August 29, 2005
The day Katrina hit the coast. The day normal life ended on the gulf coast of our United States. The day BushCo fell down on the job and all hell began to break loose. The day BushCo’s biggest domestic fuck-up began. Need I say more? nah..
Obama is unveiling his plan for fixing the region today. All or most of the Democratic candidates for President will be streaming into NOLA to point their fickle fingers of fate at BushCo and how crappy a job he and his cadre are doing. The NYT has a writeup of Obama’s grandiose plan to fix the region and the agency’s that deal with this kind of catastrophy. A small wisp of it:
The Gulf Coast restoration, Mr. Obama said, has been weighed down by red tape that has kept billions of dollars from reaching Louisiana communities. As president, he said, he would streamline the bureaucracy, strengthen law enforcement to curb a rise in crime and immediately close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet in order to restore wetlands to protect against storms.
Mr. Obama also said that he would seek to lessen the influence of politics in the Federal Emergency Management Agency by giving its director a fixed term, similar to the structure of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FEMA director would serve a six-year term, under Mr. Obama’s plan, and report directly to the president.
Doesn’t the head of FEMA report to the President now? He is also planning other big moves, ones that probably need to be made..such as opening a DEA office down there. My, that is all well and good, but I read recently the prisons are over-crowded already pal. Another snip of what he is planning to say:
“Let New Orleans be the place where we strengthen those bonds of trust, where a city rises up on a new foundation that can be broken by no storm,” Mr. Obama is planning to say Sunday, according to remarks provided by his aides. “Let New Orleans become the example of what America can do when we come together, not a symbol for what we couldn’t do.”
Man, he sure is good with the rhetoric isn’t he? But no where in the article do I see how he plans to pay for his great plans..Isn’t that just as important as what you plan to do? One should note that two years after the flood, only 40% of the FEMA money has reached the area. Just fixing that bullshit will go along way to fixing the region.
August 26th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I admire Obama. He is actually the only Democrat I have ever heard of that has a plan which is unbelievable considering the rest of the party. It’s actually fresh and exciting.
I’d consider voting for him if Fred “Russians don’t take a dump, son, without a plan” Thompson doesn’t make it through.
There were far too many problems unrelated to FEMA during Katrina.
August 26th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
This isn’t just about FEMA steve. There were plenty of fuckups on every level.
I admire him too. Don’t know if I will vote for him yet however. My cat usually gets my vote for President
August 26th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Funny… for some reason Mike Hawk gets a lot of votes from me
August 27th, 2007 at 10:03 am
W
August 27th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Well after decades of poverty and lack of resiurces someone finally has a “plan” for New Orleans. Unfortunately look what it took.
August 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Yeah, it took YOUR President The Decider to fuck it up so bad someone else has to fix his messes..as per usual. How come less than half the money allocated has been given to the gulf region tos?
August 27th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Oh that’s right all through the 90’s the levees were able to handle a category 5 storm. Who knew?
Remember this was no typical incident,this was the worst natural disaster in US history. It was something no president ever had to deal with.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Tos..did your President actually react when the levees were breached or did he leave it to underlings to run the program?
Tos.did your President see fit to make sure the monies allocated for the region got there? Did he actually make sure people had places to live other than a huge domed stadium? Or did he try to get them water?
Outside agencies had to do all those things..not BushCo.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
BushCo only stepped up AFTER the nation was outraged..and saw film of reporters at the scene’s and not one FEMA rep to be found.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Here is an article from LAST year where Lieberman states the Fed’s were trying to hinder the katrina probe:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House is dodging questions about Hurricane Katrina response and has instructed other agencies to join it in fending off investigators, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said on Tuesday. The White House denies the allegations.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
oops..forgot the link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/24/katrina.levees/index.html
August 27th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Oh so now you listen to Lieberman.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
That’s your weak-assed comeback? That’s all you got? If the man is pointing his DINO finger at BushCo..what does that say about the Rethugs in office?
Let me tell ya what it says..nothing positive Tos.
August 27th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
As long as Lieberman issaying something against Bush you are all for it otherwise he’s nothing but a piece of trash thrown to the curb.
August 27th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Lieberman is a DINO..when he takes BushCo to task for anything its news Tos..
August 29th, 2007 at 4:33 am
Lisa,
If Lieberman says something people agree with, should they ignore it just because it’s Lieberman? Even a broken watch is right twice a day (well, only once if ’s digital, but you know what they’re trying to say.)