Today's Letters: To rebuild New Orleans defies common sense
By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published September 1, 2007
All talk, no action as Big Easy moldersAug. 29, commentary by Douglas Brinkley
The definition of insanity has been described as doing the same thing repeatedly with the expectation of different results. What then would be the term applied to a city that has been underwater 27 times in its 289-year history?
Douglas Brinkley has cast about to lay blame for the inaction in the rebuilding of New Orleans. He has plump targets in President Bush, Mayor Ray Nagin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA and others. Yet he arrives at no solution other than to say that it "is for Americans to decide if the current policy of inaction is really the way we want to deal with the disaster that is New Orleans."
Perhaps we have. Perhaps our conclusion that to rebuild and expect a different outcome is a form of national insanity. Even Brinkley seems to conclude that to build levees to survive a Category 5 hurricane is too extravagant. His calculation is a cost far eclipsing the cost for the entire Interstate Highway System.
To attempt to assign responsibility in hindsight is futile and harmful. The city of New Orleans evolved out of the swamps and bayous over a nearly 300-year period. During that time their already low-lying terrain sank further. The inevitable occurred, numerous times. The question is: Will we be foolish enough to create another disaster by letting our emotions overrule common sense? An area 8 feet below sea level and sinking is hardly a sensible place to try to recreate an ideal that never was.
Joseph J. Haverty, Clearwater
Many cities are crumbling
The difference between New Orleans and scores of other communities is that the date when the Big Easy collapsed can be marked. Across America scores of once viable populations are in desperate straits. Gary and Hammond, Ind., once major industrial centers, wither and exist on revenues from gambling. Large areas of both cities are boarded and virtually abandoned. East St. Louis, Ill., has seen nearly 30 percent of its property abandoned and 50 percent of its population disappear. Small towns throughout the Great Plains now have more dogs and tumbleweed in their streets than people.
Many of these communities could become self-sustaining and vital with massive federal support. Yet, without the focus of a dramatic event, their despair brings no outpouring of aid and charity. The reconstruction of New Orleans needs to be part of a larger debate on the role of the federal government in financing infrastructure and promoting community sustainability. The topic of long-term reconstruction needs to be considered separately from the emotional and equally important issue of disaster relief.
John Flournoy, St. Petersburg
We are a nation off track
The other day, I read two news articles. One in the Washington Post said that "Bush wants billions more for Iraq war." The other, in the St. Petersburg Times, was headlined All talk, no action as Big Easy molders.
Both are related to the present administration and both make me question where are we going? Isn't it time for we, the people, to be heard? Where are our voices, raised in a raging crescendo, demanding the impeachment of this, the worst president in the history of our once-great nation? Where are we going?
Edward J. McDougall, Sr., Brooksville
Domestic needs go begging
The White House is preparing to request another $50-billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to the $460-billion in the fiscal 2008 defense budget and $147-billion in a pending supplemental bill. According to a recent Pentagon report, the Iraq war has cost more than $330-billion already.
Whether the war is wrong or right, my question to our elected officials is: Where is this money coming from, and where was it when we needed it elsewhere?
Where was it for the victims of Katrina? Where was it for the homeless? Where was it for forming a public mental health system to help those who can not help themselves? Where was it for helping our rapidly degrading public education system? Where is it to help those who have no medical insurance? Where was it when we continue to reduce Medicaid and benefits to our proud veterans?
We have all this funding available for wars, but we cannot take care of ourselves at home? We support entire countries where the residents cannot or will not support themselves, but we cannot help ourselves? We have billions to fund a war we were "misinformed" about but we cannot take care of the situations at home? Is it me or is there something wrong with this picture?
Dave McCormick, Tarpon Spring
Creating a decent nation
I read recently that President Bush will request an additional $50-billion to fund the military surge in Iraq. We should object to having any more of our tax dollars going to fund this illegal and immoral war. We must also oppose any military action against Iran. Our thirst for oil and desire to dominate the world are insufficient justification for any further saber rattling from this administration. Our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have been failures.
If President Bush cares so much, as I certainly do, about the genocidal carnage that our withdrawal from Iraq might incur, let's offer every Iraqi safe haven in the United States and give money to other Middle Eastern countries like Syria, Jordan, Iran and Saudi Arabia to offer the same. This would be enormously expensive, but I'm not so sure it would be more expensive than continuing or even expanding the current war. Besides, we owe it to the Iraqis after what we have done to their country.
There are many views of the role the United States should play in the world. Perhaps President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are right, and we need to be a bully to preserve our current level of prosperity. I, however, favor a view of America held by some of our Founding Fathers. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine argued for nonintervention. Thomas Jefferson called for "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none," and George Washington said, "The great role of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible."
Such an America would largely have to withdraw from the world stage and live in parity with other nations. The result would be a shrinking of American power and influence but an expansion of the American heart. If such is the cost of having a good and decent nation, then so be it.
Robert Austin, Seminole
Sembler wants troops to stay in IraqAug. 26
War's costs are high
There was a little snippet of an article recently about former ambassador, real estate developer and major Republican contributor Mel Sembler "jumping on a new political cause: discouraging the country from pulling out of Iraq."
I do not support the war in Iraq, but I do support the young men and women risking their lives. I attend the Polytraumatic Family Support Group at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa every Saturday and see firsthand the devastating injuries sustained by the military and their families. The cost of this war, measured not only in dollars wasted but also in lives ruined, is astounding and tragic.
The ads running on TV with the mothers of servicemen and women killed in the last four years exploit their pain and their loss. Bring on the draft and draft the privileged rich kids. Then we shall see how the support for this war disintegrates.
Olga A. Sowchuk, Tarpon Springs
Sembler wants troops to stay in IraqAug. 26
Better use for funds
As a mother of an Army captain being deployed to Iraq in November, I was saddened and disgusted to read that a St. Petersburg developer is behind the TV ad campaign encouraging Americans to stay the course in Iraq.
I'm curious if millionaire Mel Sembler has any family member serving on the front lines in a combat role. I doubt it.
Instead of pouring millions into a pro-Bush pro-war fundraiser, Sembler should contact me and I will give him direction as to where he should be placing his funds. Tampa Bay is home to many of the injured troops coming in from Walter Reed Army and Bethesda Naval hospitals. Tampa Bay is also only one of four regions in our country where TBI (traumatic brain injury) and specialized spinal cord units have been set up to receive our troops with these injuries. They and their families could use Sembler's help and money, if he so wishes.
Janice Carey, St. Petersburg
DNC's foolish slighting of Florida Aug. 28, editorial
Voters, don't be discouraged
Bravo to the Times for telling it like it is on this profoundly important issue. As a Florida Democrat who lived through the trauma (and it was nothing less) of the 2000 election, I just can't believe that my own party would decide to make my vote in the 2008 primary not count at the convention. Are they that tone deaf? Do they really want to hurt, offend, alienate and disenfranchise their long-suffering Florida voters and simultaneously shoot themselves in the foot at a time when the party should be energized and unified?
It was the Republican-controlled state Legislature that changed the primary date; why punish the Democratic voters? Do they really want to put us through posttraumatic stress syndrome by revisiting the 2000 election with "2008: the Sequel - this time, it's your own party taking your vote away"?
I for one am going to go to the polls just as I always have since turning 18, because the right to vote is precious to me. I am going to cast my vote for the presidential candidate of my choice. I am also going to vote - and I urge all my fellow Florida Democrats to vote - on the other important issues on the ballot such as the property tax amendment. Do not allow the DNC to make you feel powerless, Florida Democrats. Your vote will be counted on the other important issues on the ballot.
As for the presidential primary vote, I have to believe that somehow sanity and fairness will triumph and the DNC will come to its senses and count our votes, realizing that disenfranchising the huge and diverse Florida base is not the way to go!
Edna Whisler, St. Petersburg
DNC slaps state's primary Aug. 26, story
Show your displeasure
Fine, the Democratic National Committee does not want to include Florida in the process for selecting a presidential candidacy. If they think we do not count, then we do not need to pay for it either. Let's put a moratorium on contributing money to both the DNC and the presidential candidates. If you have contributed, write them requesting a refund. At least they will have a lot of mail to deal with.
Mark Stephens, Land O'Lakes
Indefensible cuts Aug. 16, editorial
Defend housing funds
We would like to thank the Times for its Aug. 16 editorial standing behind the promise the county commissioners made to assist those in need through the housing trust fund and medical assistance. In conversations with thousands and thousands of committed residents of Pinellas County, one point was made over and over again. Our officials need to take a stand for those who are being priced and pushed out of our community
As a result, the congregations of FAST (Faith and Action for Strength Together) and many community partners pushed for the adoption of the housing trust fund. This fund was established to not only help the low-income people of the area but also for the middle-income work force, who service the daily needs of our local community. The promise made was not just to the 2,000 people present at the FAST Nehemiah Action assembly, nor to the more than 41,000 families in need of affordable housing, but to the hundreds of thousands of people in Pinellas County who are concerned about what happens to the less fortunate around us.
We recognize as did Shakespeare in Macbeth that one must question those "that keep the word of promise to our ear and break it to our hope." Undoubtedly, some may view the small commitment of $10-million a year to the housing trust fund as a luxury that can be cut in half to offset a shortfall in revenues. However, this money funds basic needs, not luxury. Our commitment to it must be sincere. That commitment identifies us as a community that is concerned for our fellow neighbors. Without that we are "a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal" (Corinthians 13:1).
We join the Times in once again urging the commissioners to make a commitment that meets our hope for our fellow man. The congregations of FAST plan on sending representatives to the county budget hearings on Sept. 4 and 18 to encourage the county commissioners to take a stand to defend this budget item that helps those most in need in our community. We encourage others to join us.
Fr. John Tapp, Holy Family Catholic Church, St. Petersburg, and the Rev. Willie McClendon, Shiloh Baptist Church, Largo, co-chairs of FAST on behalf of the executive committee and board
Dream turns to nightmare
Well, Florida has finally pushed me out of the state along with a whole lot more folks. Remember all the big headlines about homeowner insurance decreases? Well mine doubled. What a shame.
I am disabled, a father of six children and six grandchildren, with two of my sons in college. And I will be another homeless person in the Tampa Bay area along with some of my kids and grandkids.
The American Dream: I obtained it by buying my home through sacrifice, trials and tribulations. But this is truly the American nightmare.
Richard D. Gajan, Dunedin
Broken promises
I'm glad some people got a tax cut. I got my proposed property tax notice the other day. If a budget change is made, I will pay $10.09 more a year. If not, I will save 35 cents. Big deal! Allstate is dropping me in September and the cheapest insurance I can get is $500 more a year.
We got a lot of promises from Tallahassee. As the old saying goes, promises are made to be broken.
Elaine Rebarchik, Dunnellon