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Arthur,
Though this article probably takes too much off of the shoulders of the
Feds and the White House, who absolutely had a lot to do with the compromising
physical planning of the N.O. coastal areas and the unconscionable
withholding of relief efforts, it certainly presents the case for also
distributing responsibility locally and statewide. The most economic and readily
available deployment of buses, whether school or public transport, was
overlooked almost as if by design. I say this because this very simple procedure
was part of the city's/state's emergency planning documents. When I first
learned that the buses had not been used, I was astonished. Too obvious a need
for a government that should be saving lives. I wondered, when I heard about the
evacuation, what plans were in place for the infirm and the poor, having heard
of none on the news reports, and learned--again incredulously, that there were
none. As if by design. Then after the ensuing days of flooding, the White
House refused out-of-country aid, which Canada was ready and able to
provide at once, and the U.S. has been slow/unable to issue on its
own. We were shown that the US government prefers that its
own flood victims die off rather than accept the offered hand of a
neighbour (who may report to the rest of the world the extent of chaos and
catastrophe within the US). To be sure, survivors would not vote for
Bush again. But, fewer survivors means less costly ensuing law suits
and compensation. The stench at the W.H. rather overpowers its own miscreation.
I don't think we can even imagine what this collective criminal
negligence is going to unveil. Economic impact can be guessed at, but social and
civil unrest is going to be huge. An entire very important cultural base has
been badly hit. New Orleans was an intoxicating and well-loved place,
despite the tourist traps and high crime, and I'm very sad to think
it's been allowed to be destroyed. Yet its ghostly presence pales beside
the avoidable human and animal losses, the individuals, families and entire
communities allowed to be drowned. Even the long dead from within its
antique mausoleums--a cherished characteristic of the area--are now disturbed
and co-mingle with the estimated 40,000 bodies expected (perhaps not
an exagerated estimate if one considers fragile health of the survivors,
civil unrest to come, disease setting in) by the Mortuary Operational Response
Team, a volunteer arm of the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Hearing that an entire rest home of thirty people perished leads me to the
question of why the care-providers, doctors, nurses, etc. could not have
found space in their SUV's for at least one patient under their care. Same goes
for the hospital staffs. I wonder if such actions should not
become mandatory under these conditions. I realize some patients would not
have been able to be moved, but most could have been saved. Fear of law suits or
reprisals from the Health Dept.?? Possibly told that buses/help was on its way?
Lots of questions. Put faith in government or common sense?
Heaven forbid that the aid not come in by way of donations and
supplies, given the US White House is ill-prepared/unwilling to handle its own
infra-structural damages, but will any less, as a result of Katrina, be
spent on Defense, Iraq or Afghanistan? It sickens me to hear that,
when Bush was asked whether the oil refineries would be expected to
contribute to the relief efforts, he replied that the best thing is for people
to donate to the Red Cross, thereby avoiding any expenditures on the part
of corporate America who profitted by physically endangering N.O.
underground and wetlands areas in the first place..
If FEMA is given even more power (hope you read my forwarded posting from
FromTheWilderness.com yesterday) what chance does the citizenry have of
correcting the disproportionate distributions of tax dollars and its very future
along with that? I can't help but agree with Michael Rupert when it comes to the
need for extreme caution when considering what absolute powers
the Feds may further confer upon FEMA/Homeland Security, be they Dem's
or Republicans. On a local scale, I can imagine the sheer number of
bureaucracies that need dismantling to begin to function as one efficient and
caring unit.
Natalia Kuzmyn
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