$50 billion:
By on Sep 2nd, 2007 at 11:59 am
$50 billion:
Amount Iraq’s oil and electricity sectors still need, even after the $6 billion the United States has poured into them over the past four years. Even with this funding, the GAO estimates that “it could take until 2015 for Iraq to produce 6 million barrels of oil a day and have enough electricity to meet demand.”
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Again. No Open Thread of any kind. So here, I present, the final installment of: Two Years Ago
This will be my last blog on Hurricane Katrina this year. Two years ago today, the victims of Hurricane Katrina had spent their 4th Day in the squallor of the Superdome, with yet another 3 days of waiting ahead of them. Two years ago today, President Bush FINALLY visited the scene on the ground. Two years ago today, the total spent since the beginning of the Iraq War added up to $708mil. To put that in perspective, had we spent the Iraq war funds on repairs along the gulf coast, the money would have all been there last January, plus an extra 30 billion from 01/2007 to now.
My last topic will be broken promises. Bush has promised that he’d do everything in his power to ensure that the recovery would be as quick and painless as possible. But now that the cards are down on the table, the people he’s a minion for have pushed hard to blame state and local governments. However, this is meaningless to the family who lost their home in the storm. Today, two years later, many of them are living in hotel rooms or with neighbors. Some are lucky and their houses are being rebuilt, but the vast majority look at the time that has passed and how little has been done, and realize that there is no hope. The money’s sitting there, tantalizingly out of reach, kept there by byzantine regulations that make it difficult for the homeowner to get any of it. Louisiana’s Road Home plan is a massive 46 page document with requirements for details that may have been swept away by the flood waters. And FEMA itself cannot issue checks period. A study shows that FEMA has only spent 66% of its budget as of June 2007 for Katrina, Rita, and Wilma’s aftermath, and that vasts swaths of loans and grants haven’t even been given out yet. Combine that with the horrible 6:1 ratio of money received by contracted corporations and money paid to the workers (not to mention the suspension of the wage floor set by prevailing rates and the hiring of people whose documents proving citizenship of the US were not in order), and you have the trail of broken promises and shattered lives that marks the path of this storm who’s date of death took place two years ago today.
President Bush, this is a direct appeal to you. Get your priorities straight. Help the people of the Gulf Coast like you said you would. Bring the corporations who are robbing you and us blind to justice. Otherwise, you will have shown that you are not a man of your word, and for someone who swaggers around like a drunk Texas cowboy, that should be a big slap in your face.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:05 pmI thought the oil industry of Iraq was going to pay for reconstruction after Shock & Awe. It’s one thing for Wolfy to get it wrong, but to be that far removed from reality seems almost planned. No one could be that stupid could they?
btw, isn’t $50b just another drop in the bucket? Isn’t that equivalent to GWB’s next request for funding of this clusterf*ck?
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:08 pmYet more proof Bush hates America, and this too:
Bush gives Green Light to foreign terrorists
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Comment by Not Canadian — September 2, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
Why is the Left so racist?
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:16 pmComment by AVGVSTVS – Pee brain,
They’re taking away American truckers jobs, IDIOT.
WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:18 pmComment by Not Canadian — September 2, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
American, Canadian, and Mexican truckers are allowed to travel freely through all three countries.
You don’t seem to have a problem with Canadian truckers, why did you single out the Mexicans?
Racist.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:21 pmSometime after mission accomplished, the Iraqi people begged Bush to let them do the rebuilding, that they could do it for pennies on the US dollar. This sounded good to me as we all know when the masses are employed, earning an income a thriving strong country emerges. Obviously, Bush did not want that..and we have seen civil wars, Iraq living in tortuous conditions for 4 years. ON purpose?
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 pmComment by AVGVSTVS
GOOD GOD, for a college puke, you’re one big IDIOT.
Ever been to Canada, a$$hat? There’s more Arabs, Mexicans, hell foreigners in GENERAL, than your trailer park town. It just so happens their border security/integrity is TOP NOTCH.
Nothing about keeping our most porous border SAFE is racist.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:24 pmF*CK YOU, IDIOT.
Comment by AVGVSTVS
WHY ARE YOU AN AMERICAN-HATING TRAITOR?
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pmWere you not invited to Jihad camp this year?
Not Canadian
Not only are trucking jobs going to be outsourced but the super highway will be crammed down our throats:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=15497
America does not want this, But Big business does. This is a corporate take over.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:36 pmComment by had enough — September 2, 2007 @ 12:36 pm
I remember when I first started alerting people to this a few years back, I was derided as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ and a ‘kook’. Funny how many of the ‘kooky’ things I’ve reported on have turned out to be dead serious…
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:07 pm>Why is the Left so racist?
Thats funny, the only thing Iraqis have in common with the people with attacked us on 9-11 is skin color, and you call us racist?
Why does every moronic question you ask get ever closer to absolute and inifinite hipocracy?
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:14 pmWolfowitz’s rosy predictions were so grossly, obscenely off the mark that its hard to take anything that anyone involved with or supporting this guy says seriously….but then again, this is coming from the crowd like Sen. Inhofe, who denied the “global warming” going on in his pants when his plane was dodging rocketfire….supposedly someone making an attempt on his life, in fact, sexually aroused him, (is there some other definition of “excited” I dont know about?? I’m using the Department of Defense dictionary…)
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:19 pmThats funny, the only thing Iraqis have in common with the people with attacked us on 9-11 is skin color, and you call us racist?
So true… and talk radio hate America certainly plays on the racist side of the bigots by putting all Mid Eastern folk in the same group, labeling them as Islamo Fascist, the enemy.
Allowing Mexican truckers in will be a big issue with the bigoted as well as with those of us fearing more outsourcing, further decline in wages and economy. I fear the super highway… that would further trash our country for the benefit of corporate gain.
All in all, this issue of Mexican truckers may bring the racist right and We the People left together.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:55 pmNow if you believe Bush’s lie then you believe in the Easter bunny. The 50 billion dollars has nothing to do with Iraq oil/electricty it’s for pay offs and pocket money. Iraq is one of the richest countries with oil yet you notice we are paying them. Remember Bush said America would give all the money Iraq needed and Iraq didn’t have to pay the US back. So Americans need not look for Iraq to pay back the Trillions of dollars given away by Bush.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:08 pmWhere’s my money and car and house Mr. Government Man?
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:11 pmYou owe me… I have a right … I’m a victim… I cannot make it on my own…
Where’s my money and car and house Mr. Government Man?
You owe me… I have a right … I’m a victim… I cannot make it on my own…
Comment by Liberal at Heart
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:12 pmoh I forgot where’s my cable/internet too?
“American, Canadian, and Mexican truckers are allowed to travel freely through all three countries.
You don’t seem to have a problem with Canadian truckers, why did you single out the Mexicans?
Racist.
Comment by AVGVSTVS — September 2, 2007 @ 12:21 pm”
Don’t know about Canda, but this was not at all true for Mexican trucks. In fact, they had to stop at zones just past the border and all materials they carried had to be transferred to American trucks.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:22 pmSo-Called ‘Liberal at Heart’ proved my point from yesterday. Carelessness towards your fellow man is a hallmark of the modern Conservative.
Thanks for making my point. BTW, my own labor pays for my internet. However, no amount of labor I do will replace the home I live in in my life time with your people’s promoting of housing to anyone with a pulse, Mr. Conservative, if Chatfield or Cherry Creek damns were to go. And that’s your responsiblity, Mr. Conservative, seeing as you’ve got control of the Executive and Judicial branch right now.
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:04 pmDon’t know about Canda, but this was not at all true for Mexican trucks. In fact, they had to stop at zones just past the border and all materials they carried had to be transferred to American trucks.
Comment by impeachcheneythenbush — September 2, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
—————
I know. The link I was referring to said that Canadian trucks did not have to transfer their shipments when coming to the US, and now it looks like Mexican trucks won’t have to either. “Not Canadian” was b!tching about Mexicans being afforded the same priviledge as Canadian and American trucks.
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:32 pm“Not Canadian†was b!tching about Mexicans being afforded the same priviledge as Canadian and American trucks.
Comment by OCTAVIANVS
That is crap. American truckers DO NOT get the same rights as American truckers can not drive freely into Mexico. When the Mexican truckers deliver their goods, they are allowed to pick up an order and deliver that too before returning back to Mexico. Corporate America will leach onto that and thus outsourcing is present, lost jobs and lower wages will be a result.
Personally, my biggest fear:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=15497
The super highway…This will absolutely trash our country and the corporate media and Bush are very quiet about it.
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:24 pmIsn’t it obvious to you the slow creeping corporate take over?
The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI†system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City…
And anything between there and the border is a prime terrorist target.
THANKS DUMBYA.
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:31 pmAmerican truckers DO NOT get the same rights as American truckers can not drive freely into Mexico….
Comment by had enough — September 2, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
Libs typically miss the point so I will cut you a break. Canadian truckers are already allowed access to US roads, from Not Canadian’s link:
Now he starts b!tching because the same access will be given to out Mexican neighbors:
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Repeat for mr. pee, the dipsh*t:
Canada’s border security (both immigrant and emigrant) is TOP NOTCH. Probably a close #2 to England.
Now, go sell some lemonade at your corner stand, f*cking idiot, cause your not much use to society otherwise.
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:54 pmRacist.
Comment by OCTAVIANVS — September 2, 2007 @ 5:49 pm
we get it p, you’re a racist. it’s an obsession with you ,and you keep projecting it. we understand that you fear all peoples of color, and most whites as well. we get it. you’re a racist coward. now go blow larry craig.
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:35 pmWhere’s my money and car and house Mr. Government Man?
You owe me… I have a right … I’m a victim… I cannot make it on my own…
Comment by Liberal at Heart — September 2, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
Wow, Dick Cheney, is that you? The world’s biggest welfare queen? The lyingest liar ever? Hey, bad to seeya. to bad you never earned an honest dollar in your miserable welfare-queen life.
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:37 pmron hazz-been.
heYooooooOOOooo!!
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:40 pmhow many barrels a day were they producing prior to 2003? – and how was the electricity supply before bush went in and blew the place sky high?
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:41 pm