Reality Check

Unsurprisingly, all the hot air emanating from Team Bush in the aftermath of Katrina was just that: hot air...empty calories...not even a Potemkin Village. Oyster writes:

The Small Business Administration is denying over 90% of the loan applications to Louisiana businesses destroyed or disrupted by Katrina. Same for home loans to Katrina victims.

After Hurricane Charlie struck Florida last year, the SBA approved 42% of all loan applications.

My business was in the "core" disaster area, and was totally destroyed by the floods after the hurricane. Absolutely nothing could be salvaged. Thousands of others are in the same situation, and desperately need a helping hand. For example, several weeks ago First Bank held a free seminar for folks applying for SBA loans. It was scheduled for 9am at Smiley's restaurant in Harahan. I arrived at 8:45am and the place was already crowded out the door. They added another seminar at the First Bank on Manhattan on the West Bank for 1pm. I pulled into the packed parking lot at 12:45 and there's two guys from the bank standing outside handing leaflets with info on a third seminar which they hastily scheduled for 2:30pm at the Holiday Inn. The second seminar was already full. So I went to the Holiday Inn and there was a conference room with 200 chairs. And that nearly filled to capacity by the time the seminar started!...

It's very, very disheartening to think that of the HUNDREDS of business owners who went on a wild goose chase for SBA application hints and info, only about 10% of us will be deemed "worthy" of assistance (unlike our favored neighbors in Florida and, presumably, Tejas).

I guess Billmon wasn't being sarcastic after all when he wrote that the solution for those affected by the storm was...to move to Florida and hope hurricanes hit during the election cycle.

Yesterday, YRHT noted that Congress considered Louisiana's request for reconstruction aid...and proffered a giant middle finger in reply:

Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., chairman of that panel, earlier had said flatly that Congress cannot afford Louisiana's request. "This is just not going to happen," he said.

Duncan also noted the excellent condition of local almshouses, where residents receive warm porridge daily.

OK, I made that up. But if there was any measure of justice, Duncan would find himself in a chilly house this winter, unable to afford the heating bill.

Alas, as I posted in comments over at Oyster's site, it seems as if Team Bush is hoping that if they stonewall long enough, they won't have to do a damn thing. Which is beyond shame at a time when money is being sucked into the Iraqi vacuum cleaner at a rate that exceeds a high end Dyson...with failure as the ONLY option (minus, of course, the money being raked in at an equally high rate by Bush/Cheney cronies).

I think the public is catching on, although the media is still doing its best to keep a lid on the manifest failure of this administration. Meanwhile, folks are hurting just about anywhere the neo-con cabal has hung their collective hats.

Jail is almost too good for them.