by Bill Bonner
Friday, September 9, 2005
Politicians and bureaucrats are being wrongly blamed for the New Orleans debacle.
"When government fails," is also the headline of The Economist's latest piece on the subject. So great was the failure of government, according to The Economist, that it has resulted in, "The shaming of America."
French citizens thought their government should have mounted its own rescue operation - pulling U.S. citizens out by helicopter as it had airlifted out French nationals during recent insurrections and civil wars in Africa.
British papers are appalled; they thought America was a civilized place.
Cuba offered disaster relief. So did Iran, and Honduras, the poorest country in Latin America.
The head of FEMA - a Bush appointee - was described by Maureen Dowd, who ought to know one when she sees one, as a 'blithering idiot.' The Economist suggests -attributing it to 'Bush supporters' - that New Orleans Mayor Nagin, who is black, " proved more adept at berating the federal government than at implementing the city's pre-prepared emergency plan." Andof course, Bush himself has been portrayed as lackadaisical, incompetent, uncaring and stupid. The debate is about which officials - federal, state or local - are the most incompetent.
Here, uncharacteristically and quixotically, we rush to defend our public officials as we would rush to the aid of drunk trying to find his car keys.
First, we begin our defense with a long list of admissions. We do not dispute the basic facts. Yes, all of the named - and many more never mentioned -officials are numbskulls. We wouldn't trust any of them to drain our bathtubs, let alone rescue a city from floodwaters.
Also, we admit that they could have made a better show of it.
In today's International Herald Tribune, Simon Winchester compared the response of today's politicians to those 100 years ago:
Read the full article here...
Comments?
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3 comments:
Kind of reminds me of the Godfrey Administration....spend, spend, spend, divert funds from their intented sources to fuel his grandiose schemes (HUD dollars meant for low income housing diverted to the parking garage at the mall that will be used by those who want to buy those $150,000 to $190,000 condos), the "expanding pyramid" of beuraucracy (hiring the SLC rejects over and over again and paying them $100,000 + per year to dream up these financial flops that have the city $76,000,000 upside down), the displacement of Ogden's lower class and minority citizens, and his rubber stamping council that OKs this madness come hell or high water and or logic.
A "blithering idiot?" I'm not sure that one can emphatically say that, but one has to wonder if this whole, sorry affair might not fit somewhere in that definition.
Think about it. A million displaced democRATs from the New Orleans area are removed to solid bastions of the Republican party. 1/4 million to Houston alone.
Gone are the days where 36% unemployment is fed by the democRAT welfare machine. These days the darkies have to work for a living. "I'm truly empowered for the first time in my life" a 21 year old single mother of seven exclaims. She adds: "God bless America!"
Who says there's no Federal preparedness?
A friend in mine in Alabama is sending me e-mails that seem to indicate that local incompetence was at the root of everything. Some of the buzz going around there is:
The government has sent much money to NOLA to fix the levees over the years, but these funds were diverted to other things by the levee board.
New Orleans had an emergency plan, but never implemented it.
NOLA turned the Red Cross and Salvation Army, who had food and hygiene supplies, away from the city, saying that they wanted the people to leave, and that giving them supplies would make them stay.
FEMA, oddly enough, to these people, is not viewed as a "first responder" organization. I always thought it was. But the local emergency plan and National Guard are supposed to be the first responders and FEMA then comes in and signs people up for assistance, etc., but does not give assistance itself. At least, that's what they're saying.
Here's a link to a large compilation of info that Knight Ridder put together: KR Washington Bureau
"Perhaps the most startling failure came in the reaction — or the apparent lack of one — from federal, state and local officials to the discovery that New Orleans' fragile levee system had collapsed hours before Katrina even made landfall. Engineers and emergency planners had warned for years that such a collapse would be catastrophic for the below-sea-level city and the people who lived there."
That one surprised me--I thought that happened afterwards.
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