What is it you all called those folks like Rumsfeld who had no military experience but wanted to fight a war? Chicken hawks? I'd like to come up with a name for someone who has no experience in large scale disaster relief who nevertheless feels free to criticize the people trying to provide disaster relief while that relief effort is ongoing. In the NFL they have a name for guys who create havoc for the team by being constant complainers instead of trying to help the team. They call them turds.
More importantly, the former head of the Army Corps of Engineers was on MSNBC just now. He resigned after Bush wouldn't put sufficient money into the Corps budget for infrastructure projects like this one. Alex Witt was trying to get him to blame Bush for the disaster. Unfortunately for her, he told the truth- that nationwide we have failed to invest sufficiently in our infrastructure for the last forty years. Every president, every Congress, the federal agencies- everyone. It has transcended president and party. He also noted that Bush could have funded a project for New Orleans as soon as he took office and it would not have made a big difference, because these projects take years to execute. There was a federal project funded in 1965 to reinforce the levees after Hurricane Betsy. That project was supposed to be finished by 1975. As of the beginning of 2005, it was only 80% complete. Then we wouldn't need thousands of troops and the tens of billions it will now cost to deal with this mess. > Martha A. Madden, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of > Environmental Quality, said she believes a critical systemic breakdown > > occurred the moment the levee broke. She said contingency plans have > been in > place for decades but were either ignored or improperly executed. > > Madden, now a national security and environmental consultant, said the > lack > of immediate federal help, specifically in the form of military > assistance, > was "incomprehensible." > "How many people are going to die, per hour, before you get 40,000 > troops in > there?" Madden asked yesterday. "I think it has cost lives. . . . They > can > go into Iraq and do this and do that, but they can't drop some food on > Canal > Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now? It's just mind-boggling. > " > > http://www.washingtonpost. > com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090102428_2. > html?referrer=email ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:172488 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
