Posted on 08/29/2006 3:57:58 AM PDT by IrishMike
"New Orleans has suffered from the trauma of three crises," says Louisiana Congressman Bobby Jindal. "First was the hurricane, second was the levees breaking and third has been the widespread incompetence of the federal, state and local government response. This has been a one-year case study in bureaucracy and red tape at its very worst."
Congressman Jindal's aptly stated charge of incompetence across all levels of government is the gentle assessment. Here, on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, are the views of prominent Democrats:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, touring New Orleans: "What is needed in New Orleans is public works projects." Senator Hillary Clinton, from a church in Harlem: "Our leadership has turned its back on those people who still need us."
Turned its back? As the chart nearby indicates, Congress has approved $122.5 billion for the Gulf Region, a figure incomprehensible in size to anyone but, well, a politician. The real wonder is that anyone is surprised, much less feigning surprise, that things are going poorly.
New Orleans' plight is not the result of federal underspending. Uncle Sam has spent some five times more on Katrina relief than any other natural disaster in the past 50 years. Both parties in Congress and the White House opted for the status quo by relying on federal bureaucracies to oversee the rebuilding effort. If Uncle Sam were deliberately trying to waste these funds, it is hard to imagine a better way than to funnel the money through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both HUD and the SBA have been on the chopping block back to the early Reagan years. ..........................
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Maybe we can send Detroit's mayor down to NO to give Nagin a few tips how to run a city.
Calculating demographic shifts away from Detroit and number of housing units lost in the past 30 years, Detroit will be completely vacant by 2060.
It's the only flood I ever saw where people fled instead of sandbagging the levees. On c-span last night the chairman of the coastal restorationm has only one idea. The feds should pay for it. A journalist sarcastically mentioned Iraq funding. I thought his comparing an American city to a third world country was ironic and sad. They showed a yound mother full of disgust that FEMA didn't take care of her better. 2.9% unemployment in NO, now, an she can't figure out how to get a bus ticket to Atlanta to see her boyfriend. The whole culture is one of sullen dependancy.
Yup.
Sandbagging, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, good one. You guys must really be running out of bashing material if this is the best you can do. Are you really aware of what you are saying when you complain that they didn't sandbag miles of levees? Oh my.......
Obviously you have no clue how you look, because you keep making complete fools of yourselves on TV.
I think you have forgotten how citizens take responsibiity for their own communities.
Nope, I just know what being realistic is and to realistically expect to sandbag a levee system or as many breaks as there were during Katrina is not being honest.
My biggest critique of the citizens of NO is that they keep electing incompetant and corrupt politicians.
I know it was a devastating flood. But everybody down there seems to be trying to blame the federal government and is not looking at the mess you have with your incestuous local and state politicians.
DemocRATS are to corruption as fish are to water.
Going away and leaving it untended was irresponsible. Your post shows you have no idea what's expected. I made the same comment to Dutch friends and they could not believe it either.
And your post shows you have no idea how massive the levee system is and how many huge breaks there were. Nothing could have been done to sandbag those levees. If it's that easy let's forget rebuilding them at a cost of billions of dollars and just throw up some sandbags. That should do the trick.
Oh, and I'm not a levee expert but I did spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
here's a bizarre take on this topic
Corruption is what makes New Orleans attractive!
The "screw the rules" pirates and privateers (think Jean Lafitte) that made that town are quintesentially American. Think Newt Gingrich's comments about speed limits being a "benchmark of opprotunity." We are a "slightly out there" society who don't completely abide by the rules. N.O. is the epitome of that idea. And they have celebrated it for centuries. This isn't a recent phenomonon.
And I, for one, don't want to crush that spirit. I do, however, want to channel it. there's graft aplenty to be found if they choose to turn the 9th ward and St. Bernards parish into a modern and well planned Venice. But Ray Naggin doesn't want to hear that particular notion, as they are too much in line with free market notions.
So, lets encourage the corrupt Louisiana politicians to discover the graft opportunities in a correctly planned New Orleans!
I guantantee you, if this catasrophe would have happened in a city in the Mid-West, and we had those mega millions in resources to work with, life for it's citizens would be virtually back to normal by now.
Most of it is money down the drain. Most federal spending has consisted of handing money to people who have no sense of its value.
No way, Mary Babe, unless we turn it over to Walmart.
I know how much destruction there is. But after one year, and millions upon millions of dollars to repair levies, and rebuild, etc....well you tell me, where is the money going?
The midwest is not immune to disasters. The city of Zenia, Ohio was virtually wiped out by a tornado in the 70s. And believe me, they had neither the resources, or the charity dollars to rebuild, yet they did.
Scew New Orleans and their Mayor, Govenor, Congressmen,
including Wm.Jefferson..and Senators...they have
sqandered $122 billion so far....a record 10 times any
other disaster..including 9/11. Where is the
accountability...Maybe Jesse and Al took their cut
and didn't leave much???? Jake
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