Tide of Lies Swamps NY Times: Employees Riot and Steal Office Supplies

Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 1 September 2005 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)

[Congressman Billybob]

No, this isn’t about Maureen Dowd or Paul Krugman. That’s too easy. It’s about a story on flooding in New Orleans today (1 September). Here’s the lead:

“The 17th Street levee that gave way and led to the flooding of New Orleans was part of an intricate, aging system of barriers and pumps that was so chronically underfinanced that senior regional officials of the Army Corps of Engineers complained about it publicly for years.”

The second and third paragraphs say:

“Often leading the chorus was Alfred C. Naomi, a senior project manager for the corps... [who] grew particularly frustrated this year as the Gulf Coast braced for what forecasters said would be an intense hurricane season and a nearly simultaneous $71 million cut was announced in the New Orleans district budget to guard against such storms.”

Here’s the source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/national/nationalspecial/01levee.html?hp&ex=1125547200&en=8ee34432ae4fa984&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Not until the ninth paragraph does the story imply (but fail to state) that budget cut – even if the intended work could have been done instantaneously, had nothing to do with the flooding. It quotes an expert “at the University of New Orleans, [who] said that was particularly surprising because the break was ‘along a section that was just upgraded.’ ”

The implication, gleefully trumpeted by rabid Democrats, is that George Bush caused the destruction of New Orleans. Not until paragraph 16 does the article note the system was only designed to protect against a Category 3 storm. It neglects to mention that decision was made by local officials, all Democrats.

For the truth, see a Chicago Tribune article the same day. Its lede says: “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.”

The Tribune notes the decision to build the levees for a Category 3 storm was “made decades ago.” Next, it says, “ ‘I don't see that the level of funding was really a contributing factor in this case,’ said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the corps. ‘Had this project been fully complete, it is my opinion that based on the intensity of this storm that the flooding of ... [New Orleans] would have still taken place.’ ”

Here’s the source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1475305/posts

A competent reporter would have discovered that fact. And honest reporter would have put that fact in or near the lede. The Times failed on both points.

As for possible rioting and theft by Times employees, that was a joke. I assume they steal office supplies year round.

John_Armor@aya.yale.edu

[GladesGuru]

This is just a simple matter of cultural misunderstanding. Liberals are public scruel products, and therefore think that the word 'upgraded' means weakened.

It's just a simple cultural misunderstanding. ;-)

[Stayfree]

She will be in her rightful place when we are all done with her!

Greetings from all of us at FlushHillary.com

[ForGod'sSake]

A little levity to break the funk??? Good job.

Some BACKGROUND.

FGS

[shield]

It's a great article...love seeing a little sanity finally taking place amid all the other crap.

[Diver Dave]

I just posted this on Newsbusters. Thought y'all would enjoy seeing it.

I did! Thanks Congressman.

[Congressman Billybob]

The "and" is a mistake. It should have been "An." However, the word "lede" is now accepted usage for the first paragraph of any story. The former word "lead" could be misread as the heavy dull metal. Hence the new usage (which I only decided to use after checking with a couple grammarians last week).

John / Billybob

[Gondring]

Not until the ninth paragraph does the story imply (but fail to state) that budget cut – even if the intended work could have been done instantaneously, had nothing to do with the flooding.

Evidently the article wasn't very clear in explaining that the Band-Aid "upgrading" of levees wasn't the whole fix, and that the parts of the system that were not funded were also important. The drainage portions were not completed.

So yes, proper funding and preparation could have helped. But...the question is, why should the Feds be on the hook for this? What contribution did LA and NO make?

Interesting articles:
"THE CREEPING STORM"
(June 2003, Civil Engineering Magazine)

"Reengineering the Mississippi"
(July 2004, Civil Engineering Magazine)

---

ASCE Policy Statement 498: Louisiana Coastal Wetlands

On May 3, 2003, ASCE's Board of Direction adopted a policy statement declaring its support for the “ efforts to reduce coastal land loss in the Louisiana coastal area, an area that has been named America's Wetland because of its national importance.” The statement urged continued support of the existing program for Louisiana's coastal wetlands funded by the 1990 Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act. It also endorsed “ the ongoing effort to implement the comprehensive Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Program, which will further reduce land loss and provide additional preservation and restoration.” In support of this policy, the statement noted the following:

• An area of land bordered on the east by the State of Mississippi, on the west by Texas, and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico has been disappearing at an alarming rate of 25 to 35 sq mi [65 to 90 km2] each year. In the past 50 years, more than 1,500 sq mi [3,900 km2] have been lost. By the year 2050, another 1,000 sq mi [2,500 km2] of coastal area will be lost if nothing is done to save it. The rate of this land loss is thought to be the highest in the world.
• The coastal area currently provides a buffer from hurricane storm effects to approximately 2 million residents who live within the 19 coastal parishes (counties). The loss of coastal area means that this population, which includes the City of New Orleans, will experience the full force of the hurricanes, including storm surges that top levee systems and cause severe flooding as well as high winds.
• The current federal investment in preserving Louisiana coastal wetlands, through [CWPPRA], is $50 million annually. The estimated cost of the comprehensive Louisiana Coastal Area Program for America's Wetland is approximately $470 million annually for 30 years, or $14 billion. The cost of inaction in America's Wetland has been estimated to be more than $100 billion in infrastructure alone over the course of those 30 years. (my emphasis added)

[Keith in Iowa]

Another good one.

If you like - try having a little fun with this P.C. take on looting & looters...see my tagline... :)

[Gondring]

If it is the scientist I suspect (a geomorphologist at New Orleans) then she's from the UK.

[Southack]

Nice job. It must be repeatedly pointed out that the NY Times and certain other papers/TV stations repeat a tired pattern of seeing the news for each day and blaming President Bush for everything bad while claiming that everything good either isn't really good, isn't as good as it could be due to President Bush, or is due to someone else entirely.

For the NY Slimes, everything is politicized and viewed through ideological lenses. That's not news reporting, that's cheerleading for Socialists by rabid Leftists. Propriety is absent from the NY Times. It's gone.

The staff at the NY Times is so radicalized that they even ran off their own left-wing ombudsman (Daniel Okrent), a feat in and of itself (he couldn't take their overt non-objectivity).

Newspapers and TV networks should be accredited by a democratically elected national organization of term-limited citizens.

No doubt that the NY Times would fail to keep, if obtain in the first place, any fair-minded accreditation.

That shouldn't shut the paper down, but they should have to list their lack of accreditation on each front page every day.

[Troublemaker]

I'd be curious to see how much money has been sent to Lousiana the past decades for "hurricane protection" and where that money really went. Nice job.

[Alia]

I saw a clip on TV the other night; some chick interviewing one of the Engineers of that Levee. He said it had been designed to withstand a CAT 3. She immediately went after him: "Don't you think NOW that you should have made it stronger?" (Like it was his fault as coming from "Mother Dearest")

This guy was unflappable, he did very well, he responded by saying that in consideration of all known history of hurricane activity in LA and cost/benefit ratios -- designing the levee to withstand a CAT 3 was given unanimous approval.

Camera panned to her self-righteous mug. I turned the tv off.

[Alia]

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day OR TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[kittymyrib]

A thorough report on the danger to NO because of its inadequate levee system landed on the president's desk and was ignored. The year was 1998. The president was William Jefferson Clinton. The NYT must have failed to include that information in it's daily rant against Pres. Bush. Who would buy this rag except DUmmies?

[Gondring]

However, the word "lede" is now accepted usage for the first paragraph of any story. The former word "lead" could be misread as the heavy dull metal. Hence the new usage (which I only decided to use after checking with a couple grammarians last week).

Then you should keep your affectations more consistent. Your lede graf says "lead"... :-)

[Alia]

From: Clinton's Rule on Levees

Quoted here:

To emphasize the correctness in saying that politics will make big decisions like this, recall this HISTORICAL FACT!

In 1998, the DoD and the US Army Corps of Engineers drafted a document detailing the fact that New Orleans was protected by levees which were designed to protect N.O. from a LEVEL 3 hurricane. These groups wanted to go into N.O. and assess what needed to be done to improve the levees to at least withstand a LEVEL 4 OR 5 hurricane.

This serious request and supporting information was deemed highly necessary to protect N.O. and was presented in full to the President of the United States for approval of this critical project.

THE REQUEST WAS DENIED BY WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON. For those interested in the details, they are available in the FEDERAL REGISTER as a matter of permanent record.

So, how many more deaths do we attribute to this horrid excuse for a criminal, negligent, incompetent excuse for a human being ???

In summary, politics in critical situations, usually costs lives, it always has.

----

Liberals live by the "blame game". It's what they do, in all situations.

[Congressman Billybob]

Yes, I know. As my uncle who was a publisher told me long ago, "The best time to find a typographical error is immediately after a book has gone to press." The same applies to the Internet, in the nanosecond right after you click the "Submit" button.

John / Billybob

[upchuck]

Thanks for the education CBB. The use of "lead" in the first sentence confused me.

[Uncle Donuts]

ping for later read

[eureka!]

bump for later read...