The blame game

A couple of comments to my previous post got me thinking about who gets the blame for the lack of progress in NOLA. Well, always, there's blame to go around.

I think that the current federal administration is largely to blame for the lack of rebuilding in New Orleans. I think it is foolish to think that they are not the biggest reason why our city has not been rebuilt.

I also think that the non-coastal states have less of an understanding of this as a tragedy, since non-coastal states don't understand hurricane-related flooding that well. Some of them (say, North Dakota) do understand flooding as well as we do, but they also, unfortunately understand getting federal bailout money much better than we do.

Do I agree with self defense of a community? Well, that depends upon your definition of self-defense. Seeing as how I can hire blackwater to kill you for no apparent reason, and cloak it as self-defense, then I think that the concept of self defense to justify a lot of the shit that went on post-K is utter bullshit.

Yes, Baton Rouge is largely to blame for a lot of the stalling. When I say they, then I am referring to all non-New Orleanians that could care less about this place. Baton Rouge is filled with them. Note that they can belong to any party. As I’ve said before, I don’t care what party you belong to, you’re either for us or against us. Blanco, Nagin, Bush: fuckmooks all.

As far as the Republican controlled congress giving us $10B+ for recovery…well, I know people that are still spending $1500 a month mortgage on a place that they cannot inhabit. My question is WHERE THE FUCK IS THE MONEY??? Your children will be paying for this Iraq debacle long after you’re dead and gone. They won’t be paying for levees, because the levees, and our city, will not exist if they have their way.

Finally, do not think that I do not hold our local officials to blame. That’s why I worked my ass of to get as many of the bums thrown out as I could. I still get some hate mail from Batt supporters. I tried my damnedest to get Fielkow and Midura and Mitch elected, and it looks like Midura is working out well. Fielkow hasn’t shown me as much as Midura yet, but I’ll cut him some slack for now. Mitch would have been an upgrade, as is now obvious to everyone. Keep in mind that C. Ray was overwhelmingly elected by people who do not live in New Orleans.

So, is now the time for finger pointing? Sure. I’ve got 10 fingers.

Here's the middle finger, right hand: for the guy who couldn't be bothered to come back from his month long vacation, the guy who thought it would be a nice political perq to have the head of an Arabian Horse association running the biggest federal disaster recovery unit in the world.

Comments

[slate]

Thanks Ashley. As always, you nailed it.

I was in the Rodrigue gallery with my 6 yr old grandson the other day. He loves Blue Dog. I explained that the artist had done many posters to raise money after Katrina and that the one of Blue Dog underwater was about Katrina. He was pretty awed.

While I was in there, the guy running the gallery, handed my grandson a button saying, "Levee 5 to stay alive." Needless to say, grandson didn't understand it, but I loved it. The guy and I talked for a little bit and he said something about the mayor. I asked, "Oh, have you SEEN him lately?" We both just laughed, that sad laugh that those of us here have perfected.

These people have to get it together, and I for one, refuse to let Washington ignore us til we die on the vine, which it seems, is the plan, or the "not-plan" or whatever.

Thanks again.

[Sol]

Rebuild the place yourselves. I'm tired of you deadbeats acting like you're the only people who have ever had to contend with a hurricane.

[ashley]

Sol,

Thanks for writing.

BTW, it's not the hurricane, it's the flood from the criminally constructed federal levees, you stupid fuckmook.

Love,

Ashley

[Will]

"Where the fuck is the money?"

The state already has the CDBG finds. The LRA won't release them when there is NO PLAN on how they will be used.

We've already seen what happens when assets are released to New Orleans without a plan that can be used for oversight: they get handed to bogus "nonprofits" who then hand them right back to theiving, incompetent city councilmen.

So the fucking money is waiting on a fucking PLAN. Not unreasonable. Where is the fucking plan? Not forthcoming. Not only is it not here now, I don't think there will ever be a real plan...just a bunch of random pandering by our spineless mayor to whichever "community group" has the best political connections.

You blame "them" for keeping New Orleans from rebuilding. I say: the rebuilding is ALREADY COMPLETE in every way that matters in the long run. We have just what we had before the storm: shaky levees maintained by incompetent engineers, a middle class that has opted out of the school system entirely, a bloated beaurocracy that can't get anything done, and corrupt, incompentent officials voted into office by an electorate whose primary concern is skin color.

Whether it's white Mobile, AL or black NOLA, communities who elect governments based on skin color generally get the kind of government they deserve. The real threat to New Orleans future isn't George W., my friend. We have met the enemy...and they are us.

[Brian]

Blackwater aren't assassins. They're a commercial defense firm. You can't hire them to kill, but you can hire them to execute missions. If killing happens along the way, then so be it.

But we're talking about the sheriff's office, not PSCs. A public entity that made a decision to use lethal instruments in a non-lethal fashion. And again ... if got the point across and defended the community as intended.

Self-defense has a very strict legal definition, and I haven't found many instances post-K where it's been applied inappropriately. Of course, that definition must be expanded somewhat when dealing with a community instead of just an individual. But where we have no loss of life and only protection of the community from a potential threat due to the shots fired, I can't find a problem with it.

And Sol, you truly are a putz. I mean that in as vulgar a sense as possible.

[schroeder]

It's true. We could insert the middle finger in our own asses, but the truth is that if Lyndon Johnson were president, he would long ago have rammed his pointed boot up the backsides of any local politician who wasn't helping citizens get on with their lives in the fastest possible manner. George Bush would have to raise himself off of his own pointy boots before he could do anything.

[Edward]

Will, "white Mobile" has a black mayor.

[Luchezar]

I don't think that it takes the most hardcore reiaclpbun anymore; I think it just takes someone that is deaf, dumb, and blind. I am serious when I say that too; because if you listen to what is really happening, understand that he is a fucking liar, AND see that he has been doing that since, well forever, anyone could recognize that he is a huge failure and a disgrace to the presidency. SO yeah!

[Yhuli]

Amen. Heard some seemingly itlenligent big wig comment on the news the other night that these are disenfranchised people . It's now becoming a race issue for the libs. We MADE these people live in this town! We PURPOSELY didn't care about having only category 3 levies because there was a .5% chance a category 4 or 5 hurricane would hit within 300 years, and we have been SO SLOW to help them because we're racist pigs! BLEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!!!!! Sick of it.Can you tell?

[Adnan]

Thanks Jackie and Jamie very much, I will check out the tv schedule. :]Mary Ann, I rlaely believe those people do know, but just don't give a damn. It's a tragedy that there are tons of people in our world that are like that. Selfish and greedy with the me me me attitudes, or worse the poor me attitude. Granted, I understand that a lot of people have it rough, and just because someone else has it tougher than someone it doesn't necessarily mean they can always feel better knowing that.. life is hard sometimes, and we are human. But what rlaely gets under my skin is the people that have it rather easy, bitch about their lives when they don't have a clue what hardship rlaely is. And these jerks, the ones who knock Brad, Angelina or anyone else who do good for others, need to sit their behinds down and zip it. How can anyone be so hateful towards a person that would want to help YOU if you were in a desperate situation. These people, these fortunate people that have their nice houses, and cars, money and their computers that they spend hours upon hours using to vent about a couple that they don't even personally know, could have been the ones born in a place like Haiti, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Pakistan, Sierra Leone etc, and just how would they feel if no one wanted to help them? How would they feel about people who put down the ones who showed so much passion and kindness towards them?There is nothing wrong with Angelina. She doesn't bother anybody. She lives her life, raises her kids, has a good man, both of them wealthy, famous, gorgeous and share their good fortune. People h a t e it. They h a t e her. They don't want to see this beautiful woman succeed at everything. They can't have her life, they sure as hell don't want her to have it either. So they are waiting for her to fail. Its very 2nd grade. Well if I can't have it, you won't have it either! And so the kid takes the toy and breaks it type of thing. No one can take away what she has and they h a t e it. People will always put her down especially. Its mainly women, women can be quite catty and jealous. Don't expect the h a t i n g to go away anytime soon. Our world is so screwed up sometimes. Celebrating peoples failures and hoping for the worst for others? That's sick.

[Tamires]

Sylvia, I replied to you by email but maybe you didn't riveece it. I'm not able to watch it because I don't get HBO at home (and I'm also on vacation right now) and the HBO website doesn't allow Canadians to see videos on the site. Hopefully I'll get an opportunity to see it soon.

[Amanda]

LOVE the sucker cards!!! Too cute! Allergies...you might ask his dr. about Singulair? He may be too young...I think my boys were 2 when they srtated it. I know, in this day & age it's really sad that racism still exists...after everything those who have gone before accomplished. Very sad. We're supposed to get more snow too...but nowhere near 9 inches!!! WOW!!!