Hurricane Katrina is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The entire city of New Orleans, population of 484,674 (2000 US census) and its suburbs, population of 1,337,726 (2000 US census); has been devastated. The death toll could easily reach well into the thousands, and it will take months to find all the rotting corpses under immeasurable amounts of debris. 20% of our nation’s oil refining capacity has been shut down, which prior to the hurricane was running at 96% capacity. President Bush has said that it may take years to rebuild and has already asked congress for $10.5 billion in aid.
The storm will also have a vast ripple effect on the country's economy. Massive silt from the storm has made the Mississippi river impenetrable for cargo ships. The wheat and corn harvests will ready soon and farm states rely heavily on the river to transport their crops worldwide. Every industry which depends on transportation will be affected. Unleaded gasoline has reached well over $3.00/gal throughout the country and is expected to rise more due to shortages.
Any normal person with one ounce of human decency is saddened by this calamity. The left couldn’t be happier with the results. For example the Green Party of the United States says on their website:
Will the Bush Administration and other skeptics recognize Katrina — the sixth hurricane to hit Florida in the space of a year — as a symptom of the human-influenced global warming? Will they acknowledge that the growing number of destructive hurricanes are a result of rising surface water temperatures, consistent with other manifestations of global warming around the world?
However their science is questionable at best. Hurricanes happen globally, and in some areas like the Indian Ocean, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number. Hurricanes tend to come in cycles of 20 to 30 years. We just entered a cycle of increasing activity over the last few years. Much of late 70s thru the late 90s saw a sharp decline in activity. The Green Party would have Americans believe that our country's failure to ratify the economically disastrous Kyoto Treaty is responsible for Katrina. They are trying to place the blame at President Bush’s feet for not taking away our SUVs and making the little people ride bicycles to work.
Article comments
1 - T. Banks
To date:
Iraq invasion cost $200B and counting...manpower,generators/medical equipment/supplies
Hurricane rebuild efforts est. $25B with resources limited resulting in people not having the BASIC needs ie., food/water...Fema/Federal officicals do not have adequate supplies/equipment because of Iraq/War on terror. Who will take responsibility for this calamity ??
2 - Georgio
oh you are soooo full of shit to think the left is getting it"s rocks off because of this calamity..CNN has been reporting the slow response for days and last night Ted Koppel questioned the Fema guy in charge as to why there is a failure to help these ppl ...I do not consider these networks pawns of the left..maybe you watch the Fox Ch like Dave Nalle so you only have to hear the good...
3 - billy
do explain how being mad at bush, whose negligence is the root cause of this disaster, means were happy about our people being killed in a disaster? more warped thinking from a right wing nutcase. no wonder you are in a nefound minority that is shrinking fast.
4 - JELIEL
• The violent take over of a coal power plant in Turkey.
In this case they climbed a chimney and posted a banner
• Hijacking a cargo ship going to Britain because they don’t like GM grain.
They came on board the ship and protested. They didn’t steal anything nor did they threaten anyone.
• Preventing Argentine farmers from plowing their land and feeding their people.
Here they simply barricaded themselves to prevent the bulldozers from razing the forest where GM Soy plants were to be planted. GM soy, plants barely 2 feet high that is used to feed so much cattle that the feed itself could end world hunger. But corps would rather waste 7 pounds of feed per pound of beef. Each pound of feed takes 1 000 pounds of water to grow. Cuz hey we gotta have our cheese-burgers. The feed isn't to feed the Argentineans, it's to supply US cattle with feed. The same cattle that shits 87 000 pounds of waste per second, that ends up in your rivers and water systems.
You put some serious spin on your story to demonize my group; Greenpeace isn't about violence and never was. Those members who wish to become eco-terrorists are thrown out. You know NOTHING about Greenpeace.
5 - Dave Nalle
I'll tell you what the left doesn't like about Katrina. The fact that so many of the evacuees have gotten to Texas and decided they want to stay there to get out of the forced ghettoization and political exploitation they suffered under democrat rule in New Orleans.
Dave