Yet another example, I'm afraid, of how the Obama Administration has failed to correct the failures it has inherited--and how it's failing to prepare us for a future threatened by global warming.
I'm writing this early in the day for those of you who may not know. TODAY ONLY Harry Shearer's documentary The Big Uneasy is playing in theaters across the country. There should be one near you. Trailer:
The documentary's website is here. What it says about the film:
Almost five years ago, a disaster struck New Orleans. The media said it was a natural disaster primarily affecting poor black people. On both counts, the media was wrong.
In his feature-length documentary The Big Uneasy, humorist and New Orleans resident Harry Shearer gets the inside story of a disaster that could have been prevented from the people who were there. As we approach the fifth anniversary of the flooding of New Orleans, Shearer speaks to the investigators who poked through the muck as the water receded and a whistle-blower from the Army Corps of Engineers, revealing that some of the same flawed methods responsible for the levee failure during Katrina are being used to rebuild the system expected to protect the new New Orleans from future peril.
In short segments hosted by John Goodman, Shearer speaks candidly with local residents about life in New Orleans. Together, they explore the questions that Americans outside of the Gulf region have been pondering in the five years since Katrina: Why would people choose to live below sea level? Why is it important to rebuild New Orleans?
And not just Katrina, particularly given the sort of future we face with increased global warming
The Big Uneasy is laced with computer imagery that takes you inside the structures that failed so catastrophically, and boasts never-before-seen video of the moments when New Orleans began to flood and the painstaking investigations that followed. The Big Uneasy marks the beginning of the end of five years of ignorance about what happened to one of our nation's most treasured cities - and serves as a stark reminder that the same agency that failed to protect New Orleans still exists in other cities across America.
Here's a short interview featured on the website, complete with a reading of the Army Corps of Engineers ungrammatical press release defending its rebuilding effort:
It was one thing for the Obama campaign to not want to focus on New Orleans aa a symbol of Republican failure under Bush. They wanted to avoid anything racializing the campaign. I might not agree with the decision, but I could understand it. But what possible excuse can there be for failing to deal with the problems exposed in this documentary? As Harry Shearer explains, it's based on public reports the basic findings of which are very well known in New Orleans, but that are virtually absent from the national consciousness.
Last month, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan claimed that the "best thing that ever happened" to public schools in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. (To be fair, here's the quote in context.) Although two days later Duncan apologized for his remarks, what he said - when he was thinking in his self-described "really honest" mode rather than perhaps a less than honest mode - actually reveals an essential aspect of the destructive school reform policies being carried out by the Obama administration.
Across the country, literally, from Rhode Island to California, Minnesota to Louisiana, federal policies are being used as leverage to shutter hundreds of public schools, eliminate teachers, disrupt the lives of families who are least able to cope with upheaval, and relegate many kids to gangs and street violence. When public schools deemed to be "under-performing" based on federally mandated standardized tests are not closed outright, they are being put on the auction block for take-over by the highest corporate bidders. The wave of closings and privatization washing over American schools is being labeled as a "turnaround" approach to reshape public education into something that will better serve children and youth.
According to Duncan, the intent is to turnaround approximately 5,000 schools, which is about 5 percent of US public schools. But the narrow scope of the turnaround approach has catastrophic effects on the schools that get targeted. Of the three "turnaround models" proposed by Duncan, only the third and final option doesn't include firing the school faculty or leadership. Because at least half of the targeted schools are in big cities, and many others are in suburbs and medium-sized towns, where schools have higher than average student populations, the numbers of students and families affected by these policies are potentially in the many tens even hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, kids only get one shot at an education. And any approach that puts their schoolyears at risk will have lifelong negative effects.
With all that's potentially at stake, you would think that a school reform strategy that is as far-reaching as Duncan's turnaround approach would be backed up with some solid research and a track record of success. Alas, such is not the case.
Ever since the Haiti earthquake happened, it has invited quite a few comparisons to the disaster brought about in New Orleans by the federal flood. There are even those in the mainstream media who have asked if this quake is going to turn out to be Obama's "Katrina."
This is not surprising because there are some similarities in the situations--for example, the slowness in rescuing and getting aid to the survivors--which reminds casual observers of the way New Orleanians had to wait a week for food, water and rescue after her levees failed. Also, these catastrophes are manmade--Haiti's because of shoddily-constructed buildings, New Orleans' because of poorly-built and maintained levees--both of which had been disasters waiting to happen.
The continuing tragedy of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is the starkest possible reminder that America has lost its way from the vision of what it ought to be-a vision that Ted Kennedy articulated for almost half a century in the US Senate.
In his speech to the 1980 Democratic National Convention, Kennedy said:
It is the glory and the greatness of our tradition to speak for those who have no voice, to remember those who are forgotten, to respond to the frustrations and fulfill the aspirations of all Americans seeking a better life in a better land.
We dare not forsake that tradition.
We cannot let the great purposes of the Democratic Party become the bygone passages of history.
What happened to New Orleans with Katrina, and what has continued in the aftermath to this day is that "the least of these" have been forgotten.
Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
And it is moral certainty that America cannot rise so long as New Orleans remains fallen.
That is the heart of the Gospels, and the heart of what it means to truly be a Christian. And as Kennedy said, it is the heart of what it means to truly be a Democrat and an American as well.
We all breathed a sigh of relief after Bush had his final Press Conference. After eight years of thinking that it was our President who was screwing up everything, he made it clear that it was other folks and that he leaves office with his head held high.
Like, now I know that he made an immediate response to Hurricane Katrina. When we thought he was really attending McCain Birthday Celebrations and playing the guitar at country music celebrations, he was actually removing 30,000 victims from New Orleans' roofs.
As a third straight major hurricane in less than two weeks strikes land in Texas, I decided to pull this story from the archives of Random Lengths News, my second one written in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (animated loop below). I offer this as an example of how to write about the obvious connections that are already out there, rather than getting sucked into distracting political narrative wars. Full story on the flip.
Three years ago today, Hurricane Katrina came ashore for a second time in the Gulf Coast for John McCain's 69th birthday. Here he was that day, celebrating with President Bush. The birthday, presumably, and not the hurricane.
This year, John McCain wanted a vice presidential candidate for his birthday. He picked Gov. Sarah "Fluffy" Palin, who apparently doesn't know what she'd even do in the job she's now aspiring to:
Palin: "[A]s for that V.P. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?
I hope McCain explained that one to her. 'Palin, it's like this. Your main job would be to spend a lot of time in an undisclosed location. It's a tradition we Republicans decided to institute post-Quayle, and definitely plan to continue post-Cheney. Also, no less important, your job is to keep me safe. For that one, you just need to be yourself. Funny thing, that's also a tradition we started with Quayle. During the campaign, your job will be to privatelyreassure Evangelicals and global warming deniers, while fulfilling the public role of token Republican woman who can more safely attack women's interests.'
Unfortunately, the weather has its own ideas. In addition to getting a running mate, another hurricane, Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf Coast. Though it won't be here quite in time for his birthday, I'm sure it'll bring back a lot of memories. Like what McCain's good friend, John Hagee, said about Katrina
... in September, 2006. During an interview with NPR, he said the devastating storm "was, in fact, the judgment of God against ... New Orleans."
The city, he continued, "had a level of sin that was offensive to God" because "there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came."
So, good times to be a Republican. I don't envy their base, though. Now they, too, can have a presidential candidate who's more publicly interested in appealing to improbable waverers from the other party than in their own constituency. What else could be up with Palin mentioning Hillary Clinton (whom Palin called "whining", via fladem) and Geraldine Ferraro, but not Elizabeth Dole, anyway?
Heckuva birthday present, Republicans. Think I'm going to have to go with desmoinesdem on this one, and count it a present for Democrats.
A new report on the mental health of Hurricane Katrina victims shows patterns in the Gulf Coast that are contrary to post traumatic stress disorder usually seen after major disasters. The mental health of Hurricane Katrina victims is worsening with the drawn out recovery time.
You can listen to a discussion of the report at subject link above.
STATE BLOGS
