Man… go over to NOLA-dishu and look at the photos he has of South Louisiana’s wetlands. They show how the wetlands have been cut up and damaged by canals of the gas and oil industry. As Maitri said in the comments there…”There is not a patch of wetland that I saw that was not lacerated by a canal, pipeline or other manmade entity.” That is Louisiana’s storm protection being destroyed for cheaper gas for us and profits to the gas/oil industry. (h/t The Chicory-Lost in Leveeland) Continue reading Lacerated wetlands

…that every 6 months or so you call the people of New Orleans stupid and corrupt. Said post should include the obligatory link to Dolinar’s year old article. Said link is cited to replace horrible images seen by your lying eyes with the real Katrina Kulprit– the media which flooded NOLA and killed a gazillion people. Let the record show Instaputz has met his obligation forthwith… CAN SCIENCEOUTWIT STORMS LIKE KATRINA? Sure. But it can’t do much about human corruption and stupidity, which alas were the real problems. Though as Lou Dolinar demonstrated, many aspects of the Katrina response went … Continue reading I think it’s in the wingnut bylaws…

There is really nothing new in today’s WaPo article on New Orleans hurricane protection but Peter Whoriskey does a good job of laying it out. In summary… The rebuilt defenses of New Orleans could not handle another Katrina The Bush administration remains committed to 100 year flood protection…nothing more. Katrina was a 1 in 400 year event. 100 year protection is not Cat 5 protection. It’s not even strong Cat 3 protection. And to make it all painfully clear here is Donald E. Powell, the federal Gulf Coast rebuilding coordinator… But he turned aside questions about Category 5 protection, noting … Continue reading Category 5 hurricane protection in New Orleans…Not Gonna Happen Under Bush

I never know if people are going to like (or watch) my little videos but I make them because they are another form of expression and they seem to renew my spirit. This one is sort of an updated version of one you probably have seen with a Louis Armstrong classic that was set to scenes of Good Morning Vietnam (and footage of Mr. Armstrong performing). However in this vid I revisit a post I did on Bush’s legacy being a Tale of Two Cities, Baghdad and New Orleans, though I think it extends to all of Iraq and the … Continue reading Legacy

The GAO has released its report on the NOLA pump contract. They concluded the Army Corps of Engineers “utilized several tools to expedite and streamline the acquisition process” and “had a valid reason for each of the iterative decisions it made at each stage of the procurement process.” The cumulative effect of these decisions resulted in one supplier—Moving Water Industries Corporation—being in the strongest competitive position to receive the contract for the pumping systems. In other words they conclude no rigging. However there were troubling conclusions in the report. The GAO looked at the issue of testing of the pumps … Continue reading Scout’s Obsession with the GAO: New Orleans Pump Contract Edition

Dahleen Glanton of the Chicago Tribune recently covered a meeting of the National Conference of Black Mayors and wrote this… New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, wrapped up in Hurricane Katrina controversy, received rock star treatment recently when he attended the group’s annual convention in Baton Rouge. Entering late to a luncheon where New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate, was supposed to be the star attraction, mayors jumped from their seats, cameras in hand, to greet Nagin as he made his way through the room. OK a Rock Star. Perhaps it is due to Nagin having told … Continue reading Nagin…Rock Star to Mayors?

An extremely pressing issue here in Louisiana is Bush’s refusal to waive the 10% requirement of state matching funds in order to receive federal disaster assistance under the Stafford Act. The Democrats saw fit to take care of this in the Iraq supplemental bill but we know Bush will veto this. However he would veto it regardless of the bill it were in. The White House has made it clear that it opposes such a waiver… The Administration opposes a waiver of the State match requirement. OK it doesn’t get any clearer than that. The New Orleans City Business recently … Continue reading Bush Needs to Stop Playing Politics with the Gulf Coast Recovery and Waive the 10% Requirement

From Govexec.com… The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded nearly 4,000 no-bid contracts, prompting House appropriators to seek explanations and to write legislation that would require competition for most contracts in the future. FEMA came under fire from lawmakers and government investigators for awarding no-bid contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the fall of 2005. But the list of 4,000 no-bid contracts, which FEMA recently sent to the House Appropriations Committee in response to questions, is one of the highest numbers ever disclosed for any agency across the government. SNIP … Continue reading FEMA awarded nearly 4,000 no-bid contracts

I thought I may feel better today. I don’t. I doubt you do as well. Bits of phrases run through my head still…Americans voted for change last November…Prez at 30% approval…almost 2/3 of Americans supported a timetable…72% think we’re on the wrong track…Americans want leadership…They want OUT of Iraq…Man the Dems blew it big time. I’m disgusted. That said…I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the bill which passed did 2 good things for New Orleans. First it waives the 10% match requirement that has held up Gulf Coast recovery. Second it replaces about a billion dollars … Continue reading That said…

As we drove through the lower 9th ward in March I was explaining the Road Home program to A. and Mr. A. — $7 billion allocated for about 120,000 homeowners to get up to $150,000. It took less than a minute for Mr A. to say “Wait a minute I did the math and there’s no way all those folks will get anything close $150,000.” The Road Home program is short $2.9 billion. Louisiana had been seeking help from the feds but the Bush administration is taking a page from the insurance companies apparently (or is that the other way … Continue reading Bush administration argues wind/water just like insurance companies

Amen… (48 seconds) Continue reading Al Gore on New Orleans: “It is completely unacceptable”

Via Think Progress is a Bloomberg piece on Trent Lott and the insurance industry… The Senate’s No. 2 Republican has become the industry’s No. 1 critic in Congress ever since he lost a house to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While Lott recently settled with his insurer, State Farm, after a year-long court battle, he is continuing the fight in the Senate. His experience, the senator says, has convinced him that an industry he defended his entire career is in need of reform.       “I’m like a woman scorned,” Lott says. “I’m prepared to continue to kick their fanny … Continue reading Lott would kick their ass off his porch if he had one

(Photo:WWL) Today the Army Corps of Engineers says MRGO should go but Bush would need to sign off on it. From WWL… The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, blamed by many in St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans East for the flooding that took place there post-Katrina, should be closed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Saturday. The Corps said it would essentially close the MRGO down to all navigation and lessen the threat of a storm surge by building a large, earthen dam along the MRGO, just south of Hopedale. The Corps said if the president signed off on … Continue reading Will Bush Sign Off?