I was there, ladies and gents, just four months before Katrina hit. We saw the Gulf Coast in all its glory. It was a beautiful lush, rich, and newly prosperous land. Two years after the disaster, it's still a wasteland. My fellow blogger Big Ass Belle tells the tale better than me in We Came, We Saw, We Cried, and We Left. Click on the link to see a sad but true video, and support When the Saints Go Marching In!
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I would like to begin by saying that I enjoy your blog. I mostly read it for the Top Chef stories, but I read other things as well from time to time. I live in Baton Rouge, LA but was born and raised in New Jersey. I am here now, though.
I think that while the "government," -- and by "government" we all know you mean President Bush solely, because he is responsible for every single that happens on this planet apparently, weather-related or not -- might have made mistakes in the aftermath of this tragedy, they did a damn fine job getting in there in the 48 hours after the hurricane and saved lives. But no one talks about that. And furthermore, it is incorrect to say that the federal government is single handedly responsible for relief and recovery. The LOCAL officials in LA are the ones squandering and stealing the funds. And the last time I checked, the President of the United States was not a local LA official.
I did forget one thing -- the people here are amazing and incredibly strong. It's inspiring to see.
On the anniversary of Katrina Wonkette.com posted a great summary of the disaster:
"You’d never guess our little Katrina is two years old today. Why? Because it looks like that hurricane and terrible flooding happened just days ago! Who would think a major American city would still be in ruins two fucking years after it was deluged and half-abandoned?
The Bush Administration was famously “late” getting around to even acknowledging the city’s destruction. Bush Junior himself avoided the scene for three weeks, preferring to spend his time eating birthday cake with John McCain, in Arizona, telling lies about Iraq and pretending to strum a guitar with some Nashville pop singer, in San Diego, continuing his vacation, at his house in Texas, flying over the flooded city in an airplane, going home to the White House, blaming local officials for the anarchy, from the Rose Garden, and finally flying to the Gulf Coast — but not New Orleans, where it was so dangerous that volunteer rescue crews were dodging bullets fired by crazed flood survivors and looters — for a photo op and to praise the “heckuva job” done by FEMA chief Michael Brown and comfort the hundreds of thousands of people unable to return to their wrecked homes by predicting Trent Lott would build an even bigger beach house in Mississippi.
Then he returned to Washington, where he and his top advisers continued to lie about their response and meddle with all efforts to send help.
Finally, 18 days after Katrina struck, Bush Junior was flown to New Orleans to read a televised statement from Jackson Square, which is of course on high ground and sustained minimal damage but still had to have generators to power the klieg lights (flown in from Washington) as the rest of the city went without electricity. Huge curtains of black military camouflage were hung behind St. Louis Cathedral (lit up like the Disney Castle, on purpose) to hide the wreckage behind it. Bush appeared in just a shirt, and it was buttoned wrong.
("don't ever let him dress himself ..." - Wonkette)
Then he went home.
In the two years since Katrina (and Rita) killed nearly 2,000 people, half the population of New Orleans is still gone. Tens of thousands of people are still officially homeless, stuck in distant FEMA camps. Most schools never reopened, and most neighborhoods were never rebuilt. The levees haven’t been rebuilt, either.
And then, today, Bush appeared in New Orleans again. His handlers realized they had totally forgotten to put him in a schoolroom to clown around with children while people died horrible deaths and a major American city was devastated, as he had done so effectively on September 11, 2001.
So, that’s what he did today. Happy Birthday, Katrina!"
Written by Ken Layne
http://wonkette.com/politics/
dept-of-third-world-disasters/
george-w-bush-wishes-new-orleans-
a-very-happy-katrina-birthday
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