MOLLY IVINS ON NEW ORLEANS

Back in the days when Molly Ivins had first come up from Texas to join the staff of the New York Times for three years (as a political reporter), she was one of the many journalists who regularly frequented The Lion's Head -- a celebrated Greenwich Village bar that was a pit-stop for many scribes  -- where I spent more time than I should have. Molly (right) could bend an elbow with the best of them, and I have fond memories of her from those days. Now the unchallenged best of the nationally syndicated columnists, Molly -- in her column yesterday -- nailed why New Orleans is under water. Here are the principal excerpts from it, which need no further commentary from me (but after you've read it, check out DIRELAND's recommendation for how to make a truly useful donation for hurricane relief, at the bottom of this post):

"One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a political party or a particular administration attached to it. No one wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault." Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's interference with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root cause of the problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the river's delta.

"But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God, there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies--ordering federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.

"Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to drain thousands of acres of wetlands. Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a Category 3 or Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this point, it is a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to observe the First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).

"Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the attention span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to remember longer than a year ago is like asking them what happened in Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.

"Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans City Business at the time, that meant 'major hurricane and flood projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.' The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.

"Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as "Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and the Republican right, and gutted years ago.

"In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices based on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on flood management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans--it seems to consist of gutting the programs that do anything.

"Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more short-handed.

"The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad. (I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?) This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into Iraq without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that mistake and to rectify it by instituting a draft.

"The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, 'It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq.'" You can read Molly's entire column by clicking here.  And if you're one of the unlucky souls whose hometown newspaper doesn't carry Molly Ivins' columns, they're always archived and posted (with a delay of a couple of days) on the Creators Syndicate website, which you can read (and should bookmark) by clicking here.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Dennis Hastert has said he doesn't think it makes sense to spend billions to rebuild New Orleans because it's below sea level. So much for "compassionate conservatism."

WANT TO MAKE A USEFUL DONATION FOR HURRICANE RELIEF? If you know that the Red Cross and United Way and a lot of the big name charities have been scandal-plagued and are top-heavy with bureaucracy, but you'd still like to make a donation that will actually help the poorest citizens of New Orleans, Biloxi, and the many small Southern towns devastated by Katrina, you should do so through the American Friends Service Committee. Founded by Quakers in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, the AFSC (together with its British counterpart) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for its work with World War II refugees -- especially prisoners liberated from Nazi concentration camps -- and its opposition to nuclear weapons. It's still Quaker-run, and its sterling history of agitation and education for peace is matched by its long record, for nearly a century, of leanly-run, effective, on-the-ground service to victims of war and famine, and to the impoverished both here and abroad. (The AFSC also has an extensive LGBT program.) A gift to the AFSC won't be wasted. They've established a special Hurricane Relief fund to which you can donate on-line -- so visit the AFSC's home page and follow the links to the online donation form by clicking here.