When You Talk about New Orleans Rember 3 Things:
- Lake Dubya: We've all gone over and over the idiocy that created this disaster. If Bush hadn't diverted hundreds of millions of dollars away from Levee works towards Iraq, and hadn't taken 40% of the national guard to Iraq, we'd be having Mardi Gras in February instead of national drainage day.
- New Orleans isn't alone: There are hundreds of disasters that we are opening ourselves up to because of Bush's failed priorities. We need a system of priorities and readiness.
- New Orleans Will Rebuild:
more below...
New Orleans will shine fuller and more beautiful than before.
Let Kobe Japan be an example. As Joel Achenbach points out, Kobe Japan rose from the ashes:
A quick note from Kobe, Japan: Ten years ago the city was destroyed. It is immaculate today. It is bustling, clean, a charming city between mountains and sea, with not a brick out of place, no sign of 6,000 dead, of fires, freeways tipped over, desperate survivors without power or water or sanitation. I throw that out as a feeble gesture of hope in a time of calamity. Cities can rebuild. People can recover -- at least, those who get out with their lives. The other day I went to the Memorial Hall for the Great Kanto Earthquake. It happened 82 years ago today. The quake and ensuing fires took 140,000 lives, about 40,000 of them in this one spot, where they had taken refuge, only to be consumed by a firestorm. I met an old man who lost 9 family members, and who goes every year on or near the anniversary to pay respects to the dead. He said in the firestorm his great grandmother was sucked up into the sky and disappeared. A painting in the hall shows bodies rising into a storm of flames. And yet Tokyo rebuilt. On March 10, 1945, the firestorm returned, brought by American bombers. Tens of thousands of people died in a single night (I dont know the exact number but Ive heard 110,000, more than in Hiroshima), the city completely immolated. The city today is spectacular and prosperous. So it can be done, will be done. There is no attempt here to wave away the news or put any gloss on it. Only to say that someday New Orleans will be New Orleans again. It was and is and will still be one of the great cities of North America, a treasure even before there was such a thing as the United States.
Keep these things in your mind when you talk about New Orleans:
- New Orleans Drowned while Bush Strummed.
- This new reality requires a new set of priorites.
- New Orleans will shine again!
New Orleans will rise again better than before, a true American Phoenix.