Katrina: One Year Later

I was going to just bump our old thread, but apparently we didn't really have one, but rather a few. Ah well, it's an important issue in America today and it should be kept fresh (it is far more important than 9/11's anniversary, I can't stress that enough) in the public's mind. So, let the list of fuck-ups begin!:

Dr. Ivor van Heerden, who provided ample warning as to the enormous disaster that was impending in New Orleans and the greater Gulf Region, is threatened with his job because his comments of criticism of the federal government and the ACoE could cost the university funding.

Public housing in New Orleans remains closed after a year. Some of which are not in any way damaged by the floodwaters.

President Bush tours Biloxi, but in typical Bush form does so in front of a carefully selected crowd and to a backdrop of recently erected homes when obvious evidence of the devestation is everywhere else around him. Promises to deliver the on the promises he already made, however does not announce any emergency supplementals for the rebuilding process, unlike Iraq.

And for my good friend The_Meach, here is Greg Palast talking about the threats against Ivor for pre-Katrina warnings and how FEMA privatized the New Orleans hurricane evacuation plan, contracting it out to a no name company with no experience in the field, but plenty of reciepts for donations made to the RNC.

Discuss..

From what I hear the gulf coast is still a disaster. The gubment was hoping to resurrect the rule of law in NO (which was long gone well before Katrina) but the corruption and gangs and killings are ramping up again. Not to mention the decision to rebuild all communities (makes no sense until you have a guarantee of the pre-Katrina population). Its just clueless garbage from top to bottom.

It really is very sorry and just incompetence and failure at every level. Its sad that the Iranians are doing a better job helping the Lebanese rebuild after this past war than the government is at rebuilding one of the country's great cities.

San Francisco by the end of 1907 was up and running. There's no excuse.

I wouldn't even ask for it to be up and running, but atleast have the wreakage cleared out.

EDIT: Kobe, Japan was equally devestated in '95 but is now thriving and stronger against earthquakes than its ever been. A year in they were far more along than we are now in New Orleans, much less the greater Gulf Coast region.

I have some pics and even some footage of Biloxi after a lot of clean up. I and my dad pretty much drove the entire Biloxi beach strip with the digicam going.

It's really spooky driving that road now. It looks NOTHING like it did a couple years ago. It's like someone dropped a magical nuke that only destroyed man made things. The trees, grass, and other plants are all still there, like nothing happened.

That old Pres's house is still there, kind of, and like 3 or 4 of the casinos. Amazingly enough, they already got one of the casinos back up and going, back during the first week of this past summer.

As funny as that is, it's really a good thing. Something around 25% of MS's education budget comes from those casinos. God forbid MS's schools get worse.

But everything 150 yards in from the beach, gone. Nothing but trees and sand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

From what I hear the gulf coast is still a disaster. The gubment was hoping to resurrect the rule of law in NO (which was long gone well before Katrina) but the corruption and gangs and killings are ramping up again. Not to mention the decision to rebuild all communities (makes no sense until you have a guarantee of the pre-Katrina population). Its just clueless garbage from top to bottom.

It really is very sorry and just incompetence and failure at every level. Its sad that the Iranians are doing a better job helping the Lebanese rebuild after this past war than the government is at rebuilding one of the country's great cities.

San Francisco by the end of 1907 was up and running. There's no excuse.

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the thing about the shitty housing still confuses me. the japanese can build a fucking airport out in the middle of the ocean, build their own damn island practically, but we don't have the good sense to fill in a damn mud hole before we build houses in it.