Loose Cannons

Hurricane Dubya

"Congressional Republicans, backed by the White House, say they are using relief measures for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf coast to achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies, both in the storm zone and beyond ... In the past week, the Bush administration has suspended some union-friendly rules that require federal contractors pay prevailing wages ... Just yesterday, it waived some affirmative-action rules for employers with federal contracts in the Gulf region. Now, Republicans are working on legislation that would limit victims' right to sue, offer vouchers for displaced school children, lift some environment restrictions on new refineries and create tax-advantaged enterprise zones to maximize private-sector participation in recovery and reconstruction." — Wall Street Journal, September 15.

Reconstruction

"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot. We want to turn the Gulf Coast into a magnet for free enterprise. The last thing we want is a federal city where New Orleans once was." — Republican House of Representatives member Mike Pence, quoted by Wall Street Journal, September 15.

Food fit for ... dogs of war

"Hundreds of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned [by US authorities] ... tons of the badly needed NATO ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption." — London Daily Mirror, September 19.

From Green Left Weekly, September 28, 2005.

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From GLW issue 644