Anyway this is the third anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and once again it is hurricane season and Hurricane Gustav is heading for New Orleans.
But Hurricane Katrina disaster was not just a " Natural Disaster" as it was also a failure on the part of the US Government . The Government failed to take actions over a decade or more to improve the levees in New Orleans. It was the failure of the Levees which did the most damage to the city of New Orleans. It was known by the Core of Engineers for over a decade that the levees protecting New Orleans were in need of major repairs and rebuilding.
And even after 9/11 the Emergency Measures and contingency plans which should have come into play after the Levees broke in New Orleans this is not what happened. The disaster was made worse by inadequate and delayed response of FEMA and the other agencies which were supposed to coordinate a comprehensive and timely disaster response.
Of course the Bush Regime believe that communities and volunteer organizations and local churches etc. should step in during times of need. But when the catastrophe is on the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina affecting three states the needs of the people are beyond what can be expected to be provided by local organizations or local churches. A few bake sales is not enough to help out a few hundred thousand people or to rebuild tens of thousands of homes or to rebuild a city the size of New Orleans. I had hoped at the time of the Katrina Disaster that once and for all these notions about communities always being able in times of crisis should be able to take care of themselves. Instead most Americans forgot about New Orleans or found some way to lay the blame for the aftermath of the disaster on the victims or on the city council or on the governor of Louisiana .
Or as people like Glenn Beck argued that the people of New Orleans were living in a city that was doomed because it is below sea-level. Glenn Beck said the people of New Orleans should abandon their city. He believes that the federal government should not be involved in giving disaster relief or having the government use its money , his tax dollars to rebuild New Orleans. This seems a very odd way to look at one's own country and to not believe that Americans should help out other Americans when their is a need. So everyone no matter what happens; everyone in America is on their own.This is the selfish small minded view it appears of many Americans.
Though Glenn Beck and other Neocons would not argue this same point when it comes to New York being in danger of flooding. Nor do these Neocons argue that the people of Los Angeles or San Francisco get what they deserve if they insist on living in areas which are prone to Earth Quakes or Massive out of control brush fires . Or those in Northern States who inundated by flood waters in the spring time or those who live in areas which are periodically hit by massive snow storms or ice-storms or those who live in areas prone to tornadoes etc. Are all of these people to move out of such areas.
What then is the point of having a union of states under a federal government if that government has no responsibility to its people in times of war, terrorist attack or a natural disaster or an outbreak of some disease which affects hundreds of thousands or even millions . Well George Bush and Dick Cheney, Karl Rove , Condoleeza Rice would tell those affected not to be complaining and whinnying to just be optimistic and hopeful and pray more. As Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson used to say all these calamities which hit the United States are all signs from God showing his displeasure of America's immorality . Therefore if we accept their reasoning what then can the US Federal Government do when coming face to face with God's anger at America.
To push this a bit further then lets look at a disease such as cancer. If God is responsible for everything then He is responsible for an individual having cancer so why then should anyone spend time and money and effort trying to cure Cancer which is a sign as a punishment or as a trial for an individual ; wouldn't trying to find a cure for Cancer be a way of going against God's Will.
Katrina
Storm Is Called Gustav, but New Orleans Hears "Katrina"
Saturday 30 August 2008
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by: Howard Witt, The Chicago Tribune
New Orleans -
They had to cut short the funerals for the final seven victims of the last catastrophic hurricane so that officials could rush off to begin a massive evacuation Saturday ahead of the next one.
Precisely three years to the hour after Hurricane Katrina slammed into metropolitan New Orleans, flooding the city, killing more than 1,800 people and displacing at least a million others, city officials interred the last unidentified bodies of Katrina victims inside austere granite crypts at a new memorial cemetery.
Hundreds of bells were rung, a lone trumpet played a gospel hymn then the mayor, the police chief, the coroner and other emergency officials raced back to a command post Friday to prepare for a possible citywide evacuation ahead of Gustav, the storm newly elevated to hurricane status. If it stays on its current trajectory into the Gulf of Mexico, Gustav is aimed straight for the Louisiana coast.
...A sense of foreboding and urgency mounted Friday across this stricken city still struggling to resurrect itself from Katrina's destruction even as local, state and federal officials declared that, unlike three years ago, they would not leave tens of thousands of the poorest New Orleanians behind to fend for themselves.
With the city's loose network of protective levees still only partially rebuilt after Katrina smashed them, 700 chartered buses headed toward New Orleans while mustering posts were readied across the city to accommodate an estimated 30,000 ailing, infirm or impoverished citizens without the means to evacuate themselves. They were to begin leaving the city Saturday morning for shelters in the interior of Louisiana and surrounding states
...Elsewhere across the city, pockmarked with 65,000 blighted houses destroyed by Katrina and yet to be razed or rebuilt, there were signs of mounting psychological distress. Calls to a mental health hot line at the Louisiana State University medical center in New Orleans spiked Thursday and Friday
But New Orleans is at risk of another catastrophic levee failure . But other cities in America are also at risk because their levee systems are inadequate .
The Katrina Myth; the truth about a thoroughly unnatural disaster
after the Levees broke the government failed the people of New Orleans
FEMA Failed the People of New Orleans Bush failed the People of New Orleans. And McCain has offered no real hope for New Orleans if he becomes president.
Besides the thousands of homes and rental units which have not been replaced not only are the Levees still not up to par but the Health Care Systen in New Orleans is also broken. The city of New Orleans and its people have been abandoned by Federal US Government under The Bush Regime.
Broken Levees, Broken Lives: A Post-Katrina Focus On Health
And here's Olbermann on McCain & Hrurricane Katrina
April 24, 2008
and so it goes,
GORD.
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