Where’s the Outrage?

Here’s the Saturday night news roundup:

• President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have proposed a $700 billion (that’s billion with a capital “B”) bail out to shore up mortgage assets in the financial field. At the same time, senior administration officials are talking with Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom to enact similar programs. The details are as clear as mud. We don’t know how this would work. We’re not even sure who we are bailing out. Basically, as I see it, we’re offering a huge pot of money to Wall Street with no strings attached.
• I haven’t yet discussed the tragic railway crash outside of Los Angeles that killed 24 people. Preliminary investigations suggest the conductor was at fault. Early reports also suggested that the conductor was sending a text message right before the crash. It seems to me that while the train is in a congested area the conductor needs to be paying attention. Many, many people were hurt. It’s very sad. I hate preventable tragedies. LA Times has the latest.
• Bill Moyers had a great show on Friday. I will try and post some video. He had several guests (Gretchen Morgenson, Floyd Norris — both of the New York Times and Kevin Phillips author of Bad Money) which had some insight into this financial crisis.
• There was a shockingly huge explosion in the capital city Islamabad, Pakistan. Currently, 60 are dead and 250 are wounded.
• Hurricane Ike not only devastated the Houston-Galveston area but also left almost two million in the dark in Ohio.
• ABC news has obtained government documents that seemed to contradict publicly stated allegations about the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. As you recall, Monegan refused to fire Governor Sarah Palin’s brother-in-law who was a state trooper. Palin had suggested, through her attorney, that the commissioner went to DC to seek funds for an anti-sexual violence program. The governor stated that this was not authorized. In fact, it appears that it was authorized. I’m sure there’s more to come in this saga.
• A U.S. District Judge orders Vice President Cheney to preserve his records. Cheney is known for his adherence to the rule of law.
• The first two weeks of the Rachel Maddow show has been well received. Her ratings are excellent. Congratulations Rachel. If you haven’t seen her show on MSNBC, I highly recommend it.

Tags: Economy, Election 2008, Environment by ecthompson
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Jon Stewart finds that John McCain has favored not drilling before he opposed not drilling. (Written this way to increase confusion.)

Tags: Election 2008, The Daily Show by ecthompson
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It’s evident enough to anybody in Houston that what we will narrowly define as “recovery” is still some weeks away from being completed. The restoration of power, cleaning of debris, and repair of homes and business places will be an involved process. 

( Above–Conditions as they were one week ago)  

For many school kids however, the gig may be up. Houston schools and the large suburban Cypress-Fairbanks school district will at least be partially open on Monday. The snow days I got as a kid were better than hurricane days I’d say. The snow would melt with little enough damage to people’s homes and lives.

In Houston, many traffic lights are still out or blinking red. Conversations I overhear on the street or in restaurants are still about who has power and who does not. Power may be on in a home, but the cable TV might still be out. 

Reports yesterday from the island nation of Haiti show the effects of this year’s tropical storms and hurricanes, including Ike, on this poor part of the world. Floods have washed away much of the crops.

While most in Houston have taken the effects of Hurricane Ike in good stride, I wish we had the ability to better place events and problems in the fullest possible context. I say this about myself as well. We often don’t have much sense at all about what is a real problem and what is just a hassle.

In Galveston, of course, conditions are much worse than just a hassle.

At the top of this post I said we will likely use what I term a “narrow” definition of recovery to describe efforts to help Houston, Galveston, and other communities impacted by Ike. I say this because so much work was already needed in our communities to make the Houston area a more decent place to live.

I can’t place much trust in the same leaders and in the same civic structure, such as it is in Houston, that has so often been nowhere to be found when people need help.  

It would be great to see in upcoming weeks potential candidates for Mayor of Houston in next year’s election, such as Peter Brown and Annise Parker, outline a vision for Houston that helps people move away from being one bad hurricane away from economic and personal disaster. We know that before any hurricane, many in our area lived in what might as well be termed disaster conditions of poverty and hopelessness.

In Galveston, rebuilding must involve all people. It can’t be about just those who can build new and bigger homes more suitable to a weekend community. People are going to need a better Galveston for everyday living.

Recovery is about the needed work to fix things that are broken and blown away. It is also about the imagination required to help make the Houston area better than what it was before the storm.

Tags: Domestic Issues by Texas Liberal
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