Blanco: Netherlands trip could help with future flood protection (Vacation pics!)

KATC ^ | 1/13/06

[Libloather]

U.S. delegates William Jefferson (L), David Vitters (2nd L), Governor Kathleen Blanco (3rd R), Senator Mary Landrieu (2nd R) and Dutch crown Prince Willem-Alexander listen as an unidentified man explains the working of the Maeslandkeering by means of a scale model during an excursion to study flood-control systems in Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, January 11, 2006. The Netherlands' ambassador to the U.S. invited Landrieu and a delegation including political, business and education leaders after Hurricane Katrina broke floodgates and levees, flooding most of New Orleans and all of neighbouring St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. REUTERS/Michael Kooren

The U.S. delegation, led by Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (4th L) and Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander (5th L), walks past the Maeslandkeering during an excursion to study flood-control systems in Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, January 11, 2006. Also pictured are; Senator David Vitter (2nd L), Dutch vice minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, and Governor Kathleen Blanco (centre with black hat). REUTERS/Michael Kooren

Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, left, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, center, and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu , right, during a visit at the Maeslant Barrier gates near Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006. A delegation of 50 U.S. goverment officials, academics and business representives is on a three-day tour in the Netherlands to study flood prevention techniques in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The American visitors are focusing their attention on the so-called Delta Project, a 50-year project that constructed dikes, giant sea walls and flood gates that keep the low-lying country dry. The project was built after a similar flood in the Netherlands in 1953 left around 1,800 people dead. U.S. lawmakers Mary Landrieu, David Vitter and Bill Jefferson, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco are leading officials on the visit. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Media film from the MS Arca ship in front of the Maeslant Barrier gates in the Nieuwe Waterweg near Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

From left: U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, Dutch Vice Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management Melanie Schultz van Haegen, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco during a press event at Kurhaus in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

From left: U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, Dutch Vice Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management Melanie Schultz van Haegen, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco during a press conference at Kurhaus in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, left, and Dutch Vice Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management Melanie Schultz van Haegen, right, during a press event at Kurhaus in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

[mewzilla]

How much did this trip cost taxpayers?

[satchmodog9]

I am sure the corps already knows what to do.

[mtbopfuyn]

We pay for their vacation and I bet we don't even get a t-shirt.

[K-oneTexas]

Doesn't matter. Next stop ..... Venice, Italy. All aboard!!!

[Flavius]

new high tech solution for LA

[xrp]

Blanco has got to be one of the ugliest women alive. (No pics of Halfbright, please!)

[mtbopfuyn]

We pay for their vacation and I bet we don't even get a t-shirt.

[K-oneTexas]

Are they afraid to look at each other (pic #3)

[TCats]

Just your standard, run-of-the-mill Junket - A luxurious vacation masquerading as a 'Fact Finding' trip. I suggest they watch the Discovery Channel and save us all the money and anger over their arrogance.

[K-oneTexas]

Are they afraid to look at each other (last pic)

[dsc]

What is the point of sending politicians, and women politicians at that, to "study" engineering?

Is it possible to put enough zeros to the right of the decimal place to express the vanishingly tiny probability that they understood even a scintilla of what they were being shown?

I'm sure no pocket calculator could express such a tiny number.

[DakotaGator]

This is what we used to call a boondogle!

It accomplishes nothing. It's a waste of taxpayers money. And it provides press coverage/vacation trip to politicians who screwed the situation up in the first place.

Their next trip should be to prison!

[Doogle]

...I can't determine if Blanko looks indefinitely stupid, or extremely jealous in this photo

Doogle

[rs79bm]

This was nothing but a big photo-op. In today's world, you don't have to travel someplace to get a first hand look. There are many other methods that would have sufficed just fine.

[JennysCool]

Both.

[Smokin' Joe]

The American visitors are focusing their attention on the so-called Delta Project, a 50-year project that constructed dikes, giant sea walls and flood gates that keep the low-lying country dry.

A 50 year project? Just think of the possibilities for cost-overruns, graft, kickbacks, etc., etc. I bet they were squirming with delight.

[robertpaulsen]

How many Category 4 hurricanes has the Dutch system withstood?

[sully777]

The Dutch were unsure as Blanco broke down blubbering if they were tears of joy, exhaustion, fear, sadness, or the effects of an Amsterdam withdrawel kicking in.

[rs79bm]

Blanco (with worried, questionable look): "What the hell are the taxpayers back in my district going to think of this trip...."