This did NOT have to happen

       

As I was driving home today I flipped the radio on the Tom Leykis show [note: his website contains explicit material]. Typically I can't stand the arrogant bloviations of this fat misogynist pig but today I was curious to see what he had to say about the hurricane and its aftermath. Quoting an article by Tim Rutten in today's LA Times, Leykis noted that the deadly aftermath of Hurricane Katrina could have been avoided. Rutten's article actually discusses a 2002 joint report by NPR's All Things Considered and the Times-Picayune which argued that New Orleans was at risk and hundreds of thousands of lives imperiled by exactly the sequence of events that occurred this week.

The report describes this week's events so closely that it is eerie:

The series' second part began: "It's a matter of when, not if. Eventually a major hurricane will hit New Orleans head on, instead of being just a close call. It's happened before and it'll happen again." In that installment, McQuaid and Schleifstein reported that "a major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time.... Evacuation is the most certain route to safety, but it may be a nightmare. And 100,000 without transportation will be left behind.... Hundreds of thousands would be left homeless, and it would take months to dry out the area and begin to make it livable. But there wouldn't be much for residents to come home to. The local economy would be in ruins....

The original full five-part report from the Times-Picayune is located at NOLA.com. The original two-part NPR audio report is archived in Real format at NPR (1) and (2).

According to the NPR report, scientists predicted the odds were 1 in 6 for a storm as powerful as Katrina. What amazes me is that the local, state and federal governments ignored these warnings from scientists and reporters. The federal government even cut funding to the Army Corps of Engineers--the very group responsible for bolstering the levees which broke--despite insistence by Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.

Editor and Publisher has a nice breakdown how the federal funding was removed from this project and pumped into the Iraq War:

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

That's your government at work folks. Give tax cuts to the wealthy and spend money blowing shit up in foreign countries while starving the beast at home and neglecting the security of the nation.

hurricane katrina

Comments

[Your Uncle Darnell]

Bush is bringing some more high tech goodies to NO: non-lethal sonic crowd control weapons.

"American Technology is donating four devices -- three MRADs (medium-range acoustic devices) and one LRAD (long-range acoustic device). The four devices will be shipped out Friday to a Marine military police unit that is deploying to the Gulf States area for disaster-relief efforts.

snip....

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which hosted the event as a guest of the Air Force base, is considering using MAD to replace conventional public address systems and as a non-lethal "area denial option" -- a way to clear crowds in civil unrest without using chemical agents, rubber bullets or the like."

http://deconsumption.typepad.com/deconsumption/2005/09/the_area_denial.html

[NIght Bird]

It may be our government, but it is NOT the people.

[ThomH]

Excellent post.

Save those Wal-marts! Shot to kill! Yup, we're giving the entire world a lesson in democracy.

[misha]

if every person that hated Bush actually got off their ass and voted......

[HelenWheels]

I'm so sorry you are still having issues seeing shrub with a guitar, I know you take it personal...

It is unbelievable that all this forewarning exists and yet supporters of shrub still insist on believing he's capable of being any kind of "leader."

I have to say I am taking perverse pleasure in watching shrubby squirm now that he is forced to physically deal with commoners. I've never seen quite that level of fear and revulsion on his face. He can't even talk to them without stuttering or saying stupid stuff.

Oh, wait, that's how he always is when he's script-less.

[karena]

Keep going, we must preserve this shame.

[Chuck]

EXCELLENT post Agi!

All of our sentiments EXACTLY.

[Kathy]

I confess to wishing that this time Bush could have gotten it right. Guess I didn't wish hard enough.

[Bush Exposed]

German news crew exposes Bush.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2005/09/isnt_this_mass_.html#c9091122

Apparently all of the aid stuff seen on camera while Bush is doing his photo=op, is then torn down and removed after he leaves.
It's a 4 mninute video of the Germ,an new program. Scroll forward to minute 3 as the first part is quite horrific. Anyone speak german here?

[New Bush Stamp]

http://rjr10036.typepad.com/proceed_at_your_own_risk/2005/09/labor_day_stamp.html