Emailing: rapture-rescue-will-airlift-you-to.htm

[Guest guest]



The Jingoist

AWAKING and BREAKING the Silence of a Slumbering Nation

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Rapture rescue will airlift you to safety. If you can afford it

The booming business of privatised disaster services in the US goes against the principle that every life is of equal valueby Naomi Klein, The Guardian - November 3, 2007I used to worry that the US was in the grip of extremists who sincerely believed the Apocalypse was coming and that they and their friends would be airlifted to heavenly safety. I have since reconsidered. The country is indeed in the grip of extremists who are determined to act out the biblical climax - the saving of the chosen and the burning of the masses - but without any divine intervention. Heaven can wait. Thanks to the booming business of privatised disaster services, we're getting the Rapture right here on earth.Just look at what is happening in southern California. Even as wildfires devoured whole swaths of the region, some homes in the heart of the inferno were left intact, as if saved by a higher power. But it wasn't the hand of God; in several cases it was the handiwork of Firebreak Spray Systems. Firebreak is a special service offered to customers of insurance giant American International Group - but only if they happen to live in the wealthiest zip codes in the country. Members of the company's Private Client Group pay an average of $19,000 to have their homes sprayed with fire retardant. During the fires, the "mobile units", racing around in firetrucks, even extinguished fires for their clients.One customer described a scene of modern-day Revelation. "Just picture it. You are in that raging wildfire. Smoke everywhere. Flames everywhere," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Here's a couple of guys showing up in what looks like a firetruck who are experts trained in fighting wildfire, and they're there specifically to protect your home."And your home alone. "There were a few instances," one of the private firefighters told Bloomberg News, "where we were spraying and the neighbour's house went up like a candle." With public fire departments cut to the bone, gone are the days of rapid response, when everyone was entitled to equal protection. Now, increasingly intense natural disasters will be met with the new model: Rapture response.During last year's hurricane season, Florida homeowners were offered similarly high-priced salvation by HelpJet, a travel agency launched with promises to turn "a hurricane evacuation into a jet-setter vacation". For an annual fee, a company concierge takes care of everything: transport to the air terminal, luxurious travel, bookings at five-star resorts. Most of all, HelpJet is an escape hatch from the kind of government failure on display during Katrina. "No standing in lines, no hassle with crowds, just a first-class experience."HelpJet is about to get some serious competition from some much larger players. In northern Michigan, during the week that the California fires raged, the rural community of Pellston was in the grip of an intense public debate. The village is about to become the headquarters for the first fully privatised national disaster response centre.The plan is the brainchild of Sovereign Deed, a startup with links to the mercenary firm Triple Canopy. Like HelpJet, Sovereign Deed works on a "country club-type membership fee", according to the company's vice-president, the retired general Mills. In exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000 followed by annual dues of $15,000, members receive "comprehensive catastrophe response services" should their city be hit by a man-made disaster that can "cause severe threats to public health and/or wellbeing" (read: a terrorist attack), a disease outbreak or a natural disaster. Basic membership includes access to medicine, water and food, while those who pay for "premium tiered services" will be eligible for VIP rescue missions.Like so many private disaster companies, Sovereign Deed is selling escape from climate change and the failed state - by touting the security clearance and connections its executives amassed while working for that same state. So Mills, speaking recently in Pellston, explained: "The reality of Fema is that it has no infrastructure, and a lot of our National Guard is elsewhere." Sovereign Deed, on the other hand, claims to have "direct access and special arrangements with several national and international information centres. These proprietary arrangements allow our emergency operations centre to ... give our members that critical head start in times of crisis". In this secular version of the Rapture, God's hand is unnecessary. Not when you have retired CIA agents and ex-special forces lifting the chosen to safety - no need to pray, just pay. And who needs a celestial New Jerusalem when you can have Pellston, with its flexible local politicians and its surprisingly modern regional airport?Sovereign Deed could soon find itself competing with Blackwater, whose chief executive, Prince, wrote recently of his plans to offer "full spectrum" services, including humanitarian aid in disasters. When fires broke out in San Diego county, near the proposed site of the controversial Blackwater West base, the company seized the opportunity to make its case. Blackwater could have been the "tactical operation centre for East county fires", said the company's vice-president, Bonfiglio. "Can you imagine how much of a benefit it would be if we were operational now?" To show off its capacity, Blackwater has been distributing badly needed food and blankets in Potrero, California. "This is something we've always done," Bonfiglio said. "This is what we do." Actually, what Blackwater does, as Iraqis have learned, is not protect entire communities or countries, but "protect the principal" - the principal being whoever has paid Blackwater for its guns and gear.The same pay-to-be-saved logic governs this entire new sector of country-club disaster management. There is, of course, another principle that could guide our collective responses in a disaster-prone world: the simple conviction that every life is of equal value. For anyone out there who still believes in that wild idea, the time has urgently arrived to protect the principle.

Posted by Patriot at 7:04 AM

Labels: Privatized disaster services

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Patriot says, WAKE UP! Wake up your neighbors! Remember why America became America! Protect Liberty! Fight Tryanny! Tell your friends about The Jingoist!

About Me

Patriot On Eagle's Perch View my complete profile

Jingoist Partners

Anti-War CounterPunch Crescent and the Cross Global Research If Americans Knew Press News Wake Up From Your Slumber We Hold These Truths What Really Happened Ziopedia

Blog Archive

â–¼ 2007 (1183)

â–¼ November (71)

Emergency imposed in Pakistan Bush Is Right to Worry If Waterboarding Is Defined... Army Takes Control In Pakistan Rapture rescue will airlift you to safety. If you ... In praise of Putin Let's not go full circle Pakistan's Musharraf declares emergency Sinking Currency, Sinking Country Kurdish Crisis Boxes In Neocons It’s Time to Fire Washington! BOMBING IMPROPER THOUGHTS Acting on Conscience Zombie Nation VA says 6 percent of combat vets have TBIs AIPAC Espionage Case, Court Memorandum US disappointed in China, Russia response on Iran ... Schumer, Feinstein back Mukasey Pipe bomb locks down Ariz. nuclear plant Arizona Nuclear Plant on Lockdown Exhibition honors Muslims who saved Jews Rice to face subpoena in (AIPAC) espionage case Analyst: Still images suggest Bin Laden video doct... Bush compares bin Laden to Hitler and Lenin Memos Prove Rumsfeld Directed Psychological Terror... Sen. Leahy to oppose Mukasey for AG 'USAF struck Syrian nuclear site' One million people affected by Mexico floods Man angry with son-in-law fingers him as terrorist... Dollar hit by US housing troubles Obama raps Hillary for playing the gender card Newspapers will report steep circulation declines Bush 41 Backs Away From Clinton N.C. soldier pleads guilty in HIV case A clear case of U.S. impotence Former envoy: U.S. driving Turkey, Iran together Crisis of opportunity for Iran and the US Level 3 storm about to hit Wall Street The calamity of Iraq has not even won us cheap oil... Israel says Hezbollah can hit Tel Aviv 'Unwelcoming' US sees sharp fall in visitors Congressional Shame and Duplicity The Neocons' Crazy Dream of World War III The Wages of Hegemony The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclea... Fuel Fraud Latest In Army Contracting Woes Marine recruiters busted in exam fraud Army Has Record Low Level of Recruits Ex-Saudi ambassador: Kingdom could have helped U.S... Faulty Intel Source "Curve Ball" Revealed Iran, World War III, and the Madness of President ... 'Invade and Bomb With Hillary and Rahm' Arabic-speaking passengers sue American Obama pledges new relationship with Iran The Israel Lobby and the Psychology of Influence Jews, and only Jews, for hire ADL: 35 million Americans 'blatantly anti-Semitic'... Criminal collapse of Citibank and Stanley i... On Israeli Security and Palestinian Statehood Israeli soldiers exchange photos of killed Palesti... Fed pumps $41B into US financial system McCain: Iraq Pullout Bad For Israel US troops will be in the Middle East for next 50 y... Gulf Arabs could drop dollar pegs in unison The Israeli Lobby, Looking Forward and Back A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to... 'IDF can destroy Iran's nuclear program' Charges Iran killing US troops 'sheer lie': Khamen... Republican Senator Calls for Unconditional Talks America's Anti-Militarist Tradition It's Not Only the Israel Lobby Russia and China block tough Iran sanctions: U.S.

â–º October (570)

â–º September (179)

â–º August (57)

â–º July (267)

â–º June (39)

Visitor Counter