Editorial

We are not back in the 60’s

By Joseph Parish

Rome had their Nero who played his violin while the magnificent city of old burned to the ground….

America has its George W. Bush who vacations on his ranch in Texas as multitudes of his fellow Americans Die from starvation and thirst ensuing from a hurricane.

The sluggish response to one of America’s worst natural catastrophes amounts to no less then a national disgrace. When you mingle the limited government logistics and the lack of emergency personnel with an inept government the consequence is naught and naught is what the federal government initially did for New Orleans.

While Mr. Bush made the following observation to Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America”, I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. It was a well acknowledged fact for numerous years that New Orleans was vulnerable to a major hurricane,

Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House minimized this to about $40 million. This did not prevent Mr. Bush and Congress from agreeing to a $286.4 billion highway bill, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

Our government under leadership of George W Bush botched its preliminary efforts to aid victims in this disaster. It is alarming in the eyes of most Americans that the initial efforts in New Orleans was a failure nevertheless It did not take Mr. Bush long to pat his FEMA director on the head like a loyal pet and tell him "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.". Yes, Mr. Bush he is doing a heck of a job if the duty assigned to him was the elimination of a major American city and it’s populous.

One has to wonder how it is feasible that just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and marooned New Orleans residents. We can only presume what their response would have been like lacking this vital preparation. If FEMA knew about the dangers of a major hurricane in the Gulf region, subsequently we must question how they may possibly have been so ill-equipped and unprepared to cope with this disaster. 

It took four days after hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast for emergency crews to provide even meager supplies to the victims in the flooded city. These were Americans who were left devoid of essential food and water. These were Americans who carried their dead loved ones with them, loved ones that had died from the lack of vital food or medical assistance gravely needed from our federal government.  Corpses lied decaying in the sun while uncontrolled looting took place in the streets and chaos reined in the emergency shelters all while thousands of survivors waiting under adverse conditions for promised relief simply to be dejected by the authorities.

After 9-11 our government depleted billions of our tax dollars to establish the Department of Homeland Security and to revamp many of our emergency agencies which were postulated to provide Americans with a fresh sense of security. Evidently our head security agency does not have a full grasp of events as they occur for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, made the following announcement on September 1, 2005. "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water."  I have to ask where had this man been for the prior days?  Perchance he was vacationing with Mr. Bush at the ranch.

Although FEMA made fruitless promises of aid we immediately see that help was not swiftly dispatched. Our government either did not have the crucial resources to respond or our president lacked the knowledge to suitably cope with a national emergency and the mindset to comprehend the severity of the situation.

Mr. Bush has admitted that the government's reaction to the disaster fell short of its goal but he fails to acknowledge the fact that with thousands of National Guard troops from the effected states in Iraq fighting the “Bush War” we lacked the indispensable support that normally would have been accessible. 

Mr. Bush, dismisses the perception that the war in Iraq has detracted from our nations capability to respond to crises at home. He insisted we have "plenty of resources" to do both. So I ask him here and now “Where were these resources? Why didn’t they respond?

During Mr. Bush’s daylong tour of the disaster region, he joked at the airport in New Orleans about his wild boozing days of his youth in New Orleans. Maybe someday this “want to be president” will take a catastrophic circumstance and bestow it the serious consideration it deserves.

I am a white male and I strongly believe that had this misfortune occurred in a predominate white locality the administration would not have turned a death ear to the misery and cries for help of the victims as was done in New Orleans - most of which  I would like to add were poor and black, Something within me turns over when I reflect on this concept. We like to assume we have make progress and strides in our social dealings however every now and then we appear to vault back a few steps. How is it that these people waiting for food and water and wanting to be rescued can be shoved to the back of the evacuation line while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first. This is not the 60’s! This should make us ashamed of the progress made in America.

Keep in mind this tragedy could happen here or anywhere. I encourage all Americans to contact your state and federal elected officials and not just request but demand a truthful and honest investigation of the events which occurred within our federal government after the hurricane struck. Let’s see some accountability for these unacceptable actions.