The real origins of Ruthie the Duck Girl remain a mystery, but can be traced back as early as 1952. Ruthie’s older brother, Henry says he started Ruthie on her path to local stardom. Henry had told several people that he was to be a celebrity. When Henry was 10 years old, he did have pets ducks. He "trained" them to follow him wherever he went. Henry took credit for being the original Duck Boy, a character that never took off because Mrs. Moulon, who always put Ruthie’s hair in ringlets and dressed her in beautiful skirts and dresses, thought Ruthie more photogenic. ~Special Thanks To Eccentric New Orleans Ruthie the Duck Lady dies of cancer at 74 Plaquemines flooding "worse than Katrina" ~Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard says over 100 residents of Lafitte had to be rescued Saturday as flood waters from Ike inundated homes and businesses. "It's a real crisis in Lafitte," said Broussard. "Lafitte is getting hit harder than it was in during Rita." Stay tuned to WWL AM&FM for the latest on this story. Thousands of homes flooded in Terrebonne~Terrebone Parish President Michel Claudet says at least 13,000 structures have flooded in lower Terrebone Parish. About 6,000 of those were residential homes. "The conditions continue to deteriorate," Claudet said. "We have people going up and down the bayou pulling people out." ~Storm engulfs Lafourche below protective floodgates ~"This photo was taken 5 miles from my house. Terrebonne and Lafourche look like this." ~Reuben Williams...Tab Benoit's Manager. H/T'n'T-GN ~Houma TV10 Continuous Live Coverage
ASCE panel cites conflict of interest~Mark Schleifstein ~Task Force Report ~Edititilla gotta to be a stick in the levee... This Task Force Report on the way ASCE does post- disaster investigations is severely needed and a long time coming. But, how does it impact the Corps' ongoing practices in Repairing their failed levees with Newspaper, outdated elevation data and water now leaking under the 17th Street Canal Levee Breech "Fix"?
How will this Report insure that we get sound, safe levees Now? How does this report address the ASCE's original role in the substandard building of our failed levees? What does this report do for safe flood control? It would appear that this report does nothing more than hand the issue back into ASCECORPS private hands. Now the ASCE can stand and crow "corrected", but what does this report say about ASCECORPS? Acutally not a lot! There is no list of witnesses interviewed. There are footnotes for conclusions gained. There is a list of highly credentialed participants, but what real information? It is a pretty report, even August in its make-up. But Editilla sees nothing in this Report that speaks to our safety behind our suspect levee "repairs".
Editilla tags this report as ASCECORPS ASSBUFF. ASCEWIPE. CORPSCYCLE SPIN'FILTRATION. The ASCE has proven themselves capable of lying, as evidenced in by their tax'paid PR Campaign linked above.Soooo, as we witness the flood of ASCE press releases these days critiquing the Corps for interfering with their own investigations, why would any fool think that this corrupt band of rouge project managers has suddenly gotten religion? We will hear more cries of "Not Me" from ASCECORPS upon the release of the IPET Report as it falls apart like a house of damp, mold-encrusted playing cards. Time, the Levelator... We need to go ahead and get the 8/29 Commission passed through Congress and implemented before Mary Landrieu is quite possibly defeated in Nov. Where will this vital legislation end up should that happen before our redress is fairly vetted... --in that great courthouse in da'Sky? Does the existence of New Orleans make ecological sense? ~Editilla hates these articles, but hung this one to illustrate what we will see more often with the imminent release of the Corps' IPET Study and ASCECORPS liability in the upcoming MRGO Lawsuit. We will see more articles nationwide which seek to compare the criminal engineering failures which flooded New Orleans as a "result of natural forces" rather than malfeasance by the Corps of Engineers. While some of this Full Corps Press may indeed be Individual Buffoonery of the Bourgeois Naivete, much of it is no accident. Many of these are not random articles, but Placed Story Frames by ASCECORPS's extensive and savvy Public Relations Machinery. The flooding of New Orleans was not caused by Nature but by the Corps of Engineers and their jail'punk lackeys in the upper management of the ASCE. ASCECORPS. The purpose of such propaganda is not only to taint the jury pool here for the upcoming MRGO lawsuit, but also to Frame this story all across the country as our infrastructure fails due to bad design and maintenance. This view of the cause of New Orleans flooding was disputed and laid to rest a year ago, and we are finally beginning to see some major media actually refer to it as an "engineering failure" rather than a "natural disaster". Why do these alleged disinterested writers continue to spew this tripe? This is very real as they continue to spin'filtrate this erroneous message, just as the Nazis told "little lies" over and over. A Tangled Story of Addiction ~Consequences of Cindy McCain's Drug Abuse Were More Complex Than She Has Portrayed
Nagin suspends demolitions review panel; preservationists cry foul ~Michele Krupa ~Claiming a desire to avoid "unnecessary delays" in removing buildings badly damaged by Hurricane Gustav, Mayor Ray Nagin on Friday suspended the work of a panel that reviews requests for demolition permits in many historic neighborhoods. ~Editilla ho'tellas~It is way past high time to get this Mfkn Stupid Criminal Bastard Rayz Nagin out of office. Today. ASAP. Recall the Idiot Now. Throw Pies at him. Follow him down the street with waterguns full of cat urine. I don't care. But this ignorant fool has got to go before he destroys any more of the city.
In New Orleans, snowballs are a Really Big Deal Haley, 7, and Shane Babb, 5, anticipate the cool sweetness of their snowballs as they wait for Shiela Marriott to prepare them at Ro-Bear's in Harahan. Photo: John McCusker ~Editilla was doing this very thing~ building some kid a perfect snowball, at the Flora Cafe' one morning when Valentine came in for his early juice. {I also did fresh-squoze juice for Ali.} Only this morning Val was a bit up on breaking news: "Hey, Juicy," he says "Did you hear that one of the World Trade Center towers is on fire?" "Nah", said I, more interested in making sure to swirl the Condensed Milk just right around the cone of crushed ice to the top, without breaking it down, which would not do at all, mashing up all the color layers I had painstakingly laid in the snowball already. While the kid watched, Val, stepped across Royal to get a paper and comes back in looking a little scared...looking me right in the eye he said, "You may want to get over to Big Daddy's and check the TV." "What?", I said, stepping around a few more of the children waiting for their snowballs. Then da'Angel storms into the cafe, "HEY EVERYBODY! SOMEONE HAS JUST FLOWN A GODDAMN AIRLINER INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IN NEW YORK!" The place emptied like fire in a theater, as everyone ran to the bars across the street to see it on the Tube. Suddenly Schiro's was packed too. Suddenly there was not a car on the street outside, as I suspect anywhere else in America either. Me, I turned around and looked at the kids waiting on their snowballs and asked, Who's next?
Caught Da'Big Molluski, Our Noble Oyster ~live on local radio at 9pm this morning! ~Editilla D'OHs!~Called my Hero on da'radio... Missmissed da'Ladda as just'a'nutta aggregata? --like some FucklessDead Pelican*#%!??? (you have to admit that Dead Pelicans don't Fuck.) ...send'em ta'college and they Eat The Sheets... Jeez Louie! Niagragate Falls? Did somebodya say... Niagragate Falls?!? Slooooowly I toins! Step by Step ...Inch by Inch... Mile by Mfkn Mile! HA! NOT! Grrrrr...we are so over that! Way above it! Passed beyond them like the Silence of the Lambs! How many pelicans do you know that can even spell Wittgenstein, let alone begin to understand his thoughts on Language as an aggregate of reality, as our Ladder if you will, to see above and beyond the mahem, nay before the rising tide of clashing cultures?Hmmm? Editilla loves pelicans. Real Live Pelicans. Ya'know... the State Bird. Indeed we dream of them talking to us before the storm. We dream of riding a glider with a flock of pelicans, swooping in over Lakeview and down into the bywater to roost again one fine day. Home. But Dead Pelicans, like Dead Fish, always and only just go with da'floatsam and da'jetsam...da'world... going to Mall in a Handbasket. Aggregates don't correspond with sources. Aggregates don't hunt the Exquixotic Corps like a Pissed Off Catahoula. Aggregates don't make up words. --But they do aggregate and We thank Fortuna for'em! Arguably, does not yer oh'so humble Editilla offer up Precious Loyal Gentle'rillas a bit of Prompt Succor? ~wit'a little something extra on da'side? Hélas l'Evaculture! onefinedaywegonnabeanolabloggeronefinedaywegonnabeanolabloggeronefinedaywegonnabe "Probably proven" flood protection ~Your Right Hand Thief Hurricane Ike prompts tropical storm warning for New Orleans~Mark Schleifstein Louisiana sending buses to Texas
Gustav, an economic boost for NO?~"No. 1, I don't see a flood of capital coming in there on the basis of this," said economist Loren Scott, who didn't think there was a lot of money headed for the city before Gustav. I think it's going to require a bigger test," he said, "but I think we will have to wait and see." An economist at the University of New Orleans was also skeptical of any significant economic gains. Replays of Katrina footage in the lead-up to Gustav "have renewed the concerns people may have about visiting and doing business in the New Orleans area," Janet Speyrer said. Hurricane Gustav Temporary Cleanup Jobs Gustav costs nearing $500 M
DOE: To Deliver More SPR Oil Following Hurricane Gustav ~The government said that it would deliver 130,000 barrels Thursday to Placid Oil's Port Allen refiner along a Shell pipeline in Louisiana. It also said that it would deliver an additional 250,000 barrels of oil to Marathon Oil Corp. ( MRO) Midwest refiners, just days after a delivery of 250,000 barrels to Marathon refiners located in the Midwest, in Robinson, Ill., and Catlettsburg, Ky.
Imminent Domain~Adiaphora Corps inspecting roofs? ~U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel are on the ground in St. Mary and St. Martin parishes for their Blue Roof, Right of Entry collection campaign this week. Mark Davidson, public affairs officer for the Corps, said people with structural damage can come to one of the collection centers to fill out the appropriate forms, which if approved, make them eligible for temporary repairs to their damaged roofs with the placement of blue tarps. ~Editilla gotta ax~While we are of course glad folks get coverings for their damaged roofs, I have trouble wondering what the hell is the Corps of Engineers doing inspecting homes for wind damage. They are supposed to be repairing our levees, so why are we wasting our precious funding for those levees here on a public service which should and could easily be done by a more appropriate agency. The only reason I can think of for the Corps to be doing this extra ciricullar data collection is for Public Relations. What does this have to do with safe flood control? Get mad at me if you want, but I want the Corps to get back on the Levees, back to engineering. That is what we pay them for, and we already pay others to do rooftops. Yeah, I'm pretty focused on safe levees. Wish the Corps was, then more people might want to return and invest in the city. As it stands now... it all depends on whether those levees stand --not The People's rooftops. Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at Brookings on the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure McCain and Palin are distractions. The real bad guys are still at work. ~In January of 2006, The Army Corps of Engineers gave a contract to KBR (yes, that KBR) for $385 million to build "emergency detention centers". From the Halliburton website, "the contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs." Truck-Side Dining~Chowhound ~The how, why, and where of high-end food trucks
The Economic Case for New Orleans ~Louisiana Weekly ~Yet again, thanks to the Solons in the media, we engage in reminding our fellow Americans that New Orleans' survival is critical to the economic wellbeing of the nation. ~Editilla Notellas~Check out this Very interesting tread on this discussion, amongst our friends over at New Orleans Bulletin. An old debate on rebuilding ~A great deal of work remains ahead for the Crescent City, but one thing we didn’t expect to have to fight over again is the notion that the work — the preservation of one of America’s great cities — isn’t worth doing. “It’s a soup bowl, and it’s not safe,” commented Beverly Cigler, a public policy professor at Penn State University who co-chairs a Katrina task force set up by the American Society for Public Administration. ~Edititlla begs to differ.<~While at least one smart nola'blogger poo'pooed this video as too simple, or "something we all have heard before", it is brutally apparent that many voices in Public Policy still seem to be equally stuck on myth and misnomer. You're on your own, New Orleans ~Ethan Brown
"Gustav should have been political rat poison for the Republicans, no matter how well it was managed. Yet, as Peter Baker noted in the New York Times, "rather than run away from the hurricane and its political risks, Mr. McCain ran toward it." If this strategy worked, it was at least partly because Barack Obama has been running away from New Orleans for his entire campaign."
Taxpayers for Common Sense: Lessons from Katrina and Gustav Gustav finds IT execs prepared for the worst Dodging Bullets~Julia Reed ~Editilla Notellas~I have grown to absolutely hate that Famous Phrase in the article's title, but have left it (as found) out of an abiding fondness for the author's other work. One would hope that Ms Reed, whom I assume of course follows da'Ladda, might avoid such devastating misnomer... --or better yet address its use in an article. Editilla waits upon spinner baited breath. We have "Dodged" nothing. South Central Louisiana has gotten its Heart Stomped, and we have citizens stranded, rent asunder... --with another "bullet" on the way! Just as when the News Media used this "problem child of sound'bite punditry" in describing how Katrina had missed the city, the use of such "sucker's babel" serves no purpose to the Evaculture Now but to draw attention away from Information and over to Advertisement. No one who had ever been near a gunfight as a result of man'made disaster would use such heinous and stupid description for a natural one.
US turns down Cuban hurricane pleas ~US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States is not prepared to relax its trade embargo against Cuba, despite Cuban pleas in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Gustav. Ms Rice said the embargo would only be lifted if Cuba held free elections and released political prisoners.
The real origins of Ruthie the Duck Girl remain a mystery, but can be traced back as early as 1952. Ruthie’s older brother, Henry says he started Ruthie on her path to local stardom. Henry had told several people that he was to be a celebrity. When Henry was 10 years old, he did have pets ducks. He "trained" them to follow him wherever he went. Henry took credit for being the original Duck Boy, a character that never took off because Mrs. Moulon, who always put Ruthie’s hair in ringlets and dressed her in beautiful skirts and dresses, thought Ruthie more photogenic.
Runnin Like the Wind~NODP
