Hurricane, hurrican't, or hurri-don't-wanta

Ok, I know that hurricane Katrina is last week’s news but I was sort of doing things and not keeping up. Ceri has already vented some frustration at the government.





I just came across this article from the Houston Chronicle in December of 2001 and it's kind of pissing me off. The link is to a copy at Louisiana State University because you have to have an archive subscription to read the original at the Houston Chronicle.





So, we sort of knew at least 4 years ago that around 250,000 people would be trapped in New Orleans in this sort of storm, 20 feet of water would drown the city and about 25,000 people would die. But we don't really care because 30% of the people in New Orleans live in poverty. Most of the people are dieing after the storm and the government doesn't seem to care.

The Progressive Sept 1, 2005
The state and local authorities were woefully unprepared, and the Bush Administration responded with a lethal tardiness.



While Katrina was without question an extraordinarily vicious storm, the vast majority of people who died did so not because of Katrina but because of a laissez-faire federal government with skewed priorities.



“A rightwing government that strangles public expenditures for public works is largely responsible for what happened in New Orleans,” says Paul Soglin, former mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, and past chair of the committee on urban economics for the National Conference of Mayors.

Definately read this article.



Meanwhile, our president, who happens to hold the record in just over 4 years for most vacation days while in office, claims we can handle both Iraq and Katrina. But our National Guard, it's equipment, and the budget is tied up in foreign countries instead of protecting our people at home. Shouldn't the National Guard be more concerned with our wellfare?



If they didn't care about the poor people in New Orleans they should have at least cared about the largest shipping port in the United States. One quarter of the nations gas and oil, all of the grain exports from Montana to Ohio, and one third of the countries sea food. This hurricane is costing the United States billions of dollars. If we're talking about national security these are dollars that would have been better spent restoring protective wetlands on the coast and a better levee.



When will we learn that people matter and the environment matters? What is government good for if it can't protect its people? We certainly can't do it ourselves. Volunteers are not organized enough tend to overwhelm the area by requiring food and water for themselves. This nation needs to start thinking about health care for everyone and an environment that takes care of us.