Blame the government...whoever that is.....;

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tom Jackson <tom_jackson () sbcglobal net>
Date: September 6, 2005 6:24:35 PM EDT
To: 'Dave Farber' <dave () farber net>
Subject: Blame the government...whoever that is.....;


Pardon the screed – for IP if appropriate.

I thought my ability to be outraged was nearing exhaustion – until I  
read this….

President Bush and Congressional leaders vowed today to find out what  
went wrong in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, with Mr.  
Bush declaring that "bureaucracy's not going to stand in the way of  
getting the job done for the people."

The posting on the NY Times web site continues…..

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, the chairwoman and the ranking minority  
member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs  
Committee said hearings would be held. "Government at all levels  
failed," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and  
chairwoman of the panel, who appeared with the ranking Democrat,  
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

"It is difficult to understand the lack of preparedness and the  
ineffective initial response to a disaster that had been predicted  
for years, and for which specific, dire warnings had been given for  
days," Senator Collins said.

So bureaucracy and government are the problem?

Well, yes.  The government eviscerated FEMA to build “Fatherland  
Security”.  The government slashed spending on dikes.  The government  
is led by a man who “couldn’t foresee” the situation in New Orleans.   
The “bureaucracy” is busy sending troops and hundreds of billions of  
dollars to support a boondoggle of a war, but wastes days and days  
before sending troops to Americans in need – and then sends troops  
with the order to “shoot to kill”.

I don’t think the “government” is the problem.  I don’t think  
“bureaucracy” is the problem.  The problem is that the people running  
the government, the people running the bureaucracy, won’t take any  
responsibility for anything.

A good starting point would be for Bush, Collins, Lieberman, and  
about 48 other Senators to admit their incompetence, or to put it  
more kindly, indifference.  Rather than more Republican anti- 
government rhetoric, more scape-goating, and more spin, why can’t the  
responsible parties simply stand up and admit to errors?  Failure to  
do so is every bit as shameful as the needless human suffering in New  
Orleans.

Our elected and appointed governmental officials will find structures  
and processes and people to blame, but they will never admit that  
their skewed priorities and contemptuous disregard for the poor and  
the sick among us are the root causes of the post-Katrina tragedy of  
New Orleans.


Tom Jackson

tom () tjackson com


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