The biggest threat of hurricane Katrina is slowly manifesting itself, and people are starting to notice.

From the fallout of one the most horrifying disasters in American history, we can, unfortunately, expect even more losses in Civil Liberties. Harper's Magazine carried an article by Rebecca Solnit pointing out how disasters are often used by governments as excuses for expansion of a centralized power. Ironically, the article, which based its evaluations on the Sept. 11 incident (since it was written before the hurricane hit), was published on the Monday when Katrina made landfall. The problem as the author sees it, is that the government makes unreasonable assumptions on human nature, and to counteract the assumed break-down in society, extends its powers to prevent such break-downs. The net result, however, is that some incorrect assumptions leads to the aggregation of more power to an entity that has repeated demonstrated itself incapable of efficiently using those powers to the aid of citizens.

And we are already seeing these types of government intrusion in the aftermath of Katrina. Finally, as if to counter my claims in this entry, news organizations are starting to report on the governmental suppression of information in New Orleans. The French organization Reporters sans frontières (Reporters without borders) voiced concern about police violence against journalists covering the disaster area. Quote:

Reporter Tim Harper and photographer Lucas Oleniuk of the Canadian Toronto Star daily were the victims of police violence while covering a clash between police and looters. The police threatened them several times at gunpoint and, when they realised Oleniuk had photographed them hitting looters, they hurled him to the ground, grabbed his two cameras and removed memory cards containing around 350 pictures. His press card was also torn from him. When he asked for his pictures back, the police insulted him and threatened to hit him.

...

A second incident involved Gordon Russell of the New Orleans-based Times-Picayune daily as he was covering a shoot-out between police and local residents near the convention centre where hurricane victims were awaiting evacuation. The police detained Russell and smashed all of his equipment on the ground. Russell was forced to flee to avoid further violence and reportedly left the city the same day.

Brian Williams of the NBC also makes similar observations:

While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won't be any pictures of this particular group of Guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States.

At that same fire scene, a police officer from out of town raised the muzzle of her weapon and aimed it at members of the media... obvious members of the media... armed only with notepads.

And Peter Fimrite of the SF Chronicle documents his own run-ins with the local law enforcement. Even news organizations has realized the lawlessness imposed by the local law enforcement in the area:

Hearst Corp. hired six armed military contractors, led by former Navy SEAL Chris White, to protect the house and journalists, presumably from looters, but also from arrest by police or the military.

On the other hand, I am thrilled to see CNN willing to take a stand against the unreasonable government censorship:

CNN obtained a temporary restraining order late Friday to prevent government agencies from restricting news coverage as victims are recovered in New Orleans and other areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Another problem that arose is the "law"'s blatant dismissal of constitutional rights. Even though personally I have a distaste for firearms and do not believe in their presence in civilian hands, I still hold the Second Amendment in high regards: I feel that since the country has already made up its mind on this matter, we should follow the rules set by our founding fathers. But apparently police in New Orleans doesn't think so. With no martial law declared nor suspension of the Constitution in the disaster area, what makes the police think they have the authority to confiscate weapons? Furthermore, the following quote describes quite an eerie situation where the police tramples on the rights of the people, yet turn a blind eye to enforcing their policy when it comes to the rich and the powerful:

Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here. No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

But that order apparently does not apply to hundreds of security guards hired by businesses and some wealthy individuals to protect property. The guards, employees of private security companies like Blackwater, openly carry M-16's and other assault rifles. Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards, but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.

Something is seriously wrong with the priorities list of FEMA. On the one hand they send in private mercenary (e.g. Blackwater) to further repress the people in the name of upholding order; on the other hand they are preventing Red Cross from entering the disaster area and helping. While I think the move to remove Michael Brown from heading relief efforts is a good one, I still think that it would not be fair unless he bears personal responsibility for his complete and utter incompetence (i.e. fire that bastard!).

A good idea was raised by Naomi Klein in The Nation. She proposes to let the residents of New Orleans rebuild the city. Of course, it will just be a pipe dream, seeing that Bush and Cheney are more interested in keeping that fat-cat industry friends at Halliburton happy.