So I will state this once again - even if the American taxpayers were to agree that Cat 5 levees should be built around NOLA, your officials said that the levees were up to a Cat 3 and they were not. And the NOLA levee commisssion instead was more concerned about casinos and fountains.
I think I can speak for the average American and say we want to help. But we also see the complete corruption that was in place before Katrina, and we also see that the same politicians who screwed the pooch before Katrina are the ones now asking for 250 billion of our tax dollars.
Put yourself outside your state. Would you agree to sending $250 billion to a state that was so corrupt?
Louisiana has had to live with the image of Huey Long on the movie screens all over this nation. Do many of them realize that he's been dead since 1935? It's my opinion that our image to others has been unfairly tainted by his image. Edwin Edwards didn't help to overcome this image but guess what, he's in prison. Yea, we've got our share of corruption down here. In the case of Blanco, it's not corruption as much as incompetance. In the case of Nagin, it's more simple stupidity.
Your state is not perfect. Philly has it's own corruption problems, as has Chicago for years. A Californian earlier in this thread had the nerve to tell us to elect better leaders here in Louisiana. I guess they don't come any better than Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi, not to mention a former governor named Gray Davis and a former mayor named Willie Brown. The fact is that government in general is a corrupt enterprise as it now stands no matter where you chose to look. The excuse not to help is easy if you simply use the political approach.
As to the 250 Billion request, It was ridiculous. I wouldn't pay it any mind at all. The burning issue is the levee protection. A simple yes or no.