NY Times Blasts New Orleans flood control $$$

The Corner-Media Blog ^ | 9/2/05 | Stephen Spruiell

[chiller]

Yesterday the New York Times editorial board wrote a fire-breathing editorial that for almost 24 hours ranked as the "most-discussed story" on Technorati and the "most e-mailed article" on nytimes.com. The board wrote that "George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday." Instead of "consolation and wisdom," the President offered "a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast." The board went on to offer a long laundry list of angry accusations. The editorial board doubted that Bush "understood the depth of the current crisis" — unlike the wizened board, which had been following the crisis on CNN.

The editorial built up to this penultimate paragraph:

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection? Good question. Maybe because Congress listened to the NY Times editorial board in April of 2005:

Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America's rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects — this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences... [snip]

This is a bad piece of legislation. Lesson: Don't listen to the NY Times editorial board. (via Don Luskin)

[chiller]

I'm speechless.

[msnimje]

This has already been debunked. I think Michelle Malkin did so on her site recently also.

[BenLurkin]

Agreed.

Anyone who respects the opinion of the NYT lacks good judgment.

Would make a for a good early assessment of someone you are just getting to know.

[MNJohnnie]

OH WOW, IS THAT EVER GOING TO LEAVE A MARK!

[atomicpossum]

A comprehensive disaster/exac plan would have cost a lot less and been written in weeks. NYT hasn't complained about that.

[ml1954]

Dear NYT,

Let's all look at the millions (and billions) of dollars that are spent on pork in the 'blue' states and ask those legislators how they could have spent that money on those things knowing New Orleans needed just $17 million to save thousands of lives.

[bronxboy]

MSM in full Bush bashing mode. Always backfires.

[ml1954]

Ooops, just $17 billion.

[God luvs America]

I'd love a link to the full story of that final paragraph...I'd fax it to the Times day and night...

[MaxMax]

What has the NYT offered to this crisis they're trying to promote?

[ml1954]

Is GWB the unluckiest Prez ever or what? The two greatest tragedies in my lifetime that took the most lives on US soil happened in his Presidency.

[MNJohnnie]

This has already been debunked.

Can you be a bit more specific. I cannot find anything on her site. In fact SHE argues pretty much the same point only using the New Orleans paper.

[Texas Eagle]

...the President offered "a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast."

Obviously the only thing President Bush could do to placate The New York Times Editorial Board is to sign emergency legislation outlawing hurricanes and/or floods.

Wait. That's not quite right. Let me try again. Obviously the only thing President Bush could do to placate The New York Times Editorial Board is resign from The Republican Party, denounce Christ, call Rush Limbaugh a right-wing wacko fundamentalist extremist poopy-head and THEN sign emergency legislation outlawing hurricans and/or floods.

[gondramB]

Which part was debunked?

[MNJohnnie]

GWB the unluckiest Prez ever or what

No, GW Bush is a sign of just how blessed the USA is. Despite the welter of political incompetents and posturer's filling the halls of our Governments, at this moment in our history, just like it always has in the past 230 years, the Country has produced EXACTLY the man to lead us thru tough times.

[msnimje]

I am sorry, I read about it on Powerline and they mentioned Michelle. This is what is on Poweline:

The blame game continues, with most attention being focused not on the local and state officials who have responsibility for disaster preparedness, but on the federal government.
Even at the federal level, I've not seen any informed criticism of FEMA or any other relevant federal agency, or any detailed analysis of the formidable logistical problems that make the relief effort painfully difficult.
No, the critics aren't interested in such targets or such details. What they want is to bash President Bush, and we'll hear more and more of it as the days go by.

So far, though, the left has had a hard time finding a theory. Michelle Malkin has a definitive deconstruction of the "underfunded levee construction" theory, which yesterday seemed like the left's most promising line of attack. The Army Corps of Engineers says the "underfunding" theory is bogus:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that a lack of funding for hurricane-protection projects around New Orleans did not contribute to the disastrous flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.

In a telephone interview with reporters, corps officials said that although portions of the flood-protection levees remain incomplete, the levees near Lake Pontchartrain that gave way--inundating much of the city--were completed and in good condition before the hurricane.

However, they noted that the levees were designed for a Category 3 hurricane and couldn't handle the ferocious winds and raging waters from Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 4 storm when it hit the coastline. The decision to build levees for a Category 3 hurricane was made decades ago based on a cost-benefit analysis.

Maybe the left will have to go back to global warming.

[ml1954]

No argument there. I was just making an observation.

[skimbell]

The U.S is the luckiest nation simply because Bush was there when these things happened.

Just imagine if Algore was in the drivers seat today...

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Here is today's liberal question:

The levees in New Orleans are inadequate. They have been inadequate during the following admininstrations:

1. Hoover
2. FDR
3. Truman
4. Eisenhower
5. Kennedy
6. Johnson
7. Nixon
8. Ford
9. Carter
10. Reagan
11. George H. W. Bush
12. Clinton
13. George W. Bush

Whose fault is it?

(Answer) George W. Bush, of course.

[jocko12]

It's to bad the NYS can not get there facts right before they print anything.

[MNJohnnie]

I am sorry, I read about it on Powerline and they mentioned Michelle. This is what is on Poweline:

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. Though you meant the point about how the Editoral boards flip floping their positions not the underfunded Levees being debunked.

[MNJohnnie]

I am sorry, I read about it on Powerline and they mentioned Michelle. This is what is on Poweline:

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. Though you meant the point about how the Editoral boards flip floping their positions not the underfunded Levees being debunked.

[ml1954]

The U.S is the luckiest nation simply because Bush was there when these things happened.

Unlucky for him. I'm sure he's gotten a lot more that he bargained for.

Contrast this with Lincoln and Washington who basically knew what they were getting into.

[msnimje]

See my response to MNJohnnie.

[Texas Eagle]

It's to bad the NYS can not get there facts right before they print anything.

You know what they say. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. And there's not a dog alive older than The New York Slimes (aka The Screwtape Letter).

[EagleUSA]

Anyone who respects the opinion of the NYT lacks good judgment.
------
Anyone who respects the opinion of the NYT HAS NO JUDGEMENT. They will continue to sell the paper as long as its price remains below that of toilet paper...

[skr]

A nightmare scenario, that.

[bubman]

Their self-righteousness!!

What else do Liberals have to offer Common sense?

[sgtbono2002]

If Al Gore had been President he would have signed the Kyoto Treaty and according to Robert Kennedy this would have never happened. S/

[texasredneck]

The Big Dig In Boston comes to mind when I think of pork.

[RGSpincich]

There is no set plan to improve the levees. This was unpreventable.

Thinking Big About Hurricanes

And that's just part of the multibillion-dollar program officials with the Corps have envisioned, which would include strengthening huge swaths of the Louisiana gulf coast. New Orleans would be the "only city in the country or even the world" with Category 5 hurricane protections, Corps' senior project manager Al Naomi told me last November. But these ideas are in little more than a brainstorming stage at this point; whether the bureaucratic Corps can lurch into action quickly enough to protect a city faced with ever increasing vulnerabilities remains a serious question. "Twenty years will be too late for New Orleans," says LSU's Van Heerden, who favors a specially funded congressional project more akin to the Tennessee Valley Authority.

[RobbyS]

You mean like the sinkhole in Boston!

[ml1954]

Anyone who respects the opinion of the NYT ...

... lives in NY or LA. This could become a "how do you know you're a redneck" kind of lead-in line for aspiring comedians.

For example, if you think Wal-mart is a store that sells walls, you might an NYT junkie.

A poor effort I admit, but you get the idea. Maybe someone more talented and creative than I could run with it.

[bboop]

That's what I think. These tremendous crises have molded him into the strong leader he is today. And we are SO BLESSED to have him. Imagine if Gore were on first. Or Jimmy Carter. Or John Kerry. yegads.

[LikeLight]

Ouch.

[RobbyS]

Quiet, the Left might hear, and the truth might drive them mad.

[ml1954]

You mean like the sinkhole in Boston!

It will hold a lot of water won't it, if Boston ever gets hit by a Category 4.

[RobbyS]

It sure would hold a lot of dollar bills.

[ml1954]

It sure would hold a lot of dollar bills.

An unlimited amount. It will cost a lot to "maintain" you know.

[antiunion person]

There is one city that will criticize New Orleans, Boston. The big dig project has eaten up more taxpayer money than any other project in the United States ever. Not only has more dirt been moved during this project, you can only imagine how much money was buried into back pockets during this major waste of cash.

[kublia khan]

And now that it's almost finished it is almost as leaky as Jim Jeffords.

[RobbyS]

I know it is only hearsay, but Boston politics has a reputation for corruption. Back in the '60s, the story made the rounds in Austin, that LBJ sent a liason to co-ordinate with the Kennedy campaing. He came back saking his head, tell Lyndon, "And I thought WE were crooks!" He said it with admiration.

[festus]

I'm shocked shocked to learn the NYT is attacking GW on ludicrious grounds. Shocked I tell you.

[GladesGuru]

"I'm speechless."

What a pity the Slimes wasn't also speechless.

[vaudine]

A thread that has been pulled quoted from a cached article about the company contracted with FEMA/Homeland Sec. to write an evac plan for the NO area in 2004. It said the company was minority/woman owned. This plan was to be put into action in the event of a catastrophe that swamped local and state facilities ability to cope.
Since the thread was pulled, I don't know whether or not the plan was written and adopted. If so, it fell short, making me wonder if it was awarded to this company just because it was owned by women and minorities--instead of being given to the company with the best credentials--which would have been Halliburton, of course.

Oh, forget it. It's all Bush's fault. He should have asked Laura or Rove.

vaudine

[TheForceOfOne]

Hasn't the NY Slimes figured it out yet...they're irrelevant to us. Nothing more than a cat toy, not relied upon for serious information.

[lepton]

Maybe because Congress listened to the NY Times editorial board in April of 2005:

Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America's rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects — this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences... [snip]

This is a bad piece of legislation. Lesson: Don't listen to the NY Times editorial board. (via Don Luskin)

[RasterMaster]

This will be the standard reply I'd present to all presstitutes and others who carry the water (make excuses for DUmocrats) when the subject is to blame Bush for all:

The nanny state/welfare mentality - it's always someone else's job. What part of MANDITORY EVACUATION do these fools in the media not get? The people on the coast were warned, told to leave, and chose to stick it out thereby endangered themselves and their families. That would be considered neglect when parents put their children in danger.

The Governor and Mayor's extreme ineptitude is what the bozos in the lame-steam media should be focused on. It was their job to prepare their constituents, NOT the federal government. There was ample time to prepare, and most responsible adults took to the road for safety. Yet all that was offered on the state level was another poor evacuation plan from the dimwit dimocrats. Either using "one way out" stuck in traffic or holing up in the dome, what choices!

Before the storm, they could have used all the school & city buses to evacuate those who couldn't make it on their own to higher ground further inland. But they chose weakness in the face of real danger instead.

After the storm, all resources were put at their disposal, yet they delayed making the request as well as delayed the delivery when aid arrived. Martial Law was declared and yet they still sat on their hands allowing lawlessness to erupt. Neither can handle their jobs, yet refuse to step aside and allow someone else to handle it.

If President Bush hadn't announced the evacuation order, there would be more loss and suffering, mainly due to the clueless Democrats who failed to do anything - who, by the way, have been in charge of that state long before Bush ran for office.

When you have your hand extended, you shouldn't b!tch about getting aid when you were told to prepare for 3-5 days of food and water. When it comes to your family's safety, waiting on government to solve your problems is no better than waiting on a welfare check instead of getting off your arse and finding work.

But I guess wading around in sewage and griping about it is a much more pleasing alternative if you always pull the "D" lever when it's time to elect leadership. The failure of a democrat-led state is why the media is out in force trying to point fingers at Bush, when they all know the reality of the situation...their own failures cause many more to die than would have if they hadn't been slow to react.

[popdonnelly]

I think the New Orleans situation is a perfect example of the failure of Democrats to govern. Incompetence, tolerance for crime, turning people into government dependents, and, above all, blaming somebody else for your failures.

[chiller]

...and that sums it up quite well, thank you.