[B]Diverting Attention to Looters to Hide Criminal Negligence[/B]

[seven]

Mike Witney, a survivor of hurricane Katrina, voiced that Louisiana politics is famously corrupt but that this past weeks our political leaders have defined a new level of incompetence.

After being trapped in a building for 2 days after the hurricane hit, they tuned their battery-operated radio into local radio and tv stations, hoping for vital news, and were told that their governer called for a day of prayer. As rumors and panic began to rule, they gave theme no source of solid dependable information.

That Tuesday night, politicians and reporters said that water level would rise another 12 feet- Intead it stablilized. Rumors spread like wildfire, and the politicians and media only made it worse.

While the rich escaped New Orleans, those with nowhere to go and no way to get there were left behind. Adding salt to the wond, the local and national media spent the last week demonizing those left behind.

No sane person should classify somone who takes food from indefinitely closed store in a desperate, starvinfg city as a "looter," but that's just what the media did over, and over agian. Sheriffs and politicians talked of having troops protect stores instead of perform rescue operations.

Images of New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged population were transformed into black, out-of-control, criminals.

As if taking a stereo from a store that will clearly be insured against loss is a greater crime than the governmental neglect and incompetence that did billions of dollars of damage and destroyed a city.

This media focus is a tactic the hyper-exploited people of New Orleans are being used as a scapegoat to cover up much larger crimes.

Despite the constant warnings from SELA (Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Contrl Project). Bush elected to under-fund the Lake Pontchartrain levee project by nearly 80%. The project reqired 20 mill and the Bush admin only provided a paltry $4 mill. Now New Orleans is buried under a 10 foot deep chemical-stew and corpses are reported to be bobbing atop the storm waters in the poorer neightborhoods.

This administration will have to deal with the devastation in New Orleans like they deal with every other tragedy, by diverting attention from themselves and by mounting a public relations offensive spearheaded by the impostor-in chief.

Expect to see Bush in a National Guard jumpsuit; preening before the adoring media while he condemns the wretched minorities who are picking through the debris of downtown New Orleans.

All this looting is just another Karl Rove tactic to draw attention from the criminal negligence of the Government and Local State Agencies.

This hurricane was unavoidable, but the broken dikes were the work of the Bush administration.

[>>Flyboy<<]

Mike Witney, a survivor of hurricane Katrina, voiced that Louisiana politics is famously corrupt but that this past weeks our political leaders have defined a new level of incompetence.

After being trapped in a building for 2 days after the hurricane hit, they tuned their battery-operated radio into local radio and tv stations, hoping for vital news, and were told that their governer called for a day of prayer. As rumors and panic began to rule, they gave theme no source of solid dependable information.

That Tuesday night, politicians and reporters said that water level would rise another 12 feet- Intead it stablilized. Rumors spread like wildfire, and the politicians and media only made it worse.

While the rich escaped New Orleans, those with nowhere to go and no way to get there were left behind. Adding salt to the wond, the local and national media spent the last week demonizing those left behind.

No sane person should classify somone who takes food from indefinitely closed store in a desperate, starvinfg city as a "looter," but that's just what the media did over, and over agian. Sheriffs and politicians talked of having troops protect stores instead of perform rescue operations.

Images of New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged population were transformed into black, out-of-control, criminals.

As if taking a stereo from a store that will clearly be insured against loss is a greater crime than the governmental neglect and incompetence that did billions of dollars of damage and destroyed a city.

This media focus is a tactic the hyper-exploited people of New Orleans are being used as a scapegoat to cover up much larger crimes.

Despite the constant warnings from SELA (Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Contrl Project). Bush elected to under-fund the Lake Pontchartrain levee project by nearly 80%. The project reqired 20 mill and the Bush admin only provided a paltry $4 mill. Now New Orleans is buried under a 10 foot deep chemical-stew and corpses are reported to be bobbing atop the storm waters in the poorer neightborhoods.

This administration will have to deal with the devastation in New Orleans like they deal with every other tragedy, by diverting attention from themselves and by mounting a public relations offensive spearheaded by the impostor-in chief.

Expect to see Bush in a National Guard jumpsuit; preening before the adoring media while he condemns the wretched minorities who are picking through the debris of downtown New Orleans.

All this looting is just another Karl Rove tactic to draw attention from the criminal negligence of the Government and Local State Agencies.

This hurricane was unavoidable, but the broken dikes were the work of the Bush administration.

Same commentary as already posted, you must of like what you wrote -

You ramble about state and local officals and then you bring up arguments about the levys with inaccurate numbers on the cost of the project and again try to blame the adminstration for the problem as butget cut targets. I last visited New Orleans in 1996 - the levys needed replacement then. Why not hold those people in office then responsible at the local, state and federal levels responsible as well?!?!?

[seven]

Same commentary as already posted, you must of like what you wrote -

You ramble about state and local officals and then you bring up arguments about the levys with inaccurate numbers on the cost of the project and again try to blame the adminstration for the problem as butget cut targets. I last visited New Orleans in 1996 - the levys needed replacement then. Why not hold those people in office then responsible at the local, state and federal levels responsible as well?!?!?

Duh I like what I wrote... umm... I wrote it!

I liked it so much I decided to start it as a tread...
Not rocket scientist! (one and one is...)


As I posted to your respond on this in the other tread...
YOU ARE DIMISSED! (AKA IGNORED)

You're to emotional (and I'm tired of having you as my little bitch).
It's not you... It's me... I just need some mental stimulation is all... I hope you understand.. :(

If not... SEE YA ANYWAY!!!! :D
(or not... oops!)

[>>Flyboy<<]

Duh I like what I wrote... umm... I wrote it!

I liked it so much I decided to start it as a tread...
Not rocket scientist! (one and one is...)


As I posted to your respond on this in the other tread...
YOU ARE DIMISSED! (AKA IGNORED)

You're to emotional (and I'm tired of having you as my little bitch).
It's not you... It's me... I just need some mental stimulation is all... I hope you understand.. :(

If not... SEE YA ANYWAY!!!! :D
(or not... oops!)

You having me?!? Ha - you're 7th grade emotions are starting to show their nasty little heads - I'm not emotional at all but I think maybe a combination of Valium, Prozack and Midol might do you well right now!

[unlawflcombatnt]

Same commentary as already posted, you must of like what you wrote -

You ramble about state and local officals and then you bring up arguments about the levys with inaccurate numbers on the cost of the project and again try to blame the adminstration for the problem as butget cut targets. I last visited New Orleans in 1996 - the levys needed replacement then. Why not hold those people in office then responsible at the local, state and federal levels responsible as well?!?!?

Funds for repairing the levy were actually reduced under the Bush administration. 10 separate articles appeared in the Times Picayune of New Orleans describing the problem. These articles were all written during Bush's "reign of stupidity." $100 million was initially supposed to go to repairing the levies. But it was reduced to $42 million so people like Republican Ted Stevens could get a $200+ million bridge for his home state of Alaska. This overabundance of Corporate Welfare is a product of the Bush plutocracy, not Bill Clinton.

[Wallis]

It wasn't a secret that levees built to keep New Orleans from flooding could not withstand a major hurricane, but government leaders never found the money to fully shore up the network of earthen, steel and concrete barriers.
Both the Bush and Clinton administrations proposed budgets that low-balled the needs. Local politicians grabbed whatever money they could and declared victory. And the public didn't exactly demand tax increases to pay for flood-control and hurricane-protection projects.
Story (http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050901/D8CBNMA88.html)

Naturally, Bush's critics want to make this into a major issue in the run-up to the 2006 mid-term elections next fall. But the reality is more complex than the Bush Blamers will admit. They want you to believe that inadequate flood-control protections became a problem only after Bush took office. However, the New Orleans Times-Picayune has written numerous articles over the years describing the threat posed by inadequate funding for flood-control measures. Many of these articles, such as the one authored by Pam Louwagie on June 1, 1999 (see extended entry), appeared well before President Bush took office.
The Times-Picayune's articles make clear that throughout much of the 1990s, officials in Louisiana couldn't come up with state money needed to match federal funds. The resignation of Rep. Bob Livingston in December 1998 didn't help. (Livingston was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; federal funding for flood control projects was one of his pet projects.) Nor did environmental laws, such as the Migratory Bird Act of 1918. (Construction on a hurricane protection levee in St. Charles Parish was halted for months because a great egret nesting area sat in the levee's path.)
No one expected that weak spot to be on a canal that, if anything, had received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region. It did not have broad berms, but it did have strong concrete walls.
Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was "along a section that was just upgraded."
"It did not have an earthen levee," Dr. Penland said. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick."
The Chicago Tribune makes the same point in even stronger terms:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that a lack of funding for hurricane-protection projects around New Orleans did not contribute to the disastrous flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.
In a telephone interview with reporters, corps officials said that although portions of the flood-protection levees remain incomplete, the levees near Lake Pontchartrain that gave way--inundating much of the city--were completed and in good condition before the hurricane.
However, they noted that the levees were designed for a Category 3 hurricane and couldn't handle the ferocious winds and raging waters from Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 4 storm when it hit the coastline. The decision to build levees for a Category 3 hurricane was made decades ago based on a cost-benefit analysis.
It's worth noting, too, that Democrats not from Louisiana have not always been enthusiastic supporters of New Orleans' anti-flood efforts. The Clinton Administration held up a major New Orleans levee construction project in 1995, according to a June 23, 1995, article in the Times-Picayune (via EU Rota):
A hurricane project, approved and financed since 1965, to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal is in jeopardy.
The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report recommending that the $120 million project proceed. Unless that report is forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget, Congress cannot authorize money for the project, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office said Thursday.
Without the improvements - a flood gate in the Harvey Canal and raised levees along the Intracoastal Waterway - a tidal surge produced by a hurricane "could result in the catastrophic loss of life and property damage," corps officials reported. In a worst-case-scenario storm, 82 percent of the buildings east of the Harvey Canal, from The Point in Algiers to the Algiers Lock in the Industrial Canal, would be flooded, causing $2.2 billion in damage, according to corps estimates.
Gerald Spohrer, executive director of the West Jefferson Levee District, is seething. "The bureaucracy in Washington has been given a specific instruction and the way they are dealing with it is to do nothing," he said.
If financed by Congress, the project could be started early next year, Spohrer said. Work on the Westwego to Harvey Canal Project hurricane levee, costing $90 million, is 30 percent complete, and plans are about to be drawn for the $20 million Lake Cataouatche Project, which would protect the area west of Westwego....
That project is not the only West Bank flood-control work in jeopardy. Federal budget cuts also may prevent construction of levees outside the main hurricane levee system that would protect the Jean Lafitte-Barataria area. Those levees, to cost $5 million, would not protect the area from severe hurricane surges, but could offer protection against a storm such as Hurricane Juan, which while weak, had heavy rains that caused massive flooding.
EU Rota has more examples of Clinton-era obstructionism here.
(Maybe this explains why Clinton took the high road yesterday and refused to trash Bush on CNN.)
It wasn't only in Louisiana that the Clinton Administration opposed flood control measures. During the 2000 presidential campaign, Clinton vetoed legislation designed to prevent flooding on the Missouri River. According to Michael Catanzaro, the veto stemmed from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to manipulate the Missouri's water levels to save three endangered species. The veto, a significant campaign issue, was a factor in Bush's narrow win over Al Gore in Missouri.
Though Congress authorized West Jefferson to complete its levee projects in 1996, the state hasn't made matching money a priority the past three years because the weather "really didn't show us the potential dangers we had until the storms last year ... showed the seriousness of it," said Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego.

Story (http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003447.htm)

[Wallis]

Bush Not To Blame For Levee Failure
You can put to rest the conspiracy-theory rumblings of some leftwingers that "Bush budget cuts" for levee improvements and a study of upgrading New Orleans' levees are to blame for levees breaking and New Orleans being flooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The allegation simply doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of cold, hard facts...
Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the Corps, dismissed suggestions that recent federal funding decreases or delayed contracts had any impact on levee performance in the face of Katrina's overwhelming force.
Instead he pointed to a danger that many public officials had warned about for years: The system was never designed to withstand a storm of Katrina's strength.
"It was fully recognized by officials that we had Category Three [hurricane] level of protection," Strock said. "As projections of Category Four and Five were made, [officials] began plans to evacuate the city.
"We were just caught by a storm whose intensity exceeded the protection that we had in place."
...
Until the day before Katrina's arrival, New Orleans's 350 miles (560 kilometers) of levees were undergoing a feasibility study to examine the possibility of upgrading them to withstand a Category Four or Five storm.
Corps officials say the study, which began in 2000, will take several years to complete
Upgrading the system would take as long as 20 to 25 years, according to Al Naomi, the Corps' senior project manager for the New Orleans District.
New Orleans' levees were raised to a height of 12 feet after Hurricane Camille's 10-foot storm surge in 1969. That decision was made by the Orleans Levee Board. George W. Bush did not become president until 2001.
UPDATE: As Captain Ed notes, even the New York Times notes that the levee that failed had already been upgraded.
Captain Ed also notes that the fault for the slow mobilization of the National Guard lies with none other than Louisiana Gov. Blanco, who has the authority to order the Guard mobilized.
Story (http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/007196.html)

10 years ago, the Clinton administration cut 98 flood control projects, including one in New Orleans, saying such efforts should be local projects, not national.

Story (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46132)

Hurricane disaster budget cuts predate Bush's Administration.
Congress in 1999 authorized the corps to conduct a $12 million study to determine how much it would cost to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane, but the study isn't scheduled to get under way until 2006. It was not clear why the study has taken so long to begin, though Congress has only provided in the range of $100,000 or $200,000 a year so far.
...
Funding for these projects has generally trended downward since at least the last years of the Clinton administration. Congressional records show that the levee work on Lake Pontchartrain received $23 million in 1998 and $16 million in 1999. It was not clear how much the drainage project received in 1998, but records show it received $75 million in 1999.
But this is all chump change. Surely Senator Landrieu and other federal-level Louisiana politicians have gotten hold of much larger chunks of money for a variety of pork projects during the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and since 2000. They could have gotten a lot more for flood control.
But I'm a federalist. While I have a fairly negative of view George W. Bush why can't the people of New Orleans and Louisiana finance a sufficient levee system that would handle even the worst case storms? Why didn't the local governments increase property taxes to fund the construction of levees to protect their property? Doesn't the blame rest on local elites and local voters?
In a nutshell: Why should the rest of the American public pay for property protection when a tax on local property owners to pay off some bonds could have built up sufficient levees?
The insufficient levees were a disaster waiting to happen for decades. That successive generations of Louisiana politicians failed to address the known threat says more about the voters than it does about the obviously inadequate Democratic Governor Blanco or Republican President Bush or ditzy Democratic Senator Landrieu.
Story (http://www.parapundit.com/archives/002972.html)

[Wallis]

There are a lot more stories on the Internet for both sides of the blame game. From my pickle barrel, too many people are jumping on the bandwagon to blame the current President because it is the easy thing to do.

Regardless of who is to blame, there are two points that bear out that are kind of buried beneath all of the rhetoric from both sides:

1. The levees were built to withstand a hurricane strength of 3. Not a 4 or a 5, but a 3. Even if all the levees were in tip-top shape, they were not built to withstand a hurricane 4 or 5.

That's like building a building to withstand an earthquake for a magnitude up to 5 or 6. But when a 7 hits, and the building falls down, then people are quick to point out that the current government is at fault. Someone will have to explain that one to me.

By the way, one of the articles above notes that Congress (and that's where I have to point the ultimate finger) authorized a study--a study, mind you--and those of you who have served in the military or in any government postition will roll your eyes, knowing the amount of pork that goes on in a study--to see what it would take to shore up the levees for a stronger storm. That study was to begin in 2006.

2. Politicians at every local, state, and federal agency used monies available for their own little pork. Anyone who has been around for a while and truly observed government at work will instantly realize that government is corrupt at every level. Why? Because government is run by people, and people are going to use power and influence that will directly benefit them, not the people they are sworn to serve.

I have worked alongside people (in the past) who had to defend classified projects within the national budget. My heart went out to these heroic peple every year. One project alone consisted of books that if stacked on top of each other from floor to ceiling could reach a height of eight to ten feet high. With the armageddon-like battles over federal dollars just within the military, each cent spent--not dollar--I mean each cent spent had to be meticulously defended.

With armies of people in the trenches doing the battling, you cannot tell me that a senator and his staff, much less the President, is going to take the time and go over the "books" with a fine-toothed comb and approve each and every line of the budget. No way. In the military, we always had to have a small paragraph at the end of each paper and proposal entitled "THE BOTTOM LINE." THAT bottom line was usually the only paragraph that was read by the generals and staffers at the Headquarters' Level.

Ideally, it should be up to everyone of us "peons" to be doing the line-by-line checking and cross-checking of the actions of what our government officials are doing. But do we really want to do that? I don't. I've got a life, thank you. And, since I have taken that stance, then at the same time I have surrendered the right to complain that the government didn't do its job.

[cob1639]

1st of all new guy - Great name!

2nd - The numbers can be fudged by either side, depending on the source. I referenced that stupid transportation bill in a similar thread. That stupid bridge in Alaska wasn't even the worst of it!

$4,000,000 for the Jones Falls Greenway to construct Phase II of this urban trail in Baltimore City, Maryland;
-$3,000,000 to construct two Missouri bridges and their approach roadways in Nebraska;
-$3,000,000 for the construction of a bicycle/pedestrian bridge to connect the shores of the Salt River in Arizona;
-$2,000,000 for improvements to increase beach access, prevent storm drain failure, and accommodate increasing pedestrian traffic on The Stand in Manhattan Beach, California;
-$2,000,000 for a high-speed catamaran ferry in Massachusetts;
-$1,500,000 for the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan;
-$1,000,000 to restore and expand a maritime heritage site in Bristol, Rhode Island;
-$1,000,000 for a parking lot in San Diego, California;

It goes on but you get the point. A million dollars for a parking lot. Nice.

I think blaming the president and going from there is the wrong way to go. You sould look at the actual events that led directly to the levee breaking and the people getting screwed. Maybe it will end up being the presidents fault by a purponerance of the evidence, but we sould work our way to that.

I know Flyman will defend Bush and 7 will not! (Neither will new guy appearantly) But I'll keep score.

Pro Bush:
1.The feds, by law, gotta wait until the local and state officials make the call.
2.Pork barrell spending (like in the transportation bill) has very little to do with the executive branch. While he signed it, both sides are guilty for diverting those funds.

Against Bush:
1.Bush cut funding for the levee project - by how much is debateable.
2.Bush moved FEMA from the cabinet level to Homeland Security.

Anybody wanna play? Score is 2 to 2. Bush could lose by a thousand but Karl Rove is so good that he'll make it look like a tie!

O+<

[Wallis]

AS many of you know, I am currently residing in the Philippines. Fourteen years ago, Luzon Peninsula suffered a huge catastrophe in the eruption of Mount Pinatubo followed by a devastating typhoon.

Just in the two years of living here, I have come to an understanding of local and national politics, having met people in those spheres. Americans should just thank the good Lord for the mess they have to deal with in dealing with American government.

"Daily alerts were issued stating the alert level and associated danger area, and the information was announced in major national and local newspapers, radio and television stations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and directly to the endangered inhabitants. Many of the Aeta who lived on the slopes of the volcano left their villages of their own volition when the first explosions began in April, gathering in a village about 12 km from the summit. They moved to increasingly distant villages as the eruptions escalated, with Some Aeta moving up to nine times in the two months preceding the cataclysmic eruption. The first formal evacuations were ordered from the 10 km zone on 7 April. Evacuation of the 10–20 km zone was ordered when a level 4 alert was issued on 7 June. A level 5 alert triggered evacuation of the 20–40 km zone on 14 June, and in all Some 60,000 people had left the area within 30 km of the volcano Before 15 June. Most people temporarily relocated to Manila and Quezon City, with Some 30,000 using the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City as a refugee camp.

About 300 people were killed by the eruption, mostly by roofs collapsing under the weight of accumulated wet ash, a hazard that was greatly exacerbated by the simultaneous arrival of Typhoon Yunya. The evacuation in the days preceding the eruption certainly saved tens of thousands of lives, and has been hailed as a great success for volcanology and eruption prediction. However, since the eruption, each rainy season has brought further lahars, which have caused the displacement of thousands of people. Hundreds have died from poor sanitation in relocation camps. Agriculture in the region also suffered badly from the effects of the eruption, with hundreds of square kilometres of formerly arable land being rendered infertile and thousands of farmers' livelihoods destroyed. The United States maintained two large air bases in the region; Subic Bay Naval Base was 75 km (50 mi.) to the southwest, while Clark Air Base was a mere 40 km (25 mi.) to the east of the volcano's summit. Both were abandoned after being severely damaged by the eruption."

Story (http://informer.bpa.nu/mount-pinatubo/)

When I asked about government assistance, frankly, I cannot believe the number of blank looks I have received. These people have learned that they cannot rely on the government. They rely on themselves. And, if anyone should come to the Luzon Peninsula, they will be surprised to see how far these people have recovered. And they did it all by themselves.

[cob1639]

And, since I have taken that stance, then at the same time I have surrendered the right to complain that the government didn't do its job.

George Carlin said:

"If you vote, and the people for whom you voted screw everything up - It's your fault. You voted for them. You are responsible for what they have done. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN.

But - If you don't vote, it's NOT your fault. It's the voters fault. You have EVERY right to complain!

Most people hate how much sense that makes!

O+<

[seven]

I vote and hope that it's worth about .000000000000001 percent of what I'm actually led to believe it's worth.

Oh, if only I were a Corporation so that I could afford for my vote to really mean something!!! :(

[cob1639]

I vote and hope that it's worth about .000000000000001 percent of what I'm actually led to believe it's worth.

Oh, if only I were a Corporation so that I could afford for my vote to really mean something!!! :(

You're not voting hard enough. Here's the secret: Register as a republican - so you won't be turned away at the polls - then vote however you want.

THEN - Go to another polling station and vote again! When they tell you that you're not allowed to vote there, just say, "But I'm registered as a Republican." Then you're in. You can do that all day long!

O+<

[>>Flyboy<<]

Turned away at the polls? I'd like to see where that's at? Oh - Florida maybe? :confused:

[cob1639]

Turned away at the polls? I'd like to see where that's at? Oh - Florida maybe? :confused:

It's a joke you schmuk! I think maybe Bush did steal the election but if he did, it's just because he cheated better than the Dems. Not because the Dems played fair or anything.

O+<

[>>Flyboy<<]

It's a joke you schmuk! I think maybe Bush did steal the election but if he did, it's just because he cheated better than the Dems. Not because the Dems played fair or anything.

O+<

I know it is that's why I said that - now where's your sence of humor :rolleyes:

[cob1639]

I know it is that's why I said that - now where's your sence of humor :rolleyes:

Only a true hypocrite like me can laugh at my own jokes while not acknowledging someone elses.

[>>Flyboy<<]

Only a true hypocrite like me can laugh at my own jokes while not acknowledging someone elses.

You're probably a legend in your own mind as well? :rolleyes: