Administration uses Katrina to reach political goals

Administration uses Katrina to reach political goals
EDITOR:
The Katrina disaster should be a wake-up call for our country, It exposed to the world the ugly underside of our American democracy. With a deadly hurricane approaching, the people of New Orleans were ordered to evacuate the area, and those who could did. But the poor and the elderly without transportation were left behind and hundreds of them drowned. The ghastly sights of their bodies floating in the water and lying in the streets were seen around the world. There's something wrong when a country does not provide protection for its most vulnerable citizens while spending lavishly on a wide array of pork projects.
The disaster also exposed our perverted priorities. Money requested to strengthen the levees was diverted to support an ill-advised war and numerous pork projects. And another area of corruption is now being exposed. Jonathan Turley, writing in the Los Angeles Times notes, "Even before Katrina finished ploughing through the South, special interests moved to plough under restrictions on competitive bidding. More than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in FEMA contracts were awarded without competitive bidding ... with noncompetitive contract and sparse auditing, Katrina will probably spawn hundreds of disaster millionaires."
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that "Bush and his allies are planning to take advantage of hurricane relief measures to achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies, both in the storm zone and beyond." A case in point: private school vouchers. In a recent proposal for federal funding to help evacuees from the hurricane, Bush slipped in a request for $488 million to send Katrina's schoolchildren to private schools. The American Association of School Administrators denounced the move: "It is unacceptable that the administration would put forward an ideologically driven gimmick at a time of crisis." School vouchers use tax dollars to pay for tuition at private schools that have no accountability to the public.
The question is: Will the Katrina disaster and its shocking aftermath wake up the taxpaying and voting public to the need for drastic change? We are already preparing for a national election coming up next year. This may be the opportunity we need to, at least, make a start on turning things around.
PAUL and ANNA MARY GAMBLE
New Wilmington, Pa.
The court has spoken
EDITOR:
Listening to all the arguments about what would happen to Roe vs. Wade if King George gets the "right" people onto the Supreme Court has made me ponder this question. If abortion has been legal in this country for 32 years now, how can any make up of justices go back and say "abortion is now illegal? & quot; Does that mean that every woman who had an abortion and every doctor who performed the abortion are now criminals?
It seems to me that once the Supreme Court hands down a decision then that's all there is to say. It's understandable when the Supreme Court overturns a ruling of a lower court. It's also understandable when the court rules on a new matter, no matter which way it rules. But to go back and revisit a case that has already been decided by previous justices strikes me as just plain stupid.
But then right wing religious conservatives in this country have never struck me as being too smart anyway. The old saying of "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups" has never been more plain when you consider what has taken place in this country since King George was first appointed president.
TOM HALL
Lisbon