On 2 Sep 2005 07:29:16 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

It is becoming more and more apparent that the Federal Government has
REALLY dropped the ball on Katrina.

How so?

Go talk to the guy who quit from the US Army Corp of Engineers
a year or so ago, because of the exact issue. Maybe he would
have something to say.

Jim

Thursday, September 01, 2005
US Left: All Straws Clutched, Every Barrel Scraped
The Left in the US seems determined to find any angle (ranging from
the irrational to the psychotic) to pin the blame of the devastating
Hurricane Katrina on President Bush. They have tried so far: the
global warming caused it angle, strike one; not enough Louisiana
National Guard troops due to the war in Iraq, strike two; now, Bush
cut money earmarked for flood control due to the war in Iraq,
hopefully strike three.

The latest idea is floated by sometime journalist, sometime Clinton
policy advisor, and sometime litigant Sidney Blumenthal. His latest
missive can be found in Speigel Online, natch:

In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of
the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush
administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to
pay for the Iraq war.

In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report
stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three
most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New
York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control
project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In
2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans
district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the
waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts
at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of
44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps
to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for
fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.

There is also wasted space regarding the debunked global warming
nonsense. Well, what was the Clinton Administration policy on floods,
hurricanes, and the sort in Louisiana? Using the same source as Mr.
Blumenthal, the Times-Picayune, we find the following via Lexis-Nexis:

February 17, 1995

An Army Corps of Engineers "hit list" of recommended budget cuts would
eliminate new flood-control programs in some of the nation's most
flood-prone spots - where recent disasters have left thousands
homeless and cost the federal government millions in emergency aid.

Clinton administration officials argue that the flood-control efforts
are local projects, not national, and should be paid for by local
taxes.

Nationwide, the administration proposes cutting 98 new projects in 35
states and Puerto Rico, for an estimated savings of $29 million in
1996.

Corps officials freely conceded the cuts, which represent only a small
portion of savings the corps ultimately must make, may be penny-wise
and pound-foolish. But they said they were forced to eliminate some
services the corps has historically provided to taxpayers to meet the
administration's budget-cutting goals.

June 23, 1995

A hurricane project, approved and financed since 1965, to protect more
than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal is in
jeopardy.

The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report
recommending that the $120 million project proceed. Unless that report
is forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget, Congress cannot
authorize money for the project, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office
said Thursday.

On June 9, John Zirschky, the acting assistant secretary of the Army
and the official who refused to forward the report, sent a memo to the
corps, saying the recommendation for the project "is not consistent
with the policies and budget priorities reflected in the President's
Fiscal Year 1996 budget. Accordingly, I will not forward the report to
the Office of Management and Budget for clearance."

July 26, 1996

The House voted Thursday for a $19.4 billion energy and water bill
that provides $246 million for Army Corps of Engineers projects in
Louisiana.

The bill, approved 391-23, is the last of the 13 annual spending
measures for 1997 approved by the House.

One area in which the House approved more financing than the president
requested was for flood control and maintenance of harbors and
shipping routes by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Flood control projects along the Mississippi River and its tributaries
were allotted $303 million, or $10 million more than the president
wanted.

June 19, 1996

The Army Corps of Engineers, which builds most flood protection levees
on a federal-local cost-sharing basis, uses a cost-benefit ratio to
justify a project. If the cost of building a levee is considered less
than the cost of restoring a flood-ravaged area, the project is more
likely to be approved.

For years, the Jean Lafitte-Lower Lafitte-Barataria-Crown Point areas
couldn't convince the corps they were worthy of levee protection. But
the use of Section 205 and congressional pressure has given the corps
a new perspective, Spohrer said.

But even so, when the Clinton administration began to curtail spending
on flood control and other projects a year ago, the corps stopped
spending on Section 205 projects even after deciding to do a $70,000
preliminary Jean Lafitte study, Spohrer said.

July 22, 1999

In passing a $20.2 billion spending bill this week for water and
energy projects, the House Appropriations Committee approved some
significant increases in financing for several New Orleans area flood
control and navigational projects.

The spending bill is expected on the House floor within the next two
weeks.

For the New Orleans District of the Army Corps of Engineers, the panel
allocated $106 million for construction projects, about $16 million
more than proposed by President Clinton.

The bill would provide $47 million for "southeast Louisiana flood
control projects," $16 million for "Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity
hurricane protection," $15.9 million for the Inner Harbor Navigation
Canal Lock on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans and $2 million for
"West Bank hurricane protection -- from New Orleans to Venice."

Most of the projects received significant increases over what the
Clinton administration had proposed. The exception: general flood
control projects for southeast Louisiana, which remained at the $47
million suggested by Clinton. Local officials had hoped for double
that amount.

February 8, 2000

For the metropolitan New Orleans area, Clinton's budget was seen as a
mixed bag by local lawmakers and government officials. For instance,
while Clinton called for $1.5 billion to be spent at Avondale
Industries to continue building LPD-17 landing craft, his budget calls
for significantly less than what Congress appropriated last year for
Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity hurricane protection and for West Bank
flood control projects.

September 29, 2000

The House approved Thursday a $23.6 billion measure for water and
energy programs, with sizable increases for several New Orleans area
flood-control projects. The Senate will vote Monday, but it may be a
while before the bill is enacted.

President Clinton is promising to veto the annual appropriation for
the Energy Department and Army Corps of Engineers, not because it is
$890 million larger than he proposed, but because it does not include
a plan to alter the levels of the Missouri River to protect endangered
fish and birds.

May 8, 2005 (extra)

Ten years ago today, the Bonneaus and hundreds of thousands of New
Orleans area residents rode out a rain unlike any they had ever
experienced. The flood killed six people and generated more claims
than any in the history of the National Flood Insurance Program. In
its aftermath, Congress created a new role for the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and federal and local governments spent more than a
half-billion dollars to widen and line drainage canals, bury culverts
bigger than cars and beef up pumping stations.

But not even those improvements could prevent massive flooding if a
storm of similar intensity were to strike today.

And on it goes. No amount of money can guarantee the risk-free
existence so craved by the US Left. The post is not a slam on
President Clinton, it merely shows that his administration was not
exactly tackling the flood-control issue in Louisiana as Mr.
Blumenthal suggests in his anti-Bush "piece". The post asks Mr.
Blumenthal and the US Left to stop looting this disaster for very
cheap political reasons.

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner