We have been very vigorously commenting on Katrina Rush...

There will be time later to assign the blame to the irresponsible parties.  And the American people will demand accountability.  But one thing is for sure, there was a systemic failure of our government to properly respond.  This is completely unacceptable in both "Red and Blue" America.  Never again when the lives of the American people are in danger can our government be unresponsive!!!

FEMA's response to Katrina was negligent.  If the problem is govermental red tape, cut the tape.  Make sure all the American people in future disasters get immediate and decisive help from our government.  This time it was the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama caosts...but it could have been any of us.

There by the grace of God...

I just got back to my home in Michigan after being turned around down in Jackson, MS in my attempt to help the people of New Orleans. I heard many things on the radio on my trip down there. Is it true that Congress had appropriated money to fortify the very levees that broke, but George Bush vetoed the expenditure calling it "Pork".

Is Iraq so important that the needs of our own people cannot be taken care of until the people get togther after a disaster and donate money. I do not believe that our government did not have enough resources to provide water and food to the thirsty and starving people of New Orleans. Their only thought was to shoot those poor thirsty, starving people for stealing food and water out of stores that were going under water anyway.

We say we are a moral country, but I sure don't see it in the actions of the government.

Pat Foster

.  .  . the needed rescue and recovery mission .  .  .  .

Welcome aboard, Mr. Hunt; it's nice to have a scientific mind among us.

My question is whether the term "recovery" includes the activity of rebuilding.  And if it does, whether the Democratic party will continue to support the destruction of Gulf coast wetlands, the federal insuring of beach-home McMansions, etc.

Or to put it differently, how much of my tax dollars should be spent to induce, by subsidization, people to build homes and establish businesses where rational risk evaluation would tell them not to?

I saw a diary entry this morning on the DailyKOS called "Rebuilding & Convergence".

 Some interesting thoughts are posted in it - are we up to the challenge as a nation to do anything along those lines?

(sorry if this repeats...I fubar'd the link) 

I really hope that you and the other Democratic members of Congress will loudly call for a repeal of the new bankruptcy law in the wake of Katrina.  The law is going to unjustly increase the suffering of those who have already lost so much, by making them indebted forever for things that they have lost--and it will make it harder for them to start over.  This type of disaster--whether on a grand scale or a private scale--is exactly what is ignored by the Republican Bankruptcy law.  And now that the nation is finally paying attention to those who are struggling and suffering--it is the time to point out the cruelty of the new law and the reasons it must be repealed.

Condolences will never erase the dismal failure of all members of Congress including yourself. Each member of Congress shares responsibility for the lack of infrastructure and the weakening of the United States as a world superpower. The President is responsible also.

Forgive my anger but I'm getting tired of these one night stand's that amount to nothing and are fruitless. When will you or colleagues use more than words to reconcile the continued evaporation of a successful democracy. This nation is being ruined by the spineless and the belligerent.

It takes more than talk to create change. It takes symbolism, when will a group of politicians take symbolic action to reconcile the failures? Do something besides talk! Do something besides being a puppet! Protest on the steps of Capitol Hill until your message is heard and creates effective change. NO MORE ONE NIGHT STAND'S!

In my opinion, all members have been inept at protecting our power and have failed the American public. 

  Michael Parenti in Z magazine notes that, after a recent major hurricane hit Cuba, 1.3 million people (10% of their population) were successfully evacuated without a single loss of life.

The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, joins an underground whispering chorus that NOLA should not be rebuilt, as it is below sea level, and also attacking liberals for  allegedly exploiting the issue politically for a rescission of tax cuts and for more concern about global warming, then turns around and tries to use Katrina as an argument for MORE tax cuts -- as an economic stimulus policy.

It would seem to me that many of the neighborhoods in NOLA are relatively newer ones without many of the really old and beautiful houses standing albeit in need of repair, that are situated below sea level and now flooded.   These areas could be built up with landfill, and NOLA restored in all its cultural and political glory that makes people like me love it but is precisely why so many would like it to disappear.

Here's the quotes from the WSJ:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007213


"But clearly there is an issue of how much federal money to pour into a city that is below sea-level and would still be vulnerable to another Category Four or Five storm."

"Republicans have been far too defensive on tax cuts, and Katrina is an opening to explain their necessity and to push for making them permanent."

Parenti's article:
How the Free Market Killed New Orleans*
By Michael Parenti
The free market played a crucial role in the destruction of New
Orleans and the death of thousands of its residents. Armed with
advanced warning
that a momentous (force 5) hurricane was going to hit that city and
surrounding areas, what did officials do? They played the free market.
They announced that everyone should evacuate. Everyone was expected to
devise their own way out of the disaster area by private means, just as
the free market dictates, just like people do when disaster hits
free-market Third World countries.
It is a beautiful thing this free market in which every individual
pursues his or her own personal interests and thereby effects an optimal
outcome for the entire society. This is the way the invisible hand works
its wonders.
There would be none of the collectivistic regimented evacuation as
occurred in Cuba. When an especially powerful hurricane hit that island
last year, the Castro government, abetted by neighborhood citizen
committees and local Communist party cadres, evacuated 1.3 million
people, more than 10 percent of the country's population, with not a
single life lost, a heartening feat that went largely unmentioned in the
U.S. press.
On Day One of the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina, it was already
clear that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of American lives had been lost
in New Orleans. Many people had "refused" to evacuate, media reporters
explained, because they were just plain "stubborn."
It was not until Day Three that the relatively affluent telecasters
began to realize that tens of thousands of people had failed to flee
because they had nowhere to go and no means of getting there. With
hardly any cash at hand or no motor vehicle to call their own, they had
to sit tight and hope for the best. In the end, the free market did not
work so well for them.
Many of these people were low-income African Americans, along with fewer
numbers of poor whites. It should be remembered that most of them had
jobs before Katrina's lethal visit. That's what most poor people do in
this country: they work, usually quite hard at dismally paying jobs,
sometimes more than one job at a time. They are poor not because they're
lazy but because they have a hard time surviving on poverty wages while
burdened by high prices, high rents, and regressive taxes.
The free market played a role in other ways. Bush's agenda is to cut
government services to the bone and make people rely on the private
sector for the things they might need. So he sliced $71.2 million from
the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent
reduction. Plans to fortify New Orleans levees and upgrade the system of
pumping out water had to be shelved.
Bush took to the airways and said that no one could have foreseen this
disaster. Just another lie tumbling from his lips. All sorts of people
had been predicting disaster for New Orleans, pointing to the need to
strengthen the levees and the pumps, and fortify the coastlands.
In their campaign to starve out the public sector, the Bushite
reactionaries also allowed developers to drain vast areas of wetlands.
Again, that old invisible hand of the free market would take care of
things. The developers, pursuing their own private profit, would devise
outcomes that would benefit us all.
But wetlands served as a natural absorbent and barrier between New
Orleans and the storms riding in from across the sea. And for some years
now, the wetlands have been disappearing at a frightening pace on the
Gulf' coast. All this was of no concern to the reactionaries in the
White House.
As for the rescue operation, the free-marketeers like to say that relief
to the more unfortunate among us should be left to private charity. It
was a favorite preachment of President Ronald Reagan that "private
charity can do the job." And for the first few days that indeed seemed
to be the policy with the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The federal government was nowhere in sight but the Red Cross went into
action. Its message: "Don't send food or blankets; send money."
Meanwhile Pat Robertson and the Christian Broadcasting Network---taking
a moment off from God's work of pushing John Roberts nomination to the
Supreme Court---called for donations and announced "Operation Blessing"
which consisted of a highly-publicized but totally inadequate shipment
of canned goods and bibles.
By Day Three even the myopic media began to realize the immense failure
of the rescue operation. People were dying because relief had not
arrived. The authorities seemed more concerned with the looting than
with rescuing people. It was property before people, just like the free
marketeers always want.
But questions arose that the free market did not seem capable of
answering: Who was in charge of the rescue operation? Why so few
helicopters and just a scattering of Coast Guard rescuers? Why did it
take helicopters five hours to get six people out of one hospital? When
would the rescue operation gather some steam? Where were the feds? The
state troopers? The National Guard? Where were the buses and trucks? the
shelters and portable toilets? The medical supplies and water?
Where was Homeland Security? What has Homeland Security done with the
$33.8 billions allocated to it in fiscal 2005? Even ABC-TV evening news
(September 1, 2005) quoted local officials as saying that "the federal
government's response has been a national disgrace."
In a moment of delicious (and perhaps mischievous) irony, offers of
foreign aid were tendered by France, Germany and several other nations.
Russia offered to send two plane loads of food and other materials for
the victims. Predictably, all these proposals were quickly refused by
the White House. America the Beautiful and Powerful, America the Supreme
Rescuer and World Leader, America the Purveyor of Global Prosperity
could not accept foreign aid from others. That would be a most deflating
and insulting role reversal. Were the French looking for another punch
in the nose?
Besides, to have accepted foreign aid would have been to admit the
truth---that the Bushite reactionaries had neither the desire nor the
decency to provide for ordinary citizens, not even those in the most
extreme straits. Next thing you know, people would start thinking that
George W. Bush was really nothing more than a fulltime agent of
Corporate America.
-------
Michael Parenti's recent books include Superpatriotism (City Lights) and
The Assassination of Julius Caesar (New Press), both available in
paperback. His forthcoming The Culture Struggle (Seven Stories Press)
will be published in the fall. For more information visit:
www.michaelparenti.org

  
 

When I heard the new Bush blame game using "bureaucracy" in the perjorative manner this morning, I found it extremely troubling.. it's an inference that displays how inconvenient the Bush administration finds the representative system of government, and it's ability to curtail the worst of his attempts to over-reach.

We need to be especially vigilant at the moment, keeping an eye on things.

I salute you Representative Holt, keep fighting the good fight.

Rep. Holt,

As I argue in my blog here at TPMCafe, I believe one key reason behind the lack of Federal response to Katrina compared to 9/11 lies in the predisposition of the PNAC crowd.  9/11 was the catalyst they had hoped for.  They had the script ready.  However, they seem to have little desire to do the more mundane work of securing the entire energy pipeline and thus their reaction to Katrina was less enthusiastic, if you will. 

What I found most striking about this post was one simple statement: "The essential role of government is to provide for its citizens in their time of need."

This seems so obvious, but I can’t recall ever hearing this stated as a principle of our government.  (Maybe it’s the last five years of Bush and co....) 

I’m amazed at the simplicity and the forcefulness of the concept — this is why we have governments!  So many of the ideas for a Democratic platform, fifty-word mission statement, or ten-point contract with America — this is what it comes down to.

This is why I support Social Security, this is why I want a strong FEMA, this is why I support money for education.  And it goes beyond domestic policy, too, as it recognizes the "need" of the collective citizenry (like "security" or "defense.")

This is why the federal response to Katrina has made me so angry and so frightened.  The government failed its part of the bargain.

Hello George Herbert Walker Bush

I'm writing here to criticize your son and the Republican party, which I have the right to do peacefully in this country.

Once again in a long line of disasters including 9-11 and the 2 space shuttle explosions, the Ford Explorer/Firestone tires rollover deaths, the prescription medication deaths, Enron, etc, New Orleans shows that the Republican party favors wealthy Republicans who don't like regulation of business and also want to give too much money in the form of tax cuts to wealthy Republicans causing budget problems that led to shortfunding programs for the improvement of levees in Louisiana to endure cat 4 and 5 hurricanes and favors companies or federal agencies too much and did not care about ordinary people and just left them to die of drowning, starvation, existing medical conditions without adequate medical help, rape, murder by criminals and for other reasons in flooded areas because your son's administration did not get federal troops down to New Orleans right away to rescue people. FEMA had the responsibility to get going right away but instead your son did not get FEMA going with troops. Yes, now's the point to criticize as well as do something to help the people in the South who have suffered. People can do both.

I have already sent money to an organization in New Orleans. I believe in Business and capitalism but not the cheap labor conservative laissez faire Ayn Rand type capitalism that you and your mad chimp of a son believe in.

How many people have died in the last 25 years since Ronald Reagan led his revolution which brought in a wave of radical Republicans who have wanted to deregulate companies and/or explore for oil which has lead to people either dying for oil in one way or another, or dying from unsafe products, or losing their life savings because your party looked the other way while your friend Ken Lay of Enron cheated millions of people or when the savings and loans stole from people in the 1980s. Why ? Why? Why?

One day when you and your son meet God I hope he plants both of you in purgatory forever, with you both never knowing where you will go.

More and more people appear fed up with the Republican Party and their deathbringing philosophy.

Noone died when Clinton lied, Mr. Bush.

And why did you abandon your crewmates in your plane that crashed in WWII? You could have landed your plane on the water and saved your crew. Military experts have mentioned that you could have landed on water and saved your crew in World War II. But no not you, you didn't consider them, you left them to die. The pattern has continued to this day where your son leaves people to die.

You don't like harsh criticism Mr. Bush? I will tell you what appears worse than harsh criticism, Mr. Bush: People who die as a result of your party philosophy and bad deeds.

 
DB
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

If you agree to make these demands of the following companies and will boycott them until the following conditions get met then place your name on the list after the last demand at the bottom of this email. Please also forward this email to as many people as you can so they can also sign the list of demands and then forward this email to webmaster@boycott-republicans.com with the subject name: AGENDA after you get the 50th signature on this email and I will forward this mail to the companies I have named below that we will boycott.
 
Walmart,  Wendy’s,  Outback Steakhouse,  Olive Garden,  Red Lobster Restaurants, Curves for Women health clubs,  Dominos Pizza,  CVS Pharmacies,  Eckerd Pharmacies , Walgreens Pharmacies.  
 

We demand that your company executives get the Republican Party to hold a press conference and accede to these demands. Until such a press conference happens and the legislation gets passed and signed into law, we will boycott your products.

We demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to end a woman’s right to choose abortion or not.

We Demand that George W Bush WITHDRAW the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme court and nominate a moderate judge to the Supreme Court.

We demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work.

We demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector.

We demand that the congress make all of a person’s earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar salary cap. This will make social security solvent for many years to come.

We demand the congress increase the payroll tax in order to make social security solvent as well.

We demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps, and no penalties for signing up in a succeeding year.

We call for the complete repeal of the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003.

We demand vote by mail with paper ballots throughout the United States of America. This will prevent Republicans from suppressing voting by skin color which happened electronically and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

We demand Civil servants on every state payroll should keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes.

We demand States ban the secretary of state from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign.

We do this in the spirit of peaceful resistance to a congress that refuses to enact this legislation.


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