[Vision2020] 09-01-05 NY Times: Waiting for a Leader

[keely emerinemix]

But, but, wait!  He understands their suffering, Andreas!  Doesn't that mean 
anything to you???

My only question, one we'll debate for the ages, is whether or not the 
results of Election Day 2000 signified the worst disaster in American 
history, or if it was Nov. 2, 2004.  Because it appears clear that while the 
hurricane couldn't be stopped, the malfeasance that magnified its effect 
could've been . . .

I found the tax "rebate" three years ago to be unwise and offensive, and 
Jeff and I donated our share.  It felt like blood money; now I realize it 
was just muddy, filthy, and stunk like sewage.

keely emerine mix


From: Andreas Schou <ophite at gmail.com>
CC: Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] 09-01-05 NY Times: Waiting for a Leader
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 21:24:40 -0700

The parts of this catastrophe which I do not lay at Mother Nature's door, I
lay at George W.'s. A short chronology, cribbed from Kevin Drum:

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of
FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush
administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh
confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal
disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement
program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be
involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an
appropriate level.

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the
three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country.

December 
2003:<http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/16/allbaugh.resignation/index.html>After
less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start
up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq.
He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no
previous experience in disaster management

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into
the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting
acts of terrorism

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and
planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and
Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery

Summer 2005: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding
requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would
think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program
called for. We were more than qualified for it.

June 2005: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New
Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter
Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the
president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I
suppose that's the price we pay.

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is
the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after
the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany
parishes.

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush
mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark
Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation.
When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding
disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat,
defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

The Bush administration knew that a disaster of this scope was possible,
even inevitable, adn they were criminally neglegent in not taking safe, sane
precautions against it. They filled FEMA, one of the most important agencies
in the federal government, with political hacks and untested contractors.
This is, pardon my language, a fuck-up of truly epic proportions, one that,
in the end, is going to make 9/11 look like a drop in the bucket. It might
not have been able to be prevented, but when Bush got on TV today and told
us he didn't know the levees would break -- he's lying. Outright. Through
his teeth. And he's lying to save his ass.

-- ACS


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