Posted by:
Anonymous [
x] - (203.102.168.---)
Date: October 12, 2005 07:17PM
THEY DANCED WITH WHO BRUNG THEM
During the past week I read story after story about how so many of New Orleans'
middle and upper income residents were able to flee the city as Katrina
approached, but the poor were left to fend for themselves. The difference here
wasn't money. The difference here was attitude. It was the self-sufficient vs.
the dependent. The evil rich and middle-income residents fled New Orleans
because they are used to accepting the responsibility for their own welfare and
safety. The poor stayed behind because they're mired in the sludge of
generation after generation of dependency on government. The accomplished
class knows that they bear the responsibility for meeting their own needs and
providing for their safety. The poor by-and-large bear no such responsibility.
To them, it's the government's job. Instead of taking responsibility for their
own safety --- they just sat there, waiting for government to come and save
them. The achievement-oriented residents of New Orleans were spared the
horrors of the violence and filth that followed the flooding because they kept
doing what they had been doing all along -- accepting responsibility. The poor
were subjected to the violence and filth because they also kept doing what they
had been doing all along -- depending on government.
Hurricane Katrina illustrated the truth behind the contention that poverty is a
behavioral disorder.
JUST THE SAME ... IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT
Now here's something you probably didn't know about Louisiana and Hurricane
Katrina. At the very time Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans, there were
several top-level officials in the very department of Louisiana government that
prepares for emergencies such as Katrina sitting around and waiting for their
trial. Trial, you say? Trial for what? Let's try corruption and throw in a
bit of fraud.
It seems that these Louisiana officials either misspent or misplaced or ...
worse ... about 60 million federal taxpayer bucks. Here are some details ...
In March of this year -- that's about five months before Katrina -- FEMA was
asking for the return of $30.4 million that the federal government had sent to
Louisiana for emergency planning and preparedness. Most of this money was
sent to some state office called the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and
Emergency Preparedness. Wait .. it gets worse. According to the Los Angeles
Times, much of that money was sent to Louisiana under some federal program
called the Hazard Mitigation Grant program. That is a program that is, in
part, supposed to help states improve flood control facilities. Flood? Did
someone say flood?
Hazard mitigation would have been a great idea in New Orleans, don't you think?
Especially that "improve flood control facilities" part, but nobody seems to
know where the money went! OK ... let's follow the trail of $15.4 million
dollars that was spent by the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and
Emergency Preparedness. The $15.4 million was part of a $40.5 million grant of
your money that was sent to Louisiana for the Hazard Mitigation Program. You
know ... flood control and all that. Oops! Hold on a second here. My bad.
It seems we can't follow that $15.4 million.. You see, the Louisiana officials
say that they awarded that money to subcontractors for 19 major hazard
mitigation programs, but they just can't seem to find any receipts to account
of 97% of the funds. Ninety-seven percent of $15.4 million, my friends. No
receipts. That's $14.94 million .. gone, and nobody can trace it.
Do any of you think that something good might have been done with some of this
money? Lives saved? Flooding prevented? If you're thinking that, remember
... we're talking Hurricane Katrina here, and we all know that every bad thing
that happened in Hurricane Katrina was --- all together now ---- Bush's Fault!
Perhaps if these Louisiana officials ever actually go to trial now they will be
able to use the "Blame Bush" defense.
AND THAT'S NOT ALL .....
Let's see ... what else have we learned in the past week about the response to
Katrina.
Doctors from across the United States poured into Louisiana to offer their
services in shelters and hospitals treating Katrina's victims. They could do
nothing. They just sat. You see, they weren't licensed to practice medicine in
Louisiana. It took the amazing Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, five
days to sign a waiver to allow these doctors to practice medicine in Louisiana.
Five days, while people were suffering and dying. Don't blame Blanco, though.
It was clearly Bush's fault.
New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin
On the Saturday before the hurricane New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin received a call
from Amtrak. There was a passenger train sitting in the New Orleans station
with 900 empty seats. Did the Mayor want to put some evacuees in those seats?
No thanks. The train left nearly empty. You cannot blame Mayor Nagin for this
decision, that clearly would be racist. It just has to be Bush's fault.
In 1997 the U.S. Congress appropriated $500,000 of your money -- not federal
money, taxpayer's money -- to the State of Louisiana. The money was set aside
to create a "comprehensive analysis and plan of all evacuation alternatives for
New Orleans." Now correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the big deal here, isn't
it? New Orleans didn't get evacuated, right? Well, for two years nothing
happened. Then the Congress demanded of Louisiana a plan for evacuation in the
event of a category 3 story, a levee break, a flood or some other natural
disaster. The $500,000 of your money got to Louisiana .. but then what? It
was spent by the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission, not on an
evacuation plan, but things that needed to be done to the Lake Pontchartrain
causeway over the next fifteen years or so. What does the incredible Louisiana
Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness have to say about the
funds and the causeway study? The spokesman says that they can't find any
information. Actually, we shouldn't be holding the Louisiana emergency
preparedness folks or the state responsible for this ... not when we all know
it was Bush's fault.
Speaking of flood control. You did know, didn't you, that in 1996 the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers was going to raise and strengthen the very levees that failed
in New Orleans. They were going to, but they didn't. And why not? Because of a
lawsuit, that's why. The plaintiff in the lawsuit didn't want the work done
until extensive and expensive environmental impact statements were prepared by
the Corps of Engineers and approved by the EPA. And who filed that lawsuit?
Why .. it was the Sierra Club. The very same Sierra Club, by the way, that
listened with rapt attention in San Francisco on September 9th while Al Gore
told them that the leaders of this country ought to be held accountable for the
flooding in New Orleans. Now, some of us might be so twisted as to think that
the very Sierra Club that was so enthralled by Gore's rantings should bear some
of the blame here ... but that's only because we just don't realize that it was
all Bush's fault. Oh .. and by the way. Why haven't we heard more about this
Sierra Club lawsuit in the mainstream media? Remember the template.
Mayor Ray Nagin is inviting residents of some areas of New Orleans to come back
to their homes and businesses and begin the cleanup process. There's another
possible hurricane bearing down on the Florida Keys --- a tropical storm that
could become a hurricane and could head toward New Orleans. Now it's possible
that if over 100,000 residents return to New Orleans and are further victimized
by another hurricane and another flood .. will it be Mayor Ray Nagin's fault?
Of course not, you idiot! It will be George Bush's fault! Haven't you been
paying attention?
