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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Forgotten

The New Orleans business district was the first place to have power restored. The French Quarter was up and running in months. The wealthier areas got power and services a couple months after that. But the poor areas ....
Two leaders of the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights who have spent the last 18-months helping victims of last year’s Tsunami took a walk through the Lower Ninth Ward Friday.

Their reaction was one of shock, because they said they expected to see more signs of recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

“We think of America as being this fabulous, powerful superpower, and it’s exactly like Third World situations,” said Tom Kerr.

“In my personal opinion, I think you should have done much, much faster. It should be much better than what I have seen today,” said Samsook Boonyabancha.

posted by mikevotes at 11:21 AM

4 Comments:

  • I know people who have been down there working on recovery, so I have some idea of the magnitude of the effort. My humble opinion is that we should be focusing efforts on domestic recovery long before we should be 'bringing democracy' to other countries. And that is not to say that they don't need or deserve help. Aren't we told on airplanes that when the oxygen masks drop from the ceiling, we should secure our own masks before we try to help others? Isn't that just plain common sense?????

    By Blogger Ptelea, at 11:43 AM  

  • I like the airplane analogy.

    And let me argue your point from a strategic point of view. The US is becoming a hollow force in the world. I don't think paper tiger is an accurate description because we still have a lot of force, but the inside, the core economy that has propelled America into its position, is rotting.

    This country became a world force based on the strength of the consumer middle class which was largely based upon manufacturing jobs which enabled the non college educated to earn a good wage. That's gone.

    So, now, despite our fearsome exterior, we cannot even sustain the machine we've built.

    Don't know where all that came from.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:13 PM  

  • it's shamefull, really. If this had been Palm Beach......

    By Blogger Yukkione, at 6:38 PM  

  • Or even Nebraska, I think.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:27 PM  

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