President Bush said Friday that rebuilding the Gulf Coast would "cost whatever it costs," that he would not raise taxes to pay for the recovery and that at least some of the expense would have to be offset by cuts in other programs.
Shooting from the lip again the President shoots out a 'number' with no specifics other than to say it will be paid for by cutting other programs. Isn't that kind of how Katrina was able to do this much damage. By ignoring global warming, underfunding the reinforcement of the levees and development of wetlands that would act as a buffer against hurricanes and tropical storms. Basically, the cuts in programs that are helping fund the war in Iraq are causing our homeland insecurity.
So the Gulf Coast is now to become the new Iraq. Put Karl Rove in charge of reconstruction, give no-bid contracts to Halliburton and put a pretty face on the whole quagmire. As with Iraq and what they pass off as progress -- an example would be the elections earlier this year and all the purple fingers. That's like touting that you have given every Iraqi a cell phone, but the fact that there are no towers to make the phones function is never mentioned.
Why the Gulf Coast might go better than the Gulf War if this country wakes up --
Bush and his administration have been exposed. As New York Times op-ed columnist, Frank Rich wrote, "Once Toto parts the curtain, the Wizard of Oz can never be the wizard again. He is forever Professor Marvel, blowhard and snake-oil salesman. Hurricane Katrina, which is likely to endure in the American psyche as long as L. Frank Baum's mythic tornado, has similarly unmasked George W. Bush."
Unless you are woefully uninformed what's been exposed is his rampant cronyism, the lack of compassion for the poor; as his mother showed at the Astrodome in all her "compassionate conservatism"; the use of spin, photo-ops and press conferences to coverup failures. Even his speech on Friday,, taking full responsibility for the Katrina debacle, has a feeling of spin to it. Rove saw lemons and just figured "let's make lemonade". I think Rove found that there's a money-making opportunity here and if Bush has to admit his first mistake to take advantage of it, so be it.
Consider that this administration can't handle what's happening in Iraq and obviously fell on their face concerning the Gulf Coast and that the cost of those debacles are going to be about four to 6 billion dollars. That stretches us dangerously thin, especially with the fraud and ineptness of this administration to handle a situation. If these were the only problems facing us we'd still be in trouble but . . .
We still face a potential terrorist attack. I think the reason we haven't been hit is the terrorists see us self-destructing. A busy fire season may be in store for the West due to drought and governors in several states have raised concerns over the National Guard's long-term overseas deployments. Guardsmen have been used to fight fires. Plus there is one threat that could affect us all. The potential threat of an avian bird flu pandemic. The good news is that they believe they have found the vaccine to thwart it. The bad news is they are not making enough to take care of the whole country. Katrina was in one part of the country and those who were able ran from it and those other good hearts donated to their relief. A pandemic leaves no where to run other than to get vaccinated. If there is no vaccine we are in the same position as those poor souls with no means of getting out of harms way in New Orleans. I wish us luck. Good or bad it seems eventually that's all we're going to be left with.
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