"She can't let go of that mess"

Too bad you have a such a soft spot for Hurricane Katrina victims Tara. Life would be so much easier if you didn't give a damn, wouldn't it?

Well, from all of us in New Orleans to all of you, like Tara, who continue to care, let me just say, thank you!

For all the rest of you, secession is not out of the question before the rest of the nation goes to hell. We are Katrina dissidents. We learned the hard way that failure is not an option. Sinn Fein!

Speaking of failures, how about the preznit?

New Orleans is another failure which he has thus far failed to turn around. As we approach the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of Hurricane Katrina, can anyone remember the last time monkey boy ever mentioned New Orleans?

Maybe it was back in April when he draped his lazy arm on the diminutive 74-year-old Lower Ninth Ward resident Ethel Williams, telling her in his faux Crawford drawl that she'd get back into her house using his brilliant strategy of ... uh ... letting other people come up with a plan (HT: G Bitch).

We've got a strategy to help the good folks down here rebuild. Part of it has to do with funding; part of it has to do with housing; and a lot of it has to do with encouraging volunteers from around the United States to come down and help people like Ms. Williams.

Maybe the preznit didn't think Ms. Williams was one of the "good people," because this is what her house looks like now:



Hammer: $12.99.

Nails: $2.49.

Trip on Air Force One to New Orleans: Classified.



Photo op for the worst president ever? Priceless.

There are some things money can't buy -- like brains, the truth, and the White House.

Oh, but why stop with the preznit. It seems that the incredible disappearing mayor, See Ray Nagin, popped up in Indianapolis for more race-baiting to draw attention away from his own unbelievable incompetence. Well, before he ducks his shiny head again, I'm going to take a swat at him.

Instead of dealing with the range of issues critical for the City of New Orleans to recover and rebuild, Ray Ray is off on the tour circuit again, distracting people from his own incompetence, and passing up the opportunity to present more pressing messages to the nation on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, like ... CATEGORY 5 STORM PROTECTION AND COASTAL RESTORATION!

"The tragedy of Katrina was awful. It exposed the soft underbelly of America as it relates to dealing with race and class. And I, to this day, believe that if that would have happened in Orange County, California, if that would have happened in South Beach, Miami, it would have been a different response," Nagin said. ...

"We are being strangled, and they're using the money to set local policies to try to take control of the city to do things that they had in mind all along, and that's to shrink the footprint, get a bunch of developers in the city, and try to do things in a different way," Nagin said.

It looks like Ray Ray put his horse's ass in his mouth again (a feat made all the more difficult when his head is perpetually inside his ass).

It might be hard to see with your head between your legs, Ray Ray, but the soft underbelly of America is girdled with shysters like you who pander to racial inequalities to get elected and maintain power while shafting the very people you pander to.

Hey Ray Ray ... yeah man, I just looked at your picture, and it looks like you're still black. I hate to point that out, man, but hey man, you are the man in charge in New Orleans. Do you think, man, that as a black man, you might raise your voice now and again for the very people you say are being left out of the recovery by the federal government. Like, hey man, what about public housing residents, man. Do you think you might say something about opening up that housing now so that at least they could get back into the city? And hey man, what about your statements that people should use their best judgment when deciding whether or not to rebuild in "low-lying" areas? Is that what you mean when you criticize the federal government for not helping out more? Why would it, when you're telling people not to rebuild in those areas?

Where, Mr. Poseur, is your plan to rebuild New Orleans? Where, Mr. Charlatan, is your strategy to get schools back up and running when they're still scrambling to rebuild, and when they can't find enough teachers? Where, Mr. Imposter, is your plan to address the incompetence of the D.A.'s office? Where, Mr. Pretender, is your concern for the well-being of firefighters who earn less than McDonald's workers, whose equipment is in terrible shape since Hurricane Katrina, who operate with disastrously-low water pressure due to the damaged water system, and for residents, who now live with the fear of fire? When, Mr. Fraud, were you thinking you might publish a detailed report on the fiscal situation of the city? What, Mr. Imitator, did you think you would do to support the unified planning process with concrete action -- like getting rid of Steven Bungler and Concordia? With all that needs to be done in this broken city, do you really have time, Mr. Fake, for email flames and oreo cookie stunts?

Oh when will the nonsense end! Please!

For some people, it already has. The Earth Policy Institute is calling the exodus of victims from the Gulf Coast the first example of "climate refugees" in the dawn of the global warming era. Over a million people scattered to other areas ahead of Hurricane Katrina, and afterwards. Many won't return. In New Orleans, the stream of returning victims has slowed to a trickle. Among 375,000 residents of southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast who haven't returned, at least 250,000 have established new residences elsewhere. (8/21/06 update: I'm convinced that we're experiencing the effects of global warming now, and that it may have caused the strengthening of Hurricane Katrina. But it's also true, as Mark pointed out in the comments below, that "the displaced must be laid at the foot of the White House, the Corps of Engineers and FEMA. They have become not the evacuees but the displaced not through climate change, but by fiat of a government that does not care." Wouldn't it be ironic, though, if the Bush administration were forced to acknowledge global warming to direct attention away from its own failure to manage the Hurricane Katrina disaster.)

In other matters, don't you wish the criminal justice system stopped picking on non-violent offenders, and focused its resources instead on the really bad people? Here's a solution:

As a clinician I don't remember ever meeting an addicted person who wanted to be addicted or who expected that compulsive, uncontrollable or even criminal behavior would emerge when he or she started taking drugs. Providing drug-abusing offenders with comprehensive treatment saves lives and protects communities.

Finally, don't forget to sue your insurance company! On Saturday, WTUL's Community Gumbo featured a repeat of last week's program on local residents fighting their insurance companies to settle their claims for Hurricane Katrina and Rita property damage.



While we struggle through the daily Katrina slog, at least we still have each other for support!



Failure is not an option!

Sunday music:

• Toru Takemitsu, Quotation of Dream, Deutsche Grammophon, 1998.
• Rachmaninov, The Bells, Atlanta S.O. & Chorus/Robert Shaw.
• Verdi, Four Sacred Pieces, Swedish Radio Chorus/Berlin Philharmonic/R.Muti.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina | Katrina | New Orleans | Louisiana | America's Wetland | We Are Not OK | Bush is a moron | Impeach Bush | George W Bush | Bush | Worst President Ever | Rebuild New Orleans | Unified New Orleans Plan | UNOP | Marlin Gusman | Ray Nagin | Allstate | State Farm | Homeowner's Insurance | Home Insurance | Katrina Dissidents | Failure Is Not An Option