Lessons to be learned from Katrina disaster

The real looting in the Hurricane Katrina disaster was the looting of the American tax base for the benefit of the greedy top 2%. The Bush administration’s tax cuts robbed money from plans to shore up the New Orleans levees. And the National Guard troops sent to Iraq to fight a war based on greed and corruption are not here to protect American citizens. God shame President Bush. God save America. Bring the Guard home.

MICHAEL FAULKNER

Los Angeles

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Re “A Snappy Retort, but No Relief at the Pump,” Sept. 2

First the president was criticized for taking a long vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Then he was criticized for being an opportunist when he cut his vacation short. Now, Steve Lopez has the audacity to claim that Bush couldn’t deliver fast and effective disaster relief because he was “busy sunning himself in San Diego while bodies floated in the muck of New Orleans.” It seems like the president just can’t win. Oh, wait! He did win, twice. Apparently some people still haven’t accepted that.

FRED FERKETIC

Newport Beach

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Your editorial “Shockingly unprepared” (Sept. 2) asks why the response to Katrina wasn’t “scripted.” Then you immediately jump on the Bush administration. What happened to your criticism of the first three layers of disaster response -- the city of New Orleans, the Parish (county equivalent) and Louisiana? The Federal Emergency Management Agency is available to provide resources after the fact, but it is not in charge of each local area in the country. Katrina blew through a very weak local team in Louisiana. Contrast the response in neighboring Mississippi, and who to blame becomes apparent.

JIM DODD

San Diego

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It is very clear to me that the color of your skin and economic status play a large part in just how fast help will arrive. The lack of disaster contingency plans in a town that could flood on any given day is appalling and sickening. Louisiana’s governor, senators and the New Orleans mayor need to submit their resignations en masse. I know now that if a natural disaster should hit L.A. (God forbid) my family and I are going to Beverly Hills.

JEFFREY L. WALKER

Los Angeles

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The most important disaster preparedness lesson to be learned from Hurricane Katrina: Live in a state that has a governor who is the president’s brother.

NICK DEANO

Phillips Ranch

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What an incredible contrast! The photograph of a busload of evacuees, nearly all of them African American, with an armed escort and crammed onto what looks like a city bus on Page 22 (Sept. 2). Turn the page, and you see yet another busload of refugees leaving New Orleans. These, however, are dogs from a pet hospital, with two smiling attendants. They’re riding in comfort on that luxury coach, probably with bottled water, kibble and air conditioning. The two pictures speak for themselves.

KATE GUREWITZ

Thousand Oaks

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Let us practice what we preach, this one nation under God. If every church/mosque/synagogue, etc., adopted one family from the devastated Gulf region, this would ease the situation, giving hope where there is despair.

MARGARET CHERRY

Long Beach