Thoughts on Katrina and Mardi Gras

Don't miss this one: A nice uplifting story about the rewards our compassionate conservative Federal Government lavish on a local official who showed some initiative in getting needed supplies to the folks who actually needed them.

Mix this with the homage that "Rex" paid to the victims of Katrina, Past, Present and Future during the MardiGras parade today.

Add a little Paul Krugman "Why Johnny can't get a well paying' job."

Mix well.
Pour over cracked ice.

So a sheriff decides to send the stuff where it's needed and gets prosecuted for it.

Initiative is punished.

The King of Carnival paid homage to the lost souls of N'yalins during a massive wake for their loss and celebration of their redemption in Heaven. This wake was also held in part for the city of New Orleans itself which will be rebuilt at the whim of someone with money to spend [and donate to right PACs]. The folks who used to live there and gave such soul and vibrancy to the city will be replaced by their sanitized cousins from elsewhere who will move in to the resplendent, redesigned, and sanitized Nouveau Orleans (c)2006 Trump Enterprises.

Innovation at it's finest I'm sure.

Meanwhile, Paul Krugman opens a wound in the fabric of the American Dream [the one that says: "Everyone can be "someone" if they just work hard."] Nope, you also need to have knowledge and training to get anywhere.

Ambition isn't enough anymore.

I posit to the group that you don't have to know someTHING to get somewhere. You do have to know someBODY. This is blatantly obvious if you look at the Republican workforce in place to manage FEMA, HSA, EPA, FDA, OSHA, [continue the alphabet soup ad lib]

Tarnished versions of "Initiative," "Innovation," "Ambition" and What? Shall it be "Cronyism," "Oligarchy," or just plain "Nepotism"?

Budget spending cuts for program to aid the poor and our wounded veterans, continued giveaways to the very wealthy, and the Zeros keep ticking onto the national debt these fools are running up. The number of Zeros actually running the Government is also climbing rapidly. American Ports are not managed and run by American companies. The ships in the ports are not sailing under American flags. We don't control anything but we can be safe knowing that the NSA will listen and listen and listen until they catch someone... doing something [watch out you Quakers]. Who's running this side-show? Toss a ring on the bottle, win a prescription drug plan that you can't opt out of, but the companies who run it can change whatever, whenever they want to.

Trust us, we're the Republicans. We won't let a faggot wed another faggot or a lesbian couple adopt a child. And abortion... why we'll stamp that out any day now. We're your family values party! [That is, if putting food on the table- or having a table at all...isn't important to your family values.]

I keep thinking that this righteously religious and publicly pious Republican party will eventually get to the part of the Bible where it mentions that the poor and downtrodden are to be helped instead of scorned and trod underfoot.

Until that day...

Allons les Bon Temps Roullez!
Merde!

•  Sorry about that...

  I'm not feeling very encouraged about our chances as a country right now.

  The 6 months since Katrina hit and the absolute lack of any kind of sustained or coordinated efort by the Federal Government to do anything is really obscene.

  Add that to the crap that they've been doing instead and I weep for our wounded democracy.

  My Country, Right or Wrong - If Right to keep it right, If Wrong to SET IT RIGHT AGAIN!

  Help form a more perfect union, Donate, Work the precincts and VOTE for your candidate!

  Off the soap box for a while.

  by daddybunny on Tue Feb 28, 2006 at 10:29:06 PM PDT

•  Glad you asked

  I don't know about Mardi Gras in New Orleans while, 6 months later, they are still counting the dead and people are still displaced. I guess this is like our country. We are so desperate to make believe that everything is so wonderful that we willingly ignore tragedy in our midst.

  I don't get it. If there were some substantial relief and reconstruction operations going on, I would be all for celebrating. But that doesn't look like that is the case. It seems that you can celebrate in a part of New Orleans that was untouched by flooding while not seeing the massaive damage elsewhere.

  With the Bush group in office, though, I think the only thing we got left to hang onto are bare breasts and alcohol.

  by makemefree on Tue Feb 28, 2006 at 10:36:07 PM PDT

•  Mardi Gras

  I am down in Louisiana on a road trip.  And having just left New Orleans for Mardi Gras I disagree with the sentiment that NO shouldn't have celebrated Mardi Gras.  There was some concern amongst locals that it would present a picture of normalcy to the world.  But most residents seemed to want this party.  After months and months of depression it was an excuse for people to let lose.  And it seems the druken debauchery is mostly the goal of the tourists, while those who live in NO enjoy the traditions and simple pleasures that come with Carnival.  Things like meeting in the same spot for the parades with the same friends you've had for 20 years or putting your kids atop a ladder to get closer to the beads.  Mardi Gras in NO is druken and full of trouble, but people seem to want it.

  Also, there are substanital relief efforts on the Gulf Coast.  There are thousands of volunteers doing a lot of good.  But yes, our government action is ridiculous.  FEMA is loathed and everyone let it be known.  The thing that worries me is the fact that there is a huge waiting list of pubic school kid trying to get back to school.  six months later is ridiculous.  Crazy.

  by CaseW on Tue Feb 28, 2006 at 11:34:14 PM PDT

  •  most former residents aren't there

    Maybe 35% of the city has returned.

    I was there in early February, and the city seems hopelessly divided. The better-off folks don't want the poor and working class to return (and the mayor's race will reflect this).

    At least 50% of NOLA has no electricity. CNN reported up to 2/3rds yesterday.  I was involved with relief efforts, and they are mostly ad-hoc, or individual. None of it means much without schools, hospitals, firehouses, LEVEES, electricity, gas etc. 80% of the public schools are shut.

    by DeepRiver on Wed Mar 01, 2006 at 02:42:26 AM PDT

  •  My son says

    Katrina set New Orleans back 150 years. (Or else, maybe forward a decade or so into a post-collapse era... it could be a glimpse into the future of the US instead of the past.)

    It's a much smaller city for now. Changed. But still very much New Orleans.

    And, being New Orleans, it had to have Mardi Gras, which has always been a bittersweet, extravagant, laughing affirmation of Life in the face of death. This year, more than ever. The tourists never did get it: Mardi Gras wasn't for them, it wasn't about them.

    This year especially, Mardi Gras is for the people of the city.

    by Canadian Reader on Wed Mar 01, 2006 at 07:02:09 AM PDT