http://select.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/opinion/30dowd.html?th&emc=th
Begat, Bothered and Bewildered By MAUREEN DOWD Published: August 30, 2006 New Orleans Doing his stations of the Katrina cross, President Bush went for breakfast with Mayor Ray Nagin at Betsy's Pancake House. As Mr. Bush tried to squeeze past some tightly placed tables, a waitress, Joyce Labruzzo, teased him, saying, "Mr. President, are you going to turn your back on me?'' "No ma'am,'' he replied, with a laugh and a pause for effect. "Not again." It was a rare unguarded moment - showing that his towering Katrina failure is lodged somewhere in the front of his cerebral cortex - in a trip of staged, studiously happy settings, steering away from the wreckage of buildings and people so searing for anyone who loved the saucy and sauce-laden New Orleans of old. W.'s anniversary contrition for the cameras was a more elaborate version of his famous Air Force One flyover a year ago, when he had to be shown a DVD of angry news coverage of apartheid suffering here before he belatedly and grudgingly broke off his five-week Crawford vacation. In an interview on the Upper Ninth Ward's desolate North Dorgenois Street, the president told NBC's Brian Williams that, besides Camus, he had recently read a book on the Battle of New Orleans and "three Shakespeares." A White House aide said one of them was "Hamlet." What could be more fitting? A prince who dithers instead of acting and then acts precipitously at the wrong moment, not paying attention when someone vulnerable drowns. The president bristled when the anchor asked about criticism that his inept response had to do with a "patrician upbringing" and about whether he was asking the country to sacrifice enough. "Americans are sacrificing," he said. "We pay a lot of taxes." The last two days in Mississippi and New Orleans were W.'s play within the play. He took the role of the empathetic and engaged chief executive, rallying resources to save the Gulf Coast, even as the larger lens showed a sad picture of American communities that are still decrepit and hurting, while the Bush administration's billions flow to reconstructing - or rather not reconstructing - Iraq. You longed for this Crawford Hamlet to just go out there and say, "This just isn't good enough." Instead, he gritted his teeth and put on his blandly optimistic cheerleader-in-chief role and talked about restoring "the soul'' of New Orleans. It always makes me nervous when W. does soul talk. He was brazen enough to pose as the man of action even in a city ruined by his initial and continuing inaction. "I've been on the levees,'' he told a crowd at a high school here yesterday. "I've seen these good folks working.'' He spoke to a small number of residents in the boiling sun before the one house that had been tidily restored in a blighted neighborhood in Biloxi. Outside the TV frame, there was a toilet on its side in the yard of a gutted house. On one fence spoke there was a child's abandoned stuffed toy. At a stop at a building company in Gulfport, Miss., he chirped biblically: "There will be a momentum, momentum will be gathered. Houses will begat jobs, jobs will begat houses." Douglas Brinkley, the New Orleans writer who recounted the history of the trellis of failure, Republican and Democratic, federal, state and local, in "The Great Deluge,'' noted that Mr. Bush was merely "sweating bullets trying to get the visit over with." "In the Republican playbook, Katrina's a loser,'' he said. Mr. Bush tells journalists he has been reading prodigiously, 53 books so far this year, with three bios of George Washington, two of Lincoln and one of Mao. He seems more attuned to his place in history and yet he doesn't really seem to get that his presidency will be defined by rushing into one place too fast and not rushing into another fast enough. He has let Dick Cheney and Rummy launch Category 5 attacks on critics of the war. Darth Vader reiterated his nutty pre-emption policy, and Rummy compared critics of Iraq to Chamberlains who appeased Hitler, noting that "once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism." Somebody needs to corner the defense chief and explain that it's not that we don't want to fight terrorism, it's that we want to do it efficiently and effectively. Why is it necessary to scare the country, make false connections between an ill-conceived war and fighting terror, and demonize critics with outrageously careless historical references to Hitler and fascism? W. needs to restore the soul, not merely of the Big Easy, but of the White House *** AP via Truthout - Aug 24, 2006 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082406S.shtml Democrats Cite No-Bid Katrina Contracts By Hope Yen The Associated Press Washington - The government awarded 70 percent of its contracts for Hurricane Katrina work without full competition, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, says a House study released Thursday by Democrats. The report, a comprehensive overview of government audits on Katrina contracting, found that out of $10.6 billion in contracts awarded after the storm last year, more than $7.4 billion were handed out with limited or no competitive bidding. In addition, 19 contracts worth $8.75 billion were found to have wasted taxpayer money at least in part, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the report. It cited numerous instances of double-billing by contractors and cases of trailers meant as emergency housing sitting empty in Arkansas. Aaron Walker, a national spokesman for the Homeland Security Department's Federal Emergency Management Agency, the primary agency for awarding hurricane contracts, said FEMA was already working to improve its contracting process based on "previously issued, non-politicized, reports." "This report has no new revelations," he said. "At the height of hurricane season, it is a disservice to FEMA employees, who are working around the clock to continue retooling this agency." In their report, Democrats acknowledged that some no-bid contracts were necessary to provide quick aid in the immediate aftermath of the August 29, 2005, storm. But they noted that while 51 percent of Katrina contracts awarded in September were limited or no-bid, that percentage increased to 93 percent in October. Last December, FEMA was still awarding 57 percent of the total dollar value of contracts without full bidding. The report came as House Democrats announced a new six-member "truth squad" they said would highlight the problems before the November congressional elections. "It is apparent that taxpayers and the residents of the Gulf Coast are paying a steep price for the failure to stop waste, fraud and abuse in federal contracting," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee and a member of the new panel. He said the new panel, made up of six House Democrats, was needed because the Republican-controlled Congress has resisted probing such allegations against the Bush administration. In the House report, Democrats faulted FEMA for recently awarding new $400 million temporary housing contracts for future disaster work to Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Bechtel National, CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Enterprises Inc. Those four companies have previously been criticized by lawmakers for receiving no-bid Katrina contracts. Three of them - Bechtel, CH2M Hill and Fluor - were found by government auditors to have wasted money in the hurricane effort. The Shaw Group Inc.'s lobbyist, Joe Allbaugh, is a former FEMA director and a longtime friend of President Bush, while Bechtel CEO Riley Bechtel served on Bush's Export Council from 2003-2004. CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Corp. have done extensive previous work for the government. The companies have denied that political or government connections played a factor. FEMA has defended the latest contracts, which were awarded earlier this month after a full bidding process, as the best among 13 proposals submitted based on quality of plans, price and resource capacity. A copy of the report can be found at: http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/story.asp?ID1097. *** PLEASE FORWARD Contact: Marianna Gatto FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (213) 485-8432 August 17, 2006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] L.A. 225: Los Angeles through the Eyes of Artists EXHIBIT EXPLORES ARTISTS' VISIONS OF LOS ANGELES FOR THE CITY'S 225TH BIRTHDAY LOS ANGELES - From September 1 to October 16, 2006, in commemoration of the City of Los Angeles' 225th birthday, El Pueblo Historical Monument will present L.A. 225: LOS ANGELES THROUGH THE EYES OF ARTISTS. L.A. 225 is a free exhibit that explores artists' perceptions of the cultural, political, social, historical and geographical character of Los Angeles. The exhibition features the work of such artists as Barbara Carrasco, Robbie Conal, Ricardo Duffy, George Evans, Victor Gastelum, Clement Hanami, Leo Limon, Sandra Low, Dominique Moody, Jose Montoya, Frank Romero, Lola Scarpitta, Richard Wyatt and is curated by Marianna Gatto and Shervin Shahbazi. A complete list of participating artists is available upon request. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2006 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at the Pico House Gallery at El Pueblo Historical Monument, 424 North Main Street, Los Angeles, 90012. About El Pueblo Historical Monument El Pueblo Historical Monument is the oldest section of Los Angeles and is the site where the City was first established in 1781. The forty-four acre park consists of numerous historic buildings, museums, a beautiful outdoor plaza and the world famous Mexican marketplace on Olvera Street. The Monument represents the rich history, culture and ethnic diversity that is the foundation of the City of Los Angeles. Calendar Editors Please Note: What: "L.A. 225" is an exhibition of artwork that explores artists' visions of Los Angeles. It is presented by El Pueblo Historical Monument. Where: Pico House Gallery at El Pueblo Historical Monument. When: September 1 to October 16, 2006. Free Public Programs: Walk to Los Angeles Retrace Los Angeles founders' footsteps! Join the Walk to LA from San Gabriel Mission to the Plaza at El Pueblo Historical Monument. (The event is free and everyone is welcome!) 7:00 a.m., Monday, September 4, 2006 San Gabriel Mission 428 S. Mission Avenue, San Gabriel CA 91776-1299 To register visit: http://www.lacity.org/225/225_walk.htm L.A. 225 Opening Reception: Pico House Gallery, Saturday, September 9, 2006; 6:00-9:00 p.m. Live music. Free. Film Screening: Phillip Rodriguez's evocative documentary, "Los Angeles Now." Pico House Gallery Courtyard, Friday, October 6, 7:30 PM. Pico House Gallery will be open extended hours on the evening of the screening from 4-7:30 PM. 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