I, for one, agree with you, that there is serious negligence - but, sadly,
this is exactly what we voted for, we the insightful people of the united
states - we knew that this administration valued ideology over fact at the
last election - disregarding the clear analysis by FEMA that this was a
highly likely event is just one example of such denial. What distresses me
even more than the sheer incompetence and hubris of the administration
though, is the looting, raping, and general pilaging reported to be going
on - it's one thing to be hungry and thirsty and to break into a grocery
store for food and water, it's another thing to break into department stores
to steal guns, and jewlery stores, and ...... When the mayor of the city
diverts police from rescue to law enforcement, we have a major breakdown of
the whole society.


"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
oups.com...
It is becoming more and more apparent that the Federal Government has
REALLY dropped the ball on Katrina.

Perhaps some of them should spend a few days stranded on a roof top
with no water/food/toilet waiting for someone to notice them.

The question....

Should government officials be held criminally liable for the unfolding
nightmare we are witnessing hour by hour?

If it doesn't happen, it damn well should.

One very ticked off American,

TMT

Newsview: Politicians Failed Storm Victims By RON FOURNIER, AP
Political Writer Thu Sep 1, 9:18 PM ET

At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims. They didn't
strengthen the levees. They ceded the streets to marauding looters.
They left dead bodies to rot or bloat. Thousands suffered or died for
lack of water, food and hope. Who's at fault?

There's plenty of blame to go around - the White House, Congress,
federal agencies, local governments, police and even residents of the
Gulf Coast who refused orders to evacuate. But all the finger-pointing
misses the point: Politicians and the people they lead too often ignore
danger signs until a crisis hits.

It wasn't a secret that levees built to keep New Orleans from flooding
could not withstand a major hurricane, but government leaders never
found the money to fully shore up the network of earthen, steel and
concrete barriers.

Both the Bush and Clinton administrations proposed budgets that
low-balled the needs. Local politicians grabbed whatever money they
could and declared victory. And the public didn't exactly demand tax
increases to pay for flood-control and hurricane-protection projects.

Just last year, the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for
hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans. The White House slashed
the request to about $40 million. Congress finally approved $42.2
million, less than half of the agency's request.

Yet the lawmakers and Bush agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-laden
highway bill that included more than 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers.
Congress spent money on dust control for Arkansas roads, a warehouse on
the Erie Canal and a $231 million bridge to a small, uninhabited
Alaskan island.

How could Washington spend $231 million on a bridge to nowhere - and
not find $42 million for hurricane and flood projects in New Orleans?
It's a matter of power and politics.

Alaska is represented by Republican Rep. Don Young (news, bio, voting
record), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Republican
Sen. Ted Stevens (news, bio, voting record), a senior member of the
all-important Senate Appropriations Committee. Louisiana's delegation
holds far less sway.

Once the hurricane hit, relief trickled into the Gulf Coast. Even
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, whose
agency is in charge of disaster response, pronounced the initial
results unacceptable.

The hurricane was the first major test of FEMA since it became part of
the Homeland Security Department, a massive new bureaucracy that many
feared would make the well-respected FEMA another sluggish federal
agency.

Looting soon broke out as local police stood by. Some police didn't
want to stop people from getting badly needed food and water. Others
seemed to be overwhelmed. Thousands of National Guard troops were
ordered to the Gulf Coast, but their ranks have been drastically
thinned by the war in Iraq.

On top of all this, Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters ever
to hit the United States. The best leaders running the most efficient
agencies would have been sharply challenged.

"Look at all they've had to deal with," former President Clinton told
CNN. "I'm telling you, nobody every thought it would happen like this."

That's not true. Experts had predicted for years that a major hurricane
would eventually hit New Orleans, swamping the levees and filling the
bowl-shaped city with polluted water. Yet even Bush insisted that
nobody anticipated the breach of the levees in a serious storm.

The politicians are doing what they do in time of crisis - shifting
the blame.

"The truth will speak for itself," Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio,
voting record), D-La., said of potential lapses by government. Later,
her office blamed the White House for budget cuts.

If it's not the Republicans' fault, perhaps some in Washington would
like to blame New Orleans itself. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.,
questioned whether a city that lies below sea level should be rebuilt.
"That doesn't make sense to me," he said.

But for anybody living - or dying - in the devastated region, there
are far too many villains to name.

"We're out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac
Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center.

Robin Lovin, ethics professor at Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, said it's too convenient to blame one branch of government when
they are all, at some level, failing people. From Watergate to
Clinton's impeachment, governmental institutions have disappointed the
public.

"Bush, Congress, the mayor - each of them are symptoms of a bigger
problem, that we don't have accountability for disasters or challenges
of this scale," Lovin said. "That's all the public wants in trying
times - accountability."

Thus, Americans are doing what people do when government lets them down
- they're turning to each other. Donations are pouring into
charities. Internet sites are being used to find relatives. Residents
of far-off states are opening their homes to victims.

The community spirit is reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. So
is the second-guessing. It will happen again after the next crisis.
You've heard the warnings: a cataclysmic California earthquake, another
terrorist strike, a flu pandemic, a nuclear plant meltdown, a tsunami,
the failure to address mounting U.S. debt - and on and on.

Will the public and its leaders be better prepared next time?