Have you had enough?
KATRINA AND RITA POST-MORTEM
I have seen first hand the faces of America under attack. Not by an enemy but by the power of Nature. When attacked America rises to the occasion like no other nation in the world. The amount of giving, volunteering and good will by ordinary citizens, corporations, stores, neighbors, medical people, and police - is the face of America we used to know in the old days when times were bad.
I have been a refugee without a home, a job, a future and it was not government that helped me but organizations paid by donations of small people. The President has a big heart and it shows. He is not much of a spellbinding speaker but you can feel his sincerity. His decisions are governed by this overwhelming desire to do good for Americans in need.
As uplifting as this experience has been it also showed the dark side of this nation. The looters, the anarchy, the shameless politicians whose only intent is to hurt and not to help, always crawl out of their rotten holes in time of distress. The cheap attempt to make political hay when suffering is abound shows who such creatures really are, whether they are elected, work for the media or are simply Bush haters.
The worse of the beasts are the black “leaders” trying to use this opportunity to reignite racial hatred and put their black slaves back at the plantation where they can control their votes and lives. The festering pit that was New Orleans was the creature of the Welfare State operated by the most corrupt political organization of this nation. These were the American Yasser Arafats who stole the money intended to improve their people’s lives and kept them in a third world living and educational environment to help them politically.
The worse thing may be happening to these Louisiana politicians. The people whom they kept in the ghettos have escaped and may never return. Overwhelmed by the generosity and love given to them by other Americans, mostly white at that, they will not rush back into the misery that was New Orleans for them. Even prompted by nasty leading questions of reporters, most will refuse to blame their plight on Bush. They know what happened to them. So does the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor.
The plot of the corrupts and corrupters is already developing. Louisiana politicians have a great plan. All moneys should be given to them and they will arrange the distribution. They already hired some well know Democratic liars who will be in charge. Lead by General Wesley Clark they want to force the distribution of benefits to former residents through their corrupt offices, regardless where these people may reside in the nation. They also want them to be able to vote in Louisiana elections in return for the money doled out to them. Based on what I have seen, most of these people will not fall for these well know tricks. Yet we should not underestimate the power of these politicians. They have refrigerators full of cash and access to billions that will be given to restore the State. I just hope that wherever you meet someone who escaped from the ghetto of New Orleans, explain to them what freedom means, what responsibility can do for the human spirit and what slavery was at the New Orleans plantation.
For those of you who have helped, volunteered – I am so proud that you are an American. And for the slime, the agitators, and the looters of our freedom – your day is coming. Soon we will have had enough of you. We stand with our hand on our heart when the flag passes and not burn it, put it in urine. We pledge allegiance to it and not ignore it or curse it.
Katrina and Rita were the opening shots of the new revolution that showed us who our friends and enemies are. Thank you for being my friend and a true American.
WIPE THAT SMILE OFF YOUR FACE!
Tibby Weston
We stood in a group talking about KATRINA when someone mentioned Louisiana corruption and cronyism. Suddenly everybody smiled. One said:
“In Louisiana politics an honest politician is one who stays bought.” Somebody then quoted what Governor Huey Long once said: "People say I steal. Well, all politicians steal. I steal.”
I smiled along realizing that my impression about New Orleans could best be described as the City of Three Cs: Colorful-Corrupt-Cronyism until I got on the Internet and found some very disturbing facts that changed my mind. Now I believe that Katrina revealed the mean underside of Louisiana politics and my impression now is: Cynical- Corrupt-Cronyism.
Decade after decade elected officials were convicted of widespread public corruption. The list is so long that I just list the categories of elected officials who went to prison for public corruption and related charges. Governors, attorneys general, numerous commissioners, congressmen, federal judges, State senators and legislators, sheriffs, and recent federal corruption investigations only reinforce that image. The FBI said more people -- sixty-six -- were indicted on public-corruption charges in Louisiana in 1999 than in any other state. Public corruption was the Louisiana FBI's top priority, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
It is ironic that the notorious Democratic calumniator, James Carville, who is from Louisiana stated: "We ought to bring in the legislature from another state -- maybe Wisconsin or Minnesota -- to handle our money. In return, we'll handle the cooking and entertainment for them. They'll handle our fiscal oversight, and we'll handle their cultural matters." Carville knows dirty politics, graft, and corruption, which ultimately led to the Katrina disaster.
Just before the hurricane FBI agents in New Orleans and Washington executed search warrants on Louisiana Congressman Jefferson’s vehicle, residences and offices. He is subject to a massive feral investigation. The raids are connected to the recent federal corruption conviction of the congressman's brother-in-law, Judge Alan Green of Jefferson Parish.
So many federal investigations are in progress that the FBI had to bring in extra agents last October to establish two public corruption squads. Louisiana last year ranked third in the nation in public corruption cases. This is the image of a Third World country where government works by bribes and kickbacks to benefit cronies. According to a 2004 report by the Corporate Crime Reporter for the National Press Club Louisiana historically ranks among the most corrupt states in the nation.
The embezzlement of funds for flood control led to the recent indictment of three top officers in the Governors’ office. Major part of the corruption was the handling of massive federal funds intended to help prevent Katrina type disasters and misdirecting them into boondoggle projects favored by Louisiana politicians. Earlier this year even the New York Times objected to sending flood control funds to Louisiana calling them a boondoggle not supported by scientific evidence. The President did send the funds and now the paper complains they were insufficient.
Corruption leads to cynicism. Several previous hurricanes that missed the city and last year’s disaster test clearly proved that the city was not prepared to evacuate their poor neighborhoods. A calculated decision was made to make the poor fend for themselves. This bordered on criminal negligence by a cynical political structure, which was fully aware that they would not provide the means for the poorer sections. They expected that the poor would be inconvenienced but safe in the Superdome, if they chose to walk there.
The Governor knew it, but she had a conflict with the Mayor of New Orleans who opposed her election. According to some insiders, it was cynical politics at its worst exercised by the Governor to get even with the Mayor. She knew the Mayor would be responsible and be blamed for the fiasco of trying to get people to walk to the Superdome during a storm. Her officials even prevented the Red Cross from supplying water, food and medicine to the people trapped in the Superdome thus escalating the scandal intended to engulf the inept Mayor. She refused the request of the President to evacuate and to declare a state of emergency in the hope that the Mayor’s political future would be destroyed.
None of this would have come to the surface except for the break in the levee. Suddenly the cynical plan turned into a disaster. It was too late to evacuate and the rest is history.
The Mayor blamed the Governor; the Governor blamed FEMA, the black racists and Washington Democrats blame the President. If the Mayor had been a white person we would be hearing about attempted genocide or trying to get rid of the poor in the projects to save money.
Money has been the root of all evil in Louisiana. Cynical Corrupt Cronyism and gotcha politics at the highest level resulted in unnecessary losses in lives and will have a major impact on the economy.
We already hear the familiar Washington theme. Lets throw money at the problem and it will go away. Prepare for an orgy of funds spent wildly and quite obviously, corruptly, since it is in Louisiana. You will not hear one politician admit that there is no possible plan that could prevent this tragedy from happening again. As long as billions can be taken from your pockets while you feel softhearted, you can trust the government, they will spend, spend and spend us into unintended consequences too fearful to contemplate. So my advice: Wipe that smile off your face when you hear about Louisiana corruption. Get angry.
LESSONS OF KATRINA #1
More than 40 years ago during the Cuban Missile Crisis when we expected a nuclear attack on the United States, I wrote to the Houston Chronicle and proposed specific civil defense measures which would not depend on government but neighbors helping neighbors. Based on my experience in bombed out cities and war time disasters I admonished everyone that survival is not possible without the help of your neighbors. Many civic and neighborhood groups followed the advice and it boosted moral and self reliance.
Major disasters prove the big lie that government is your first line of defense. Why do you suppose all FEMA and Homeland Security advisories ask you to have food and water for at least three days? It is simply because government cannot act until at least 4 days after the disaster strikes. This has been historically true in all disasters of the past. There cannot be an instant response by government and you must rely on yourself and your neighbors to survive.
Unfortunately this was not possible in New Orleans. This city has been helpless for many decades. It has 10 times the national crime rate and corruption in city and state government are normal, expected and seem to be part of the unique gallant atmosphere. Most of its affluent citizens and businesses have long left and the city became dependent on tourists offering them lures of entertainment and offbeat pleasures.
Gradually a large portion of the population became dependent on the Government for survival even without a disaster. It is the same Government that they so depended on that let them down. A mayor who orders evacuation but fails to send the hundreds of busses at his disposal to move out those who have no means of transportation and who depended on city busses for transportation even before a disaster. By the time it occurred to someone to use the busses, the rising water inundated them in their parking lots and the drivers were evacuated.
No disaster plan anticipates that local law enforcement would stop to function. More than 1,000 police officers quit their job at the onset of the disaster and lawlessness that was barely controlled before the disaster, instantly erupted. Hundreds of people were able to protect their homes and businesses by simply firing shots at roving intruders, but those who were helpless were robbed, raped and terrorized. No disaster relief can be provided unless lawlessness can be stopped and this added to the delay in providing adequate relief. Emergency planners must consider that an Islamic terrorist attack would be accompanied by lawlessness organized by not just criminals but by Islamic terror gangs recruited in the prisons and dormant terrorist cells.
The access by media to the disaster was unprecedented. One would hope that such access would assist the victims and assist the rescue effort and provide help and hope for a stunned, traumatized city and nation. This was not the case. Wild speculation, reckless accusations, dramatizing tragedy and ignoring good news was the order of the day for most broadcasts.
This morning I was watching one network describing in glowing terms how an endless chain of large helicopters was ferrying people to safety. I turned the channel and another network was showing the garbage, the makeshift tents and debris left behind by the evacuees failing to mention that the people were flown out by an unprecedented air lift not seen since the Berlin air lift.
The looters seeking to satisfy their need for drugs can easily be compared to the hyenas of the media and partisan politicians seeking to satisfy their need to attack Bush and blaming him for everything, including causing the hurricane. Considering that more than 2/3 of the population impacted by the hurricane in New Orleans was black, unscrupulous black leaders have engaged in racial agitation claiming prejudice and injustice by whites is the cause for this and Bush does not care to help blacks.
The borderline of the 21st century civilization is very fragile. A natural disaster or terrorist attack can send us back instantly to 18th and 19th century life where our survival depends on your neighbors and law and order on your ability to protect your loved ones. My survival lesson based on many survival chances during the last 70 years: Survival is not of the fittest but those who can adapt to circumstances as water adapts to the vessel it is poured into.
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