Why New Orleans
Is In Deep Water
By Molly Ivens
Creators Syndicate
9-2-5
Austin, Texas - Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself
taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner,
glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the
beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.
To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame
game before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to
make a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that
is that government policies have real consequences in people's lives.
This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This
is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do
about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price
for those policies.
This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who
ever said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or,
"There's nothing I can do about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks
anyway."
Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do
about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National
Rifle Association would argue, "Government policies don't kill people,
hurricanes kill people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies
kill people.
One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is
the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once
stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from
the water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name
of a political party or a particular administration attached to it. No
one wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's
fault." Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's
interference with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root
cause of the problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the
river's delta.
But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like
letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God,
there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the
Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is
a fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies - ordering
federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of
wetlands.
Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report
showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to
drain thousands of acres of wetlands.
Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New
Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a
Category 3 or Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this
point, it is a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to
observe the First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).
Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a
while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush
administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the
attention span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to
remember longer than a year ago is like asking them what happened in
Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.
Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax
and chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of
Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans
CityBusiness at the time, that meant "major hurricane and flood
projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study
to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane
has been shelved for now."
The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately
instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.
Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of
Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as
"Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards
Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich
and the Republican right, and gutted years ago.
In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing
policy on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of
choices based on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological
position on flood management might be, look at the pictures of New
Orleans - it seems to consist of gutting the programs that do
anything.
Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation
left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard
is now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are
guardsmen. Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because
people are afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the
Guard even more short-handed.
The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water
vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent
abroad. (I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles
in Iraq?)
This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into
Iraq without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that
mistake and to rectify it by instituting a draft.
The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding
the city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri,
emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004,
"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to
handle homeland security and the war in Iraq."
This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies,
not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about
our lives.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep0
1,1,6491327.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
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| User: "=?iso-8859-1?q?Uncle_Wally_Da_HOOROO_Big_Kahuna_;-=99?=" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
02 Sep 2005 11:36:44 PM |
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Yes, Zac -- Norleans is doomed because of sea level rises, coastal
inundations & future, much more
intensive, destructive hurricanes......
Why can't they rebuild 80 miles to the North in Baton Rouge, where they
could add on new suburbs & subdivisions & new shopping centers, etc,
etc, ad infinitum ad nauseam.....
They do this every year in cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane &
the GOld Coast in Oz where these cities add about 50,000 people a year
& all the infrastructure that goes with that.....
If they expand Baton Rouge, then it will become a major US city within
the next 5 or so years.....
The Lousiana, Mississippi & Alabama coastlines are FRICKED & so to is
the Mississippi Delta area which will soon be totally inundated.....
They may as well get moving *NOW* before more cities go under.....
=================================
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| User: "O:--:" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
02 Sep 2005 11:41:53 PM |
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After the class, race and coast to coast civil war
I don't think there will be any big cities left. I'm
sure thankful I don't live in one.
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| User: "=?iso-8859-1?q?Uncle_Wally_Da_HOOROO_Big_Kahuna_;-=99?=" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
02 Sep 2005 11:53:16 PM |
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I've heard about this, little buddy !
What year did they predict it to begin ?
Possibly 2008 - Election year after yet another rigged election ?
& after more natural & possibly man-made disasters plague America, no
doubt.....
If Hawaii secedes from the US, I'm moving there !!!!
HOOROO
UNCLE WALLY
=========================================================
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
03 Sep 2005 04:39:25 AM |
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On 2 Sep 2005 21:53:16 -0700, "Uncle Wally Da HOOROO Big Kahuna ;-)™"
<stargatedecember2012@yahoo.ca> wrote:
I've heard about this, little buddy !
What year did they predict it to begin ?
Possibly 2008 - Election year after yet another rigged election ?
& after more natural & possibly man-made disasters plague America, no
doubt.....
If Hawaii secedes from the US, I'm moving there !!!!
HOOROO
UNCLE WALLY
=========================================================
Hahaha, definetly not a safe place to be. Go North young man!!
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| User: "O:--:" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
02 Sep 2005 11:59:30 PM |
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So am I.
I lived there for 2 years back in the 70s.
:) HOOROO * WOMP WOMP and YOW!
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
03 Sep 2005 04:38:04 AM |
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On 2 Sep 2005 21:41:53 -0700, "O:-)(-:<" <tadapope@aol.com> wrote:
After the class, race and coast to coast civil war
I don't think there will be any big cities left. I'm
sure thankful I don't live in one.
Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and a race war will not happen,
remember L.A? The black community deserve every right and privelege
that the rest of the worlds people get. They are no different than you
or me. If there is a civil war it will be between NWO and the rest of
the people of the world not taken in by all this government and media
*****.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Why NO is in deep water |
03 Sep 2005 04:34:00 AM |
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On 2 Sep 2005 21:36:44 -0700, "Uncle Wally Da HOOROO Big Kahuna ;-)™"
<stargatedecember2012@yahoo.ca> wrote:
Yes, Zac -- Norleans is doomed because of sea level rises, coastal
inundations & future, much more
intensive, destructive hurricanes......
Why can't they rebuild 80 miles to the North in Baton Rouge, where they
could add on new suburbs & subdivisions & new shopping centers, etc,
etc, ad infinitum ad nauseam.....
They do this every year in cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane &
the GOld Coast in Oz where these cities add about 50,000 people a year
& all the infrastructure that goes with that.....
If they expand Baton Rouge, then it will become a major US city within
the next 5 or so years.....
The Lousiana, Mississippi & Alabama coastlines are FRICKED & so to is
the Mississippi Delta area which will soon be totally inundated.....
They may as well get moving *NOW* before more cities go under.....
=================================
Cheney must have a grin a mile wide over this mess. Hi,Ho, Hi,Ho it's
off to work we go. I'll bet his Haliburton company will be hiring
soon, but you can bet that none of the workers will be black or from
the south.
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