Left of the Dial

Thankful

On this Thanksgiving, as with so many years past, I'm thankful for my family. That's pretty much not simply top of the list, but overwhelms just about everything else to the point that I can't think of much else.

Except for one thing: I'm really, really thankful that I was born white and middle-class in America. Because George W. Bush would never have let this happen if the crowd were made up primarily of people who look like me or Top Management or our little Aryan brood.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, regardless of race, class, gender, religion, nationality or ethnic background. Even, I suppose, the white American males. (But less you guys than the rest. Still, Happy Thanksgiving to you mooks too, I suppose.)

[Oh, and here's a neat little video that shows how it could have and should have been handled. Bizarrely straightforward, innit? And it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.]

Didn't Have to Happen

So I know New Orleans has sorta fallen off the radar a bit. But this report, from yesterday's Times-Picayune is still shocking.

This wasn’t An Act of God. This was a man-made disaster. And that’s before the man-made disaster that might be almost laughingly referred to as "the rescue operation."

They just didn’t build the damn levee right. It’s that simple.

I feel grim.

17th Street Canal levee was doomed
Report blames corps: Soil could never hold
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
By Bob Marshall
Staff writer

The floodwall on the 17th Street Canal levee was destined to fail long before it reached its maximum design load of 14 feet of water because the Army Corps of Engineers underestimated the weak soil layers 10 to 25 feet below the levee, the state's forensic levee investigation team concluded in a report to be released this week.

That miscalculation was so obvious and fundamental, investigators said, they "could not fathom" how the design team of engineers from the corps, local firm Eustis Engineering and the national firm Modjeski and Masters could have missed what is being termed the costliest engineering mistake in American history.

New Orleans Times-Picayune

Leadership

"...as the leader...if I die...then all hope is lost! Who would lead? The clown? Instead of castigating me, you should all be thanking me. What kind of a topsy-turvy world do we live in, where heroes are cast as villains? Brave men as cowards?"


George Costanza
May 5, 1994

Duty

"As President, my most solemn duty is protecting the American people."


President George W. Bush
April 22, 2005

Tests

"…during times of crisis. But that's the time when you're tested not only—it's a time to test your mettle, it's a time to test your heart when you see people whose lives have been turned upside down. It broke my heart to go to the flood scene in Del Rio where a fellow and his family just got completely uprooted. The only thing I knew to do was to get aid as quickly as possible…"


Governor George W. Bush
First Presidential Debate
October 3, 2000

Responsibility

"Our nation's leaders are responsible to confront problems, not pass them on to others.

"And to lead this nation to a responsibility era, a president himself must be responsible."


Governor George W. Bush
Acceptance speech
August 3, 2000

Accountability

"…many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans, and that is unacceptable."


President George W. Bush
September 3, 2005

Finer Words Never Were Spoken

"…a society is measured by how it treats the weak and vulnerable…"


President George W. Bush
State of the Union address
February 2005


The White House website