Gulf Cleansing--Theory to Explain FEMA Actions and Delays

[davidlynch]

Fellow DUers, I have been listening intensely to alternative media regarding hurricane Katrina, and I was confused by FEMAs delay tactics and other inconsistencies:

• Why are there so many cases of FEMA interfering with local relief efforts, such as turning back truckloads of water supplied by Wal-Mart?
  
• Why is FEMA so determined to remove *everyone* from New Orleans, even those that are determined to stay in their flooded homes?
  
• Why won't FEMA take advantage of ample lodging capacity in Algiers, the 20% of New Orleans that is not underwater?
  
• Why is the government determined to get everyone far away from New Orleans?
  

All of these actions result in circumstances that require the victims to leave the area, as opposed to surviving locally until the crisis is resolved.

My wife's theory (and I'm now close to convinced) is that the Administration is intentionally "cleansing" the area to expedite gentrification (this process had reportedly already begun to some degree).

Note that Bush has stated the following:

"Here's what I believe. I believe that the great city of New Orleans will rise again and be a greater city of New Orleans. (Applause.) I believe the town where I used to come from, Houston, Texas, to enjoy myself -- occasionally too much -- (laughter) -- will be that very same town, that it will be a better place to come to. That's what I believe."

It is the use of the phrase better place to come to that really got my attention.

The "smoking gun" for this argument will come in the settlement offered by the Administration to the victims. My wife believes that this settlement will include the following:

• A federal limitation (cap) on damages related to Katrina (provided at the 11th hour by our beloved Republican legislature)
  
• A token offer to the victims of some cash compensation in exchange for title to their damaged real estate
  

You'll know that we're onto something when the deal is structured in a take-it-or-leave it manner which will make it prohibitive for the victims to do anything but accept the deal. We believe that they may be forced to take the deal because the Feds will delay certification of the area as inhabitable for much longer than need be, perhaps years.

We believe that the land will be held temporarily by the Feds, but ultimately resold to private developers with close ties with the Bush Administration. The developers will construct brand new, high end waterfront property, effectively force-gentrifying the area, a goal which before the hurricane would have been unattainable.

At first this theory may seem far-fetched, but in my view it is not inconceivable. The Bush Administration seems capable of almost anything, so taking advantage of this natural disaster (as they did with 9/11) should not be dismissed out of hand.

[davidlynch]

1. kick

[rosesaylavee]

2. Sounds as good a reason as any I have heard.

Thanks for putting it together for me.

But they can only get away with it if we let them!

[jus_the_facts]

3. The PNAC's New Orleans New Order...aka FEMA and Homeland Security....

...hundreds of thousands of homeless in towns...cities and states the homeless are inhabiting at present will become unsustainable as it's already becoming here in Northeastern Louisiana...the enormity of what's happened down here will be felt far and wide for a long fuckin' time...the reality of what's to become of this FUBAR situation and it's repercussions hasn't even begun to *materialize* yet.

[davidlynch]

7. Links Seem Broken n/t

[jus_the_facts]

9. try these...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=155&topic_id=2340

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=3954289

[davidlynch]

4. kick

[electron_blue]

5. I don't see that they can/will do anything other than that

You're right. And how much $/family will be awarded? If history is any guide, probably $5,000 tops.

[WilliamPitt]

6. To answer your second point

"Why is FEMA so determined to remove *everyone* from New Orleans, even those that are determined to stay in their flooded homes?"

The city is flooded with water contaminated by sewage, chemicals, petroleum and dead bodies. I don't know how much you know about water-borne illnesses, but do a google search about large floods around the world. You'll see the word 'cholera' come up sooner or later. Usually sooner. It's a major health crisis waiting to happen on top of everything else, so getting people out of the water is a pre-emptive move to avoid an epidemic and even more death.

[davidlynch]

10. That's Understandable, But What's Your "Delay" Theory

Will, that's understandable, but what about the other items, why the delays and why no usage of Algiers? My wife survived Gilbert in Cancun, and yet the Mexican government was capable of getting in supplies and help within two days. You have keen insight into such issues, what is your "delay" theory?

[WilliamPitt]

18. My delay theory

is that total chaos has descended upon the federal government rescue/recovery apparatus due to utterly disastrous leadership, budget cuts, and a loss of experienced personnel because of political patronage and an unnecessary war 7,000 miles away.

In other words, my theory is that the delays are due to the fulfillment of Reaganomics, of Bush administration priorities, of the entire conservative concept of how to run a large, diverse, heavily-infrastructured country. It was wrong before the storm, and it has been once again decisively proven wrong now.

[alfredo]

38. Yer right. I think the federalizing of the NG might have to be explored

in greater depth. Isn't bush trying that with other states right now?

[FreedomAngel82]

48. I think that's the question

Why did it take them so long to get there? Why the delay in the response from the government? So Bush can swoop in and be a hero? Well I'm sure that's part of it for his PR image. Remember with the republicans, well neocons I should say, they only care about two things: 1) Making money and tons of money 2) Bush's image so they don't lose power and thus money.

[jus_the_facts]

14. We've already had West Nile epidemics here for years now....

....without any extra help from mother nature up until now...this situation makes it magnified....as I posted up thread...our city is already unable to susatain sanitary environments for displaced people who're here for what little help our bankrupt community can do..and we're only a week into it...thousands using 3 showers in our civic center and others turned away to move on to another local town..city or state with the same problems....the wrath has yet to be realized...because of federal tax cuts...we can't sustain immediate needs of the homeless...it will only get much worse from here.

[rzemanfl]

8. The attractions of New Orleans were its history, culture and life-

style. As a place to live, absent those things, it is hot, humid and not much else. It has no beaches or mountains. It's location makes it essential to the national economy, but it is by no means a prime location for McMansions and people don't go to conventions to look at other people's McMansions. A developer could probably buy all of Cairo, Illinois for a fraction of what it would cost to clean up New Orleans.

[valerief]

11. It will become New Corpleans

[Hoping4Change]

34. LOL....

:cry:

[davidlynch]

12. kick

[Talismom]

13. I think this is it. I've been saying it for days now. When there's

a question about why the "Bush crime family" is doing what it's doing, simply look for the money trail and how they and their cronies can get richer, and there's the answer!

It's really not so difficult to see once you start looking at this administration as the mafia gang of thugs that it is!

Kicked!

[WiseButAngrySara]

42. You have hit that sad, sorry nail right on the head......Wish it would

land on B* and co.'s heads.

[davidlynch]

15. kick

[davidlynch]

16. kick

[pat_k]

17. All those black dems electing dems has been a real problem

All those black dems down there electing dems has been a real thorn in the side of the racist-wing of the Republican party. And New Orleans is a centerpeice of black culture.

Major hurricanes provide wonderful opportunities to scatter folks across the "Red States" where they can do less damage. And, with New Orleans in particular danger... Oh, so tempting.

But, to pull it off, you would have to have someone at the reigns of FEMA for a number of years so you could place the "right people" in the "right places" at the state level. You know, some Bush buddy, like... Joe M. Allbaugh.

Hmmmm. Fancy that. Just happens that one of the first actions taken by the Bush regime after seizing the WH was installing good ole Joe.

[BQueen]

19. I tend to agree

and it makes "sense" of the foot-dragging -- fewer people to argue with who might have a real connection to the property. Relatives/inheritors might just want to sell...just one more facet of "the ownership society" -- you used to own it, now they do.

Also, I wonder how much is also about making the port of NO more "industry-friendly" -- dredging deeper in the Miss river, etc. Although this could spoil the views from the gentrified neighborhoods, I'm sure they could plan around that. Ahh, Disneyworld NOLA.

As for "a better place to come to..." I imagine * feels it is already, having got rid of those pesky black people.

I don't think it's at all beyond the pale to think that they would take advantage of a natural disaster -- people just don't like to think so because it is too easy for the Repugs to claim that we're saying * could control the weather -- which is hogwash. If we are willing to believe that the admin didn't have anything to do with 9/11 (not even LIHOP), most remain convinced that they capitalized on the attacks. Why is it such a long step to believing that they would capitalize on a natural disaster?

So what does this dichotomy demonstrate? Do more people inherently believe that the WH either LIHOP or MIHOP than are admitting it?Because the only difference in the two scenarios is the possibility of control of the means of destruction. Further, as we have seen, they DID control the means of destruction for the Katrina aftermath.

A huge hurricane hitting NOLA soon was not just a likelihood, it was nearly a dead certainty, and was long overdue. See, http://www.weatherunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comm (an EXCELLENT read, and not about the weather -- gets into fundraising issues because until politicos are not bought by campaign contributions, we will continue to have decisions made that have no basis in serving the public good.)

"A horror unimagined by anyone, except by every hurricane scientist and government emergency management official for the past forty years and more. It was a certainty that New Orleans would suffer a catastrophe like this. Every 70 years, on average, the central Gulf Coast has a Category 4 or 5 hurricane pass within 80 miles of a given point. Sometimes you get lucky--for a while. New Orleans had gone over 150 years without a strike by a hurricane capable of overwhelming the levees. Sometimes you get unlucky. There's no guarantee that New Orleans won't get hit by another major hurricane this year. We are in the midst of an extraordinary period of hurricane activity, the likes of which has not been seen in recorded history. Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis, which both had storm surges capable of breaching the levees in New Orleans, smashed into Pensacola in the past year. Either of these storms could have destroyed New Orleans, had they taken a slight wobble westward earlier in their track."

If it is possible to believe (and I think most of us do) that the neocons were waiting for something big to happen in order to implement the Patriot Act, and if it is possible to believe (and I think most of us do) that PNAC is their Bible, why is it so "out there" to think that they would be willing to take the pretty darned short odds that NOLA would be hit with a Cat 3-5 hurricane during this admin? Hey, if it didn't happen, it's just some wasted "strategery" right?

How much would it take to list the cities that the neocons would like to "remodel" and then leave them twisting in the wind if a major natural disaster occurred?

Folks can say I'm sporting a tinfoil chapeau, but the facts support a finding that they manipulated the post-Katrina situation, and the hurricane was just about as likely as the terrorist attack predicted throughout the Summer of 2001. So, just *how* is this different? The only real question is motive. I think yours makes sense.

Just because they had to "hope" for a natural disaster here, doesn't make the possibility any less likely. PNAC was written how long ago? But they didn't get their new "Pearl Harbor" til 2001. These are people who are willing to bide their time.

[Wizard777]

Weather Trends In Gulf Coast Oil Infrastructure Speculation.

Win/Win BIG Proposition. If the anticipated and feared Cat 4 or 5 doesn't hit. They win in freeing up funds for the war to seize Iraq's Oil Supply. If it does hit. They win BIG. They have the Insurance Companies and Government Bail out their long neglected Gulf Coast Oil Infrastructure. Go on take the money and run.

Bush is an evil Einstein. Albert Einstein was some what of a Rainman. There were some very simple and basic thing that he could not figure out for the life of him. It complettely baffled him. Like brushing his hair. He wore loafers because he couldn't figure out how shoe laces worked. But we have all seen what Einstein was able to figure out. Bush is his antithesis.

[Land Shark]

20. It is not THEORY but FACT that land prices will be depressed and are

depressed. The only question is who picks up the land and what position they are in to have advance knowledge or access to government subsidies.

This is just an "investment" decision from their standpoint, picking up deals on distressed properties. A thousand help yourself courses attempt to teach taking advantage of these foreclosure/flooded/distressed properties

[BQueen]

21. Isn't the severity of the flooding due to FEMA?

:kick: bears discussion, nominated

The Feds forced the situation they are now saying must be remedied by evacuation, so that's a boot-strap argument. Had the Feds done their jobs re funding and maintainance so that the levees were only topped, not breached, then the flooding would not be of such magnitude, right? (I'm really asking here, not a hurricane/levee guru, but stands to reason) Without that problem, the pumps may well not have failed, irrc. So, again, they *created* a situation where there WOULD be catastrophic flooding, guaranteed, once a certain level of hurricane hit NOLA.

But since NOLA is a bathtub, once the breaches happen, it does become a public health hazard. So, no, the answer is not to insist people stay, but one MUST ask: "Why did the government knowingly allow such a deterioration in the levees that a Cat 4 hurricane would inevitably result in a health crisis requiring massive and long term evacuation?"

Granted, it *could* just be fallout from the Norquist model; perhaps a comparison of funding for preventative measures as among various US cities/regions would be illustrative. I just think it's naive to dismiss out of hand the idea that these evil bastids were "lying in wait" for something else they could exploit.

[Karenina]

39. "Creative destruction" they call it.

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

44. Also "not-so-eminent domain"

[tinrobot]

22. Which of Bush's buddies is a land developer?

Now that the city is gone, it would be very easy to give parts of it to his buddies under the guise of "reconstruction" so they could turn it into Las Vegas south or something.

I can also see how getting federal control can help expedite that brand of looting. Might be one reason he's trying to bully the LA governor.

It's also interesting how Hallibuton is going to profit off of the cleanup. Almost like they made it worse on purpose so Halliburton would have more work (and profit.)

[AmBlue]

23. Oh, dear God....

I hope you're wrong. I couldn't for the life of me understand why Bush is so interested in strong-arming control from Blanco. After reading this, I'm :scared:.

[crikkett]

24. kick

If we do it right we will re-certify land shortly after booting *head from office.
:grr:

[AnnieBW]

25. From TBR News

In that way, we were told (and I was not the only person in the dining room who heard all this), this served to “chase out the n****rs” and permit Bush-supporting businessmen from buying up the soon-to-be condemned sodden houses for five cents on the dollar from friendly insurance companies (which one of them was a CEO of) and put up an enlarged and very profitable combination of industrial park and office building section. The money for this would, naturally, come from government grants which a terrified Congress (Mid Term elections are coming) had just voted for and the contracts to demolish the wrecked low-income slums would go, as a no-bid contract, to another stellar Bush supporter.

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1802.htm

[snot]

26. One refinement:

If this is true, my guess is that developer entities have already been formed to acquire and develop the property. If the gov. takes title at all, it will be becuase there's some potential benefit to the developers in doing it that way.

How timely that the U.S. S. Ct. recently held that the gov. has the power to condemn and take private land for private development purposes.

[BQueen]

27. "timely" is right...

hadn't thought of that -- maybe that's why Nagin was all calm after he met with the shrub.

[Helga Scow Stern]

28. In some ways this makes sense, David.

There was an article in The Nation months ago about how Bushco was poised to take advantage of disaster--in order to rebuild--in several locations around the world. Makes sense that they would do it here.

There is a method to their madness. We always underestimate this administration when we think it is just their incomptence and complete lack of caring. Their greedy little eyes are always, always on a prize.

This prize too could provide their rationale for letting so many die...it is all in the name of progress. Their sick god rewards the greedy, they think, and punishes the poor.

And don't let anyone forget that DOMINION is a rock solid plank in their platform.

[natrat]

29. they'll throw down some toxins and declare it uninhabitable

this whole thing has taken me from lihop to mihop re 9/11
keep the feds out

[TheCentepedeShoes]

30. A gentrification may be attempted

as an offshoot, for those interested in taking advantage of the situation to do that. But I'll stick with my first idea, at least for now, that for the BFEE itself, it's about the port and the oil.

[PeacePal]

32. That's why it took them so long to go in- divvying up the spoils

I can just hear the greed-driven, amoral thugs - I imagine the conversations went something like this:

"I can't think of a BETTER example of using eminent domain for the public good - I mean, all those rotting bodies, that's not sanitary, right? Let's (wink, wink)do some 'public good', eh, boys?"

"Yea, we'll wanna make sure those people won't wanna go back - we're not moving a little TOO fast here on the evacuation, are we?"

"Good point, let's slow things down a little, that'll give us some time to have our real estate attorneys get things air tight."

"Well, well, let's see - we can throw Halliburton the cleanup contract, that may satisfy them enough that they won't want it ALL for refineries - leave the rest of us a little room."

"Too bad there's no decent weather down there, oh, well, there'll be plenty of room for indoor pools at the headquarters, and airstrips so we can get in and out quick".

"Let's see, who else do we owe a plum? Maybe we can get some local developers on our side - throw them a bone and they'll put some pressure on the local pols"

"Well, let's not move the repair TOO fast, I've gotta work on my golf game."

"Okay, the neo-cons will want a little more time for their war games, anyway....of course, Cheney's surfaced, so that must been they've shut down the shadow government part of the drill."

"Hot damn, and we don't have to worry about that part of the coast being BLUE in the next election, do we?"

"Har, har, har, pass a cigar...."

and so on

[Hoping4Change]

35. I`ve been wondering if Disney is going to be brought in to create

more fake America.

[leftofthedial]

31. that's the way they work

that is the basic model of repuke reconstruction

[Helga Scow Stern]

33. "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050502/klein

By Naomi Klein, May 2005

snip
On August 5, 2004, the White House created the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, headed by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual. Its mandate is to draw up elaborate "post-conflict" plans for up to twenty-five countries that are not, as of yet, in conflict. According to Pascual, it will also be able to coordinate three full-scale reconstruction operations in different countries "at the same time," each lasting "five to seven years."

snip
Gone are the days of waiting for wars to break out and then drawing up ad hoc plans to pick up the pieces. In close cooperation with the National Intelligence Council, Pascual's office keeps "high risk" countries on a "watch list" and assembles rapid-response teams ready to engage in prewar planning and to "mobilize and deploy quickly" after a conflict has gone down. The teams are made up of private companies, nongovernmental organizations and members of think tanks--some, Pascual told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in October, will have "pre-completed" contracts to rebuild countries that are not yet broken. Doing this paperwork in advance could "cut off three to six months in your response time."


The plans Pascual's teams have been drawing up in his little-known office in the State Department are about changing "the very social fabric of a nation," he told CSIS. The office's mandate is not to rebuild any old states, you see, but to create "democratic and market-oriented" ones. So, for instance (and he was just pulling this example out of his hat, no doubt), his fast-acting reconstructors might help sell off "state-owned enterprises that created a nonviable economy." Sometimes rebuilding, he explained, means "tearing apart the old."

Few ideologues can resist the allure of a blank slate--that was colonialism's seductive promise: "discovering" wide-open new lands where utopia seemed possible. But colonialism is dead, or so we are told; there are no new places to discover, no terra nullius (there never was), no more blank pages on which, as Mao once said, "the newest and most beautiful words can be written." There is, however, plenty of destruction--countries smashed to rubble, whether by so-called Acts of God or by Acts of Bush (on orders from God). And where there is destruction there is reconstruction, a chance to grab hold of "the terrible barrenness," as a UN official recently described the devastation in Aceh, and fill it with the most perfect, beautiful plans.

more...
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050502/klein

[troubleinwinter]

36. Kick for THIS article!!!

[BQueen]

40. Thanks for finding and posting this

it's the blueprint -- they just adjust their international plans to domestic.

I wonder if Condi was out on B'way and buying Ferragamo's (I have no idea how to spell that) to celebrate another "wonderful opportunity" that "<will pay> great dividends for us."

edit cause I forgot brackets take things out on this site.

[Loge23]

37. the whores will still be there

with none other than the cretin offspring twins leading the way.

[WiseButAngrySara]

41. I've thought this for days now...look at how much the media is playing up

on the 'toxicity' of the waters, the disease, the snakes, etc! Who would want to live there? But with eminent domain and posse comitatus and Hallibuton and all of their war profiteering buddies already in NOLA, why would you expect that all people will be compensated for their property? NOLA was stolen for the same reasons we invaded Iraq. Oil and Strategic position. (NOLA 25% of US oil, and Major port) Oh yes, it will be rebuilt to warm the hearts of every neocon.

[dogindia]

43. Controling oil distribution, controling a major port, controling who

rebuilds. I am convinced the sending of folks out to Texas is a major clue. Making them suffer so they would be willing to leave.

Now on NBC they said they are going to require people to leave.

We are talking about a major takeover perhaps of important real estate.

As I said not just about luxury but about control of Mississippi and oil.

[Redstone]

45. No. This is ridiculous.

Redstone

[doubleplusgood]

46. whether delays were intentional or not

...the Republicans will take advantage of the diaspora of hundreds of thousands of predominantly poor, black residents of New Orleans & surrounding areas. Removing these Democratic voters will tip the balance to the GOP, giving them a better shot at, at least, the governorship & U.S. Senate seats. Of course, the "rebuilding" will price out these people from ever returning.

[FreedomAngel82]

47. It's the only thing that makes sense to me

I really hate these people!!!

[BrklynLiberal]

49. Criminal Plot Underway in the New Orleans Swamp

Criminal Plot Underway in the New Orleans Swamp

It is mighty suspicious the New Orleans "refugees" (as the corporate media call the Americans removed from the disease-ridden swamp left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina) are being relocated far and wide. Most of them will probably never return and will end up in ghettoes in Baton Rouge, Houston, and elsewhere (it appears Baton Rouge is being groomed as an expansive slum, since the rebuilt New Orleans will be a casino and tourist destination with time-share condos and luxury housing). It should be noted that the usual suspects will "remove debris" and supposedly "restore electric power" and "repair roofs" (an absurd declaration, considering many if not most of the homes in the New Orleans swamp will be condemned). "The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co.," the Houston Chronicle reported on September 1, well before the current effort to "rescue" and "evacuate" those not killed outright during the storm and afterwards, as Bush was on vacation and FEMA twiddled its thumbs, allowing as many residents as possible to die before people who actually have a conscience and are not neoliberal sociopaths began to scream and demand Bush be impeached for criminal negligence. "Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so," that is to say after the "refugees" have been relocated in distant slums. "FEMA privatized hurricane disaster recovery planning for New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana. The firms that received the contract are big GOP contributors," writes Wayne Madesn.* For some reason I am not surprised.

As for the hardy who have stayed behind, determined to rebuild their lives and city, expect the swamp of New Orleans to be declared a health hazard and the remaining residents (or poor and middle class residents with no stake in the new corporate Las Vegas on the Mississippi) to be removed by the National Guard and Army at gunpoint. "On the sixth day of disaster and despair, an urgent new problem erupted: disease. A suspected outbreak of dysentery compelled authorities in Biloxi, Miss., to hurriedly evacuate hundreds of people from a shelter. Medical experts have warned of epidemics sweeping through crowded, unsanitary shelters," reports Knight Ridder.

"By early Saturday morning, buses had evacuated most people from the frightening confines of the Superdome," notes al-Jazeera. "At the equally squalid convention centre, thousands of people began pushing and dragging their belongings up the street to more than a dozen air-conditioned buses, the mood more numb than jubilant." It is obvious the fiasco that was the Superdome -- in essence a prison where old people and babies died from neglect and gangbangers roamed free to terrorize, murder, and rape -- and the convention center are designated departure points for depopulating the ruined city. Abandoning people at these departure points -- sans water, food, or medical care -- was part of the psychological warfare plan: people are desperate to escape these two fetid and disease-ridden prisons and are thankful to be relocated, probably to never return. Most of them are unaware their homes will be bulldozed by Halliburton and the land sold for pennies on the dollar to corporate developers.

<snip>

More...
http://kurtnimmo.blogspot.com/
.....................................................................................................................................

* http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
September 4, 2005 -- WMR contacted by spokesperson for James Lee Witt. Yesterday, WMR reported that according to a June 3, 2004 press release from Innovative Emergency Management (IEM), Inc. it received a FEMA contract to develop a "Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana." The IEM press release stated that among its team partners was James Lee Witt Associates. Witt was FEMA director under President Clinton and he restored that agency's disaster recovery effectiveness after President George H. W. Bush's ineffective response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992. According to Witt's spokesperson, James Lee Witt Associates continues to be fraudulently listed on IEM's web site as a team partner for the over $500,000 FEMA contract work.The IEM press release that contains the erroneous information has been disappearing and reappearing, another sign of something suspicious with the contractor.

IEM, which is an 8-A minority-owned firm, apparently used Witt's name as a "buy in" ploy to lock in the FEMA contract. What is fishier is that the IEM press release was reportedly sent out before the FEMA contract was actually awarded. After IEM began the work on the FEMA contract, it never once used Witt's company and did not pay it one cent. Informed sources claim that IEM, owned by a big donor to the GOP, is notorious for not completing work after contracts are awarded. The Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana was no exception. Mr. Witt is now acting as a pro bono disaster recovery adviser for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Witt's spokesperson was frank is stating, "you don't really think the Bush administration would have given a contract to someone who worked for Bill Clinton?" That is very true. The issue with the incomplete FEMA hurricane preparedness plan is in IEM's and its actual partners' court. James Lee Witt, likely America's most effective FEMA Director, had nothing to do with the IEM work and he now needs all the support the nation and state of Louisiana can muster as he prepares to confront America's worst natural disaster in its history.

[Blaq Dem]

50. Illegal Immigrants...IN, -- - Poor Black Americans...OUT

Many blacks said have already declared they're not returning to NOLA. It's likely the city of New Orleans will be rebuilt by illegal immigrants working for slave wages. Little do they know, there WILL be poor whites and others displaced by the storm who will be out looking for jobs as well. How are they going to explain to these people, "your service is no longer needed because we have illegals to do the work for cheaper..."? Conservatives can deal with a minority population as long as they don't complain about living in squalid conditions. That's why they celebrated the 2000 census results showing the Hispanic population surpassing that of African Americans.

In speaking of illegal immigrants, where were they throughout this disaster ordeal??? They're people too. I hope they're okay.

[BQueen]

51. We'll never know

If they died in the storm or the aftermath, it's likely they will never be identified, assuming they are found (if not found, no one may be looking, afraid to notify b/c kin are illegal, etc.)

If they made it through to be "rescued," I imagine they will be turned over to INS and deported without any publicity.