New Orleans -Almost 3 Years Later

"Late August 2005 TV image of the 9th Ward showed people floating in rising waters; others waiting helplessly in the streets. No response from government agencies! Dead bodies festered in the summer sun!

Hungry, thirsty and sick refugees at New Orleans' Convention Center waited for food, water and medical attention. Bodies wrapped in sheets lay on the convention center floor. At the hospital, staff had piled corpses on the stairs. Mayor Nagin cried on radio. He had failed to tell people to leave before the Hurricane hit, to send school busses to get people out after it struck, or to mobilize any city resources.

By June 2008, Nagin and other local, state and federal government officials had still not mobilized major resources to bring back 9th ward residents or rebuild for those who stayed or returned. Shirley pointed to the FEMA trailer where she lived. She hoped it wasn't toxic like so many of the others.

Shirley Jackson, president of a neighborhood council in ward 9, pointed to the vast acreage of empty lots. "Every lot used to have a home on it," she explained. Since the government has not helped, she continued, volunteers have to do the job. She runs a mini tractor helping high school volunteers from Concord Massachusetts with their land clearing project. She pointed to a pseudo sculpture she'd erected on the site where her house once stood -- a few concrete blocks in a pile.

The U.S. infrastructure needs "about $1 trillion more ...to bring infrastructure up to par with modern needs and standards," not counting costs of "new roads, rails, and sewers ... nor the cost to repair damage inflicted by the recent Midwest floods." Wastewater treatment plants mean sewage doesn't mix with drinking water. (Andrew Stern Reuters July 1, 2008)

Bush requested $1.8 billion for flood recovery. A drop in the proverbial bucket! While billions per week flow to Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of deteriorating bridges, levees and dams await attention.

A road trip through middle America convinced Old Tom and Huck that Walmart should replace the Bald Eagle as the American symbol. In New Orleans, however, we saw how Katrina overwhelmed commerce. "Partying" reemerged on Bourbon Street. Locals folk dance to Cajun music near the wharf.

Yet, Nature's forces seemed to loom over the city along with shadow of energy-sapping government corruption. Bush continues to offer this model to the rest of the world! Mark Twain would have said something caustic. George Carlin, (may he rest laughing) winner of this year's Mark Twin award, expressed my thoughts: "A politician's insincerity can best be measured by how far around the world our soldiers are..."

http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/3559