Don't know if we'll ever see such a headline in the Times-Picayune, which fulsomely endorsed King Dumbass** twice, but we should.
In September, Bill Clinton advocated increased taxes to pay for Katrina reconstruction and the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But President Bush has vowed not to raise taxes, or even to roll back the tax cuts he made during his first term in office.
"There needs to be a vision at the federal level - a vision for what the city of New Orleans is going to look like and what's going to happen to the 600,000 households that have been displaced," said Matt Fellowes, a senior research associate at the Brookings Institution.Clue phone, Matt: there needs to be a vision at the federal level for a hell of a lot of other things, too. Only 11 months 'til the midterms...
And now, it's time for Morans on Parade:
That means people who "live on a mountain in the middle of the desert" are sharing the cost of rebuilding a coastal city below sea level, said Robert P. Hartwig, a senior vice president and chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute. It also means that today's children and their children will ultimately shoulder the burden of paying to rebuild the Gulf Coast.Goodness, Mr. Hartwig, what a fine point you make. :sarcasm: And who, may I ask, shall pay if the said desert is struck by a punishing drought, or the said mountain is engulfed by a wildfire, or even turns out to be a volcano? Huh?
"At some level it makes sense that the federal government should help, but there should be a lesson," de Rugy (of AEI -Ed.) said. "People who have behaved in a completely irresponsible way by not taking any insurance should lose something."Say, Ms. de Rugy, aren't you late for your interview with O'Really? or something? Many Gulf Coast residents, both in New Orleans and on the Mississippi coast, were told by FEMA that they did not need flood insurance because they either weren't in a flood zone or their homes were raised to the "proper" flood elevation -- which was greatly exceeded by Katrina, a catastrophe far beyond the "100-year storm".
To reiterate, "People who have behaved in a completely irresponsible way by not checking their facts before spouting off to reporters should lose their credibility." :P
Another fine article along similar lines is here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-orleansrisk4dec04,1,7777349.story?coll=la-headlines-nationLost amid continued talk of billions in federal aid is the fact that most homeowners and businesses are being left to make the toughest calls on their own. Lost is that New Orleans' recovery — which President Bush once suggested would be one of the largest public reconstruction efforts the world had ever seen — is quickly becoming a private market affair.
"My constituents have pretty much concluded that it's up to us to put our neighborhood back together and get on with our lives," said Republican city council member Jay Batt, who represents the Lakeview neighborhood just west of Vignaud's. Ah, the irony...
edit: italics