Behind the Facade


Another big thank-you to Scout Prime, honorary Gret Steter, for continuing to point out the abysmal record of the federal government in responding to the 2005 storms and floods. It IS a national embarrassment when Tsunami relief workers express shock at the snail's-pace of the recovery:

Two leaders of the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights who have spent the last 18-months helping victims of last year’s Tsunami took a walk through the Lower Ninth Ward Friday.

Their reaction was one of shock, because they said they expected to see more signs of recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

“We think of America as being this fabulous, powerful superpower, and it’s exactly like Third World situations,” said Tom Kerr.

“In my personal opinion, I think you should have done much, much faster. It should be much better than what I have seen today,” said Samsook Boonyabancha.

For months, they have been exchanging emails on the recovery process with the New Orleans based National Policy and Advisory Council on Homelessness. Friday, they got to see Katrina’s devastation first hand, and heard residents talk about the long, hard road to recovery.

"The fact that the relief and the support for people who live here is so minimal even though there is so much money in this country, it's really shocking," said Kerr.

Of course it's shocking. What's more shocking is the active effort on the part of the national government to ignore a serious problem while they obsess about the fool's errand overseas in Iraq.