Some have been running the line that this was a HAARP-created disaster - as if there is no such thing as a natural disaster without the intervention of evil conspiracy. Underlying this is a desire to keep the status-quo paradigm with man as lord of the universe - this keeps people from seeing the truth.
No.
This is a natural disaster given energy and amplified by the forces
unleashed by global warming.
However,
there is no doubt in mind that this crisis will be used by the Powers
That Be to further violate democratic principles, take away
democratic rights and destroy the US constitution.
The
main lesson for people unaffected by this disaster is ensure that you
are fully prepared - physically, mentally and emotionally for the
coming days.
NJ
to Use Military Trucks as Polling Places in Storm-Battered Areas,
Extends Mail-In Voting
2
November, 2012
Via:
AP:
New
Jersey will deploy military trucks to serve as polling places on
Election Day in storm-battered communities, the state secretary of
the state announced Thursday during a visit to this flood-ravaged
town. The state is also extending the deadline on mail-in ballots.
Department
of Defense trucks will be parked at regular polling places that have
lost power, as long as the sites are still accessible. Paper ballots
will be used.
Republican
Secretary of State and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said voters will find “a
DOD truck with a well-situated National Guardsman and a big sign
saying, “Vote Here.”
Guadagno
said it was still unclear how many of the state’s 3,000 polling
places are without power, but she would know by Friday. Alternate
sites are to be identified in cases where polling places are gone,
she said.
-->
Military
to Deliver Fuel to Storm-Ravaged Region
As
long lines persisted at gas stations in the New York metropolitan
area, federal authorities moved on Friday to restore supplies,
instructing the Defense Department to send 24 million gallons of fuel
to the region and lifting restrictions on deliveries by
foreign-flagged ships.
26
April, 2012
With
the reopening of the Port of New York to tankers on Thursday, and the
return of a critical Northeast fuel pipeline to full capacity on
Friday, the biggest outstanding problems are the lack of power at
hundreds of gas stations and continued panic buying by the public,
industry officials said.
Because
electricity will not be restored in parts of central New Jersey for
seven to 10 days, gasoline shortages may remain severe in some areas.
As of Friday, according to AAA, only 40 to 50 percent of the gas
stations in New York City and New Jersey were operating, and even
fewer were operating on Long Island. Most of the stations were out of
service because of power failures.
“We
have seen some stations open as power is restored, but other stations
have closed while running out of gas,” said Michael Green, an AAA
spokesman. “The long lines and supply problems will go away once
power is restored.”
The
Obama administration, realizing the political peril if it were to be
blamed for fuel shortages in the days before the election,
significantly accelerated its response on Friday.
It
authorized the Defense Department to hire hundreds of trucks that
will be used to deliver 12 million gallons each of gasoline and
diesel fuel, mostly from commercial suppliers, to staging areas in
New Jersey. The department is handling the task because its Defense
Logistics Agency has contracting powers that enable it to move
quickly.
From
the staging areas, the fuel will be distributed throughout the region
in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help
resupply stations. Together, the gasoline and diesel are enough for
1.6 million vehicles with 15-gallon tanks.
The
Pentagon has also been authorized by the Energy Department and the
White House to tap the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve. It will
draw as much as two million gallons of diesel fuel — part of the 12
million total — for government emergency responders, helping them
to keep electricity generators, water pumps, federal buildings,
trucks and other vehicles running. The oil reserve, created by the
federal government in 2000, holds 42 million gallons of
ultralow-sulfur diesel at terminals in Groton, Conn., and Revere,
Mass. It is the first time fuel has been released from the reserve.
Earlier
Friday, the Homeland Security Department temporarily lifted a rule
prohibiting foreign-flagged ships from delivering fuel between United
States ports, a move that should soon bring additional tankers to the
New York area with refined gasoline and diesel.
And
on Thursday, the Defense Department used 17 of its aircraft to move
630 tons of equipment, including 10 bucket trucks and 20 pickup
trucks, from West Coast utility companies to an Air National Guard
base 60 miles north of New York City.
“We
are working this as a team,” W. Craig Fugate, the FEMA
administrator, said at a news conference Friday morning.
Tom
Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said
the federal government may end up sending more fuel than is needed.
“Anyone running for office would rather err on the side of excess,”
he said. “It’s a confidence builder. It will help placate people
who think we are on the threshold of crisis.”
Government
officials said they were confident that the shortages would ease in
the coming week, as power was restored and the fuel now being
delivered to the region arrived.
“There
is no reason to panic; there is no reason for anxiety,” Gov. Andrew
M. Cuomo of New York said at a news conference Friday. “We
understand why there was a shortage, for very definable reasons. We
also understand why it’s going to be better, and it’s going to be
better in the near future.”
The
fuel shortage has emerged as one of the most widespread problems
after the storm, worsening the suffering in the region. Large parts
of the public transit system remained out of service, and 3.5 million
customers had no power Friday afternoon, down from eight million
earlier in the week, according to Energy Department figures.
Of
the region’s 127 fuel terminals — which hold gasoline, heating
oil and diesel fuel after they are delivered by pipeline, ship or
local refinery — 25 were hit by flooding or power failures. Most
have reopened or are preparing to reopen shortly, the Energy
Department said Friday.
Two
refineries in the New York area remained out of service — most
critically the Phillips 66 refinery in Linden, N.J., which could be
out for weeks because of flooding. But the reopening of the Port of
New York on Thursday, after the Coast Guard removed debris floating
in the water, allowed tankers sitting off shore to begin making their
deliveries.
New
York City officials announced Friday afternoon that power should be
restored to all of Manhattan by Saturday. Con Edison said it would
restore power to a vast majority of its customers in New York State
by Nov. 11, while Public Service Electric and Gas, which serves New
Jersey, forecast that its efforts to restore power would be virtually
complete in the next seven to 10 days.
These
efforts will mean more gas stations reopening as power comes back on.
Despite
the closed gas stations, and local instances of gouging, prices at
the pump have not shot up in most places. AAA reported that the
average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in New Jersey on
Friday was $3.56, only 6 cents above the national average. Some
communities were imposing alternating fueling days for vehicles with
license plates ending in even and odd numbers. The average price in
New York was more than 25 cents higher, but still below $4.
Energy
experts said their greatest fear had been that the storm would damage
several large refineries on the Delaware River. But none were
seriously affected, and about 75 percent of the region’s refinery
capacity remained operational.
“Some
of the refineries are down, but that shouldn’t be a problem,
because the Northeast is supplied by pipelines and ships from other
parts of the country and the world,” said Bill Day, a spokesman for
Valero Energy, the country’s biggest independent refiner, with more
than 100 branded gas stations in the Northeast. “Terminals, ports
and pipelines are all affected by electricity outages, so once the
electricity is back, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Even
if the Phillips 66 refinery and the other, smaller New Jersey
refinery were out of service for the rest of the month, the region
could still get back to normal, energy experts said, because November
does not typically have high driving volume.
“Our
best guess is that things will be close to normal for consumers by
Wednesday,” said Brian Norris of the Oil Price Information Service
The
Christchurch earthquake demonstrated that local solutions work best,
but the government moved in quickly to establish central (and
bureaucratic) control.
As
society unravels in wake of Sandy, politicians endorse more power for
FEMA
Aaron
Dykes
2
November, 2012
News
wires across the spectrum are filled with harrowing signs of
unfolding social collapse in the wake of Sandy that could exacerbate
in the days to come as power outages are expected to last a week,
pitting residents against each other over access to gasoline, food
and other necessary supplies in large pockets of the most densely
populated area of the nation.
That
desperation is sure to further intensify in proportion with strained
resources, as order has already started to dissolve under reported
limits on cash and commerce as electronic payment is suspended and
those on food
stamps are unable to use EBT payments.
Images
of hungry people diving
for food in dumpsters make
clear that neither individuals nor governments were prepared to keep
things running and meet basic needs despite the hype over the
“superstorm” leading up to Sandy.
Shocking
accounts of eroding
civility have
cropped up across social media and in reports.
As Breitbartdemonstrated,
numerous threats were made at gun or knife point, while long lines
for gasoline saw fights and high tension. Gas stations continue to be
guarded by armed police, as supplies are rationed.
Just
a few of these chronicled comments include:
Just watched two people beat the sh– out of eachother in the gas station….On the bright side i have a full tank of gas now!!. #yay
Just
awful! RT @metrogypsy: Someone just pulled a knife at Greenpoint #gas
station as line stretches with hours long wait #gettingrealFAST
—
Camila Xavier (@camilaxavier) November 1, 2012
2hrs
at line in Rt23 in Butler. Got to pump They ran out of gas two cars
before me.On reserve and can’t make it to other station #njgas
—
Divina Arpino (@thearpinos) November 1, 2012
Watching
the breakdown of society at a gas station on Long Island.
#sandysucks
— Christina (@wooly_says) November 1, 2012
fightss
at the gas station #madness
— Frank leahey (@fleahey22) November
1, 2012
Lootings
and break-ins are predictably taking place as well, including reports
that many thieves are dressing
up as Con Edison or FEMA employees to
gain access to homes.
Food
and water will continue to be an issue for days to come, with many
residents already begging
for help,
with distribution of supplies hampered by a lack of power, and
many groceries
contaminated by
the floods
Meanwhile,
it’s politics as usual on the campaign trail – not in trading
blows between the Obama and Romney camps just days ahead of the
scheduled election – but in praising FEMA and endorsing more power
and billions more in money for the bloated agency.
GOP
Governor Chris Christie, presiding over the heavily affected state of
New Jersey, has been most notable in embracing federal disaster
relief in force – and with full federal funding – even
praising President Obama despite
the tense election season reaching crescendo, irking
many GOP politicos.
Mitt
Romney had to quickly backtrack from
a populist-toned campaign pitch to put power back in the hands of
state and local entities during disaster, instead backing the big
government FEMA solution that has proven ridiculously incompetent
during past disasters despite extensive and costly planning for
emergency plans and a blank check to Homeland Security’s mission.
Mainstream
media have echoed
this uncritical
endorsement, giving
FEMA preemptive praise for
its efforts in Sandy. ‘FEMA
is the solution,’
and other bold claims are made to ensure the public does not break
out of the illusion
that FEMA is
its loving savior.
But
FEMA remains an agency capable only of a mismatched response, too
slow to handle the most immediate needs to contain potential chaos,
but always on pace for a gradual power grab after the fact, actually
feeding off a greater disaster.
Once
again, this bloated government agency can’t and won’t help the
masses in a disaster. Yet politicians throughout the corporate-owned
two party system are lining up to meet any request for FEMA funds,
already approaching $12
billion plus,
despite its track record of failure.
While
nearly 5 million people are without power for perhaps another week,
the Huffington
Post,
among others, has identified 17 million living in FEMA’s disaster
relief zone, soon to be occupied by an inefficient, top down control
mechanism.
This
infographic details the extent of areas and populations under FEMA’s
thumb:
Click
for larger image.
Notoriously,
FEMA botched any meaningful relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina in
terms of its primary mandate to quickly rescue and care for the needs
of displaced victims, yet went over the top in creating anoccupied
martial law zone where guns were confiscated even in dry areas,
the needy and vulnerable were placed in a hotbed
of criminals at the Superdome and
people were shot
for trying to cross the bridge and
exit the disaster zone.
Congressman Ron
Paul weighed in as
a lonely voice willing to critique FEMA’s history of inefficiency
and naked power grabs, while defending the centuries of local aid
organized within the community in simply helping each other:
Food stamps can’t buy groceries in Sandy power-out
In
New York areas without electricity, Electronic Benefit Cards can't be
used in stores
Natasha
Lennard
26
April, 2012
Hundreds
of thousands of New Yorkers continue to live without electricity
since Sandy barreled into the East Coast Monday. Stuck without power,
many thousands of New York residents don’t just struggle to cook
and preserve food — they can’t even buy it.
New
Yorkers on the state’s food stamp program receive money for food
necessities electronically, through Electronic Benefit Cards (EBTs).
However, with Manhattan from 39th Street southward in power blackout
along with parts of Brooklyn, most stores are only able to sell goods
for cash. Power is expected to return by Saturday.
In
a WNYC report (listen below) a resident of a Lower East Side
public-housing complex in Manhattan explained, “The supermarkets
don’t even really want to sell anything. They’re open but if you
don’t have cash, you messed up. And everybody in these projects,
they take EBT … food stamps.”
David
Rhode wrote Thursday in the Atlantic that Sandy had further exposed
the “hideous” inequality gap in New York City — which is
currently the most economically divided it has been for 10 years. He
noted, “Sandy humbled every one of the 19 million people in the New
York City metropolitan area. But it humbled some more than others in
an increasingly economically divided city … Those with a car could
flee. Those with wealth could move into a hotel. Those with steady
jobs could decline to come into work. But the city’s cooks,
doormen, maintenance men, taxi drivers and maids left their loved
ones at home.”
And
many with no means but EBT can’t even stock up on food.
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