Mayday Mayday

We died and never knew,
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you
Went the day well?
--John Maxwell Edmonds

But let judgment run down as waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream
--The Bible, Amos 5-24

Take me to the water, drop me in the river
Push me in the water, drop me in the river
--Take Me to the River, Talking Heads
__________________

May Day ushered in two highwater marks for America: The Great Flood of 2011 and the killing of Osama bin Laden. They are both symbolic as well as literal events.

Osama bin Laden's death is being heralded as the crown of a meaningless War on Terror. Contrast that one death that came at such an astronomical price with the rampantly overflowing mighty Mississippi River, breaching levees and flood controls as easily as a terrorist might elude the U.S. defensive plan.

We are told the waters are being diverted to Louisiana lowlands in order to prevent New Orleans from another Katrina-magnitude flood. Both the Phony War on Terror (PWOT©), the inundation of the '05 hurricane and now the flooding of the Mississippi show the weakness and reactive nature of our government planners, all the while feigning that we are shaping events.

Why haven't the levees of New Orleans been fortified to repel any potential floods? We are told Billions of dollars are needed for such a project, money we don't have, yet the U.S. spends $100's of Billions on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya. Meanwhile, our people suffer grave losses because the Billions we need are not being allotted to shore up our infrastructure. Our efforts are akin to sticking our finger in a dike.

The U.S. is vulnerable and monies are not available to repair our eroding infrastructure, much less keep necessary government functions running on a daily basis. Why not pull in the perimeter and handle our domestic issues, prioritizing the welfare of U.S. citizens?

Six years after Katrina the waters are still flooding, and the best we get is half a gunfight, half a world away. The efforts to staunch the Mississippi are metaphor for our reactions to terrorism: Great efforts are undertaken to prevent terrorists from following a natural course, but regardless of our action (or inaction), they will follow a natural flow and flood the lowlands.

The U.S. spends $100's of Billions -- perhaps Trillions --on containing terrorism and find it impossible to do, while ignoring the very real destructive flows on our own soil. The floods are neither Acts of God nor unpredictable, just like five foreigners training in a Florida flight school to fly planes but not lands them.

Instead of building new dikes along the Mississippi, why not just get a few SEALS to shoot it in the headwaters? Cheaper, and could all feel warm and patriotic.

E. Pluribus Dumb

It is a neocon mistake to charge our warfighters with building an Iraqi
national consensus. Iraqis must decide for themselves if they want to live in
a unified, pluralistic, and peaceful Iraq.

No amount of American military might can compel that result
--Bob Inglis (R-SC)


I'm going down in Louisiana, honey, behind the sun
Well, you know I just found out my troubles just begun
--Louisiana Blues, Muddy Waters

___________

In a recent interview with a Wall Street Journal reporter, GWB addressed the immigration issue, enlisting one of his sparkling neologisms in the process.

''I think people worry that this. . .will create two Americas. E Pluribus Duum,'' quoth the Prez (Latin Lessons.)

What he fails to recognize is that we already have a riven union, drawn upon economic and racial lines, for starters.

Consider New Orleans, almost two years following Hurricane Katrina:

''The federal government is in the midst of an unprecedented intervention into the daily operation of the local criminal justice system here, adding more than 40 agents and prosecutors to regain some basic daily operations lost to Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago.

''The effort comes as the city's violent crime increased 107% the first quarter of this year over the same time in 2006.''

''The citizens of this city desperately need protection, said James Letten, U. S. attorney for New Orleans (Feds Target Violent Crime in New Orleans.)''

Not Baghdad, dear readers, an American city, in desperate need of protection. And Army assets are not currently available to our citizens homeside.

What the article fails to note is that U.S. assets continue to fight a wasteful, pig-headed war to secure cities in a sandbox nation, while we ignore the plight and blight of U.S. inner cities. New Orleans is not alone in needing federal intervention.

The U.S. government's policies are reminiscent of those of the hypocritical missionaries who travel far and wide proselytizing for acolytes under cover of do-good projects, ignoring the needy in their own backyards.

Iraq and Afghanistan occupy the center ring in this circus. What goes on in the smaller rings is out of the spotlight. Surely the administration is aware that Louisiana has oil reserves, too.

by Jim and Lisa

Walkin' to New Orleans

I'm walkin' to New Orleans
I'm going to need two pair of shoes
When I get through walkin' to you
When I get back to New Orleans
--Walkin' To New Orleans, Fats Domino
____________

Do you know what it's like to walk, and not ride? Lots of folks who used to live in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans do. Maybe because of that softer footprint on the planet they drew less attention from the powers that be, and literally got swept away.

''Fifty-nine years ago this week — on April 3, 1948 — President Truman signed the legislation establishing the Marshall Plan, which contributed so much to the rebuilding of postwar Europe. Now, more than half a century later, the U.S. can’t even rebuild New Orleans.''

So wrote the New York Times' Bob Herbert recently in ''Our Crumbling Foundations'' on the New Orleans tragedy, and by extension what this failure signifies for America's infrastructure, in general. Ranger has just addressed the misapplication of one of our foundation documents and our concomitant crumbling ideological foundations; we will now lift and shift fire to our crumbling material foundations.

Why are U.S. priorities not behind a rebuild effort in New Orleans? Simply put, GWB's priorities in Iraq and Afghanistan are more important than the welfare of U.S. cities. And certainly, the land grabbers wouldn't stand to profit if these decrepit properties were repatriated to their original owners.

''Drawn Together'' in the May 2007 Reader's Digest gives a personal dimension to the travesty. It is the story of a boy, Donald, from the Ninth whose mother was killed the night of the storm, and a dedicated art program volunteer named Ashley who, taken by his drawing talent, worked to find a home placement for him.

Through selfless work on her own time she locates an aunt who too has also lost everything in the storm and is struggling to provide for her two children, but wishes to take Donald in. The challenges to helping Donald return to a normal life would be comical, were they not tragic:

''Donald's most basic necessities--medical care and food--seem unobtainable. The government denies all applications for food stamps and Social Security benefits, citing no proof Donald's mother is dead.''

''For the same reason, Donald's aunt is not allowed to become his legal guardian. Yet he is not old enough to have a voice for himself...''

It is only the middle of last year, after 6 months of tireless advocacy, that Ashley was able to get Lt. Gov. Landrieu to secure the services of a pro bono counsel to arrange for his aunt to become his legal guardian. This has allowing him to receive medical care, including antidepressants.

Donald's story will hopefully turn out well, but it if it does, it will only be because of his chance advocate's unceasing efforts on his behalf. But what of the innumerable other Donalds out there, our country's abandoned children?

GWB was elected to be President of the U.S., yet his nation-building zeal does not seem to extend to the homeland.

It would be interesting to see if John McCain could walk through non-tourist sections of New Orleans without security these days.

by Lisa