We can't help New Orleans? God help us

[Thom Little]

A conservative Congress has drained the nation's treasury — stuffing the Christmas stockings of the rich with tax breaks, handing out corporate welfare to Big Business and sticking to idiotic boondoggles such as the Star Wars missile defense program. Suddenly, though, this spendthrift Congress and its enabler, President Bush, have gotten fiscal religion. It's funny how that didn't happen until the Gulf Coast needed big money for reconstruction.

This is far from what the president pledged in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, making 10 trips to the devastated Gulf Coast in the span of six weeks. Standing before TV cameras in New Orleans' historic Jackson Square, he promised "one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen." But that's just a distant dream now. Suddenly, the richest country in the world cannot afford to spend billions to restore the Gulf Coast. The same country that has laid out $20 billion so far for the reconstruction of Iraq.

How is it that the Gulf Coast has disappeared so easily from the list of priorities for public spending? Why is it that American citizens who suffered from a devastating act of God find so little support from their elected representatives?

The entire tone of the conversation about the coastal region, especially New Orleans, has shifted. Much of the dialogue — especially by the conservative pundits who act as the echo chamber for the GOP — has painted a picture not of victims of a hurricane but rather of shiftless do-nothings who don't deserve aid. That's what happens when any group of people falls out of favor with the ruling Republican Party: They are portrayed as lazy and worthless losers who would be worse off if the government lifted a hand to help them. It's funny how that philosophy has taken hold in America, allowing us to comfortably escape responsibility for our fellow citizens.



http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/2005/121105.html

[NanceGreggs]

1. It's too late now, but ...

... Bush was so desparate to polish his tarnished image in the Katrina aftermath, he would have done anything.

The good people of NOLA and its environs should have told him that he wasn't welcome to come down there for any of those gradiose photo-ops -unless he brought a bundle of RECONSTRUCTION CASH with him each and every time!

[musette_sf]

2. Bu$hCo is waiting for the casino giants

to build New Vegas On The River. All he and his cronies give a shit about are flashy watering holes where scum like Bennett can drop a few mil on video poker. The only thing they know from NO music is Al Hirt, and Zatarains-Inna-Box suffices for all the local cuisine they care about. Look for Olive Garden to start a chain of schlocky NO style restaurants. Maybe they can recruit the has-been hack Emeril to be their spokesmodel.

[OneBlueSky]

3. huge sections of New Orleans will never be rebuilt . . .

mainly because the people who lived there are largely poor and black . . . their property will be stolen from them, they'll never be able to return to their hometown, and favored corporations will be given both land and free reign to do with it as they please . . . NO will become a Disney theme park where the only jazz musicians are those hired to dress funky and play "Saints" for the tourists . . .

Katrina is one of the most horrific (and most bungled) events in American history . . . that New Orleans will never again be New Orleans is a HUGE national tragedy -- courtesy of George W. Bush and the BushCo criminal enterprise . . .