At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims. They didn't strengthen the levees. They ceded the streets to marauding looters. They left dead bodies to rot or bloat. Thousands suffered or died for lack of water, food and hope. Who's at fault?
Just last year, the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans. The White House slashed the request to about $40 million. Congress finally approved $42.2 million, less than half of the agency's request.
Yet the lawmakers and Bush agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-laden highway bill that included more than 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers. Congress spent money on dust control for Arkansas roads, a warehouse on the Erie Canal and a $231 million bridge to a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
How could Washington spend $231 million on a bridge to nowhere - and not find $42 million for hurricane and flood projects in New Orleans? It's a matter of power and politics.
That bridge to nowhere is happening in my state. Many of us are embarrassed by that type of pork and especially considering the need in other places. I would happily volunteer the money for that project to go to Louisiana if it were in my power to do so.
One of the children that I work with has mentioned in the past that George Bush is going to turn America into a third world country. I corrected him by saying that America is too prominent to be destroyed by one presidency. But now I have seen the pictures from Mississippi and Louisiana.....I think I owe that child an apology. Those pictures look like they come from the poorest nations on this planet. I wonder who still thinks that we are a Superpower.
What happened to our country?
