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This morning Pres.
Bush actually said on Good Morning, America that “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” This prompted Dan Froomkin to write in
his Daily White House briefing that this rare live interview “exposed one of the president's greatest
weaknesses: He doesn't have the answers to some of the most important questions”.
Further, he’s flat wrong. His lame
statement contradicts
not just FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers but also the Scientific
American, National Geographic, local emergency personnel and newspaper who covered
the budget cuts to flood control and engineering projects in the Gulf,
specifically New Orleans. There is a
clear track record since the first Bush cuts in April 2001, when then Budget
Director Mitch Daniels indicated FEMA would be downsized. It was folded into
the department of Homeland Security in March 2003 and by summer 2004 funding
requests for high priority projects were slashed, citing the need for war
funds. Just 2 months ago, US COE funds for NO were cut by $72 MN. By the way,
this brings up the old question of “pork barrel” projects and how much we
denigrate local politicians for them. I know Sen. Mary Landrieu was rebuffed this
summer for requests for emergency funds, and Sen. Trent Lott has been accused
of being a top achiever for home state projects. While I have no knowledge of
her housing status, or claim that this is any retribution by God, other local
pols from Louisiana and Mississippi, including Sen. Lott, lost their homes in
Katrina’s wake. I’ve seen
reports that a Canadian rescue group was stopped at the BC border by Homeland
Security and not allowed in the US. Can anyone confirm that? Below are
several editorials from the many today questioning the federal gov’t/ Bush
administration actions and inaction. For those of you who don’t receive their
newsletter or bookmark the website, here is Center for American Progress’
collection on Bush and Katrina, Day 3. Bush values: Ask Not Speaking to a
nation that was in the midst of confronting monumental challenges such as
poverty and war, Pres. John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address,
"My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what
you can do for your country ... ask of us here the same high standards of
strength and sacrifice which we ask of you." Speaking from the Rose Garden
to a nation that is simultaneously fighting a war and dealing with perhaps the greatest natural disaster in U.S.
history, Pres. George W. Bush failed to issue any such call for
sacrifice. The New York Times writes in an editorial, "Sacrifices may be
necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient
way. But this administration has never been
one to counsel sacrifice." If you ask, they will respond: Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, Sen.
John McCain complained, "After 9/11, people wanted to serve and they were told to
go shopping or get on an airplane.... That's not the answer they wanted to
hear. This is an opportunity to serve." Americans have demonstrated time
and again that, in the face of tragedy, they will respond with true compassion.
Already, the Red Cross has announced that it has collected $21 million
in donations for the victims of Katrina, "a figure comparable to the response
for tsunami victims following the devastation in Asia earlier this year." "The outpouring of support has been
amazing," said Kara Bunte, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. "People are now starting to see the
images on TV and want to help." Americans also responded with amazing
compassion in the two months following 9/11, providing approximately 1.6 million blood donations and contributing over $1.3
million to charities and relief agencies. Americans can and will do more to
sacrifice; they simply need a president who will ask. Further, it would be
timely to organize a work program to employ all those newly homeless and
unemployed in projects such as those that FDR deployed during the depression,
to give meaningful work to desperate people. Again, this would take some vision
that Bush seems precariously lacking, given his proverbial reliance on
privatization. kwc NYT ED 090105: Waiting for a leader: “George W. Bush gave one of the worst
speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress
and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual
in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed.
He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day
celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets
delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who
wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would
work out in the end…It
would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America
"will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. omplacency will
no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global
warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this
administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of
leadership seem minimal.” http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/opinion/01thu1.html Orlando Sentinel
ED: After Katrina “…natural
disasters aren't unique to Florida. To protect all Americans, Congress should revisit federal
regulation of the insurance industry, and explore the feasibility of setting up
a federal reinsurance fund for natural disasters.
Hurricanes may be unpredictable beasts. But unlike earthquakes,
tornadoes or wildfires, major storms arrive with plenty of advance warning,
courtesy of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. The value of coordinated
emergency planning cannot be underestimated. Nor can the importance of a
coordinated emergency response. More important, citizens must heed the
directives of emergency personnel and community leaders. Too often, false
bravado, anxiety and apathy result in a needless loss of life. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed31105aug31,0,4995558.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines WP ED 090105: The Great Flood of ’05: “This administration has consistently
played down the possibility of environmental disaster, in Louisiana and
everywhere else. The president's most recent budgets have actually proposed
reducing funding for flood prevention in the New Orleans area, and the
administration has long ignored Louisiana politicians' requests for more help
in protecting their fragile coast, the destruction of which meant there was
little to slow down the hurricane before it hit the city. It is inappropriate
to "blame" anyone for a natural disaster. But given how frequently
the impact of this one was predicted, and given the scale of the economic and
human catastrophe that has resulted, it is certainly fair to ask questions
about disaster preparations. Congress, when it returns, should rise above the
blame game and instead probe the state of the nation's preparation for handling
major natural catastrophes, particularly those that threaten crucial regions of
the country”. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102256.html (one of the most conservative papers in the US) Union Leader (NH) ED Bush and
Katrina: a time for action, not aloofness As the extent of Katrina’s
devastation became clearer Tuesday — millions without power, tens of thousands
homeless, a death toll unknowable because rescue crews can’t reach some regions
— Pres. Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing
important had happened the day before… A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster
zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to
rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed,
clothed, sheltered and free of disease. The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited
in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11,
2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the
leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty. Wherever
the old George W. Bush went, we sure wish we had him back. http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=59785 Related Reading: Louisiana’s Times-Picayne
reporting on hurricane disaster potential in New Orleans and the budget cuts
since 2003 that hampered preparations.
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/ |
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