The All-Too American Tragedy of New Orleans: Empire, Inequality, Race and Oil (Paul Street)

This is not the America that I grew up in.This is not the America I know and love.I can't believe this is happening in America; it seems more like something from the Third World, like Baghdad or Bangladesh. Such is the incredulous commentary of three corporate media talking heads I've heard reflecting on the terrible events occurring in New Orleans in the tragic wake of tropical storm Katrina. The talking heads are off base. The historic events unfolding in New Orleans are very much about what the (to be a little more specific) United States of America has become. They are the predictable outcome of steep societal disparities and related perverse political and policy priorities that reflect the interrelated and petroleum-soaked imperatives of American Empire and Inequality....(full article)