~"The reason it's taking so long is because of the vast and competing interests . . . in these complex projects," said Rick Kendrick, program executive chief for the corps' Hurricane Protection Office.
~Editilla begs to diffa~ DISCLAIMER!
-The Times Picayune has no published "Statement of Company Code of Ethics" --while at the same time accepts tax-payer funded Public Relations Advertising from the Corps of Engineers (see also).
Hence, we must issue a Caution and our own Disclaimer as to the bias in this article and the truthfulness of the Corps' Word.
For example: Mr. Kendick's opening statement above is unmitigated ho'snot spin'filtration. To put it nicely, ASCECORPS continues to pee down our backs and tell us it is raining. Its purpose is an attempt to re-frame this story as one of Public Participation and Corps Competency, straining credulity...
--stretching of the truth like a ripped prophylactic, piniattique newspaper'stuffed levee <-an irony of incest which continues to exfoliate Editilla's sense of taste and timing, especially in light New Orleans' unique facet for Living Metaphor, for making it real. The lede quote contradicts the Corps own statements of last year,
(when Kendick first came on the job after laying out missile fields) and flies in the face of outside engineering investigations cited on Matt McBride's entire website <-(Matt McBride can also be found heroically and serendipitously syndicated at Humid City)
and the findings of the ILET study <-(you can find Dr. Robert Bea testifying against the Corps in their upcoming MRGO Liability Lawsuit, and Dr. Raymond Seed right here in this 42 page Ethics Complaint) ~~IT'S THE LEVEES, STUPID!
But the worst misnomer proffered by this article is the idea that Public Input matters to the way the Corps goes about its business. Public Input is completely anathema to sound engineering. Why? Because most of the Public (me included) are not engineers. So, what we have to say matters not one whit to the soundness and execution of engineering. Period. And that is probably a good thing. But, as is the case with all things Corps of Engineers, once the structures are built we are at the mercy of Proven and Admitted Liars. If you don't believe me then ask all the residents who used to live at the 17th Street Canal Levee Failure and who complained to the Corps for years before Katrina about a persistent leak --right there where the Corps Structure Failed. Or ask the people who complained for decades that widening and deepening the MRGO for Navigation would cause larger flood surges. Or ask Midwest Flood Survivors.
Or just drive down to Terrebone Parish and look around.
"For those who lobbied the corps..." is a perfect example of spin. We do not lobby the Corps. We can try to lobby Congress to effect Corps Actions, but no average citizen tax-payer "lobbies the Corps" --except of course engineering contract consultants, former ASCE presidents and Corps Medal Winners like Tom Jackson who sits on the "Independent" Levee Board.
But, the Public has No Say in how or where the Corps does its business or to whom they give that business. None. Nada.
It is a Grand Myth which the Corps promulgates that they are beholden to Congress for Funding. That we can control the competency of the Corps Engineering through Congressional Mandate is simply Not True while they issue the contracts.
The Reality is that the Work is beholden to the Corps for Contract Awards. That Reality is what gave us the levees that failed in the Federal Flood of 2005 --and hence the delay in these very pumps!
To think that Our Word stands against the Corps Word reeks...
of fuckmookery, of abject jail'house punk'foolery.
This faux "Public Input Meeting" is only to lead The Public to think that their concerns for flood safety matter to the Corps of Engineers. These meetings are to lead the public to feel better about who caused the failure of our levees in 2005, and to misdirect the Public's View of That Liability (tainting the jury pool before trial). The purpose of these articles about so-called "Public Meetings" is to make people feel better about the Corps' still very questionable role in the ongoing funds-theft known as the repair and recovery of our failed flood control systems.
The Fat Lady of Justice has not even begun to sing the end of this story, yet the TP and ASCECORPS would have us all play storytime with our Uncle Sam Daddy... pay no attention to that bad man behind the levee ---Just like Book Promoter Chris Rose's article, also in today's Picayune, about meteorites and omen causing those levees to fail in 2005.
This stuff about sound levees and real flood control is not funny and neither is Chris Rose...not even cute. Like all of us, Chris has bills to pay --and taxes, so that the Corps of Engineers can afford to place PR Advertisements in his newspaper, so it can pay Chris to write more misdirection away from the Corps of Engineers.
Don't we all feel better, safer now? I know I do.
Editilla finds having to navigating the Conflicts of Interests in the TP now about as much fun as eating a bowl of human tongues after losing a long game of Bobbing for Voodoo Dolls.
Keeping the insurers in check
~Kia Franklin
Brenda Wisniewski of Kingwood searches the pile of rubble that was once her Crystal Beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula. Photo-Sharon Steinmann~As Hurricane Ike survivors rebuild their homes and their lives, their harrowing stories may soon become all-too-similar to those of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita survivors: people wrongfully denied insurance claims, or offered inadequate payments, for damages they were told their insurance policies would cover. Some details may differ, but what remains the same is that no federal law has yet to hold the insurance industry accountable for how it mistreats Americans in the aftermath of major disasters.
Cranky Old Men
~We Could Be Famous
Highlights from the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Fest~WWOZ
Coming up in this week’s Gambit ~Kevin Allman
Hurricane debris becomes Halloween décor~Daily Comet
Climbing PoeTree's Hurricane Season ~Letter Brown
Money Honey- Punk Rock & Wall Street~Punk Turns 30
Earl Plalmers Up-to-Date Funky Thing~Home of the Groove
The Dylan Doodlebug
~Scott Warmuth
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