Is this shit really happening?
Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
Is this shit really happening?
This is the American Govt. hard at work. It’s an embarassment. As are other things things that have happened during the Bush regime, I mean administration (strange as these two words are the SAME in some Japanese dictionaries…). If Bush had moved as quickly as he did to bomb Iraq, maybe there would have been fewer deaths. Guess we will never know. Sickening, no matter what.
Is it failure on the federal level, or on the state/local levels? It seems like a failure on all levels to me, sitting here overseas.
Lousiana has one of the most corrupt, inept political structures in America. Some of the stories I’ve heard about how that place is ‘governed’ makes me wonder if it’s Mexico’s long lost cousin. If the feds are guilty of anything, it’s thinking that those people could get anything done. When the city started to self destruct last Tuesday and the mayor was nowhere to be found, that should have been a BIG CLUE that it was going to get worse before it got better.
I’m of a mind that it’s like leaving a two year old in charge of lighting candles and then being SHOCKED when the house burns down.
(I heard a while ago that Charles Barkley might run for gov there; I can’t imagine him taking this crap).
…along with local corruption (which exists in EVERY major metropolis, thank you), there’s also the issue of consistent federal underfunding in the last five years of all of New Orleans’ municipal disaster/levee budgets, the national guard being in iraq, and a good amount of the pumping equipment designed by the army corps of engineers being there as well.
not to mention that louisiana law is written in napoleonic code, the plantation system still looms large, and the average african american income in New Orleans is $11,000.00. Try buying a car with them apples. The mayor had to establish an office in baton rouge because there was no place in new orleans to contact people on a MASSIVE scale, because all of the freaking power was OUT. When there has to be communication between the mayor and the governor, doesn’t it make sense to go to the state capitol? The Times-Picayune’s offices set up there, too, BTW. It was the best place to receive news and communication at the time.
i’m not saying that the mayor and the governor are 100% blameless. i do think that this disaster was of a “perfect storm” variety. at the same time, i think that dumping responsibility exclusively on the state and local governments is a straight-up karl rove propaganda blueprint, and attacking the mayor’s brief absence is a TOTAL cheap shot.
BTW, if you got that info from Harry Connick,Jr., his dad (one of those notorious crooked New Orleans politicians) has more than a few political axes to grind in the Crescent City.
if you haven’t read his blog already, i think that some of the best real-deal New Orleans news straight from the peeps is here…at http://www.yatpundit.com.
ed has such a comprehensive knowledge of the city and its many many subcultures. he’s also one funny dude, too.