New Orleans man-made diaster

Last night on the Tavis Smiley show the interviewee was Harry Shearer, actor, author, director, satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, multi-media artist and record label owner. He was on the show to talk about his Hurricane Katrina documentary, The Big Uneasy. The movie documents how the damage to New Orleans after Katrina was a “catastrophic man-made disaster” not a natural disaster as President Obama and others have called it. Two independent investigators found the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers to do the job they were commission to do four and half decades, 45 years, ago. Yet the president and others continue to call it a ‘natural disaster.’

But what was really frightening about the interview was the information that there is a letter on President’s desk and before congress the last three years that states the new 15 billion dollar system to protect New Orleans that is to dedicated June 1st will not work due to failed hydraulic pumps. The whistle blower was the person in charge of the pumps. “She said they never passed their testing, even when the testing standards were reduced over and over again. They were installed anyway, and she has said repeatedly they will not work in a hurricane situation. Her allegations were investigated by an independent engineer working for another branch of the federal government who said, ‘She’s right,’ and a letter to that effect has been on the desk of the appropriate Congress committees and the president of the United States since June of 2009, with no action taken.”

For awhile I thought if I could clearly present the facts that what the military teaches on the Marquette University campus is contrary to Catholic values and teaching I would be successful. I discovered that facts do not matter and can be ignored. Sadly it might take another “catastrophic man-made disaster” like Katrina before we wake up and stop ignoring the facts.

Investigations ignored leads to more man-made tragedies. When will we ever learn?

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