Chris,
> You also, however, forget that several people were indicted for > embezzlement out of the project and that a congressional budget audit > made clear that the books could not be reconciled. > > Project Impact was always designed at small grants given to > communities to develop planning.. example: > > http://www.fema.gov/regions/vii/1998/98r7n033.shtm > > Grants were generally smaller then $250,000. > > As an example of their guidelines: > > Project Impact is built around 3 basic principles: 1) preventative > measures must be decided at the local level; 2) private sector > participation is vital; and 3) long term efforts and investments in > prevention measures are essential. That was a different segment of the program, which dealt only with the items you just outlined on the state and local level. > The idea of project impact was never "the government provides the > plan" rather it was that the government would provide seed money for > the community to develop a strategic plan.. Au contraire. 'Project Impact' also involved federal planning to mitigate the damage done by large natural disasters by taking measures that would be crucial to a strategy to save lives and cut recovery costs. FEMA had pre-planned "a New Orleans nightmare scenario", in which "the federal government figured it would pre-deploy nearby ships with pumps to remove water from the below-sea-level city and have hospital ships nearby". Since 2001, the Bushies have been slashing key federal disaster mitigation programs, and FEMA's 'Project Impact', created by the Clinton administration, has been outright cancelled. The result ? No pre-deployed ships to pump out the water, and only ONE hospital ship has been allocated to the area, but it didn't leave it's port until Friday, AFTER the hurricane struck. http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12528233.htm > So, the proposal was to create upstream spillways through a split > levee system, to have a "break point" on the inflow of water or a > controlled spilloff to lower the water table. > > But the problem is, people everywhere protested. > > Wildlife Defense Fund protested; Conservative Taxpayer Network > protested; etc. > > Also amongst groups that protested: > > PETA, World Wildlife Fund, National Conservation Society, (Left) Turkey > Watch, TaxPayer Network, Government Abuse Hotline (Right) Except those 'protests' were about the REDESIGN and expansion of the levee system and it's spillways and locks. It's a different kettle of fish that because of the Bushies budget cuts, "the Corps essentially stopped major work on the now-breached levee system that had protected New Orleans from flooding. It was the first such stoppage in 37 years, the Times-Picayune reported." http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12528233.htm Vince
