Subj : Um...no comment?
To   : Daemon
From : Frank Reid
Date : Sat Sep 03 2005 19:14:00

  Re: Um...no comment?
  By: Daemon to Frank Reid on Sat Sep 03 2005 16:21:00

 >   Deficiencies, if you actually make an attempt to research what you keep
 > trying to sound like you have knowledge of, to the levees, which broke, and 
 > the pumps, which failed.

You're actually more full of yourself than I originally gave you credit.  The
source of that article you cited was Blumenthal, and Blumenthal is an idiot. 
The fact that you've subsequently done some "research" on your own doesn't
change the fact that you piled onboard the anti-Bush wagon just as quickly as
it rolled through town.  Don't feel bad... you're among the same suckers the
PACs count on with their advertisements at election time... you know, the ones
that claim "Candidate Jones created a law that encouraged killing babies?"

Now, along the facts... first, funding for this particular pet project was cut
in the 2001 omnibus budget.  Er... wait... the Iraq war didn't start until
2003, right?  That particular budget cut was addressed specifically on the
floor as necessary to address the $345B Medicare shortfalls (which, if you
break out your calculator, is far more than the Iraq war... should we eliminate
Medicare?)

Now, was there partisanship in the decision to cut this *particular* pork
barrel project?  You can bet on it, as with most everything else that takes
place there.  Was it a bad move, even in hindsight?  Well, let's see... this
particular project (to shore the levees) began in 1965.  It was originally
planned to be finished by 1975.  However, the project was *never* (not a single
time) funded at the requested level since its inception.  So, maybe you should
really be blaming LBJ!

Okay, but if it *had* been funded at requested levels, it would have saved all
those lives, right?  Wrong!  According to LTGen Strock, Chief of Army Corps of
Engineers, it would "not have changed the situation in downtown New Orleans." 
Ironically, the portion of the project for the 17th Street Canal (where, as you
know, the primary breaches occurred) was actually fully completed!  The only
remaining (unfunded) work was on the Lake Ponchartrain levees!

For two decades, the residents of New Orleans have talked about "the big one"
devastating their city.  Well, this was the Big One.  You can give Bush credit
for lots of things.  We know you don't like the Iraqi war... we get that. 
However, giving him credit for the acts of God is a bit of a stretch!

Like I said to Angus (somewhat tongue-in-cheek)... maybe your inability to
reckon the existence of a higher power is what leads you to this kind of blame
game when natural disaster occurs.  Maybe your opinion of yourself is so huge
that you think man must be dominant of all the physical around him.  Well,
sorry... you're not your own god.

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