More Compassionate Conservatism
Bush and reconstruction in New Orleans

Since this site's main blogger is doing an admirable job of keeping us all fully informed in the scandals galore, I will focus on the day-to-day sins of this administration--you know all the legal stuff that saddens me. Years ago I chose to adopt optimism as my outlook on life, merely because I figured it allowed me to accomplish more. Therefore, when Katrina brought poverty's consequences into our livingrooms, I hoped that some actual good might come out of that terrible storm. Perhaps more would have been accomplished with any other administration; however, only Bush's rhetoric is compassionate, his actions consistently favor those who need our compassion the least. This morning's WP has an article describing how at least 10 illegal immigrants have been found at a naval base that serves as headquarters for reconstruction work by a Halliburton (surprise!) subsidiary. An excerpt:

Work at the base has been a source of dispute in recent weeks because dozens of unionized electricians, many of them local residents who had their homes destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, claim they were let go by another Halliburton subcontractor, Alabama-based BE&K, in favor of lower wage workers. That came after the Bush administration suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, a law that guarantees the prevailing local wage for workers operating under federal contracts.

It appears that, as always, profits to be made from helping the poor are more important than actually helping the poor.