Samedi

Click photo to enlarge. A view of from space of the flooding and results of levee breaches along the Mississippi River in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. The large blue "lakes" in the "after" image are areas behind levees that were over topped or breached. The water was then trapped behind the levee and could not reenter the river. NASA image from Earth Observatory. Geology.com

Corps issues false/positive levee map complete with Fairy Tale of Levee Builders and Farmers
<--Click to enlarge
Rebuttal from Levees.org
The New York Times has re-produced a map of the Midwest Flooding supplied to them by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Since the Corps is responsible for the performance of most of the important levees in the country, one should not rely on maps and statements by the Corps. This is a clear conflict of interest. An independent agency should make and distribute such a map. That said, I wish to point out that the color coding, certainly on the internet makes it difficult to differentiate between flooding caused by federal vs. non-federal levees. And third, I take issue with this statement: "Many of the breaches occurred on levees that were privately built." That is a vague statement! Exactly how many and out of how many total were private? And I note that the map does not say, ""Many of the breaches occurred on levees that were designed and built by the federal government" which is also perfectly true. Sandy Rosenthal Founder and Executive Director, Levees.Org www.levees.org

Editilla would also like to note that the levees on this map that the Corps designates as locally built are listed as Federal on the Corps other levee map: "Flood Fighting Potential Levee Breach" map, release earlier in the week, before these Big River Levees began failing. It must be noted also that the levee failures in Lincoln County, MO that the Corps says were 90% locally built were flooded after the 10% of Big River Levees (stuck small in-between the "alleged" locally built structures) breached. It is the Big River Levees which have failed and they were built by the Corps of Engineers. Of course smaller structures will breach after the Big River Levees fail flooding everything behind them.
This notion, this allusion that the flooding was cause by the failure of smaller locally built levees is a Red Herring at best, Criminal Obfuscation at worst. The Big River Levees are what counts and they were built by the Corps and they are the ones that have caused the major flooding. Surely everyone can now see the story that the Corps is trying to spin: "We didn't build these little levees. It was farmers. Yeah! That's the ticket! Farmers...and local "contractors". Yeah, we will just confuse the American Public with a yarn about "Patchwork Levees"...Yeah"
{Kudos, Kevin. We'll make a journalist outta'ya yet!:}

Corps spokes'ho, retired Brig Gen. and former Corps of Engineers employee Gerald E. Galloway Jr., sited in this shameful NYT article/folklore, is the very same one I mentioned below as speaking on NPR yesterday. They get around to all the best restaurants, eh? He's probably already on Fox. With each public relations presentation, NPR and NYT, there was no opposing view presented. None. There is opposing view on these failing levees. It just wasn't offered by these news outlets. They only offered the Corps of Engineers spokes'hos spin on who built these levees. We call this: "NOTMEMOMMA". The Corps is issuing slang press releases to distract us from hanging their asses out to dry whenever this water finally goes down after another of their catastrophic engineering failures. They built every Levee on that Mississippi River. NOT some farmer in Iowa. So is the Corps of Engineers basically telling us that they did not do what we told them to do way back in 1928? Or are they telling us they have not been doing what we told them to do back in 1993? What they are trying to do is deny that their overall flood control system is wrong. You don't sink a garden spade in a Mississippi River Levee without the Corps knowing about it--in triplicate. It is not done. Those have been Federal since the year they were built. Furthermore, this Times article does indeed leave one with the impression that these failed levees were on the scale of, say, irrigation levees in a rice field. No. Bullshit. Hooey. Lies. PR Spin. The people saying these things should be arrested for endangering public safety, not given venue in the NYT.
The Corps may actually not know where all their levees are, or which ones are at risk, but Levees.org has a list of them here.

River rises again, renewing worries in Mo. towns

Government tries to determine condition of U.S. levees

Photo courtesy of CA Dept. of Water Resources A levee along the Middle River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta breaks in June 2004.

Editilla gozintas~100 Year Flood Protection?
500 Year Flood Protection?
Why doesn't the Quixotic Corps of Engineers start calculation at 15 year (1993) or even 4 Year Flood Protection (photo above) ?
I mean are they cypherin' with Dog Years?
Or worse, is the Corps thinkin in Soap Opera Time:
like, they way children on those television shows
age so quickly and the matriarchs age in reverse
and the men just seem to stay the same?
Sort of a Kafka Quantum Dios?
Are we on Soap Opera Time with the US Army Corps of Engineers? If you look at the reality of their engineering failures, then appx 33 years of our lives is equal to only 3 on a Corps Watch of 100 year flood planning?
And given that yesterday a Corps Spokesperson told NPR that they still do not even know where all the levees are located, who ya'gonna believe? Them? Or your own Lyin'Eyes? Jeez Louie! Mother Nature My Ass!
The Corps of Engineers uses these former employees and public relations firms to try to convince us that it is only natural that our levees are failing. They try to spin the idea that we are in error for continuing to trust in their engineering. They would have us get used to the idea that Engineering, as a building profession, operates with failure in mind rather than the other way around.
So, you will see more of these spokes'hos on major media like NPR, rarely the same one twice, so that the public will have the impression that a lot of technical types agree with the Corps view of inherent failure or global warming or congressional indifference or Katrina the Clown or whateva their "not-me" dujour.
Nothing could be farther from the truth, as many engineers across the country beg to differ whilst they watch aghast as the Corps and ASCE ruin America's trust in their fine profession. American Engineers used to build things that worked, not things that failed.
Americans should ask the Corps how much money they spend on Public Relations.

So after the administration used this latest National Disaster to push through their War Funding, and today would use the Saudi Oil Embargo of our country to open up our coasts to off shore drilling, I feel it incumbent upon Editeurilla everywhere to remind folks that we do not have to take this Doctrine of Disaster Capitalism.


Iowa Gov Culver asked McCain to stay away during floods
~Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain disregarded a request from Iowa Gov. Chet Culver to suspend campaigning in the state until Iowans can get a better handle on the flooding crisis.

I-10 Twin Spans are closed due to a hydrocloric acid spill.
An 18 wheeler is reportedly overturned just off the northshore end of the Span, spilling part of its load.
-All lanes of traffic in both directions are closed.
-Westbound I-10 is closed at Old Spanish Trail,
-and eastbound I-10 is closed at Irish Bayou.
-The alternate route is Highway 11.
-Troop L Spokesman Louis Calato says there are no evacuations at this time, and says that so far, none of the acid has gotten into the lake.

Fake FEMA officials reported in flood-ravaged Vernon County

Flood fallout still rippling across state~Wisconsin’s interstate system is back. But even as the Department of Transportation opened the southbound lanes of I-39 near Portage on Friday — the last of the closed interstates — people are still dealing with the fallout from this month’s floods.

Work begins at Wis. lake drained by flood

Wisconsin Produce farmers scurry to replant

Flood situation improves in West Bengal, India, 27 dead till now

Survivors Try to Come to Terms with Their Loss

Illinois guard members, insurers help out during flood

Donations being sought for Midwest flood relief

Local volunteers help with Iowa flood relief

Logistics woes persist as Midwest flood waters recede

Allergy expert has advice for flood victims

St. Charles, MO-Flood announcements, road closures, flood safety tips and more

Blagojevich halts insurance cancellations for flood victims

Missouri family struggles to stay above water

MS River
MO River today at
St. Louis (lower right)
Please click to enlarge.
WAVICS
Wave, Current, Surge Information System
for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Mossouri, Ohio and the Iowa. This is active data.
USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings. I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

Subsidy offered to get residents out of trailers
~But those residents, at meetings in Slidell and Folsom, were also told that they may have to move out of the area due to a local shortage of rental housing units. "You have to make some real hard decisions," said Carl Jurison, a senior adviser for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
~Editilla gotta'wonda~
What if one of those Hard Decisions might be to find out where this HUD senior adviser lives and deny him the right to make a home on his own property? Apparently HUD's plans for tax-payer financed relocation-in-favor-of-commercial-development do not stop at New Orleans public housing, but extend even into middle class America's neighborhoods too.

Lafayette appeals flood maps
~The city-parish government has submitted an extensive appeal of proposed flood maps that identify large areas of parish as flood-ways, a designation that could frustrate future development.

Good Job Brownie! KBR Katrina Work Blasted by the Pentagon. Millions Squandered~slabbed

U.S. lawmakers try to stop Katrina funds from going to port

Taylor, Thompson at odds over port

New Orleans port braces for storm season

Education Reform in Post- Katrina New Orleans
~The Bill Reader

House honors fleur de lis

St. Charles streetcars will go the distance

David Vitter Has a New Fetish ~Chris Kelly

ICE Found on Mars!
SB 51, The Guns to Work Bill, Passes La. House Vote
~Central La. POLITICS
Noooowwww, Editilla ain't sayin' these two events are connected or any'ting. But...ya'never know?

Brad and Angelina sell New Orleans house
~Your Right Hand Thief

Larry Sinclair Arrested
~CenLamar

New Orleans Rising

ANTIGRAVITY’s 4-Year anniversary party TONIGHT!

Black Gospel Music Blog
~Legislation Pending to Make September 2008 "Gospel Music Heritage Month"
~Liz McComb - The Spirit of New Orleans (review)

Local Berklee professor travels to New Orleans to help Katrina victims, build curriculum

Music Rising's Icons of Music Auction II
~Reach Out For New Orleans

NOLA Diary Xll:
A Staunch Jazz Traditionalist
~The Independent Ear

Music Of My Mind:
Les Poissons Rouges
~noah bonaparte pais~blogofneworleans.com

Voodoo Announces Full Festival Lineup~Festival Website

Vendredi

Special thanks GN, leading yer humble Editilla, arrant rantadour, back into the fold of the vidicated.

Good Morning, America,
How Are You?~Wet Bank Guy

go down water~Louis Maistros

The Floods: New Orleans, God, and Nature Can No Longer be Blamed~Georgianne Nienaber

Midwest Govs Ask for Quick Flood Relief~In response to the devastation in the Midwest as a result of severe storms, tornados and flooding, the 12 governors of the Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) sent a letter to Congress requesting quick federal action to assist in recovery, redevelopment and disaster mitigation.

Bush Makes 'Lightning- Quick' Tour Of Midwest Flood Destruction ~Huff Post

"I really don't have much of an opinion of his coming," said Lashawn Baker, 33, whose family was just starting to clean her flooded home in a southwest Cedar Rapids neighborhood. "It took him a long time to get to New Orleans and he didn't help any of those people, so I don't think he's going to do anything to help Cedar Rapids now that he's here."
~~Editilla does not apologize for reposting this video.~~

Talkin' New Orleans, Susan Cowsill's Coming to St. Paul ~Coleen Rowley
Susan Cowsill is currently
touring the midwest.

Radio stations collect flood relief for Minn., Iowa

Sand-bagging has begun along the Morganza Spillway.
The National Guard is helping prepare people who live along the spillway for possible flooding.
Flood gauge: Morganza Spillway, LA

Midwest floods expose outdated levee systems

Analysis: Flood crisis hits GOP, too

Research Group: Critical Flood Risk Study for New Orleans Overdue, Plagued by Errors
Editilla notes another, opposing report, finished in record time with 1/10th of 1 percent the funding of the ExQuixotic Corps' still unfinished IPET report:
Independent Levee Investigation Team Final Report.
It is equally important to note now how the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) employ state of the art Public Relations firms, like this one, in order to
spin public perception of these tax-payer funded
NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURES
~away from their (USACE/ASCE) culpability in its design, building, failure and repair.
We, American Citizens Pissed Off Drowning (ACPOD) deserver better return on our investment.
Please demand The 8/29 Commission.

NPR allows former Corps of Engineers Brigadier General to spin and tell Americans not to trust their levees!
~That they do not know where all the levees even are located. That your US Government is surprised that we, the tax American payer, ever believed them in the first place.
Editilla wondas~Why did NPR, or any national media, not interview other opposing views of Civil Engineering Professors, like Robert Bea, who beg to differ with this former Corps of Engineers manager's assessment of the National Levee System?

Flooding strands 100-plus barges on Mississippi

Missouri Small Towns Take Brunt of Floods~River Overflows 90 Percent of Levees in East Lincoln County

Wait. They can do that?
~Library Chronicles

Mute Math on the streets in
New Orleans~Music Under Fire

Jeudi

Levee authority backs national '8/29 Commission' investigation
~The authority governing levees along the east bank of the Mississippi River on Thursday called on Congress to establish an "8/29 Commission" to conduct a comprehensive investigation of levee failures during Hurricane Katrina.
The resolution approved by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East was proposed by authority Secretary John Barry, also the author of "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America."

Midwest Flood Victims: Feds Mislead Us About Levees
~Juli Parks didn't worry when water began creeping up the levee that shields this town of about 750 from the Mississippi River, not even when volunteers began piling on sandbags.
After all, local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that the levee was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood, and FEMA had agreed. In fact, some relieved homeowners dropped their flood insurance, and others applied for permits to build new houses and businesses.

The US Flood Epidemic: Nature or failing infrastructure?
~Sandy Rosenthal

Source Asks "What is the Real Water Policy of the United States?"~Georgianne Nienaber

Investigate the Levees
~John McQuaid

Iowa Flooding Could Be An Act of Man, Experts Say
June 18: A train sits idle on tracks along the MS River in Keokuk, Mo.,
as rising water from the river threatens to flood communities along its banks.
Photo: Joe Raedle -Getty Images
Editilla jus'axin~What's in those tank cars?

Find out why flood protection failed

"As a 1966 graduate of Des Moines North High School and perhaps one of the only living practicing civil engineers to have come from North High, I am deeply angered by the flooding of my high school. Given this breach of the flood-protection works, there must be a public investigation by an independent board of civil engineers and policy stakeholders."
- C. Gary Kellogg, B.S., M.S. (Iowa State University), Rochester, Minn. and Washington, D.C.

Please demand the 8/29 Commission

Account of New Orleans flooding, failures a warning to us

Drowning in Plenty
~Toulouse Street

MO Braces for Near- Record Mississippi River Crests

Flood Waters Move South Into Missouri
~There doesn't seem to be an end to the flooding threat. Now Missouri is ground zero as flood waters move south along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and tributaries. The people of Clarksville, Missouri north of St. Louis are frantically trying to save their town from rising waters that are not expected to crest until Saturday.
The pride of Clarksville, Missouri is threatening to take out the entire town.

Government “Strike Teams” Invade Homes, Harass Flood Victims

Harkin Encourages Families Affected by Disaster to Seek Food Assistance~Hat T'nT~GN

Flooding levels stoke fears of levee~The Mississippi River flooding that engulfed Iowa and northern Illinois has local flood control officials on guard this week, just as new federal maps are released showing area levees don't meet new standards and could fail.

Old Man River~False-River
~"Old Man River - the mighty Mississippi River of course. I learned all I know about the river from my father, a civil engineer and a levee builder par excellence. My father, affectionately known in his retirement years as Paw Paw constantly watched the river. No, he did not go to the levee and look out on the river, he kept up with the river gauge readings at the key locations.
The key locations as far as he was concerned were at Cario, IL; Memphis, TN, Vicksburg, MS; Natchez, MS; Old River Landing in Pointe Coupee Parish, LA; Baton Rouge, LA and New Orleans, LA. Why are those key, well Cairo is where the Ohio meets or joins the Mississippi. It is the beginning of the lower Mississippi valley."

Editilla screama d'creama!
NEW ORLEANS? HAS ANYONE CHECKED ON THE 17TH STREET CANAL LEVEE LEAK???
PLEASE DO, TAKE PICTURES,
FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS.
HANG THE INFO HERE on'da LADDA,
OR ON YOUR BLOG (but do let us know, eh?)
Big Oyster say-Something Liquid This Way Comes

Bush to visit flood area

Pigs who swam through floodwaters killed on levee
~ Luck ran out for about a dozen pigs who escaped their flooded farm, swam through raging floodwaters and scrambled atop a sandbag levee in southeastern Iowa. Des Moines County sheriff's officials shot the pigs Tuesday, not long after they reached the levee several miles from the nearest hog farm.

Flooding over, but trash now problem in Iowa city

Crews ready to repair flood-damaged Indiana roadways

New Orleans Population Resettlement~All Points Blog

Stu Bykofsky: They've volunteered to rebuild New Orleans~"I helped a presidential candidate fix up a home at Roman and Piety streets in the Upper Ninth Ward on Tuesday."

First Disaster Reconstruction Trade Show Set for June 2009 in New Orleans

Are we smart or just some nuts compared to the military Junta of Burma?~Sit Mone

Gov. To Extend National Guard Stay In New Orleans

Jindal urges La. lawmakers 'to undo what they've done'~But he won't veto double Pay Raise Bill, he says. However...
recall petition requests show public anger.

Panama Canal Authority, Port of New Orleans renew alliance

New Orleans Team Returns To Solar Boat Race

On Julia's street: A writer finds happiness in New Orleans

11AM Drunk Driver on the Causeway

Fish Head Music~Wet Bank Guy

Mercredi

MS River & MO River today at St. Louis (lower right)
Please click to enlarge.
WAVICS
Wave-Current-Surge Information System
for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa. This is active data.
I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

New Orleans Residents, Guard Members Help Missouri Town Prepare for Mississippi River

Talkin' New Orleans, Susan Cowsill's Coming to St. Paul

Midwest Floods: Pundits Have Their Heads in the Sand ~Georgianne Nienaber
~UPDATE-Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu Comments on Flooding in the Midwest

Comparing Iowa to New Orleans ~Eric Stoller

Find out why flood protection failed

"As a 1966 graduate of Des Moines North High School and perhaps one of the only living practicing civil engineers to have come from North High, I am deeply angered by the flooding of my high school. Given this breach of the flood-protection works, there must be a public investigation by an independent board of civil engineers and policy stakeholders."
- C. Gary Kellogg, B.S., M.S. (Iowa State University), Rochester, Minn. and Washington, D.C.

Please demand the 8/29 Commission

U.S. Dams Iraq While Damning Iowa~Village Voice
~Desperately needed funds for new levees in U.S. Midwest have been diverted to flood control in Iraq.

White House seeks $1.8 billion for Midwest flood aid
--to be added to long stalled Iraq funding bill?
Editilla go'zintas~Go Figure...Go Fish!
Come on, Bush! Hello? Is this truly time for your horse shit trading with our catastrophy...again? How dare you,!
We are goddamned drowning here in the heartland again, while you gotta finish your swan song and dance in Europe? Last time it was birthday cake with John McCain. This time it is gay Pari! And all you can think of upon your return is getting your war funding. Judas Priest! With leaders like you who the hell needs zealots. Thank you very much for again holding Disaster Relief over the heads of drowning Americans.

New Levee Break Near Meyer Lock and Dam
~LaGrange
~Gulfport

Mississippi River levee breaks, more at risk ~The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of a levee near Meyer, Illinois, on Wednesday as floodwaters swallowed up more farmland and sent corn prices to a record high.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the latest levee break brought the total number of compromised levees to 11 on the most important U.S. inland waterway. The river overtopped the levee at 1 a.m. CDT (0600 GMT), said spokesman Ron Fournier.

UPDATE-Mississippi River overflows 19 levees

Corps says 33 Levees in danger of failure
6 more than Yesterday, right?

Helicopter saves sandbaggers from levee breach, flooding
~Illinois conservation officers and a helicopter from Iowa rescued those stranded at the levee, as well as motorists stuck on U.S. 34 and at a house in nearby Carman, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office said.

Indiana Lawmakers push for more federal flood aid

Flood-relief efforts still in infancy stage

University works to aid flood victims

Campus is soaked, but summer classes still on

Iowa Lawmakers leaning toward flood special session

Officials look at housing options for Iowa flood evacuees

Des Moines again tries to learn lessons

Small towns suffer big losses as rivers rise

U.S. corn up as flood worries continue

Most Minnesota corn farmers escape flooding, see green
~They have mostly escaped the flooding in the Midwest and now are locking in at record prices. But hog, poultry and ethanol producers are suffering.

Levee Protection: Working with the Geology and Environment to Build Resiliency

After the deluge~Grist
~As Midwest floods recede, what's being washed into the groundwater?

Big day on the River and I wish I were that Egret.
Thank you New Orleans Daily Photo

Some Links for Flood Help
~I found these few and will post more as they become apparent. Please feel free to post other relief outlets in our comments section or email me from the profile. We will carry this list through the week's posts. While the outpouring of support from New Orleans alone deserves notice, the Ladder's readership covers a pretty large chunk of the Midwest and coast to coast. America has learned. With such Spirit we thusly hang.
~The Midwest Flood~How to Make Donations To Help Flood Victims
~How to help people in Cedar Rapids
~Donate to Hoosier Flood Relief
~WI Flood relief - How to help
~Colorado volunteers to aid Iowa flood victims
~IL-Quincy Animal Flood Rescue Efforts
~TX-Texas men help clean up from devastating Midwest floods
~IN-Indianapolis Racing League donates $60,000 to help flood victims in Iowa

Food Banks Respond to Catastrophic Midwest Flooding
~On Wednesday, food bank staff members from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana, and the America's Second Harvest national office were dispatched to Iowa disaster locations to assist with on-site efforts.

Alliant Energy Foundation gives $85,000 for flood relief

John Deere Foundation Provides $1 Million to Help in Flood Relief for U.S. Midwest

Jewish Response to Disaster
~NECHAMA ("comfort" in Hebrew), is the Jewish community's disaster response organization. Based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St Paul, since 1993 we have deployed thousands of volunteers to help communities clean-up after floods, tornados, and other natural disasters. Our mission is based on the Jewish value of 'Tikkun Olam' – repairing the world through acts of goodness. Our work also builds a sense of volunteer spirit and good citizenship.

Ha-Banot Nechama -The best new Israeli band of 2007, ... "so far"


Why flooding worsens
~Development, farm practices, and population growth have increased the risk of flooding.

500 Year Flood Challenges The Mighty Mississippi River
~Hutch Report
While the current disaster in Iowa and Illinois is bad enough, what concerns me even more is what all of this massive flow a water will do to New Orleans, once it finally reaches there in a couple of weeks.

FEMA gives hurricane supplies back to Louisiana

Audit Faults KBR's Repairs of Hurricane Damage

Katrina insurance trial begins
The first Hurricane Katrina insurance case to be tried in Jackson County began Monday in circuit court with opening statements and testimony from a hurricane hunter.

Rising Tide - The Threequel
~Tin Can Trailer Trash
Vivent Longtemps
la Marée Croissante Trois!

Wait-Wait-Wait, You Mean He's Not a Budget Whiz?
~We Could Be Famous

Liptrap's Lament - The Line
~Yesterday, E begged somebody, anybody to head to the hastily-organized Recovery School District status meeting at the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church.
Amy complied, and I'm glad she did.

Pup displaced by Hurricane Katrina finds home in ND

Elemental/Environmental: SPACE Submission Deadline June 23~NOPA

Catalogging Counterpoint & Soft Skull~Chasing Ray

Singer Ani DiFranco is not a pigeonholed girl

Mardi

Flood project's cost estimate explodes, Louisiana Citizens, American taxpayers ask: WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT???
The proposed 72-mile Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system that would protect the Houma area could cost between $10.7 billion and $11.2 billion, according to a preliminary estimate prepared for the Army Corps of Engineers by a contractor.
That's at least 12 times the most recent $882 million estimate for the project, and dwarfs even the $1.5 billion estimate that state officials have said they expected from post-Katrina inflation.
The corps' Task Force Hope Director Karen Durham-Aguilera said the six-volume, 2,736-page estimate prepared by Arcadis Corp. and other contractors, labeled as 95 percent complete, was a "working product," and the actual price might be much lower.
The new standards were developed by the corps-sponsored Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, IPET, consisting of more than 150 scientists and engineers from around the world and peer reviewed by several scientific and engineering organizations.
Editilla bites the sound that feeds us~
Oooh so this is why I had the dishonor of finding Corps Public Relations Pukes showing up in this Ladder's comment section to sucker-punch our reader anonymously, as well as on other blogs around the internet, masked as "nameless bloggers" like Tim Ruppert. He was already hard at work for his Punk'Masters at the Corps/ASCE, attempting to pre-spin the blog'o'spheric view of reasoned opposition to their imminent (they swear) IPET STUDY: that bit of White-Wash "Peerless Review" performed "for the Corps of Engineers" by the ASCE (and the Corps of Engineers)--(note the broad'brush mis-description of this as yet thrice delayed "peer review", from Corps' Task Force Hopeless Director Mxrs. Aguilera, who was recently transferred from Oregon district and is Not licensed to practice engineering in the State of Louisiana). But though selling this faux study to the public for over $25 M reeks, this 11 Billion Dollar Ass'Fuck is why they have been delaying the IPET report's release?
Rather than release the study to Real Peer Review, Mxrs. Aguilera releases press statements with no substantiation of what she decrees, for example, about "more than 150 scientists and engineers from around the world and peer reviewed by several scientific and engineering organizations". IPET was done by the ASCE for the USACE--and roundly disputed here.
THAT IS KNOWN AS A SOUND BITE!
Textbook, PT Barnham Circus Coming to Town Carney Sound Bite!
But it is not just that particular butt'wipe "Peer Review" that Nameless Tim was spin'filtrating, and Mxrs. Aguilera attempts to ram down our throats, eh?
10-12 Billion Dollars is a lot of Contracted Project Engineering Work for assholes like Tim Ruppert. Oh yeah. Just as with the grotesquely expensive, neoengineering failure known as: the Iraq War, Mxrs. Aguilera would have us again accept the word of Contractors that they have hired to build and prosecute this tax-payer rape.
This is like playing football with Syphilitic Gorillas.
Hey, Mxrs. Aguilera, what is with the condescension?
"But Durham-Aguilera said there's little chance the corps will change its construction standards in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."
What?
To whom do you think you Speak?
We already know for whom your bell tolls, but who do you think actually buys your lies these days?
Are you talking down to We the People of Unsubstantiated Rants (WPUR), "unsubstantiated rants, who know nothing of science, who conduct no research and present no facts or evidence to support their propositions" (as Tim Ruppert is so fond of referring to any Corps Opposition)?
Or are you talking down to We The People who have, and continue to suffer from your malfeasant engineering?
Or are you talking down to We The People and our great, great, great grandchildren who will be paying dearly for your engineering product liability into the next century?
Who are you talking down to, Mxrs. Aguilera?
Are you talking down to the citizens of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinoins, Indiana, Ohio, Nevada, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri...the rest of the nation---who are running from YOUR GODDAMNED FAILING LEVEES AND DAMS RIGHT NOW???
Is this unmitigated horse shit you shovel actually an attempt to misdirect the public view from that 800 Pound Gorilla pissing in America's living room?
With friends like you and Nameless Blogger Tim Ruppert, who needs zealot terrorists? I'm shaking already. Indeed I have already stuck my shaking hands up to my elbows in your unsubstantiated "repair job" at the 17th Street Canal Levee.
Where would you have us stick it next?
One of your new 11,000,000,000 dollar dikes?
Who will you be talking down to this coming August after another Cat 2 storm like Katrina misses the city, yet again is erroneously blamed for the needless deaths of 1000s of its citizens and destruction of over 200,000 homes and businesses
--AFTER YOUR LEVEES FAIL...AGAIN?
Tim Ruppert, Mxrs. Aguilera, ASCE, USACE...all of you lying bastards, it is my fervent goal in life to see the very same Rising Tide that washed your deadly detritus into my life, my lovely city, will take you back out to sea to restore our disappearing coastlines and feed our wandering pelicans.

NOAA: New Orleans at risk from Cat. 2 hurricane~Cain Burdeau

Demand the 8/29 Investigation, Senate Bill 2826

The US Flood Epidemic: Nature or failing infrastructure?
~Sandy Rosenthal
~Levees.Org was founded in November of 2005 by Sandy Rosenthal and her son Stanford, while living in Lafayette, Louisiana after evacuating from New Orleans. They returned to the city and grew the organization to over 20,000 members. The non partisan grassroots group's mission is education that metro New Orleans was destroyed not by a natural disaster, but by the worst engineering failure in the world since Chernobyl.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before~Louis Maistros

Clueless Iowan Asks: "Are you watching us, New Orleans?"
~Des Moines Register
Editilla stands in awe and abject embarrassment before my fellow New Orleanians~I suppose this Pitch'Forkin Cork'Suckin Icehole has not been watching the New Orleans News Ladder since June 7th, as we became the "IOWA FLOOD NEWS LADDER"! I apologize, New Orleans, for considering what happens to our sisters and brothers upstream in Iowa vitally important enough to stay awake for days to cover it on this Ladder...to the detriment of other, more important New Orleans news like today's top lead. What the Hell was I thinking in trying to defend these highly tax-payer-subsidized white folks in at least 2 Nola blogs? Jeez Louie. This is obviously a discussion that needs to be had since I have always thought that we are, all of us, Americans in this country, and we, all of us suffered in the Federal Flood of New Orleans--just as we, all of us, have suffered with Iowa through these latest Corps Infrastructure Failures.
You break my heart, Iowa.
Ok, Nolabloggers...Editilla say, SICK'EM!!!
And, Iowa...How's Your House?



A Town That Looked at Leaving the Floodplain but Stayed On
~This is not the first time this tiny city in a valley of rolling hills 70 miles northeast of Des Moines has been mostly under water, as it is now, a soaking casualty of the swollen Iowa River, the Otter Creek and this endlessly wet spring.
“There were comments made at the time, ‘Why would anybody want to live there?’ ” Mayor Roger Ochs said of the last flood. “ ‘Why would anybody stay there?’ Well, this town is safe and quiet. Many had lived in their houses for years. Most people in town preferred to stay where they were.”

Iowa Congressional Leaders Push to Relieve Flood Financial Aid

When the Waters Recede
~Shira bat Sarah

Flood victims,
states downstream worry:
What's in the water?

Levee funding not fast enough to save Iowa neighborhoods, Corps of Engineers begins counterspin "blame game"
Editilla to wit'tas: Congress, Local Governments, Kiwanis Club, Mother Nature, Katrina the Clown, everyone but...WHO DESIGNED AND BUILT THEIR LEVEES?
But hey, Iowa, who ya'gonna believe? Me?
New Orleans? Or your own Lyin'Eyes?
New Orleans IS watching you, Iowa.
Please WAKE UP AMERICA, do not let the Corps of Engineers pit you against us.
We all live on this river.
Please WAKE UP AMERICA, do not allow the Corps/ASCE PR Machine turn this tragic discussion away from real information as to who designed and built your
failing flood control infrastructure.

Flooding Worsens In Iowa, Hot Conditions In South & East

Feds: 26 levees could overflow if sandbags fail

Illinois Levee Compromised At Carthage Lake; President Bush Addresses Those Affected By Midwest Flooding...in a couple of days (yawn)

Quixotic Corps contending with lake levels in Missouri

Missouri River Flooding

Indiana-'Everybody's frustrated'
~U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., told the crowd that FEMA is a different organization post-Katrina, having responded to criticism of its handling of the hurricane that ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005." The FEMA you talked to today is not the FEMA of yesterday," he said. "
I saw no weakness with regards to the response plan." Buyer urged patience.
"The response here, while it may not fit your personal timeline, is moving pretty quick," he said. "I have been impressed with how everyone is moving together and trying to help you." For residents seeking assistance, the frustration mounts.
"Everybody's frustrated," said Kim Gibson, 36, whose house on Court Street in Franklin was swamped with 10 feet of water. "It's nobody not caring," she said, adding she will visit the recovery center to learn more about her options. "It's just not enough people with knowledge."

<-Click to enlarge.
MS River
MO River
above
St. Louis
(lower right)
WAVICS
Wave-Current-Surge
Information System for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa. This is active data.
I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

U.S. Midwest Floods Head to Mississippi River Cities

American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted~Related Article


Flood Recovery Likely to Be Slow

Audit faults KBR's prices
~Pentagon report alleges cases of post-hurricane overcharging

Lessons from an angry planet
~Grist

Seattle church builds, donates organ to recovering Bywater congregation

The World That Made New Orleans~Citizen K
Editilla chin'shillas~I posted this dated review of Ned Sublette's book for a couple of reasons: (1)-Ned is turning out to be a formidable piece of badass as I just started reading the book and (2)-this blogger has become a great friend of da'Ladda--and, as Gentle'rillas well know, I listen to those who listen...to New Orleans...and (2.1)-It is a great book review of a great book. Here is a more recent post that I should have snagged the other day: Lost in the Flood. D'OH!

Radio Activists~Gambit

Lundi

Investigation is everyone's business~Sandy Rosenthal
Note-The above article is from June 7th, the very first day the rising water in Iowa began to climb this Ladder. As the week passed we witnessed the coming of the next deluge as it grew and grew. Below is a Press Release from levees.org as well as notice of action today on MRGO MUST GO!
United States Flood Epidemic:
Nature or failing infrastructure?
The flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa over 700 feet above sea level, has been accurately compared to the flooding in New Orleans when levees breached during Katrina. Also mirroring New Orleans is a Wisconsin town 1100 feet above sea level when an embankment of Lake Delton breached last week and emptied the lake into the nearby Wisconsin River. Add this to the January midnight levee breach in Fernley, Nevada, a whopping 4200 feet above sea level that flooded 800 homes, and a scenario is emerging that suggests levee failure and flooding is not a distinctly New Orleans problem.

The group Levees.Org, founded after levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina, has campaigned to educate the nation that what happened in New Orleans is a case of federally directed civil engineering failures, not a simple case of a natural disaster. They contend that the flooding within the City during the August 2005 storm could have been avoided had levees been at the right height, and had they been built to withstand a few hours of water overtopping them. Responsibility for the design and construction of levees in New Orleans like most levees in America belongs to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Levees.Org claims that what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere, but this problem is not being addressed.

"There are more people in the state of California in danger of catastrophic levee failure than in the states of Texas, Louisiana and Florida combined," says Sandy Rosenthal, Founder of Levees.Org. "This is not just a New Orleans issue." The group has been clamouring for the 8/29 Investigation, Senate Bill 2826 filed by Senator Mary Landrieu D-LA because the organization responsible for the levees, the US Army Corps of Engineers sponsored the official investigation as to why the levees failed.
That, says Levees.Org is a conflict of interest.
---------
Contact: Sandy Rosenthal, Executive Director 504-722-8172

Today Levees.Org will join with St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, the MRGO MUST GO Coalition, and the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club in urging the public to take action to make sure the job gets done.
WHEN:
Speakers: 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Distribution of signs: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
WHERE:
8201 West Judge Perez Dr,
Chalmette, LA, 70043
Click here for a map.
WHAT: A broad coalition of groups will launch a new public action campaign on Monday to ensure the controversial MS River Gulf Outlet (MRGO or "Mister Go") is finally and truly plugged, and that formerly protective wetlands it helped destroy are restored as Congress directed. Please click da'pic to enlarge.
Concerned citizens can help in two ways:
1. Come to 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive to pick up FREE yard signs, stickers, and decals saying: MRGO MUST GO.
2. Send a personalized email to the White House to make sure this critical work gets done. Louisianans can call the White House if they prefer at 202-456-1414

For more information contact: Juanita Constible (337-255-2831, constiblej@nwf.org)
or Sharyn Stein (202-572-3396, sstein@edf.org)
www.levees.org

Crests along Miss. River now expected to top '93 levels
~USGS Flood Guage
-Mississippi River at St. Louis, MO

Missouri Governor orders more resources in flood response



<-Click to enlarge.
MS River
MO River
above
St. Louis
(lower right)
WAVICS
Wave-Current-Surge
Information System for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa. This is active data.
I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

Team fills thirst for flooding data
"Man, this is amazing," said Goodrich, 55, a supervisor with the U.S. Geological Survey's data collection team. Staring down at his laptop, Goodrich studied lines showing the speed and direction of currents below.
"The water levels, the flow, everything, it's so much worse than it was back in 1993," he said.

36,000 Iowans homeless as floodwaters reced
Brian Gibson, a member of the urban search and rescue unit Iowa Task Force One, uses his hand to indicate the water level in the basement of an evacuated house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sunday. Emergency and utility crews begun the long process of examining each house in the flood zone to make sure they were safe for residents to return. Photo-Seth Wenig, AP
~USGS Gauge Readings
-Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, IA

Update: Debris, home inspections, water, bridges, animals, buses

Mold a concern in flooded buildings

Firefighter Kurt Woode marks a house with a 'not safe' symbol after noting that the foundation was compromised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sunday, June 15, 2008. Emergency and utility crews begun the process of examining each house in the flood zone to make sure they were safe for residents to return. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Each home or business was given a red, yellow or green placard. Red homes were off limits, yellow could be entered with some restrictions and green homes could be entered by two adults — no more, no less — on foot.

A frustrating day of heartache and anger

An angry resident that tried to drive around a security checkpoint is stopped by law enforce- ment. Rick Blazek, 54, was arrested a few moments later. Photo~AP

Tempers rising for frustrated Palo residents
"It was condescending," said Bisson, a 39-year-old contracts manager at Rockwell Collins. "The biggest news to come out of there was that we could maybe get in at 2 p.m." But traffic through the checkpoints was a trickle Sunday afternoon, and groups of visibly frustrated residents stood in front of the squad cars — as they have for the last couple of days.
"Last night (Saturday) I got so mad I almost had a heart attack," said Don McCluskey, who lives in a mobile home on Vinton Street. "These people have been stopping us for two days."
Residents must walk into town through one of the checkpoints, and drop off identification so they leave the way they came in. People whose homes have been deemed safe can make unlimited visits, City Council member Paula Gunter said.

Editilla really gotta ax'ya~Who are the property owners here and what rights do they have to be on their property?

Reporter arrested while covering Des Moines flood

The Mississippi River as seen from Burlington, Iowa June 15, 2008. Officials moved paintings, books and documents out of harm's way on Sunday as record flooding in parts of the U.S. Midwest partly submerged the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. Photo-Eric Thayer

Burlington fills sandbags, watches levee~There's flooding in Burlington in southeastern Iowa, and sandbagging is under way to try to keep it from getting worse.

Coralville Reservoir has Crested
~USGS Gauge readings:
-Iowa River below Coralville damn

Iowa Officials Stunned By Aerial View Of Crop Loss

Corn Jumps to Record as Floods in Midwest Threaten U.S. Crops
Stalks of corn rise out of
flooded farmland outside Hills, Iowa. Flood ravaged Iowans were to begin the first stages of recovery under sunny skies Monday but officials warned it could be two weeks before river levels returned to normal and the damage will be in the billions. Photo-AFP/Getty Images/David Greedy

Flooding Pere Marquette River to peak Monday afternoon
Flood waters continued to rise Sunday in parts of western Michigan as the state tried to recover from a second straight weekend of severe weather.

Ludington dam not damaged from flooding~An inspection by the State Department of Environmental Quality found the dam that separates the lake from Lake Michigan was not damaged by lake water that rose 2.7 feet Thursday night during a 12-inch rainstorm, said Mason County Administrator Fabian Knizacky.

IL Governor declares county disaster area as rivers are expected to stay at flood stage

Midwest flooding impacts Amtrak service~BLET

America's Midwest floods are the worst in half a century

CNN: “Biblical Flood 2008″
~Church of God News
Here we come,
Walkin' down the street.
We get the funniest looks from
Ev'ry one we meet.
Hey, hey, we're the Monkees
And people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing
To put anybody down.

Floods in China kill 57, 1 million godless communists flee

FEMA director defends giving away hurricane supplies
~Hat T'n'T~Voices of New Orleans

A Bit More on the FEMA Ice Controversy~slabbed
Editilla finds a stigmata point~Not to be confused with the ICE FEMA controversy?

Forum on Gulf Coast insurance issues is being held in New Orleans today

New Orleans pastor returns to Ithaca

N.O. schools set for building boom

Some New Orleans streets flood during thunderstorm

Arts students get intensive training this summer

I do fit in!~Kiss My Gumbo

Student Group Supports Hurricane Katrina Relief
Four times a year, the Aztec student group travels to the New Orleans area to assist with recovery efforts. They rebuild homes, help with cleanup and assist overworked social service providers.
This month, 25 students will be going.
Twenty-one local artists created pieces pertaining to New Orleans or Hurricane Katrina that were auctioned off at the benefit. Proceeds will help fund the work of the SDSU student volunteers, or "Nawleanteers" as they call themselves.

Go Fish New Orleans~Fly Talk

New Orleans Iced Coffee
-A Summer Treat
~A Taste of Carolina

4am New Orleans
~Trailing Xtabay

Ned Sublette Interview~BOMB




Tomato, Seafood, and Zydeco Festivals

“Guitar Yakuza” Matsumura Takashi , awesome Japanese blues guitar player

Music Makes You Feel ____.

The "City That Care Forgot" is put to music by Dr. John ~Louisiana Weekly