NOLA
September 4th, 2005 Chris Posted in Uncategorized |
I have a lot to say about the situation in New Orleans, here in Houston, and the state of our federal emergency response teams. I’m just too angry and hurt and tired to say it all right now. I’ll let others do the talking:
From an interview with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Friday:
WWL: Because apparently there’s a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can’t come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that’s going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.
NAGIN: Really? . . . You mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.
Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn’t get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late Thursday.
That’s right, fucking PAPERWORK kept them locked in the Superdome, sleeping in their own shit. PAPERWORK kept people trapped in attics and on rooftops. PAPERWORK prevented people’s lives from being saved.
Then, in the midst of a ridiculously incompetent and inadequate response, Bush makes it worse by visiting:
In St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, just south of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane are still waiting for food and water and for buses to escape the floodwaters, [ Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La.] said. And for the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
And finally, from Defective Yeti:
I’m so outraged I can barely think straight. Bad enough that the White House (again!) ignored repeated warnings of impending disaster and (again!) diverted necessary resources to its wealthy patrons and ideological hobby horses, but the federal response to the catastrophe is like a goddamned cabaret show.
Conservatives often justify the slashing social programs to fund corporate tax cuts by saying, “A rising tide raises all boats.” Well, the tide rose folks, and this is the result.
UPDATE: Two more links worth passing along:
A Timeline outlining FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration
Some pictures of the ongoing crisis
