[Sosfbay-discuss] Palast charged for taping barbed wire encampment near New Orleans

[JamBoi]

[usgp-media] Palast charged for taping barbed wire encampment near New
Orleans
Date:	 Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:27:52 -0700 (PDT)
 
Palast Charged with Journalism in the First
Degree

By Greg Palast <palast at gregpalast.com>
September 11, 2006
http://www.gregpalast.com/
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/marzo/juev8/11palast.html


IT'S true. It's weird. It's nuts. The Department
of Homeland Security, after a five-year hunt for
Osama, has finally brought charges against ...
Greg Palast. I kid you not. Send your cakes with
files to the Air America wing at Guantanamo.

Though not just yet. Fatherland Security has
informed me that television producer Matt
Pascarella and I have been charged with
unauthorized filming of a "critical national
security structure" in Louisiana.   

On August 22, for LinkTV and Democracy Now! we
videotaped the thousands of Katrina evacuees
still held behind a barbed wire in a trailer park
encampment a hundred miles from New Orleans. 
It's been a year since the hurricane and 73,000
POW's (Prisoners of W) are still in this aluminum
ghetto in the middle of nowhere.   One resident,
Pamela Lewis said, “It is a prison set-up" --
except there are no home furloughs for these
inmates because they no longer have homes.

To give a sense of the full flavor and smell of
the place, we wanted to show that this human
parking lot, with kids and elderly, is nearly
adjacent to the Exxon Oil refinery, the nation's
second largest, a chemical-belching behemoth.

So we filmed it. Without Big Brother's
authorization. Uh, oh. Apparently, the broadcast
of these stinking smokestacks tipped off Osama
that, if his assassins pose as poor Black folk,
they can get a cramped Airstream right next to a
"critical infrastructure" asset.

So now Matt and I have a "criminal complaint"
lodged against us with the feds.   

The positive side for me as a journalist is that
I get to see our terror-busters in action.  I
should note that it took the Maxwell Smarts at
Homeland Security a full two weeks to hunt us
down.  

Frankly, we were a bit scared that, given the
charges, we wouldn't be allowed on a plane into
New York last night.  But what scared us more is
that we were allowed on the plane.

Once I was traced, I had a bit of an
other-worldly conversation with my would-be
captors.  Detective Frank Pananepinto of Homeland
Security told us, "This is a 'Critical
Infrastructure' ... and they get nervous about
unauthorized filming of their property.

Well, me too, Detective.  In fact, I'm very
nervous that this potential chemical blast-site
can be mapped in extreme detail at this Google
Map location

What also makes me nervous is that the Bush
Terror Terriers have kindly indicated on the
Internet that this unprotected critical
infrastructure can be targeted -- I mean located
-- at 30º 29' 11" N Latitude and 91º 11' 39" W
Longitude.

After I assured Detective Pananepinto, "I can
swear to you that I'm not part of Al Qaeda," he
confirmed that, "Louisiana is still part of the
United States," subject to the first amendment
and he was therefore required to divulge my
accuser.   

Not surprisingly, it was Exxon Corporation, one
of a handful of companies not in love with my
investigations. [See "A Well-Designed Disaster: 
the Untold Story of the Exxon Valdez."]   

So I rang America's top petroleum pusher-men and
asked their media relations honcho in Houston,
Marc Boudreaux, a simple question. "Do you want
us to go to jail or not?  Is it Exxon's position
that reporters should go to jail?" Because, all
my dumb-ass jokes aside, that is what's at stake.
And Exxon knew we were journalists because we
showed our press credential to the Exxon guards
at the refinery entrance.

The Exxon man was coy: "Well, we'll see what we
can find out.... Obviously it's important to
national security that we have supplies from that
refinery in the event of an emergency."

Really? According to the documents our team
uncovered from the offices of Exxon's lawyer, Mr.
James Baker, the oil industry is more than happy
to see a limit on worldwide crude production.
Indeed, the current squeeze has jacked the price
of oil from $24 a barrel to $64 and refined
products have jumped yet higher -- resulting in a
record-busting profit for Exxon of nearly $1
billion per week.

So this silly "criminal complaint" has nothing to
do with stopping Al Qaeda or keeping the oil
flowing.  It has everything to do with
obstructing news reports in a way that no one
would have dared attempt before the September 11
attack.

Dectective Pananepinto, in justifying our
impending bust, said, "If you remember, a lot of
people were killed on 9/11."

Yes, Detective, I remember that very well: my
office was in the World Trade Center. Lucky for
me, I was out of town that day. It was not a
lucky day for 3,000 others.

Yes, I remember "a lot" of people were killed. So
I have this suggestion, Detective -- and you can
pass it on to Mr. Bush:  Go and find the people
who killed them.

It's been five years and the Bush regime has not
done that. Instead, the War on Terror is reduced
to taking off our shoes in airports, hoping we
can bomb Muslims into loving America and chasing
journalists around the bayou.  Meanwhile, King
Abdullah, the Gambino of oil, whose princelings
funded the murderers, gets a free ride in the
President's golf cart at the Crawford ranch.

I guess I shouldn't complain.  After all, Matt
and I look pretty good in orange.

A personal request to readers. Many have written
to ask what can be done to protect Matt and me
from becoming unwilling guests of the State.   

First, this ain't no foolin' around: Matt and I
are facing these nutty charges. So spread the
info. We believe that getting the word out is the
best defense.    

Second, call Homeland Security and turn us in.
They seem to have trouble finding us. If you get
a reward, you may choose to donate it to the
Palast Investigative Fund, a 501(c)(3)
educational foundation which supports our work
and pays our legal fees.

Third, ask your local library to order our book,
Armed Madhouse:  Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?
Homeland Security now reserves the right to read
over your shoulder at the library; therefore, the
more our agents are forced to read this
subversive material, the more likely we can
convince them to come in out of the cold. All
kidding aside, we do ask you to request your
library order the book: not everyone can afford
to purchase this hardbound edition. 
 


___________________

JamBoi
Jammy The Sacred Cow Slayer

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. 
Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta.
http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html