What is Rahm expecting to happen?
Posted By: War on our own land soon? on 2008-11-14
In Reply to: Civilian National Security Force - Kim
That is why we need a Civilian National Security Force?
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I was expecting this...
response. No, I don't know what you have been through in your life. I don't even know who you are. It was just a wild guess on my part that you have probably not experienced any of the things I mentioned. Usually people who have really suffered, no matter whose fault it is, if there is any fault to be had at all, empathize with people in crisis. Blaming the ***victim*** is something I just cannot abide; it is an eccentricity of mine. I don't care where they have been, what they have done, what they are not doing, blah, blah, blah. I am still better off than they are and always have been only through the Grace of God and I mean only through the Grace of God. The reasons I have been able to rise up out of the ashes the many times I have is because of the gifts I was born with. I am white (well half anyway), and if you don't think being white in America is a leg up you are extremely deluded. I am physically sound. I am good looking. I have an above-average IQ. I was raised with a deeply ingrained faith that has served me all my life because the people who raised me (accident of birth) were married (to each other) and felt strongly about faith. I had an excellent education because they felt the same way about education. Those are all gifts I received the day I was born. I did not pull myself up by my bootstraps all by myself; no one does.
I am comparing other cities to Beirut because other than Miami and Newark which are just dangerous period, they have all been bombed and people killed. No large metropolitan city is safe.
I will leave this subject alone now. I will admit to you that yout initial post hit a nerve with me, I just see red when I hear or read someone berating people in crisis, no matter what. The end.
You think expecting someone to be held
lacking compassion?? I think it's the key to life. Case in point, I read today where once again we have a major hurricane and 250,000 chose not to heed evacuation warnings. And guess what? NOW they want to be bailed out, want rescuers to risk life and limb to save them from their own bad choices. You're right, though, I suppose. While I do have much compassion for the TRULY needy, I don't think there are as many of them in this country as the numbers using programs would reflect. I don't have a lot of compassion for lazy people who think they deserve life's best handed to them on a silver platter. I know a guy who hasn't worked in years and makes more money on disability than I make slaving at my computer for 50 hours a week, and there's not a thing wrong with him. They even have the guy on video doing heavy lifting and the whole 9 yards but he still gets those checks. I guess I'll just smile and be compassionate toward him and his sorry lot in life. lol
Oh my. and here I was expecting to be labeled a "messiah." LOL
x
No the STUPIDEST thing is expecting
while Obama continues to campaign. Should all the pubs sit around praying for Obama while he's out smearing the pub party? I don't think so.
I have to wonder just how much he cared about the woman. After all, he thought she was racist (according to his book, his words) and didn't visit her that often.
That's like expecting a tidal wave to stop
because you are pointing a hair dryer at it. It's just not going to happen on this board.
I would love nothing more than to see a bipartisan effort on this entire board, but there is to much back and forth already.
That's why something like this should have been put on the prayer request board and not the politics board.
And honestly, she shouldn't be looking for a reply. It should just satisfy her enough to put it on here. Why should it matter if there are three replies or three hundred? The number of replies doesn't equal the number of prayers he is getting. And I'm almost positive Obama doesn't read this board to see our condolences. (Although if he did, at least we would know he knew what an MT was! :) )
Again, I hate to hear that about his grandmother. But if she knows her Lord, she will be in a better place and without the pain. That is what is so great about being a Christian, knowing there is something better after this life!
Are you saying that's not Rahm Emanuel?
Or are you just saying if he wasn't speaking to someone you approve of he can say anything he likes and you won't ruffle a feather?
Is your beef with Rahm, or with the person who did the interview? The interviewer is from the New York Daily News.
Just trying to understand your point here. Does it really matter WHO Emanuel gave the quote to? As if that somehow changes the quote itself?
I believe that Rahm Emanuel...sm
has Obama's ear, most definitely, so anything he would purpose would be looked at favorably by Obama.
My personal opinion, and mine only, is that Obama's show of building a cabinet of supporters and nonsupporters is a smoke screen...just like most of the rest of his campaign and office of President-elect thus far. I don't believe we will see the full effects of his administration until it is far, far too late.
Rahm Emanuel seems worse to me.
x
Have you read up on Rahm Imanuel?
Militant pro-Israel supporter. I'm sure Iran is going to be thrilled with him. How do you think HE is going to advise the Prez on how to deal with Israel's enemies? You know, the ones who called for their removal from the map?
Just wondering.
Rahm Emanuel is no liberal.
Rahm Emanuel supported Bush on Iraq from the get go. "Lefties" NEVER did...not for a single moment. His poolitical views align with the Democratic Leadership Council, the core belief of which is that the party should shift itself away traditional populist positions and toward the more "third way" centrist views. It has been called the "republican wing" of the democratic party by progressives and the left of centers. His views on Israel are decidedly republican and are more extreme than even the shrub.
Having said that, the chief of staff is not primarily and advisory position. In fact, the nature of the position is primarily defined by the president himself, and the chief of staff can operate only within the parameters that his president allows. JFK did not even have a COS. Obama has not indicated one way or the other how he views his relationship with the COS or how much he will or will not rely on him for advice.
For every single other aspect of those job responsibilities, Rahm Emanuel is undeniable strongly qualified by his experience. The president's chief of staff first and foremost must be trusted by the President, perhaps more than any other person in his cabinet or ministry. I would say the most important qualification for that job is that of impeccable discretion. We have no evidence to indicate that Rahm Emanuel does not posses that trait.
Rahm Emanuel counts as his mentors...
From what I can see about the Democratic Leadership Counsel is they think Democrats should adopt the more centrist view when the run for something...the way Obama did. Obama is a far left liberal, his voting record says it, his history says it. But that is not the way he ran his campaign.
Rahm Emanuel was totally immersed in the Chicago political machine and counts Richard Daley as a mentor. There is a centrist for you.
as to his supporting the Iraq War....I believe that comes from his militant pro-Israel stance, not from any support of Bush. I think anyone who looks at his history knows that. And anyone who knows him knows how he stands on Israel, so I am assuming that is A-ok with Mr. Obama. It might cause some concern for Hamas though...they might withdraw their endorsement.
Chief of Staff is a title and I know you are not naive enough to think that Emanuel will not have Obama's ear, probably before anyone else.
A little on Mr. Emanuel: "At this point of his political career he was known for his intensity. Notably, he reportedly told British Prime Minister Tony Blair, prior to Blair appearing in public with Clinton for the first time after the Lewinsky scandal, "This is important. Don't fu*k it up."[17] Emanuel is said to have "mailed a rotting fish to a former coworker after the two parted ways."[16] On the night after the 1996 election, "Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting 'Dead! ... Dead! ... Dead!' and plunging the knife into the table after every name."[2] His "take-no-prisoners attitude" earned him the nickname "Rahm-bo".[16]
I think even his mother called him that...lol.
People who worked with Emanuel at that time "insist the once hard-charging staffer has mellowed out."
Let's hope he mellowed out. Not a lot of impeccable discretion going on THERE.
He left the White House to accept a well-paid position at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein investment bank in Chicago, where he worked from 1999 to 2002 and reportedly earned US$18 million.[18]
Hmmm...$18 mil in 3 years. Not bad.
Rahm Emanual: Pit Bull Politician
From Fortune, CNN Money.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/06/news/newsmakers/emanuel_easton.fortune/?postversion=2008110613
Son of a terrorist link below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel
Rahm shouldn't hold his breath. sm
Want us to understand what it is like to be an American. Now that is funny - more like NWO slaves.
Rahm Emanuel is not the president-elect....(sm)
If you pay attention to what Obama is doing right now this might make sense. Obama is filling his cabinet not only with people who agree with him, but also people who disagree with him. Presumably he's following the lead of Lincoln who did this with his cabinet members. The conclusion I come up with is that just because Rahm said it doesn't necessarily mean it will be law.
I saw that Rahm said he does not agree with Obama on some subjects - but
he said that Obama will be the president and he will not be pushing his own ideas as they are so completely opposite on some things.
Rahm Emanuel Evading Property Tax
On Home By Declaring Himself A Charity?
Wow. When I’m wrong I’m the first eventual one to admit it, so I’ll go ahead and say it, “I was wrong.” Yes, I doubted that Obama could bring about the “change” I needed to not have to worry about paying bills anymore.
Well Barack Obama has put my money where his Cabinet is with the news that his newly minted Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, has possibly been evading taxes on his home for years. How could he do it? Easy! He created a fraudulent charity in 2002, named it after him and his wife, set its address as his personal residence, and voila, taxes are gone:
According to the Cook County Assessor’s website, the Chicago home of four-term Democrat Congressman and likely new White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, doesn’t exist. While the address of 4228 North Hermitage is listed as Emanuel’s residence on the Illinois State Board of Elections’ website, there seems to be no public record of Emanuel ever paying property taxes on this home…
Why would 4228 North Hermitage property owners Rahm Emanuel and wife Amy Rule not pay property taxes?
One reason could be because Emanuel and Rule declared their 4228 North Hermitage home as the office location for their non-profit foundation appropriately called the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation”. As a non-profit headquarters, they may consider their home as exempt from paying taxes.
Skeptical? You shouldn’t be! After six years, the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation” has had only two donors. Can you guess who?
The Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Trust was formed in 2002, when the Chicago lawmaker was first elected. The former Clinton White House aide and his wife, Amy Rule, are its only donors.
USA Today has a great article about Rahm and other Dems, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are illegally operating charities under their own names while failing to report that information.
Congratulations, America, you’ve just elected another corrupt politician who surrounds himself with corrupt supporters. “Yes we can” steal from the government and those we represent!
Source: Illinois Review and USA Today
Rahm Emanuel Evading Property Tax
On Home By Declaring Himself A Charity?
Wow. When I’m wrong I’m the first eventual one to admit it, so I’ll go ahead and say it, “I was wrong.” Yes, I doubted that Obama could bring about the “change” I needed to not have to worry about paying bills anymore.
Well Barack Obama has put my money where his Cabinet is with the news that his newly minted Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, has possibly been evading taxes on his home for years. How could he do it? Easy! He created a fraudulent charity in 2002, named it after him and his wife, set its address as his personal residence, and voila, taxes are gone:
According to the Cook County Assessor’s website, the Chicago home of four-term Democrat Congressman and likely new White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, doesn’t exist. While the address of 4228 North Hermitage is listed as Emanuel’s residence on the Illinois State Board of Elections’ website, there seems to be no public record of Emanuel ever paying property taxes on this home…
Why would 4228 North Hermitage property owners Rahm Emanuel and wife Amy Rule not pay property taxes?
One reason could be because Emanuel and Rule declared their 4228 North Hermitage home as the office location for their non-profit foundation appropriately called the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation”. As a non-profit headquarters, they may consider their home as exempt from paying taxes.
Skeptical? You shouldn’t be! After six years, the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation” has had only two donors. Can you guess who?
The Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Trust was formed in 2002, when the Chicago lawmaker was first elected. The former Clinton White House aide and his wife, Amy Rule, are its only donors.
USA Today has a great article about Rahm and other Dems, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are illegally operating charities under their own names while failing to report that information.
Congratulations, America, you’ve just elected another corrupt politician who surrounds himself with corrupt supporters. “Yes we can” steal from the government and those we represent!
Source: Illinois Review and USA Today
Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff disturbs you how?
could you please expand on your concept of the Chicago political machine? I must have missed those posts in the past.
The President's Chief of Staff is basically an administrative coordinator who oversees the white house staff. He manages the president's schedule, Under his supervision are his own deputy, White House Counsel and the White House Press Secretary. Sounds like an executive butler to me. He has experience as a political staffer and advisor, a successful campaign director and fundraiser on both the state and national levels. Senior advisor to Bill Clinton on political affairs, policy and strategy. Returned to the House of representatives from the 5th district in Illinois 4 times. He must be doing something right.
Though he had expressed his interest in staying in the House and possibly aspiring to Speaker of the House, he has now decided to leave the legislative branch and become part of the executive branch. He seems to be imminently qualified for the job and does not have any direct legislative powers. Please tell us what it is you find so foreboding about the appointment of this White House butler guy.
Rahm Emanuel wants forced civil service
Listen to the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfV8iXiB9Xg
DH said its disgusting that he's laughing about it.
You're not terribly familiar with Rahm Emanuel, are you?
If you were, you wouldn't be asking those questions.
Picked Rahm Emanuel, most left wing liberal for
Wow, real great choice. I wished he would have picked more of a conservative or at least someone for both sides of party. Great way to make start as President.
It's official. Rahm Emanuel star of democratic party
accepts position of the O's chief of staff.
Hillarious video...Old video of Obama roasting Rahm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/11/obama-emanuel-r.html
Probably won't ever happen though.
But,what will probably happen..
is that she will get elected anyway, and to many's surprise be one of the most effective president's yet. What I like about her is that she is energetic, is a workaholic, very very smart, has political clout, and even since her high school and college days has always tried looking out for the underprivileged. Obama has too always looked out for the underprivileged.
That could happen
On another topic, Alan Colmes is not a right-winger, and he said for all the world to hear that Sarah Palin caused her infant to have Down Syndrome due to poor prenatal care. The only "prenatal" care that would have stopped the Down Syndrome is to ether not get pregnant or have an abortion.
This is an example of nothing but ignorance and it is fostered by Alan and repeated by the blogs.
I used to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was a nice guy that has passion for his political views, but I'll have to hear an apology from him for that statement before I'll again think of him as anything other than a moonbat.
That tends to happen when there's... sm
Nothing a person CAN say.
My question is, why do you and your buddies (sam, Chele, etc.) feel the need to post something nearly EVERY SINGLE TIME a post shows up (like this one you just responded to, for example) that you don't agree with?
Your response was basically, well, no response. Sort of a "No comment." Why do you feel the need to do that? What is the point? Are you that insecure in your views that you have to try to do something, anything to negate every opposing opinion? Because it sure seems that way to me.
You guys are still constantly crying about being picked on by all the "liberals" (aka anyone who doesn't agree with you) on this board. How funny, because - news flash - you've chased most of them away! LOL
This board has become like watching the Jerry Springer show. I feel like I lose IQ points just scanning over it. Aside from the occasional interesting link, there is very little of value here anymore.
And that is exactly what can happen
if enough American people wake up and stop using their head just for a hat rack!!! Here's to the revolution I believe is coming.
It won't happen........
Do you see the FBI jumping in to investigate? What are they waiting on? We have an election in a few days? Do you see any democrats calling for an FBI investigation into any of this? No!!! Why?
I'm not sure if it would ever happen
People do not want to see the wrong in their candidate. I think a lot of people are so angry they want to blame the other side whether it is their fault or not. There is a lot to be angry about. We as Americans have the right to be asking questions. Blame needs to be accepted on both sides. What I see in Washington right now is if there are good issues they are voted against solely because someone from the other party came up with the idea. Both sides are at fault and I believe both dems and republicans are both to blame. But until we can stand back and say "I was wrong" nothing will get accomplished. I say fire every single person in congress no matter what side they are on and lets start over.
If it were to happen...
...she very well may not have the opportunity to tell you anything. 
Oh it will happen all right
Unfortunately the majority have been blissfully ignorant too long and the die has already been cast. Obama will just be the "fall" guy. He's already sold out to the Clintons, should have seen that coming. Wouldn't have made any difference if McCain was elected either, you can bet he's on the Bush side of the wagon which is on the same wagon as the Clintons IMHO. I'm still glad I voted for Obama rather than McCain, at least he offered a tiny hope for change in our direction. AND forget all those freebies......if we're lucky we'll have soup kitchens as they did in the Great Depression. Only thing is I don't believe this "great depression" will ever be over...at least not in the lifetime of anyone discussing this issue.
It would never happen to me.
be planted by a political party at an opponent's campaign rally and claim to be somebody I'm not for the sake of posing scripted rhetorical questions. People who put themselves out there like that during a heated campaign should expect to become hounded by the media and to lose their privacy....especially if they have something to hide. Besides that, in W's world of warrantless wiretapping and the Patriot Act's system of "preventative justice," nothing surprises me anymore.
It can't happen soon enough for me!
I don't ever want to see that ridiculous smirk on his face again!
There's no way that would happen
unless they outlawed the two parties which, we all know, will never happen. People will always vote for one or the other and not give independents a chance. Heck, one year a long time ago, I even voted for the Libertarian (sp) party cause I didn't like who was running on the dem or pub ticket and there was no indpendent candidate.
I agree, there should not be any "party" (whoever thought of that terminology must have had a great sense of humor). We are not getting anywhere with the 2 parties we have now. Bush had his goofball cabinet and O has his. Some of O's are worse IMHO. They open their mouths and stocks fall. The press secretary doesn't know how to answer a straight question. He looks very uncomfortable when asked a question he doesn't know how to answer. It doesn't help matters.
Why they really don't include the forerunner of every party to debate in public forums isn't fair or right. The "minor" parties don't really get their message out because of financing and a debate would be great for them, but it's always dems and pubs.
I think if things don't turn around in the next 4 years, an independent might have a better chance.
As much as I would like to see this happen...
I don't think anything can be done. These were contractual obligations, bonuses built into a contract, not based on performance. Lawsuits that could be brought on by this would only financially endanger the company further, cost the taxpayers more in legal fees, and probably result in the bonuses being paid out anyway.
Hopefully there will be a legal loophole that will make it possible to keep those bonuses from being paid, but I'm not optimistic on this one - definitely a story to keep watch on.
it does happen! My son is a FF for sm
9 years and has told me stories where they have done this. They also lower the physical standards for women. I guess that means if you have a fire you don't want a woman FF?? Its not fair. They should all have to pass the same test.
That could actually happen
if he is unable to give away enough stuff and make enough concessions. Or, if like the whole Palestinian conflict, the stated disagreement (we want our own homeland) is not the actualy purpose of the conflict (we all really want to wipe Israel off the map.)
It's like the schoolyard bully. He wants your money, so you give it to him. Now he wants your lunch, so you give him that. Then he likes your jacket, so that becomes his as well. Pretty soon you've run out of stuff to buy him off with and it dawns on you.....he was only looking for a way to puff himself up and reason to pound on you. The other stuff he gained was just icing on the cake.
Sure but that won't happen...........don't ya know
You obviously don't know or have never bothered to read or understand economics or anything else, let alone SOCIALISM or communism for that matter or you wouldn't be go glib about the future of your government. I realize that you no doubt think that bigger government equates to MORE jobs; it does not. It equates to more government and MORE jobs and more waste of your money............. that's not jobs, that's a government controlled country.
Sorry you just don't know the difference and seemingly just do not care that private industries are going to the crapper thanks to Obama. Do you really not understand capitalism? Obviously not! Or you would be outraged over what you are seeing.
You'll be singing a difference tune when the "cap and trade" tax hits YOU to the tune of $3,000 per household and no, that ain't for the rich hon, that's for YOU!!!!
Maybe you'll wake up and see the light then! You got an extra $3,000 you wanna spend to keep your lights on JUST because your president wants socialism?
Could never happen. . . . . . she would
have to have a vision for the future in order to be president! JTBB cannot get out of the past, she only dwells on her hate for GWB! There is much more involved than revenge and that is what she thrives on, as evidenced by her every post.
I know it means nothing to her, but for those who know, thank God, vengence is not hers.
I wonder what would happen.......... sm
if US citizens renounced their citizenship and jumped on the bandwagon for all the freebies that noncitizens are "entitled" to?
Not that I would want to do anything like this, but someone somewhere is probably going to come up with this idea. Can you imagine what that would do to our country?
I happen to believe..........sm
that EVERYTHING written in the Bible is true, so it would be really hard to give just one example.
Because I happen to know that the
nm
What will happen......
If this thing passes, what will happen is YOU and I will become completely OWNED by the govt....
Those that still think Obama is just wonderful will SOON realize, when they can't pay their electricity or buy groceries, that they made a terrible terrible terrible decision in voting for him...
If everyone would get off their party line butts and start caring about this country, they would realize this is a HUGE mistake. Problem is,triggger happy, they are so complacent in their behavior, they really don't know what goes on in their govt and don't care.
I will say it again...Obama got in there for 2 reasons...
there were those that voted for him JUST because he is a black man and there were those that voted out of fear.
The ones that voted out of fear are quickly realizing the mistake they made and are sick about it!!!
Those that voted JUST because he is black really don't give a rat's butt. Govt welfare is going to be out of control like you wouldn't believe and all they see are dollar sign and more freebies!! They are THAT ignorant!!!I live in a town full of that thought process.... all they see is a black man and that's exactly what Obama was betting on. OLf course, if you tell them his wonderful wife, Michelle, three indigent black patients out the front door of the Chicago hospital she worked for making $317,000 A YEAR, they shrug their shoulders. When you tell them she was quietly dismissed of her job and the job was done away with after discovery of her illegal doings, they stand like deer in the headlights. They aren't about to call a spade a spade.... so to speak!
Those that actually work for a living are sickened by what he is doing...because they know what it is to make a living only to see their taxes paying for wrought iron fences around govt projects, our ERs stormed with lazy mothers and their babies every Friday night because they are TOO lazy to go to the free clinics during the week, and their grocery buggies (2 and 3 buggies) loaded down with groceries, while the working class are struggling just to buy groceries!!
For those that don't live around communities that have a large population of moochers, they will NEVER get the picture!!
He knows the more ignorant everyone stays, the better for him and his criminal administration! It's a simple as that...
Now those that don't like what I have to say can flame all you want. I really DON'T care. I see it everyday and I am sick to death of lazy fat butted moochers who just keep reproducing with 10 different fathers (who by the way NEVER work themselves or pay child support...just hang out on the street corner holding up their pants)while my paycheck dwindles away while I PAY FOR THEIR SORRY BUTTS!!!
did catastrophe have to happen?
Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues
By Will Bunch
Published: August 30, 2005 9:00 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.
Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: No one can say they didn't see it coming. ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation.
In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.
On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:
The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement, he said. The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them.
The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.
The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project -- $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million -- was not enough to start any new jobs.
There was, at the same time, a growing recognition that more research was needed to see what New Orleans must do to protect itself from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. But once again, the money was not there. As the Times-Picayune reported last Sept. 22:
That second study would take about four years to complete and would cost about $4 million, said Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi. About $300,000 in federal money was proposed for the 2005 fiscal-year budget, and the state had agreed to match that amount. But the cost of the Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies, and the 2005 budget no longer includes the needed money, he said.
The Senate was seeking to restore some of the SELA funding cuts for 2006. But now it's too late.
One project that a contractor had been racing to finish this summer: a bridge and levee job right at the 17th Street Canal, site of the main breach on Monday.
The Newhouse News Service article published Tuesday night observed, The Louisiana congressional delegation urged Congress earlier this year to dedicate a stream of federal money to Louisiana's coast, only to be opposed by the White House. ... In its budget, the Bush administration proposed a significant reduction in funding for southeast Louisiana's chief hurricane protection project. Bush proposed $10.4 million, a sixth of what local officials say they need.
Local officials are now saying, the article reported, that had Washington heeded their warnings about the dire need for hurricane protection, including building up levees and repairing barrier islands, the damage might not have been nearly as bad as it turned out to be.
Will Bunch (letters@editorandpublisher.com) is senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News. Much of this article also appears on his blog at that newspaper, Attytood.
Gee, who could have expected that would happen. nm
x
I would love to see that happen!
not everybody thinks/believes the same way you do.
Thanks for your response. That is probably what would happen....
just did not know for sure.
Q: 'How did this happen?"
No misunderstanding. Just don't happen to
If he stood around and let it happen...
so did Obama. They are both senators, and Obama's has the majority. So where was he?
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