[dda]

Originally Posted by Marilyn Manson

{Considering it's the army corps of engineers who, on my understanding, are meant to be responsible for building and maintaining said leeves, and said institution is a federal one, one rather wonders why.}

The Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of spending that money which makes it through the local politicians.

{Oh yes, and then there is of course the small matter of Congress and the Presidency being controlled by the Republicans in the years leading up to Katrina. And the Governorship of Louisiana, and the greater bulk of Louisiana's congressional delegation.}

The Governor of Louisiana from 2004-2008 was Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat. She had the responsibility to request federal aid before the federal government could do anything. The Bush administration asked her to make such a request which she didn't do until several days after Katrina. As the governor of the state she had a lot of say on how even federal money was spent in the state.

Ray Nagin was the Mayor of New Orleans from 2002-2010, also a Democrat. He had the ability to funnel federal money away from its intended target. He is also the individual who left over a thousand school busses, which could have been used to evacuate the poor of New Orleans, sitting in an area which was flooded soon after Katrina. He was warned but did nothing.

William Jefferson was the Democratic congressman from the Second Congressional District of Louisiana which represented New Orleans in the U. S. Congress from 1991-2008. He is the same individual who was storing over $100,000 in cash in his freezer at his home. He was later indicted regarding how he had accumulated this "under the table" money. He also commandeered a squad of Louisiana National Guardsmen, instead of aiding in rescue work, to take him to his house where he then had them load many of his valuable personal items, including his freezer, into military vehicles to rescue them from the pending disaster.

Mary Landrieu was one of the two sitting senators from Louisiana and has been since 1996. She is the daughter of Moon Landrieu a former mayor of New Orleans and a former U. S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
She is the sister of the current mayor of New Orleans who was previously the Attorney General of the state of Louisiana. Mary Landrieu, along with the Republican Senator from Louisiana attempted to get a $250,000,000,000 bill passed to "rebuild New Orleans." This would have been roughly $550,000 for each and every inhabitant of New Orleans prior to Katrina. One has to wonder where all of this money would have gone.

{But I'm sure they had no responsiblity whatsoever in directing that money or sustaing it's supply and it's all the fault of the blacks in Louisiana who spent it on mangos and moonshine.}

Refer to the thread on the intellectual left.

{If Louisiana is irredemably corrupt - and I've no doubt that the political descendants of Huey Long have stayed true to their roots - then don't send them any ****ing money, let along many billions. It's a simple enough concept. Checks and balances and all that}

You don't understand the federal system of government which we have in the United States. This is not unreasonable since you are not subjected to it. It is not unrreasonable in that most Americans do not understand the form of government which it has in place. More sadly still, most of the leaders of this country do not believe in this federal system and ignore it when it is to their advantage to do so.