Bush's Blunder

STAFF EDITORIAL

The pre-Katrina video obtained by The Associated Press of President Bush and former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown simply reiterates what many Americans already feared: incompetence at the highest level of our government.

For one, it shows Brown predicted the Superdome’s roof problems. In fact, he never wanted people evacuated there in the first place because the arena was below sea level and would create a “catastrophe within a catastrophe.”

Bush promised local officials that the federal government would assist both during and after Katrina. Hindsight tells us he kept this promise, but that the “assistance” was far from adequate.

National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said during Katrina, “[Nobody] can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but that’s obviously a very, very grave concern.”

This contradicted a Bush interview with ABC three days after Katrina in which he said, “I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”
Let’s step back for a moment and employ some common sense. Most of New Orleans is built below sea level. For decades, scientists have warned about the effects a hurricane and its accompanying storm surge would have on the city.

Even if Bush hadn’t seen this video, those facts are common knowledge, and they send a crystal-clear message: If a hurricane is brewing anywhere near New Orleans, take every precaution possible to avoid catastrophe.

That didn’t happen, and as a result, 1,300 Americans died.

e-mail: editorial@theguardsman.com

CityBuild Not Limited to Poor

BY JEREMIAH MICHAELS
Staff Writer

CityBuild students learn carpentry at Evans campus in Bayview. SAPASORN RIDHIKERD / GUARDSMAN

Mayor Gavin Newsom launched a brave plan last year to encourage people throughout the city to apply for construction jobs.

The program, known as CityBuild, sets up City College graduates with government contracted labor.

CityBuild is a culmination of different entities: a carpenters union, City College, the private industry council and the city government. The program is designed to attract the city’s poor to the “downtown dollars.”

At present, the jobs mainly involve carpentry but are expected to expand to other professions. The classes are offered at the Evans campus in Bayview.

Once they graduate, the students will have a shot at jobs the city hires contractors to perform. The contractors must hire locals as mandated or face losing their own jobs.

The mayor said in a recent San Francisco Chronicle interview that “50 percent (of the workers) need to come from the city” for this program.

The flaw with this is that it doesn’t specifically offer jobs to the poor in neighborhoods like Bayview and Hunter’s Point. Instead, Mayor Newsom has offered up a back door for any industrious San Franciscans who want a safe, well-paying city job.

The only prerequisite is that the applicant is a current San Francisco resident. The classes aren’t free, and they aren’t reserved for the people in these neighborhoods. They’re taught in Hunter’s Point, sure, but anyone can enter the program.

Why doesn’t the mayor create a program tailored specifically for those who are economically disadvantaged?

e-mail: jmichaels@theguardsman.com

U.S., Mexican Border Fence a Farce

BY DANI GOMEZ
Staff Writer

Gov. Schwarzenegger introduced his proposed budget on Jan. 10. TESS DONOHOE / SPECIAL COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS

The undying debate over a possible fence stretching across 2,000 miles of the United States and Mexico border is near conclusion. Despite the $8 billion cost of the project and questionable efficiency of eliminating illegal immigration, Republicans won a partial go-ahead when the House of Representatives voted 260-159 in favor of the project in December 2005.
The idea of a controversial fence erection is not new. The battle over the rights and wrongs of this proposal emerged a few decades ago and still continues to raise a bundle of environmental and legal issues.

While many pro-fence activists bring to the table issues of national security, their opposition claims that the plan to build a fence is disgraceful and ineffective.

The voices protesting the fence on the other side of the border are as strong and loud as they are in the United States, and it's not a secret why — unemployment is high in Mexico, and many jobs don't pay enough money to support a family.

Crossing the border without a proper visa is unlawful, but also immoral. It places unfair burden on American taxpayers and undermines the efforts of legal immigrants. Thus, something has to be done, and soon.

We are in desperate need for new immigration reform that would replace existing, humiliating laws with a clean once-and-for-all solution. Perhaps the revision and reduction of the Homeland Security Department would be a good idea — anything will do, as long as it's not a costly project without sufficient guarantees.

e-mail: dgomez@theguardsman.com

COMING IN

Faculty Poll

Should there be a fence on the border between the United States and Mexico?

Yes: 0% (0 out of 9)
No: 100% (9 out of 9)


“No. History shows us that fences between countries are not the solution. We should better our immigration and economic policy to replace the fence.”
-Alexandra Teague, English

“No, because no matter how good the fence is people will still find a way to get into the U.S., so we must embrace them.”
-Sami Kudsi, English

ON THE RECORD

In light of the response to Hurricane Katrina, is President Bush racist towards African Americans?

Ernest Werts

“I don't think it is a matter of racism but a matter of ignorance. The reasons for his inaction aren't that simplistic.”

Kathy Choy

“Generally, I think he is an idiot. He can’t explain to us why he does things, like the war in Iraq, for example. There is no reasoning. He does not help Americans at all. He is dumb as a doorknob.”

Raymond Abejuela

“I don’t think he is because of Condoleezza Rice. But I don’t see him helping them much.”

Ruwan Welaratna

“Yes. More the poor. I don’t think he is actively seeking to hurt black people, but he is too dumb to realize that his lack of action hurts poor black people.”

Ryan Dunne

“No. He is just incompetent. People related his incompetence to the race of people affected. But it’s just simple incompetence, not racism.”

Iris Clearwater

“I haven’t followed the news and I don’t know a lot about this.”