Monday, March 30, 2009

The Shape Of Things To Come

Camp Arnie by Kurt Nimmo

"California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said a make-shift tent city for the homeless that sprang up in the capital city of Sacramento will be shut down and its residents allowed to stay at the state fairgrounds.
The homeless will be “allowed” to stay at Cal-Expo? More like they will be required to stay there, either that or hit the streets.
“Together with the local government and volunteers, we are taking a first step to ensure the people living in tent city have a safe place to stay, with fresh water, healthy conditions and access to the services they need,” said Herr Schwarzenegger, California’s Uber-gov."


Calexpo stockyards to be used by the homeless

"California, home to one of every eight Americans, has been particularly hard hit by the housing market collapse after many residents turned to exotic mortgages to afford homes. The tent city, which has long existed along the banks of the America River, gained national attention last month when some of its recently homeless residents were featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show"

"In other words, the homeless, usually out-of-sight and thus out-of-mind, are a public relations disaster for Arnie and officialdom in California. Now that they will be forced to live in the deteriorating Cal-Expo, media access can be micro-managed by the state. “Too much media attention can be a bad thing."

"In the months ahead, as the economy continues its engineered implosion, local governments around the country may resort to the Camp Arnie solution to homelessness. Camp Arnie will reportedly hold a few hundred people (who are described as “chronic homeless,” not victims of foreclosure and unemployment) but it will stretch beyond capacity as unemployment and foreclosure homelessness increase."

What about that other government response to newly minted homeless, the one after Katrina?

"FEMA’s ludicrously (and maybe prophetically) named toxic trailer camp — “Renaissance Village” — was in essence a concentration camp. “When you first drive up on the FEMA site you see a chain-link fenced in property with stark crowded trailers and no trespassing signs posted along the perimeter. When you drive up to the entrance you will see security guards at the front gate. It doesn’t take much of a closer look to notice that the security guards are armed. FEMA requires all residents to carry Renaissance Village ID badges at all times,” explains a blog on the subject.

You will have to show your ID’s, tell them who you are going to see and their trailer number and they will write down your license plate number on your vehicle when you come in. Mark Misczak, the agency’s human services director for Louisiana said it is“private, like a gated community”. It is unlike any gated community we have ever known of, except a prison. When the site opened FEMA had a ban on firearms.

“It is wrong to force citizens to give up their constitutional rights in order for them to get a needed federal benefit,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.


Dekotha Devall, whose New Orleans home was destroyed by the storm, was in her FEMA-provided trailer telling the Advocate reporter of the hardships of life in the camp when a security guard knocked on the door.
“You are not allowed to be here,” the guard is quoted as telling the reporter. “Get out right now.” The guard reportedly called police to force the journalist to leave the camp, and even prevented the reporter from giving the interview subject a business card. “You will not give her a business card,” the guard said. “She’s not allowed to have that.”
Later, at another FEMA camp in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, the reporter attempted to talk to camp resident Pansy Ardeneaux through a chain link fence when the same guard halted the interview. “You are not allowed to talk to these people,” the guard told Ardeneaux. “Return to your trailer now.” The reporter said she and an accompanying photographer were “ordered…not to talk to anyone or take pictures.”

In September, 2006, renowned journalist Greg Palast was charged with crimes against the state for filming a FEMA toxic trailer concentration camp, deemed a “critical national security structure,” described by Palast as an ” aluminum ghetto in the middle of nowhere.”

Not to worry. All those new KBR concentration camps are nice and clean and waiting for us.



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