A hurricane, as devastating as it is to humans and physical structures, is an act of natural cleansing. An earthy enema. An oil spill is poison. A man-made, toxic rape of Mother Nature.
Blaming President Obama for BP's (and maybe even Halliburton's) devastating blow to the ocean, wildlife, and the health and welfare of America, is also toxic, but not nearly as nightmarish as the current-- and future-- long term, filthy nightmare.
By GottaLaff In an earlier post, I mentioned how some in the media (Gee, guess who?) are pushing the meme that the Gulf oil catastrophe is "Obama's Katrina". Wrong. It's a memorable catch phrase, but it's inaccurate, to say the least. But that won't stop them from perpetuating the lies. It never has, it never will.
Salazar noted that the Obama administration has ordered inspections of "blowout preventers" on other Gulf rigs.The government's job was to "keep the boot on the neck" of BP to ensure it meets its obligations in stopping the spill, dealing with the oil slick and paying for all costs and damages.
President Obama is on his way:
President Obama headed to Louisiana on Sunday to see for himself the growing oil slick from a damaged offshore well that threatens the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The gulf oil spill is no Katrina, in which 1,836 people died amid the near total devastation of one of America’s great cities…
Unlike Katrina, there has been no obvious failures of government, no images to compare to the Superdome or the flooded streets of St. Bernard Parish. And unlike Katrina, there is an easy target for blame in the current oil spill: the oil giant BP, which by law is the “responsible party” and must pay for all of the costs of the cleanup.
However, if you are a Rushpublic, it's all Obama's fault. So is that paper cut I just got, according to them.... And that flat tire that caused gridlock on the 101 freeway, along with global warming, terrorism, locusts, Vanilla Ice's career, and Trump's hair.
By GottaLaff Today's Quickie is a twofer, and they both come by way of Greg Sargent:
* Today’s prize for bucking the Beltway-approved narrative goes to Jonathan Alter, for making an audacious suggestion: Rather than asking whether the Gulf spill is Obama’s Katrina, let’s ask whether it should give new momentum to energy reform.
* Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, a gung-ho backer of the Arizona immigration law, says he will decide whether to ride his tough-on-immigration notoriety to launch a run for higher office, commenting thusly:
“I am not running for governor now until I decide over the weekend with a glass of wine and my wife, since my mother and father came here from Italy, with a little spaghetti and meatballs.”
Well now, those are two hefty little Quickies. One relates back to this post, in which I complained about the Katrina meme that the pretend news insists upon pushing.
As for Arpaio, I posted about him here. He's hopeless and has no business being in the public eye or in public office, let alone anywhere else.
That was today's Quickie Twofer. Was it good for you?
Court rules in favor of NOLA residents re: flooding during Hurricane Katrina.... that it was a "man made disaster". This is a district court ruling. It could have huge implications for the region and issues of accountability.
So essentially, the Army Corps of Engineers were sloppy, and that was one of the elements resulting in the flooding.
In a groundbreaking decision, a federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers' mismanagement of maintenance of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was directly responsible for flood damage of homes in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. could result in the federal government paying $700,000 in damages to three people and a business in those areas, but also sets the stage for judgments against the govenment for damages by as many as 100,000 other residents, businesses and local governments in those areas who filed claims with the corps after Katrina.
If successful, the damage claims could total billions of dollars.
Duval ruled, however, that WDSU-TV anchor Norman Robinson and his wife were not entitled to damages because the corps' dredging of the MR-GO did not affect the levee system that protects eastern New Orleans from hurricane storm surge. That probably means eastern New Orleans residents also would not be able to collect on claims they've filed against the corps, said attorneys representing plaintiffs in the case.
Cutting services to those who desperately need them is becoming a habit over in JindalLand. He is now gutting all mental health care in Louisiana to fill the Medicare budget shortfall:
The state also plans to shift money from its mental health and public health programs into the Medicaid budget, where it can draw federal matching money. Levine said the agency has no plans for layoffs, but that workers in the three state-run psychiatric hospitals will be working fewer hours and that as a result the number of staffers per patient will decrease.
Sidebar: Jindal didn't show up at a big-- make that huge-- opening of a World War II Museum. Was he afraid that someone might connect the sore subject of mental health issues/veterans/the military, the tragedy at Ft. Hood and the need for proper psychological care? That would put him in a bit of a mental health pickle. A stretch? Maybe. Just a thought.
Gordon "Nick" Mueller, the museum's co-founder, president and chief executive officer, stressed the symbolic importance of the building, one of the biggest local construction projects since Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the New Orleans area in August 2005.
"The whole museum is in the American spirit," he said.
But back to funding issues. Apparently, shoring up Medicaid with cuts to mental health facilities isn't as upsetting to Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine as the dearth of alcohol and fancy schmancy shrimp and oysters in Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby's own private Superdome suite:
"It's certainly an honor to be invited, but you don't get to spend a whole lot of time watching the game," said Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine, who was on hand for last Monday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. Besides, Levine said, the governor's box doesn't come with the same amenities as the neighboring suites. "You walk by the other boxes and you see shrimp and you see oysters and you see alcohol, and you walk into the governor's box and there (are) literally just plastic cups next to the sink."
Maybe Levine could snatch a few dollars from what was formerly the mental health budget and buy his own gourmet nummies.
If you recall, I previously posted about the horrific mental health crisis in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, plus State Rep. Neil Abramson's exclusive comments here. A short excerpt from my interview with him:
The real problem, unfortunately, is this became an issue of politics: Who has the idea and whether or not we need to be problem solvers, not bean counters.
Jindal decided to save money, to consolidate two state mental hospitals into one. It became obvious to me that you can save all the money you want, but the facility HAD to be in New Orleans to address the needs of the patients.
Governor Jindal already closed the only public mental health hospital in New Orleans. Now, Alan Levine, Jindal's secretary of Department of Health & Hospital, proposes cutting more mental health services in order to save medicaid money.
Yes, that is the same Alan Levine who has public longings for shrimp. Moving on:
As a member of the legislature, we found a way to keep the mental health hospital open in New Orleans, working with the economic constraints of our balanced budget. Yet, Governor Jindal vetoed that funding and closed the hospital.Now, his administration is targeting more mental health cuts throughout Louisiana.
At some point, his administration needs to recognize that mental health is health care, and particularly after Hurricane Katrina, there is a desperate need for mental health care treatment. It's time we focus on being problem-solvers and address the needs of our citizens, rather than just being bean counters and cutting to cut.
Here comes the part about Secretary Shrimp:
It's more interesting that these additional devastating cuts in mental health care in Louisiana come at the same time of reports in our local newspaper about political friends, including Secretary Levine, enjoying the Governor's suite at the Super Dome for Saints games. Secretary Levine apparently commented that the suite wasn't anything special because it didn't have boiled shrimp or raw oysters like the other suites. I don't think these culinary cutbacks at a posh suite during a Monday Night NFL game are quite the same type of sacrifices as eliminating mental health care for the people of Louisiana.
Pretty revealing priorities, there, Sec. Shrimp.
Maybe if health care centers provided tasty buffets, you and Bobby would feel more compelled to support them. Meanwhile, I dare you to hold a town hall meeting with a few of the suffering patients and Katrina victims who no longer have a safe haven, let alone free booze and oyster treats.
Four years after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Mental Health system is still in crisis… Angie talks with State Representative Neil Abramson. And a weekly health care reform round-up with Eve Gittelson.
Click the player below to listen to the show, or right-click here to download the MP3.
People are committing suicide, but that's just not a good enough reason to keep the facility open to, you know, save their lives. Here are a couple of excerpts from that post (please read the rest here):
We have a severe mental health crisis in New Orleans. We have a growing number of people with mental health needs while our mental health services are significantly lower since Katrina. The closure of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH), the only state run mental health facility in the New Orleans area, only exacerbates that problem.
In the legislature, we funded NOAH to keep it open. Governor Jindal "line-item" vetoed that appropriation. Instead, his plan is to send all mental health patients 60 miles away [...]
What is sometimes lost in the discussion is that NOAH services low-income, medicaid patients, and it was established to treat adolescents, although adults were treated or evaluated there after Katrina because of lack of other facilities. These kids need to be close to their families, and the entire families need to be part of the counseling in order for the treatment to be productive. Most of these kids and families do not have the ability or the means to travel to 60 miles, across a long bridge.
Today, Rep. Abramson attended President Obama's New Orleans town hall meeting, and sent me a photo that he took. I am so happy to have made new friends in New Orleans!
Bumped up from last night, because it's an important story:
Yes, Bobby Jindal made the mental health care problem worse, alright... simply by his mere presence. But that's another story. Here's the real one that needs to get out there, and it's all about the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH), health care, and politics:
My husband is State Representative Neil Abramson (D) New Orleans; he was a partner in a worldwide law firm but became so frustrated after the events of Hurricane Katrina, he ran for office. He has truly carried the banner for New Orleans and its recovery, even butting heads with Governor Jindal on a few key issues. One of the is the closing of the ONLY public mental health facility in New Orleans.
When Jindal first wanted to close NOAH citing budgetary concerns, the New Orleans delegation, led by my husband, fought and found the funds to keep it open. Jindal vetoed the funds.
Since that time, Jindal has closed NOAH. What is devastating is that NOAH wasn't even up to it's full capacity from before Katrina - and with all the increase in PTSD here, it really should have been expanded 4x because there is so much need.
Jindal's plan was to transport patients, many in emergency crisis situations, an hour away by ambulance (over Lake Ponchartrain) to Southeast Hospital in Mandeville, LA. Besides the fact that that is absurd, now that hospital is slated to close! SO WHERE IS ANYONE TO BE TREATED?!It's a travesty.
Currently another hospital has stepped up with 13 mental health beds, though the need in in the hundreds...
Our fears are that Jindal wants to sell both NOAH and Southeast (gorgeous buildings on prime property) to his cronies under "privatization".
Our latest battle has been that NOAH used to be the Marine dorms (it's in Uptown New Orleans on the River) and was sold by the US to the State of Louisiana WITH THE UNDERSTANDING IT WOULD BE USED AS A HOSPITAL UNTIL 2011!
If it isn't, ownership reverts back to the US Gov't. Obviously that is preferable to a "fire sale" of the property by Jindal. We are trying to use that as an incentive to let another State owned hospital run the facility to combat the need here.
We have a severe mental health crisis in New Orleans. We have a growing number of people with mental health needs while our mental health services are significantly lower since Katrina. The closure of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH), the only state run mental health facility in the New Orleans area, only exacerbates that problem.
In the legislature, we funded NOAH to keep it open. Governor Jindal "line-item" vetoed that appropriation. Instead, his plan is to send all mental health patients 60 miles away, across a 24 mile bridge over Lake Ponchartrain, to receive critical mental health hospital services. [...]
Closing NOAH and having no mental health hospital services in New Orleans flies in the face of the entire reason NOAH was established in the first place. And, there is more of a mental health need now than ever before. Quite simply, it makes absolutely no sense.
The non-sensical nature of NOAH's closing is even more disheartening because it wasn't about the money. Louisiana, just like many other parts of the country, is facing economic issues and we had to cut spending in places. In the legislature, we were able to allocate funding to keep NOAH open by still operating within our existing budget. As public spending was cut across the board 15% or so, we reduced NOAH by the same amount as other facilities. Yet, we kept it open to provide the vital resources it does.
What is sometimes lost in the discussion is that NOAH services low-income, medicaid patients, and it was established to treat adolescents, although adults were treated or evaluated there after Katrina because of lack of other facilities. These kids need to be close to their families, and the entire families need to be part of the counseling in order for the treatment to be productive. Most of these kids and families do not have the ability or the means to travel to 60 miles, across a long bridge. They can easily get to NOAH using public city transportation. Therefore, moving the services to the Northshore is like throwing all of the money away because the services need to be in New Orleans to be worthwhile. [...]
It is already being reported that our Parish Jail is now becoming the new mental health hospital. [By this, Rep. Abramson means that "those who should be in NOAH are doing things they shouldn't, and end up in jail instead."]
Unacceptable. Why is it that mental health is like the poor stepchild when it comes to care? If someone broke a limb, it would be tended to immediately and professionally.... well, with the proper insurance... and hospitals... and medical personnel.
But emotional/mental issues? Ignored, shunned, punted.
Our entire health care system is in desperate need of repair, just as New Orleans is. But for now, let's stick to NOAH.
I called Rep. Abramson just now for further comment. Here is some of what he told me, starting with his main points. All are direct quotes, some are paraphrased just a little, because I had to write so fast as he talked:
We have to be problem-solvers, not bean counters... no matter whose idea it is. We can't have tunnel vision.
The real problem, unfortunately, is this became an issue of politics: Who has the idea and whether or not we need to be problem solvers, not bean counters.
Jindal decided to save money, to consolidate two state mental hospitals into one. It became obvious to me that you can save all the money you want, but the facility HAD to be in New Orleans to address the needs of the patients.
They wanted to save money, of course. But I went to the administration and said [the facility, NOAH] has to be in New Orleans. If it's too inefficent, give me an alternative, an economically viable one that puts services in New Orleans. It can be NOAH, or it can be someone else, but it must be here.
They got bogged down in "this is my concept", so I got money to keep NOAH open. We weren't asking to raise taxes, but to operate within the same existing structure as everyone else. But no thought was given to this. We need a better system.
I was trying to solve the problem. But it came down to "my way or the highway." Jindal vetoed the funding.
I just want the best idea, no matter whose idea it is.
I asked Rep. Abramson if some people think that Bobby Jindal is anti-low income, anti-minority. Jindal didn't carry New Orleans, so politically, they are not a priority. Rep. Abramson thinks it's more about "the governor being in campaign mode" than anything.
What do you think?
Here are a few excerpts from a Washington Times piece that the Abramsons pointed me to:
New Orleans already is struggling with fewer than half of the inpatient beds for the mentally ill that it had before the 2005 hurricane - even as suicide rates and the number of people with mental health problems have doubled. [...]
"What we have is PTSD on steroids," the doctor said. [...]
State Rep. Neal Abramson, whose district includes New Orleans, mounted a last-ditch effort to keep the hospital open. [Laffy Note: They misspelled his name]
"For people who need the facility, they are looking at over an hour of travel, and most people don't have the means to get there," said Mr. Abramson.
For those who don't have cars, he said, the hospital might as well be moving to Arkansas. [...]
"I've told people for so long, just don't come back [to New Orleans] right now," said Cecile Tebo, administrator of the New Orleans Police Department Crisis Unit that responds to 911 calls involving the mentally ill.
"Don't come back if you have any kind of special needs; this is not the place to be if you have elderly that are really sick, if you have children with special needs or people in the family with mental illness or mental retardation; this is just not a good place to be right now," said Mrs. Tebo, whose own staff of volunteers is just a little more than half the size it was before Katrina.
President Barack Obama and several cabinet members will travel to New Orleans next Thursday, more than four years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.
Obama will survey the recovery efforts in the city in his first public event there since becoming president, and will participate in a town hall meeting in the area.
Prez O will speak to actual NOLA residents? How novel.
The visit demonstrates Obama's "strong commitment to Gulf Coast rebuilding and recovery," the White House said Friday in its announcement of the trip.
Joining Obama on the trip will be Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
What vote would you like to redo? Rep. King: I don’t really go back and re-live that sort of thing. Some of the big votes that I’ve thought about, some of the jury’s still out. And at this point, maybe I’d answer that question another way, probably the singular vote that stands out that went against the grain, and it turns out to be the best vote that I cast, was my “no” vote to the $51.5 billion to [Hurricane] Katrina. That probably was my best vote. But as far as doing something different again, I don’t know.
What a refreshing thing to hear, especially from the unexpected sources.
WASHINGTON – As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to right the wrongs he said bogged down efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Seven months into the job, he's earning high praise from some unlikely places.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., says Obama's team has brought a more practical and flexible approach. Many local officials offer similar reviews. Even Doug O'Dell, former President George W. Bush's recovery coordinator, says the Obama administration's "new vision" appears to be turning things around.
(snip)
But on several fronts, there is evidence of progress.
Victor Ukpolo, chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans, said the administration has been able to "move mountains" for his school, virtually wiped out by Katrina and the breached levees.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has visited the campus twice and awarded $32 million to replace four buildings.
"It's really awesome," Ukpolo said. "There's been so much progress."
Tommy Longo, mayor of Waveland, Miss., said it got so bad toward the end of Bush's tenure that "you almost couldn't get them to return a phone call, and you certainly weren't going to get them to make any big decisions."
"It has been refreshing to be back working with people who are hungry and want to make a difference," said Longo, a Democrat. "Who knows, a few years from now, at the end of Obama's term it may be back to the same ol', same ol', but it is refreshing now."
Now, Jindal's reps are still in high dudgeon over this, saying Jindal was totally on the level, claiming some mix of it not making any difference whether Jindal made up his role in the story or not or that what Jindal actually said was never meant to imply that he was part of the story rather than someone who heard about it later. But that's pretty preposterous if you look at what Jindal actually said.
But now there's this. TPM Reader EA just flagged this youtube video that appears to show Jindal telling the same story last year, only with even more embroidery about his own part in the drama...
Kentucky's governor is praising the Obama administration's prompt reaction to the fierce wintry weather that slammed his state.
"They really hit the ground running," said Steve Beshear, interviewed by CNN. "They're working very hard to get all the equipment and supplies here that we need."
So the U.S. government under President Obama was-- Oh, hmm, what's the word again? It's escaped me since 2001... Oh yeah-- responsive.
He said he spoke to the director of intergovernment relations and said she walked Kentucky's paperwork through. He said President Obama called him and told him he was announcing an emergency declaration for the state.
"I can't tell you how appreciative we were," the governor said. "He not only expressed his concern, but he obviously had the Kentuckians in his thoughts and prayers, and he communicated that to us."
This morning, the US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of Mississippi handed down a 16 count indictment accusing Republican Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr and his wife Laura Warr of illegally obtaining grant monies for personal use. If convicted on all counts, they each face a total of 210 years in federal prison and up to $4 million in fines. This has been a cooperative investigation between the FBI, HUD, Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, the US Attorneys Office and State Auditor Stacey Pickering’s office. [...]
At issue seems to be whether or not Warr used this beach house as a primary residence to comply with grant monies received for restoration.The Gulf Coast News has been all over the story since the beginning of last year. This [...] will center on whether or not Warr was a resident of the property for which he obtained a grant.
A series of wind-whipped wildfires north of Boulder, Colo., have forced the evacuation of more than 11,500 residents — among them vilified ex-Federal Emergency Management Agency head Michael Brown. [...]
Brown was lauded by President Bush for doing a “heckuva job” in the botched response to Hurricane Katrina, [...] Brown resigned in disgrace and the event looms as a national turning point against the Bush administration. [...]
...he wisely (and appropriately) stepped down from his post and returned to Colorado, where he'd distinguished himself as legal counsel for an organization devoted to Arabian horses (good one!), and tried to reestablish his reputation. [...]
As he told the folks at KOA/850 AM during an appearance this morning, "Here I am on the other side of the fence now."
Isn't that a knee-slapper? Couldn't ya just die? Well guess what, Brownie-- 1,836 people did.
...A.C. Thompson of The Nation revealed that after Hurricane Katrina, white vigilante groups patrolled New Orleans, blockaded streets, and shot at least eleven black men. [...] Color of Change is organizing a campaign to tell Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and state officials to investigate the shootings, as “Louisiana’s broken law enforcement agencies have refused to investigate these crimes.”
Some very disturbing, memorable quotes from the video:
"You do what you had to do...If you had to shoot somebody, you had to shoot somebody."
It was great! It was like pheasant season in South Dakota! If it moved, you shot it.”
"He understands the "N Word" now."
"In this neighborhood, we take care of our own."
And some of the most disheartening:
"It's like a race war or something."
"They got me lookin' at white people with a different perspective now... I don't look at 'em the same."
I've signed this petition:
Color of Change is also sending messages to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Attorney General nominee Eric Holder. Sign the petition here.
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