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Disasters 2, Bush 0

Written by Frank McGovern -Argonaut

Friday, 09 September 2005

I don’t like George W. Bush. I also fail subscribe to either of the predominant Bush-hater camps: Those who feel Bush is a moron, and their counterparts, who say he’s some evil Machiavellian genius who plays “good ol’ boy” for the camera. After all, he was smart enough to snag the White House, just not smart enough to get it legitimately. I dislike Bush because everything about him is mediocre, save his family’s finances. My aversion to Bush isn’t so strong that I would suggest he is directly responsible for the horrific death and destruction foaming up in the wake of Katrina, but pretty close. Hurricane Katrina bears an uncomfortable similitude with Sept. 11. Both included catastrophic loss of life and destruction of property. Both occurred roughly six months after Bush “won” his elections. Most importantly, they both shared a long history of frantic warnings that were ignored by our president, who botched their aftermaths profoundly. Ironically, in early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Administration issued a warning that included the three disasters most likely to devastate the United States. One of them was a terrorist attack in New York. No need to point out that Bush did nothing but put his fingers in his ears, shut his eyes and sing, “La, La, La; I’m not listening,” in preparation for that doozie. One of the others was a hurricane striking New Orleans. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but one would think that after our fearless leader’s almost willful negligence greased the wheels for Sept. 11, he would do everything in his power to prevent other likely disasters. What Bush did do was slash the funding for New Orleans flood control by 44 percent to fund the war in Iraq. Then, a year ago, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a study to examine how New Orleans could be protected from a “catastrophic hurricane.” The Bush administration ordered that the study be dropped. Then Bush and company cut 80 percent of the ACE’s funding to “hold back” the water of Lake Pontchartrain. The reductions were so acute that the ACE for New Orleans had to impose a hiring freeze. Pretty lame of Bush, right? Well it gets better. When Bush was running for office he promised there would be “no net loss” of wetlands during his administration. As we all know, he is a compassionate, environmentally conscious president. It turns out that getting big, fat kickbacks from Mother Nature-raping developers is just a little more important than say, the future of the planet, or life in New Orleans. It turns out that every two miles of wetland between New Orleans and the Gulf reduces “storm surge” by half a foot. In 2003, Bush turned over those wetlands to developers. After his actions, the ACE and Environmental Protection Agency said they “could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.” There are far too many examples of Bush’s seemingly criminal environmental negligence to include here. Even if Bush and friends hadn’t mercilessly, monetarily screwed the pooch (the pooch being the Big Easy) in regards to pre-Katrina planning, one can only imagine how much better the post-hurricane situation would have been had our National Guard been within the confines of our nation rather that dying in the streets of Baghdad. In the days following Katrina, Bush was sitting in his ranch, eating pretzels and ignoring Cindy Sheehan. It was three days after the devastation of Katrina that Bush finally split to Washington, D.C. Even more obnoxiously, he didn’t even stop by New Orleans on his way. He simply flew over and marveled at how the destruction there was worse than 9-11. Not that he would know; on Sept. 11, Bush spent the day flying around in ultra-secure Air Force One, squatting in some bunker beneath a cornfield. Why is it that when our country is in greatest need our president is on vacation, confusedly airborne and laying the blame on anyone but the administration that is supposed to be preventing and dealing with the disasters he’s hiding from? Add as favorites (48) | Views: 1339 Be first to comment this article Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code. Name: Title: Comment: