Man in charge of Gulf Coast reconstruction reconstructs reality

Donald Powell, who is in charge of post-hurricane Gulf Coast reconstruction, is nothing if not a predictable Bush White House product. As most people know by now, he has announced that he has yet to make up his mind about whether New Orleans' levees need to be strengthened. Here is a little reminder of what his boss said in September:

Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do whatever it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the crescent city need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans.

So much for that. Powell has also claimed he had no idea that the Army Corps of Engineers had refused to release documents relating to the construction of the levees, which were built all wrong because of the Corp's incompetence and neglect. Funny, it was in all of the newspapers, and all over television and the radio.

Garland Robinette, a long-time New Orleans broadcast figure and a leader in the current movement to hold the federal government to its promises, reported recently that Powell had been on his radio program, and Robinette had introduced the idea that since Louisiana supplies 30% of the nation's oil and more than 25% of its natural gas, it would be in the national interest to do whatever possible to help the state recover. Robinette then described Powell's response: Clueless.