Republicans Prefer Tax Cuts to Saving New Orleans

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 3:26pm

Cost of Saving a Great American City: $32 billion (about to be voted against by Republican Congress)

Amount of Tax Cuts Passed Last Week by Rich White Men in Republican Congress: $95 billion

This Year's Federal Spending: $2.6 Trillion

Cost of Fighting Illegal War in Iraq Based on Lies: $300 billion

Feeling We'll All Have When These Demagogues Resign, Are Indicted, or Are Voted Out of Office: Priceless, except for the deficit.

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We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles
NYT Editorial: Death of an American City

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 4:18pm

I saw on the news today that they are pumping a ton of money into staging Mardi Gras also - would it not be better to spend the money getting say, displaced residents back home and forego the party for one year?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 4:36pm

The Mardi Gras brings in $1 billion in tourist money into New Orleans.

After September 11, New York theater people launched a campaign to bring back tourism to New York--and it worked! People came back.

Canceling Mardi Gras would send a message that New Orleans was dead.

Updated On: 12/12/05 at 04:36 PM

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 4:40pm

I am not shifting blame - just making a statement. There are three displaced families living in my building in San Francisco and they are really upset about not being able to return home. I think the difference between peoples fear of being in New York after 911 and being able to party in devastated city are also different points here.

Oh - you edited your post so now I look like a schitzo...oh well.

Updated On: 12/12/05 at 04:40 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 4:51pm

My friend, who is an Episcopal schoolteacher was one of the first residents back, helping to clean up (he says it's harsher than anything the media shows) and get their school ready. He is 100% behind having Mardi Gras again--he wants to bring as much of the old life back to New Orleans as is possible.

His school has had to combine with another school that was completely destroyed, and they've lost many kids whose families have relocated. But they all want to get the city back on its feet.