Posted on 09/02/2005 6:00:16 AM PDT by wotan
For $250 million, the levees in New Orleans could have been reinforced and the pumps ensured operational, as the Army Corps of Engineers had been urging. That's about $500 per resident, just 1/60th of annual per capita income in what was New Orleans. Spread that cost over five years and you're down to 1/300th of annual per capita income, a small price for insurance against a mega-disaster that was widely known to be likely in the event of a strike from a Category 4 hurricane like Katrina.
Yes, given our screwed up, socialist system, we can blame, within that system, Governor Blanco for incompetence, the Congress for cutting funds for New Orleans flood control, FEMA for slow response, etc., etc., but the real cause of the disaster is the people of New Orleans and the entitlement mentality that infects them. They preferred rolling the dice year after year on whether their city would live or die to actually doing anything to ensure that it wouldn't die - beyond looking for an open nipple on the Big Sow in Washington.
EXTREMELY WELL PUT.
Would love to have that forcefully tatooed on every traitorous congress critter and media traitor in the land's forehead.
Pre-levee breakage damage cost estimate = $9 billion
Post-levee breakage damage cost estimate = $50 billion
What type of odds/payout would Vegas have given for a $40 billion delta?
After the tsunami they wisely decided to build a warning system so people could get out of the way of a disaster. Now it's time to build a Lousiana storm warning system. It could consist of a special beanie with a mallet on top which beans the unconcerned resident until he evacuates the area.
However, the mayor was concerned that the residents might actually like the idea. Asked why he replied that it would feel so good when they stopped pounding their heads.
. . .perhaps because they did not want to cause riots. . .as of late. . .the 'messengers' have been attacked for bringing the message. . .ie 'help/food' et al.
That said; they have quietly been offering water and help to individuals, along the way. And they have gotten a message out; from the people; where phone/cell phones have failed.
As for GW; is he supposed to 'sound' good; as this crisis management gets underway or just work to get the job under control. . .can we let him be sartorial, later? Had he made a 'great speech'; we would have heard him being criticised for being 'all talk'. . .'easy for him to say' . . .and ad nauseum slams from the Left.
The real blame for the lack of preparedness is the City itself. . .the Mayor and then the Governor. WHAT was the disaster plan here; every city has one; what was New Orleans suppossed to really do. . .when those levies gave way; as was so often predicted?
Did the Mayor just think the music would play untill the water went away. . .or what?
Agree totally; lock and load.
Not just the men. All the able bodied people should be doing something to help the situation. Notice I said able.
The whole country is suffering from poor planning, environmental restrictions, but on the flood control problem and the energy infrastructure, and a sence of entitlement to social welfare that takes precedence over infrastructure development. We are all paying the price for poor prioritization of our national resources and treasures.
I don't think its a case of Freepers caring less about people in Louisiana. From my perspective, its just that I EXPECT a lot more from Americans. I expected officials from a state and a major city in the United States to have a better reaction to a major catastrophe. I expected those same officials to be better PREPARED for a what basically comes down to a simple hurricane. Something that happens EVERY YEAR! I expect a governor to show some leadership and not cry on camera that she can't stop the criminals. I expect a mayor to show some leadership and not look to place blame for the destruction of his city on other people.
Most of all, I expect American citizens to not act like animals when things get tough. Florida got hit by 3 big hurricanes within 6 weeks last year and the reaction there was to pull together and help each other out, not shoot at each other and at people trying to deliver assistance.
I don't think its a case of Freepers caring less about people in Louisiana. From my perspective, its just that I EXPECT a lot more from Americans. I expected officials from a state and a major city in the United States to have a better reaction to a major catastrophe. I expected those same officials to be better PREPARED for a what basically comes down to a simple hurricane. Something that happens EVERY YEAR! I expect a governor to show some leadership and not cry on camera that she can't stop the criminals. I expect a mayor to show some leadership and not look to place blame for the destruction of his city on other people.
Most of all, I expect American citizens to not act like animals when things get tough. Florida got hit by 3 big hurricanes within 6 weeks last year and the reaction there was to pull together and help each other out, not shoot at each other and at people trying to deliver assistance.
There are many reasons, many no PC to name, why many of these people could not leave. I think that the mayor and gov of LA really dropped the ball in not getting everyone out of there beforehand.
Molly, agree that the good people of NO need our prayers. This is just NO politics. Do a Lexis/Nexis search and see how much $$ the governor of LA promised to GIVE to the Saints to keep them in town. Maybe if that $$ had been given to the Dutch to provide consulting help (after all, the Dutch know something about dams and levees) this situation could have been somewhat mitigated.
Its called leadership, common sense, charachter, and competence. We have none. We have seen that our tax dollars go to support a wasteful, indept, unprepared, matrix of government in our lives that can no longer justify the taxes we pay it.
Think of what the terrorists must be thinking watching this???
In their wildest dreams they could not pull off something like this.
Truth be told, the Corps has built levees the length of the Mississippi and that causes much of the flooding below St Louis when one breaks. People move into areas that no longer flood and think they are safe.
The 17th Street levee in New Orleans that broke has been resisted by locals for 20 years and is a little used connection between the lake and the river. It adds many miles of problems to what was already a bad system.
For decades the Corps has lived to build levees and does so even when they are in the wrong place long term. It's also the reason the delta is populated where it should not be.
Get that log out of your eye brother
If the devil is the living flesh of evil, then here is who I think he is. Far from appearing as a hideous demon, he is the average-looking person who walks into a room and shakes your hand with a smile. By the time he leaves, the standards of decency of everyone within that room have been lowered ever so slightly.
--- A lawyer come to mind.
Huh?????
Everyone hates lawyers until they need one. Do you think Cicero of Rome, Abe Lincoln, and Madison deserve to be in your group????
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