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and the mayor of New Orleans to discuss the effect Hurricane Katrina might have on their regions. Mayfield even talked about the force of Katrina during a video conference call to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas (Lush). If Mayfield was so worried about the effects of the storm, why weren’t his advice heeded and the necessary precautions taken to reduce the effects of Hurricane Katrina?

The second factor was the terrible decisions in the days before the hurricane hit. Some coastal towns in Mississippi went to extraordinary lengths to get citizens to evacuate, including sending people door-to-door to convince people to move out of harm’s way. While New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin only orders a mandatory evacuation of all residents from the city of New Orleans. Yet instead of asking for assistance to help residents who lacked the means to leave the city, he orders the Superdome to be opened as a shelter of last resort.
The Superdome proved to be more like a prison than a shelter. More than 20,000 people were forced to reside inside the Superdome without working plumbing, food, water, and other necessities for nearly two weeks. Yet Ray Nagin decided that this was appropriate shelter for those people instead of evacuating everyone out of the city.

Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects were felt before the storm even reached the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina battered the offshore energy infrastructure and forced the evacuation of more than 75 percent of the Gulf’s 819 manned oil platforms. Two days before landfall, U.S. energy companies estimated that the approaching storm had already reduced Gulf of Mexico oil production by more than a third. The government knew that if Hurricane Katrina had that much force to evacuate 819 manned oil platforms, that the havoc it would reap on the New Orleans would be devastating.

Despite the understanding of the Gulf Coast’s vulnerability to hurricane devastation, officials braced for Katrina with full awareness of critical deficiencies in their plans and enormous holes in their resources. While Katrina’s destructive force could not be denied, state and local officials did not have enough of the resources at their disposal. And even though the Governors of the three affected states requested, and President Bush issued, emergency declarations before the Hurricane hit, none of it actually prepared citizens for what they were about to experience.

Another terrible decision was the lack of transportation and supplies. FEMA failed to approach other federal agencies for help with transportation to ensure that the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana had the means to evacuate their citizens. The City of New Orleans was unprepared to help people evacuate, as many buses from the city’s own fleet were submerged, while at the same time officials had not arranged in advance for drivers for those buses that were available.

On Monday, August 29, 2005, Governor Blanco asked FEMA Director Michael Brown for buses, and Brown assured the state the same day that 500 buses were en route to assist in the evacuation of New Orleans and would arrive within hours. In spite of Brown’s assurances and the state’s continued requests over the course of the next two days, FEMA did not direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to send buses until very early on Wednesday, two days after Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees had broken, and the buses did not begin to arrive at all until Wednesday evening and not in significant numbers until Thursday (Millholom).

By the time the government realized that they needed the buses to help get people out of the city, the levees had broken and most of the people who they intended to rescues had died or were either trapped on top of roofs on untraveled, flooded streets. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin could have prevented many deaths had he gotten people to drive the local buses through the residential areas to save the elderly and the people who had no way out. FEMA could have arraigned for buses from other towns close to New Orleans to rescue the citizens. Yet, these ideas were not thought of when they had two days before the levees broke.

The government also failed to communicate properly throughout the entire Hurricane Katrina dilemma. The Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC) was suppose to provide information about the disaster to decision-makers including the Secretary and the President but failed to create a system to identify and acquire all available, relevant information, and as a result situational awareness was deeply flawed. Yet reliable information on such vital developments as the levee failures, the extent of flooding, and the presence of thousands of people in need of life-sustaining assistance at the New Orleans Convention Center did not reach the White House, Secretary Chertoff or other key officials for hours, and in some cases more than a day.

FEMA Director Michael Brown, then in Louisiana, contributed to the problem by refusing to communicate with Secretary Chertoff opting instead to pass information directly to White House staff (Taylor). Moreover, even though senior DHS officials did receive on the day of landfall numerous reports that should have led to an understanding of the increasingly dire situation in New Orleans, many indicated they were not aware of the crisis until sometime Tuesday morning. DHS was slow to recognize the scope of the disaster and that FEMA had become overwhelmed.

On the day after landfall, DHS officials were still struggling to determine the “ground truth” about the extent of the flooding despite the many reports it had received about the catastrophe. Government officials did not grasp the need to act on the less-than-complete information that is to be expected in a disaster. DHS leaders did not become fully engaged in recovery efforts until Thursday, when in Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson’s words, they “tried to kick it up a notch”; after that, they did provide significant leadership within DHS and FEMA as well as coordination across the federal government.

But this effort should have begun sooner. This effort should have been done when they realized Hurricane Katrina was coming to destroy New Orleans. They had enough time to investigate the reports that were given or to go and get a firsthand look at the destruction that Hurricane Katrina had caused.
Another factor was the government’s knowledge that the levees could not withstand a level 4 or 5 hurricane. The levees which prevented New Orleans from being turned into a swamp were built to only withstand Category 3 hurricanes. Officials have known for years that the levees could fail under the pressures of a Category 4 or 5 hurricanes but did nothing to reinforce the levees (CNN). There have been many different sources acknowledging the affects the hurricane would have on the levees. In 2002 the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a five-part series exploring the vulnerability of the city (The New Orleans Times). The newspaper and other news media as well, specifically addressed the possibility of massive floods drowning residents, destroying homes and releasing toxic chemicals throughout the city.

Reuters reported that in 2004, more than 40 state, local and volunteer organizations practiced a scenario in which a massive hurricane struck and levees were breached, allowing water to flood New Orleans. Under the simulation, called "Hurricane Pam," the officials "had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed more than half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents," the Reuters report said (Kahn).

If government officials knew that the levees could not stand a Category 4 or 5 hurricanes, then why wasn’t anything done to reinforce the strength of the levees. If nothing could be done to reinforce the wall, why wasn’t a secondary barrier put in place in case of the levees actually breakage? The government had enough time to do something about the levees but instead choose to ignore that it was a structural problem. If the problem had been fixed, many lives and homes would have been spared.

Government has since then fixed the levees. Almost a year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that it had restored New Orleans’ levees and floodwalls to pre-Hurricane Katrina strength. But yet again another storm weaker than Hurricane Katrina can destroy the levees once again. The new levees sit atop steel sheet piles driven 20 feet (6 meters) into the ground. The piles are long interlocking wall sections that retain water and transfer pressure deeper into the ground, where the soil is more stable (Bourne).

But water from holes in the canal bed, excavated before Katrina or scoured by the storm, may be seeping under the barrier through permeable layers of sand and silt. Thus again making the levees a vulnerable target for the next hurricane. The government has spent 3 billion dollars on these levees only to have them possibly torn down again (MSNBC). What was the purpose of fixing the levees if they were still going to have major structural flaws in them that could possibly cause dozens of lives to be lost again?

Another major factor is the law enforcement problem that New Orleans faced after Hurricane Katrina. Law enforcement outside the Superdome and the Convention Center was a major problem, and was fueled by several contributing factors, including multiple statements by government officials inflaming the public’s perception of the lawlessness in New Orleans (New York Times). Without effective law enforcement, real or imagined safety threats interrupted every aspect of the response. So without

Fearing for their personal safety, medical and search and rescue teams withdrew from their missions. FEMA and commercial vendors of critical supplies often refused to make deliveries until military escorts could be arranged. In fact, there was some lawlessness, yet for every actual act there were rumors of dozens more, leading to widespread and inaccurate reporting that severely complicated a desperate situation (Dyson). Some were looters who were stealing just to be stealing but others were looting for the supplies such as water and food that the vendors refused to bring because of other crime or speculation.

Unfortunately, local, state, and federal officials did little to stanch this rumor flow. Police presence on the streets was inadequate, in part because in a matter of hours Katrina turned the New Orleans police department from protectors of the public to victims of the storm as well. Nonetheless, most New Orleans police officers appear to have reported for duty, many setting aside fears about the safety of their families or the status of their homes just to maintain order amidst the chaos.

The storm also laid waste to much of the city’s police headquarters and several district offices, along with hundreds of vehicles, rounds of ammunition, and uniforms were all destroyed within the first two days of landfall. Because of this reason, the government shipped out 15, 000 soldiers to enforce the law and maintain public safety (USA TODAY). Crime eventually died down and this was one area that the government actually accomplished something and did it correctly without hesitation.

Another factor was the terrible living conditions that people faced while stranded in New Orleans. Over 20,000 people took refuge in Louisiana’s Superdome under unbearable living conditions. The halls reeked of urine and feces were everywhere, a sign of the broken plumbing system; food and water supplies were diminished; and crime ran rampant in the Superdome also known as the “Terrordome” (Brinkley). The Superdome was so packed, that thousands were turned away daily that were seeking refuge from the rising, polluted floodwaters.

Many people who were trapped in the city due to the flooding from the breaking of the levees. Flooding in New Orleans drove thousands of survivors to attics and rooftops to await rescue. Some people were trapped in attics and nursing homes and drowned as the dirty waters rose around them. Others escaped only by chopping their way through roofs. Others were sleeping on bridges, cars, and any place they could find that the water could not reach them.

The government failed to provide these people with appropriate shelter and when they did provide shelter, the living conditions were deplorable. They failed to provide them with enough food to make sure that they were well fed and not mal-nourished. While authorities recognized the need to begin search-and-rescue missions, other aspects of the response were hindered by a failure to quickly recognize the dimensions of the disaster.

Not only did they face terrible living conditions in New Orleans but during the after math as well. FEMA did not even provide adequate temporary relocated homes for many victims who got displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA offer these people, some of whom lost 300,000 dollar homes, with trailers to live in. Others were stuck in hotels across the U.S. But that didn’t last long, FEMA terminated their contract with the hotels and many people found themselves homeless once again (New York Times).

The government didn’t even have a system in place for those who lost their personal information. Many victims found it difficult to reconstruct their shattered lives. In many cases, they had either lost or forgotten basic documents, such as insurance information, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, which would later prove essential to rebuilding their lives. Most of the evacuees did not have access to their medical records, which increased the risk of complications when receiving medical treatment. And many of these citizens were faced with identity theft and no way to prove if they had payed certain debts off.

After the government realized that its initial response and the actions it took towards the Hurricane Katrina situation, it releases “The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned”, an extensive review, that identifies deficiencies in the Federal government’s response and lays the groundwork for transforming how the Nation – from every level of government, to the private sector, to individual citizens and communities – pursues a real and lasting vision of emergency preparedness and response (Fragos-Townsend).

In conclusion, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the government’s appalling response to Hurricane Katrina and destruction that it caused. There are a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to this topic but I think the government has a lot of work to do in regards to creating and implementing a hurricane disaster program. Many things could have been done to prevent Hurricane Katrina from being one of the worst natural disasters in America but it can only provide as an example to teach the government how to be more prepared when disaster strikes.

Bourne, Joel K. "National Geographic News." 6 May 2007. National Geographic. 11 March 2008 <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070506-orleans-levees.html>.
Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge. New York City: HarperCollins, 2006.
CNN. "CNN.com." September 5 2005. CNN.com. 11 March 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/>.
Dyson, Micheal Eric. Come Hell or High Water. New York City: Basic Civitas/ Perseus Books Group, 2006.
Fragos-Townsend, Frances. The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. Extensive Review Report. Washington, D.C.: Homeland Security and CounterTerrorism, 2006.
Kahn, Michael. "Reuters.com." 19 April 2007. Reuters.com. 11 March 2008 <http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSIB97535720070419>.
Lush, Tamara. "St. Petersburg Times Online." 30 August 2005. St. Petersburg Times Online. 11 March 2008 <http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/30/State/For_forecasting_chief.shtml>.
Millholom, Michelle. "Free Republic." 18 September 2005. Free Republic. 11 March 2008 <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1486872/posts>.
MSNBC. "MSNBC." 15 December 2005. MSNBC. 11 March 2008 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10480727/>.
New York Times. "New York Times." 1 September 2005. New York Times. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/national/nationalspecial/01storm.html>.
—. New York Times. 31 August 2006. 11 March 2008 <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricane_katrina/index.html?offset=60&s=oldest>.
NOAA/ National Weather Services. "National Hurricane Center." 31 August 2007. National Hurricane Center. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml>.
Taylor, Matthew. "Yahoo News." 31 September 2005. Yahoo. 11 March 2008 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_disaster_response>.
The New Orleans Times. "The New Orleans Times." 22 September 2002. The New Orleans Times. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nola.com/katrina/>.
USA TODAY. "USA TODAY." 21 June 2006. USA TODAY. 11 March 2008 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-20-national-guard-new-orleans_x.htm>.

i nothing to say…..just keping your right atitude and good example to other….your the man dude

Need help proofreading?

January 22nd, 2010 No comments

“The Government’s Response to Hurricane Katrina”

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster to ever hit America. Over 90,000 square miles of land was destroyed, about the size of the United Kingdom. In Mississippi, the storm obliterated coastal communities and left thousands destitute. New Orleans was overwhelmed by flooding. Along the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands suffered without basic essentials for almost a week. More than 1500 people died and not just from the storm alone. Suffering continued in the days and weeks after the storm passed because of the government’s failure at all levels to plan, prepare for and respond aggressively to the storm. In this paper, will explain how the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina greatly affected the nation and the many factors that show the government’s inability to plan, prepare for, and respond to national catastrophes lead to one of the most talked about event in history.

The first factor is the long term warnings that went unheeded. Before Hurricane Katrina, government officials knew for forty years of the potentially devastating threat of a catastrophic hurricane to the Gulf region and the destruction it could cause. Government officials had plenty of time to prepare for a catastrophic hurricane but refused to heed the warnings of past hurricanes to the gulf coast. For example when New Orleans experienced flooding in some areas of remarkably similar proportions from Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and when Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast in 1969 (NOAA/ National Weather Services). When Hurricane George hit the Gulf in 1998, the state of Louisiana to ask FEMA for assistance with catastrophic hurricane planning but little was accomplished in the six years of planning.

With six years of planning, the government should have had time to develop and test a catastrophic hurricane plan. In 2004, numerous experts and governmental officials had been anticipating an increase in violent hurricanes, and New Orleans’ special and growing vulnerability to catastrophic flooding due to changing geological and other conditions. If these facts were known, why weren’t plans made in order to prevent a disaster such as this from happening?

It seems as though that officials at every level of government did not appear to grasp the magnitude of the storm’s potential for destruction before it made landfall despite strongly worded advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and personal warnings from NHC Director Max Mayfield. Mayfield was so worried about Hurricane Katrina that he called the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and the mayor of New Orleans to discuss the effect Hurricane Katrina might have on their regions. Mayfield even talked about the force of Katrina during a video conference call to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas (Lush). If Mayfield was so worried about the effects of the storm, why weren’t his advice heeded and the necessary precautions taken to reduce the effects of Hurricane Katrina?

The second factor was the terrible decisions in the days before the hurricane hit. Some coastal towns in Mississippi went to extraordinary lengths to get citizens to evacuate, including sending people door-to-door to convince people to move out of harm’s way. While New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin only orders a mandatory evacuation of all residents from the city of New Orleans. Yet instead of asking for assistance to help residents who lacked the means to leave the city, he orders the Superdome to be opened as a shelter of last resort.
The Superdome proved to be more like a prison than a shelter. More than 20,000 people were forced to reside inside the Superdome without working plumbing, food, water, and other necessities for nearly two weeks. Yet Ray Nagin decided that this was appropriate shelter for those people instead of evacuating everyone out of the city.

Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects were felt before the storm even reached the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina battered the offshore energy infrastructure and forced the evacuation of more than 75 percent of the Gulf’s 819 manned oil platforms. Two days before landfall, U.S. energy companies estimated that the approaching storm had already reduced Gulf of Mexico oil production by more than a third. The government knew that if Hurricane Katrina had that much force to evacuate 819 manned oil platforms, that the havoc it would reap on the New Orleans would be devastating.

Despite the understanding of the Gulf Coast’s vulnerability to hurricane devastation, officials braced for Katrina with full awareness of critical deficiencies in their plans and enormous holes in their resources. While Katrina’s destructive force could not be denied, state and local officials did not have enough of the resources at their disposal. And even though the Governors of the three affected states requested, and President Bush issued, emergency declarations before the Hurricane hit, none of it actually prepared citizens for what they were about to experience.

Another terrible decision was the lack of transportation and supplies. FEMA failed to approach other federal agencies for help with transportation to ensure that the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana had the means to evacuate their citizens. The City of New Orleans was unprepared to help people evacuate, as many buses from the city’s own fleet were submerged, while at the same time officials had not arranged in advance for drivers for those buses that were available.

On Monday, August 29, 2005, Governor Blanco asked FEMA Director Michael Brown for buses, and Brown assured the state the same day that 500 buses were en route to assist in the evacuation of New Orleans and would arrive within hours. In spite of Brown’s assurances and the state’s continued requests over the course of the next two days, FEMA did not direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to send buses until very early on Wednesday, two days after Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees had broken, and the buses did not begin to arrive at all until Wednesday evening and not in significant numbers until Thursday (Millholom).

By the time the government realized that they needed the buses to help get people out of the city, the levees had broken and most of the people who they intended to rescues had died or were either trapped on top of roofs on untraveled, flooded streets. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin could have prevented many deaths had he gotten people to drive the local buses through the residential areas to save the elderly and the people who had no way out. FEMA could have arraigned for buses from other towns close to New Orleans to rescue the citizens. Yet, these ideas were not thought of when they had two days before the levees broke.

The government also failed to communicate properly throughout the entire Hurricane Katrina dilemma. The Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC) was suppose to provide information about the disaster to decision-makers including the Secretary and the President but failed to create a system to identify and acquire all available, relevant information, and as a result situational awareness was deeply flawed. Yet reliable information on such vital developments as the levee failures, the extent of flooding, and the presence of thousands of people in need of life-sustaining assistance at the New Orleans Convention Center did not reach the White House, Secretary Chertoff or other key officials for hours, and in some cases more than a day.

FEMA Director Michael Brown, then in Louisiana, contributed to the problem by refusing to communicate with Secretary Chertoff opting instead to pass information directly to White House staff (Taylor). Moreover, even though senior DHS officials did receive on the day of landfall numerous reports that should have led to an understanding of the increasingly dire situation in New Orleans, many indicated they were not aware of the crisis until sometime Tuesday morning. DHS was slow to recognize the scope of the disaster and that FEMA had become overwhelmed.

On the day after landfall, DHS officials were still struggling to determine the “ground truth” about the extent of the flooding despite the many reports it had received about the catastrophe. Government officials did not grasp the need to act on the less-than-complete information that is to be expected in a disaster. DHS leaders did not become fully engaged in recovery efforts until Thursday, when in Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson’s words, they “tried to kick it up a notch”; after that, they did provide significant leadership within DHS and FEMA as well as coordination across the federal government.

But this effort should have begun sooner. This effort should have been done when they realized Hurricane Katrina was coming to destroy New Orleans. They had enough time to investigate the reports that were given or to go and get a firsthand look at the destruction that Hurricane Katrina had caused.
Another factor was the government’s knowledge that the levees could not withstand a level 4 or 5 hurricane. The levees which prevented New Orleans from being turned into a swamp were built to only withstand Category 3 hurricanes. Officials have known for years that the levees could fail under the pressures of a Category 4 or 5 hurricanes but did nothing to reinforce the levees (CNN). There have been many different sources acknowledging the affects the hurricane would have on the levees. In 2002 the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a five-part series exploring the vulnerability of the city (The New Orleans Times). The newspaper and other news media as well, specifically addressed the possibility of massive floods drowning residents, destroying homes and releasing toxic chemicals throughout the city.

Reuters reported that in 2004, more than 40 state, local and volunteer organizations practiced a scenario in which a massive hurricane struck and levees were breached, allowing water to flood New Orleans. Under the simulation, called "Hurricane Pam," the officials "had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed more than half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents," the Reuters report said (Kahn).

If government officials knew that the levees could not stand a Category 4 or 5 hurricanes, then why wasn’t anything done to reinforce the strength of the levees. If nothing could be done to reinforce the wall, why wasn’t a secondary barrier put in place in case of the levees actually breakage? The government had enough time to do something about the levees but instead choose to ignore that it was a structural problem. If the problem had been fixed, many lives and homes would have been spared.

Government has since then fixed the levees. Almost a year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that it had restored New Orleans’ levees and floodwalls to pre-Hurricane Katrina strength. But yet again another storm weaker than Hurricane Katrina can destroy the levees once again. The new levees sit atop steel sheet piles driven 20 feet (6 meters) into the ground. The piles are long interlocking wall sections that retain water and transfer pressure deeper into the ground, where the soil is more stable (Bourne).

But water from holes in the canal bed, excavated before Katrina or scoured by the storm, may be seeping under the barrier through permeable layers of sand and silt. Thus again making the levees a vulnerable target for the next hurricane. The government has spent 3 billion dollars on these levees only to have them possibly torn down again (MSNBC). What was the purpose of fixing the levees if they were still going to have major structural flaws in them that could possibly cause dozens of lives to be lost again?

Another major factor is the law enforcement problem that New Orleans faced after Hurricane Katrina. Law enforcement outside the Superdome and the Convention Center was a major problem, and was fueled by several contributing factors, including multiple statements by government officials inflaming the public’s perception of the lawlessness in New Orleans (New York Times). Without effective law enforcement, real or imagined safety threats interrupted every aspect of the response. So without

Fearing for their personal safety, medical and search and rescue teams withdrew from their missions. FEMA and commercial vendors of critical supplies often refused to make deliveries until military escorts could be arranged. In fact, there was some lawlessness, yet for every actual act there were rumors of dozens more, leading to widespread and inaccurate reporting that severely complicated a desperate situation (Dyson). Some were looters who were stealing just to be stealing but others were looting for the supplies such as water and food that the vendors refused to bring because of other crime or speculation.

Unfortunately, local, state, and federal officials did little to stanch this rumor flow. Police presence on the streets was inadequate, in part because in a matter of hours Katrina turned the New Orleans police department from protectors of the public to victims of the storm as well. Nonetheless, most New Orleans police officers appear to have reported for duty, many setting aside fears about the safety of their families or the status of their homes just to maintain order amidst the chaos.

The storm also laid waste to much of the city’s police headquarters and several district offices, along with hundreds of vehicles, rounds of ammunition, and uniforms were all destroyed within the first two days of landfall. Because of this reason, the government shipped out 15, 000 soldiers to enforce the law and maintain public safety (USA TODAY). Crime eventually died down and this was one area that the government actually accomplished something and did it correctly without hesitation.

Another factor was the terrible living conditions that people faced while stranded in New Orleans. Over 20,000 people took refuge in Louisiana’s Superdome under unbearable living conditions. The halls reeked of urine and feces were everywhere, a sign of the broken plumbing system; food and water supplies were diminished; and crime ran rampant in the Superdome also known as the “Terrordome” (Brinkley). The Superdome was so packed, that thousands were turned away daily that were seeking refuge from the rising, polluted floodwaters.

Many people who were trapped in the city due to the flooding from the breaking of the levees. Flooding in New Orleans drove thousands of survivors to attics and rooftops to await rescue. Some people were trapped in attics and nursing homes and drowned as the dirty waters rose around them. Others escaped only by chopping their way through roofs. Others were sleeping on bridges, cars, and any place they could find that the water could not reach them.

The government failed to provide these people with appropriate shelter and when they did provide shelter, the living conditions were deplorable. They failed to provide them with enough food to make sure that they were well fed and not mal-nourished. While authorities recognized the need to begin search-and-rescue missions, other aspects of the response were hindered by a failure to quickly recognize the dimensions of the disaster.

Not only did they face terrible living conditions in New Orleans but during the after math as well. FEMA did not even provide adequate temporary relocated homes for many victims who got displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA offer these people, some of whom lost 300,000 dollar homes, with trailers to live in. Others were stuck in hotels across the U.S. But that didn’t last long, FEMA terminated their contract with the hotels and many people found themselves homeless once again (New York Times).

The government didn’t even have a system in place for those who lost their personal information. Many victims found it difficult to reconstruct their shattered lives. In many cases, they had either lost or forgotten basic documents, such as insurance information, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, which would later prove essential to rebuilding their lives. Most of the evacuees did not have access to their medical records, which increased the risk of complications when receiving medical treatment. And many of these citizens were faced with identity theft and no way to prove if they had payed certain debts off.

After the government realized that its initial response and the actions it took towards the Hurricane Katrina situation, it releases “The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned”, an extensive review, that identifies deficiencies in the Federal government’s response and lays the groundwork for transforming how the Nation – from every level of government, to the private sector, to individual citizens and communities – pursues a real and lasting vision of emergency preparedness and response (Fragos-Townsend).

In conclusion, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the government’s appalling response to Hurricane Katrina and destruction that it caused. There are a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to this topic but I think the government has a lot of work to do in regards to creating and implementing a hurricane disaster program. Many things could have been done to prevent Hurricane Katrina from being one of the worst natural disasters in America but it can only provide as an example to teach the government how to be more prepared when disaster strikes.

Bourne, Joel K. "National Geographic News." 6 May 2007. National Geographic. 11 March 2008 <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070506-orleans-levees.html>.
Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge. New York City: HarperCollins, 2006.
CNN. "CNN.com." September 5 2005. CNN.com. 11 March 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/>.
Dyson, Micheal Eric. Come Hell or High Water. New York City: Basic Civitas/ Perseus Books Group, 2006.
Fragos-Townsend, Frances. The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. Extensive Review Report. Washington, D.C.: Homeland Security and CounterTerrorism, 2006.
Kahn, Michael. "Reuters.com." 19 April 2007. Reuters.com. 11 March 2008 <http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSIB97535720070419>.
Lush, Tamara. "St. Petersburg Times Online." 30 August 2005. St. Petersburg Times Online. 11 March 2008 <http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/30/State/For_forecasting_chief.shtml>.
Millholom, Michelle. "Free Republic." 18 September 2005. Free Republic. 11 March 2008 <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1486872/posts>.
MSNBC. "MSNBC." 15 December 2005. MSNBC. 11 March 2008 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10480727/>.
New York Times. "New York Times." 1 September 2005. New York Times. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/national/nationalspecial/01storm.html>.
—. New York Times. 31 August 2006. 11 March 2008 <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricane_katrina/index.html?offset=60&s=oldest>.
NOAA/ National Weather Services. "National Hurricane Center." 31 August 2007. National Hurricane Center. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml>.
Taylor, Matthew. "Yahoo News." 31 September 2005. Yahoo. 11 March 2008 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_disaster_response>.
The New Orleans Times. "The New Orleans Times." 22 September 2002. The New Orleans Times. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nola.com/katrina/>.
USA TODAY. "USA TODAY." 21 June 2006. USA TODAY. 11 March 2008 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-20-national-guard-new-orleans_x.htm>.

i nothing to say…..just keping your right atitude and good example to other….your the man dude

Categories: Mississippi Death Records Tags:

How do I end my essay?

January 20th, 2010 3 comments

28% of Americans are obese. That is about one third of population. One third of population can’t obese just by over eating. If not only that than what is it? The leading causes of obesity, disincluding over eating, are: lack of exercise, family history of obesity, stress, peer or family problems, medical illnesses, and depression. Although certain medical disorders can cause obesity, less than one percent of all obesity is caused by physical problems. But sadly, we have come to know that the leading cause of obesity is soft drink consumption. Yes, a diet coke will finally make you fat. But all jokes aside, the progressing rate of obesity is serious and is estimated be 33% by 2010.
There are many risks and complications with obesity. The physical consequences are severe and life threatening. There is an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems, premature death, stroke, cancer, fatty liver disease, gallbladder disease, arthritis, and many more. And that’s just touching the tip of ice berg, because adults who are obese may be cutting about three years off their lives, mostly from heart disease and stroke. Those who are morbidly obese, about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, could be shortening their lives by as many as 10 years. Being morbidly obese has the similar effect of lifelong smoking.
One very sad thing that I have found in my research is that in Mississippi, an actual bill has been proposed to allow restaurants to not serve obese people. A weigh scale will be used to determine the potential customer’s body mass index, or BMI, and if it is too high, they refuse to serve them or the owner of the food establishment will have their business permits revoked. If this bill is passed, then there will be BMI scales outside of every restaurant, and there will be records of the eligible patrons BMIs. Apparent discrimination the obese has been documented in three specific areas: education, health care, and employment. For example, 28% of teachers in a study done by the Weight Management and Obese Symposium said that becoming obese is the worst thing that can happen to a person. 24% of nurses said they are ‘repulsed’ by obese people, and, controlling for income and grades, parents provide less college support for their overweight children than for their thin children.

How do I end my essay?
P.S. This is three paragraphs. Yahoo Answers doesn’t allow you to tab. And this is just a rough draft of my body. There wasn’t enough space for the introduction. *sniff* Meany faces say bad things
Also, disincluding is a word. Look it up on Google.

How about with a call to action? Make a statement with a summary and then tell the reader what they need to do. Otherwise you just leave everyone hanging with a (?)

Legal organ donation questions?

January 18th, 2010 4 comments

Why can I not donate my organs upon my death? I have my card, my D.L., and a statement in my med. records stating my desire to be a donor. Problem is I found out that I do NOT have the right to donate them. It is up to my NEXT OF KIN to actually decide if my organs will be donated, and they are NOT required to follow my wishes..Why is this the case? I have called attorneys and received this same information. I live in Mississippi. What can I do as my family is against organ donation and I want to be a donor???
It wouldn’t do any good to have it in a will as donation has to be done as soon as possible following death.
I’m 42, and DMV does NOT make any type contract. All they can do is state my wishes on my D.L….already done that.
I have all possible forms filled out and in place. The problem is that they are NOT ENFORCEABLE. It is still up to my next of kin to consent, and they had stated that they will NOT as they do not agree with organ donation.

Whether you call it “first person
consent” or “donor designation,” it means
the same thing—the donor’s decision is
paramount and should be respected at all
costs.

Write to the organ recovery agency in your state and ask them to push your representatives to create a ‘first-person consent registry’ like we have here in California.

Our DMV adopted the registry, so now when people check ‘yes’ to be a donor, their name goes on the registry, which is considered a legal document and nurses can look up names once someone has been declared brain dead to see if they are registered. If they are registered, their families are informed of the deaceased’s wishes to be donor – no consent is required.

Why not impeach?

January 15th, 2010 16 comments

Articles of Impeachment

of

President George W. Bush

and

Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. – – ARTICLE II, SECTION 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to carry out with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of the United States and other nations, by assuming powers of an imperial executive unaccountable to law and usurping powers of the Congress, the Judiciary and those reserved to the people of the United States, by the following acts:

1) Seizing power to wage wars of aggression in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the U.N. Charter and the rule of law; carrying out a massive assault on and occupation of Iraq, a country that was not threatening the United States, resulting in the death and maiming of over one hundred thousand Iraqis, and thousands of U.S. G.I.s.

2) Lying to the people of the U.S., to Congress, and to the U.N., providing false and deceptive rationales for war.

3) Authorizing, ordering and condoning direct attacks on civilians, civilian facilities and locations where civilian casualties were unavoidable.

4) Instituting a secret and illegal wiretapping and spying operation against the people of the United States through the National Security Agency.

5) Threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently changing its government by force and assaulting Iraq in a war of aggression.

6) Authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, kidnappings, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners to obtain false statements concerning acts and intentions of governments and individuals and violating within the United States, and by authorizing U.S. forces and agents elsewhere, the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

7) Making, ordering and condoning false statements and propaganda about the conduct of foreign governments and individuals and acts by U.S. government personnel; manipulating the media and foreign governments with false information; concealing information vital to public discussion and informed judgment concerning acts, intentions and possession, or efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in order to falsely create a climate of fear and destroy opposition to U.S. wars of aggression and first strike attacks.

8) Violations and subversions of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, both a part of the "Supreme Law of the land" under Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, in an attempt to commit with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes in wars and threats of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and others and usurping powers of the United Nations and the peoples of its nations by bribery, coercion and other corrupt acts and by rejecting treaties, committing treaty violations, and frustrating compliance with treaties in order to destroy any means by which international law and institutions can prevent, affect, or adjudicate the exercise of U.S. military and economic power against the international community.

9) Acting to strip United States citizens of their constitutional and human rights, ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to counsel, without charge, and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the Executive of a citizen as an "enemy combatant."

10) Ordering indefinite detention of non-citizens in the United States and elsewhere, and without charge, at the discretionary designation of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense.

11) Ordering and authorizing the Attorney General to override judicial orders of release of detainees under INS jurisdiction, even where the judicial officer after full hearing determines a detainee is wrongfully held by the government.

12) Authorizing secret military tribunals and summary execution of persons who are not citizens who are designated solely at the discretion of the Executive who acts as indicting official, prosecutor and as the only avenue of appellate relief.

13) Refusing to provide public disclosure of the identities and locations of persons who have been arrested, detained and imprisoned by the U.S. government in the United States, including in response to Congressional inquiry.

14) Use of secret arrests of persons within the United States and elsewhere and denial of the right to public trials.

15) Authorizing the monitoring of confidential attorney-client privileged communications by the government, even in the absence of a court order and even where an incarcerated person has not been charged with a crime.

16) Ordering and authorizing the seizure of assets of persons in the United States, prior to hearing or trial, for lawful or innocent association with any entity that at the discretionary designation of the Executive has been deemed "terrorist."

17) Engaging in criminal neglect in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, depriving thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and other Gulf States of urgently needed support, causing mass suffering and unnecessary loss of life.

18) Institutionalization of racial and religious profiling and authorization of domestic spying by federal law enforcement on persons based on their engagement in noncriminal religious and political activity.

19) Refusal to provide information and records necessary and appropriate for the constitutional right of legislative oversight of executive functions.

20) Rejecting treaties protective of peace and human rights and abrogation of the obligations of the United States under, and withdrawal from, international treaties and obligations without consent of the legislative branch, and including termination of the ABM treaty between the United States and Russia, and rescission of the authorizing signature from the Treaty of Rome which served as the basis for the International Criminal Court.

You are quite right,the American people should wake up before it is too late for them,Bush and Cheney are evil people,they have cost so many innocent life both in the military and the innocent Iraqi civilians,I think the rest of the world should stand up to this two most demonic people that I have ever seen!
It is their plan to plunge the world into chaos and hate related issues.Dick Cheney is a blooding RACIST,he should be sent packing before he destroy the fabric of the American people.Enough is truly enough.

I think President Bush is a scumbag….what about you??

January 15th, 2010 8 comments

George Bush President of the United States is a man who has flushed all honor and integrity down the toilet. He has spread shame on America, it’s Constitution, and it’s People. It is a highly embarrassing situation for every Good American. This Man has spun completely out of control and he needs to be stopped immediately. President Bush has discounted himself to nothing more then a mere "War Criminal." Here is a list of just a "few" of the crimes President Bush has committed….

I encourage everyone to copy this answer to file. Reuse it as often as you may… on Yahoo Answers or wherever else you can! Thank you.

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. – – ARTICLE II, SECTION 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to carry out with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of the United States and other nations, by assuming powers of an imperial executive unaccountable to law and usurping powers of the Congress, the Judiciary and those reserved to the people of the United States, by the following acts:

1) Seizing power to wage wars of aggression in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the U.N. Charter and the rule of law; carrying out a massive assault on and occupation of Iraq, a country that was not threatening the United States, resulting in the death and maiming of hundereds of thousands of Iraqis, and thousands of U.S. G.I.s.

2) Lying to the people of the U.S., to Congress, and to the U.N., providing false and deceptive rationales for war.

3) Authorizing, ordering and condoning direct attacks on civilians, civilian facilities and locations where civilian casualties were unavoidable.

4) Instituting a secret and illegal wiretapping and spying operation against the people of the United States through the National Security Agency.

5) Threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently changing its government by force and assaulting Iraq in a war of aggression.

6) Authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, kidnaping, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners to obtain false statements concerning acts and intentions on governments and individuals and violating within the United States, and by authorizing U.S. forces and agents elsewhere, the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

7) Making, ordering and condoning false statements and propaganda about the conduct of foreign governments and individuals and acts by U.S. government personnel; manipulating the media and foreign governments with false information; concealing information vital to public discussion and informed judgment concerning acts, intentions and possession, or efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in order to falsely create a climate of fear and destroy opposition to U.S. wars of aggression and first strike attacks.

8) Violations and subversions of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, both a part of the "Supreme Law of the land" under Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, in an attempt to commit with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes in wars and threats of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and others and usurping powers of the United Nations and the peoples of its nations by bribery, coercion and other corrupt acts and by rejecting treaties, committing treaty violations, and frustrating compliance with treaties in order to destroy any means by which international law and institutions can prevent, affect, or adjudicate the exercise of U.S. military and economic power against the international community.

9) Acting to strip United States citizens of their constitutional and human rights, ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to counsel, without charge, and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the Executive of a citizen as an "enemy combatant."
10) Ordering indefinite detention of non-citizens in the United States and elsewhere, and without charge, at the discretionary designation of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense.

11) Ordering and authorizing the Attorney General to override judicial orders of release of detainees under INS jurisdiction, even where the judicial officer after full hearing determines a detainee is wrongfully held by the government.

12) Authorizing secret military tribunals and summary execution of persons who are not citizens who are designated solely at the discretion of the Executive who acts as indicting official, prosecutor and as the only avenue of appellate relief.

13) Refusing to provide public disclosure of the identities and locations of persons who have been arrested, detained and imprisoned by the U.S. government in the United States, including in response to Congressional inquiry.

14) Use of secret arrests of persons within the United States and elsewhere and denial of the right to public trials.

15) Authorizing the monitoring of confidential attorney-client privileged communications by the government, even in the absence of a court order and even where an incarcerated person has not been charged with a crime.

16) Ordering and authorizing the seizure of assets of persons in the United States, prior to hearing or trial, for lawful or innocent association with any entity that at the discretionary designation of the Executive has been deemed "terrorist."

17) Engaging in criminal neglect in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, depriving thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and other Gulf States of urgently needed support, causing mass suffering and unnecessary loss of life.

18) Institutionalization of racial and religious profiling and authorization of domestic spying by federal law enforcement on persons based on their engagement in noncriminal religious and political activity.

19) Refusal to provide information and records necessary and appropriate for the constitutional right of legislative oversight of executive functions.

20) Rejecting treaties protective of peace and human rights and abrogation of the obligations of the United States under, and withdrawal from, international treaties and obligations without consent of the legislative branch, and including termination of the ABM treaty between the United States and Russia, and rescission of the authorizing signature from the Treaty of Rome which served as the basis for the International Criminal Court.

I wish everyone the best in 2007 and May God Bless America!

Is George Bush a “scumbag” as you call him? No. “Scumbag” is too polite a term. There are not enough caustic epithets and invectives in the English language to truly articulate this man’s moral depravity, dishonesty, and intellectual incompetence. Is he war criminal? Absolutely, and what makes him worse than most of his other warmongering colleagues around the world, is that he is able to enshrine his thuggish behavior with an air of respectability, due to skillful propagandists that he has at his disposal. I was recently watching a documentary film on Noam Chomsky, one of the great progressive intellectual minds who has championed movements that seek to illustrate the evils of western imperialism, and he brought up an interesting point. He stated that the only people who are called war criminals are those who are on the losing end of a war. For example, during the Nuremberg trials many SS officers were tried and executed for their wanton slaughter of civilians, but no general of the Allied powers was similarly brought to trial for purposely targeting civilian targets that killed many untold thousands if not millions.

Saddam Hussein may have killed thousands of people, but he is no more genocidal than a man like Bush, whose constant quest for global hegemony has lead to just as many thousands dieing in Iraq due to destroyed infrastructure, and the funding of tyrannical puppet governments in other parts of the world.

Since when does victory in a militaristic endeavor allow one to arrogate to themselves the moral high ground? It happened when people turned off their minds and started listen to the propaganda that is masquerading around as patriotism.

Good job with this litany of crimes. I will save it for later use.