Reflecting on Hurricane Katrina

A year after the levees collapsed, it still hurts to remember how our government failed the people of Louisiana and Mississippi. More painful is seeing how little has been done to repair the damage and bring the victims of Hurricane Katrina back home. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, “thousands of displaced people continue to live in trailers, and federal money is only beginning to trickle down to individuals and businesses” in Biloxi, Mississippi. Despite the allocation of more than $110 billion of federal money for Gulf Coast reconstruction, “less than half of that has actually been spent…and local officials in Mississippi and Louisiana have been complaining about red tape slowing the flow of funds for housing and small businesses.” Given that the official doctrine of the Bush administration has been to “leave no crony behind,” maybe it would make more sense to give that money directly to Katrina’s victims, and let them take control over rebuilding their homes and communities.

The article notes that President Bush’s “carefully scripted” visit to Biloxi “left little possibility of the president encountering much anger over the federal reconstruction efforts.” This latest spectacle echoed his visit a year ago to New Orleans, when he vowed to address the underlying issues of poverty that led to so many being left to fend for themselves in desperate circumstances. As Naomi Klein wrote for The Nation, "One year ago, New Orleans's working-class and poor citizens were stranded on their rooftops waiting for help that never came, while those who could pay their way escaped to safety....Unless a radical change of course is demanded, New Orleans will prove to be a glimpse of a dystopic future, a future of disaster apartheid in which the wealthy are saved and everyone else is left behind."

Like the promised reconstruction of the Gulf Region, President Bush's commitment to confront the economic inequality that contributed to this disaster also appears to have lost momentum. Data from the Census Bureau indicate the income gap between the rich and poor has widened, and a higher percentage of poor people are living in "deep poverty" (that's an income of $7,800 for a family of 3) now than at any point in the last 30 years.

To learn more about issues of race and class, both in the context of Hurricane Katrina and the US in general, see the summary prepared by the Leadership Council on Civic Rights Education Fund.

Blogger Beta ate my template!

When will I learn to wait until all the bugs have been worked out of the "new new thing"? To anyone who has not already fallen for the lure on the Blogger login page, I offer this advice: Steer clear of Blogger Beta! It devoured my template and refused to display anything other than a bland (and possibly insincere) message saying, "We're sorry, but we're unable to complete your request." Four days of silence from Blogger Beta Tech Support was the response to my plea to be converted back to "old" Blogger, so I finally gave in and changed over to this boring template. Dots. That says it all, doesn't it?

Bad Blogger! No treats for you!

The possibility of hope

I felt heartened by this quote in a newsletter from a peace group, Pax Christi, from the founder of the Taize Community in France, Brother Roger.

During the darkest periods of history, quite often a small number of men and women, scattered throughout the world, have been able to reverse the course of historical evolutions. This was only possible because they hoped beyond all hope. What had been bound for disintegration then entered into the current of a new dynamism.

Focus on issues, not fear, in 2006

Here are two simple actions you might consider if you live in the U.S. and want to let your political representatives know how you feel about the politicization of terror.

First, send an e-mail to the President, Vice-President, and your Congressional representatives telling them you won't support fear-mongers and instead plan to vote for individuals who are focused on issues and solutions.

Second, take part in the Nationwide 9/11 Call for Freedom from Fear initiative.

As a people, I believe we're at our best when our ordinary human courage can inspire us to declare our intention to be free from fear. So put down the duct tape and plastic sheeting and raise your voices!

Harry Potter meets Meyers Briggs

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Considering the way the latest Harry Potter book ended, I'm a little alarmed to discover that I'm a Dumbledore. Maybe it's the hair, but I thought I had more in common with Hermione Granger.

Connect the dots, part 2

Now that we've learned the Bush administration knew all along that the British terrorist plot arrests were on the way, and that Bush and Blair discussed the arrests the weekend before they were made, let's take a look at some other coincidences Keith Olbermann documented in a recent MSNBC story on the politicization of terror. For a more comedic view, watch The Daily Show's montage of CNN’s finest 'Terror: Target USA' clips.

Let's connect the dots

I'm not the only one who noticed the syncronicity between Tuesday's primary results and yesterday's top news story. An article in today's New York Times notes that yesterday's arrests "played neatly into the White House-led effort, after Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, lost on Tuesday to an antiwar primary challenger, to remind voters of the threats facing the nation and to cast Democrats as timid on national defense."

For a broader perspective on what the Bush administration has been engaged in during the last few years, see the report prepared by Representative Conyer's staff, The Constitution in Crisis.

Is this what democracy looks like?

Last week, I started hearing spots from the Department of Homeland Security on NPR, warning us that "the threat of terrorism still exists," that we needed to "remain vigilant," and "report any suspicious activity" to the DHS or local police. I wondered if this was an attempt to turn up the fear knob just before the primaries, in an effort to duplicate the "scare them into voting Republican" strategy that was so effective in 2004 when the DHS threat level kept going up and down like a yo-yo. What a sense of relief I felt yesterday when I realized that my fellow citizens were too smart to fall for that transparent ruse again! Then this morning, I was listening to NPR on the way to work and heard the breaking news that the Brits had foiled an alleged terrorist plot that aimed to blow up multiple aircraft bound for the U.S., committing "mass murder on an unimaginable scale." It sounded like the police had caught the terrorists on the boarding ramp. Now, however, it seems that the plan was in its "advanced planning stages," and I have to wonder about the timing and purpose of this announcement.

The New York Times quotes an unnamed counterterrorism official in Washington as saying, "We don't know whether there is a secondary group or another cell out there," he said. "We don't want them to know what we know is out there." So, why is this story all over the news? If you really want to find a "secondary group" or "another cell," wouldn't you want to keep the fact that you know what they're up to a secret?

On the other hand, if you were, say, a politician who was concerned that your party was in danger of losing the next election, you might decide today was the perfect day to go public with this story. I suppose you might think it would be a good way to distract voters from the unfortunate reality that your policies had made the U.S. - and the world - less secure, and to frighten them into "staying the course."

Let's get this party started!

Ned Lamont didn't score the overwhelming primary victory over Joe Lieberman that I'd been crossing my fingers for (52% to 48%), but four percentage points (around 10,000 votes) is nothing to sneer at, and it does send a message to the rest of the Democratic Party: We want our country back. All together, now, "Regime change in 2006!"

"Just say 'No!'" to Joe (Lieberman)

Tuesday is primary day in Connecticut, and I changed my party affiliation (from Unaffiliated), so I could send a clear message to the Democrats that I support candidates with progressive values by voting for Ned Lamont. Let's hope that Tuesday will mark the beginning of a new era in local and national politics. Let's rock the boat!