Bush Knew, and So Did the Corporate Media

On August 28th, President Bush was briefed by the director of the National Hurricane Center that Katrina was going to be a very dangerous storm. He was told about the possibility of a levee breech and the inadequacy of New Orleans evacuation plans. This photo of the video conference is from the White House web site. On September 7th, I told my readers that the President had been briefed.

May I ask why the corporate media is suddenly acting as if this is new information? Am I to believe that the New York Times and the Washington Post and the networks know less than I do? Fat chance.

This is yet another indication of the media's complicity in letting the Bush regime off the hook because they don't want to annoy the powerful. For months we have heard the trite refrain of "all levels of government" failing the Gulf Coast. The federal government failed and continues to fail New Orleans. It is a federal responsibility to deal with a natural disaster of this magnitude.

The sad fact of the matter is that it was too late. Even if the president awoke from his drunk and or medicated stupor, the response would not have been much better. Bush had already destroyed the government infrastructure that would have helped New Orleans. This administration doesn't want a government that helps people. They want government to expand corporate power, make the wealthy wealthier and increase military spending and kill people in the rest of the world. FEMA was emasculated because they don't want a FEMA. They want to privatize every government program that they can and destroy the rest.

The Bush administration won't rebuild New Orleans for the same reason. All of the evacuees should have been housed, in their former homes, by now. Schools and hospitals should have been rebuilt. It won't happen because they don't care about black people (thanks Kanye) and because the devastated New Orleans presents them with their fantasy, a city devoid of needy citizens.

The medicare drug plan is a mess for the same reason. It wasn't developed to help the public. It was made to help big pharmaceutical companies. The legislation specifically prevents the federal government from doing anything to lower drug prices, the way they do now with the Veterans Administration. Well, who knows how long that will last. Bush wouldn't want anything like that as part of his legacy.