The Bush Crime Family and NOLA Army Corps of Engineers

    You know that the  rebuilding in New Orleans has been slow going but did you know that the Bush Crime Family has a hand in on the levee pumps that mal-functioned? I didn't either until I ran across this.

Army Corps of Engineers installs defective pumps in NOLA despite warnings that they would fail

by blksista   Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 09:38:28 AM PDT

Original at Booman Tribune.

Assbackery 101, second semester, 2007.

This story came in last night, but The Guardian picked it up this a.m.:

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the Associated Press.

How can you fix something that is going to continue to be defective?

I'm really beginning to wonder whether they want New Orleans to return at all.

  And not only New Orleans, says Harry Shearer.  Our national infrastructure, including levees in 27 other states, needs assistance.

But could you trust the company installing the pumps in your commmunity that they would work properly in a cataclysm?  

You couldn't trust Moving Water Industries Corp. (MWI) of Deerfield Beach, FL., who built the drainage system for the Corps.

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Seems like every motherfreaking Bush/Cheney ally bills the American people faulty or defective or nonexistent equipment or services, even if they gave a competitive bid.  

Lest people forget: Katrina's Category 1 or 2 storm surge caused the waters of Lake Pontchartrain to back up into drainage canals. Its already-compromised canal walls collapsed, which resulted in 80 percent of New Orleans flooded. Over 1600 Crescent City residents died, with many missing and unaccounted for. Many hundreds of thousands will never return its still devastated districts.

And although no hurricanes made landfall in the Gulf Coast last year, there is no guarantee that they won't roll into the Gulf of Mexico and threaten New Orleans and other coastal environs this year.

 

Technorati tags: New Orleans, Army Corps of Engineers, levees, Harry Shearer, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, cronyism, corruption