It’s something that you hear all the time as you listen to mainstream media discussion of the Hurricane Katrina disaster: Nobody could have foreseen this, the supposed experts say.
Of course, that’s bunk. Scientists have been predicting a calamity of this sort for years now, but politicians have scoffed and said that the scientists didn’t know what they were talking about, and said that money was better spent elsewhere.
In 1998, a group of scientists, city planners, and engineers presented the Republican Congress with a plan to prevent exactly the kind of disaster that has struck New Orleans. Oh, yes, the group also included officials from the Louisiana state government too (the very same government that Republicans are focusing blame on in order to distract attention from President Bush’s failure of leadership).
The plan was called Coast 2050, and it proposed work on a great scale to re-establish the delta that used to protect New Orleans from storms coming in from the sea.
Did the Republican Congress approve the plan? No, they rejected it. They said they were much too busy with really important matters, like impeaching President Clinton for getting a blow job, to pay attention to Coast 2050. They ridiculed the Coast 2050 plan as the product of environmental hysteria. They said it cost too much. They said it wasn’t worth it.
The cost of Coast 2050 would have been 14 billion dollars. That sounds like a lot, but the cost of the damage coming from Hurricane Katrina is now estimated at 100 billion dollars.
Would the Coast 2050 plan have been complete by now if the Republican Congress had approved it? No, but its benefits would have begun to accrue by now. Mark Fischetti, an editor at Scientific American, puts it this way: If Coast 2050 had been taken seriously by the Republicans on Capitol Hill, “undoubtedly progress would have been made that would have spared someone’s life, someone’s home, some jazz club or gumbo joint, some city district, some part of the region’s unique culture that the entire country revels in. And we would have been well on our way to a long-term solution.”
As it is, the Republicans’ negligence has put us 7 years behind in the effort to save New Orleans from complete destruction. Another hurricane will hit New Orleans, after all. Maybe the next New Orleans hurricane will come this year, maybe the next year, maybe later, but it will come.
Republican congressional leader Dennis Hastert suggests that America might be better off just abandoning New Orleans. That’s easy for him to say now, but we need to keep in mind that Dennis Hastert, like all his Republican colleagues, failed to act to protect New Orleans in advance, when they had the chance.
No one can completely stop a hurricane, but the Coast 2050 plan could have reduced the scale of the impact. Bush’s decision to cut funds to ordinary maintenance of protective structures around New Orleans added to the folly of the Republican Congress. The facts are plain: But for Republican lack of foresight, lives could have been saved.
What did the Republicans buy with these lives? They bought corporate welfare for big oil. They bought the airline bailout. They bought the Iraq War. They bought tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
The Republicans have said that ignoring efforts like the Coast 2050 plan makes sense, because government is a bad thing. They have said that it’s better to just not spend the money on America’s infrastructure. They have said that things are just fine the way that they are.
Well, it turns out that things were not fine. It’s time that America reject the lazy Republican ideology that investment in our nation is a waste. We need a strong government led by principled people who recognize that investment in America’s integrity now is the best way to save money later.
Strengthen America’s wetlands, and we’ll be protected from the kind of catastrophic floods that have wrecked New Orleans. Republican pundits who say that environmentalists’ concern for wetlands is foolish have been exposed as fools themselves.
It’s time to recognize that the scientists were right. The environmentalists were right. They gave us warning, and the Republicans in Congress who ignored that warning should be held responsible in the 2006 congressional elections.
There are thousands and thousands of Americans who will never get the chance to vote in that election now. In their memory, those of us left alive should listen to the warnings, and vote out the Republicans who failed to do so.
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Find out more about Coast 2050 in an excellent article written by Mark Fischetti.
Alot of comments made here with not much fact. I’ll just refer you to my post on PW’s rant. It pretty much debunks some of “The Green Mans” irresposible comments. You know, there have been alot of Democratic presidents and Congressman who are JUST as much at fault.
You should site Air America radio as a source since you have stolen half of their talking points.
Fool, he cited (cite, not site) Scientific American as his source, since that is his source.
For the record, I’ve never listened to a broadcast of Air America in my life. Facts are facts, and there is no refutation of them.
PW,
Your facts are BS. At least I took the time to research what has REALLY happened and where MOST f the real blame should go. Your right, facts are facts and you CANNOT refute mine.
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Fool.
Okay, so here we have a case in which the facts of the New York Times and Scientific American are not enough for the Republicans.
This is a sad mirror for the way that George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress have ignored science for years – to the deadly peril of the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf states.
Maybe we should go back to ignoring Hoosier. He has, if anything, become less sensible and coherent since the first time around, and still has trouble with his grammar.
Not to mention I’m a little tired of his “where are YOUR sources?” crap when they’re stated, especially paired with his “facts” that he can’t usually give sources for that are more credible than “some rich guy said so.”
You just can’t handle the truth Hare…you have a real problem with being wrong and, more importantly, being called on it.
I’m getting film quotes thrown at me now. Ooh, ouch.
I must have unknownly quoted a British “B” film. Which one was it?
“You can’t handle the truth” – Jack Nicholson, in A Few Good Men.
Personally I thought the film was rather crap, but I’m sure you’ve heard of it.
I actually take getting called wrong, especially when also proven wrong, rather well, too, so I hope that was also a film quote because otherwise it just implies you’re making common accusations against someone they don’t apply to, and that would be rather silly.
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I’ve enjoyed this read and I think you’ll enjoy this read too. Coast 2050 is something that should have been supported by Bush. He is at fault and it is time that Republiacns, like myself, fess up to how bad Bush is failing Americans. http://www.theobservationist.com/story.php?id=124
I don’t know how many shitty article I can read on irregulartimes.com. Again, everything in the world is to blame on Bush and the GOP. It reminds me of the West Wing episode where every organization gets its “ten minutes” with the WH, making absurd claims and asking for millions of dollars for their projects. You may recall a Highway for Bobcats or something. Coast 2050 for $14 billion?! What happens when the great quake hits California. Every scientists knows its going to happen – which party is that going to get blamed on? I’m sure there is a group out there asking for $20 billion to help “fix” that problem too – but guess what, mother nature is going to come crashing down on you anyway. I’m glad some scientists had the foresight to explain that a city built below sea level had the chance of flooding. Oh wait, did George W. Bush build that city under sea level? Damn him!
Well, that was a really good whine there, Daniel. Would you like to get out more frustrations at having supported such an incompetent Republican administration? Go ahead, rant some more. It will help you feel better until tomorrow, when more Americans wake up and realize what a poor job George W. Bush has done in governing.
Jim, your still so wise with your rebuttles. Wait, you don’t have an original thought – stay with the Democrats, thats where you belong.