On the front lines of World War III in New Orleans

World War III? No, I'm not talking about the current Israeli-Hezbollah war (yes, war) -- although the absolute failure of the Bush administration to have any diplomatic backchannels open, whatsoever, so that it might get those Israeli soldiers released and put an end to what could look like an Armageddon conflict in very short order is extremely discouraging to say the least -- not to mention the disaster of evacuating Americans from Lebanon (is FEMA running that operation too? Didn't geedubya anticipate such an inevitability? Oh no -- no one could have imagined that Hezbollah and Israel might get into a shooting war. No one ever imagined that terrorists would hijack planes and fly them into buildings. No one ever imagined that the levees would break). But thank God we have a preznit who's saving us from the immorality of researching undeveloped frozen cells before they're thrown into an incinerator!

But that's another post. I'm more concerned about New Orleans right now, because World War III has already started -- and the front line is right here in our beloved historic city.

Upheaval caused by Katrina "goes beyond anything, World Trade Center included, that the U.S. has experienced in the last century, other than the world wars," said Topping, a former city planning director for Los Angeles. "If you look at it in relation to the world and other catastrophes, you're not too far behind. You're not out of the norm at all."

It's The Third Battle of New Orleans, and a war not just for the heart and soul of one of the America's most-cultured cities, but a battle in the longer war to save our nation from the wrong direction its heading -- and getting there at light speed thanks to the Bush administration.

We're assembling our forces, getting organized, and now, we've started firing shots back at the enemy.

Yesterday, thanks to the vocal support of citizens, the McCain-Feingold amendment was passed as part of the Senate's WRDA bill. The amendment will require all Corps of Engineers projects exceeding $40 million to be reviewed by an independent panel of experts. I hoped for more -- I think ALL Corps activities should be reviewed by independent experts -- in particular, the wetlands permitting process in places like Louisiana where we can't afford to lose anymore wetlands. But McCain-Feingold is a good start. The Senate and House versions of the WRDA bill now have to be reconciled. We're moving forward.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority program to get federal grants into the hands of homeowners trying to rebuild their houses is moving forward.

Thanks to one of our new council members, Shelley Midura, the creation of an ethics review board and an inspector general is finally moving forward.

Anyone who wants to know how this is all going to turn out might like to read the comments in the Broadmoor post of a couple of days ago for signs of optimism. We're taking back our country one block at a time, and moving forward.

Liberté. Egalité. Fraternité. And when we take back our planet and our future from the neocon war profiteers, the energy companies ripping us off while they destroy the planet, and the religious zealots, we'll all celebrate with a New Orleans style parté (with a funky little brass band backup).

Related:

If you want to save New Orleans, read this ...

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