Posted on 09/01/2005 5:13:07 PM PDT by badpacifist
Newsview: Politicians Failed Storm Victims by RON FOURNIER
WASHINGTON (AP) - At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims. They didn't strengthen the levees. They ceded the streets to marauding looters. They left dead bodies to rot or bloat. Thousands suffered or died for lack of water, food and hope. ..
There's plenty of blame to go around - the White House, Congress, federal agencies, local governments, police and even residents of the Gulf Coast who refused orders to evacuate. But all the finger-pointing misses the point: Politicians and the people they lead too often ignore danger signs until a crisis hits.
It wasn't a secret that levees built to keep New Orleans from flooding could not withstand a major hurricane, but government leaders never found the money to fully shore up the network of earthen, steel and concrete barriers.
Both the Bush and Clinton administrations proposed budgets that low-balled the needs. Local politicians grabbed whatever money they could and declared victory. And the public didn't exactly demand tax increases to pay for flood-control and hurricane-protection projects.
Just last year, the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans. The White House slashed the request to about $40 million. Congress finally approved $42.2 million, less than half of the agency's request.
Yet the lawmakers and Bush agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-laden highway bill that included more than 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers. Congress spent money on dust control for Arkansas roads, a warehouse on the Erie Canal and a $231 million bridge to a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
Alaska is represented by Republican Rep. Don Young, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, a member of the all-important Senate Appropriations Committee. Louisiana's delegation holds far less sway.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Say it loud and say it long. But will the MSM?
Bill O'Reilly interviewed Gov Perry (R-TX) and the district director for the Red Cross. They went into great detail about what they had available and that it was already set up to take people right away. Bill was stunned .. like he didn't expect Perry to know what to do .. and Bill completely ignored Gov Blanco - never even mentioned her name. Shameless!
I agree with everything you said.
But I think there should have been transport out of the city BEFORE the flood. The Superdome plan was assinine in light of the predicted damage and lack of preparation and facilities. The local and state level failed hugely here.
I can't get over the posters here and news people claiming those that have stayed are doing so to loot. The looters are a tiny despicable subset.
It's an estuary.
See http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/of02-206/phy-environment/ndb-climate.html
Environmental Atlas of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin
Didn't even rate low on her list. But "higher teacher salaries" was up there.
Thanks. Interesting read.
And how many buildings have been constructed on it SINCE it fell below sea level? It certainly didn't fall 4-20 feet under sea level a week ago.
Louisiana has had TWO US Senators for the last 50 years if I'm not mistaken until last year. How exactly did they go for the last fifty years with the same problems and nobody decided that this was a national emergency. I know we have provided plenty of pork to Louisiana (after all, the former House Appropriations Chair Bob Livingston was from there up) but somehow the local political class would rather have 'walking around money' to conduct vote fraud in New Orleans than fix the freakin' levies. And now miraculously its Bushs' fault. Pathetic.
New Orleans was built on a silt bed deposited over 10s of thousands of years by the Mississippi. The river was channeled and the levies were built. Since then the "base" of the city has eroded (slowly washed out to sea) and the city has sunk.
Plenty. Talk about learning a lesson the hard way. NOW - - how smart will we be if we rebuild New Orleans and keep out fingers crossed that another hurricane doesn't blow through in two, ten, or twenty-five years?
Except that he actually WON Florida in 1992. The media's smearing of his performance in Florida may have had an effect, though they were puffing Clinton up and falling all over him long before Andrew-- and long after most non-Floridians forgot about the hurricane.
What a bunch of crap...Just the Headline alone...
More of the entitlement headcase claptrap...
As if 'Politicians' are the Damn answer...
What a joke
If I was in NO and faced with that reality...I would blame myself not some IDIOT politician...
Just wondering how many articles Fournier penned over the years about the dangers of the levees in New Orleans.
This is not the fault of the government. Period, not federal at least.
If I recall correctly, Florida then had a rat governor named Lawton Chiles. His permission was needed before federal help could be provided. He delayed that permission for whatever reason. That was pre-freerepublic days. I seem to remember someone accusing him of doing it to make President Bush look bad.
Hopefully, when W said the reconstruction will take "years" he included some major planning changes in that strategy. I hope Americans will get real vocal regarding the notion of rebuilding.
That the federal government has failed to properly fund the protection of one of it's most important ports is not even a point of debate. That the federal government has been at the forefront of establishing an "entitlement" mentality which has turned a large segment of our fellow citizens into cattle is not even a point of debate. FEMA had years to plan a response to this and are not even providing the basic needs to those affected four days after the storm. According to their own projections, New Orleans would be under water. Where is their plan to deal with this?
The local government deserves most of the blame, then the state but the feds have been pitiful.
This is a problem that must be addressed and solved. Now is not the time to do so. People who are hanging on to life as we sit in our air-conditioned homes typing words to one another need our assistance, or they will soon die. Let us help them.
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