Galveston Oh Galveston! The Hurricane Ike Cover-Up?

As an avid follower of world events and hurricanes the last few years, I watched and followed Hurricane Ike very closely these last couple weeks. I followed Hurricane Ike as it formed in the Atlantic, smashed into Cuba then into Galveston and Houston, causing devastating damage to the small island of Galveston.

Now I have some huge wondering doubts hitting me fast and furious the last couple of days - and question:

What happened to all the people on Galveston that didn't evacuate? We know that many thousands choose to not to do the mandatory evacuation or for whatever reason could not leave Galveston . Now the big question of the day is: Knowing of the incredible destruction that has occurred down there, why isn't there more mainstream news on the aftermath of Hurricane Ike? When I looked at the Yahoo and MSN front page this morning there were no more headlines about Hurricane Ike or the devastation of Galveston, which leads to me think, why the Media Blackout about this important event?

Is the government afraid of us knowing of the real damages down there?

Are they afraid for us to see the response, or any lack of it after the Katrina debacle?

Are they afraid of how this might affect the financial markets, already in a financial meltdown this week?

Are they deliberately helping aid and abet a media blackout about the REAL damages that Hurricane Ike caused? And the real damages to the oil refineries?

I like to follow most world events at a forum called Godlike Productions on the Internet.

As quirky as some of the people and posts over there are can be, I usually get news about world events before it ever hits the mainstream media (How great the power of the Internet is, huh?)

A few days ago the subject was broached that there was an awful lack of coverage about Hurricane Ike's aftermath. Strange, huh? Now just so you understand my line of thinking here, what got me to really thinking more about this was the amount of postings from other people wondering the same thing, even posts by residents of Galveston.

Thanks to the great posters over there at GLP, who provide wonderful ways to circumvent the usual mainstream sources, I have a great link straight to Houston news at .http://www.khou.com/ . Now if you read some of the posts and news over there you definitely get the sense that this is a disaster of major proportions, which makes you wonder why it's not on the mainstream news anymore.

Maybe they think we just can't take any more after seeing those poor Katrina survivors struggling for days on tops of roofs , with no food water or resources to speak of?

Does the government think we are really this stupid to forget about what happened after Hurricane Katrina? Do they really think that we can forget those images burned into our brain about the horrible suffering?

Don't they think we'd like to know what's going on after Hurricane Ike to make sure that there is a different response this time to a major hurricane hitting major United States cities?

I'm really mad right now. I'm mad for the survivors of Hurricane Ike who have to linger under this media blanket blackout- with lots of unanswered questions and not knowing if there loved ones are OK or not. We know that at least a couple thousand were rescued after Hurricane Ike hit (thank you first responders) but what about the missing? Perhaps a lot of them will never be found due to the TYPE of disaster this was, and where it was, but at least these people deserve to know more about what is going after the devastation of Hurricane Ike, don't you think?

And don't we have the right to know too? Don't we deserve to see Fema at work this time ? As citizens of the United States and taxpayers that pay for these services don't we have the right to see that it's being done right this time?

Here is a telling post by one Galveston resident who is also frustrated by the media blackout covering the aftermath of Hurricane Ike:

"My wife and I live in Jamaica Beach and evacuated to Austin. We have been scouring the Web, phoning and texting friends and family still in the impact area, and reading blogs. Not only is access to the West End being controlled by land, sea, and air using state and federal assets, but when reporters are permitted in we are getting misdirection. On two separate occasions, new copters have reported providing footage of Jamaica Beach which was actually Sea Isle. I know, I live there. How two separate new copter reporters from two different stations could both misidentify what they were shooting is baffling. Don't they have maps?

I am not much of a conspiracy buff but I am deeply disturbed by this information blackout. It is not a security matter; if so, there would be similar measures in effect on Bolivar and there are not. It is not a public safety issue; preliminary reports suggest the West End fared much better than some other areas, the waters have receded, the weather is cooperating and folks who live out there know how to take precautions. If there are floaters and corpses about, one can decline to show them on TV but still be truthful to press.

Why are they working so hard to prevent information about the West End from getting out? And why is the news media not hammering officials for the truth. Is there something to hide? What could it possibly be?"

- Karankawa

Indeed Karankawa, we agree with you, why are they working so hard at NOT PROVIDING MORE INFORMATION?

An editorial from the Galveston County Daily News:

"The city's priority today is efficiency of operations for those in the recovery effort, which is fine, and a desperate effort to avoid embarrassment for the Republican administration in charge of FEMA. It is, after all, about six weeks from a presidential election. Nobody wants another Katrina at this time. What that means is the focus of those in charge of recovery is to get on with the recovery. That's good, and as it should be. But the other main focus, avoiding embarrassment, leads to disrespect for the news media personnel attempting to cover the story. And it leads officials to be less concerned about the fear and anxiety of those who are away from home than they should be. And it leads them, frankly, to be less than candid. Inside meetings of the people running Galveston's recovery, some joke about shoving the media out of the way. They speak of reporters "infiltrating" meetings of the high muckety-mucks running things. Can't have that. Attendees at those meetings are cautioned they may not speak to anyone, not even family, about what goes on inside the recovery management team."