What is going on there?

The Neworlens saga rolls on. At the time, I considered it to be such an overwhelming natural event that no sort of planning or real-time rescue operation would have achieved much. Then came stories of clear incompetence and naff protection from levees. I soon realised that I was so far out of the loop on information that it was not possible to have any hard and fast opinion on during- and post-Katrina events. It was also about this time that I came across the vast 9/11 Conspiracy empire and that grabbed most of my spare time (and a lot more since). Here, my interest lies in the way that facts are interpreted and seemingly unconnected events are used to support what seems to be a genuine belief amongst a lot of people that not all is known. Not all written in BLOCK CAPITALS, underlined a couple of times and written in green ink. One of the things I concluded about the flood was that all would be set to rights.

I see America as a nation with vast resources of material, money and sheer human drive towards the achievement of goals. I had always considered that what USA wanted, USA got. Not always by the neatest and most polite way but still, at the end, the aim was met. This came from being lucky enough to have been let loose from the Corporate waistcoat on my American visits but also from working with a US oil company at a time when the British North Sea exploration and recovery was at its height. My favourite line from my VP was “Throw money at it John” when a really tough problem arose. My own government has this money-tossing syndrome (NHS computer service anyone?) but they seem to take the moola directly to the drain without ever pouring it over the problem.

So, I am baffled when I see the TV reports reflecting the state of Katrina-land today. We saw pictures of circumstances that Saddam Hussein might have engineered in Iraq pre-2003. Here, surely, was something big enough for Dubya to make a major impact on his (apparently – I’m not going to get into that discussion) dwindling support. All it needed was money thrown at it with some good supervision. Yes – I have heard of corruption but we knew of the venal nature of the locals just a few days after the water came up so should have been ready to stop recovery money being siphoned off.  I don’t see it as a ‘poor deprived blacks again’ scenario as the failure to do much/anything seems to cut across racial divides. Doubtless, there have been victories somewhere but I saw Neworlens as exactly the situation that America, to my mind, dealt with. Sheer brute force deployed to a clear end game.

I’d like to be able to tie down an opinion and cause for the situation as it is reported today. I reckon other things will get in the way. I’ve just started planning for our 50th Wedding Anniversary in July next year and that should keep me amused. Seems a shame that inhabitants of a great country don’t have a better life though……………..