Hurricane season begins June 1 and Mother Nature is screaming. First, the cyclone in Burma, fires in FL, tornados all over the place and now an earthquake in China, I feel nothing but dread. Can we be protected? Not entirely, but the Corp could at least try to accomplish what the Dutch have mastered.
The Corps now claims it does not know how much silt is produced by the MS River.
http://www.nola.com/...
Why use naturally produced silt when you can dig for clay, build cement walls and destroy the wetlands? All so you can share the bounty with your crooked cronies.
What about your town or city? It seems the Corps was forced to create an inventory of levees by the National Levee Safety Act. The Corps did not know "how many levees there are in the country, who’s watching over them, what populations and properties are behind them". Homeland security really works well.
http://www.examiner.com/...
Hot off the press today we get word that "some outside experts said the leak could mean that billions more will be needed and that some of the work already completed may need to be redone."
http://blog.nola.com/...
When does the incompetence end? A few weeks ago WWL reported that the Corps used newspaper in between the cement panels of the levee walls. Why would the Corps use newspaper that is eaten by termites and disintegrates from moisture in flood walls? Why are they so stupid? Keith Olbermann gave the Corp contractor worst person of the day.
Reading this shit every day affects my state of mind. Those of us suffering from "post Katrina depression and anxiety" know there are not enough resources for mental health care. Ours is "less debilitating mental illness", we function somewhat but in the deep recesses of our minds lots of stuff is going on. "Depression and anxiety affect 10 to 18 percent of Americans". According to a recent study, "the best estimate is a full 25 to 40 percent of NOLA residents continue to suffer anxiety and mood disorders related to Katrina and the stresses involved in living in the city since the storm". I would estimate above the 40 percent range, equivalent to that of the soldiers suffering from PTSD. That is a lot of people running around town over the edge.
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/...
Psychologist Dr. Barry Schwartz likens patients whose mental illness was set off by the storm to breached levees. They might have had weaknesses and vulnerabilities before Katrina hit, but under normal conditions, they could have held together well enough to function as needed. Under extreme stress, however, "the weaknesses opened up," Schwartz says." We are expected to trust that the Corp will protect us from the weaknesses in their work product. No wonder we are all nuts. It has taken over 2 years to even get in the door and all we got was drugs. My son has seen a psychiatrist twice and she has broken through the barriers to refer him on to counseling and testing due to a major school problem. We are on the waiting list until late July or early August, even though school starts in mid August. This is not enough time to counsel, test, counsel again and get an IEP.
Help the "internet upstarts who have been challenging old media’s primacy and the Katrina upstarts refuse to take no for answer". Help us change the focus of the campaign from who is bitter and who wears a flag pin to the substantive issues that we are grappling with. "In a direct challenge to the debate commission’s primacy, a consortium of NOLA grassroots activists teamed with Goggle and You Tube to propose an additional forum". Contact the presidential campaigns and insist on a debate in the Gulf Coast Experimental Laboratory.
http://www.nola.com/...
Even the New York Times agrees, "here is a chance to rein in the role of gotcha moderators and keep the focus on what is on the voters minds."
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The Times Picayune weighs in "A superb fit". Help us get a Gulf Coast debate.
http://www.nola.com/...
I have a challenge for the Obama campaign, make the NOLA debate happen. It is important and here is why. Part of my PTSD therapy has been a resurgence, almost an obsession in local music. Running all over the city for music workshops has put my family in contact with people we do not normally associate with. One musician was interested in renting a family owned, but in dispute shotgun house in Mid City. Until single ownership is established, I can’t help him. So I had this major karma moment as he pleaded with me. I suggested he come look at my small, filthy, dirty studio apartment attached to my house. The prior tenant lived there for over 35 years until he passed a year after Katrina. We were too much in shock and grief to do anything with it, so we used the apartment for storage. We did not have the time, money or energy to put it back in commerce. So we cut a deal, he is helping us move the stuff out, clean it up, paint, finish floors in exchange for my very own rental assistance program and he will live there between tours at no cost except utilities. He lost everything to Katrina and spent 8 days with his babies floating in an ice chest. He wants to bring his family back from Houston. This is my way of making things right. Just remember, there are thousands of stories like this all over the Gulf Coast. The system is overloaded and I am just one person, what will the next president do to make this right? I just wonder how white bread "Old Metairie" will feel about an African American living just up the street from Senator Bitter Vitter, alias Diaper Dave. Sometime in the future I may be able to offer the services of my own little B & B Guest House for those that would like to visit NOLA.
What goes on in the Gulf Coast affects the entire country. Help us hold the Army Corp of Engineers accountable. http://www.levees.org/ For those of you that are in NOLA on 5/31 – mark you calendar to participate in a rally. http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/...
I almost backed out of participation because of the way that Gilda Reed was treated on this site last week. What in the hell is wrong with the vultures that went after her? Gilda is an absolutely sincere and wonderful person. If and when I get access to inheritance funds, I will donate to help reduce her debt. Gilda gave the progressives in LA-01, a tiny ray of light at the end of a long dark tunnel.
Thurs., May 22
7AM chigh
9AM Mike Stagg
11AM Louisiana 1976
1PM blueintheface
3PM YatPundit
5PM Patriot Daily
Fri., May 23
7AM
9AM Mike Stagg
11AM Louisiana 1976
1PM mlharges
3PM Crashing Vor
5PM