the liberal looting of louisiana

why did the levees break? why are fewer than 25% of new orleans pumps operational?

during the bush administration, the state of louisiana received more money for army corps of engineers civil projects than any other state in the union, $1.9 billion. (california came in second with half a billion less at $1.4 billion.) where did this money go?!?

it obviously didn't go to reinforcing or improving the levees! it obviously didn't go to the maintenance or replacement of the pumps! maybe we should check the pockets of state and local politicians.

a lot of fingers are being pointed at the president. former fema director brown has become a scapegoat. democrats are now calling for a 9/11 commission style independent investigation. liberals are vainly searching for a reason to tarnish the image of the president even further.

the facts are that the federal government's response in the aftermath of katrina was faster than any other hurricane. the average is 5 to 6 days. this time it was 3. after a natural disaster, it is up to the state to begin the evacuation and search & rescue efforts. it is the job of the governor to ask for specific help from the president. the governor of louisiana had thousands of louisiana national guard troops at her command, but what did she do? she held press conferences to complain about what the president was not doing.

everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before a catastrophe like this happened. evacuation plans were in place. mayor ray hagin of new orleans was supposed to take 400 municipal and school buses, load them up with citizens who had no means of evacuating themselves, and get them to higher, drier ground. he failed to do this. he told them all to go to the superdome. once they all got there, he locked them in. he didn't provide them with water, food, security. he had no contingency plan in the event that electricity and water went out. his staggering stupidity and ineptitude and arrogance is why so many people died.

now i want to point out that louisiana is primarily democrat. draw what conclusions you want. but all of the things that many people accuse republicans of being (corrupt, slow to action, reluctant to acknowledge their mistakes, ignorant of their job description, etc.), these democrats are guilty of as well. they should be recalled, impeached, investigated and possibly imprisoned. how many lives could have been saved if someone who knew what they were supposed to do were in their offices? it is a shame.