When Accountability Is A Plague - 3

One of the several pillars of democracy is accountability.

To the people accountability is sweet, but to the politicians and other government officials who are held accountable by the people, it is sour.

This pillar of democracy which we call accountability is not limited to war crimes, torture, or other governmental malfeasance that has seemingly gone by the wayside during the two past presidents, no, it should be applied to lower level officialdom as well.

Nevertheless, it seems that all too often even the notion of accountability at those levels is gone now too.

The "you're doin' a heckuva job Brownie" syndrome has spread from the daze of Katrina to the realm of Hurricane-Superstorm Sandy:

Authorities in New York and New Jersey simply allowed heavy development of at-risk coastal areas to continue largely unabated in recent decades, even as the potential for a massive storm surge in the region became increasingly clear.

(Policy of Denial is Deadly). The losses could be significant due to the stupor and daze official policy mirrors:

The Garden State’s commuter railway parked critical equipment - including much of its newest and most expensive stock - at its low-lying main rail yard in Kearny just before the hurricane. It did so even though forecasters had released maps showing the wetland-surrounded area likely would be under water when Sandy’s expected record storm surge hit. Other equipment was parked at its Hoboken terminal and rail yard, where flooding also was predicted and which has flooded before.

Among the damaged equipment: nine dual-powered locomotive engines and 84 multi-level rail cars purchased over the past six years at a cost of about $385 million.

(Train Yard Floods After Warning Ignored). Being forewarned is forearmed unless of course the warnings are ignored.

The climate change deniers who are infecting the minds of everyone they can are guilty of these deaths and damages to people and things.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Hey BAU accountants! A little one an one an one is three for your listening pleasure:

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