Posted on 02/04/2006 11:57:40 AM PST by Ellesu
There comes a time when reasonable people are forced to step back and take a long, hard look at the facts of a matter, reexamine their connection with that matter, and determine if they are handling it correctly. This is such a time for the president and the Congress, with respect to the New Orleans matter.
Until now the approach has been, “What Katrina has wrought, the government(s) will make right.” It turns out that Hurricane Katrina wrought problems last August that have hardly been touched, much less handled correctly. Five months after the fact, 80 percent of the people who lived in New Orleans pre-Katrina do not live there now…they have not returned to a city that for all practical purposes was totally devastated and remains so. It hasn’t helped that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently relieved himself of remarks that can only be accounted as racist. He said, “This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. … This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be.” He can be forgiven for lack of sensitivity as a private citizen, but as the top official of New Orleans he laid bare wounds that could have been healing. This is especially true in light of the fact that most of the New Orleans evacuees who have returned are white and/or wealthy, or both. They are business people, executives, professionals such as teachers, and folks who just have enough property left and money to maintain it and their existence. Nagin only added to his error by continuing, “How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about.” This probably was supposed to mollify disgruntled whites – if any actually care – but this could be said for practically all the cities in the country.
Nagin is annoyed because a huge segment (39% at last remembrance) of the black evacuees from New Orleans have indicated that they do not plan to return. These people are probably not property owners and so have no interest in trying to live in wrecked housing that will remain wrecked for a very long time in a city that could go under the water again, in any case. Having lost everything once, they would be expected to make every effort to avoid losing everything again. It’s doubtful that much, if any, of their possessions was insured. Many, if not most, are on various types of government welfare and have discovered that they can collect checks no matter where they are.
With the water levels of Lake Pontchartrain and the canals that cross the city always to be well above that of the lawns and streets – and at roof-level in some places – of those of their former living-spaces and businesses, the evacuees, especially having no assurance that a Katrina-like catastrophe won’t happen again, feel well-advised to simply stay away. For that matter, the city is actually also sinking, making the physical side of the problem even greater. In addition, New Orleans has a record of being unbelievably unsafe criminally with a government steeped in corruption. In Houston, where 150,000 New Orleans evacuees are said to still be living, the murder rate increased by 25 percent last year and is already 50 percent above last year’s rate at this time. Coincidentally, the crime rate in New Orleans plummeted post-Katrina and is only now picking up again.
With the recent announcement that more than $100 billion in federal money is now earmarked for Katrina relief efforts, the bulk of it going to New Orleans, this outlay by the federal government to benefit a tiny fraction of the nation’s populace and industry seems an unseemly waste. Relocation is eminently more sensible for the people and/or businesses and certainly more reasonable for the government. Relocation is already taking place and it’s being subsidized by the government in the form of rent-paying, funds for schools, etc., for people who have no desire to head back into a cesspool, in the first place. Restoring the city to any kind of previous condition, if at all possible, will take years and years, probably decades. Indeed, one could hope that the city would not be restored to that condition, in the first place. Encouraging people to live in a “bowl” completely surrounded by water well above their heads and held back by levees actually deteriorating from the bottom up is practically criminal.
Since much, if not most, of the water damage occurred as a result of the deterioration of the levees and not the wind, even considering the fact that the city was hit with at least a Category-4 hurricane instead of the Category-3 type, which it was claimed the city could withstand, there is no reason to believe the city will ever be safe again, nor has the governments involved even said that it will. And the notion that the money so earmarked at this point, as is the usual case with government regarding estimates in the face of inevitably predictable cost overruns, will actually do the job is just that – a notion. The actual facts, on the basis of past history, indicate this is like throwing money down the proverbial rat-hole.
Ironically, the people who have entered New Orleans to do the dirty, cleanup work are Mexicans who are willing to live in squalid conditions for the good pay. Mayor Nagin has strongly indicated that these people are not welcome. One wonders if he is most interested in the Mardi Gras atmosphere of old, which demands the services of people who do low-paying work to keep in business those who make millions in the tourist trade. These are the folks such as the people who clean the schools, hotels, resorts, office buildings, hospitals, or work in stores or wait tables and do other low-paying jobs who no longer want any part of New Orleans.
It’s unfair to say the president was grandstanding when he appeared in the region in the aftermath of Katrina and indicated that New Orleans would be restored. Perhaps he thought it could be but had no way to know that the huge number of people who had been forced out had no desire to return. It’s fair to say, however, that he was wrong and that he had no clue as to the long-term problems involved. Restoring New Orleans without guaranteeing its safety is unconscionable, and there’s no way to govern Lake Pontchartrain, as well as the aging levees.
Now there's wishful thinking. They're on welfare because they want the illegals to take the jobs so they don't have to work. Win-win for the welfare kings and queens.
One of the odd things about former Republican Nagin (a Jindal supporter in 2003) is that he BOUGHT a house in Dallas for his wife and daughter in the aftermath of Katrina. I wonder if he has never intended for them to return to New Orleans.
New Orleans will remain a liberal city, whether it has a simple black majority or a supermajority, as it had before Katrina. The whites there are very liberal too.
I don't know - a gang member is a gang member no matter his race or citizenship status... all equally murderous thugs.
Why do you think illegals as criminals are worse than indigenous criminals ?
The city leaders are so totally corrupt they all ought to be in prison.
That this Governor dares to show her face in her state is pathetic.
That Nagin has a drug habit is preferable to thinking that the man is just plain out of his mind, with no excuse.
What did I tell you Sep 3, 2005?
As individual criminals I am sure they are about the same.
The reason they are worse than citizens as a community is they are here illegally, so some of the support system that is in place for citizens is not there for them. They don't qualify for drug treatment programs or things like that, especially in communities that have not dealt with them before. The local jails will be overwhelmed with them while local, state, and federal officials argue about who will pay the bill for their stay in jail. The very fact that they are illegal puts a burden on what ever system is now in place.
The number one burden they will be however is medical. Even the non criminal members in an illegal community need medical care. People who are citizens of lower income qualify for some sort of funded medical care, so their bills are being paid; by the taxpayers of course- but they are being paid. Illegals have no medical plan at all, so they cannot get care in a organized way. They know that they can go to the ER and not be turned away; so they go to the ER for all their medical care and no one pays their bill. The hospital eats those bills until they have to close their doors. Drs must treat them out of pocket until the Drs go elsewhere. On the border where there are large populations of illegals the medical system is broken and in some areas hospitals will no longer deliver babies. The good doctors go elsewhere when they tire of working for nothing.
If the community or state changes the rules to allow illegals to get into the system so they can qualify for services, as many have in border areas, then widespread use and abuse takes place, the system will still be overwhelmed. The city and the state will not want their money spent to take care of citizens of another country so then you still have the arguing amongst agencies going on because no one wants to pay. The fact that most do not speak English will overwhelm the schools and the schools will have to set up an entire program around non-English speaking students. That is very costly and again no one will want to pay the bill.
Been There, Seen all that and more in my area, and it is coming to your area soon if nothing is done to stop it.
In Houston, where 150,000 New Orleans evacuees are said to still be living, the murder rate increased by 25 percent last year and is already 50 percent above last year’s rate at this time. Coincidentally, the crime rate in New Orleans plummeted post-Katrina and is only now picking up again.
Obviously many of them weren't spending much time on any legitimate job. I have friends who went to N.O. to do clean up work. It seems to pay well. I wonder how many residences of N.O. did the same?
Funny thing, all of what you write is also true for welfare junkies and drug addicts who are citizens. They overwhelm the criminal justice system, take up places in schools but have no desire to do well, they have no health insurance so the taxpayer pays, they have an anti-work mindset and on and on and on. They too are a complete drain on the taxpayer. At least the illegal doesn't get his housing paid for by taxpayers like the Katrina refugees - 5 months and counting.
I live in an area in PA that is very overpopulated with illegals, so I see a lot of it firsthand. People in stores who cannot speak English and who do not follow the rules of a civil society because they don't care and they are willing to get offended by your admonishments - like when they have 30 items in the express 10 item checkout lane at the grocery store, they say "no habla ingles", curse you out, and barge ahead anyhow. Then there are the crazy drivers who cause accidents then speed away or have no insurance or drivers license. Or, the first question you have to answer for a business transaction is "press 1 for spanish". Yes, we have a lot of them and I want them to go home. Now, preferably. But, I really don't see where they are any worse than the druggies and welfare scum.
You missed the point that there is no one to pay for illegals. They are out of the system. What ends up happening is you can't pay for both. Your taxes will still go to worthless citizens and your services will disappear anyway because they are overwhelmed by those who are not citizens that no one is paying for. It is a double whammy. Also, don't lose sight of what the language barrier will create; entire new programs will have to be set up simply because the illegals don't speak English. The programs will have to be in the schools of course, but eventually through out your state and local government, and all services, then even in local business. The costs of the language problem alone are tremendous. If you get enough non-English speaking people in your area, then most jobs in the area will reguire that you speak Spanish in order to work there. No longer are they required to learn the language as before, now you will be forced to learn their language in order to work in your own community.
If you don't see the difference, then you have not been overwhelmed by illegals yet. You may have illegals in your area, I'm sure you do. The real impact created by large numbers has not happened yet or you would know exactly what I am saying. The issues you have noticed: language problems in stores, no insurance, etc. are only minor surface issues. We have dealt with those issues on the border forever, mostly without complaint. The illegals in large numbers will destroy your economy; by undercutting wages, and accepting inferior working conditions. They will at the same time overwhelm your services.
Our government made a major mistake, if we really needed the extra workers in this country, a system should have been set up to deal with that legally. Our ancestors had the same issue and set up legal immigration through Ellis Island and other places. This time our government chose not to deal with it and instead chose to simply ignore the fact that illegals were coming in. They turned a blind eye and with the mess in Mexico, illegals started pouring in. Now we are overwhelmed because there is no system in place to deal with them.
Reality is Mexico is broken; Mexico is the new Columbia, it is operated by drug cartels and mafia type organizations. The government officials are figureheads and have lost control of their country; their law enforcement, and military. Our government knows this and does not want to admit it, they have been sweeping it under the rug. The illegals pouring in are refugees. We are not set up to deal with them, and yet we are being forced to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.