American Family VOices - Miriam V.

AM Feed - September 19, 2005

Hot Topics
List of 2 items
New information about the Hurricane Katrina relief effort is coming to
light, and it's not making the Bush administration look any less inept. Now
it's
been revealed that the military was not ordered into the flood-ravaged Gulf
Coast until three days after President Bush's speech declaring a major
relief
effort. The speech itself was two days after the hurricane, meaning the
military didn't arrive for almost a week. Using the military to help in such
occasions
is not a new idea - the Pentagon assisted in 18 such disasters between
1992-1996 - so it is unclear what caused the delay. "They're trying to say
that
greater federal authority would have made a difference. The reality is that
the feds are the ones that screwed up in the first place. It's not about
authority.
It's about leadership," said George Haddow, former FEMA deputy chief of
staff and the co-author of a textbook on emergency management.
[link]
How will President Bush pay for his announced plans to rebuild the Gulf
Coast - plans that experts estimate will cost over $200 billion? Budget
accountability
has never been his strong suit (if he were a private citizen, his credit
rating might be in the negative numbers by now), but he could opt to offset
the
cost by reducing his latest round of tax cuts or cutting spending from the
bloated energy or transportation bill. For example, his latest budget
includes
a $70 billion tax cut targeted mainly at the wealthy. But demonstrating
fiscal responsibility would be out of character - President Bush has not
once vetoed
a spending bill and has resisted all calls to reduce his massive tax cuts
for businesses and the rich.
[link]
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Quote of the Day

"You can't have an emergency plan that works if it only affects middle-class
people up, and when you tell people to go do something they don't have the
means to do, you're going to leave the poor out." - Former President Bill
Clinton, commenting on the ineffectiveness of the Bush administration's
relief
effort.

Morning Snark
List of 1 items
Some might say former President Clinton is being too harsh, but in fact he's
letting the Bush administration off easy when talking about their emergency
plan - in reality, just about every plan they make targets middle-class
people and above.
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