ABSURD DUBYA QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It was just inebriating what Midland was all about then."


----- From a 1994 interview, as quoted in First Son, by Bill Minutaglio


George W. sure knows from inebriating...


From a Labor Day parade flyer put out by Philly Activists-
..................................................................................................

NEW ORLEANS & BUSH’S CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE

We’ve all seen the horror and devastation in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. What makes these images more shocking
is the realization that much of the death and destruction
could have been prevented.

While beyond our control, natural disasters do not have to
be catastrophes if plans are made in advance to protect
people and their homes. These plans were not made. The
criminal negligence and racism displayed by all levels of
government preceding and during this crisis sends a clear
message that, to those in power, the lives of poor people,
especially poor Black people, are of absolutely no
concern.

For the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, there was no
provision for evacuation or shelter. It was “everyone for
themselves,” and those who didn’t have the ability to flee
or the means to finance their own evacuation were left to
perish. Those without cars, credit cards, and hotel
reservations had few alternatives but to stay home and
face the coming deluge.

Trains, airlines and buses could have been put to use
evacuating people. Convention centers, hotels, and
college dorms throughout the region could have been used
for shelter. The government uses eminent domain to take
working people’s property for the benefit of corporate
developers; this would have been an excellent opportunity
to use eminent domain in a way that actually benefits
people.

President Bush has diverted funds that were needed to
prepare for this type of natural disaster to fund a war of
conquest in Iraq . He did this despite being warned of the
potential for danger by FEMA (the Federal Emergency
Management Agency). The Houston Chronicle reported on
Dec. 1, 2001: “ New Orleans is sinking. And its main
buffer from a hurricane, the protective Mississippi River
delta, is quickly eroding away, leaving the historic city
perilously close to disaster. ...So vulnerable, in fact,
that earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management
Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among
the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing
this country.”

The flooding was exacerbated by the elimination of
wetlands, which provide a natural buffer. The Bush
Administration has removed Federal protection from as much
as 20 million acres of wetlands.

Yet the Bush Administration slashed the budget of the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers in the area by $71.2 million.
This cut eliminated hurricane and flood protection
projects and a study to determine ways to protect the
region from a Category 5 hurricane. This cut was part of
the Bush policy of slashing essential programs to pay for
a tax cut for the wealthy and for the occupation of Iraq.

The National Guard, who would normally be deployed to aid
in evacuation and disaster relief, is unable to respond
adequately because 40% of the Mississippi National Guard
and 35% of the Louisiana National Guard is in Iraq . So
is much of their equipment, including dozens of high water
vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators that are
essential to dealing with this type of emergency.

The massive loss of life in Louisiana and Mississippi was
avoidable, if those making decisions were interested in
funding emergency measures rather than spending money on
war and occupation. Cuba lies directly in the path of
many hurricanes, and yet the loss of life is usually
minimal, because the government has systems in place to
aid orderly evacuations, provide emergency shelter, and
look after the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor.

While George W. Bush and his friends at the Big Oil
companies are growing rich from escalating oil prices,
working people, who are already suffering from the
economic policies of the Bush Administration, have to
spend more of their shrinking paychecks to pay for gas to
get to work and school.

The real looters are not the hungry people taking what
they need from an abandoned corporate superstore. The
real crime is that they were left in this situation by a
government that puts war and corporate profits ahead of
human needs.

The Bush regime has looted billions of dollars of the
people’s money, slashing programs that provide basic
necessities and robbing from agencies that are tasked with
preparing for natural disasters in order to fund a war of
conquest against the people of Iraq . There are dangerous
looters, but they are Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, not the
poor people of New Orleans trying to feed their families.
It is the Bush Administration that is increasingly
putting the entire population of the country in growing
danger by relentlessly slashing every social program,
infrastructure maintenance program, and environmental
protection program.

We call on the Bush Administration to:

* Provide emergency unemployment relief to the thousands
who have lost their jobs because of the devastation.

* Provide a massive jobs program at union wages for
rebuilding. Millions of unemployed workers could be hired
to help construct housing, schools, and other public
facilities.

* Food, water, clothing, medical supplies, and other
necessities should be immediately commandeered for the
emergency from agribusiness, supermarket chains, and
pharmaceutical companies. Government food storage supplies

in warehouses should be made available immediately.

* Stop funding war and occupation. Use the money instead
to fund emergency relief and rebuild our cities.

Philadelphia International Action Center,
215-724-1618; Phillyiac@action-mail.org
_______________________________________________
This is the Philadelphia activist announcement list.

Anyone can subscribe to this list.
Send an email request to
PhillyActivist-subscribe@organizerweb.com

To unsubscribe PhillyActivist-unsubscribe@organizerweb.com

Subscribing and unsubscribing can also be done on the Web at
http://www.organizerweb.com/mailman/listinfo/phillyactivist