forgotston.com

Let’s just say for the sake of argument that the disgraced former head of FEMA, Michael “Brownie” Brown is telling the truth about the motives of some unnamed folks in the White House immediately following the flooding in New Orleans caused by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

As long time lobbyist Charlie Smith would say: “Soooo?”

On-going problems unresolved

Let’s say Governor Kathleen Blanco is absolutely correct about the proportionate funding level from Congress how does it explain the following:

– There is an insurance crisis that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is healthcare crisis that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is an education crisis which existed pre-Katrina.

– There is an economic crisis (existing businesses are closing or leaving) that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is an out-migration crisis that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is a highway crisis that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is a corruption crisis that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is a coastal erosion problem that existed pre-Katrina.

– There is a inequitable tax code that existed pre-Katrina.

–The “Governor Kathleen Blanco Road Home Program” is a dysfunctional program that was created by Governor Blanco post-Katrina.

Stop the whining

Governor Blanco claims that LA is not getting its fair share of the Federal financial largesse. That may well be true. But how does whining about it solve the above problems? Gov. Blanco is sitting on, literally, billions of state and federal dollars in the treasury. She has called three special sessions of the lege since August, 2005. Yet all the above crises remain unresolved.

When I see our over-emotional governor whining about Mississippi getting more money than LA (proportionately, not actual dollars), the picture that jumps into my mind is that of a child on Christmas Day sitting in a pile of presents and crying because her next door neighbor got more presents.

Finally, how would any of the above problems have been resolved if President Bush had mentioned Hurricane Katrina in his State of Union Speech?

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 8:30 am

Not that Brown….

Hang onto to the article from today’s Houston Press for 6 months from now. Hopefully, for the sake of everyone in New Orleans, those of us who are skeptical will be proved wrong. Let’s hope that yet another “snake oil salesman” hasn’t arrived in the city to sell his cure-all elixir. However, it is hard to ignore the admonitions of those who know Dr. Lee Brown best.

The mere fact that an outside expert must be brought in to tell the current NOPD head how to fix the problems in the NOPD is telling in and of itself. Dr. Brown was hired to do precisely what a competent police chief of a big city police department should be doing. Fixing existing problems of a business or government entity is the main job of management.

Perhaps, its time to admit that Chief Warren Riley is incompetent and hire Dr.Brown to replace him.

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 8:06 am

For years, we have been told that LA’s constitution makes the leges impotent. Despite what many have said to the contrary none of the leges ever admit that is simply false and a cop-out.

All one need do is to just look at all the statutes whereby the leges have given away their power to the governor and others including the power of taxation.

Today, we read where the leges own employee is telling them that it’s not the constitution that makes them impotent. It’s the lack of testosterone. See story here.

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”, the leges can’t handle the truth.

Kudos to Butch Speer for telling it like it is, but keep your head down, Butch, messengers can be hunted 24/7/365 in the Capitol and there is no bag limit.

C.B.

Uncategorized CB 9:15 am