Two years after Katrina, everywhere you turn, there are people carping, whining, and kvetching. Just why hasn't the pity party for the citizens of New Orleans run out of booze and chips yet? [...]
Let me tell all the citizens of New Orleans something that should have been told to them 18 months ago: it's time to stop playing the sympathy card and get over it.
Nobody is owed a living for the rest of his life because he had a bad break two years ago. Yet, we still have people affected by Katrina who have FEMA paying their rent. How sad and pathetic is it that these shiftless people are still leaching off their fellow citizens? Since when is being in the path of a hurricane supposed to give you a permanent "Get Out of Work Free" card?
If no one is "owed a living" after a "bad break", then I guess the $1.1 million in average compensation to the 9/11 families should be returned, then. But I must warn you: don't expect New Orleanians to give up their "permanent Get out of work free cards" without a fight. We love those cards, and the street value on those things is insane.
Tancredo:
GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) said Friday it is "time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station" and urged an end to the federal aid to the region that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina two years ago. [...]
"The mentality that people can wait around indefinitely for the federal taxpayer to solve all their worldly problems has got to come to an end," said Tancredo.
Near my desk, I have a bottle of brownish "gravy" that I scooped up from the floor of my federally-flooded house in November of 2005. It has aged well. If Tancredo would like me to use this gravy to prepare a dish for him, I would be happy to do so.
Joseph Farah of WorldNutDaily:
To the people who think of the federal government as some big insurance agency that makes everyone whole following disasters of every sort, I have an even harsher message: Farah to race-baiters, blame-gamers – drop dead.
I am so sick of hearing about how Hurricane Katrina was a manmade catastrophe. Not so. We have plenty of manmade catastrophes involved with New Orleans. I can name them: Nagin, Obama, Edwards, Clinton. But, I have news for you: Katrina was a real storm. And there are more of them out there with New Orleans' name on it.
Ah ha! The Federal Flood wasn't "man-made", it was "Obama-made". Mystery solved.
Not to be left out, the White House chimes in with this doozy from its "Fact Sheet":
Today, The New Orleans Area Has The Best Flood Protection In History, And Work Continues On Improvements.
"The Best Flood Protection in History"? Well, I guess if it's on the White House "Fact Sheet", it must be a "fact", right?
It's amazing to think that less than two years ago Gulf Coast Recovery Czar promised us "the best levee system known in the world", and "today" New Orleans is already enjoying "the best flood protection in history".
Mission Accomplished!
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Update: Ashley responds to a piece written by conservative Steve Chapman of the Chi-Trib editorial board (and who is also featured in Human Events).
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Update #2: It's amazing how many people-- many of whom deny climate change and believe the world is 6,000 years old-- consider themselves well-equipped to discuss why New Orleans is "doomed" based on geologic, hydrologic and meteorological grounds. Maybe it's in the Bible somewhere, perhaps in the book of Jobless.
Also, it's amazing how many people-- many of whom wholeheartedly support this President's horrendous nation-building misadventure in Iraq-- are so remarkably fatigued by the Katrina aftermath and its survivors.
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Update #3: More lunacy at Wizbang! . Cassy Fiano writes:
We've spent more on rebuilding New Orleans than we did on the Marshall Plan, for crying out loud. At what point does enough become enough? I mean, sheesh.
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I'll say it again: shit happens.
Apparently shit happens on a blog, too. New Orleanian Paul from Wizbang! ably responds in the comments. Btw, adjusted for inflation, the Marshall plan cost America about $100 billion, "but as a comparable share of U.S. Gross National Product it would be in excess of $500 billion" in terms of current GNP. People think New Orleans has received a hundred billion because the Bushies have relentlessly linked the two in every statement they make, just like they linked Iraq to 9/11 to argue for war.
Labels: Bush, Cons, D. Powell, Federal Flood, flood protection
