[Leica] Re: PAW Week 3 Jeffrey---Nagin

[Jim at hemenway.com (Jim Hemenway)]

Lee:

I couldn't agree with you more.

Jim


Lee England wrote:
> Normally a comment on how New Orleans would be chocolate again would blow 
> me
> through the roof.  But in Nagin's case I pardon him because I think he's
> been the most effectual character in this whole drama--similar to Guliani 
> in
> New York.  Nagin is caught in an impossible position much like the mayor of
> Stalingrad was in 1942.  Think back to the shouted statements on CNN about
> people getting off their asses and getting some help to New Orleans.  It
> took someone swearing at the top of his voice to finally get National Guard
> into New Orleans.  Nothing less was going to do it, and he did it.
>     When evaluating Nagin and Gov. Blanco one has to remember that state 
> and
> city resources are entirely inadequate to deal with something like Katrina.
> I learned yesterday Louisiana has lost 43% of its tax revenue base since 
> the
> storm.  Mississippi can't be much different.  We might as well have taken a
> nuclear strike down here.  If there's someone to blame I'd look higher
> toward George Bush.  There's just not enough help coming down here, and
> we're stuck with a president who thinks government is a superfluous waste.
> It's incredible that the power company in New Orleans, Entergy, has had to
> declare bankruptcy and then stay in it.  They have no money to repair the
> electrical grid in New Orleans.  If the federal government would help
> re-establish the power grid, telephone service, potable water, and then
> declare that construction will start forthwith to build levees to withstand
> the strongest storms, they wouldn't have to put any more money into the
> situation.  Private enterprise would take care of the rest.  It blows me
> away that people are living in tents down here when last week a $700 
> million
> space probe launched last week toward Pluto (or one of those planets).
> 
> Lee England
> Natchez, Mississippi
> USA
>