Hurricane Sandy: Opportunity in Catastrophe; Post Script 3/19/2014
Within the catastrophe of Hurricane Sandy there is a golden opportunity, if we choose to make a virtue out of necessity.
The utter destruction of century old infrastructure means it must be rebuilt...and CAN be rebuilt with state of the art technology and with the eye toward survivng another Sandy.
Sandy has necessitated infrastructure investment far beyond what would have been possible even with a cooperative House and Senate.
History is a marvelous teacher.
It was the reconstruction of the infrastructures of Japan and Germany after WW 2 which modernized them. Natural disasters destroy infrastructure as thoroughly as war.
In the case of the devastation left by Sandy, armies of construction workers and engineers will be at work for years if not decades rebuilding and refitting in New York and New Jersey.
What do you call that?
God's own stimulus plan.
We are also looking a a crash course clinic in getting and delivering aid to populous disaster ravaged areas. The lessons we learn here will be essential in shaping future responses to increasingly common disasters.
We could have done the same with Hurricane Katrina and - indeed - could have been ahead of the curve today if we had.
But the Bush/Cheney Administration had zero interest in acknowledging failure, much less learning what lessons were implicit in them.
Nor are the power elite in New Orleans at all interested in making their great citybeing made habitable for the return of the people who were turned into refugees during the flood. They are satisfied with New Orleans continuing to remain half destroyed and depopulated.
There is simply no remedy for the hard-heartedness of the rich and the powerful.
We saw this again in Joplin Mo. when it was struck by a tornado and Eric Cantor played games with disaster relief funding.
What we DON'T need are budget cuts to FEMA, NOAA or gutting the numbers of First Responders (as stupid now as when half the nation burning down - good one Romney!) or public employees.
I've said in the past that paying taxes is like paying rent. http://donquixokie.blogspot.com/2010/12/conservative-wisdom-challenged.html Why do we pay it? So the land lord or super can come in and fix it when the basement floods and the power goes out.
Do you think that the people who have had their homes destroyed and their lives disrupted are thinking that taxes are a tyrannical over-reach and crushing burden?
Republicans in the House and Senate and blue dog Democrats who say that money spent on disaster relief and recovery needs to be met with cuts elsewhere sorely need to be dragged out back and be shown the error of their ways. Eric Cantor in particular.
And, oh yeah. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/steve-king-hurricane-sandy_n_2047553.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012
I cordially invite the gentleman from Iowa to go fuck himself.
Post Script 3/19/2014
When I argued for Sandy Relief in New Jersey, it was to be spent exactly as I said it should. Not as a slush fund for tax payer funded ratfuckery and bribes as Chris Christie has done. The man is a criminal with the ethics and methods of Richard Nixon. His cleaning up of crooked politicians in New Jersey as State Attorney wasn't a service provided for the people. He was simply eliminating the competion. He has no business running for president.
The utter destruction of century old infrastructure means it must be rebuilt...and CAN be rebuilt with state of the art technology and with the eye toward survivng another Sandy.
Sandy has necessitated infrastructure investment far beyond what would have been possible even with a cooperative House and Senate.
History is a marvelous teacher.
It was the reconstruction of the infrastructures of Japan and Germany after WW 2 which modernized them. Natural disasters destroy infrastructure as thoroughly as war.
In the case of the devastation left by Sandy, armies of construction workers and engineers will be at work for years if not decades rebuilding and refitting in New York and New Jersey.
What do you call that?
God's own stimulus plan.
We are also looking a a crash course clinic in getting and delivering aid to populous disaster ravaged areas. The lessons we learn here will be essential in shaping future responses to increasingly common disasters.
We could have done the same with Hurricane Katrina and - indeed - could have been ahead of the curve today if we had.
But the Bush/Cheney Administration had zero interest in acknowledging failure, much less learning what lessons were implicit in them.
Nor are the power elite in New Orleans at all interested in making their great citybeing made habitable for the return of the people who were turned into refugees during the flood. They are satisfied with New Orleans continuing to remain half destroyed and depopulated.
There is simply no remedy for the hard-heartedness of the rich and the powerful.
We saw this again in Joplin Mo. when it was struck by a tornado and Eric Cantor played games with disaster relief funding.
What we DON'T need are budget cuts to FEMA, NOAA or gutting the numbers of First Responders (as stupid now as when half the nation burning down - good one Romney!) or public employees.
I've said in the past that paying taxes is like paying rent. http://donquixokie.blogspot.com/2010/12/conservative-wisdom-challenged.html Why do we pay it? So the land lord or super can come in and fix it when the basement floods and the power goes out.
Do you think that the people who have had their homes destroyed and their lives disrupted are thinking that taxes are a tyrannical over-reach and crushing burden?
Republicans in the House and Senate and blue dog Democrats who say that money spent on disaster relief and recovery needs to be met with cuts elsewhere sorely need to be dragged out back and be shown the error of their ways. Eric Cantor in particular.
And, oh yeah. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/steve-king-hurricane-sandy_n_2047553.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012
I cordially invite the gentleman from Iowa to go fuck himself.
Post Script 3/19/2014
When I argued for Sandy Relief in New Jersey, it was to be spent exactly as I said it should. Not as a slush fund for tax payer funded ratfuckery and bribes as Chris Christie has done. The man is a criminal with the ethics and methods of Richard Nixon. His cleaning up of crooked politicians in New Jersey as State Attorney wasn't a service provided for the people. He was simply eliminating the competion. He has no business running for president.
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