BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina

Subject: BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Sep 05 - 06:42 PM

"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. "

Molly Ivins

Subject: RE: BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina
From: Amos
Date: 02 Sep 05 - 07:21 PM

"    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fact that the Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies - ordering federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.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?)"...

Molly's one of my favorite no holds barred writers.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Sep 05 - 08:45 PM

Aren't wetlands a good place to moor a floating Casino?

Subject: RE: BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 04:10 PM

I understand the floating casinos in Miss applied to the state legislature on the day after the storm, asking they create immediate legislation that would allow the casino industry to collect disaster relief money.

As it stands now, they can't because they are officially "off shore" businesses (to avoid Mississippi laws, paying taxes and the like).

Bastards. Maybe their CEOs should be moored to a sinking oil platform.

Subject: RE: BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 05:35 PM

I don't know anything about the ownership of the casinos, but I do know that the requirement that casinos in Mississipi (or anyplace else) be "floating" is absolutely absurd. Presumably "non-gaming" states (meaning anyplace besides Nevada and New Jersey) decided to allow "riverboat gambling" some years back. I guess that, initially, the riverboats were actual boats which sailed up and down the river while people gambled. At some pint the requirement that the boats actually leave port was dropped, leading eventually to casinos such as those in Biloxi, MS, which are not boats at all, but buldings built on barges permanently moored in man-made canals. If the casinos had been built on land, like normal buildings, they would have probably sustained much less damage. It's time for states where casinos are legal to ditch the antiquated and meaningless "floating" requirement and let them be built like normal buildings.

Subject: RE: BS: Columnists and Hurricane Katrina
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 05:59 PM

I'm with you there, Bdub. But I'm not ok with the gambling industry getting a bail out with disaster relief funds. Those are MY tax dollars, and we have much higher priorities for the money than rebuilding the off-shore casino industry that, frankly, has done alright not having to pay taxes, thank you very not much.