Black Box Report

Because no one could have predicted the Bush administration would screw up the reconstruction in Iraq the Gulf Coast.

None of the 115 "critical priority projects" identified by city officials has been completed.
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The delays have affected the poor the most — those dependent on government assistance to rebuild their lives. While middle- and upper-class neighborhoods have rebuilt using private insurance and contacts, residents of low-income areas such as the Lower 9th Ward and Holy Cross — roughly 20,000 of them — for the most part remain scattered throughout the region, their return uncertain.
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The flooding that began after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, delivered an estimated $150 billion worth of damage to the Gulf Coast region, making it the worst disaster in U.S. history. Of the $116 billion appropriated by Congress to Gulf Coast recovery, $34 billion has been earmarked for long-term rebuilding. But less than half of that has made its way through federal checks and balances to reach municipal projects.

Throughout the Gulf Coast, residents are asking why their government — at every level — hasn't done more to streamline the process and bring more rebuilding dollars to the region.

Scenes of the continued plight of New Orleans and other stricken areas of the Gulf Coast are so awful, so stomach-wrenching that you almost have to turn away, unable to cope with the sense of such complete devastation. And for two years many have. And in that gap of attention not paid, where we thought perhaps the government would make good on its commitment to do what it takes, little has happened save for the predictable:

Awash in corruption, cronyism and incompetence, the reconstruction effort is a mess. Billions of money designated to the effort is not getting to those in need -- 42% of funds set aside for rebuilding and relief has not even been spent. The federal H2B "guestworker" visa program was set up for employers to hire people for the rebuilding effort. Because of the lack of oversight, abuse of workers, kidnapping and even modern-day slavery is occuring on the Gulf Coast.

And when the political cronies and hacks the administration sent to rebuild New Orleans aren't rifling the pockets of a dying city, they're making things worse:

That these BushCo hacks allowed all those Americans to suffer and die in New Orleans - and then rezoned the entire area to push out the survivors in favor of high-end developers - well, that tells you everything you need to know about their character.

No, you also need to know THIS about the conservative character:

I really feel for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. But the bottom line is that they were living off of the government before the hurricane, they looked to the government to evacuate them, they looked to the government to shelter them in the interim, and they are still looking to the government for help. Isn’t it time for the victims of Katrina to help themselves?
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It is a matter of attitude. Many of the victims of Katrina were dependent on the government before the hurricane and they still are. These people will never amount to anything because they can do nothing on their own. At least not unless the government tells or shows them how.

I like to consider myself mostly immune from some of the more craven points of view from rightwing blogs. But every now and then I come across something that just leaves me gobsmacked and speechless. Words can't describe how disgusting I find that sentiment. The ones I have aren't suitable for television, or this blog. Nevermind the phony sympathy, or the racist referense to "these people"; in quoting a Denver Post article for the source of his poor-bashing, he makes a blatant contradiction that displays a stunning ignorance (emphasis mine):

As for the displaced, they are still waiting—looking to the government for help.

Private citizens, not the government, deserved the credit, they said - a source of grim humor among those laboring to mend the neighborhood.

“Of course, we should also thank George Bush, Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin,” resident Robert Counce said sarcastically as a recent meeting of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association wrapped up.

Those damn poor, leeching off of the benevolent largesse of the government - even though they are the only ones actually getting anything accomplished. It IS a matter of attitude - those who are trying to prevent the wholesale abandonment of huge stretches of New Orleans for the sole crime of being poor have the right attitude.

Mr. Charles Wilson of The Right State - yours sucks.

But this is what we can expect from those who disguise they're war on the poor by advocating less government:

The tragic lesson of Katrina is what will happen when men and women who openly despise our government -- who brag they plan to weaken it until they can drown it in a bathtub -- are allowed to govern… Choose your leaders wisely; these neo-GOP idiots couldn't run a rib-joint, let alone the United States of America. And sooner or later, given the chance, it will be your town they drown in the bathtub.

"Less government" = less services and less protection for those who have less.

I don't know how much of this conservative government's help and sympathy the N.O.'s 9th Ward can take.