Louisiana Governor, Senators Go to Holland

Associated Press ^ | Jan 9 | DOUG SIMPSON

[george76]

Gov. Kathleen Blanco left for Holland on Monday to learn how the Dutch created the huge flood-control system that protects a land much farther below sea level than Louisiana.

The trip means the Democratic governor will miss President Bush's visit to New Orleans, scheduled for Thursday...

The governor was among more than 40 government, business and education leaders - including Sens. David Vitter and Mary Landrieu ...

Landrieu said the ambassador told her about that country's flood of 1953, when 1,800 people died.

"He said, `Why don't you all come over and see what we've done since then?'" Landrieu recounted.

Katrina has been blamed for more than 1,300 deaths, the vast majority of them in Louisiana.

Holland recently completed a 50-year program to build dams, seawalls, and surge barriers designed to protect the south of the country against almost any storm.

...others have questioned whether areas of Louisiana 3 to 5 feet below sea level should be rebuilt or returned to marshland.

[yevgenie]

Pray tell explain how having a bunch of morons visit Holland is going to prevent the next catastrophe?

[msnimje]

Who is paying for the trip? Will this impact her chances of being reelected (currently at ZERO)? Would her constituents rather she keep her arse home and fix their CURRENT problems?

[Ninian Dryhope]

Drug test them all as soon as they get off the plane back in the states.

[george76]

Did Mayor Naglin move his family to Dallas, Texas...buy a home and put his kid(s) in a Dallas school?

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going..."

We taxpayers are sending them on a nice trip.

[TheForceOfOne]

I bet their flight has a "lay over" in Amsterdam on the way back. Got to spend that Katrina money somewhere.

[Ellesu]

Odd this trip has been planned since November and Blanco's name was never mentioned as going until Bush announced he was coming to LA this Thursday.

[LegendHasIt]

If they were serious about getting some help on their water problems, I could see them sending for some engineers from the Holland system....

But this little junket will provide nearly as much real value as McCain's trip to Antartica will.

Just another tax-money wasting vacation at the people's expense.

[Rockitz]

I don't think this trip to Holland will help them learn how to keep the levee board from spending all of the budget on gambling interests instead of shoring up the levee system.

[melt]

I'd like to float another idea to these incompetent idiots.

[george76]

Looking for the red lights.

Did they ever find those lost buses?

[K-oneTexas]

Hopefully the Katrina windfall isn't paying for this. Hopefully it isn't a Congressional junket either.

I can see value in that these folks might be the only ones on the planet that know what their doing when it comes to living in a 'high water zone'. Maybe valuable lessons will be learned.

Louisiana can pay for their implementation back home. (Who am I kidding.)

[stboz]

Pissing into the wind. New Orleans is toast mud. Sinking is sinking is sinking. Ain't gonna stop. Give it up.

[george76]

Or like Glenn's trip as a pay off by Clinton on the space shuttle.

[ItsForTheChildren]

Quick, Louisiana! Change the locks!

[Tall_Texan]

Blanco: "No, Hans. The biggest dyke we ever had in New Orleans was Rosie O'Donnell. Why do you ask?"

[george76]

Your tax dollars at work.

[Westlander]

With the wealth of knowledge they will bring back, if they start building flood barriers today-they'll be ready in 2056.

[boomop1]

They could have got the DVD from the Discovery channel or History one of um, saved a little tax payer money..

[TheForceOfOne]

Blanco says she'll be ready to evacuate N.O. in a couple of weeks. She says the preparations for Katrina are on schedule, all that is standing in the way is finding out where Karl Rove hid the buses. :P

[george76]

Sending over some engineers to Holland might have some logic.

Sending a bunch of politicians is stupid.

They could not even find the keys to their own buses.

[Sunnyflorida]

If it is possible for this group to learn anything they will learn from the Dutch to NOT depend a a dike. The Dutch have a defense in depth strategy to live with the water not against it and redundant dikes and tons of low-lying farm land that can be intentionally flooded. They would dam off the Rigolets for one thing.

[dufekin]

Kathleen Blanco seems entirely devoid of any ability, ideas, or initiative to solve the current problems plaguing the state of Louisiana. But she has the Truth (liberal-speak for enemy propaganda) on her side; after all, President Bush personally created all of the problems ever in the entire history of her State because he despises poor blacks. Bush crushed the American economy, devastated the spirit of the people of Louisiana, directed Hurricanes Katrina and Rita at her state, failed in his duty to evacuate New Orleans personally, declined to do his duty to build levees, compelled the waters to flood the city, destroyed Louisiana, killed thousands of blacks, created a culture of corruption in Louisiana politics, and continues still to ravage the Pelican State.

All this is True and will become the Truth in the eyes of the American people as the Democrats compel the American people to internalize the Truth that they have decreed upon them. Blanco is impotent so long as Bush (and his comrade, the Incarnation of Satan, Dick Cheney) usurp all their authority. But that will end with the impending impeachment and installation of President-designate Nancy Pelosi.

If these predictions and far worse do not come to pass within the next eighteen months, then Dictator (liberal-speak for "President and commander-in-chief" as opposed to "Whiner and Sex Offender in Chief") Bush will have stolen the election (by deviously deceiving more eligible American voters to vote for him than Democrat deceased who transcend the bonds of death to support the enemy) through his evil (liberal-speak for pro-Christian or good) Lies (liberal-speak for statements conforming to reality). Got that?

[WasDougsLamb]

Pray tell explain how having a bunch of morons visit Holland is going to prevent the next catastrophe?



------I agree.

[ClaireSolt]

The last time I was in Holland my friend took me to see the waterworks-- a very impressive steel barrier that keeps the North sea from flooding a bay. She told me that they have madea lot of money selling the idea worldwide since they built it. As long as the feds control the pursestrings, however, the locals will be at their mercy.

[gramho12]

"Need to get away?",,, Southwest.

[george76]

Low lying farm land, sports fields, parks, recreational areas, golf couses...might work below sea level.

But homes, commercial offices, casinos, hotels...with lots of people below sea level is asking for trouble.

[norton]

"...others have questioned whether areas of Louisiana 3 to 5 feet below sea level should be rebuilt or returned to marshland."

Unless Louisiana is willing to foot the bill...I think we have an answer:
All in favor of marshland raise their hands........

[dufekin]

Not that it matters, but the lawyers actually control the development of flood protection and everything else in our country. They've blocked plenty of fruitful schemes to improve flood protection in Louisiana while nevertheless perpetuating some environmentally damaging, economically untenable schemes like the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.

[SkyPilot]

Hey, why hang out in dark, smelly New Orleans when you can bill your taxpayers for a free trip to the Netherlands and also swing by the Amsterdam red light district.

[Westlander]

'And we use Ellen Degenerate to plug the dyke'.

[jimfree]

it's about time somebody stop guessing and satisficing and learn from those who have solved the problem.

[Iwo Jima]

Pray tell explain how having a bunch of morons visit Holland is going to prevent the next catastrophe?

If they're not coming back?

[WOSG]

When DeLay goes on a trip its called 'corruption'.

When an idiot Democrat Governor goes on a trip, its called factfinding.

Who's paying for this idiot to go see dams?

[porkchops 4 mahound]

I KNEW these incompetent corrupt hacks would turn this disaster into a junket somehow.

Isn't this kinda like shutting the barn door after the horses are gone?

Sorry, these are democRATS, I forgot.

[Sender]

On the plus side, now Blanco and Nagin know how to revive the NO economy with an infusion of coffee shops, brothels and mosques.

[Sally'sConcerns]

They could have got the DVD from the Discovery channel or History one of um, saved a little tax payer money.

Wasn't it the Discovery Channel's series about Super Structures? If we watched the same show it went into quite a bit of detail about the designing, building and engineering of the movable flood control structure. (I don't remember what they called it, I just remember the show.)

As I remember though, they also had large amounts of land which could be flooded even though they had homes built there. They would flood some to save a larger area. I wonder if that would be viable for New Orleans.

[Sacajaweau]

The Feds should hire one the the best engineers from Holland to work with our engineers. It wouldn't be the first time we went outside our country looking for experts. We'd certainly enjoy their input and benefit from their experience. I suppose we should tell them to leave any workers home 'cause Louisiana has an "overflow" of contractors who are relatives.

[Sarajevo]

Is she sporting "cheek enhancers" in those shorts or is it just a load?

[Sunnyflorida]

You are 100% correct.

[Political Junkie Too]

Gov. Kathleen Blanco left for Holland on Monday to learn how the Dutch created the huge flood-control system that protects a land much farther below sea level than Louisiana.

The Dutch have been doing this for over 400 years. You'd think that there are many books, films, TV shows, and experts who can explain how they did it. There are probalbly many school science-fair diaramas to explain it to the LA leaders.

Are we sure that they didn't travel there for "smokes" since the Dutch are rethinking their liberal "coffee shop" laws? Or maybe she's looking for some European chatchke's for her new marble countertops?

-PJ

[festus]

I thought Blanco went over to help stick a finger in a dyke.

[george76]

[upchuck]

Blanco: "No, Hans. The biggest dyke we ever had in New Orleans was Rosie O'Donnell. Why do you ask?"

I don't know... The Hildabeaste may be bigger than O'Donnell.

[Steve_Stifler]

The Louisiana politicians did receive previous flood control advice from the Dutch. Unfortunately, the politicians translated "the little boy sticks his finger in the dyke" as "stick your thumb in your a$#." To their credit, they did follow the mistranslated advice.

[scannell]

They have to go to Holland to find that the difference is that Holland isn't in Hurricane Alley.

[ClearBlueSky]

THAT is the oft-ignored factor! Holland isn't faced with the likelhood of one or more hurricanes every year.
AND- the flood protection works in Holland because it was built, and is maintained by ,the Dutch-not the conniving, good-enough, political dynasty types that run New Orleans.

For Dutch ideas to work here you'd have to have the Dutch design, build AND maintain the system free of political control. Not gonna happen in a city where the battle cry now is ' this is OUR city'. Meaning- no outsiders are going to run things! Heaven forbid that should happen! In a city where mile after mile of Interstate guard rails are installed BACKWARD, there is NO- I repeat- absolutely NO hope that locals can build and run a system like Hollands.
Dutch ingenuity and efficiency and 'les incompetents' cannot co-exist.

[scannell]

Yeah, isn't it the Mayor of Lousiana that advanced the Farakahan idea that Bush bomed the levies? Now that the water has receded I didn't hear a recant let alone an apology from either.

[scannell]

and yes, when they design dikes and levies, it has to be able to hold back the water, not a class 5 Hurricane.

[Saints fan]

What?