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Pastimes : Hurricane and Severe Weather Tracking -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (2864)	9/1/2005 12:32:48 PM
From: R2O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26017

"nearly simultaneous $71 million cut was announced in the New Orleans district budget" My goodness! NO doesn't want to spend their own money on their chronic problem and it's MY? fault? I live ABOVE sea level. That has always seemed prudent. I enjoy diving below sea level, however. A visit, only. Wouldn't want to live there. Perhaps a tourist tax, $1/drink, for those that just can't get along without NO? Not enough? Let's see ... 10Million + tourists/year, at least 5 drinks each ... Maybe $2/drink? Maybe a hotel room tax? 20% perhaps. An additional 'Fat Tuesday' tax? I think we can easily come up with $200M + per year. But then, NO has probably already done this and spends it on corruption, not infrastructure. Must be Shrubs fault. Perhaps a tax on the industry that is being crippled because I didn't give them enough money to protect their own livelyhoods? But, as I see in my own community, the whiners never want to spend any money unless they can get it from me. They seem to need to be told what to do. A true slave mentality. Why don't they contribute their 'fair share' of taxes, even if I don't? How about Soros, Gates, Hines, Buffet just ignoring the 'fat cat' tax cut and pay what they think they should be paying? Are they so impotent that they can't take control of even their own wallets? Why do they let poor little me control what they do? Stamp your feet, little boys --- have a tantrum if I don't want to do what you think is 'right' but that you don't have the fortitude to do yourself. Sad, really.

To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (2864)	9/1/2005 1:54:36 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 26017

CHRONOLOGY....Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep: washingtonmonthly.com January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh had no experience in disaster management. April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level." 2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country." December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management. March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism. 2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery. Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it." June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay." June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.