Katrinastrophe

Why has it taken the LA governor four days to declare a shoot-to-kill order for looting? Why wasn't this order issued last Saturday night, ahead of the disaster? Where is the dusk-to-dawn curfew order? The reports just keep on coming about murders, rapes, robberies, gangs of armed thugs systematically robbing and looting homes and business, bodies in the streets, etc. So when is the elected leadership going to stop making controlled speeches, get up off their sad-sack asses and lead? Why haven't they instituted drastic measures for a drastic situation?

The shoot-to-kill order should have been issued last Saturday, prior to the hurricane arriving. It's very simple: anyone seen not in military or police uniform in the possession of a weapon will be shot on sight. Shoot a few looters and thugs, and the problem will not become the regional anarchy that only now is beginning to be addressed by public authorities.

(If anything, this proves to me the advantage of private firearm ownership, and keeping a healthy stock of ammunition. I'm no bunker-building, NRA-ranting gun nut, but any looter or looters thinking of paying a visit to my house would be dead with that first step over the threshold. Warning shots are just a waste of ammunition.)

And then there's the issue of disaster preparedness and emergency management. You just wait, the recriminations and finger-pointing have only just begun. I loved the New Orleans' mayor's direct rant on the radio yesterday. Why hasn't he been talking this way for the past week? Why do things have to get to this point for this politician to stop mincing his words and speak directly?

For years those poorly paid, civil-servant emergency planners and disaster mitigation professionals, the selfless planners working with the sub-standard equipment in the shittiest basement and off-site offices, have been talking about how bad it would be for a direct-strike Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama hurricane. This is not a shocker. This is not a surprise. So now that it's happened, why is everyone freaking out? That's because nothing was done, and now thousands are paying for it, and paying dearly.

Why weren't the warnings heeded? Politics and money. Money and politics. To buy the backup generators and to put them in protected locations and to maintain them costs a lot of money. Improved levees and flood walls, and their maintenance cost money. More and better pumps for New Orleans cost money. Redundant emergency communications systems cost money. Buying a contingency fleet of state or parish flat-bottom boats and then maintaining and storing them, and training crews to man them all costs money.

All of this stuff costs money, and no one is going to pay for this but the taxpayer. Private industry isn't going to foot this bill, at least for the public. They're smart and wise, and they'll invest to protect their assets. They'll have the pumps and boats and comms and the maintenance and the training, and they'll do just fine, because they realize that investment now will provide protection and stability in the future. They're spending money now to save money later, a common and common-sensical approach.

But govt can't do that. They can't spend money now to save it later. The dumbass American public can't abide by that. "Why are we spending a zillion dollars to tear down an earthen levee and replace it with reinforced flood walls when there's no storm, and there hasn't even been one for 100-some years?" Ignorant American hasn't got the brains or patience to see this. They can think only of lowering their tax bills, and voting for the candidate who will give them the biggest rebate and cut their taxes the most. Just look at George Bush, spending more than any president in history while handing out rebates AND cutting taxes. That's why Ignorant America thinks he's so great. But is he managing our money well? No. Is he collecting and husbanding American resources for great times of crisis? No. What about the $10.5 billion that's just been approved for disaster relief? Yeah, that's deficit spending baby, along with the $200 billion already out the door for Iraq, with hundreds of billions more to come.

Ignorant America will not vote to increase their taxes, and any politician who even whispers such a move will never be elected, or re-elected. That's political suicide. So guess what? Taxes don't go up. Municipal bond and levy issues routinely fail, for services like EMT and fire. School levies fail routinely. When was the last time YOU voted actively for an increase in your taxes? I've done it, and will do it again, because that's how the government funds the things that make all of our lives better.

So what it comes down to is: who's to blame for the Katrinastrophe? For me it comes down to every single taxpayer in the areas affected. They didn't want to spend the money when it needed to be spent, whether on flood control, disaster preparation, emergency services, all of that. They've had fifty years to set up a proper public funds collection scheme and programs for the proper and wise use of the collected revenue, but it hasn't happened. Also to blame: the politicians for not telling the public the truth about needing to raise taxes and make solid commitments to disaster preparedness. A leader tells the truth, even when it's unpleasant. That's their job, the foundation of their authority, the duty to tell the unflinching truth about bad things, directly and without mitigation. But the elected officials didn't do that. They didn't tell their people to shut up and take a higher tax burden--of what? maybe another 2%, if that. But if they'd done it, the moron constituency would have voted them right on out of office. Look at George Bush The Senior. Yeah, he pledged "no nex taxes," and even though I didn't vote for the guy, I took that as a solemn promise in which he believed. But you know what, the guy was a Leader, with a capital "L," and at least in this instance he was a man of character and honor, because he got right up in front of the American people and said, 'I'm sorry, but I've got to raise taxes. I said I wouldn't, but national priorities and my duty as the Chief Executive have made me go back on my promise. I'm sorry, but I have to do this.' He leveled with America, directly and without sugar-coating, and he was rewarded by being voted out of office. Ignorant America opted away from the guy with the ethics and the bad news, and opted for the smiling, lying sack of shit that Clinton proved to be (and I voted for this liar, too, both times!)

And flood and hurricane insurance for those private citizens in possible danger? Hoo, buddy, that costs money. Sure, Ignorant America will throw down $50 a week on that Powerball lotto ticket, but paying $60/month for flood insurance, no, that's far too expensive. "That's a gamble I'm willing to take," sez the Nascar dumbass down at the Gulp n' Drive. So now, many have taken that gamble, and lost the farm. And that's that, a mighty tough lesson to be taught. Maybe next time you'll realize the wisdom of paying for that kind of eventuality. Or maybe you will opt away from that trendy and sexy and look-at-me lifestyle of coastal living.

I tell my kids constantly that there are two ways to learn: the easy way and the hard way. Too many folks in this case have opted for the hard way, learning very painfully in the space of the last week what they could have learned so much more easily and less painfully in the decades preceding if they'd just thought through the possibilities a little bit.

But hey! LSU has offered the use of their stadium for the Saints. Now that's compassion! I feel better about the tragedy already. Thanks, LSU, you sure are great folks up there. Me, I'd think that offering your stadium as a refugee center might be a good idea, but then again, that's just me talking. Thanks, LSU, no, really, thanks.