New Orleans is Doomed

[Captain Goddammit]

I'm a New Orleans native.

My entire family got the hell out many years and hurricanes ago. I was born there in 1965, just before Hurricane Betsy blew and flooded the hell out of the place, and it never got better.
We stayed in the South for many more years, and my sister is still there, in Mobile, AL. There are still hurricanes; she's had to evacuate 3 times in the last year. Hey, I'm in Seattle now and we have earthquakes.

But the city of New Orleans is BELOW SEA LEVEL! A lot of it only exists because of dykes and seawalls... every goddamm hurricane of any size floods the hell out of it. The place is inevitably doomed.

Don't misunderstand me as being heartless toward the newest round of victims, or as blaming them... I'm saying the city itself is screwed.
I think the highest priority ought to be getting everyone out, then opening up the dykes and conceding the fight against Mother Nature and turning it into Lake New Orleans like it wants to be.

I know the logistics for erasing a whole city are staggering, there'd be horrendous pollution if we just let it flood as-is and getting it ready to flood would be ridiculously expensive, people would lose millions in property and businesses, etc. I get it, I know it's hardly feasible... but it's gonna flood every August like it almost always has. It's Atlantis waiting to happen.

New Orleans is just doomed. I'm the hell OUTTA there!

[fetching]

nonsense. they need to talk to the dutch. have some faith.

[calsur]

Captain Goddammit,

I agree. You have a city that has been waiting for disaster for a hundred years. The dikes and levees where designed to handle a level three hurricane. They got hit with a level four. They missed a level five because Katrina slowed up some and got sucked East by a low pressure system.

Lets see if FEMA has the balls to tell these people what they told the people when the Mississippi flooded a while back. “You want to rebuild here, we do not pay for it. You want to rebuild up on that bluff, out of the flood plain, we will pay for it.”

I have one other thing to say. I am really pissed about all the reporting about a “SLOW RESPONSE” to this disaster. FACT, this storm was a thousand miles wide and caused significant flooding as far north as OHIO. And affected every place help could have come from. The roads into the area were in a lot of places gone. The rest covered in debris.

I live in California and the rule here is do not expect help for three days after an earthquake. I have enough supplies for at least two weeks. I guess this is one of the reasons I really like Burning Man, Radical Self Reliance.

[calsur]

fetching,

The Dutch to not have anything like a Gulf of Mexico Cat. Four hurricane.

[joel the ornery]

Bayou Farewell The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast by MIKE TIDWELL

The Louisiana wetlands are sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. One of the most incredible revelations is that the destruction of this thriving fishing industry is a mere 20 years from becoming irreversible. As it is, the sinking of the bayou wetlands is happening at a rate of 25 sq. miles per year. The Mississippi River has not been allowed to flood for more than 70 years due to a series of dams and levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers. Thus the yearly deposit of silt is no longer being added to the wetlands at the mouth of the Mississippi. This interruption of thousands of years of flooding has taken its toll on the fragile marshes which feed and shelter the tremendous bounty of shrimp, crabs, oysters and other fish. In addition, underwater gas and oil pipelines along the bottom of the bayous have increased the erosion factor.

[joel the ornery]

New Orleans as it was, was doomed way before Katrina.

Katrina shows the folly of human endeavors to control/manage the environment.

Being an eternal optimist, New Orleans will be rebuilt, not as it was, but better because far too much money is invested in the Port of New Orleans and surrounding areas.

Unless you know a better way of getting the grain out of the midwest and the oil/petro chemicals out of the gulf, the USA needs New Orleans.

[cowboyangel]

Last part I could agree wholeheartedly....in a strange way this tragedy can have healing consequences on our battered infastructure nationwide and on our up till now, lack of emphasis on the poorer areas of the US and the folks who populate them.

[cowboyangel]

"Katrina shows the folly of human endeavors to control/manage the environment."


ya and also the folly of an an administration that pretends to care about the poor and the little guy in this country....

[cowboyangel]

also...Paul Krugman from the NYTimes

http://www.iht.com/protected/articles/2 ... edkrug.php

[diane o'thirst]

I read something in the news report on the Senate's passage of $10.5B in hurricane relief. They are leaving the option open for relocating New Orleans if/when it gets rebuilt. I would have to agree, this would be a terrible amount of work but it's the wisest recourse.

New Orleans wasn't just below sea level, it was built on unstable ground and sinking at a measureable, constant pace. I say let the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain reclaim the land and relocate New Orleans somewhere else. You're going to rebuild, might as well rebuild it somewhere where the chance of this happening is at least lessened; they owe future generations nothing less. They're already saying Jefferson Parish as we knew it no longer exists.

It breaks my heart. I considered New Orleans to be my second hometown. I knew it almost as well as I knew San Francisco. But I love her so much that yeah, I want to see her built in a safer location. If it takes five years, so be it! It won't be the first time. The people are assuming that the places they've been evacuated to is where they're going to be indefinitely, they're buying houses and looking for work. It will be a different city rising from the waters, but at least it should rise again.

How are the NOLA Burners doing? They're all taking off from the Playa today, do they have anywhere to go?

[diane o'thirst]

The time to edit my post has expired, thought I'd post again...

I did some thinking. (Oh, no, she's thinking! Duck!!! ) Might it be possible to have it both ways? Rebuild at least some of New Orleans on pontoons, Parisian-style bridges and piers — in short, a floating city?

Amsterdam has been brought up already. Rebuilding a city on solid ground that's below sea level and sinking, doesn't make any sense, but a floating city would be more workable. Protect the floating parts with jetties. The Cajuns living in the bayou knew it centuries ago: build on piers, get about in boats. We have many examples of floating city technology and engineering across the planet to draw from.

Imagine Mardi Gras parades as real floats, a regatta on the canals!

[joel the ornery]

"Katrina shows the folly of human endeavors to control/manage the environment."


ya and also the folly of an an administration that pretends to care about the poor and the little guy in this country....

also...Paul Krugman from the NYTimes

http://www.iht.com/protected/articles/2 ... edkrug.php

i wouldn't wipe my ass with Krugman's opinions.

since we are beginning the blame game.

well, how about a recall or impeachment of the mayor of NOLA and the president of Jefferson Parish. Their amazing lack of leadership during the initial hours/days of the disaster is inexcusable and criminal.

they didn't read and execute their own emergency plans.

shame on them.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

Good old fucking Corpse of Army Engineers they are killing everything! They have fuck the whole river system. We have been taking them to court and have won to get them to release more water in Missouri River during the spring time to prevent the extinction of the sturgeons and many other endangered animals. But those fuckers have stalled and stalled. This administration has even replaced the federal judge that ruled against them. Back in the 80's, while Kansas City and many Mississippi Cities were being flooded, they were releasing water from Fort Peck Reservour just to flood those cities intentionally so they could get more money for their fuckup projects of paving the whole river-bottom with concrete etc. when they could have just stored it safely in Fort Peck Lake. It was our Senator, Dem Max Baucus that called them on it!!!!! Who really cares about a few grain tugs when there is a railroad on both sides of the fucking river that can carry that same grain!

New orleans can be saved but its going to take about twenty years to rebuild the delta along with doubled wall dykes and newer pumping station along with raising the structures just like any city that has been built on a swamp: Venice, Chicago and most of Holland.

It is sad that the best party town in America is in this condition, but it did bring out the point that we have spend billions on Homeland Security only to see it fail. You can't blame this on any political group because both parties have been a part of it and both parties should work this out.

Don't let me scare you, but if the Mississippi isn't fixed, don't be suprised to see the Gulf expand back into the midwest like it did a few million years ago, but sooner there is still much left to this hurricane season and 25 square miles of land disappears each year without those hurricanes. I expect several hundred is gone just from this storm. But I still say fuck the Corpse of Army Engineers and don't fuck with Gaia's work or she'll fuck you.

And Joel I think you're confusing your socks again or is Simply the pessimist now?

AIIZ

[diane o'thirst]

That reminds me of an old joke...

"This is the human body. It was designed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Only they would put a toxic waste pipe through a recreational area!"

[Apollonaris Zeus]

Agreed!

AIIZ

[joel the ornery]

September 6, 2005
Magic Marker Strategy
By JOHN TIERNEY, New York Times

It was the climax of George W. Bush's video introduction at the Republican convention: the moment at Yankee Stadium during the 2001 World Series when he threw a pitch all the way to home plate. The video ended, and the conventioneers cheered as Mr. Bush strode onto a stage shaped like a pitcher's mound.

Well, live by the pitch, die by the pitch. When you campaign as the man on the mound, the great leader whose arm rescues Americans in their moment of need, they expect you to deal with a hurricane, too.

Mr. Bush made a lot of mistakes last week, but most of his critics are making an even bigger one now by obsessing about what he said and did. We can learn more by listening to men like Jim Judkins, particularly when he explains the Magic Marker method of disaster preparedness.

Mr. Judkins is one of the officials in charge of evacuating the Hampton Roads region around Newport News, Va. These coastal communities, unlike New Orleans, are not below sea level, but they're much better prepared for a hurricane. Officials have plans to run school buses and borrow other buses to evacuate those without cars, and they keep registries of the people who need special help.

Instead of relying on a "Good Samaritan" policy - the fantasy in New Orleans that everyone would take care of the neighbors - the Virginia rescue workers go door to door. If people resist the plea to leave, Mr. Judkins told The Daily Press in Newport News, rescue workers give them Magic Markers and ask them to write their Social Security numbers on their body parts so they can be identified.

"It's cold, but it's effective," Mr. Judkins explained.

That simple strategy could have persuaded hundreds of people to save their own lives in New Orleans. What the city needed most was coldly effective local leaders, not a president in Washington who could feel their pain. It's the same lesson we should have learned from Sept. 11 and other disasters, yet both liberals and conservatives keep ignoring it.

The liberals bewailing the insensitivity and racism of Republicans in Washington sound like a bad rerun of the 1960's, when urban riots were blamed on everyone but the rioters and the police. Yes, the White House did a terrible job of responding to Katrina, but Democratic leaders in New Orleans and Louisiana didn't even fulfill their basic duties.

In coastal Virginia - which, by the way, has a large black population and plenty of Republican politicians - Mr. Judkins and his colleagues assume that it's their job to evacuate people, maintain order and stockpile supplies to last for 72 hours, until federal help arrives. In New Orleans, the mayor seemed to assume all that was beyond his control, just like the mayors in the 1960's who let the riots occur.

They said their cities couldn't survive without help from Washington, which proceeded to shower inner cities with money and programs that did more damage than the riots. Cities didn't recover until some mayors, especially Republicans like Rudy Giuliani, tried self-reliance.

Mr. Giuliani was called heartless and racist for cutting the welfare rolls and focusing on crime reduction, but black neighborhoods were the greatest beneficiaries of his policies. He was criticized for ignoring social services as he concentrated on reorganizing the Police and Fire Departments, but his cold effectiveness made the city a more livable place and kept it calm after Sept. 11.

Yet Mr. Bush, with approval from conservatives who should have known better, reacted to Sept. 11 by centralizing disaster planning in Washington. He created the byzantine Homeland Security Department, with predictable results last week.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, often criticized for ineptitude, became even less efficient after it was swallowed by a bureaucracy consumed with terrorism. The department has spent billions on new federal airport screeners - with no discernible public benefit - while giving short shrift to natural disasters.

The federal officials who had been laboring on a one-size-fits-all strategy were unprepared for the peculiarities of New Orleans, like the high percentage of people without cars. The local officials who knew about that problem didn't do anything about it - and then were furious when Mr. Bush didn't solve it for them. Why didn't the man on the mound come through for them?

It's a fair question as they go door to door looking for bodies. But so is this: Why didn't they go door to door last week with Magic Markers?

[cowboyangel]

I'll read that Joel ...gotta go to work now....just think about this.....this is the loss of a major American City! And the first loss to my knowledge, brought about by beuraucratic bungling.....yes on the local...but more importantly on the Federal level...Hold your nose, Krugman is right.

[joel the ornery]

Lost?

a little worse for wear and tear, but lost?

you fuckers give up entirely too fucking easy.

[joel the ornery]

I'll read that Joel ...gotta go to work now....just think about this.....this is the loss of a major American City! And the first loss to my knowledge, brought about by beuraucratic bungling.....yes on the local...but more importantly on the Federal level...Hold your nose, Krugman is right.

what truely strikes me as peculiar is the belief in a paternal figurehead that is supposed to reach down and save the masses from disasters and themselves... yet when there is no disaster or need, the masses discount the need for a paternal figurehead in their lives.

i wonder how you can have it both ways?

and

"What you have seen is a failure of logistics. The public and many people who perhaps you think would know more simply don't understand the staggering challenge of moving large numbers of people and material,"

[ZaphodBurner]

In 2018, New Orleans will be 300 years old. It has endured civil war, famine, plague, flood, fire, poverty and hurricane. The original architecture of the Vieux Carre--the old square--burned entirely except for the Urselines convent in WHAT IS STILL the French Quarter. Time after time, she returns.

Read this twice: New Orleans lives.

My heart has broken for her and for the entire Gulf Coast but as a former resident of Gulfport and Biloxi I am reminded that Camille was worse, in 1969. (160 mph winds) Biloxi has never forgotten Camille, except the idiots who built "floating" casinos, and Biloxi returned nevertheless.

If you believe that New Orleans is doomed because of her location between and below the Mississippi and Lake Ponchartrain, look to San Francisco. It has survived earthquake (after earthquake) and, like Chicago, has been swept by fire. Burners continue to reside atop the San Andreas Fault in a city that is as sure to suffer catastrophic earthquake as her older sister New Orleans is sure to flood again.

Live, Love, Learn. Do not give up. I swear by every cell of my being that I will return to the Crescent City and my other home.

Bless them all.
-c

[cowboyangel]

so..is 'anyone' on this board saying the brainless wonder of a president we have and his incompetant array of appointees is.....blameless? I know, this is the gang that never does any wrong, in fact they get medals of "freedom" for their extraordinary blunderings..... Kartina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation sums it up for me....



As Republicans desperately cry out of one corner of their mouths to stop the blame game, they have been blaming everyone but themselves since this catastrophe. Let's look at their ever-evolving buck-passing strategies.

Blame the Victims: Both FEMA's Michael Brown and Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff, the Mutt and Jeff of this calamity, have blamed careless, destitute New Orleaners for not evacuating. "Those who got out are fine," Chertoff told NBC's Tim Russert. FEMA sought to excuse its delays in entering the city by blaming the looters.

Blame the Locals: In a stroke of political luck, both the New Orleans mayor and Louisiana's Governor are Democrats. As the New York Times reported, Karl Rove's PR strategy is to shift the blame to the state and city officials. All Sunday, White House officials and Fox News played this card. Expect more of this line of attack.

Blame the City: In perhaps the most bizarre excuse, Chertoff pointed the finger the city of New Orleans itself, saying, "It is a soup bowl. People have talked for years about whether it makes sense to have a city like that."

Blame the Media: Last week, Brown blamed media coverage for the perception that New Orleans had descended into lawlessness. "I actually think security is darn good.... It seems to me that every time a bad person wants to cause a problem, there's somebody with a camera to stick in their face."

Look on the Bright Side: As Americans continued to drown, Chertoff came up with this gem about the rescue efforts: "There were some things that actually worked very well. There were some things that didn't."

Ignoramus Defense: When FEMA's Brown, who was fired from his last job overseeing Arabian horse shows, said he was as "surprised as everybody else" to discover there were desperate people in the New Orleans convention center, CNN Soledad O'Brien asked, "How is it possible that we're getting better intel than you're getting?" But it was left up to our physically fit President for the whopper of the week: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

It is likely this last defense will be scrapped for obvious reasons. If only we could do the same to this Administration for painfully obvious reasons.

[diane o'thirst]

What I don't get is why the National Guard was off in Iraq instead of being here. It's <b>the NATIONAL GUARD</b>, isn't it?!? Meaning, they should be here.

There were some excuses that the rescue workers pulled out because they were being shot at by rioters. You'd think at least one of them would be trained in weapons, yes? "Oooh, we're being shot at, let's get out of here and abandon those flood victims to their fate!"

Today, the mayor of New Orleans ordered a forced evacuation of all civilians. <i>This should have happened the day before Katrina struck. </i> Are their property rights being infringed upon by the government? YES! And they're about to be infringed upon even more grievously by good ol' Mother Nature!

<b>CHOOSE ONE</b>
] A) Get pushed around by a heavily-armed soldier,
] B) Get pushed around by a twenty-foot wall of water.
Make your choice NOW.

Kicking and screaming all the way into the bus, knock yourself out. Bet they'd have shut up real good when they saw their house flooded up to the rafters...from a nice, dry, warm, well-lit, safe location, with a warm meal in their belly, elsewhere. With all their friends, family and pets surrounding them. What, still pissed? You fucking ingrate.

Personally, I think if the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain decided to drop in to pay their disrespects, I'd say "Screw the house, you can't rebuild if you're dead, let's geddowdaheah." To me anyway, a house isn't worth dying for: in the final wash (heh...), it's just <i>stuff</i>.

30,000 refugees packed into the Astrodome. WHY?!? They should have been out of there with everyone else the day or two before Katrina hit.

That having been said...

Oh, you bet Da Schwub and Company are covering their asses like a diaper. Whichever way it's sliced, A CITY IS GONE. Not his fault? He was at the switch, buddy-boy. He thought terrorists were more important.

Here's another conspiracy theory for y'all: the Midwest and South didn't vote for Bush, those votes were smuggled in from Iraq and they just stuck the names of people in the "Red" states on them so they'd seem legit. It's plausible; logic points to it. The ignoring of New Orleans during and after the approach of the hurricane was obviously in retaliation for not voting for him. And Bush just delivered a big shiny candy apple to his voting constituency in the new U.S. state of Iraq. The Midwest and South tipped mostly for Kerry, Bush only won Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

[/dark and ironic Capricornian humour]

So now what are they doing? Drain the water? Clean up the debris? How well? With what? Lake Pontchartrain is turning into Lake Erie in the '70s as we speak. How are we going to clean *that* up? Or do we just set it on fire, like Love Canal? What are we going to do about the structural damage? Are we just gonna retrofit the hell out of the buildings, shore them up, and cross our fingers? And meanwhile wait for another hurricane. This was a Category 4. We got one more category. What happens if a God-hammer like that hits? "Ah, cripes, there goes New Orleans AGAIN!"

P.S. Joel: go ahead and copy-and-paste your head off. You're on my ignore list.

[karine]

I was at the burn when the hurricane hit shore. I only knew that my children were safe (with their father) far way from New Orleans by the time the hurricane hit. That calmed me throughout the week, and I heard very little "national news" while at the burn (what I did hear was very accurate and complete- THANK YOU to all who helped). Now I am realizing the damage (by NPR and my cell phone on 2 day the drive home) I am still contemplating how I may give myself to this crisis.

My own children have lost every friend and physical memory that they have ever had of their home in New Orleans. Most of New Orleans is gone, and won't ever be the same agian. Many people are relying on charities and new neighbors to help them restart their families lives in new and other parts of the United States. Please carry on the generosity and do whatever you can to support the recovery efforts.

PLEASE send your SUPPORT. PELASE SUPPRT THOSE WHO DO.

And most importantly, support these families after the media and hype wears off, SUPPORT THESE FAMILIES in the next upcoming months. If you can't drop everything and help now, do not forget this will take a long time to rebuild New Orleans it will take a long time to rebuild the lives of the thousands of people displaced.

[joel the ornery]

so..is 'anyone' on this board saying the brainless wonder of a president we have and his incompetant array of appointees is.....blameless?

i don't have a problem with holding people accountable, as long as you hold everyone responsible... accountable.

we (the USA taxpayer) pay a butt-load of money for emergency preparedness at every level of government, and yet when the shit hits the fan, nobody remembers what the fucking book says.

hmmmm, maybe if the citizens had read the fucking website or listened to the warnings and acted...

Citizen Corps

or

maybe the parish presidents could have read and executed the plan

The Southwest Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation and Sheltering Plan

but... they didn't.

i don't excuse federal government's response, yet the state and local governments share an equal burden for not executing the plan (see above) EARLIER.

as far as Mayor Navin's and Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard's behavior goes, i think their on-air theatrics diminished their effectiveness.

now what i am going to do about the issue of disaster relief?
i am going to support a legislationl for a National Service Corps to rebuild the infrastructure of the effected area.
i am going to support legislation to rebuild the marsh area to the southwest of New Orleans, thereby re-establishing the natural barrier for storm surge.
i will pay my federal taxes and pay for the re-building of the effected area.
i will vote my conscience in '06 and '08 and base my decisions on how well the local, state and federal officials conduct themselves in the next 2-4 years. i would really like to see some leadership out of the legislative branch.
i am going to prepare my home for potential natural disasters. in this area that would be snow storms and tornados.
i am making a monetary donation with matching funds from my employer.
i have boxes of clothing i am donating to the Salvation Army.

P.S. Joel: go ahead and copy-and-paste your head off. You're on my ignore list.

it is so fortunate that you are so open to those with different world views, insights and opinions.

[ZaphodBurner]

PLEASE send your SUPPORT. PELASE SUPPRT THOSE WHO DO.

And most importantly, support these families after the media and hype wears off, SUPPORT THESE FAMILIES in the next upcoming months.

Karine, you have my promise.

-c
Yesterday I told my wife I'd come to terms with this, I could handle it, it was 2600 miles away and I can afford to donate...the situation is improving, New Orleans will survive, I can cope.

Bullshit. My heart has broken for the Gulf Coast. Our thoughts are with you.

NOLA, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass, Bay St. Louis... CAMILLE COULDN'T KILL YOU IN '69. YOU WILL RISE AGAIN!

[lurker]

This past weekend the Southern Decadence parade marched in the quarter....it may not have been as big as in past years, but there was music in the Vieux Carre....there are two bars open on the Rue Bourbon

And some people think a hurricane can kill this city?

It is to laugh.

Blame has started pouring forth. Blame. For a hurricane. Can you imagine?

It started from the 'left', people screaming that 'enough' was not getting done---and quickly spread to the 'right', with other people retorting that 'responsible' people would have heeded the evacuation orders.

More than enough blame for everyone, no?

And what does it do? Does it feed anyone? House anyone? Drain any water? Fix any levees?

No.

It lets us wallow in frustration and despair.

New Orleans DOOMED!! Ten thousand DEAD! Disater! Corruption! Cronyism! Partisanship!

But, if you listen real close, you can hear that music. Do whatever it takes to make it loud.

Donate. Volunteer. Act.

Be a voice of hope instead of despair.

Laissez les bon temps roulent encore...

[ZaphodBurner]

More than enough blame for everyone, no?

And what does it do? Does it feed anyone? House anyone? Drain any water? Fix any levees?

No.
...
But, if you listen real close, you can hear that music. Do whatever it takes to make it loud.

Donate. Volunteer. Act.

Be a voice of hope instead of despair.

Laissez les bon temps roulent encore...

HOOOOORAH!!!!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou for that WISDOM.


-c
"Badasses don't die." -Mickey Knox

[Captain Goddammit]

I do think your attitude is great and I'm sure they're gonna put New Orleans back together...
I think it's gonna be a waste, it IS going to keep flooding and is IS gonna keep sinking. It's not about the spirit and courage of the people, that's there in sufficient quantity for sure; it's just a SHITTY piece of real estate to be building a city on.

I hope they level all the buildings before it totally floods, so that I don't bang up an expensive set of stainless props when I go for a cruise on Lake New Orleans! (Just kidding, goddammit!)

[cowboyangel]

I don't think anybody here or on the lefty as far as I'm aware is saying you can stop hurricanes, except perhaps Pat Robertson. When Federal and state agencies fail to prevent such disasters as brought about by the neglected levees, yes, it is time to hold these folks feet to the fire and yes we not only have the right, but the duty to criticize them to high hell and demand their resignations (or prosecutions as it may be)....what if their inaction, say, killed your mother?

This past weekend the Southern Decadence parade marched in the quarter....it may not have been as big as in past years, but there was music in the Vieux Carre....there are two bars open on the Rue Bourbon

And some people think a hurricane can kill this city?

It is to laugh.

Blame has started pouring forth. Blame. For a hurricane. Can you imagine?

It started from the 'left', people screaming that 'enough' was not getting done---and quickly spread to the 'right', with other people retorting that 'responsible' people would have heeded the evacuation orders.

More than enough blame for everyone, no?

And what does it do? Does it feed anyone? House anyone? Drain any water? Fix any levees?

No.

It lets us wallow in frustration and despair.

New Orleans DOOMED!! Ten thousand DEAD! Disater! Corruption! Cronyism! Partisanship!

But, if you listen real close, you can hear that music. Do whatever it takes to make it loud.

Donate. Volunteer. Act.

Be a voice of hope instead of despair.

Laissez les bon temps roulent encore...

[cowboyangel]

and this????untimely say some??????????


http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Rel ... equest.pdf