WSJ: LBJ's Other Quagmire - Long before Katrina, the welfare state failed New Orleans's poor.

opinionjournal.com ^ | September 13, 2005 | BRENDAN MINITER

[OESY]

"What the American people have seen in this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out, and those people who were impoverished died."

The above comment about Hurricane Katrina comes to us from Ted Kennedy, who went on to say that the question for Chief Justice-designate John Roberts is whether he stands for "a fairer, more just nation" or will use "narrow, stingy interpretations of the law to frustrate progress." But why stop there? Sen. Kennedy is onto something and, indeed, the question isn't only for Judge Roberts....

That debate has so far largely focused on race and class to explain why tens of thousands of poor people were left behind to fend for themselves in a flooding city. Liberals are now blaming small-government conservatism for cutting "antipoverty" programs. That's a tune a surprising number of people are starting to hum, from NAACP chairman Julian Bond to New York Times columnist David Brooks, who speculated recently that the storm will probably spark a new progressive movement in America. The lyrics are still being written, but the refrain for this ditty is a familiar one: Small government conservatives did it to us again.

There is, however, another explanation: The welfare state failed the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward and other flooded New Orleans neighborhoods long before the levees gave way. This gets us back to the question Sen. Kennedy wants Judge Roberts to answer about whether to adopt a narrow view that prevents real progress from taking place. And it also explains the role Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco--both Democrats--played in leaving mostly poor, minority citizens in a city that was clearly descending into chaos.

...Tourism kept it, well, afloat, but large swaths of the city were mired in poverty for decades....

[Pessimist]

"those people who had cars and money got out, and those people who were impoverished died"

He should know about cars and water...

[Pessimist]

Yeah, I've been thinking lately that the scenes we all saw and heard about were really pretty much how these people normally act.

I bet you could have stuck 'em all in the Superdome w/ plenty of food and drink ('specially alcohol) for a few days and gotten the same results as long as there was an inadequate security presence.

[SierraWasp]

"This welfare state is precicely the reason Pres. Bush feels we need to allow illegal immigration: to import a new 'working class'."

This is the first time I've seen (in print) anyone's (apologist, or adversary's) attempted explanation/rationalization for not enforcing the rule of law one employers in the United States to protect it's sovereign borders from criminals entering illegally!!!

WOW!!!

[OESY]

Must see video:



There is a shot where Blanco is being set up several days ago for a TV interview, and her press secretary is helping her adjust her mic. They’re having a personal conversation, but the cameraman catches it! In it, she kinda jokes to her press secretary something like “yeah, well I guess I really need to ask for troops,” and a couple more things she says. A bit later in the segment she gets into a semi-argument with CNN reporter Miles O’Brien, and he’s pointedly asking her exactly WHEN she asked the President for troops. She gets frustrated and says she didn’t even know what day it was, she was confused, but Miles presses her. -- Hat tip: Reader LadyCop

DOWNLOAD and view video on thepoliticalteen.net

NOTE: "Some... limitations were built into the Constitution's limits on federal powers. President Bush could not nationalize the Louisiana National Guard without the consent of Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, which was not immediately forthcoming. The Northern Command of the U.S. Army, set up specifically for homeland defense three years ago, also was prevented from acting immediately because the Posse Comitatus Act (circa 1878) bars the army from conducting police activities on U.S. soil without a waiver. The best army in the world was ready, with equipment and men in place, but was left waiting for orders." -- George Melloan, WSJ, 9/13/05, http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112657951035438991,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Ffeatured%5Fstories%5Fhs