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Departments National Issues The President’s priorities: state of marriage took precedence over state of Louisiana That’s what the New Orleans City Business paper asked in early February, a couple of weeks after Bush’s State of the Union address, in which the president called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, upon learning that Bush’s budget proposal recommended slashing $34 million from the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, leaving the city with a $581 million shortfall for flood control and coastal erosion improvement projects. Despite more than four hurricanes that have whipped through New Orleans since 2002, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, and personal pleas to the president by Louisiana’s local and state officials to provide much needed funding to rebuild the state’s rapidly disappearing wetlands, the Bush administration declined, shifting its priorities—and federal funds—into its foreign policy initiatives. Bush said Thursday no one expected the levees in New Orleans to break after Hurricane Katrina. There were warnings. “Coastal erosion [is] swallowing Louisiana whole at a rate of a football field every 30 minutes,” said the Feb. 14, 2005 story in New Orleans City Business. The erosion has a direct impact on New Orleans' ability to absorb the blow of a storm like [Hurricane] Katrina. For every 2.7 miles of wetlands, storm surges are reduced by about one foot, said Sidney Coffee, executive assistant to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, in charge of coastal activities, in an interview with MSNBC. About 1,900 square miles of wetlands have disappeared from the area since the 1930s, and the receding continues at a rate of about 24 square miles per year. Most of the erosion in Louisiana is blamed on the levees, which faithfully steer all the water from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. That prevents occasional flooding, keeping area residents above water most of the time. But one unforeseen consequence of the levees has been to cut off wetlands from their life force. “How is losing vast tracts of valuable state property less important than the nebulous goal of somehow trying to restrict immigration?” the New Orleans paper asked. Bush’s domestic priorities were dwarfed by the war in Iraq and the so-called war on terror. The lack of federal funding became so dire that last November Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, at the urging of Louisiana levee districts, considered suing the federal government for a larger share of the $5 billion in royalties from offshore oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico just so the state could pay for the work needed to repair its deteriorating coast. A lawsuit, the levee district said, would grab the nation’s attention and advance the issue of coastal restoration in the federal court system as opposed to being bogged down in legislation on Capitol Hill. The money from the Gulf of Mexico is, after income the Internal Revenue Service brings in, the second largest source of revenue for the federal government. Blanco said that every year state officials plead with lawmakers to fund ongoing projects to preserve what’s left of the coast and to help fund other endeavors to replace what’s no longer there. Yet every year the state is shortchanged which threatens the very existence of historic cities like New Orleans. Lawmakers included the proposal in the national energy bill. The legislation called for carving out $540 million—a 10 percent—royalty from oil and gas revenue at the Gulf of Mexico on top of the $800 million or so Louisiana already receives from drilling revenues to fund the coastal restoration project. In June, the Bush administration took the unusual step of sending a letter to House and Senate negotiators advising them to kill the revenue- sharing plan in the final version of the energy bill. It was. New Orleans resident David Morris was none too happy when he got the news, particularly because a majority of Louisianans voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004. President Bush has just told Louisiana to go jump in the Gulf,” Morris wrote in a June 17, letter to the Times-Picayune. “This is our president, Louisiana. We helped him win his second term in office, and this is how he thanks us. Our dwindling coastline just isn't Bush's concern. Nor is the prospect of New Orleans under 20 feet water.” --- Jason Leopold is the author of the explosive memoir, News Junkie, to be released in the spring of 2006 by Process/Feral House Books. Visit Leopold's website at www.jasonleopold.com for updates. |
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Recent National Issues Articles Rumsfeld admits to "ghosting" detainee A man without a country Impeach the Liar-in-Chief Bush wiretaps threaten national security Which Christmas is the 'War Against Christmas' against? Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project plans economic summit in New York City Fear of the devil It's time to impeach Bush for these blatant violations of the law December 3 in the USA: a partial report Bush spews more irresponsible rhetoric as senate Extends Patriot Act for Six Months The Constitution in Crisis report Privatize Me...Corporatize Me.... Blackwaterize Me... USA Patriot Act defeated: Libertarians celebrate victory The solution we aren't considering Panic attack Eugene McCarthy, prophet with honor The iron fist of Jesus Progressive primary challenge to Hilary aunched An invitation to a tea party Precarious lives Criminal trial related to California energy crisis may start soon Hey board members, leave our kids alone! 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Jackson Recommends a 21st Century Marshall Plan That Reinvests in the Gulf Coast Division of funeral corp. charged with desecrating corpses hired to collect deceased victims of hurricane Katrina FEMA Chief Brown paid millions in false claims to help Bush win Fla. votes Indefinite Detention Seems like more people died than prospered under Pres Bush’s leadership Politics, timing and the so-called terrorist Nuradin Abdi: the mall bomber who wasn't Paul Allen's other yacht Katrina: A tragedy made worse The President’s priorities: state of marriage took precedence over state of Louisiana Notes from inside New Orleans Rev. Jackson Makes Second Rescue Mission into New Orleans Bush Strafes New Orleans, Where's Huey Long? 911 in New Orleans Global Warming and Widespread Blackouts Are Just as Deadly as Terrorism The mothers are coming! Update from Leonard Peltier Leonard has been transferred to USP Lewisburg Against Discouragement Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, Texas Regarding the 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Lawyers, guns and money: Just put down that lawsuit, pardner, and no one gets hurt Forgotten Victims of America’s Plutocracy Spine, spine everywhere a spine Speaking truth to Roberts Business as usual with Judge Roberts; straight corporate, with Pepto-Bismol chaser The Record of Judge John Roberts The Enemy of Our Enemy May Still Be the Enemy of Democracy Mr. Rove and the Access of Evil: Tell Us Your "Source," Judy The Economy Turned the Corner and Is Headed in the Wrong Direction July 4th Declaration of Impeachment They Died for Their Country Energy adviser who solicited Enron to help write national energy policy to be named Chair of FERC Big Food Strikes Back; Ag industry aims to strip local control of food supplies The fantastical world of Studley McMuffin Counter-Recruitment: Preventing the Military from Getting More Youth for their Wars: An Interview with Counter-Recruitment Activist Clint Coppernoll A matter of education... 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Republicans: The Anti-Christian, Christian Party Watergate Proves That Even Presidents Will Break Laws To Achieve Goals Oral Histories of the 1970 Kent State Shootings Blurb: End the filibuster -- in 2015 The Beginning Of The End Of The Age Of Reason Nuking Democracy Conscientious Objection on Trial: The Court Martial of Keith Benderman Barnum on Steroids Mother’s Day Without Mom An Open Letter to Howard Dean Appeals Court Nominee Janice Rogers Brown Merits the Filibuster Activists Spur Historic Call to Exit Iraq John Bolton & the Battle for Reality Videos expose false arrests at 2004 Republican Convention protests in New York Wal-Mart's Free Market Fallacy Howard Dean Becomes Leader of the Other Pro-War Party; Dean on Iraq: “We're There and We Can't Get Out” You have to pick your team What They Should Fight For Vigilante Republicans Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney Urges Reform of Voting Process at Historic Conference Abortion and Schiavo -- The stories we tell How and Why We're Working to Block the Bankruptcy Bill Statement on the Passing of Terri Schiavo Veterans for peace call for Congressional action to impeach George W. Bush and Richard Cheney Zealot and Proud of It Non Volunteers, Non-Recruiters, And A Non War Meet Your New FCC Chairman: Kevin Martin E.P.A. Nominee Supports Testing of Chemicals on Human Subjects A luncheon break with Michael Jackson Gannongate and Asian Pacific America I'd rather not say good-bye, Dan Free Trade and Frivolous Lawsuits Experiencing Hunter, Experiencing Death: A Eulogy The inevitability trap Bush’s Judicial Nominations are Hardly Mainstream Senators Clinton and Boxer, Representative Tubbs Jones and others unveil major election reform bill The difference between bi-partisanship and non-partisanship Bush & the Rise of 'Managed-Democracy' Yesterday's Gallup Poll Showing Bush Approval At 57% Had 9% More Republicans Than Democrats J20 Through my eyes Bush's Budget: The War on Working People Continues Bush’s Budget is at Odds With His Rhetoric Direct Action For Peace? State of the Union speech falls short, says Rev. Jesse Jackson The Black Perspective Save American Democracy: Curb Corporate Power Who's Paying for all this Freedom? Yes, there is a crisis in Social Security Agitation Time The 10 Worst Corporations of 2004 They Doth Protest Too Little Thousands take to the streets to oppose the inauguration of George W. Bush A Warm Oasis in a Snow Storm; The Progressive Democrat Summit in Washington The Politics of SpongeBob Mis-Defining Terrorism Marines stretching movement Bush’s Mythical Mandate and Social Security Piratization Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr. Bush’s Choice for Energy Secretary Was One of Texas’ Top Five Worst Polluters Bush, God, Fox, and the International Criminal Court The real reason Bush wants to privatize Social Security CBS' cowardice and conflicts behind purge Bring them home -- Sooner rather than later Read National Issues Articles by Year: |
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