Jackson Free Press

In George Bush's televised prime-time speech to the nation revealing his plan to move forward after Katrina, he dropped this little bomb: "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces."

I strongly disagree. Every fact that has emerged since this catastrophe hit our shores is exactly opposite of that statement. There was no lack of federal authority. There was a complete lack of organization, poor coordination and inaction by those who had the authority. There was not a single instance that prevented the federal government from doing anything that needed to be done because it lacked the authority.
 
And now, instead of fixing the disorganization, inefficiency and lack of competence, the administration wants us to give it more power. Historians will tell you this is the sign of a repressive regime. As to giving the military greater powers in a disaster, how much more do they need? We already have active duty military soldiers on the ground in an American city, fully armed with orders to act as policeman, against the wishes of the framers of our Constitution. We have Blackwater mercenaries, trained killing machines fresh out of Iraq, patrolling the streets of New Orleans, supposedly deputized by the state of Louisiana, with orders to shoot to kill.

This would be the same military that could not drop food or water to starving citizens of its own nation or move them out of the city because somebody forgot to give them the order. Those same people who did not hesitate to establish martial law at a moment's notice. This would be the same military that pointed guns at their own country's journalists and told them they could not document the dead bodies being removed. Once again we see more authority equals more repression and more suppression.

Do we give the military the authority to shoot an American because they were thinking a dissenting thought? I shudder to think. — Brian Essex, Jackson

Another Blow to the Victims
The quaint and charming little Mississippi towns of Bay St. Louis and Waveland suffered extreme damage ("God's Country," Sept. 15-21, 2005). Thousands of homes have been completely obliterated. Hundreds of thousands more have sustained major damage. Most of the damage to homes still standing along coastal Mississippi resulted from Katrina's unprecedented storm surge of approximately 30 feet. An overwhelming number of these homes now containing the muddy remnants of up to 10 feet of sea water and sea water-infused mud were not covered by the federal flood insurance program. Why? Because they were not within any designated flood zones—not even the 500-year flood zones. Thus, lenders did not require flood insurance with respect to those dwellings.

What are the families who live in these homes to do? Doubtless, the owners owe mortgages to local banks. However, their homes are currently uninhabitable. The mayor of Waveland has reportedly estimated that 90 percent of the homes in that city are not livable. Clearly, most of these homes will be total losses. Yet, homeowners don't anticipate that their insurers will bend the rules and provide "flood" coverage where there was none, nor can they anticipate that FEMA will fully compensate for these losses. For many, bankruptcy will be the only option. Can the banking community absorb these losses? Can the local economies?

This insurance issue likewise stands poised to decimate the lower middle, middle and upper middle classes along the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastlines. And, if that occurs, the coastal communities will dissolve, giving way to the incessant march of the dehumanized condo culture that has infested so much of the rest of the Gulf region.

While there are many pressing issues presented by this catastrophe, Congress must immediately address this issue to ensure that hundreds of thousands of hardworking, productive Gulf Coast residents do not become paupers overnight. Federal funds will be required to ensure that loans will be repaid to keep our banks afloat and so that homes are rebuilt. Our nation must make this reconstruction effort a priority. If as a country we can spend a billion dollars a week in Iraq to build a democracy, we can devote the resources necessary to help citizens in this time of crisis. — David Baria, Bay St. Louis

Mis-Katrinacation
With a heavy heart I write this letter, exiled by the polarization that has shaped America in "The Aftermath." The right blames the left, and the left blames the right; I guess amongst all the devastation I forgot to choose a side. Well, I'm blaming the third-party candidate—Katrina. People are quick to jump to extreme conclusions: George Bush hates black people; Ray Nagin hates white people; FEMA completely failed to do its job. In the absence of police, all black people will do is steal TVs and shoot at each other. Have we lost all perspective in this country? In order to be convincing, as a politician, political pundit, outspoken overpaid actor, et al., do arguments have to be radical, black and white, and entirely unyielding? Can we please return to the days of pragmatism, patriotism, and Walter Cronkite? We're playing checkers, and the world is playing chess. Peacetime Politics would call my argument "moderate." I choose to think it's merely "Realistic."

P.S. The media coverage of this disaster, and, for that matter, of everything that has happened this decade, has been disastrously inept. An exception has been the JFP.
— John T. Saxon, Jackson