On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 01:19:05 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:

The government policies that caused so much misery did not blow in on
the winds of hurricane Katrina. They did not even begin with Bush's
ascension to power. According to this article, they have been brewing
for the last twenty five years.

---
Gulf Coast is Apocalypse Now

by Anthony Robinson

There is a difference between politics and governance. The Bush
administration is very, very good at politics, and the business of
making itself look good. The administration is far less able at
governance, the business of doing a good job. The distinction has been
brought into sharp relief by the apocalyptic events in New Orleans,
where failures in governance would not be spun away.

Several patterns are in evidence. As for 9/11, both long- and short-term
warnings were not taken seriously. Many studies, even including
television specials, described the vulnerability of New Orleans to such
a storm. Moreover, the path and force of Hurricane Katrina were
predicated. Yet as at 9/11, when the president dallied in an elementary
school, here he stayed on vacation at the ranch until days after the
storm. As in Iraq where no plans were in place for winning the peace, so
in New Orleans there was no evident plan in place for what to do when
all hell broke loose. Yes, of course, it was a natural disaster, but
heeding warning signs and pre-planning can mitigate the consequences of
a natural disaster significantly. That is the work of good governance.

I use the word "apocalyptic" not as rhetorical flourish, but
intentionally. The meaning of "apocalypse" in Greek and in the Bible is
a dramatic revealing or disclosure of that which has been hidden or
covered. In this sense, the tragic events along the Gulf Coast have
revealed not only the administration's deficiencies, but also the
critical miscalculations and deceptions of the Republican Revolution of
the past 25 years.

The central strategy of that revolution has been to starve government
through tax cuts, thus enabling elected officials to say that government
programs must be reduced or eliminated. What this meant for maintaining
the levees on which New Orleans depended has now been amply documented.
The Republican argument that government was too big and ineffective was
of course accurate in some areas. But as a sweeping generalization it is
critically off the mark. The new global era requires a refocusing of
government priorities, not its reduction to ineffectiveness. The highly
integrated societies and cities of the 21st century are much more
vulnerable to disaster than early eras.

A corollary of the tax-cut and starve government strategy of the
Republican Revolution has been the denigration of government and the
erosion of public institutions. We love to say, "We support our troops."
How often have you heard anyone say, "We support our bureaucrats?" Quite
the opposite, of course. Government and its workers have been the
convenient whipping boy of the Republican Revolution. The problem with
this is it has a way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. You run
people (and government) down long enough and it has consequences.

When you put this together with drastic funding cuts, you get what we
have gotten in the Federal Emergency Management Administration and its
performance in New Orleans. You get an agency headed by political
cronies that is no longer equipped to do the job. Likewise, a number of
other federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency,
the National Parks Service, the Civil Rights Administration, are but
shadows of their former selves.

Finally, a consequence of the Republican Revolution has been to make the
rich richer and the poor more vulnerable. The veil was off of that
reality in the wake of Katrina. Those with the means to do so got out.
Those without the means got left behind. It was not a pretty picture. It
was one that left the world gaping in astonishment. "How is this
possible in America?" they asked. It has been going on for 25 years, and
continues this week as Congress takes up the Republican plan to
eliminate the estate tax and transfer more wealth to the already wealthy.

One of the reasons that a hurricane has such devastating effect in New
Orleans is that for much of the 20th century, the coastal wetlands that
serve a crucial protective function, buffering the cities and towns from
these storms, have been drained and depleted. In much the same way, the
programs and services that buffer vulnerable people from historical
forces and life's chances have been drained and depleted by socially
sanctioned greed and indifference.

While conservative Christians read the "Left Behind" series of Tim
LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and ponder the coming apocalypse, the
apocalypse is right here, plain and visible for all to see. What has
been covered up by those who are very, very good at politics has been
uncovered and made plain by a hurricane. Let those who have eyes to see,
see.


---
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0909-33.htm

Bush and company raptured the rich and left the poor to suffer and die
miserably.

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 01:19:05 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:

The government policies that caused so much misery did not blow in on
the winds of hurricane Katrina. They did not even begin with Bush's
ascension to power. According to this article, they have been brewing
for the last twenty five years.

---

Bush and company raptured the rich and left the poor to suffer and die
miserably.