An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Hurricane
Katrina is a natural occurrence. Prevention of the human
catastrophe is the job of people assigned to do that job.
In this case, an ounce of prevention would have stopped
a shipload of tragedy and misery. It really is a case like
the little boy who put his finger in the dike and saved his
city. American government failed completely. Their shuckin'
and jivin' and excuse-making is well underway.
"Who Will Tell The People?" In 1995, a major
project to strengthen the levees around New Orleans was
approved, funded, and begun. In 2003, the U.S. Congress
stopped the project by eliminating the funding to complete it.
Though not commenting on the New Orleans disaster, William Greider
made this wise observation in
The Nation:
In a democracy, government at least owes citizens fair
notice--a timely warning of what it's doing to them. . .
That's the basic reason democratic discourse and accountability
are so necessary--the hope that somebody somewhere in the
government will have the decency to tell the people.
Let's apply that thought to the 10-year run-up to Hurricane
Katrina. The members of Congress did not have
the decency even to tell the people of New Orleans that
the U.S. Congress had condemned them and their city to
a death sentence.
Expected Total Loss of New Orleans:
The total vulnerability of New Orleans has been known for decades.
E. J. Montini wrote: "Just last year the federal government ran a hurricane simulation that predicted disaster for New Orleans.
The experts doing the test estimated that the city would flood,
as many as 600,000 buildings would be destroyed and more
than a million residents would need to be evacuated."
See Montini's column.
Brain-Dead Governors:
The state of Mississippi transports 491,622 children to
school every day. There are lots of school buses and
schools in Mississippi.
Every day, the state of Louisiana gets 727,316 children to school
and back home. Louisiana says it has 8,200 school buses which
do the job.
With one round-trip each day over two days, every person in
harm's way of Katrina could have been transported to safety.
Far away from the path of Katrina and flood waters.
The governor of these states has the authority and the duty
to declare an emergency and mobilize resources like buses.
They had days to see the hurricane approaching.
Why did they fail to take action? They had at their
fingertips the power to evacuate all of New Orleans, Biloxi,
and entire communities along the Gulf Coast.
Thus, these two governors are accountable. Their
"authority" to blame inaction by others is very weak.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mississippi Governor
Haley Barbour are accountable for their own negligence.
Rhonda Chris Lokeman noted: "Louisianans saw no one in charge.
While the state went to hell,
Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco went on Larry King Live."
See Lokeman's column.
Let's put New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin into the same
category. Were they just big talkers and little doers?
Did they call up the school buses?
From this desk, it looks like they all should resign or be removed
from office at the earliest convenience of the people.
Time for an Outside Investigation:
The BBC reported: "In Washington, senators said they would
launch an inquiry on Wednesday into the federal response
to Katrina and emergency preparedness." Are the U.S. Senate
and House of Representatives going to investigate themselves?
What kind of whitewash can we expect?
Can you picture this?
A family of foxes heading toward the chicken house with
chicken feathers still stuck in their teeth. Their leader
pronounces: "We foxes must find out who has been stealing
chickens and eating them." Once you get that picture in
your mind's eye, it just won't go away. It seems too good
an explanation of the way things work in Washington.
See the BBC article.
A Levee, or the Bridge to Nowhere?
Here's a perspective on how one project can compete with
another, how Congress makes decisions.
First, "President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion
pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including
a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island,"
reported the New York Times.
Second, in 2003, or in this year, an amount of $231 million
would have completed the ten-year refurbishment of the New Orleans
levees and pumping stations.
(Yes, the year is different, but the partisan trade-off is
the game every year.)
The game is played like this. The controlling party convenes
its budget committee. They mark up their wants and needs.
For example, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is in charge of
the Army Corps of Engineers and its budget. That's where
the New Orleans flood control project is found.
Then, the Congress people come in requesting pork -- as much
as they can request. That's people like GOP Rep. Don Young
and Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. They want a bridge to nowhere.
Besides they say, "The big party contributors are timber
companies who want to open the Tongass National Forest to
logging on Gravina Island. They need a way to get their logs
off the island."
Then enters the partisan score-keeper, like the person
whom Jim Hightower calls "their in-house political thug,
Karl Rove." Or, someone in the role
of partisan revenge-seeker.
Louisiana is a Democratic state;
Alaska is a Republican state. The logic is to move money
from Louisiana to Alaska. Besides, someone weighs in,
"Nancy Murkowski, the wife of Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski,
owns 33 acres of Gravina Island, valued at $224,600. Of course
Frank Murkowski wants development of Gravina Island."
At that point, New Orleans' levee project is doomed.
Follow the Money: The above budget officials
are people like Sen. Tom DeLay, Speaker Dennis Hastert.
The money people might include powerhouse lobbyists
like Jack Abramoff, the paragon of sleaze.
See more articles about the partisan pork priorities.
Bodies Are Strewn 'Like Roadkill':
That was the headline for a L.A. Times story this weekend.
It continued:
"With efforts focused on helping survivors, corpses lie scattered around the city. Trucks will serve as roaming morgues." Mike Brown is
the person in charge of FEMA. His job was to marshall all the
resources available to help the people of New Orleans and
Mississippi. He should be removed from that position
at once. His new job, without pay, should be to personally
pick up corpses from the New Orleans sewer water.
Read the entire article.
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.:
At last report the Secretary of State is responsible for
communicating with foreign governments. When dozens of
foreign governments were offering assistance to the people of
New Orleans and Biloxi, Condolezza Rice went shopping for shoes.
Then, she attended a Broadway play. Perhaps her thinking was
that nobody told her what to do!
Some Things Just Don't Change:
Greg Palast reminded us this week of the history of
flooding around New Orleans. To summarize,
'In 1927, a Republican President had his photo taken
as the Mississippi rolled over New Orleans.
Huey Long laid out a plan: . . .
public works to rebuild Louisiana and America . . .
The waters receded, the anger did not, and Huey "Kingfish"
Long was elected Governor of Louisiana in 1928.'
See more in Palast's
Palast's newsletter.
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