Title: Re: [xml-dev] Responding to Katrina (offtopic even if XML is part of the soluti on)



Politics changes through information as long as the information is 

accurate and the focus is undiluted.  90% of some politics is 
distraction. 
The 
other 10% is making up the lie or picking the patsy.    If an 

electorate is unwise and chooses such politicians, the results are 

as you 
see them.
 
Thanks 
for the references, Ken.  Reprogramming money to fund 
other 
initiatives while cutting taxes is an old dodge.  That we keep 

falling for it says much about the hopefulness with which we dodge 

responsibility and equity while hiding behind ideology and promoting 

divisiveness to obscure misguided and useless goals.  We say we 

won't 
get fooled again, but we will because we want what we 
want, 
we want it now and we don't want to hear 'no'.  America 

remains very much a child with respect to its own good and because 

it is 
such a large and powerful child, it wounds its family.
 
Thanks 
for the reference, Neil.  Keep in mind that public safety 

predates homeland security.  It is hard to separate the two these 

days 
and one can use the other to get good technology and 
standards to market.  That won't fix stupid.  Nothing does if 

it is 
willful.
 
Only 
one part of the solution comes of technology and systems 
solutions.  The good news is that this is where the members of 

this 
mail list can have and have had a positive affect.   Regional 

procurements and effective standards are part of the solution 

to 
raise public safety out of the localized stove pipes where 
the 
majority of the global effect has been to produce administrative 

statistics for funding purposes.  While important, this is not an 

operational focus and operations save lives when inevitable 

catastrophes come.   Looking at Katrina, today, it is a 
recovery 
effort, but next month, it may well be yet another response to 

a 
major incident.  How many times will we endure that without 

learning the right lessons?
 
len

  
From: Chiusano Joseph 
  [mailto:chiusano_joseph@b...]


  
  You can't change politics 
  through technology.
   
  Trust me.:)
  
 From: Ken North 
  [mailto:kennorth@s...]
  
  > 1.  The conditions of the levees and dikes are 
  well-known in
> emergency planning circles.  Requests for funding 
  to repair
> them have been routinely turned down.

Congress 
  started funding the Southeast Louisiana (SELA) Urban Flood Control
Project 
  in 1995. SELA was a long-term capital works project. The U.S. Army Corp
of 
  Engineers spent more than $400 million on levees and pumps.

The project 
  was not complete, but in 2003, the funding was cut. Last year the
Corps of 
  Engineers requested $65 million, but the administration cut the 
  SELA
funding to $10.4 million.

March 2005 US Army Corp of Engineers 
  SELA Project Fact Sheet
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pd/Funding_Programs/Current/CGSELAFY06.pdf

Would 
  those same decisions have been made if budget proposals for the US, 
  UK,
Canada, and other nations were available on the web, with RSS feeds for 
  programs
marked for big cuts or big 
increases?