NYT- United States of Shame

[SittingBull]

September 3, 2005
United States of Shame
By MAUREEN DOWD


Stuff happens.

And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.

America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.

W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. " I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.

Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in " the great city" of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. " You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, " but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.

Why does this self-styled " can do" president always lapse into such lame " who could have known?" excuses.

Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.


***


More:


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html

[SittingBull]

1. The NYT screwed the

grand failure theory- nobody knows in advance is Bu**shit

[babylonsister]

2. Go, Mo! Excellent! nt

[12345]

3. great. thanks for the link.

[Mend]

4. Dear MoDo, Their deaths are on your hands.

Are you sure this is worse than a blow-job? You and your pals helped elect and re-elect him; why are you whinging about him now? It wasn't a secret that he was a lying, cowardly, incompetent psychopath.

[habitual]

5. Very Good Read

Particularly was moved to anger by this paragraph:

Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

That really eats away at me....... PIGS