The overriding issue that is simply being ignored by the mainstream media is that it was the federal government itself that lowered the guard in cutting off key funding to protect Louisiana from natural disasters.
The New Orleans district of the US Army Corps of Engineers bore the brunt of a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding for fiscal year 2006.
The Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans, while the White House slashed the request to about $40 million. Congress finally approved $42.2 million, less than half of the agency's request
The Bush administration has been cutting funding for federal disaster relief funds since 2001 while doubling funding in other areas to pump up the biggest growth in government for decades, easily outstripping that of Bill Clinton.
A report from the Best of New Orleans news website outlines the details.
"...Among emergency specialists, 'mitigation' -- the measures taken in advance to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters -- is a crucial part of the strategy to save lives and cut recovery costs. But since 2001, key federal disaster mitigation programs, developed over many years, have been slashed and tossed aside. FEMA's Project Impact, a model mitigation program created by the Clinton administration, has been canceled outright. Federal funding of post-disaster mitigation efforts designed to protect people and property from the next disaster has been cut in half. Communities across the country must now compete for pre-disaster mitigation dollars."
The Bush administration's move to merge FEMA with Homeland Security meant that the two had to compete for funding. Straightforward projects that would have massively reduced the devastation we are now seeing, such as raising houses, were cast aside in favor of anti-terrorism measures.
In early 2001, FEMA issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City! "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war.
http://www.canadianactionparty.ca/MainPages/News.asp?Type=TRUE&ID=521&Language=English
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on September 7, 2005]
Note: http://www.canadianacti...
New World Orleans: Microcosm For The "New America"
Posted on Wednesday, September 07 at 13:38 by whelan costenContributed By
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Surely it is not the people, they would never do this to themselves, sure the Bush family are powerful but they are not that powerful, so I would say that these are the action of the Republican Party, wouldn't you agree?
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Good government is not a party government
Crying won't do you no good.
G
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<a href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007219">http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007219</a><br />
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"...Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation..."<br />
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"...The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid..."<br />
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So Mayor Nagin screwed up, while Gov. Blanco dithered and wept. As canadians, surely you can empathise with that.<br />
As long, and until society remains unwilling to come to grip with this simple fact, tragedies like this will keep on happening all over, not to mention that 25 million will die this year from the effects of starvation globally, without any fanfare, while their governments and economists report rising GDP figures.
Our American friends can wipe the chip of their shoulders, because this is not just an American sickness, but a worldwide tragedy happening and waiting to happen, as long as we put up with these idiots in our goverments and universities. Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.
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Even there, on the simple, one line, fraudulent definition of economic efficiency.
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I would like to remind you, for example, that for hundreds of years, the white people of the world, especially of the New World, have been kidnapping and enslaving millions of Africans based on one line in the Bible, with God empowering the children of Noah to enslave the children of one of their own brothers, who was turned black, because he dared to look at his old man's balls when he was lying there drunk.
How about the destruction of Troy after a 10 year siege and for what? History is full of such examples when single words, or sentences, caused mass destruction and murder of whole countries and empires.
One day, when our society wakes up from their drunken dreams, they may just realize that profits gained with the lowest monetary inputs do not represent "efficiency", but societal suicide. Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.