Yes America, you elected these magnificent leaders: (page 2)

avishai

That's what happens when you let a bunch of drunk Cajuns make important decisions.

????????

schne_belly

I can see the headlines now:

"Bush, Rove, What Did they Know About Hurricane Katrina?" A behind the scenes look at what the White House did to cover up this national disaster.

Schne (of the tounge-n-cheek class)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508...

Funding cuts led way to lesser levees

By Andrew Martin and and Andrew Zajac
Washington bureau
Published August 31, 2005, 10:24 PM CDT

WASHINGTON -- Despite continuous warnings that a catastrophic hurricane could hit New Orleans, the Bush administration and Congress in recent years have repeatedly cut funding for hurricane preparation and flood control. The cuts have delayed construction of levees around the city and stymied an ambitious project to improve drainage in New Orleans' neighborhoods.

For instance, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested $27 million for this fiscal year to pay for hurricane protection projects around Lake Pontchartrain. The Bush administration countered with $3.9 million, and Congress eventually provided $5.7 million, according to figures provided by the office of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)...

Similarly, the Army Corps requested $78 million for this fiscal year for projects that would improve draining and prevent flooding in New Orleans. The Bush administration's budget provided $30 million for the projects, and Congress ultimately approved $36.5 million, according to Landrieu's office.

"I'm not saying it wouldn't still be flooded, but I do feel that if it had been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have," said Michael Parker, a former Republican Mississippi congressman who headed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from October 2001 until March 2002, when he was ousted after publicly criticizing a Bush administration proposal to cut the corps' budget.

fleaman uk

Hmmm i wonder if Lee Harvey Oswald has got any descendants willing to carry on the Family business?

SixofNine

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

August 30, 2005

PHILADELPHIA Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

more...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_di...

SixofNine

Point #1
----------
In 2001, FEMA ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as “among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country.” Bush slashed hurricane funding anyway. August 29, 2005 10:19

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/29/bush-knew /

Point #2 - Study to confirm
----------------------------
IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana
June 3, 2004

IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November. National weather experts are predicting an above normal Atlantic hurricane season with six to eight hurricanes, of which three could be categorized as major.

The IEM team will complete a functional exercise on a catastrophic hurricane strike in Southeast Louisiana and use results to develop a response and recovery plan. A catastrophic event is one that can overwhelm State, local and private capabilities so quickly that communities could be devastated without Federal assistance and multi-agency planning and preparedness.

Thomas said that the greater New Orleans area is one of the nation’s most vulnerable locations for hurricane landfall.

snip

http://www.ieminc.com/Whats_New/Press_Releases/pressrel ...

Point #3 - Bush cuts NO funding by 80%
--------------------------------------
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."

Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."
snip

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_di...

schne_belly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s connecting New Orleans with Mandeville, bisecting Lake Pontchartrain from north to south. It is also the longest bridge in the world, spanning about 24 miles (38.6 kilometers).

During hurricanes , a storm surge can build up on the large lake, just as with Florida 's Lake Okeechobee . Therefore, levees have been built to protect the city of New Orleans, most of which is actually below lake level. These have so far been constructed for only moderate hurricanes. In addition to the surge from the lake, the lake can also get its own surge from the Gulf of Mexico , adding significantly to the problem. This is considered a worst-case scenario for the city, as a storm approaching from the south first blows the surge into the lake, then into the city. Most of the levees were constructed after 1965 , when Hurricane Betsy left much of the city under the lake's waters for weeks.

Hmmm. Built in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

And the issue of levees sustanablilty was first addressed in 2004? Seems to me, there are plenty of administrations to blame, not just the current one.

freedom96

It doesn't matter what political person is voted into office. They will all do things that are questionable, they will all distort the truth, they will all do and say stupid things.

While many hate Bush, and those who did vote for him may not care for all he does or doesn't do, it doesn't automatically mean that the other guy, whoever that is, would have done a better job. They all promise the world, but when it comes down to it, none of them will satisfy us completely.

There will always be things to complain about, no matter the political figure.

Yes America, you elected these magnificent leaders:

Share this