George,

When Bush gave his State of the Union address, I was shocked that not one word was mentioned of New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's effects on that drowned city and the Gulf Coast. Bush, after the disaster, much of it caused by the negligence of his administration, did all he could to capitalize on the situation; his promise to "rebuild the region" deserved at least a passing reference--but, since little or none of his promises have been kept, there was little he could say in the way of an update.

My brother recently spent some time in New Orleans and, in a letter, he said, "no photo or television camera can adequately describe the devastation, just the odor alone, is enough to send chills up and down your spine! Homes literally rotting on their foundations, debris everywhere--human beings living in conditions not fit for any living thing." Etc.

A survey done by the Army Corps of Engineers and independent studies, has shown there is a method by which future devastation from a Katrina magnitude hurricane or greater can be avoided. Upgrading the levee system with more secure flood walls that will not collapse if water from a storm surge should top the walls and what relatively little water can get into the city, an adequate working pumping system can quickly dissipate.

My calculation, based on the projected cost of this project, would represent less than a month's worth of the cost of fighting a hopeless, tragic war in Iraq.

Along the same line of thinking, the EPA estimates it will cost some 28 Billion dollars to clean up the Chesapeake Bay--I calculate that is fourteen weeks equivalent to the cost of the war and reconstruction in Iraq.

Meanwhile, while Cheney, in his deluded state, crows of the great successes in Iraq, the great needs in the U.S go unattended!

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, January 30, 2007)