"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news
oWUe.323741$_o.177425@attbi_s71...
The E&P article says the Federal Government has been "working with New
Orleans since the 1960s to shore up the levee system around New Orlean" --
yet you (and the Times Picayune editor) place the blame for Katrina on the
Bush Administration because of things that have happened since 2003?
No, I (and the Times-Picayune editor) place *part* of the blame for Katrina
on the Bush Administration because of things that have happened since 2003.
It's called "fair and balanced reporting", something the folks who actually
use that phrase know nothing about.
I agree that the Iraq war did not have the sole detrimental effect on the
current situation, as work required to shore up the levees would have had to
start before the Iraq war did. Keep in mind, however, that the Iraq war and
the DHS generally are also responsible for screwing up the federal
capability for disaster response, both monetarily and organizationally. The
levees were just one example of federal willfullness in neglect; they are
far from the sole supporting evidence.
A significant problem certainly was the delay in the local governments to
recognize that there IS a problem. That does not mean that the federal is
blameless, or that they themselves did everything they should have.
As usual, your black and white view of the world is failing you. Always
has, always will.
If you can't smell a politically motivated story better than *that*, Pete,
I wonder how you get through the day?
I get through the day just fine, thank you very much.
The scale of the "disaster" is irrelevant to the comparison. The
principle you're espousing should apply equally regardless.
That's nonsense. Methods can -- and do -- change with scope. For
example, a broken drinking fountain at your local school does not merit
the same political tactics as, say, a levee system.
Really? Suppose the broken fountain remains broken. Suppose it causes
massive water damage to the building structure, through rot, mildew, fungus,
etc. Perhaps a few children slip on the wet floor and injure themselves.
One even manages to land their head on an exposed pipe and winds up dead.
It's your assertion that even though you comfortably blame the local
governments for failing to "lobby hard enough" in New Orleans, that it's
still reasonable to not blame the school staff or parents for failing to
"lobby hard enough" to get the higher-level officials to do something about
the problem?
No, you are simply wrong. When the higher-level officials refuse to help,
and even take promised help away, even as the local governments DO lobby
plenty hard enough asking for help, it is the higher-level officials that
are at fault, at least partly.
I'll say it again, since you seemed to have missed it the first time:
Lack of federal action does not prove that someone did not lobby hard
enough. All it proves is that the federal government took no action.
Pete