My heart goes out to the folks in the states devastated right now by Katrina. I hate to bring up a political point at a time like this, but this article points out that the money slated to repair the levee in Louisiana was diverted by the Bush Administration to the war in Iraq. It’s a shame. I hope this gets out into the mainstream press.
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Scotty says
I am just sick about Nola. I know some people who are still missing– musical treasures at that.
Bush and others should hang for this, IMO. Not only was it preventable, but their response initially was PITIFUL
Anonymous says
I am wondering how this could have been prevented? Are you implying the President could have stopped the hurricane? I belive the residents knew the storm was coming, they were told to leave, MANY times and yet THEY chose to stay. When does personal responsible come in? What about the local government, or the Governor, if you blame the federal government then should you not first blame the local and state who did nothing? Or is it because you just hate the Bush because he is a republican? I noticed you offer no solutions, like most bashers you offer nothing but complaints. How abou tin Now it is said that people died, but these are people who CHOSE to stay, and a local and state government that let them. As for the response, it is against the law for the Federal government to move in until the Governor ask for help, which did not come until later, even though Bush called.
Maybe you should read this: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B15F63C550C718CDDA00894DD404482
Robert says
The purpose of my post was to point out that funding that could have mitigated the damage caused by this natural disaster was cut. It was not the generally bash anyone, but rather to provide some relevant facts. Calm down, you are too angry.
Anonymous says
You are blaming the wrong people, should not he people of the city and state pay for the improvements for the levees, and for the flood gates? This was planned for but was scraped when the Corps was stopped by the environmentalist lobby to save the wetlands. Now saving the wetlands is a noble thing, but was it worth the hundreds of lives and billions of dollars worth of damage from the floods??? But most never hear about that or the fact the mayor made a TV commercial just a few months back with the help of FEMA warning that if a large storm hits and you do not leave you will be on your own. Once again where is the personal accountable? If you own a house near a lake, and you knew that if it rained hard it could flood, what would you do?…..maybe build a wall to keep the water out, not just wait to see it will happen again, and then when it happens blame someone else.
Read: http://slate.msn.com/id/2125346/
Or
Michael Tremoflie tells of a flood control project that was stopped by the environmentalist lobby:
In the 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project planned to build fortifications at two strategic locations, which would keep massive storms on the Gulf of Mexico from causing Lake Pontchartrain to flood the city. An article in the May 28, 2005, New Orleans Times-Picayune stated, “Under the original plan, floodgate-type structures would have been built at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur passes to block storm surges from moving from the Gulf into Lake Pontchartrain.”
Robert says
Again, not blaming anyone. Just presenting a piece of information. While a cancelled project from the 1970’s is relevant, funding cut in 2003 is certainly more relevant.
Robert says
Furthermore, I agree completely that it shouldn’t be the federal government’s job to build things like this. I agree that things like this should be done by state and local governments. By the same token, however, if the federal government commits to building/fixing something of this level of importance, it is irresponsible for them to withdraw funding during the project. Certainly, based on the state of the project and the nature of the damage, it is unlikely that this natural disaster’s impact on the city of New Orleans could have been avoided had the funding not been withdrawn. It could, however, have mitigated the damage. That’s what I was getting at.
Robert says
Different Robert here…
as a former resident of N.O. I do believe that the Feds have a lot to answer for in terms of flood mitigation and post-storm resposnse. The post storm flooding was a failure of the levee system, which had its funding reduced by both republican and democratic administrations. The various funds that were cut by GWB would not have been acted on for years, but this type of storm damage has been predicted for years by city, state, FEMA, the Army Corp and the Discovery Channel! So for the pres to say things like, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees,” means that either he is uninformed or unwilling to accept that the feds screwed up in their planning.
For anyone plannning to blame the people that remained in the city, like Rick Santorum, ( “I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” – Sept. 6, 2005) I would like anyone to tell me how the city provided any evactuation plans that didn’t require ownership of a vehicle. Yeah I think the city has some blame for this situation, but no one else has the resources or the mandate to maintain and protect the city like the Feds do.
Anonymous says
As time has moved on, the true culprit in the tragedy has proved to be the corrupt Levee Board, which had all the responsibility and the money they needed, but chose to ignore their obligation and instead spend their time and money on fountains and private dicks, and subsequent settlements over private dicks through whom they vengefully sought to blackmail the media that was exposing their ineptitude long ago.
Anonymous says
I think it was just mother natures anger. It could have been planned for though.
Anonymous says
nice arguement, im on both sides …
if there are two sides.